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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - ASSET Admin Meeting June 4, 2025 Minutes ASSET Administrative Team June 4, 2025 @ 12:15 pm United Way of Story County @ 315 Clark Ave, Ames, IA 50010 In attendance: Jenny Schill, Ashley Thompson, Nick Joos, Linda Hagedorn, Ron Smith, Erik Rolwes, Becky Harker, Sarah Mansell, Sandra King, Staci Shugar (CCJ), Cassidy Overbey (CCJ), Katie Ranney (YSS) Aaron Blass (YSS), Ryan Keller (YSS), Payton Bartkus (YSS) Virtually: Nick Joos, Pa Goldbeck, Megan Thompson (MICA), Gabby Garcia (MICA) Robyn Belden (MICA) Kris Polich (MICA), Tricia Crain (The Arc), Amy Shaw, Brad Hill Meeting called to order by Hagedorn at 12:18 pm. Approval of Minutes May 7, 2025 Motion to approve the May 7th minutes with updates mentioned by Harker, Harker, second by King. Motion passed unanimously. Treasurer’s Report (Smith) $22 less than last month. Smith also mentioned that we received a bill to renew our website domain. We can renew for 5 years at a time and it’s $20 a year. Motion to renew the domain for 5 years by Smith, second by Harker. Motion passed unanimously. Old Business Homelessness Action Plan Update Goldbeck reported that staff submitted a round of updates to Dr. Flowers on the report. The next step is coordinating with the partners on how to get this going. Funders will be meeting on the 26 th of June to discuss priorities and some of them might shift based on the Action Plan recommendations. Conflict of Interest & Confidentiality Forms Update Schill let the board know that it’s just staff remaining that need to sign the forms. Policies & Procedures King reported that revisions were needed on the title page and pages 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, and 13 of the policy document. Page 3: King raised a clarifying question regarding content on this page. Page 4 - New Funder Organizations: Discussion occurred regarding organizations interested in joining ASSET as funding partners. Hagedorn moved that ASSET remain open to adding new funder agencies, with interested organizations directed to contact the ASSET Administrative Assistant for furt her information. Criteria for new funders will be established at a later date. Thompson suggested that staff develop the application process for potential funders over the current fiscal year. King seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. Page 5 - Records Retention: Current policy states records retention period of 5 years. Following Hagedorn's inquiry about this timeframe, Thompson moved to revise the language to specify that "records will be retained for at least 5 years." Related questions under item C will be del eted from the document. Page 8 - Agency Budget Submission: Changes were made regarding correspondence with agencies that fail to submit annual budgets. Policy now mandates that a letter WILL be sent to non -compliant agencies. Related questions may be removed from the document. Page 11 - Meeting Format: Virtual meeting options will be offered. Harker moved to approve all discussed changes to the policies and procedures document. King seconded the motion. Motion approved unanimously. Status Update of Reference Manual King asked the Admin Team to look through the Reference Manual by the July Admin meeting. Review of New Agency Application This is tabled until the Policies and Procedures manual is updated and finalized. Audit of Books Funder staff Goldbeck, Thompson, and Shaw agreed to conduct the audit in June. New Business Funder staff update City – YSS FY26/27 contract adjustment Goldbeck met with YSS staff about the ongoing request to reallocate funds each year and let Ranney know that she will not be doing this next year. Thompson also reported that the United Way of Story County Board of Directors will pause on unsequestering YSS’ funds for Mental Health Outpatient Treatment funds for the upcoming FY until the agency provided updated service and marketing/outreach efforts during the current quarter (April-June 2025) that support an increase in use of the service by uninsured Story County youth (the intent for the service). Thompson reminded the Admin Team that Goldbeck and Thompson met with YSS leadership in April to discuss the service and intent, which is to provide crisis/immediate services to uninsured youth who are residents of Story County, as opposed to holding and providing funding for unused, open appointments . During the April meeting, YSS leadership explained to Goldbeck and Thompson that they had not been marketing the service to the community or conducting adequate outreach to key community partners such as school districts, health care providers, or other partner agencies, to make them aware of the service. Review of New/Expanded Service MICA – 12:30 Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health Programs – M. Thompson gave an update that they have lost some funding for these programs and this program is to help provide gap services in health services. King noted that MICA receives some grant funding and she asked if they fundraise to provide additional support for this service. M. Thompson responded that they receive some funding from Title 5 but they expect that this funding will be decreasing. She also reported that currently they can bill Medicaid but with policy and programmatic changes to Medicaid eligibility, there will be a decrease in who is eligible for the program and in turn, a decrease in funding . A. Thompson asked about the reduction of funding for the program and potential impact on program staffing levels. M. Thompson said that ASSET funding would expand the capacity of staff. A. Thompson asked if there are other funding sources that support this program. M Thompson responded that there are generally no other funding streams for the program and donations aren’t typically coming in for health services. Members of the ASSET Admin Team discussed the potential for cross-agency partnerships around navigation/coordination staff. Child & Adult Care Food Program Polich gave an overview of the program for the Admin Team. The Child and Adult Care Food Program at MICA serves 13 counties, providing nutritious meals and snacks to children in childcare settings. Polich, the program coordinator, explains that they currently serve 23 out of 38 registered homes in Story County, reaching over 230 children. The program is facing challenges due to a decrease in registered homes across Iowa, leading to budget shortfalls and the need for additional funding to maintain staff hours and education services. A. Thompson asked about the response that was given to the question, if this service is provided by another agency. The answer that was given is that the number of households is decreasing, so this funding would be to make up the gap in loss of funding from the State. Thompson asked why they are seeing a decrease in registered homes participating in the program. Polich responded that they are seeing a reduced number of in-home centers. Belden asked what the timeline would be if they are approved. King responded that the next step would be to complete the budget request but there is no guarantee of funding for this new service. Members of the Admin Team commented on the potential long-term, ongoing challenges in maintaining this program given the reduction of registered homes in Story County and the reduction of services being provided, along with the funding request of ASSET, which based on information presented would primarily be focused on supporting programmatic budget shortfalls. The Arc – 1:00 pm Project SEARCH – Crain provided an overview of this program. Project SEARCH is a nationally based program that combines classroom instruction with supervised workplace internships to prepare individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities for permanent employment. The Arc of Story County partners with Iowa State University (ISU), who serves as the internship host for the program and provides employment training. Crain shared that The Arc was notified by the State of Iowa that vocational rehabilitation fundings that was previously provided to support Project SEARCH was no longer available. Thompson asked about the cost per individual for the program, and if ISU may be a potential funder to consider for financial support for this program. Crain reported that the cost is approximately $12,000 per program participant and that The Arc does not believe ISU would be a viable funder for this type of targeted program given recent legislative and policy changes by the legislature and Regents. King asked if they follow up with students once they are placed in employment. Crain said they have a Project SEARCH reunion and they stay in close contact with previous participants. King also asked if there are any employers that have participated in hiring graduates from Project SEARCH, if they would contribute funding for this program. Crain stated that she hasn’t, mostly due to each situation is so different each year with employers. Crain also stated that they do plan to contribute some self-generated funds for this program. All Aboard for Kids Summer Camp – Crain stated that hopefully this will just be a transfer of funding since this is already an existing program funded through ASSET. Crain explain ed that the All Aboard for Kids’ 501(c)(3) will cease to exist, with The Arc absorbing their staff, expenses, and revenue. While Crain hopes to reduce expenses, she anticipates that the ASSET funding request will remain similar to the current amount. When asked by Admin staff for further explanation, Crain explained that this is because she doesn't expect to match current success of All Aboard leadership in generating over $100,000 in self-generated funds for the 4-week program. Some of All Aboard’s leadership will remain involved on the board and assist with maintaining donor relationships to help sustain the program. King asked if Crain expects the costs to stay the same for the program. Crain stated that she didn’t think expenses would stay the same and she expects them to decrease . CCJ – Re-entry Navigation & Support – Shugar reported that she had applied for a grant for this service and it was not granted. She has identified the need in the community for these services, and this service is separate from probation services. Individuals that have not been assigned to probation might still have a gap and have needs as they re-enter the community. Shugar reported that this service would be working directly with the jail to work on implementing the service before individuals would re-enter the community. Thompson asked about the budget request and long-term sustainability, with 80% of financial support needed to fund the staff person for this program potentially coming from ASSET funding alone. Additionally, Thompson asked if CCJ had engaged in conversations with other agencies that have a navigator position about working together, and if the program could be implemented if ASSET Funders were able to fund only a portion of the total budget request. To date, Shugar had not had conversations with other agencies about potential staffing models or partnerships. Shugar said current staff are able to step into that role along with their other duties. So, partial funding of the service from ASSET would be acceptable. Smith stated that it seems that the jail should be providing this service instead of an outside agency coming to provide this. Shugar stated that the budget for the jail doesn’t cover this position. King asked if this service isn’t provided what do you see as the outcome. Shugar reported that they see a higher rate of reoccurring offenses. Shugar said she is looking at this level for the initial start of the program and then she would reach out and look at other funders who work on this prevention service. Following presentations of new and expanded services by ASSET funded agencies, members of the Admin Team discussed the services, as well as the increase in funding and service requests from ASSET agencies for current and new navigator and related positions. Discussion around potential future opportunities for ASSET agencies to explore shared navigator and coordination positions, evaluation of current positions for purposes of unnecessary duplication, and the need for further conversations around the new and expanded service approval process were brought forward by members of the team. Motion to approve the New and Expanded services from MICA The Arc, and CCJ applications Thompson, second by Harker. Motion passed unanimously. YSS - Mental Health Outpatient Treatment – 2:00 pm Ranney gave an overview of the service and explained the request, which would allow for clinical interns who are currently providing mental health outpatient treatment under the supervision of licensed mental health therapists but are not yet allowed to bill insurance to submit claims to ASSET for payment. Hagedorn asked about the potential for liability concerns, with unlicensed clinical interns providing the serve. Keller explained that the interns are assigned a licensed therapist for oversight and that they are required to carry their own insurance as part of the program. Thompson asked if this is a new service or if this is the service that they are already providing. Ranney replied that it’s the same service, but instead of funding holding the open appointments for crisis appointments, they would utilize funds for the appointments that the interns cover. King asked if they are asking for FY25 funds to go to this service. Ranney confirmed that YSS is requesting reallocation of the funds for this proposed modification of service. Thompson asked the potential for YSS to allocate some of their donor/self-generated funds to support the service, and clarification from prior discussions with YSS leadership that indicated ASSET funds were being used to cover funding gaps in the Mental Health Outpatient Treatment program budget. Blass replied that they have started a marketing campaign for these crisis appointments, and YSS leadership were having conversations about how viable it is to provide this service at this level in the community. King stated that if they are wanting to reallocate funds for this service for FY25 and FY26 instead of an expanded service, they need to take these requests to each Funder individually. Ranney stated that they understand this process and want to ensure that the ASSET Admin team understood what was happening with this service and that Funders didn’t just see a new claim come in without any explanation. A. Thompson’s recommendation is to continue to review this service as previously discussed with YSS leadership and Goldbeck in April to evaluate the organization’s marketing and community awareness efforts about the availability of the service and review use of the service by uninsured youth during this quarter (April-June 2025) before rendering a decision on allowing interns to bill for the service. Thompson also indi cated to YSS that clinical interns, like other YSS staff, should be accounted for in the unit of service and service cost submitted as part of the annual budget request process. Thompson motion to table decision on the YSS request until YSS provides us with the information that the ASSET Admin team had requested, including but not limited to their marketing plan and increase in the providing of services over the last quarter of FY 24 -25, second by Harker. Motion passed unanimously. Agency Feedback Session Goldbeck put together a summary that can be sent out. June 26, 2025 Joint Funders Meeting Funder Staff will work on an agenda by email. ASSET Volunteer Liaison Assignments Schill provided last year’s assignments and Funder staff can go through the Conflict of Interest forms to note conflicts as they make this year’s assignments. Clear Impact Scorecard (Mansell) Mansell reported that an update on HIRTA had been shared by email. Additional Items/Concerns None Motion to adjourn by King, second by Thompson. Motion passed unanimously.