Human Services Advisory Council

Page 1 of 2 MINUTES Human Services Advisory Council City of Falls Church PURPOSE OF MEETING: To advise City Council on human services delivery to Falls Church citizens. DATE OF MEETING: February 2, 2016 PLACE OF MEETING: Oak Room, 3rd floor East, City Hall MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY: Vicki Barnes, Chair at 6:40 p.m. THOSE PRESENT: HSAC Members: Staff: Vicki Barnes, Chair Nancy Vincent Alisa Macht Sue Richter Anne Norloff City Council Liaison Marybeth Connelly APPROVAL OF MINUTES: • December 12, 2015 minutes were approved. OLD BUSINESS: • Miller House Agreement Housing and Human Services staff will make a presentation pertaining to the proposed Miller House group home at the City Council Work Session on Tuesday, February 16th. HSAC members were invited to attend to show their support. NEW BUSINESS: • Election of Chair Craig Cheney was nominated by Vicki Barnes to serve as the Chair and Alisa Macht seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. • Community Services Fund Presentations were made by five applicants:  PRS, Inc. – New application for FY2017. PRS, Inc.is a community-based organization providing mental health skills training services and supports, and provides a hotline for individuals, including a teen text hotline. In 2014 CrisisLink merged with PRS. They service the region and have accreditations with a variety of state agencies. The text teen hotline started in 2014 with the Community Services Board and was only in Fairfax County. It served over 6,000 youth that year. Currently the text hotline is offered across the region. This program is popular and does well in the schools and with teens. Some of the texts they received included suicide, sex traffic, and teen violence. Funding for the program will provide targeted outreach materials and information to City of Falls Church teens.  Page 2 of 2  American Legion Post 130 – New application for FY2017. An overview of Post 130 activities and programs was provided. They provide a variety of activities for veterans, their families, and the youth of the community. They also support activities of the City. Funding was requested for sending high school youth to Boys and Girls State government education programs which are six days in length during the first week of summer. Each participant becomes a part of the operation of their local, county, or state government.  CASA de Maryland - The organization supports immigrant families, ensuring they have the core support services necessary for full participation in society. Their goal is to ensure Falls Church residents, in particular limited English proficient Latino and immigrant residents, have access to decent housing in safe and stable communities and access to legal services and financial supports. Funding from this grant will assist with door-to-door outreach to disseminate information about housing rights and responsibilities and build participation in a Falls Church Residents Council as well as provide legal services, financial literacy assistance, citizenship assistance, and community engagement programming. They currently serve City of Falls Church residents.  Friends of Falls Church Homeless Shelter – The Shelter operates as a winter hypothermia shelter at 217 Gordon Road. The Shelter operates from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 a.m. each night between November 16 and March 3. Prior to Fiscal Year 2015 the shelter did not open until December 1st. The shelter contracts with New Hope Housing for staffing and uses over 200 volunteers. The shelter is a 12 bed shelter and 18 clients have been served (based on 47 operating nights) and in FY2015 they served 42 clients (based on 137 operating nights). The clients receive support services and case management thru New Hope Housing and they continue to receive the support when the shelter closes down. The funding request is to help pay the salary of the Intake Manager and Resident Managers. With the increase in operating days they have seen a cost increase.  Legal Services of Northern Virginia – A nonprofit law firm serving the Northern Virginia region. Their legal services are mostly for civil cases and are provided free to low- income families and individuals. They provide a variety of services some of which include domestic violence (40%), housing cases, landlord/tenant, subsidized housing issues (15%), consumer protective cases – bankruptcy, garnishments (20%) and public benefits, elder law, employment and children (25%). In FY2016 they increased their outreach to seniors and as a result their client based has increased. At the February 18th HSAC meeting, recommendations will be made for the Community Services Fund for FY2017 and will be forward to the City Manager and City Council for budget approval. STAFF REPORT: • An overview was given regarding new development at Broad and Washington. • A point in time homelessness count was conducted in January and no one was found unsheltered in the City. • A flyer was handed out pertaining to the Fairfax Living Well and Aging Well Summit that will be held on April 16. MEETING ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. SIGNATURE OF RECORDER: Sue Richter The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This document will be made available in an alternate format upon request. Call 703-248-5005 (TTY 711).