All right, we are good.
>> All right. Well, good evening. Uh,
today's, uh, Wednesday, November 19th.
Uh, we're going to get started here. I
have 6:35
on our clocks here. Sounds like we do
have quorum. Um, we're going to wait on
Commissioner Huma.
>> Yes, I think she's having some technical
issues, so hopefully she'll be able to
join us shortly. Other than that, we
have everybody accounted for.
All right, we're going to move. Oh,
>> I also Sorry, I do want to um we do have
an additional staff member. I want to
say hi to Brenda Parker, our human
services manager. So, just want to
welcome our manager here for joining us.
>> Welcome, Brenda.
>> Good evening. Um we're going to go with
item number one here, call to order. Um
>> we're done.
>> Public comment.
>> Yeah, public comment.
>> Yes. So, I want to welcome Kelly Mud.
Thank you so much for joining us here at
our human services commission. Um would
love for you to um however you're
comfortable you can
>> stand on the side would love that. Um we
love several people here.
>> Oh do you wonderful we'd love an
introduction and then you feel free to
speak your public.
>> My name is Kelly W. I'm here as a
community member who did applaud the
work that you're going to be doing
tonight and I'm here also as an equity
committee member observing what you're
talking about tonight because it's
incredibly important for our community.
Um
what I wanted to say though is as a
citizen need to make sure I say that and
that is that
this city is definitely in the forefront
on how to comm to to treat its community
members and I think we are remiss if we
miss this opportunity for the city and I
know it's not your not your work but if
this city doesn't start communicating
what the community can do to help people
who are being chased by ICE that we
learn our rights and we learn what we
can do to support. You are doing great
work here to support actual families who
are being you know having difficult
times but we need to be doing that. We
need all of us to be participating and
if the city could do anything to do that
it would be good.
>> Thank you so much Kelly and thank you
again for joining us this evening.
Thank you.
>> There no other um public comments uh
written or in person
for joining us.
>> Oh, yeah. Sorry I'm late.
>> Okay. We thought we were thought we were
online for some reason.
>> It's an otter that follows me
everywhere. So, if you send me an email
with a Zoom invite, it will just
automatically I'm sorry. I don't know
how to turn the AI off.
>> We're trying to figure that out.
>> I'm so sorry.
>> Get a few messages.
>> Yeah.
>> Um,
our next line item is uh approval for
minutes for October 15th. We had a few
folks come in in terms of uh community
organizations from Friends of Youth for
Tomorrow, Influence of Choice, uh,
Community Cloit. Um, any approval of the
minutes? I have one comment on the
minutes. Um I think the dates are wrong.
It says October 15th and then it says we
approved October 15th. Didn't we approve
September minutes?
>> So that's my only
>> good catch.
>> Okay.
I move
>> I second.
>> Oh,
Mr.
>> Okay. And Trish, you motioned. Thank
you.
and then we will um approve the minutes
with the election.
>> Thank you.
>> That and uh
agenda items, human services emergency
one time uh presentation
uh from
>> Yes. Hello commissioners. Um thank you
again for your flexibility. As you all
may have recalled, this meeting was
actually supposed to be a a joint
meeting with our equity board for a very
different topic in regards to
transportation. However, um our
transportation um team, they did not
have the results that they needed in
preparation for that feedback. So, we
have future dates. We'll discuss more in
details of when we'll be meeting with
them. uh which is actually though very
timely because we had um kind of a last
minute um funding opportunity for human
services come up that we really needed
to discuss as a human service
commission. Um so that's what we are
focusing primarily on tonight. So let me
get this up.
Um so we have human services emergency
one-time funding. Um really tonight the
purpose is to um come to you
commissioners with our um ultimate
recommendation
um where we would love you uh your
approval or um or if you have other
recommendations or thoughts we will um
move forward with that um to use our
one-time emergency funding um
specifically for um our contracted human
services organizations that are serving
our immigrant and refugee and
asylumseeking community members. So
tonight, um, I intend to really go in
the background of why did this come up,
how did this come up, um, share with you
our staff's review process and what we
learned from that. Um, really discuss
from everything that we learned, what is
our priorities as a city. Um, and that
has ultimately led us to our
recommendation um, from staff and then
really just open it up for discussion.
If you have any questions, comments,
we'd love to really um have a robust
conversation with you all um with the
intentions of hopefully taking this as
an action item and voting to move
forward with our recommendation.
So, um, our city mayor has proposed, um,
well, now it has actually been
officially approved as of November 17th,
our city council did approve our 2025
2026 midbian budget adjustments that did
include $50,000 for emergency one-time
funding for human services ser.
Um this is really in response to a few
things. Um but really intentionally from
um just the federal uh policy changes
and funding um changes for our
immigration ch um community members. Um
we have seen as a community some pretty
significant impacts um that I think we
have started that conversation here in
our commission and and starting to learn
and understand it in a broader sense. Um
if you recall uh a few months ago now we
had Alicia Spinner from the circle um
just she intentionally came to share
more about what the circle does but it
was also during the time where there was
a lot of changes quick changes happening
um there was ICE a agents in our
community and there was a lot of fear um
so if you recall that conversation I
think that's where we first were
introduced to this concern in our
community um we also have learned in the
last couple of months um of ICE agents
in um on the east side area um on
detaining. We've also talked to um
organizations like the circle who have
been working with um immigrants who have
been detained.
Um, and then more recently, um, if you
are aware of the incident that happened
in Isiqua, um, it was a very public
incident of a a woman being detained at
a child care facility, um, that really,
uh, concerned our community and was it
was really brought to our city
leadership as well as our city mayor. Um
so in response to all that and
understanding the growing need concerns,
um our city mayor did respond with u
emergency funding of $50,000.
So that's what has led us to say, okay,
we have potentially some money and
funding. How do we best use it? So, as a
city, what we did is we quickly did our
research uh by talking to our um city
partners um who are also using rapid
response funding um to serve our
immigrant community members. Um so, we
learned from them um what their process
has looked like and I'll go more detail
about that. Uh we also talked to our
community partners. So nonprofit
organizations, our um other or uh
foundations um that we just discussed
what's going on in our community, what's
going on in our nonprofit organizations,
what is the need, what is the gap. Um we
also timely we had our quarter 3 reports
from our contracted human services
grants um submitted u midocctober. So
from there we were able to review the
narratives, review performances and just
see what is going on most currently. Uh
we also reviewed our current contract.
So we have wonderful partners. Um so we
learn more about okay who is working
with immigrant community members
already? Who is um what type of work is
being done? So we looked at that deeper
and then we also talked to our city
attorney um to understand legally um how
can we provide the best support. Um so I
did I typically don't um print out the
staff memo but you have it here in front
of you because I think there is a lot of
helpful information a lot of detail um
to go into kind of the research that we
did. Um but a few I just want to go over
quickly that just the the high level
highlights that
excuse me that really led us to um our
ultimate recommendation. Um so city of
Kirkland was one of the first east side
cities uh to uh request funding um
through rapid response funding um to the
city council. They had 167,000 to be
able to allocate and um they quickly put
out an RFP and I think it was open for
about a week and in that week they
received 24 applications requesting 1.2
million. It's quite a bit of money for
only 167,000. You guys are very familiar
with that type of funding request and
not enough money to give out. Um and in
that they really um wanted to prioritize
making sure that they can spread that
money across to uh make sure that all
community members were represented that
also many services were represented from
basic needs to legal services to
housing. Um in that they found um six
organizations and award funding.
Um similarly, city of Redmond um
partnered with kind of the city of
Kirkland, their human services team, and
they use the same RFP um to um put out
um um the request for need. Uh they
received the exact same amount request
and applications. Um they they made
their decisions based off of different
funding gaps of where Kirkland wasn't
able to fund um and to make sure that
they were meeting their community needs.
So, those were seven organizations that
were funded.
We also talked to our community members
um such as um our northeast funders,
other human services staff in our east
side area. If you're familiar with
Debbie Lacy from East Side for All, had
a great conversation with her as well as
Alicia Spinner. She's our executive
director from the circle to just really
understand more so what is the need for
our immigration community? What where
are the gaps? Um and how can we best use
this funding?
And a couple things we learned um is
that legal services um is one of our
highest needs. Um this is anywhere from
power of attorneys um working with
people who have been detained, working
with families with a family member who's
been detained. Um in that looking closer
at our legal services that we support,
we um ELAP we learned is uh no longer
able to take um referrals. um they're
not providing immigration legal
services. Um they do help with um
trainings and know your rights, but um
that education is funded. Um Northwest
Justice Project is another known
organization. We don't partner with
directly, but um they do great work with
our immigration community members. Um
they are also at capacity. Um not a huge
surprise there. Um
um we also did learn um kind of the
residual um needs from um being
emergency financial assistance, basic
needs, rental assistance. Uh we we have
great services here at Isqua such as our
food bank, um Isqua Community Services
for rental assistance, um as well as
cultural navigation services.
Um we also again I I took a closer look
at our contracts um and looked at our
organizations that are already working
and embedded into um our community. So
we have the circle, we have
Indian-American community services, um
ELAP is our legal services and for
tomorrow.
And so um in the report you'll see some
more just um details from their
narratives that were taken or from
conversations with their community
members. Um this the circle really has
been focusing a lot on their legal
assistance has been a major need. they
um were able to hire recently a
communicate uh community navigator um
with legal background and she's able to
provide it's contracted work for complex
uh situations but she has experience
with asylum cases and and really can
help support. Um one of the things they
talked about that they found is that um
clients that come in um typically have a
lawyer but the lawyers are usually from
out of state. So when they come here
they don't know Washington law very
well. um so they're not very supported
um in that process. So having somebody
who speaks their language, having
somebody who can um really navigate a
very complex system um has been
significantly helpful. Uh we also
learned with the circle that funding for
that contracted um legal aid is um
ending at the end of the year.
ICS is doing wonderful work. Um they are
very focused on our South Asian
communities. Um they have been really
providing um helpful legal clinics. Um
they are located at the Together Center
in Redmond. Um they've been focused on
H-1B visas. Um if familiar with that um
that has been a concern in the last
couple of months um how policy changes
would impact those visas. And so those
legal um clinics have been very helpful
for those communities. Um for tomorrow
we support um them through their
organization. support them through
rental assistance.
Um and they are really supporting kind
of those basic needs. Um families who
have been left behind um coordinating
detention um kind of detention services
as that has been pretty complex.
Um
so um
from that
we really recognized
we have some really great resources and
we have also a few gaps. Um so what we
wanted to prioritize with $50,000
which sounds like a lot in some cases
but in other it's not that much. It can
go by very quickly. Um, we wanted to
also prioritize providing rapid um,
response, our our mayor put out that we
needed to have this um, funding
allocated by the end of the year. So,
that's a pretty quick process. Um, so to
be the most effective and provide the
most support in Isqua, we wanted to
provide uh, prioritize a currently um,
contracted human service organization.
And that's for a couple reasons. one um
these organizations have already been
vetted by our commission. You have
looked at their application in depth.
You've looked at their budget. You we
monitor their um performance um and uh
we know them. So that's a huge um a huge
reason. In addition to help with the um
effectiveness, we already have their
contractor requirements. So we have
their insurance, their business license,
all those things that takes quite a bit
of time and processing to get the
contracting in our system. Um, so that
will help expedite that process. We also
wanted to pri prioritize
just like we do with our human services
funding, what can we do that's going to
make the most impact. How do we move the
needle with just a little bit of money?
Um and so in that we really just wanted
to prioritize what we have heard and
found to be the current most urgent need
for immigration um communities members
which is legal services and legal
advocacies.
We also wanted to make sure the
organization that we wanted to fund had
capacity as we keep finding um commonly
with our nonprofits the need and request
for help is going up while funding and
staffing is going down. Um, so that was
important. And we also really wanted to
have an organization that's already
doing the work that we can just kind of
elevate and support with this extra
funding. Um, we didn't want to invent
the wheel again.
So, in that I present you our
recommendation. Uh, we would like as a
city to allocate just the full onetime
emergency grant to a single already
contracted human services organization.
We really would like to focus it on the
need that we have heard and seen, which
is legal advocacy and assistance. and
we'd really like to partner with an
organization that we have vetted, worked
closely with, and we know is doing
incredible work and who has capacity.
So, we'd like to consider awarding uh
the circle with $50,000
um for these services.
So, what that would look like moving
forward with next steps, uh we already
have the first one completed. Uh our
city council as of November 17th has
approved our midbian budget uh with the
additional emergency funding. Um the
next step is really here tonight to to
discuss commissioners what are your
thoughts? What are your concerns? Is
this what you see as the best use of
this funding? If approved um the next
step in the process would be amending
the circles uh contract. It's a very
simple process. We would add a new scope
of work, the award amounts, and we would
monitor it as a part of the human
services grant and the services would
begin as of the first of next year.
>> So, commissioners,
>> um,
>> your time.
>> Commissioner Fish, I'm just curious if
you have some sense of the circle and
this money like do are they going to
just are they adding staffing? Are they
going to just be able to add hours for
existing staff?
>> Yeah, great question. So, um, they
already have specifically a community
navigator with, uh, legal aid assistant
background. She's contracted right now
at about 10 hours a week. Um, she's
because of her experience, she is pretty
expensive and as you can imagine, if we
went straight to a lawyer, the $50,000
would go much faster. Um, those type of
services are very expensive. um there
this funding would basically allow this
specific staff to continue the work for
2026. If they didn't have this funding
then they wouldn't have access to the
staff anymore or funding for the staff
ever. So um so it is already existing
staff and already existing programming.
>> Can I ask um for the circle we can see
here that they've worked in court on
more than 700 asylum cases. Do we have
any numbers for the others? How many
people have been served the other
organizations?
>> So, it was actually So, this that is
specific.
>> No, I don't think there's any other
numbers. I would have to look at their
um their contracts. We actually don't
contract specifically with those
services, but I have access to review
their um invoicing um so I can receive
like their narrative. So, I could double
check. I wouldn't have unless they're
tracking which I don't think they are is
numbers because they're not funded by
Isabot in that program. Um this
individual um this the 700 really is
from that individual
>> um who has kind of that that background.
>> Sure.
>> To kind of show like that she has the
experience.
>> But it's a great question. I would I
would have to either ask specifically
the organization for those numbers or
see if I can find them. I wouldn't know
if I could get I wouldn't know if they
would have a squash specific.
>> I like the fact you did the homework and
that um
>> we've already been
these most of these that you looked at,
right? And so we don't have to start
scratch and
>> and as far as rapid response that it
accounts to speed a lot faster than if
you started from somebody that was
>> um just coming into the program.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. I think that's a great and circle
would have been one of the first things
that I
>> Yes.
>> Yeah. Well, thank you for that that
input and yes, again, it was this is a
um this is not typical. I don't
commissioners who've been here for many
years, we we don't u we've probably
historically in my time in the last 5
years once had one-time emergency human
services funding for rental assistance.
If it if you were all a few of you were
part of that where we partnered with our
we did this very similar process where
we partnered with our rental assistant
programs is community services in St.
Vincent and Depal and provided them
extra rental assistant funding as an
emergency onetime funding. So, we went
very similarly to this process, but um
to me it just it speaks to our
leadership's um concern for this topic
and this matter and these community
members and really wanting to show we
care as a city and we want to make an
impact where we can.
>> So, how did the discussion go um with
the staff as far as um splitting that up
or just giving it to one was it? Mhm.
Yeah, it was um that was a great
conversation with our city attorney
actually with Brendan and with our
director where we discussed um okay,
what would it look like if we did divvy
it up? Um would it be 10,000? Would it
be 25,000? Would that make an impact?
And if we're doing legal services, we
know uh from, you know, we know legal
services are expensive um comparatively
to like a case management or food
services. Um and so we just uh it
ultimate we definitely considered that
and we tried to think okay if we could
split it up it would mean more um kind
of contracting logistic process which is
fine but it would also mean potentially
less impact with less funding for each
and we what I we also did a comparison
with the other cities and kind of what
their gr grants amount
>> and their largest grant was $50,000
um for organizations and then if anybody
was under 50,000 they matched what they
were requesting. So if they requested 10
they received $10,000. Um so um but
again those services from those other
cities varied those some of them were
just basic needs some of them were
financial aid assistance. Um but we
thought okay if we went with rental
assistance I mean we know $50,000 can
help not not many households right? Um,
so that's kind of that conversation
or how that
>> Well, basically just the same
conversation we had when we were doing
the bud.
>> Yeah.
>> Came up with the same idea.
>> Yeah.
>> More impact would be
>> Yeah.
>> Based on one spot instead of giving
5,000 here or there, right?
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Exactly. Uh, sorry, Mory. I had a
question real quick if that's okay. If I
have the question, are you going to have
the feedback loop problem?
>> No, you're good. It sounds great.
>> Okay. Okay. Um, you know, I I really
really really believe in what the circle
does. Uh, things that the circle does, I
go to them. Um, I participate. I try to
help. Um, I've actually uh uh my partner
Lori has uh got uh Alicia out to uh our
church to speak to people to try to
widen the um uh uh input that we get
from for that group. Um and uh we
totally both of us totally believe in in
Alicia and what she's doing.
My concern with this is uh we have
someone um we're going to give $50,000
for a one-time thing for someone um who
is now doing 10 hours. Um and that's
probably not going to go I mean it's not
going to double their hours I'm sure um
but uh for the year. Um, but um, is that
first of all, is that person someone
that is, and I'm sure they are knowing
Alicia and how she operates, uh, is that
person someone who is going to, um, uh,
use that money. Well, um I understand
that there's the uh Northwest Lutheran
lawyer group that that they'll be
coordinating through and um and there's
some other things I'm sure that uh you
don't need a lawyer a lawyer lawyer to
do. Um you need you have a maybe a legal
aid or whoever it is that is with Alicia
there uh can do a lot of the stuff. Um
but uh I guess my question is a is that
person the the good person for this and
b are we giving the circle too much to
do and diluting what it is that they are
doing for our community as it is. Um I I
it's a concern of mine that we uh we we
don't want to take a a good a good boat
and swamp it. Um, I mean, I I know the
need's there and this is probably a
great a great deal, but those are just
two things that came to mind looking
over um your uh your memo that you sent
out.
>> Have you discussed this with Alicia?
>> Yes.
>> And is she comfortable that she has the
capacity?
>> Yes. Yes. because again that was part of
our priority wanting to make sure that
they had uh staffing for it, had
capacity for it and uh yes it has been
confirmed they have the staffing for it
and um the funding would make a prolong
the staff that they currently have for
2026.
>> So so she's confident in this person
then.
>> Yes. Yes. And uh we that was part of our
questions too like what are her
credentials? What's her background? So
got some more details from that. Um,
Alicia,
>> that goes that goes a long way to
allaying my concern.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. No, because it
was something that we wanted to make
sure um that it wasn't somebody doing
who wasn't an attorney who was doing
attorney or um that they had the
experience and the background um to be
able to support this level of work.
Alicia really used this community
navigator for the very complex because
because previously before this hire it
was Alicia and she well
admit she is no expert in legal matters.
she supported um documents the best she
could, but that's why she partnered with
this uh staff member to be able to do
the work that really she doesn't have
capacity or the knowhow to do at the
level.
>> I know that she's I know she's been
going down to the Tacoma Center and
she's been going to the the um the
trials, the u the uh immigration courts
to um to be a witness and and I know
that, you know, she's got a lot on her
plate already. So it it'd be great if
there was other people to do that,
>> you know.
>> Yes. And that has been confirmed. Yeah.
Yeah.
>> Those are great thoughts. So Mari, thank
you for bringing those concerns.
>> Yeah. I just wanted to say, I mean,
everybody's bringing up really good
points and questions.
Um, you guys done the leg work. you and
Brenda and whoever else, you guys have
done the leg work and I really
appreciate. I mean, you obviously spent
a lot of time coming up with this
proposal and you guys are I'm not even
sure if if you're asking for our
approval or if this is justformational
because um I mean I think it's great if
this is justformational.
Um I think um the circle would be a
great place to put the money. Um, for
one thing, it's the only local it's the
only local place. And you know, some of
these immigrants, they don't have
transportation to get up to Redmond and
wherever else these other places are
located. And and it's money from the
general budget that we want to spend on
our immigrant population here. So, we we
want it to be accessible. Yeah. So, I I
think giving 50 grand to the circle is
perfect.
>> Yeah. Yeah. and thank you for doing all
the live work.
>> Yeah. Yeah. And thank you for your point
and yeah, we wanted to come prepared
because we know this is a uh it's a
sensitive topic and it's a topic we all
care about deeply. Um and so we want to
make sure that we're we're doing this
right. We're serving our community the
best way that we can. And and to your
point, yes, we are seeking an action and
approval. Um Commissioner, I mean, this
is a part of your job as human services
initiatives, especially when it comes to
our funding. that's a part of part of
your role um is to help us make this
funding decision. Um this is not our
typical funding process by all means as
this is a rapid response. Um so this is
very different than what you will
experience in our upcoming application
cycle which is much more detailed. Um
and you are much more in leadership of
that. Um but uh but yes, we
with the need with the way that this
came about, we felt like it would be
best to do the homework, provide the
recommendation, and receive your input.
>> I'll say something real quick. I think I
think that is the reason why we probably
should ask for more money. I don't know
and I don't know how the 50,000 got I'm
thankful for that. But my question is
that we do have a vetted partner that's
been here spoke to our work around the
the importance around immigration
coordination and so forth. I would
actually make the argument we probably
should ask for more money. You have
Kirkland for 167
>> Redman 250 and if you really want to put
um safety within our communities I think
that starts with that. I think that's
the investment. you know, we're living
in some some tough times
>> and and that is maybe my, as we say in
my in my job, my wondering around why
how that came out around the 50,000
versus these other cities. They're all
within our region around Northeast
Founders.
>> Yeah. Yeah,
>> they're all trying to do their best in
terms of helping families and and we
have a an agency, a community pillar to
our work that's been doing this work in
terms of trustworthy uh the the
accountability uh the the the helping
our uh in cultural fest couple of time
here uh the other mas
um I'd probably make the argument why we
should give more money or try to find
ways to invest that just because they
have done the work here for many years
around our immigrant uh community.
>> I guess no, I was going to say it kind
of supports um your point of how far is
the 50,000 really going to go. I don't
know if that's one of the
>> it seems like a drop in the bucket.
>> Yeah. Over with the circle and see like
I obviously haven't I've actually
haven't been here like I wasn't here
when you guys originally met with the
circle. Um, and I don't know, Alicia,
but I've heard the circle come up pretty
often. Um, so I guess I'm curious one,
like, do they have other staff besides
Alicia that also support these services
in a non-legal capacity that that 50,000
will go towards supporting? Um, and also
this person that's providing like the 10
hours a week, that doesn't seem like a
lot.
>> Um, especially when you're hearing that
other organizations are already at max
capacity. So, how soon until the circle
sees that like, hey, we're, you know, at
80%. Like, yes, we have capacity, but
only for a little bit longer.
>> Um, and then to add to that, like I
guess the final point is like how you're
saying like the 50,000 will support this
community staff, community navigator
staff through 2026, but is that the
whole year? Is it just like couple
months?
>> Um, is it based on need? And how are
they looking into meeting that need, I
guess?
>> Yeah. Great questions. That will be a
part of the amendment process where we
just like I do with our human services
contracts. Um you see what the
application is of okay the service that
a human services organization is saying
we are going to do provide this service.
Um and and so we have a very broad
service of legal advocacy. Um Alicia and
I part of our next steps when it uh when
we meet will be um amending the contract
so that way we have a very specific
scope. So part of that scope looks like
the detailed work that's being
completed. Um the number of units um so
we can measure it um in hours, we can
measure it in um
>> case load.
>> Case load. Yeah. So there's different
ways we can do it. And then we of course
also set a goal for um how many
residents that this funding will serve.
Um so so that's part of so I don't have
those details. That's part of the next
step is is really understanding that and
I think that would probably be really
help kind of the question of okay what
is 50,000 going to do for legal services
at the circle? Um how long will this
last? Will it be the entire year? Will
it be six months? Um that will be what
I'll find out in that next step
conversation. Um and then and then maybe
that is looking at um looking at what
does requesting additional funding look
like. Um the challenge will be uh some
of our our timing, but it doesn't mean
that we can't consider that as a as a
potential next step as a commission and
see what that brings us.
>> Uh
>> yeah,
>> sorry. couple. Yeah, we'll let Moore go
first.
>> Um, how much of the Kirkland money and
the Redmond money is going to the
circle? Is there any? Um, it is a
regional I mean, they're right here in
our in our community and they do help
our community, but they also help people
that are in those communities.
>> Yes.
>> Are is any money from those those is is
there any monies from those communities
going to the circle? Uh great question.
So for city of Kirkland, no. Uh they
decided not to fund uh the circle. For
city of Redmond, um they came in to kind
of help some of the gaps of uh Kirkland
funding and they recognized the circle
as an organization to fund and I believe
they were awarded 25,000 to serve
Redmond residents. Um I
um and I think that is for legal
services as well. Um but again that will
be for that's specifically for Redmond
residents like our funding would go
specifically to Isqua residents.
>> Absolutely.
>> Yeah.
>> And then
>> well I just want to point out Redmond is
over twice as big as Isiqua and uh
Kirkland is more than twice as big. So,
not that we can make generalities,
you know, I can't assume that, well,
that must mean that there's twice as
many immigrants. You can't make that
generality, but just keep in mind that
we are a smaller city.
>> Yeah, we are a smaller city
>> and our budget is different,
>> right? And if we were to ask for more
money, it would have to go before
council, right?
>> Absolutely. Yeah, it would be quite a
process for the commission to go through
that. Um, city of Kirkland, sorry. Yeah.
City of Kirkland Commission started that
and and went to their council
requesting. Um so that's that's actually
how we received um rental assistance uh
funding back in 202122
um is that our commission went to uh
council requesting for that.
>> Yeah.
>> So that would be the process.
>> Okay. Two things. Um so
requesting more funds would go to the
council which would negate the rapid
response. Yeah, correct.
>> Okay. Um and secondly, I see that um all
these organizations have capacity. Is
that yes, they're full or yes, they have
>> chart capability of more.
>> Um yes, they have capacity.
>> They have
not the circle.
>> Um they Yes. Capacity capacity.
>> Sorry. capac the the question the this
column basically means do they have
capacity to do additional work the
circle yes and then IS for tomorrow yes
but we do need to have a further
conversation I would need to get more
details from them and then elap we no
they do not receive referrals
>> okay and um they have capacity because
of the funding funds coming in
>> yeah exactly
this one.
>> Yeah, good question.
>> I get it.
>> And um Oh, sorry.
>> Sorry. JD had something. Go ahead.
>> How do we get educated on these
incidences that happen? Are we getting
that to the police departments
>> so we know specifically when, where, how
these these occurrences are happenings
or
>> I um
people talk, right? People talk. um
there's not a very streamlined
um dedicated professional way that it's
being communicated. A lot of it is found
out in the news. Um we share it in our
northeast funders like other
municipalities. We share information. Um
we have a lot of um nonprofit connects.
So um you Alicia from the circle also
been very good about sharing stories or
um kind of specific um households who
have been impacted. uh we receive
information from our quarterly reports.
So, it's a little bit of everything, but
nothing streamlined. Um but these are
kind of part of that's kind of part of
our our job is to like understand and
know what's going um ground what's going
on the ground level, kind of pull in all
the pieces so we can pro provide a
narrative to our city leadership and
say, "Hey, this is what's going on.
We've heard x amount of incidences
um and this is why it's a concern and
why it should be a concern to our city."
If you sign up for um council member
Sarah Perry's website or Facebook or I
don't know are you familiar with Sarah?
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. And she
>> um but she reports out on her social
media.
>> That's good to know.
>> Okay. Interesting.
>> Yeah.
>> Katie, sorry you were um you were next.
Um,
oh, I actually don't know this, but does
the city of Seamish have any funding
that they could like we could also
partner since I feel like we're way
closer than like Redmond's and like
residents of Seamish were probably going
to be like Seamishes as well.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> No, it's a great thought and we have
talked Northeast Funders including
Kirkland, Renman, Belleview, Seamish. We
have discussed potentially like funding
for human services needs like such as
immigration or basic needs. Um, city of
Seamish actually has way less funding
than Isiqua. Um, their human service,
they are the smallest city with the
least amount of human services grants
funding. Um, and they don't even have a
full-time human service staff, which
many other cities have at least four.
So, yeah. So, um certainly something to
consider with we can talk talk but um um
I don't think there's funding or
interest from from current
conversations.
>> Okay. But worth asking.
>> Okay. Yeah, it's a good thought.
>> And then another question just to get
back to the circle. Do we know if they
are supporting any specific group in
terms of like for example for tomorrow
they've kind of talked about like once
detention occurs um is the circle
providing services and like support
across all range or is it only like
prior to
any separation or detention or is it
more like just know your rights I guess.
>> Yeah. Um it has been a spectrum. Um from
what I have seen and talked to and seen
in their reports, it's a little more it
it's much more detailed than just know
your rights education. Um they are
working very closely like in household
with families. They're working with the
um family members um who have been left
behind um and meeting with them weekly
um providing funding and financial aid
for for those individuals or helping out
with groceries. Um so
um but in their other services they they
have done like power of attorney and
preparation if anything was to happen.
um they have done uh working with people
for who are seeking asylum and helping
them through that process and then they
are of course helping them people in
who've been detained um who because when
you're in the detention center you still
have to pay for your food and those need
so they're helping them there and then
helping helping with the family members
who are also left and and honestly just
people who are scared they get a lot of
phone calls they people don't leave
their homes anymore they don't want want
to walk their children to school. Um so
they are supporting you know families
also kind of socially as well in that
kind of capacity.
>> So um yeah so it's it's a spectrum I
guess.
>> I I just just key on to something you
just said is that when they're in
detention they have to pay for their own
food.
>> Yeah.
>> And how are they supposed to do that?
I don't know those details but yeah it's
um it's pretty gnarly system.
Yeah. So that's why the circle has
provided we'll give I think they have
usually family members put money in an
allowance kind of like a bank account
that they can use and they can buy like
deodorant or shampoos.
>> Alicia said that the circle puts in
$100.
>> Yeah.
>> A week.
a week I think or I have notes somewhere
>> a week or a month must be a week for
everybody that's in the detention center
that's you know in our area
>> you don't have numbers on that right now
>> um I don't I'm trying to think
I I don't I think it's I don't know um
Alicia I think might be working last I
heard I think there was four or five
individuals in in the detention center
but Um, that's just off memory. I don't
know Kurt.
>> Really great conversation. Um,
>> I have one more thing, Anna.
>> Please, Mory. Oh, sorry. I didn't see
your hand. Please.
Um, I'm wondering,
uh, I I like Haime's point of, you know,
this 50,000 isn't really,
is that the limit? And is there a way we
could say yes to the 50,000 now and
maybe work to get more money later so
that we don't have to go through, we
don't have to make it stop the rapid
response. we can get the rapid response
happening and then started an initiative
to perhaps uh get more money later.
>> I think that would be the solution, my
um so we can move forward with 50,000
because that has as of November 17th
been approved. Um any other funding uh
will be amendments to that um approval
um that will take time getting to on the
council calendar um and conversations to
happen. It could require multiple
council uh meetings um to to be able to
do that and and a lot of preparation on
our end to be able to provide that
argument. I think the best way to go
about it if we want to move forward with
something like that would be to um you
know to accept the $50,000
um and to monitor it closely to see what
the impact is. Work with the circle to
see how far does 50,000 go and really
what is the need and how much. I think
we're going to have um kind of a
magnifying glass on this for a while
because this is extra funding going to
human services. Um, so I think in that
we're going to learn a lot more
information that will help build a
stronger case for more funding. I think
um what would be the most natural way of
asking for additional funding is in the
2027 2028 budget um because that is our
next um application cycle. So you will
be learning more about this um in the
coming months. But for our human
services grants, we um the dollar amount
is based off of a formula that um looks
at uh CPI. Um so the basically our
population index, it looks at um
inflation and um and it basically from
there kind of increases our funding
amount for each each year.
Um, so we have currently 667
some odd dollars annually for 2025 2026.
Um, that is an increase from $612,000
from the previous cycle. So we can
anticipate an increase. Um, but one
thing that we can also consider doing is
talking to our city leadership and city
council for additional human services
funding um, in that. So, um I think that
would be the most realistic timing to
ask for additional human services
funding, whether that's for a specific
or for more human services.
Um and so that's something that we can
continue to discuss as a commission to
figure out what that need is um and what
our dollar amounts that we're looking
for for the next cycle. Um but we can
decide that. Thank you, Kelly. Take
care.
Uh, with that in mind, Hannah, I I I
would like to move that we approve the
$50,000
uh going to the circle uh in a rapid
response fund.
>> Second.
>> Right. Thank you for your vote. So, we
have Ed um my who is motioning movement.
Trish, thank you so much for seconding.
And then we need all in favor
>> say I raise your hand.
Okay. No opposition.
Okay. Wonderful.
Well, thank you all. I know this is a a
tough conversation. It's funding um
funding's always it's always hard. Um
there's never enough money and the need
is always there um and pressing and so
I'm thankful for you all for very
intentional conversation. Um my next
steps will be to contact Alicia from the
circle to let her know um that we are
going to take actions to amend amend the
contract. So it reflects this funding
and the dollar amount. Um and then I
will provide updates for you all of of
how what that scope specifically looks
like and um how services are looking and
what additional conversations come from
there.
>> Um it is interesting. We did um allocate
what 47 something for originally
>> 42.
>> Oh we had 42,000 um for cultural
navigation services.
>> Yeah. Mhm.
>> So
in this day and time, I think it's well
spent.
>> So she's getting 92 then next year.
>> Yes. For 2026, correct? Yeah. Which is
the largest that I've ever seen an
organization from City of Biqua Human
Services. So that's that's
>> the need's big
>> need is big. Exactly.
>> Well, thank you all. That was a very
good conversation.
My last comment here is um
we we have our human services strategic
plan and I'm I'm looking at it right
now.
>> Um and one of them is cultural specific
services and I think that's the the
focus of today is how do we continue you
know not just write plans out but
actually implement and make the biggest
impact
>> uh that we can. So I just wanted to make
that on record.
>> Yeah. Thank you for bringing up our
strategic plan. It really does guide a
lot of our funding decisions. Um I will
say at this point that feels outdated.
Um our cultural specific um services are
still there, but I think it needs to be
interpreted a bit differently with the
times that that we're seeing today
versus in 2021 when that was created. Um
still important, but uh
expect um more important in a lot of
ways.
Um, I had two additional comments. So, I
feel like just in talking with different
people in the community, one thing that
I keep hearing is like, well, what is
actually happening?
>> And I don't know if maybe like one um if
there would be a way to put some sort of
like
like numbers on
like the specific services needs. So
whether it's like people that have
documents but have like laughs like
visas or people that are trying to get
their doc like that are just
undocumented. Um is it like separation?
Is it families? Um is it individuals?
um are like in what step kind of like of
the legal process are they just to like
as a city to say like hey we are
supporting these services and
>> this way
>> in this way and here's the broad range
of people that are in need. It's not
just like I feel like sometimes
especially with the news people usually
just say like oh it's undocumented
people they're just here trying to take
our jobs and it's like no like there's
>> it's way more complex than that. Um,
we've heard a lot of people in other
states that are going to the court
system and for their um, process and
that's where they're getting stopped
even though they're following exactly
what they're supposed to be following.
>> Um, so I don't know if there's any sort
of stats. I know it's it's really weird
to talk about people in the sense of
stats, but I think it could help the
communication and then just to raise
awareness um kind of like Kelly
>> was u mentioning and it's a simpler way
for others that maybe are not involved
in the space as much to be able to
process it as well and be able to say
like oh actually the need is bigger than
I realized you know. Um, so that's one
thing. And then
>> the second thing is really more of a
resource for people that are in this
situation. So I know that there was the
email that went out from the city of
Isiqua of like here's a link uh with a
list of resources. Um, and then as I was
reading through this, I saw like there's
some days that are providing like who
was it?
like there's like different days that
they're offering weekly, virtual, or in
person, three-hour cultural um help
desks. So, I don't know if there's like
a one pager. I feel like it might be a
lot more uh helpful for people in the
situations to see like, right, if you
send them a link and they're already in
crisis and there's
>> 10 other links inside that web page,
they're not going to know where to
start, right? Or they may call someone,
they might say, "Sorry, we're out of
capacity." So maybe creating one sort of
one pager that says like hey sorry what
is this organization
um
IAS we'll hold weekly three-hour
sessions at this location on this day
from this hour to this hour and then
this other organization supports
>> um I think for tomorrow was doing
something similar and so it's like what
day what time yeah
>> what's the location
>> um and it's all the different
organizations that are doing some sort
of work in this area.
>> Yeah.
>> And then that can just be like for
additional details maybe scan this QR
code but at least in a one pager that
just has this organization these days
these hours here
>> this organization these days these hours
here as something that can be more
>> um just impactful for when people are
looking for where to go.
>> Yeah. Um, and yeah, and then in addition
to that, I saw on the uh resources page
in in Isiqua, ELAP was there.
>> Um, and I think it said something about
like being able to provide legal
services,
>> but then I know that um we mentioned
here that they don't they're at capacity
and they don't have that. So, it's kind
of like
>> right
>> one of those that's hard to keep on
there. Like, do you keep it, do you not?
Um, but just something that I I flagged
cuz I'm like imagine you're calling
through all these different services and
they're like, "Nope, we're at capacity."
And it's like, okay, one more that
>> kind of feels like shutting you down.
>> Yeah.
>> So,
>> really good points. I love your because
I do think that's a common question of
like, well, like
>> what is actually going on? Like what is
the actual concern? And I think that
will help guide maybe the um scope
creating with the circle. So, they can
help us kind of gather the data. That's
really hard to gather, but they could
provide some broad numbers for that. And
that would I think help with kind of
additional funding requests or just
again that um narrative that to help
>> yeah show their impact like it's it's
hard but
>> to put numbers together especially when
you're talking about people. But I think
it it goes a long way towards showing
the impact and maybe even
>> getting access to additional funding
leading.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And then I love
your idea for as a one pager. We have I
brought these just cuz I just wanted to
show you the kind of what we have. So
these are kind of um resource cards for
people who are in crisis just on the
streets or just need immediate services.
And so it has the shelter information or
safe parking information on the back. It
has um kind of 247 kind of phone numbers
for people in crisis or clinics in the
area. Um and then basic means with that
QR code for additional services. So when
you were saying that I'm like, "Oh, we
have that for people in crisis." It
would be great to have create something
similar concept. Yeah.
>> Um kind of for like know your rights on
one side of the page resources on the
back saying um kind of the the base that
we know are
>> is specific services vetted and we know
they have capacity um with the QR code.
I love that idea.
>> I piggyback off James um about the
stats. I think also you add in how many
children are being helped as that's
always
>> that's a powerful statement
>> and also I realize that um sometimes
information is purposely um vague
>> so that
>> protect people
>> the ice doesn't um
>> get a hold of it
>> right so I think you have to be real
careful of
>> that's true absolutely and I I agree to
that but I think to the extent And of I
probably spent over 20 minutes um just
at work today trying to find like
something concrete and that was a little
bit challenging to
>> um and I was just sitting at my desk had
nothing to do and I was like okay let me
kind of click through the links and see
what I can find and then
>> um it was interesting to me like I feel
like I got more concrete information
obviously from a staff report that to
your point it's more detailed and it's a
safe area to share information but I
don't know if there's anything like that
created
>> um for for people that actually need it.
Um
>> yeah, no, I think I think that's a
really good point and something that we
can improve as a
>> Yeah. And I mean obviously maybe it's
not shared publicly, but maybe it's
something that the circle has and then
can share it with other families at or
even within like schools. Um
>> yeah,
>> but I think that's really um
>> that is our job is kind of creating the
pulling together these these detailed
narratives and stories and being able to
put it at as a highlevel statement
impactful statement for our city
leadership and basically try in that
statement saying this is why you should
care and this is the problem. Yeah. And
so that's that's what we get to work and
do with stad. So, um, Preston's still
on.
>> Preston?
Yes.
>> Yeah, I'm still on.
>> Has he heard anything
from the, um, deans or anything that's
happening in
>> Yeah.
>> anything from your peers or for your
from your community, Preston, in on this
topic?
>> Oh, yeah. when we um I know that at
least there was a lot of social media
presence um during the with information
about the
ICE incident in with that child care
center. Um there was a lot of social
media presence especially on like
Instagram where people were reposting
and posting about it and voicing their
opinions. Um, so I've been listen I have
I've been listening for this and I do
think um obviously I support it. I'm not
actually I I think I'm not allowed to
vote, but yeah, in favor, but um I think
it's really important to advocate for
this and to um continue to support not
only local profits that are helping this
community, but helping in such a time of
like um p a panic and need not only for
the people affected, but for just like
general concern in the community
overall, because this is a really
important topic, not only in Isiqua, but
essentially nationwide at this point.
>> Absolutely. Very well said, Preston.
Thank you.
>> Oh, commissioners, you have some really
good input, some really great insight,
and it really makes me excited for our
future of next year looking at grants
and and making these tough decisions and
having these tough conversations. So re
really appreciate just your
professionalism, your respect and your
your care. Truly it it comes across. So
thank you all.
>> All right, we on to reports.
>> Um any reports from the group?
Um well I went to um
uh the Halloween
>> DS day. What?
>> Yeah. And I thought it was Yeah.
>> I thought it was really well attended.
>> Yeah.
>> Did anybody else go?
>> Yeah, I went. It was great.
>> Yeah. And it was really well attended.
Yeah.
>> I I heard there was a lot of um city
council members who attended some city.
that we always appreciate when they come
to our city events.
>> Yeah,
>> I attended a community lunch. Maybe some
of you are familiar with it, but it was
my first time. It's in the fire station.
It's not the Catholic community services
lunch. It's not that. It's held on
Thursdays at noon.
>> Do you know about that?
>> Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
>> Oh, okay. Um, yeah. And I met some folks
there. I met the oldest participant who
has been attending for almost 20 years.
She's 102.
>> Oh my gosh.
>> She comes to lunch.
>> Yes.
>> And her friends drive her there.
>> Oh. And it is such an amazing community.
Um it is not
>> it is not just a community for like the
nons. It is truly building community
across.
>> And I'm sorry. This was at the Where was
it?
>> It's in the It's in the community. What?
What is that? It's It's a community
hall.
>> The community hall in the fire station
building.
>> So, the same place that they do.
>> The same place, but it is only Thursdays
uh at 12 and I think they might have a
weekend day that they told me.
>> They do weekend um meals. So, we we fund
um Isiqua Meals program services. Their
Monday through Friday um 365 days meal
program. Um but there is um a different
they're not even a nonprofit.
This is this is a group of people who 20
years ago decided we need to feed the
hungry in our community and they have
done it ever since. It's potluck style.
>> Um and they really wanted the
commissioners who don't know about it to
know about it. So
>> they don't have a name. It's uh
>> every Thursday
>> every Thursday at noon anybody is
welcome.
And I, you know, when I was there, I saw
folks that presumably are of all income
levels. Obviously, I did not ask them.
Um, I saw
day laborers who were coming in to eat
lunch. Um, uh, there were professors
there. I mean, there were there was
basically like every segment of society.
And I asked them how many people they
serve and they said like at least 50
each lunchtime. So, it is a need um that
they're meeting. And above all, I was
just really impressed with the community
that was being built. There's
generations of people,
>> different racial and ethnic,
>> you know, groups and Yeah.
>> Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing.
>> We really want everybody to know that
they
>> and to support them through word of
mouth and
>> Yeah. to check come out and check it out
and value what they do.
>> Yeah. I've been there where they've done
birthday parties and and brought out
cakes and
>> Oh, that's really cool.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. We we don't like monitor. It's
not, you know, funded things. So, we
don't have that data or information. So,
that's really great. Um, for comparison,
our meals program is anywhere usually
between 25 and 40 individuals each
night. So, that sounds like it's pretty
hopping.
>> And they did specifically say it is not
funding that we're looking for. We just
want people to know that we're doing
this and to support us feeding the
hungry.
>> That's great.
>> I think is it a church group that
started it and they
>> I feel like that's true. Yes. Because
Wes who is Do you know him? He's he's he
was a professor of religion at Seattle
University and he's like one of the main
organizers there.
>> It was through his church community many
years ago.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> Great. That's great that you went.
>> Yeah, it was it was really it was
amazing.
>> How was lunch?
>> Delicious.
>> They Okay, so about lunch, it's not just
whoever is bringing whatever or um it is
they are so intentional about providing
a balanced meal. So, there will always
be a salad, there will be two kinds of
soup, a vegetarian option, there will be
a home-cooked hot dish. So, they're
trying to really balance it. And then of
course you've got the fun things like
you know the junk cupcakes and stuff.
But
>> yeah,
>> but they try to be really intentional
knowing that nutrition matters to people
who might be food insecure. So
>> make that meal count.
>> That's junk.
>> Um I volunteered at the Isqua Community
Closet event.
>> Oh, last week. Two weeks ago maybe.
>> Yeah, you did.
>> Um at Pickering Barn.
>> They had over a thousand people come
through the barn. I was going to stay
for about a half hour and like three
hours later.
>> Yeah.
>> Great.
>> Yeah.
>> It was bonkers.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. We knew there would be a lot more
people interested in this event, but I
don't think we anticipated it. Yeah. The
number
>> donations. It's seven tons of clothing.
>> Yeah, it was quite a bit.
>> I five of them.
>> Five.
>> More than that, Manny. Come on now.
>> Did you say you you went there?
>> Yes. Yes, he did. Twice. You stopped by
twice.
>> It was lovely. Yeah. Well, appreciate
that participation. It's It's a really
fun event. So,
>> I do want to give kudos to uh um here
have the Isiqua tree giveaway program.
>> Yeah. I didn't know. I had no idea. I
just know a couple of my neighbors are
like, "Hey, we got we signed up for
these
>> tree giveaway." And I'm like, "What what
are you talking about? We have a truck.
Can you go pick up trees?" I'm like,
"Okay, it's like at the big green barn."
I'm like, "All right." And here I am lo
the truck and they're all very great.
You have a team park rangers and
>> Yeah.
>> Um
>> only one park ranger officially. Yeah.
Alex.
>> Yeah. There you go. I got to meet him.
>> Yeah. Alex.
>> Definitely. Huge props to that program.
>> Yeah. No, it's great.
>> Like the whole green Eiqua is amazing.
>> They really mobilize our volunteers and
keep our parks great and
>> Yeah. It's part of the charm of this
process.
>> Yes.
>> All right. Preston, anything from you in
terms of youth report?
>> Um, I don't think I have anything today.
>> No worries.
>> Sorry.
>> We'll get you next time.
>> All right. Um,
>> I guess I had something to add.
>> Yes.
>> Okay. And it actually originated with um
Lucier.
Um
your team
recently housed a a council member sent
me this information. You your team
recently housed somebody that had been
unhoused here for like decades.
>> Yes. 30 years. Oh gosh. and uh you guys
because you built relationship and made
them feel comfortable they agreed to
move to a place in Seattle, right?
>> Yeah. So I mean you can share more about
that.
>> Yeah. I I think it's all because of our
coordinated entry program that we
started participating in with the King
County uh homeless what's it called?
>> HMIS system. What does that stand for?
I'm drawing a blank.
>> Homeless management information system.
Sorry. So, we're now able, the
behavioral health coordinators are now
able to do the coordinated entry
assessment, which gets them on a list
for housing in all different areas. And
so, then not only are they on a list,
they're also being nominated. So, Lisa,
Amir, and Kyle are daily nominating
them. As we find out places are coming
available, we can say yes, they've
agreed that they will live here or, you
know, they all have different
requirements.
>> And so, that has has absolutely changed
the work that we're doing. I think there
have been six in the last We've been
doing it for about six months and about
six.
>> Um, and we're also working with the
faith communities to donate these
welcome home baskets. So, as they move
in, we have these baskets full of
cleaning supplies and and it's really
overwhelming for someone who's been on
the street, you can imagine, for all
these years. They don't know what they
need and and some of these places
provide the basics, some bedding and and
some general things like that. But we're
able to now give them this nice basket
and some a broom and and all kinds of
things. So, we're really excited about
it.
>> And and I might mention that this place,
I understand, has supportive services.
They do.
>> So, this person's moving into a place
not only just to live, but there's and I
can't even describe what the supportive
services are, but there's supportive
services.
>> It's case management. It's um
>> case management. anything from helping
them get plugged into work or benefits
or
>> mental health um treatment, substance
abuse treatment. So, a variety of
different things.
>> Yeah, that's great.
>> We have uh two more who have been
approved who were we're waiting right
now for their spot to come open. They
can't one of the buildings in the Queen
Anne area, they weren't able to move
everyone in at once, so they're
staggering. So, uh, this gentleman that
you're talking about was number 12 to go
in there and we have two more who are
any day.
>> Yes.
>> Do do you find that any of the homeless
that you're working with just refuse to
leave as the
>> absolutely and even some of the people
even this gentleman for for the past two
years that I've known him has said, "No
way. I'm not leaving." And I think that
the data will be really interesting over
these next months or year to see how
many people that are actually placed in
those housing units, how many stay
>> because it's a big it's a big loss of
their support.
>> Yeah.
>> Um I'm a part of the Isiqua Gospel
Network and today we had a great
conversation about that very thing is
some people are saying don't take the
housing because now all of a sudden
you're isolated and and people are
overdosing and they don't have those
supports that they used to have out on
the street. So, we're working with other
people to try to help support that. So,
not just moving someone in, but staying
connected
>> and a lot of them will take the bus back
to Isqua just to hang out, check in, and
>> okay, let us know how they're doing. So,
>> yeah, thanks for bringing that up.
That's it's been really exciting for us.
>> Oh, yeah. That when I saw the email,
it's really exciting.
>> Yeah.
>> All right. Anything else from the
status?
>> No. My I have a self report.
>> What's that?
>> I got that before. I'll be ready for
that one.
>> All right. Um so, uh staff reports
sometimes are short, easy, sometimes
they're long. Um today they're a little
bit long. I wanted to use this as an
opportunity to share a few human
services initiatives that are happening
in our city. Um and uh so you have them
also printed out in front of you for
reference. Um so again, part of the
staff report I provide just specifically
mayor and city council updates. Um so
wanted to kind of go through that real
quick. Um so we've already discussed
November 17th um mid bianium budget was
approved uh with that additional funding
for human services. Um I also want to
share uh you may have reme recall our
our mayor um has been reported on this
maybe once um been meeting with our
local isa nonprofit organizations really
the start of this year um with a lot of
unknowns happening with federal funding
cuts um as policies have continued to
change. There's been concern about with
immigration and with ICE uh policy
changes as well as most recently with
SNAP benefits um freezing and how will
that impact our community. Um so very
thankful for a mayor who it really u
wants to work closely with our
nonprofits and really better understand
um what is going on and and the
intention of these meetings are to
really um to track data track
information um to create a narrative
that can be brought to our legislative
and state level for additional funding
or policy changes that could help and
impact human services. Um the feeling
that we are and sense that we're having
is we are in a human service crisis. Um
and we just basically need to provide
the data, the narratives um to our state
and legislative um level um to be able
to make these changes. And so that's
that's what her goal is for these
meetings. Um they were quarterly, they
are now moving monthly um because there
are just a lot of things changing. Um
and so with that, um as you are probably
all aware, um our city mayor is
retiring. She's stepping down and we
have a new city mayor coming in. Um so
with that, there's a few unknowns. Um
but fortunately, this initiative is
going to continue with deputy council
president um D. Michelle. Um so she will
she has been at these meetings and she
will continue um to take ownership and
leadership of this. So, um, very
thankful for, um, just leadership
listening to our nonprofits.
Um, I also want to share an update in
regards to our opportunity center. Um, I
can't recall if we've talked about it
briefly here in human services
commission. Um, opportunity center is a
project that the city's been working on
for 10 plus years.
>> We did. We did. We did.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Um, and um, so we
do have an update in regards to that. So
that is a affordable apartment complex
coming in at the squad transit center.
Um and the city has 10,000 square feet
to use for operation of behavioral
health, medical and dental um for
affordable services, people who accept
Medicaid or at a sliding scale. Um the
funding is very specific that we that
it's uh those services are provided at
um with using the space. So, we recently
um put out we not not human services,
our executive department, uh we helped
support um this, but there's a letter of
interest out to our community partners
and nonprofits. Um basically um saying
here's our initiative, here's our
request. Um if you are interested,
please answer these questions. Um so
that's currently out to I think we sent
it to 30 plus partners. Um but um I
think we're open if anybody has any kind
of specific organizations or even
individual providers um that you got
think might be interested. I think this
is a very broad
this is a very broad um letter of
interest that we we are really just
trying to see who is available to do
this. Um, we originally had two main
providers, Valley Cities and
remember the other one, Valley Cities
and I'm
>> Wasn't Sound?
>> No.
>> Um, but they they basically don't have
capacity when they agreed to it about 5
years ago. Um, so we are kind of a
little bit um starting over to figure
out who has capacity now. Um, so it'll
be interesting to see what we find out.
Um, this is not free space. We are
looking to rent it out. Um but there is
funding to for the the build. So if an
organization says yes, we can do it. Um
basically they can say this is how many
offices we need or this is the medical
you know rooms that we need and so we
can help support that.
Any questions or comments in regards to
either one of those?
>> Can we see the list of the organizations
that it went out to available to us?
>> Um yeah, I can I can email it. Is
anybody else interested? I know Ry, this
is a topic that you're probably very
interested in. So, we'd be happy to have
a follow-up conversation with you in
regards to this,
>> especially for the providers that um
receive funding through Medicare and
Medicaid.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Would love to kind of have
you take a look at that list for sure.
Thank you.
Okay. And then, um I think this is
shared a little bit, but I just want to
I'm going to share my screen. Um there's
been a lot going on as mentioned uh with
uh immigration policy changes with
federal funding uh with the government
freeze I mean all of it right so
out of this um so the city I just want
to share kind of some of the city
response
um in what we have done so um we've we
discussed this here but we do have a um
a topic in human services it's
integration resources
Um, so this is kind of what JD was
talking about kind of this lengthy email
or list frequently asked questions. Um,
but this is it is a helpful um kind of
resource to point people to at least for
initial concerns and kind of that you
know Q&A. I'm hearing multiple times
from from comm community members what is
the city doing? Um so currently our
action items are you know we're
providing emergency funding right now
and we have um we have communicated our
uh resources that are available.
And then in regards to um food resources
recognizing that um our SNAP benefits u
for many of our community members um uh
froze and there was a lot of unknowns in
that. We anticipated a lot of people in
need um and so we really partnered with
um the Silkot Food and Clothing Bank to
make sure they had um kind of the
support that they needed. They did uh
report that they had quite a bit of
increase in volunteers and donations
which has helped. Um but we've also here
posted some just emergency food support
um additional food banks knowing that
people will have to probably shop at uh
additional places, hot meal options and
those things. So that is a helpful tool
to have.
Um, and then the other thing that I
>> my understanding is SNAP cards are being
filled for November, right, for state of
Washington. Now, is is December up in
the air or
>> from what I understand? Yes.
>> Okay.
>> Yes. I mean, we'll see how the state
responds. Um,
>> with that, has there been more interest
in food bank? And
>> I was wondering that too. Um, you do you
mean is there um
>> more turnover flow through? I guess are
they serving more people?
>> Are they serving more people because
SNAP benefits have been cut?
>> That that's what we have heard kind of
from the food bank and from our other
nonprofits is um specifically needs and
the type of need has increased not just
for food bank for for many of our other
nonprofits. Did you want to add anything
else? just I met with Stephanie at the
food bank recently kind of right right
after the SNAP thing started and they
were in really good shape then but she
was expecting and then couple weeks
>> after a couple weeks they would have
more data on that. So
>> I'll circle back with her and see how
they how the month ended for them.
>> But in general even before the snap they
were up
>> uh year to date I think over a thousand
>> more people than the year before. So
>> thousand total or weekly
>> and I think total new people out
>> and just in that week that I had met
with her since the SNAP announced the
the cut um or since the government
announced the cut it was I think 30 new
families that week and then and that was
about two weeks ago. So it's time for me
to follow back up with her. But
>> yeah,
>> like Hannah said they were in good shape
then with so many volunteers coming
forward and donations.
So they
>> Yeah. And and with that, we actually um
I I think I was surprised by this,
pleasantly surprised. We received a lot
of response from our community members
asking, "Well, wait a minute. How do we
help? Like I I don't mean this, but I
want to make sure I help the people who
do." Um and so we decided to respond um
with kind of a help your neighbors
thrive campaign of um partner with our
organizations. So here are some local
organizations. Here's what they do.
here's how you can help to um volunteer
or to donate or different things like
that. I
>> mean community members actually called
the city
>> called the city called emailed us saying
how do we help
>> the food bank too
>> and the food bank. Yeah. But
>> and they the calls were then routed to
you guys probably.
>> Yeah. Emails directly to our to our
email. Yeah. So
>> yeah.
>> Um which again I just I think that's a
testament to how much our community
cares.
>> Yeah. um you know we are a community
that um in in some ways affluent in
other ways very much in need and so to
see people step up and want to help
their neighbors is a beautiful thing. So
I just appreciate that about this this
city.
Um so yeah so just wanted to share again
some some things that we're we're trying
to respond to in the ways that we have
capacity to as a city. Um so you can
find those online. The last thing I want
to do is some logistics. So, I love
scheduling out meetings and talking
about what's ahead of us. So, um the way
that I did it this time is I made u just
so you have reference of what we've
done. We've done a lot in 2025. We met
with a lot of great organizations, very
successful, very busy. Um but we we are
transitioning now to prepare for the
application review process. Um so, um
and in that we also have a few other
special meetings. Um, so I I just need
some feedback of how you would like to
move forward with some scheduling and
some rescheduling. Um, so we're going to
go through kind of each month of kind of
what to expect for kind of the basically
next nine months or so. Um, and then we
can kind of discuss what makes the most
sense for everybody. Um, so we have
decided we're going going to take a
break in December. Yay for all holidays.
Um, and enjoy some good hopefully family
time and some rest and peace. Um and
then um the joint meeting with our
equity board for transportation
presentation is now rescheduled to be on
um equity boards schedule. So it'll be
on January 7th.
>> Does that start at 6:30?
>> That's actually a great question. I
think they start at 6.
>> Oh.
>> So um I would love to know if any again
this is this is a what we considered a
special meeting. Um so it's not a part
of our regular scheduled meeting. Um and
uh we could have a few people attend. We
can have all of us attend. Um but um if
you are not able to attend, please let
me know.
>> I'm interested in attending.
>> Great.
Anybody able to not attend that they
know of already with their schedule
complex?
>> Is remote access available?
>> Yes, remote access will for sure be
available. Absolutely. Um and locations
u most likely will be Gibson Hall but
still TBD. Um so that is January 7th. So
then that brings us to January 21st. Um
that is our regular meeting um that we
technically have scheduled. So we need
to decide if that is a meeting that we'd
like to meet at or not. Let me continue
with the rest of the schedule and that
might help decide what makes sense for
us. The next meeting is February 18th.
However, um if you are I don't know if
you are familiar, but we do we have a
religious um holiday calendar. So if it
conflicts with certain religious
holidays, we don't have um public
meetings. So um the one for 2026 is on
February 18th. Um so we do need to look
to reschedule that meeting. Um so again,
we can consider cancelling it. Please
consider just rescheduling it as a
special meeting for different um first
day of Ramadan.
>> Oh, that's how I should know that.
>> I'm going to be fasting
your calendar.
>> Oh my god.
>> Wow.
>> Take it off for that.
>> Well, it's not off. Um like we all still
work but but we are trying to respect
those holidays so we don't have public
meetings.
>> Okay.
>> Okay.
Yeah. Yeah. So,
>> the city council also
>> That's awesome.
>> City council does it. Yeah. So, we
adjust meetings so we can um respect um
specific holidays. This was initiative a
few years ago that the equity board or
human services.
>> Yeah. They didn't take my birthday off
though.
>> Actually, the equity.
>> Um okay. So again, we'll we'll come back
to the January and February um one. I
just uh keep going here. So March 14th
um this is going to be our equity or so
every cycle we have a joint east side
human services commission equity
training um right before we review the
applications. Um so this year we have
decided um to um have it as a three-hour
chunk which means we'll need to do it on
a Saturday. Yay. Um, so it will be at
Redmond City Hall from 9:00 to noon.
We'll have coffee and snacks. Um, and so
more details on that to come.
>> Who is facilitating it?
>> Um, Community Rise is the so the same
facilitator from last time. However,
there are a lot of adjustments of how
we're doing.
>> Okay. I wasn't very impressed with them,
but I was one of those people online.
>> Yes. So, I will say and you'll note
here, I'm so so sorry team. It is in
person only because of that,
>> right?
>> So, if you're not able to attend, I I am
so sorry. There's no virtual options. We
will have to just fill you in next time.
Um I hope you all can attend in person.
Um it's just one of those meetings that
they just cannot accommodate virtually,
unfortunately. I
um had some fun conversations trying to
advocate for that, but I did not win.
So,
that's where we're at. No, I think I
think you know if people can make it,
it's better to all it
>> is better. Yeah,
>> but I wasn't impressed with that that
particular group as facilitators.
>> Yeah, we are working with them very
closely to have a lot more hands-on. So,
the plan the kind of agenda that we're
looking at is we're going to have have
like pre-work knowing that not
everyone's going to be able to do it,
but we're going to have some pre-work to
kind of set some foundational stuff. The
first hour will be kind of um some kind
of we know that everybody's on a
different equity journey and on
different some people are are brand new
to equity training some people are
experts at it um I have found that this
commission is a little more on the
expert end um and has had more
experience thought and knowledge in it
um comparatively but um so there will be
some foundational training um there's
going to be breakout groups inerson
breakout groups so there can be some
smaller kind of conversations and
discussion. Um, and then there's also
going to be like a followup. So, one of
the things that this group provided
feedback for um that we're making sure
we have for this equity training is that
we are going to basically say, "Okay,
Redmond, Kirkland, Samish Commissioners,
it was great chatting with you, hearing
your perspective. We learned this. We
took this, but now we're going to bring
it back home and we're going to talk
about it and we're going to really dive
deeper into it as a here on this
commission." And that's where it leads
us into March 18th. We're going to keep
that as a regular meeting so we can have
timely conversation um in regards to the
equity training followup.
So,
and then we'll discuss if we like it or
not for next time.
So, hopefully there's an improvement
because I agree there was some
opportunities missed and opportunities
for a better training. So, we hope this
will facilitate that. So, yeah. Yeah.
So, March 18th will be our equity
training um followup um and then
potentially grant preparation.
Um and then April 15th, this will be a
quick turnover for staff for us, but um
the application closes like April 7th or
some somewhere early April. Um so, what
the my hope is by April 15th that we'll
have basically the general numbers.
We'll tell you how many organizations
applied, how much funding was requested.
um we'll have it by our subgroups, those
things. And then um we'll make decisions
on um subgroup assignments at that point
and then um so then from there um you'll
also be trained on like how to access
everything kind of the logistics of the
application. So then from there, April
to May, our next meeting, you'll have
time basically to just dabble into it.
look at one, maybe two applications and
come prepared to ask questions on the
20th meeting where we'll just kind of
say, "Okay, how's this process going?
What kind of questions do you have?
What's the review process? Making sure
our toolkits up up to speed, all that."
June, we will not have a meeting because
you're going to be meeting in
subcommittees. So, we'll have smaller
groups with that aren't quorum. So, no
regular meeting, but you are meeting at
least twice a month to have that those
kind of unrecorded conversations about
those applications and to make um to
make those decisions. Um and then July,
we'll have our report out and then come
August or September, we'll have um we'll
basically have our recommendation by
then.
So the one thing that we um have not had
or what we need to talk about is making
sure that we have between now and April,
I guess May, we have enough time to feel
like everybody here is trained in the
application review process. So, what
that's going to look like is a training
of um kind of the background
information,
um the application,
how to access the application, um how to
review it, and then the big one is the
toolkit. So, we use a specific toolkit
that I think has worked really well for
this group. It's basically kind of um a
two two-tier process. first is we go
through the applications in your
subgroup and we decide it's a it's a
red, yellow, green process. So, yes, we
should definitely fund them. I don't
know how much yet. Maybe we should.
Let's talk more about it. Or no, they're
not aligned. We have a toolkit that
really helps guide us those decisions.
So, what's in a green category is
labeled as this, a yellow, and then a
red category as this. Um that's what
we're going to go into details for so
everyone feels prepared in looking at
the applications and then add the equity
training we hopefully be well equipped
to um start looking at applications come
April.
>> Now we might have another commissioner.
So that is the other thing that kind of
is a little complex with this is that
come May 20th
will be there'll be a new we have a
vacant position that we're looking to
fill and if anybody steps down
we might have other positions to fill
that.
So it what that will require is um
one-on-one training with those
individuals to kind of get them up to
speed. So it'll be doable. But yes, we
probably have one to two additional
people.
Um so going back though to the kind of
So now I just my hope is that laying out
like what's what's ahead of our schedule
um and what we need to accomplish. Um
let's rewind to January and February.
Um, we basically need to make sure we
have time to talk about our toolkit and
dissect it, change it, update it, and
then making sure that we have enough as
a commission, enough time for training
in the application process. That can
take one meeting, that could take one to
two meetings.
>> I suggest that we keep the meeting for
January 21st.
>> We have a lot of new people
>> and maybe possibly go through a scenario
or how things work.
>> Yeah. And uh you know because that
toolkit does take a little bit of
>> work to get.
>> Yep. Yep. Great.
>> Are you proposing
>> Commissioner Money around maybe keeping
the 21st and then council on the 18th?
>> Yeah,
>> that's what I I when I look at this I if
I
>> Yeah. And then we would have that we
would know whether or not we need the
February meeting. I I think I think what
we could do is do like a very um I think
we could be very intentional on the 21st
really um go through kind of the the
kind of highlevel background so everyone
feels like orientated about what is
going on uh with grant application
process and then we can dive deeper into
our toolkit because that does take a
little bit of time um and I think that
could be easily done on one meeting um
and then come March 18th we'll have a
very Uh, nope. Sorry. March 18th.
Um, so with the so if we skip February
18th keeping okay
>> instead of rescheduling it, we'll have
kind of two in March. So that's kind of
I we have two in January, we'll have two
in March
>> and possibly skip February.
>> Um, with skipping Yeah, with skipping
February, we could also wait to make a
decision and see how do we feel in
January? Do we feel a little bit
overwhelmed and we need to have a little
like we need to kind of slow down and
really start looking at things again? We
can certainly keep a February meeting so
we can make that decision. Um I think
with March 18th meeting we're going to
have probably an hour plus conversation
in regards to the equity training
followup and we could probably um
probably use about 30 minutes for kind
of grant prep. We will also have April
15th uh or yeah April 15th we'll also
have grant preparation because we'll
have a report out of okay overview of
what it is. Now let's go and let's do it
um another training on it since it's so
that way it's fresh in your minds.
>> Yeah. I think the April May is when the
overwhelming comes.
>> Yes, I agree. Because you're meeting
outside of the regular monthly meeting
>> trying to make sense out of stuff. I
don't know if you need a break before
that, but I think if you're comfortable
with the tool blocks and that it will be
you don't there's be one part of the
process you don't have to worry about.
>> Yeah, that's true. And you know we are
trying to give you commissioners like a
month to kind of like test the waters a
little bit, try it out like and so that
will basically it's it come June June
and July is really when you are going
deep dive into the applications.
>> It's fine. fun.
I
>> was going to say for those of us who are
new,
>> how do you define fun?
>> Yeah.
>> Don't make sense.
It'll make sense.
>> I like getting into the nitty-gritty.
So, don't I like read reports and stuff.
So,
>> kind of rips you out as soon as you
think.
>> Yeah,
that's true.
>> Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, commissioners, I'm
hearing January 21st. Yes. And then
February 18th, we will cancel. And then
March, we got a double double meeting.
And then April, we'll get right into it.
Okay. Excellent.
>> Mor, you good with that?
>> I'm good with that.
>> Lovely. Okay. Thank you. All right,
commissioners. Appreciate your time on
that.
Um, I did have a question about the
information you you had out for helping
the homeless as far as getting
information. Is that information
available at the library?
>> Oh, like these resource cards
>> um cards or how they can get help from
different services?
>> Uh, at the library, I believe. So, we
used to have the library hours. We
haven't done that in a while. Yeah, we
used to staff over there once a week.
Um, let me check in with Carla and see
what they have.
>> Yeah,
>> they used to I know they they refer a
lot of people to us, so I think they
have the information over there still,
but I'll
>> you can look it up hard copy, right?
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay. And other business over there,
other announcements or business
controls? Oh, you were nice. Um, I know
I brought this up a couple times before,
but I really believe that um our
our youth representative needs a vote.
>> Okay.
>> Uh I don't know if we have to go through
change of bylaws or or what, but um I
think if we're going to get other youth
engaged,
we have to be more than just present.
Absolutely. Um let me talk to our city
clerks about uh Preston's role. Um we
would love to have um him to have a
vote. He might might I I may not be just
be aware of that. Um some boards and
commission have specifically like a
position that is a youth representative.
We actually as a commission don't have
that. We just have had um volunteers
youth representatives come in. Um, so
that would be a bylaw change if we
wanted to look at that as a commission,
which we certainly can. Um,
um, but let me
let me ask and let me come and bring
this back in 2026 when I see you again.
>> And I guess I can ask Preston. Preston,
do you want to vote?
>> Sure.
>> All right. Well, we're going to give you
a vote.
>> Next one, too. Preston.
>> Yeah, we got Preston's place, but you've
been with us, Six years. How long? No,
it's Yeah. No, I totally agree. I think
that that's a great point. So, we we
would love to support that.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. Thanks, Manny.
>> Any other announcements from the group?
>> I had a question.
>> Okay. I was I was I had a lot of time on
my hands today. So, I was doing a lot of
digging online and I was um I couldn't
find like all the past presentations
from the other providers I have
presented previously. And I don't know
if we have that saved in a folder
somewhere. I just couldn't find it.
>> I know sometimes they'll share it like
just like
>> Oh, their powerpoints.
>> Their powerpoints and like they'll send
those over email, but I wasn't sure if
we like shared those or kept those like
in an email somewhere.
>> Yeah, cuz um I didn't put them on our
agenda. Um I would need to follow up
with those um
>> providers cuz I didn't receive a copy of
them or most of them I didn't. Um, we do
have a YouTube channel that this gets
posted to. Um, so if you wanted to re we
re rewatch things on YouTube.
>> Okay.
>> I think this YouTube can find commission
and boards.
>> Okay.
>> This is all public recorded and posted.
So yeah.
>> Um, so that's where you can at least
find that like real quick. But if you
want me to follow up if there's any
anyone you're looking for specifically
or is there are you looking for all of
them? Well, I was looking for more of
the ones that I hadn't participated. So,
like everything before May.
>> Um,
>> but then I was like, oh, like I remember
like a couple different presentations
that were really good. And I was like,
oh, like additional details and
>> Yeah.
>> just to kind of like refresh and
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Like I've had like friends that will ask
me sometimes like how can we support and
I'm like there's a really good
organization for that. Let me look
through all my notes. But I'm like,
yeah, obviously if there was like
something that we could like at least
share, not everything, but like, oh,
hey, this organization is doing this
type of service. Here's how you can
support or whatever.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Um, the website I shared um would be
really great just for that specifically.
Um, but YouTube to kind of reook at
video I think would be the quickest way
right now.
Thank you.
Oh, and so then for next year there
won't be any moreations,
>> right?
>> Yeah.
>> I mean, they are welcome to come as a
public um and make a public comment at
this point. Um but since it's a
application review year, we are
sensitive to making sure it's kind of
equally fair. Yeah.
>> All right. Hey,
>> I think uh
we're journ
>> and I have stop recording and