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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7-13-2021 HSBG Minutes FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COMMISSIONER’S Human Services Administrator’s Office David S. Keller, Chairman Human Services Building John T. Flannery 425 Franklin Farm Lane Robert Ziobrowski Chambersburg, PA 17202 www.franklincountypa.gov Hearing Impaired Number: (717) 264-8474 Human Services Administrator Telephone: (717) 261-3893 Stacie M. Horvath FAX: (717) 261-0999 smhorvath@franklincountypa.g ov Franklin County Human Services Block Grant Meeting Minutes Date: July 13, 2021 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ~Virtual~ Attendance: Voting Members Voting Members Persons with Community Staff Staff Staff Lived Experience Experience Reps. Rev. James Fox Douglas Wilburne Stacie Horvath Stacy Rowe Glenda Helman Aging Criminal Justice Franklin County Human Human Services Director Advocate Specialist Community Advocate Services Administrator Fiscal Manager Grants Management Michael Straley Kim Crider Julia Dovey Stacey Brookens Erin Nye Drug & Alcohol Health Planning Fulton County MH/IDD/EI MH/IDD/EI Advocate Specialist Community Advocate Human Services Administrator Deputy Administrator Administrator Zachary McCauley Thomas Reardon Lori Young Cori Seilhamer Minnie Goshorn Early Intervention/Family Housing/Homelessness MH/IDD/EI MH/IDD/EI Children & Youth Advocate Specialist Community Advocate IDD Program Mental Health Asst. Administrator Program Lorna Blanchard Payton Mummert Shawn Haines Bonnie Speaks Intellectual & Franklin County Aging Department Aging Developmental Disabilities Ombudsman/Volunteer Director Fiscal Advocate Specialist Coordinator Greg Colbert Christy Unger James Eagler Missy Reisinger Homeless Assistance Drug & Alcohol Deputy TMCA Advocate Specialist Administrator Administrator Managed Care Stacy Yurko Sharyn Overcash Community Connections Human Services and Housing Navigation Administrative Coordinator Assistant 1 Acronyms: C&Y = Children & Youth HSDF = Human Services Development Fund D&A = Drug & Alcohol HUD = Housing and Urban Development DHS = Department of Human Services I&R = Information & Referral EI – Early Intervention MH/IDD/EI = Mental Health/Intellectual & ESG = Emergency Solutions Grant Developmental Disabilities/Early Intervention FY = Fiscal Year SCCAP = South Central Community Action HCP = Healthy Communities Partnership Program HS = Human Services TMCA = Tuscarora Managed Care Alliance HSBG = Human Services Block Grant Meeting Documents Sent Out: 1. Human Services Block Grant Meeting Agenda 2. Meeting Minutes from the last Block Grant Meeting (April 13, 2021) 3. Addendum to the April 13, 2021 Meeting I. Welcome and Introductions Stacie Horvath welcomed everyone to the meeting. Each individual introduced themselves. 1. Voting Member Sonja Payne, the At Large Advocate Specialist, was unable to attend today’s meeting. Sonja gave her proxy vote to Stacie Horvath. She stated that she would like to be counted as a positive vote. 2. Voting Member Erin Grant, the Mental Health Advocate Specialist, was unable to attend today’s meeting. Erin gave her proxy vote to Rev. James Fox. She stated that she would like to be counted as a positive vote. 3. Voting Member, Sherri Sullivan, the Employment/Training/Education Advocate Specialist, was unable to attend today’s meeting. Sherri gave her proxy vote to Michael Straley. She stated that she would like to be counted as a positive vote. This meeting is the first, of the two (2) required Public Meetings, for the introduction of the Human Services Block Grant Plan Review – 21/22 Fiscal Year. The second Public Draft Plan Meeting will be Wednesday, July 21, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. During the Board of Commissioners’ Meeting located at 272 North Second Street, Chambersburg, PA 17201. Also, this second meeting will be LIVE STREAM on Franklin County’s YouTube channel and http://bit.ly/BOCCLive Stream. This information can be accessed from the Commissioners page on the website and under the Commissioners meeting agendas and minutes. II. Approval of the April 13, 2021 Meeting Minutes ● Greg Colbert approved the motion ● Rev. James Fox seconded the motion ● All Voting Members approved 2 III. Current fiscal year – 20/21 Review and Update (Stacy Rowe) ● To date, the funds eligible for carry-over at the end of the fiscal year is $323,337 which is over the allowable Five (5) %. There will be funds returned to the State in the estimated amount of $42,962. ● The County is required to contribute 2.7% of all State funds. This is estimated to be $155,000 for the current fiscal year. ● Stacie Horvath gave a huge “thank you” to Stacy Rowe for all of the hard work. ● Prior to Fiscal Year 17-18 the carry-over was three (3) % and the State allowed a waiver request if you had additional funds above three (3) %. In Fiscal Year 17-18 the State changed Legislation. The carry-over was changed to five (5) % with no opportunity of a waiver. ● The Block Grant is projected to have a deficit in the Homeless Assistance Program and under the Human Services Development Fund (HSDF) for Fiscal Year 20-21. The two (2) of those together total $12,257. Stacy Rowe asked the Committee that we be able to fund that deficit of $12,257 for both of the programs. VOTE: To Fund Homeless Assistance Services and the Human Services Development Fund ● Thomas Reardon motioned to approve ● Lorna Blanchard seconded the motion ● Approvals ● “Yes” votes = Eight (8) “No” votes = zero (0) “Abstained” = zero (0) ● The carry-over into Fiscal Year 21-22 will be the maximum retained earnings in the amount of $280,146. The State requires that the Block Grant sends a plan to them for approval identifying exactly where the $280,146 will be spent. ● The Block Grant received requests for some programs that have a July start date for Fiscal Year 21-22. We would like to bring these programs before the Committee for approval for these programs to move forward. These programs fall under the Mental Health category. 1. Children’s Music & Art Therapy Program - $10,000 There is a family center on Stanley Avenue in Chambersburg that will serve the community. One (1) of the things the center will provide is Music & Art therapy. There will be Art and Music therapists who come in and provide services to any individual who is interested. There is no specific age range for this. 2. Kidz Therapy Zone Monthly Respite Nights - $21,600 This will be one (1) night per month. Children from three (3) to eighteen (18) years of age are welcome. They do all kinds of activities and are offered a snack. The time will be from 6:00 – 9:00pm. 3 3. Peace in the Park - $10,100 This program will focus on children from the ages of three (3) to eight (8) years old. The past year and a half those children were primarily home schooled or in a hybrid model for schooling, which has limited their access to socialization with their peers. They had talked to the program about offering something for these children and their siblings. Anyone in the family can attend these programs. They have a clinician that will set up different activities in different parks. They are offering different activities for the entire family. During the summer, they will be offering some of the activities at the Aquatic Center in Chambersburg. Up until the end of June there were 108 children that were served. VOTE #1: Children’s Music & Art Therapy Program - $10,000 ● Lorna Blanchard motioned to approve ● Kim Crider seconded the motion ● Approvals “Yes” votes = Eight (8) “No” votes = zero (0) “Abstained” = zero (0) VOTE #2: Kidz Therapy Zone Monthly Respite Nights - $21,600 ● Lorna Blanchard motioned to approve ● Michael Straley seconded the motion ● Approvals “Yes” votes = Eight (8) “No” votes = zero (0) “Abstained” = zero (0) VOTE #3: Peace in the Park - $10,100 ● Rev. James Fox motioned to approve ● Zachary McCauley seconded the motion ● Approvals “Yes” votes = Eight (8) “No” votes = zero (0) “Abstained” = zero (0) ● Fiscal Year 21 – 22 Budget The Projected amount for the 21-22 Budget is $6,364,570. Estimated to serve 13,240 individuals. IV. County Planning Process – Fiscal Year 21 – 22 (Glenda Helman) ● The draft plan is on the County Website. Feedback is greatly appreciated. ● The Planning team members include organizations and stakeholders as well as Human Services providers, stakeholders, participants and advocate family members. In addition, the team includes staff support from each of the departments included in the Block Grant. 4 ● Once the plan is received from the Department of Human Services, they have sixty (60) days to have two (2) required public meetings and gather all of the needed information. The Human Services Departments will answer the questions related to the services they provide. The departments will submit their information to the Grants Department. The document will be pulled together (draft plan) and submitted back to the Department of Human Services. ● A list of public documents included in the Plan: 1. Appendix A– County Human Services Plan/Assurance of Compliance – The County Commissioner’s signs the Assurance of Compliance prior to submitting the Plan. 2. Appendix B – County Human Services Plan Template. 3. Appendix C – C-1 or C-2, as applicable. 4. Appendix D – Includes a comprehensive list of the members of the planning team and their affiliations. 5. Action Planning document process: st - Plan guidelines and template was released on May 21. th - First Public Hearing – Tuesday, July 13. - Public notification via the website and newspaper ten (10) days in advance. - Final draft for the Commissioner’s review and signature on Wednesday, July st 21. th - Plan is due to the State on July 26. 6. Fiscal information 7. Appendix E - Public Hearing Notice/Affidavit of Publication - Two (2) Public Hearings are required for counties participating in the Human Services Block Grant. The hearings were advertised in the Public Opinion Newspaper, on the Franklin County website and on the Franklin County Facebook page. ● Human Services Block Grant Background (Stacy Rowe) - The Human Services Block Grant was established in Fiscal Year 12-13 as a pilot program allowing twenty (20) counties to participate. Franklin County was one (1) of the original counties awarded as a pilot program. Fulton County was also accepted into the pilot program. Up until this last fiscal year, Franklin/Fulton County was the only joinder in Pennsylvania. This year there was a three (3) county joinder that was added. - During Fiscal Year 17-18, the State removed Children & Youth special grants from the Block Grant. This was around $50,000 each year. The State increased the allowable carry-over from three (3) to five (5) %. This increase removed the option for a waiver request. - The Block Grant has reinvested $1,306,900 to date. An additional 280,500 is projected for Fiscal Year 20-21 which is our five (5) % maximum carry-over. ● Summary of the Reinvested Funds over the years/$1.3 million (Stacie Rowe) - The majority of the reinvestment funding went towards New Services & Projects – twenty-three (23) %. Examples are: providing startup costs for new services or 5 programs to be established; if providers would have renovations or projects to enhance services. - The next highest of reinvestment funding went towards Housing Services which includes Mental Health – twenty-two (22) %. This would be shelter support, rental assistance and Mental Health Housing. - Drug & Alcohol Services – twenty-seven (27) %. When the Block Grant was established in Fiscal Year 12-13 the Drug & Alcohol Program was very small. The County Share was up to $100,000 per year to support the Drug & Alcohol Program. Fiscal Year 15-16, the Drug & Alcohol Program has grown and is receiving State and Federal funding. - Children & Youth Evidence Based Program – three (3) %. Even though Children & Youth is no longer part of the Block Grant, we can still support the program through the Human Services Development Fund (HSDF). The program is the Strengthening Families Program. - Aging Services – Twelve (12)% - Data Warehouse – Nine (9)% (Missy Reisinger) Approximately four (4) years ago Tuscarora Managed Care Alliance (TMCA) and Franklin County had a meeting. Tuscarora Managed Care Alliance (TMCA) proposed a design of a Cross Systems Data Warehouse. This will help with planning. To date, there are at least four (4) or five (5) information systems running. Each of the departments is provided with a dashboard. Next, Tuscarora Managed Care Alliance (TMCA) will take the dashboard information and will do Cross Analytics. They will look at multiple systems and try to determine what the community's needs are. - Outreach Services – One (1)% - Professional Development Program – three (3)% - Training Days Program ● Program Highlights (Stacy Rowe, Glenda Helman & Stacie Horvath) - Still developing the highlights. Stacy Rowe said they would like to include some program highlights in the Commissioner’s presentation. They will highlight some Mini-Grant Programs. Recently, Stacie Horvath and Stacy Rowe had a meeting with the Commissioner’s. One of the initiatives that Commissioner Ziobrowski tasked them with, can they be creative and leverage Human Services Block Grant funds to reduce costs at the jail. In the past, Franklin Together was one of the programs that was rewarded Mini-Grant funding to reduce the costs at the jail. The amount of the Mini-Grant was a little over $17,000. This helped to release seventeen (17) individuals from jail with a Home Plan. This saved over $47,000 in the cost of jail days. Franklin Together is part of the South Central Community Action Program. They are a Franklin County Coalition for the Re-entry community and for individuals who are interested in Re-entry. - Stacie Horvath added that this all ties in together with Human Services. The individuals that were released from jail had served, at least, their minimal time. When it’s time for them to move on and to get on with their life, a lot of times 6 individuals will run into barriers. This is where Human Services comes in to help assist with those barriers. The draft plan will be updated before the next public meeting that is scheduled for Wednesday, July 21, 2021, during the Board of Commissioners meeting. - If anyone has any comments after reviewing the draft plan, please feel free to put the comments in writing and send to: 1. Glenda Helman, gshelman@franklincountypa.gov, 2. Stacie Horvath, smhorvath@franklincountypa.gov (or) 3. Sharyn Overcash, sdovercash@franklincountypa.gov Vote: To approve the draft plan as presented today at this meeting ● Thomas Reardon motioned to approve ● Rev. James Fox seconded the motion ● Approvals “Yes” votes = Eight (8) “No” votes = zero (0) “Abstained” = zero (0) V. Human Services Program Department Reviews ● Drug & Alcohol Department (Christy Unger) o Staffing ▪ The department has several vacancies ▪ Fiscal Officer has been recently posted ▪ Prevention positions and Case Management positions will be posted in the near future. ▪ Recently hired an Administrative Assistant. Her name is Amanda Carbaugh. ▪ James Eagler was recently promoted to Deputy Administrator. ▪ Danielle Beaver was recently promoted to Program Specialist. ▪ Katie Becker has accepted the position as a Case Management Specialist. o Current Priority Projects ▪ To increase the availability of services for Spanish speaking individuals. ▪ The increased distribution of naloxone/narcan. ▪ The department will be contracting with additional providers for Certified Recovery Specialist (CRS) services. ▪ Currently, in search of funding for Certified Family Recovery Specialist (CFRS) services. This service is for family members of those affected by Substance Use Disorder. ▪ Within the last fiscal year, the department funded two (2) different training sessions for Certified Recovery Specialists (CRS) and Certified Family Recovery Specialists (CFRS). In both of the courses they had successful graduates. Eight-five (85) % of the graduates from the fall course have successfully obtained their certification. ▪ One service that was funded through Block Grant last year was two (2) different classes called BALM. This stands for Be a Loving Mirror. The classes were aimed at family members of a loved one in Recovery. This teaches the family members to help their loved one move closer to Recovery and support them in their journey. 7 ▪ The department has recently seen an increase in highly complex cases. They are seeing an increase in individuals using multiple substances. Also seeing substances that are being mixed with Fentanyl. ▪ If anyone is interested in more information about the Drug & Alcohol Department, please contact James Eagler, jmeagler@franklincountypa.gov or Christy Unger, clunger@franklincountypa.gov. ● Adult Probation Department (Chief Douglas Wilburne) o The Governor signed a Proclamation for Probation and Parole Professionals Week. This is a week, each year, that reflects on their services for the Community and the impact they have on individuals who have served. o The department will be implementing multiple different supervision approaches to include Evidence Based Practice training that are now being adopted by the State and t he Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). They will be training their staff, over the next year, to make sure their Supervision practices are the best they can be for those they serve. o They are also watching for some State Legislative efforts that are coming our way. To reform Probation and Parole law. ● Area of Agency On Aging Department (Shawn Haines and Bonnie Speaks) o The department had a soft reopening for indoor meals and activities throughout their Senior Centers. o To date, they have opened seven (7) of their eight (8) centers throughout the County. The numbers were slightly low when this first started but now they are gradually showing an increase. o The Protective Services Program - The department is currently in the middle of the annual program monitoring. The exit meeting will be July 27, 2021. Shawn Haines expressed how the Protective Services Supervisors and the Protective Services Investigators have done such an excellent job. The department is in the “Green Status” which is the highest status. He expects that to stay the same. o The department is actively recruiting three (3) Care Manager positions throughout the different programs. o The Cares money and the American Rescue money, over the next several years, Bonnie Speaks feels the department will not need funding through the Human Services Block Grant until the money is expended. o The services are starting to increase as providers are opening back up. The providers are having problems hiring and rehiring. ● Ombudsman (Payton Mummert) o Nursing, Personal Care and Assisted Living homes have slowly started to re-open. Payton and volunteers continued with their visits. Rules are in place for masks, social distancing, etc., depending on each facility. Those in the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Human Services (DHS) are hoping that in the future the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will start to relax the visitation restrictions and for the residents to have visitors in their own rooms. The significant 8 amount of calls Payton is receiving from residents within their homes/facilities is due to the lack of staffing, which is the number one (1) issue, and the visitation policies are the main issues. ● Mental Health/Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities/Early Intervention (Stacey Brookens, Erin Nye, Lori Young and Cori Seihamer) o Across all of the programs ▪ One of the major concerns they are currently seeing is a lack of staffing. A lot of agencies are struggling with recruitment and staff retention. o IDD Program ▪ The programs have been working very hard finding housing and having a home plan for Incarcerated individuals before their release. ▪ They have been working with a family with several individuals who have Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (IDD). The program has been successful in finding nursing staff in the home. As a result, the department is looking into providing a Community Mobile Nurse. This is very similar to the Mobile Psychiatric Nurse within the Mental Health (MH) Department but will be in the Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Department. This individual is available to anyone in the community who receives Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Services. If the individual would rather have services within their home the Community Mobile Nurse will go to their home. ▪ The day programs have been affected by COVID as well as the Supported Employment Program due to social distancing. o Housing Program The program will bring the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) Case Management Program back in-house. The program will be run out of the department at the Human Services Building. They will be hiring a part-time person for this position. This individual would work up to twenty-five (25) hours per week. The set up will be so the individual has a flexible schedule. The schedule will depend on the needs of the department. ● Tuscarora Managed Care Alliance (TMCA) (Missy Reisinger) o The number one (1) issue in the Behavioral Health and the Medicaid world, which includes both Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Services for adults and children, is the lack of staffing. o One of the positive outcomes of the pandemic is, in the near future, the Telehealth Program will be included in the Medicaid Program. The Telehealth Services will be a combination of audio and visual appointments. This is a regulation of the Center for Medicaid Services (CMS). o When looking at the numbers, there is not an increased demand. o Tuscarora Managed Care Alliance (TMCA) stopped the specialized payments for their providers. They started an advanced method to keep the providers in business during the pandemic. This will discontinue July 1, 2021. o During the pandemic, their providers were able to maintain contact with individuals through Telehealth. 9 ● Children & Youth (Minnie Goshorn) o C&Y has approximately twenty-three (23) job openings at this time. o The Commissioner’s agreed to increase salaries for the C&Y staff in order to be competitive with the other counties. o For Fiscal Year 22-23, the Needs Based Budget and Plan is due. They are meeting with a lot of providers, local agencies and other departments to see what services they need to incorporate into their budget. o They recently received a Plans of Safe Care Grant. This will allow them to provide services for drug affected infants under the age of one (1). They formed a Plans of Safe Care Team. This team includes Drug & Alcohol, Early Intervention, Mental Health and a few in-home providers as well as Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) nurses in the community. The team will have some education and programming for the community to help receive more services for drug affected infants. o Minnie is working on Truancy education wanting to understand what went wrong the last school year and how to get on the right track. Also involved will be Judge Krom and the local school districts. ● Grants Department (Glenda Helman) o The department had a staff opening since July of last year. This opening was filled on May 27, 2021. The department has a new Grants/CJAB Coordinator. His name is Dan Brown. Dan is fresh out of College from North Carolina. He is learning about Grants Management and the Criminal Justice System in Franklin County. o They recently submitted the 2021 Emergency Solutions Grant. This is utilized for Homeless Shelter Services, Rapid Re-housing of individuals to move into their own units and for Homeless Prevention, once the CDC Moratorium ends and Landlords begin eviction proceedings for non-payment of rent. Will be able to utilize the Emergency Solutions Grant Homeless Prevention Funds after the Moratorium is lifted. o The 2020 ESG Grant that is available in the community that can help with those issues. The 2020 ESG CARES grant is currently open also and will be able to assist after the Moratorium is lifted. o Currently, working on the Human Services Block Grant and the Human Services Plan for Fiscal Year 21-22. o Recently received a grant for Body Worn Cameras for Franklin County. The department is in the process of finalizing the paperwork for this grant so they can give it to local Law Enforcement and they can begin to order the things that they need. o Recently submitted three (3) grants on behalf of the Criminal Justice System. 1. Bulletproof Vests Partnership grant to provide bulletproof vests for the Sheriff’s Department and for the Franklin County Drug Task Force. 2. County Jail based Medication Assisted Treatment Grant for the Jail to Community Treatment Program at the Franklin County Jail. 10 3. Expansion and Continuation Grant for the Good Wolf Treatment Court. Looking to continue that program as grants that are currently funding it will be ending in September. ● Stacy Yurko’s new official job title is the Community Connections and Housing Navigation Coordinator. Her former job title was the Human Services – Information & Referral/211 & Training Coordinator. The Human Resource Department will re-post the Information and Link Services Coordinator position. This person will answer the phone lines for 211, the local Information & Referral and distribute the monthly coordination piece of the newsletter . This is an hourly full-time position. o Information & Referral & Community Connections Housing (Stacy Yurko) ▪ Resources have been heavily requested. Families are still struggling trying to get caught up on their rent and utility bills. Seeing a high request for resources. The utility companies are starting to shut off utilities due to delinquent utility bills. They have been working with the Emergency Rental Assistance Program to resolve this problem but are still requiring many other resources outside of that program. For the month of June, they saw 381 households, unduplicated households. Out of that number, there were 919 referrals that were made. Definitely an increase. For the year 2020 they saw 3,396 households, unduplicated households. Offering 9,506 referrals. Currently, we are halfway through this year and are already seeing 2,138 unduplicated households for 5,774 referrals or resources. ▪ Housing – Last month they accessed (street homeless or fleeing Domestic Violence) twenty-six (26) families and added them to the BNL list. They can work with them with Federal and State funded programs. All other individuals were needing some type of rental assistance. They were putting referrals through to South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP), Waynesboro Community and Human Services, Corpus Christi and many other partners. ▪ As we continue to move forward the moratorium will most likely be lifted by the end of this month. Will most likely see families seeking those types of services. ▪ For Franklin County, since the start of Coordinated Entry, in 2018, they have accessed 1,028 households. For the year 2020 there were 268 households accessed. For 2021 they have already accessed 105 households. ▪ Tracy Radtke (Mental Health Housing) and Stacy Yurko are going to start laying out better goals for the Franklin County Local Housing Option Team (LHOT) making it an actual Community Coalition to make sure everyone is represented. ▪ Stacy Yurko will be working to get the Landlord DataBase filled for Franklin County. There are several landlords who are interested in helping to work on this. ▪ Will be moving forward with a project that will be known as Franklin Connect. This will be on the Franklin County website. There will be all of the services that are specifically in the Human Services Directory. 11 *Lorna Blanchard commented that she is very interested in helping with this project. VI. Community Comments or Discussion Michael Straley has a new published book. The title of the book is “The Calling”. This is based on his daughter, Leah Straley, and her journey with addiction. The book can be ordered under Leah’s Legacy on the Facebook page or Leahslegacy.net. All proceeds go towards Leah’s Legacy Foundation. The book can also be ordered on Amazon.com. If ordered through Leah’s Legacy they would make more of a profit to be used for the foundation. There are a number of book signings coming up. Check on the website or Facebook. CONGRATULATIONS!! st VII. Next Scheduled Meeting: July 21, 2021 @11:00am nd This is the 2 public meeting for the HSBG plan review. This is the Commissioner Meeting presentation – all are welcome and encouraged to attend. Meeting Adjourned: ● Lorna Blanchard motioned to Adjourn ● Michael Straley seconded the motion ● All approved 12