January 19, 2024 Minutes

Human Services Advisory Commission - Meeting Minutes

Meeting: January 19, 2024

In Attendance: Human Services Advisory Commission Members: Elizabeth Barber, Stacey Casteel, Ernest Cienfuegos-Baca, Stephanie Foos, Stanley Graffis, Jodi Hartmann, Enita Kearns-Hout, Kelly Martinez, Tammy Phillips, Tom Teixeira and Adam Turk

Absent: Human Services Advisory Commission Members: Stephanie Gausch, Scott K. James and Lisa Taylor

In Attendance: Weld County Department of Human Services Representatives: Julie Witkowski, Karin Crandall, and Lesley Cobb

Recording Secretary: Lesley Cobb

Welcome

The meeting was called to order at 8:16 a.m.

Presentation

The Greeley Dream Team
Elizabeth Barber presented on the Greeley Dream Team, a non-profit organization, that works with a diverse student population to mentor, empower, and educate youth in transitioning to college and becoming tomorrow’s leaders. They have served School District 6 since 1987 and are now working with over 1,800 students. This last fall they started serving students at Platte Valley – RE-7, Middle School and High School in Kersey and it is going really well. The Greeley Dream Team’s largest income is federal funding through the TRIO program. This funding allows for Academic Advisers to be out in the schools serving the students and embedded within the school culture, which enables them to work with the students during the day. The Greeley Dream Team serves 15 schools in District 6 and 2 at Platte Valley, as well as an Alumni Program that supports first and second year Dream Team college students. Ninety-five percent of students enter into the program in the 6th grade by way of teacher referrals, family members of current/past students, word of mouth and program presentations. Their program is required to have 2/3 at the low-income level, which is defined at 150% of the federal poverty level, and then 2/3 of first gen. Some of the services that the Greeley Dream Team provides are career exploration, academic counseling, college admission/financial aid assistance, tutoring, and interview preparation and resume building.

Introductions

Review of Minutes from October 27, 2023

Motion to approve was made by Stanley Graffis and seconded by Adam Turk. The minutes were unanimously approved.

2024 Membership and Finalized Meeting Dates

Kelly Martinez was introduced as the newest member to HSAC. She joins us from Weld County Public Health & Environment. Elizabeth reported that there is one vacancy on the Commission that we need to fill, which is for a Community/Legal representative. If anyone knows of someone who might be interested in this position, please reach out to Elizabeth, Julie, or Lesley for more information.

Meeting Dates

Elizabeth pointed out that in addition to our regularly scheduled meetings, there will be a Core Contract Services Workgroup meeting and a Core Contracted Services Special Session in March. She highly recommended members participate in the Core Contracted Services review to learn about all of the work that goes into vetting a contractor through the Department of Human Services.

Orientation

Karin Crandall did a quick review of the orientation.

• Duties, Responsibilities and Bylaws – A highlight of some of the duties of the members include attending board meetings, providing input/recommendations, reviewing the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) as this board is a requirement of that grant, helping with recommendations and approval of budgets, approving reports, and planning how we are looking at the needs of the community. One of the other responsibilities is that the committee serves as the Placement Alternative Commission (PAC) which reviews the Core contracts within a subcommittee.
• Membership Structure – The committee is required to have 12 to 15 members and be a tripartite board with one-third being public officials or their designee, one-third representing the low-income client sector, and the remainder from the private sector of the community. Within those parts there are preferred members that are accountants, attorneys, medical and mental health providers. These specific types of memberships help when reviewing Core contracts. The board meets quarterly and is required, by the bylaws and the Department of Local Affairs, to meet at least four (4) times per year. To have a quorum there needs to be 50% plus one (1) of current members.
• Volunteer hours – Volunteer hours of the board are reported in the annual CSBG report. Karin asked that the board track their board specific volunteer hours, including the board meetings or subcommittee meetings, throughout the year on the Volunteer Hours Tracking Sheet that has been provided. She stated that she will need all of the board member’s tracking sheets for 2023. Those can be submitted to Karin and she would like those by Friday, January 26th.
• Confidentiality Statement and Conflict of Interest Policy – Each board member is required to sign one of these each year. The Confidentiality Statement refers to information that is obtained while here for board meetings. The Conflict-of-Interest policy should be reviewed by members. If any conflicts are identified, these should be noted in the disclosure section of the form. Karin pointed out that board members received these forms in their packet to review, complete and sign. Completed forms should be submitted to Karin.
• Whistleblower Policy – The Whistleblower policy is posted on the County website as well as a hard copy provided to members. This informs members of their rights to report violations of law, gross mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or concerns related to substantial harm to public health or safety.

Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Update

Karin Crandall reported that they are currently working on the CSBG semi-annual report and that the annual report is due next month. They are also working on the Organization Standards; these have been shared with the Commission in the past and consist of around 75 things that the federal government requires us to do to meet the requirements of the grant.

Strategic Plan Update

Kristen Sigg presented on Strategic Plan updates. They are working on the Annual Achievement Summary for 2023 and hope to get that out in the middle of February. The department is also looking at launching a Community Navigator program in 2024. This is in the early stages and research is still being done to see what that will look like. Kristen reported that they are starting Café Town halls in March for employees, which will be like an employee round table. They are also looking at staff engagement opportunities, such as a book club - non-work related or a walking club. The department is going to invite community partners to showcase their programs on the weekly J/T Show, which an employee announcement opportunity that Jamie Ulrich and Tami Grant host. Ernest Cienfuegos-Baca, from United Way Weld County will be on the show next week to talk. Kristen added they will also continue their Employee Highlight which highlights two employees every month in our department announcements.

Contract Services Update

Lesley Cobb provided an update regarding contracted services for the 2023 4th quarter and the 2023 End of Year report.

• CeCe Majchrowski from Employment Services reported that in July they applied for a $75,000.00 grant from The Weld Trust for the NoCo Works initiative. The NoCo Works initiative is a collaborative effort between Weld County and Larimer County. The Department was notified at the end of November that the grant was awarded for the full $75,000.00, which we will serve as the Fiscal Agent for NoCo Works. The grant period will run from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024.
• CeCe Majchrowski also announced that in September the Weld County Youth Conservation Corp applied for a Planning Grant through Serve Colorado. The goal of this grant is to implement water and energy saving measures throughout the counties. The Department was notified at the end of November that we were award up to $125,000.00 for the planning grant which will be for six months.

Division Audits/Evaluations/Reports

• Employment Services PY 22 Colorado Department of Labor Monitoring
  • CeCe Majchrowski reported that in October the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment conducted their annual monitoring. The Program Year was for 2022 which includes July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. The report found five (5) findings, which were very minimal and no cause for alarm, and corrective actions have been made for all of them.
• AAA Ombudsman
  • Raegan Maldonado explained that the Ombudsman program is housed within Area Agency on Aging here at Weld County, but the programmatic oversight is through the State Ombudsman’s Office. Currently they have 33 facilities within their region, which are Assisted Living and Nursing Homes. She reported that an onsite review took place in November for 2024 which found many strengths. Raegan also pointed out highlights from their annual report that ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023.

Department Updates

• Child Support/Employment Services – Collaboration Program
  • Concha Rodriguez reported that they have a collaborative program between Child Support and Employment Services that is called Partnership for Employment (PFE). The purpose of this program is to assist parents paying Child Support, and their families, in overcoming and reducing barriers to employment so that families can be self-reliant. Currently they have 15 active referrals. So far, they have had four (4) cases where they did achieve their goal, which means that clients are gainfully employed or receiving the training and also paying their Child Support.
• Area Agency on Aging
  • Julie Witkowski reported that AAA will be designated as the Case Management Agency for the Region starting March 1, 2024. Right now, there is a lot going on to prepare for this and it will grow the AAA Division by an estimated 48 positions, which they are currently hiring for. Currently AAA is meeting with the State weekly as they work on making the transition as seamless as possible, as well as communicating to current clients about the changes. Julie also informed everyone that the Child Support Unit will be moving downtown to the Chase building so that AAA can expand into the 2nd Floor of building A on the DHS main campus.

Community Updates

• Stacey Casteel
  • No updates to report.
• Stephanie Foos
  • No updates to report.
• Tammy Phillips
  • No updates to report.
• Jodi Hartmann
  • No updates to report.
• Ernest Cienfuegos-Baca
  • Ernest reported that there were no deaths related to homelessness during the cold snap and that this could not have happened if it weren’t for the collaboration with the City of Greeley, the Police Department, the Fire Department, Salvation Army, and Catholic Charities.
  • Recently he took a trip to Milwaukee and observed the unbelievable collaboration that they have there to address homelessness and he is excited to see some of this collaboration within our own community.
  • Ernest was asked about the four million dollars that was passed by Legislation for rental assistance (Neighbor to Neighbor) and if he had any information on that. He indicated that these funds have to be spent by June 30, 2024, and that they are actually for eviction prevention not rental assistance.
• Tom Teixeira
  • Tom reported that they do not do emergency housing and that their waiting list can run up to two years long.
  • They currently have two waiting lists, one for those who live in Greeley, and one for those who live outside of Greeley in Weld County.
  • Tom informed everyone that the Housing Authority works on a preference point system.
• Kelly Martinez
  • Kelly informed members that the Health Department operates a mobile medical clinic that goes to rural communities to provide clinical services. They also have a brick-and-mortar clinic in Frederick but that will be moving to Fort Lupton.
• Stanley Graffis
  • Stanley reported that they will be honoring Armed Forces Day at the Veteran’s Memorial located in Bittersweet Park.
  • On February 25th, they will be celebrating Voice for Democracy (High School) and the Patriots Pen (Middle School) which are two scholarship programs, as well as honoring first responders.
  • Northern Colorado Veterans Resource Center served 55 veterans in December and are doing a good job but need money.
• Enita Kearns-Hout
  • Enita voiced that she is very grateful to United Way, the City of Greeley, and The Weld Trust for their collaboration so that there can be a Cold Weather Shelter that is open.
  • Catholic Charities continues to be very active in overflow, especially for women.
• Adam Turk
  • Adam voiced that the goal of the Housing First model, from a public safety standpoint, is to divert calls that don’t need to be handled by the police. He reported that it will be a struggle to retrain a society that is used to calling 911 for everything, as well as the 2:00 am and 3:00 am calls, because not everything is 24/7 like the police.
  • The city’s website does have the numbers and contact information for those things that can wait. Adam reminded everyone that the public can also use 211, 311 or 411 as a resource.

  The meeting adjourned at 10:06 a.m.

Special Vote

• January 12, 2024 - A special vote took place via email regarding a motion for Elizabeth Barber to serve as the 2024 HSAC Chairperson and Stacey Casteel to serve as the 2024 HSAC Vice-Chairperson.
  • Result of vote: Unanimous vote was “yes” to approve Elizabeth Barber to serve as the 2024 HSAC Chairperson and Stacey Casteel to serve as the 2024 HSAC Vice-Chairperson.
    
    Total Votes: 10
    Yes: 10
    No: 0