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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - ASSET Joint Funders Meeting January 22, 2026 ASSET & Joint Funders Meeting Minutes United Way of Story County 315 Clark Ave January 22, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. In Attendance: Jenny Schill, Sandra King, Ashley Thompson, Pa Vang Goldbeck, Lisa Heddens, Sarah Mansell, Aidan Shervheim, Becky Harker, Linda Murken, Beth Waage, Linda Hagedorn, Ed Gillott, Chelsey Aisenbrey, Amy Shaw, John Haila, Latifa Faisal, Anita Rollins, Gloria Betcher, Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen, Jess Peebler Virtual: Karen Kiel Rosser, Liz Zurcher, Moriah Morgan, Nick Joos, Nolan Klemsrud, Ron Smith, Amber Deardorff, Shamaree Brown, Rachel Junck, Nick Hoffman, Katelyn Proctor, Amanda Quarshie, Misty Zimmerman, Emma Cassabaum, Stephanie Spence CALL TO ORDER - Linda Hagedorn, Chair at 5:00 PM WELCOME/INTRODUCTIONS PUBLIC FORUM None APPROVAL OF: January 23, 2026 Joint Funder Meeting Minutes Motion to approve by Faisal, seconded by Betcher. Motion passed unanimously December 11, 2025 ASSET Board Minutes Correction by Shaw: Remove “Body” from Iowa State Student Government in the “Reports” section. Motion to approve with correction by Harker, seconded by Joos. Motion passed unanimously with correction. TREASURER’S REPORT - Ron Smith Current balance is $2,200.32. This amount includes the monthly charge from Microsoft and the invoice to Hy-Vee for meals for the Hearings and Work Session nights. REPORTS Joint Funders City of Ames– Special thanks to ASSET Volunteers. Story County - Special thanks to ASSET Volunteers and Jenny Schill’s service as her role as Admin. Assistant for ASSET concludes at the end of January; current State of Iowa proposals for property taxes may have potential effects on future ASSET contributions from the City of A mes. Iowa State Student Government– No reports to share, special thanks to ASSET Volunteers. Admin Team Thompson shared information on United Way of Story County’s county -wide childcare feasibility study underway. Links are available on their website for all who are involved in childcare to complete a survey. Their data will be released to the public at the end of March 2026. As of current, they have seen 148 family responses and 21 childcare employees ha ve filled out their survey. UWSC is partnering with ISU to target internal information regarding childcare. UWSC has partnered with ISU College of Business t o offer Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) for those in need of help filling their taxes. A total of $69,000 has been withheld to help with this service. For more information, visit UWSC’s website for their dedicated VITA phone number. Women United will be meeting Monday, March 27, 2026; a panel of community leaders will be sharing information, and an important announcement will be made that will have sizable impacts on the community. This meeting will take place at Sweet Carolines from 8:00am to 9:00am . Goldbeck commented on City Council’s approval of $15,000 of unallocated funds to go towards non-profit employee training. Flyers with training opportunities will be available in March. Volunteers Hagedorn shared a special thanks to ASSET Volunteers, the ASSET Admin Team, and Jenny Schill. No other reports at this time. NEW BUSINESS Consideration of Approval of the Volunteer recommendations for FY2026/27 Recognitions King recognized Jenny Schill for her service as the ASSET Admin Assistant, Jess Peebler as the new Admin Assistant, ASSET Volunteers and ASSET Funder Staff for their hard work. Challenges NAMI of Central Iowa The annual audit is missing for the last three fiscal years. The City of Ames and UWSC have sequestered funds due to missing documents. Scorecard data shows gaps in program delivery and development. ISU Student Government currently lists NAMI of Central Iowa as an archived group as they are not recognized as an on-campus non-profit organization. Heddens asked how ASSET funders plan to support NAMI but not fund them. UWSC responded that there are programs and training groups similar to non-ASSET groups. The Bridge Home (TBH) Goldbeck reported that the volunteers were torn as to whether to fund or not fund TBH after hearing about changes to budget information . Funding was recommended from the Board for UWSC and Story. The volunteers did not recommend funding from the City of Ames. Haila asked if TBH missed information in their application similar to NAMI. Responses from Thompson and Goldbeck included that there is still missing information from the agency including board roster and board meeting minutes. The budget submitted was also inflated according to what was shared at the hearing presentation. Murken asked what restrictions there would be with issues of missing information. King responded that this will be situation-dependent and Funder Staff will monitor the released funds carefully. Betcher asked if funding for TBH is for bed nights. King responded that their request is for the emergency shelter service. Haila asked if other agencies were missing documents. Thompson responded that the majority of agencies are up-to-date, however TBH and NAMI were missing information and have requested extensions. Education - Ashley Thompson • ASSET Funders collectively allocated $1,248,267 to the Education Panel • $376,472 City of Ames • $350,539 County ($349,539 gb, $1,000 lo) • $58,294 ISU Student Government • $462,962 UWSC • $1,248,267 TOTAL • A total of $1,477,168 in funding requests were made from 12 agencies for 26 services. • ASSET volunteers are recommending a total allocation of $1,172,239 (from all funders) for 11 agencies, 21 services (79.36% of total funding requests). Notable Items: As of December 31, 2025, former ASSET agency All Aboard for Kids has merged with longtime ASSET agency The Arc of Story County, with The Arc taking over operations of All Aboard’s programs and services. Thus, you will see two services under the Education Pillar – Supportive Employment: Future Focus and the Out of School Program: STEAM Academy – previously under All Aboard that are now part of The Arc’s requests. There was one new service to the Education Pillar this year – Project SEARCH, under The Arc of Story County. Notable Funding Changes - 2026/27 Education Pillar Significant Decreases NAMI – No Allocations Recommended • ASSET volunteers did not recommend funding for NAMI’s requested services under the Education Pillar YSS Mentoring Program • Decreased funding from $138,116 to $122,943 (-11%) • ASSET volunteers' recommendation reflects four -year trend of decreased participation and downward trend in program outcomes Significant Increases The Arc Programs • Overall funding increased from $61,107 to $67,138 (+10%) • Out of School Program – STEAM Academy saw a 21% increase ($24,426 to $29,603) • Note: New Project SEARCH program requested $20,000 but received $0 • ASSET volunteers discussed information shared at The Arc’s agency hearing, including the organization’s acknowledgement that they have not been seeking and requesting funding from available sources, including Medicaid and other State of Iowa programming. Volunteers discussed ensuring that The Arc makes progress in diversifying their funding streams for the next FY. Raising Readers • Modest but consistent growth across all three programs • Total increase from $105,226 to $108,737 (+3.3%) • All programs funded at 97%+ of request Campfire USA • Increased from $36,551 to $39,232 (+7%) • Though only 78% of $50,000 request was funded, due in large part to discovering during the ASSET agency hearing that the significant increase in Campfire’s request included funding for a new Out of School program which had not gone through the ASSET New an d Expanded Service request process. Funding Distribution Notes • Total Education pillar decreased 2.88% overall ($1,206,970 to $1,172,239) • Several recommendations were made by the ASSET volunteers to carry over or hold funding, including: • A total of $27,028 carried over to the Financial Stability Pillar, including: • $7,662 of County dollars • $8.483 of UWSC dollars • $10,883 of City dollars • A total of $49,000 in funds to be held for mental health services, including: • $16,000 of City dollars • $33,000 of UWSC dollars Financial Stability - Pa Goldbeck Funding was recommended for 17 agencies and 36 services. The total FY27 amount for Financial Stability from all funders is $2,678,229. The total FY27 amount specifically allocated to agencies is $2,548,182 (82.93% of the ask). The total FY27 requests for Financial Stability is $3,072,783 New Agencies or Services that fell in this pillar this year included: • Nevada Food at First – a new agency aimed at providing food services. The total recommended amount from all funders is $17,750. Other notable items: • The Bridge Home received funding recommendations from the board for a total of $21,000 ($1,000 for rapid rehousing from UW of SC and $20,000 of County funding for emergency shelter services). • The recommendation for emergency shelter services/hotel vouchers specifically with The Salvation Army, TSA, is experiencing a 40% reduction largely due to a smaller amount ($30,000) being available upfront from the City. Overall, $91,843 is being reserved from City funding for emergency shelter services to be accessed by any ASSET agency that can provide that service, not just TSA, meaning TBH could access that funding later depending on the stability of the organization, or TSA could access that fund should it need to continue providing the hotel voucher program. • The other notable agency from this pillar is the American Red Cross, which requested funding from UW but no one else. The ASSET board is not recommending any funding. Disaster services are not on UW’s priorities and during the agency hearing, the American Red Cross did state that they have made the decision not to apply for government funding. • Prairie Flower asked for and received a significant increase (53%) as they are wanting to invest in upstream strategies Unallocated Funds: Unallocated funds from Financial Stability for Story County are undesignated - $38,204 and undesignated funds from the City ($91,843) are being reserved for emergency shelter services. ISU Student Government and UW of Story County do not have any unallocated funds in this category. Health - Sandra King • Funding was recommended for 13 agencies and 32 services. • The total FY27 funding for Health from all Funders is $1,517,068, $91,685, which is reserved for mental health/$35,683 and basic needs/$56,002. • The total FY27 funding requested for Health is $1,759,170. • The total FY27 funding specifically allocated to agencies is $1,425,383, which is just over 81% of the request. New Agencies & Services • Funding was requested for one (1) new agency and six (6) new services; one of the new services was not funded. • New Agency - Creative Counseling Services (CCS) – an agency new to ASSET that provides short-term, free mental health counseling services through masters -level, supervised interns in the Gapto Growth program. The agency has a dual mission of offering mental health therapy and preparing emerging professionals. Other New Services • Center for Creative Justice (CCJ) – requested funding for a new service, Re -entry Service – this service supports justice-involved clients re-entering the community. A Re-entry Navigator will connect individuals with resources (rent and utility assistance, hygiene, clothing, emergency shelter, mental health, and similar services. • Mid-Iowa Community Action (MICA) – requested funding for four (4) new services, three of which were funded. 1. Child Care Nurse Consultant (CCNC)- A nurse provides guidance, technical assistance, and training to local childcare providers to improve the health and safety of their early environment. 2. Child Health – this program works in collaboration with MICA’s WIC clinic to ensure children are connected to a medical and dental home, are up to date on immunizations, receive developmental screenings, periodic oral health screenings, fluoride varnish, and education on health behaviors. A nurse completes Caregiver Depression screenings for parents to assess their mental health and connects them to resources. Serves clients 0-21. 3. Maternal health – A nurse provides mental health screening and refers pregnant and postpartum patients to the appropriate mental health services and helps reduce barriers to access through care coordination calls. Serves all ages. Not Funded • MICA’s new service that was not funded is its Child & Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) – which is a USDA program designed to provide nutritious meals and snacks to children and adults in a care setting. Care providers receive nutrition education and reimbursement for meals served. The number of registered homes participating in the program has decreased significantly. More info is needed on the viability of the program. Unallocated Funds – At the end of the work session, $91,685 remained unallocated and was reserved as follows: • United Way - reserved $15,683 for Mental Health • City of Ames – reserved $20,000 for Mental Health and $56,002 is reserved for Basic Needs Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Proposal (SWOT) Goldbeck proposed to hold separate SWOT analysis for the ASSET Process (Funder Board Staff, ASSET Admin Staff, ASSET Volunteers, and ASSET Agencies). There have been no decisions on who will conduct these analyses; the Admin Team is open to suggestions. This analysis would be used to find common themes and collect information in a relatively “easy” fashion to help assess the ASSET process and what is going well and can be improved The City of Ames is willing to help pay the cost, but is always open to other funding agencies helping to cover the cost. Motion to approve the SWOT Analysis made by Haila, seconded by Heddens. Unanimous approval to proceed. ADDITIONAL ITEMS Motion to approve recommendations as presented made by Harker, seconded by Waage. Unanimous approval of ASSET FY 2026/27 Recommendations. Agenda correction: April 19, 2026 to April 16, 2026. Motion to dismiss by Heddens, seconded by Betcher. Unanimous approval. Adjournment at 5:50 pm.