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Human Services Commission Auto captions

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

6:30 PM
Topics tracked across meetings:
2025 Human Services Grants Annual Performance Review (I) 1/2
4Tomorrow: Human Services Non-Profit Organization Presentation(I) 1/8
2024 Annual Human Services Strategic Plan Update (I) ID 1552 15/15
Section
Topic
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
3a
Minutes of January 15, 2025
packet pp.3–4
Staff report:
APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 01-15-25 Human Services Commission Minutes CITY OF ISSAQUAH Human Services Commission 6:30 PM Steelhead Room, 235 1st Ave. January 15, 2025 MINUTES SE, Issaquah
4. AGENDA ITEMS
4a
2024 Annual Human Services Strategic Plan Update (I)
30 min · Hannah Roberts, Sr. Human Services Coordinator · packet pp.5–19
Topics: Equity
Staff report:
Provide an update on the implementation & outcome report on 2024 Human Services Strategic Plan
4b
2024 Human Services Grants Performance Review (I)
30 min · Hannah Roberts, Sr. Human Services Coordinator · packet pp.21–36
Topics: BudgetEquity
Staff report:
Provide an annual performance and outcome report on 2024 Human Services Grants.
5. REPORTS
5a
Chair and Commissioner Reports
Topics: Boards & Commissions
5b
Youth Report
packet pp.37
Staff report:
• Black History Month Event: Onyx Arts Collective, the City of Issaquah and Highlands Council presents Black Artists of Change will feature art at the Blakely Hall Gallery that is open to the public to view from February 17-28 Monday through Friday 9am-4pm. There will be a public reception at Blakely Hall 5-8 pm featuring "Fly for Freedom" performed by Living Voices. Visit here for more information.
5c
Staff Report
0:02 still good to go there it
0:06 is hello this is
0:08 uh Vice chair and commissioner Manu
0:11 Brown calling to our mean order of the
0:14 isal Human Services Commission from
0:15 February 19
0:18 2025 and um should we go straight to
0:22 public com comments or yeah first I'm
0:24 going to just kind of call out our
0:26 attendance uh we currently do have
0:28 Quorum but we are missing a few Comm
0:29 commers uh we have our chair haime who
0:33 is uh excuse absent uh we have Huma who
0:37 is who should be joining us online but
0:40 running late today um Trish blor and the
0:43 cresia Cho uh are currently absent and
0:47 hopefully they'll join us later uh but
0:49 they are um not in attendance currently
0:52 so yeah so we're good to move forward
0:53 now great um can I get a motion to
0:57 approve the minutes from I'm assuming
1:00 there's no public correct no public
1:01 comments um in the room or virtual
1:03 comments okay I read the minutes and I
1:06 uh this is commissioner fish and I
1:08 propose that the minutes as submitted be
1:11 approved and I
1:13 second thank you Mar you have a
1:16 unanimous consent we do thank you Annie
1:21 well um well hello as I said I'm
1:25 commissioner Manny Brown um currently
1:28 the vice chair of is Callum Service
1:30 Commission before we begin I'd like to
1:32 give homage to the original caretakers
1:35 of this land I thank you all the tribes
1:38 of the Pacific
1:41 Northwest I've been asked many times
1:44 what does Human Service Commission
1:46 do I think it's important that in
1:49 today's environment to state that this
1:50 commission plays a vital role in
1:53 studying the emergence of issues and
1:56 concerns regarding human services to
1:58 ensure that basic survival needs of Bal
2:00 residents are met and that support
2:02 systems are in place to help people
2:04 through economic and personal crisis
2:08 today's agenda will be dealing with the
2:11 distribution of limited funds available
2:13 to the Human Services of
2:15 isqua I've worked with the members of
2:18 members and staff of this commission and
2:20 you can be assured that with every
2:22 decision that's made I believe the
2:24 foremost thought in the process is the
2:27 Safety and Security of the residents of
2:28 our diverse community
2:31 I'd like to remind myself that most of
2:33 us have either personally or have
2:36 ancestors that have migrated from
2:38 different places from around the world
2:39 and I age urge each of you each every
2:42 one of us to work together as a
2:44 community to make is AAL a weling place
2:47 for all with that I'd like to um go
2:51 right
2:52 into Miss uh Hannah Roberts for our
2:57 annual service strategic Plan update
3:00 thank you Mary Brown that was a
3:01 wonderful speech and a really good
3:03 reminder of why we are here and what we
3:05 are committing ourselves to so I
3:07 appreciate those words and they mean a
3:08 lot to me thank you um so let me just
3:11 give me a second folks as I share my
3:12 screen oh hey Trish and Huma hi Huma I
3:15 see you both there thanks for joining us
3:19 online well you have uh both of you we
3:21 just started so you really have not
3:22 missed much we are just hitting our
3:24 first agenda
3:26 item oh excuse me one second
3:33 okay we are doing our strategic Plan
3:44 update all
3:46 right okay so hi everyone Hannah Roberts
3:49 our senior human services coordinator um
3:52 this evening appreciate you all being
3:54 here on midwinter break um in the cold
3:57 weather uh this evening I really want to
4:00 use our time to just provide our
4:03 commission a reflection at 2024 and
4:06 that's going to look like in two parts
4:07 this first one is our T services
4:09 strategic plan um this is as a reminder
4:12 A Five-Year Plan but I feel like it's
4:15 our responsibility to provide you as a
4:17 commission um updates um uh annually as
4:20 how we are doing on the implementation
4:22 of our strategic plan um so that will be
4:26 um the presentation tonight
4:35 um all right so just a step back because
4:37 I'm sure most of you are not on your
4:39 weekends looking through our 100 plus
4:42 page strategic plan on our website um
4:45 I'm going to just kind of provide just a
4:46 reminder uh reorientate us around what
4:49 is our strategic plan um where are we
4:52 currently at and then provide the update
4:55 um so as you may recall our strategic
4:57 plan really it's it's our first one
4:59 within Human Services it's intended to
5:02 be a five-year plan to really be
5:04 essentially a roadmap for the work that
5:06 we're doing um as a staff as city um as
5:10 you may have recalled this was a huge um
5:13 guideline for us when our Human Services
5:16 grant funding uh decision process and
5:19 really this is helpful information for
5:21 us as a city to understand I will also
5:24 add that our strategic plan here is
5:26 implemented into the comprehensive plan
5:29 so large wide City strategic plan um
5:32 it's been a nice and it's been easily
5:34 embedded into the larger plan as
5:37 well and again the Strategic plan uh
5:40 again quite lengthy but it's kind of
5:42 broken up in these main sections really
5:45 we kind of steep back and first um back
5:48 in 2021 is when we started the building
5:50 our strategic plan through um surveys
5:53 focus groups interviews to talking to
5:56 our uh nonprofit organizations our uh
5:59 residents in our community you all were
6:00 a part of that process to build this as
6:02 well and and so in that we identify you
6:05 know what are the barriers to Services
6:07 what are the gaps of services what does
6:09 isoa have what what build our community
6:12 and in that we really took um kind of
6:15 four key areas that we were uh wanted to
6:18 focus on um which I'll go in more detail
6:21 here um shortly and in that we created
6:24 measurable action items we wanted this
6:26 to be a doe project we wanted to be able
6:28 to do
6:30 um the uh the steps to see what changes
6:33 are we making and and identify the
6:36 funding source as well in those
6:38 actions so again you're probably very
6:41 familiar with these priority areas um I
6:44 just want to remind us that in that um
6:47 we have four main ones that you see here
6:49 um but really we kind of step back and
6:51 realize that there's an overarching
6:54 Community need as well um which is
6:56 facilities which is support and so we
6:59 recognize that that's there are some
7:01 strategic actions that build that
7:04 priority as well but it it embodied all
7:06 areas that needed
7:09 that so where are we now again it's a
7:12 Five-Year Plan 2021 we we did the
7:15 research we built it you were part of
7:17 that process and March 2022 is when we
7:20 took it to council and we had official
7:22 adoption and we started the
7:24 implementation um in December of 2023 we
7:28 did kind of a check-in to say hey are we
7:30 on track any major uh changes so it was
7:32 a very light level focus groups with our
7:35 partners um with our commission with you
7:37 all and we presented that to council um
7:40 here we are at 2024 this is our annual
7:43 review and then moving forward we have
7:45 basically two more years to um of the
7:49 implementation and come 2027 is when we
7:52 will provide the the edits um and the
7:55 updates and work on kind of a a revamp
7:58 as you as you will kind of a redo if we
8:00 need to so another focus group and um
8:03 Outreach as
8:06 well okay so zooming back into to
8:11 2024 um sorry computers acting slow
8:15 today um so looking at 2024 I want to
8:20 just have a few highlights so um I
8:22 printed here if you are in person I have
8:25 um a three-page sheet it's a staff memo
8:28 if you have the agenda online you can
8:30 also reference to that feel free to kind
8:32 of take a closer look at that I think um
8:35 the Sao is really intended to provide a
8:38 um sorry Mor did you have a
8:41 question no I don't it was someone was
8:44 talking to me here sorry about that no
8:46 problem just want to make sure I didn't
8:48 miss
8:49 something um but this staff membo is
8:52 really it we have at the end of the
8:54 Strategic plan 21 outcomes that we're
8:56 measuring basically saying are we
8:59 completing them are we on track and so
9:02 um this is the report that you can see
9:03 in details of how well we are doing um
9:07 but I thought instead of going line by
9:09 line that can be a little daunting you
9:10 can look at that on your own and please
9:13 feel free to bring any highlights
9:15 questions or any comments on those um
9:18 but a few things I don't want to
9:19 highlight in 2024 that I think we did
9:21 really well in the
9:22 implementation um
9:25 was we did the 2025 2026 teaming
9:28 Services Program I if you all remember
9:30 that bely yeah yeah but that was all
9:33 work done in 2024 it took the majority
9:35 of the year and I've got to say I'm so
9:39 proud of this commission um for that
9:41 process but really you used the
9:43 Strategic plan well intended right it
9:45 was a well embedded um wellt tracked
9:49 strategic plan built by our community
9:51 that you really listen to I I sat in all
9:54 those meetings you all I know had
9:56 organizations that you personally said
9:58 this is a great organiz gation I want to
10:00 fund this but you all were very aligned
10:02 with well let's just go back to the
10:04 Strategic plan does it make sense so
10:06 kudos to you that's a hard process but
10:09 I'm appreciative that you use this tool
10:11 in that way um a few other areas to
10:13 highlight I um I feel like in 2024 was
10:17 one of our best year for cultural events
10:19 so as a city we have been um tasked with
10:23 having um six different cultural events
10:26 throughout the year uh to be honest it
10:28 took us a couple years years to figure
10:29 it out but one of the big lessons we
10:31 learned last year was um we shouldn't be
10:33 the ones in charge we should be
10:35 promoting supporting helping helping the
10:38 voices be raised so we wanted to find
10:41 those Community Partners um that could
10:45 lead us in these cultural events so huge
10:47 shout out to the circle um they let us h
10:49 a Hispanic Heritage Month uh it was a
10:52 fun uh family dance at the Pickering
10:55 Barn that was a wonderful event um they
10:58 also did for the first time our
10:59 in-person
11:01 aapi um Heritage Month Asian-American
11:03 Pacific Islander month and that was such
11:05 a fun event over at our community center
11:07 with beautiful um cultural um
11:12 entertainment um we had Pride event over
11:15 at the garage and so we really let them
11:17 take the lead on that with one of our
11:20 community members leading that um we had
11:23 welcoming week which was a beautiful
11:25 large one of our largest events um in
11:27 partnership with a a lot of our
11:29 community members so again the the
11:32 intention is well well received well
11:36 attended and well planned by Our
11:38 Community Partners so just a great
11:40 success in
11:42 2024 uh we did resource fairs twice a
11:45 year um that is a great way for
11:47 networking with our nonprofits as well
11:49 showing to our community these resources
11:52 so that ran really smoothly again this
11:54 year um our Behavioral Health and
11:56 homeless outreach program um that
11:59 started in 2021 and it's grown so much
12:02 and just they've gone through a lot of
12:03 some staffing changes in 2024 policy
12:06 changes but really they've been um doing
12:09 a great job collecting data working with
12:12 our community members um so huge shout
12:15 out to the team in and the work that
12:17 they do um if you ever have any
12:19 questions about that program we have a
12:21 beautiful dashboard that kind of help
12:23 shows the numbers and stories that we
12:26 have um but that's a strong program that
12:28 we have as a city um the other shout out
12:32 I think that uh one of our areas that
12:35 was on the weaker end or one of our
12:37 challenges in 2023 was our educational
12:39 events a lot of our strategic items are
12:43 using our current resources to provide
12:45 educational events about homelessness
12:47 mental health um pretty much an each
12:49 priority area we wanted to provide
12:52 information to our community so I think
12:53 there was a good focus on that this year
12:55 to make sure that we accomplished those
12:58 um and then financial aid I think
13:00 financial aid um want to shout out to
13:04 our partners Who provided um emergency
13:06 financial aid it was hard to do that
13:09 during a year where a lot of funding was
13:11 cut but their numbers really were very
13:13 strong and showed um showed in their
13:16 abilities to continue to serve our
13:19 community um so before I move on from
13:22 our highlights I'll talk about some of
13:24 our challenges next but do any folks
13:26 have any questions about that or
13:28 anything that may stood out to you on
13:30 the report or
13:33 anything of interest to
13:36 discuss no worries if not
13:44 either all good
13:47 okay okay challenges right every plan uh
13:50 doesn't go perfectly so we are going to
13:54 call out um the challenges that we have
13:56 fortunately we still have time some of
13:58 these outcomes are Meed annually some of
14:00 them are five years this one has always
14:02 been our challenge is our multi-resource
14:04 Center our city really wants to be able
14:07 to provide a localized space for
14:10 nonprofits to be able to provide their
14:13 services out of it's just very expensive
14:15 and very hard to find that space I will
14:18 tell you it's um it's not just this it
14:21 just brick and mortar here and esqua
14:23 expensive and a challenge not just for
14:26 Human Services for but for uh for
14:29 profits
14:30 alike um so which kind of takes us to
14:33 the third one which is again if there's
14:35 not we don't have space to offer our
14:36 nonprofits and they don't it's expensive
14:38 to be able to rent here and be able to
14:40 provide services um that has although
14:43 there has been a strong expansion in
14:45 isqua there hasn't been a huge expansion
14:47 expansion of brick and morar type of
14:49 services here um and so that's also been
14:52 a challenge and then the biggest one
14:56 we've provided some reports and updates
14:58 as this has gone on but but I really
14:59 want to call out um the loss of our
15:01 emergency housing program has been a big
15:03 hit for Human Services and for our
15:05 community members um not having a
15:08 shelter in isoa has really hindered our
15:11 work and is a huge gap for us um but
15:14 again not easy to find that space or
15:16 providers to run that so the city had it
15:19 lasted about a year um at Motel 6 to be
15:22 able to provide uh programming um and
15:26 for transitional housing um so to not
15:29 have that as an option and we currently
15:31 don't have uh we're still trying to
15:33 problem solve some other options and
15:36 what it could look like moving forward
15:38 um but not having that is part of 2024
15:41 was my huge
15:43 challenge okay so just next steps kind
15:47 of want to where we are at for the next
15:49 couple years um so this year just kind
15:52 of keep moving forward um with our
15:55 implementations continue to work with
15:57 our partners track the data that needs
15:59 to be tracked um come 2026 towards the
16:03 end um we will do focus groups really
16:06 start doing our research and digging in
16:09 and then in 2027 we'll have some updates
16:12 um for that fiveyear plan um where we'll
16:14 take it to our commission and to council
16:16 kind of for final approvals Trish did I
16:18 see your hand
16:21 up yeah thanks I was just going to ask
16:25 regarding the emergency housing you know
16:27 the Motel 6 project um is the um uh
16:31 homeless Outreach team still in touch
16:34 with those folks I mean how many how
16:37 many people were finally let go at the
16:39 very very end yeah that transition was
16:43 hard as you can imagine the folks who
16:45 were residing in Motel 6 were not very
16:48 happy with the program ending um it was
16:51 a difficult transition for them um some
16:54 of them we were able to transition them
16:56 into shelters some of them had vehic so
16:59 they went to save parking and we had a
17:01 few of them um be able to move out of
17:03 isoa and have some temporary housing
17:06 options whether it was with family
17:08 members or or friends um I will say
17:11 we're
17:12 probably working with half of the there
17:15 was about 12 that were there so we're
17:17 probably still working with half of them
17:20 um we were able to permanently house I
17:22 forget the number but a decent amount
17:24 from that program before it ended um but
17:27 we weren't able to get folks into
17:29 permanent housing quite afterwards and I
17:32 will
17:33 say yeah we're we still keep in touch
17:37 with those folks but it's not as we're
17:38 not having daily touch points like we
17:40 used
17:41 to and um I mean is is Council
17:46 even talking about I mean are you guys
17:49 even talking about another
17:51 place yeah so I think um we are
17:56 researching alternative options we have
17:58 have the funding for it um but we have
18:01 we don't have the space options for it
18:03 so we are digging into you know kind of
18:07 turning the Rocks trying to see what
18:09 options we have and from there um we
18:14 will then uh take that conversation to
18:17 our city mayor and City administrator
18:19 and see where they would like to take it
18:21 and then um and then we will once we
18:24 have a formal proposal that's when we'll
18:26 actually go to council so there's 's a
18:28 lot of kind of behind the scene works
18:30 that needs to happen in steps before a
18:32 council conversation happens right yeah
18:36 okay thank you yeah great questions
18:38 thank
18:41 you okay I think that was my last slide
18:43 for the Strategic plan
18:47 um did anybody have any questions or
18:50 comments in regards to that 2026 when
18:53 you say focus groups and research is
18:55 that internal is that when we're start
18:58 start talking about the funding or is
18:59 that external to be soliciting input
19:03 from the community yeah it'll be like
19:06 the end of 2026 where we'll start kind
19:08 of the whole process over again we won't
19:10 necessarily erase the Strategic plan but
19:13 I can already tell our priorities areas
19:16 have shifted a little bit a little bit
19:18 um where I think our strategic actions
19:20 may need to take a different approach
19:21 and so we will start the same process
19:24 and we can even discuss it as a
19:25 commission the best way to do it but
19:27 what I appreciated was there was such a
19:28 diverse uh way of trying to get voices
19:31 that aren't typically heard and so
19:34 working with our nonprofit organizations
19:36 working with their clients working with
19:38 the unhoused um working with non-english
19:41 speakers um
19:43 seniors um one of the things I've really
19:46 recognized is
19:49 um kind of we is working with the
19:52 population uh people who are disabled um
19:55 I want to make sure that their voices
19:56 are part of it I've been with some
19:59 organizations and um have realized um
20:02 and and they spoke on this is that uh
20:05 they really were forgotten in Co because
20:08 a lot of people with disabilities it was
20:11 not safe for them to come out and
20:14 somebody commented of you know it's like
20:18 the our society has forgotten what it's
20:20 like to have people embedded into our
20:22 community with disabilities when they're
20:24 trying to find employment for example um
20:27 because it's just now feeling safe for
20:29 for folks to kind of come back and get
20:32 reintegrated so especially those who
20:34 have compromised immun compromised yeah
20:37 exactly exactly yeah exactly so now
20:41 they're they're that Community is facing
20:43 a different challenge so so with that I
20:45 just recognize there's some some gaps
20:46 that I think we need to make sure that
20:48 we're hitting and I'd love to invite the
20:50 commission to maybe help me strategize
20:53 what that kind of Outreach would look
20:55 like and what that focus group would
20:56 look like um
20:59 so um so that will come towards the end
21:02 2026 and then um in 2027 we'll work on
21:07 um we'll work on edits um to it where
21:10 then we'll take it back to our focus
21:11 group here and other focus groups to
21:13 kind of review and provide edit it's a
21:15 very extensive process uh probably need
21:18 to give ourselves over a year um and so
21:22 by 20128 I want to have the next
21:25 fiveyear plan ready to go um so it needs
21:28 to be in action and ready to be voted on
21:33 ideally by 2020 end of
21:41 2027
21:44 okay is is there a
21:47 um you know as you mentioned the focal
21:50 point has shifted a bit um is there
21:54 emphasis on um immigration necessary
21:58 migrations and um
22:02 Multicultural what's happening in is
22:04 because know we don't live in a bubble
22:07 yeah you know even though we're it's a
22:09 great City but you know we still have
22:12 other cities around us in the
22:16 state so yeah yeah I think I think the
22:20 reality is this is a new era um that
22:24 many of our nonprofit organizations are
22:28 really feeling and I think our residents
22:30 will soon feel um and so immigration and
22:34 Refugee Services I think is a currently
22:36 part of our strategic plan um but I
22:39 would be wouldn't be surprised in a year
22:41 or two when we start re reviewing if it
22:44 becomes a higher priority area based off
22:46 of our current climate a lot could
22:49 change between now and I mean I don't
22:51 know what's happening next week right I
22:54 don't know what's gonna happen in two
22:55 years so it really is hard to say so I I
22:58 think a focused group and very
22:59 intentional surveys and Outreach will be
23:02 very timely for us to better understand
23:06 what is our community
23:08 experiencing um but yes it is that is
23:11 one of in 2025 it in current is really
23:15 uh um immigration and Refugee services
23:19 are of high need and scarcity
23:26 so okay well if there's no other
23:29 comments on the Strategic plan that then
23:31 concludes uh my presentation for
23:37 that well thank you Hannah um so we're
23:42 go right into the Human Services Grants
23:44 for R do yeah let me jump right back
23:46 into it thanks you all appreciate
23:48 hanging in there with me tonight doing
23:50 the all the
23:53 presentations all right let me see if I
23:55 can get this to share
24:02 sorry
24:09 apologies maybe I will
24:21 do I'll just do it this way maybe this
24:24 will be better
24:28 okay so I'm coming this evening with our
24:31 update on Human Services Grants and so
24:34 every annual at the end of the year um
24:38 we have our organizations report on
24:41 basically their final numbers and um
24:44 every quarter I typically provide you
24:46 just an update on hey any Trends we're
24:48 seeing are they doing well are they they
24:51 meeting their Service Unit goals all
24:52 that information um well this one is the
24:55 end of the whole cycle and so just
24:57 wanted to provide update of how our
25:00 organizations are
25:01 doing um and just again our typical
25:05 outcome report and then just highlight a
25:07 few additional trends that we're seeing
25:09 um so kind of reorientate us back to
25:12 2023 2024 numbers different from our
25:15 numbers we've been used to um but we
25:17 funded 42 pro programs with 34
25:20 organizations uh we had uh just under
25:24 $550,000 of funding and in that they we
25:28 were intended to estimated to serve
25:33 4,913 we had these priority areas with
25:37 um the amount of uh programs funded in
25:40 each
25:41 category so similar but a little
25:44 different from this
25:46 cycle um again you've seen this slide
25:48 show I typically report on did they get
25:50 their reports on time did they complete
25:52 it well um how did they meet their
25:55 service units again this is the end of
25:56 the year so this this is the one that
25:58 really
25:59 matters um so I will say we do require
26:03 reports to come much earlier so
26:05 typically they have the 15th until the
26:07 end of the month this um for the Q4 they
26:10 have until the 5th which is always
26:12 harder during the holidays so not a
26:14 surprise that we had a few uh reports
26:17 late um everyone knows how to fill them
26:20 out so they're good there um and then
26:22 you'll see here as far as Service Unit
26:25 goals met um
26:28 that is what they get paid for right so
26:31 this is this is the hard line within
26:33 Human Services that we are responsible
26:36 we are responsible for Grant or tax
26:38 dollars right so we need to be able to
26:41 show our community and any Auditors of
26:43 hey this is well spent money they
26:45 completed their contract requirement and
26:48 so the service unit is a little can be
26:50 stressful um if if our programs are not
26:53 meeting it so you can see here three U
26:56 of the 42 did not meet service goals um
27:00 however most of them did get paid if
27:01 they could justify their reasons I
27:04 always want to pay our nonprofits but
27:06 again it's that balance of this is tax
27:09 dollar funding and they have a contract
27:13 fulfill so can you give an example of
27:16 what not meeting service goal is yeah so
27:19 what we like to see at the end of the
27:20 year ideally we want to see them meet
27:23 100% of their goal so um if their goal
27:26 was to have 100 hours of case management
27:29 hours um and they met um let's say they
27:34 met only 50 of them then it then there's
27:38 times that they don't have a
27:40 justification where funding may need to
27:42 be withheld because they didn't meet
27:43 that Service Unit goal um if they're
27:46 usually at 75% or higher I really try to
27:50 find justification to provide payment um
27:53 at the end of the year so we like to see
27:56 75% of the annual goal
27:58 and these are the goals that they pretty
28:00 much set themselves exactly so it's on
28:02 the application and I work like right
28:05 now I'm negotiating with them right now
28:07 and making sure that they are these are
28:10 achievable and um
28:14 reasonable yeah well Hannah yeah Hannah
28:19 are you gonna tell us which programs did
28:20 not
28:24 meet um if you are interested in knowing
28:27 them I can follow up I I actually don't
28:29 have it off the top of my head um and so
28:33 I can follow up with you if you're
28:35 interested yeah I mean I mean I'm
28:38 wondering if you funded if we refunded
28:40 them again in the next bium that's a
28:43 good that's a good point Trish um I we
28:45 should kind of know this information
28:47 before we contemplate funding them again
28:50 for another two years you know no that
28:53 that's a really good point the timing um
28:56 the timing is challenging because I
28:57 don't have this report until um mid
29:02 January is typical and you're making
29:04 funding decisions back in September so I
29:07 will say during our I'm monitoring this
29:10 every quarter and I'm in contact with
29:12 those who are struggling um so in our
29:16 review process it was something that I I
29:19 did inform uh Commissioners if there was
29:23 interest in um funding an organization
29:27 that I knew was really challenged I I
29:29 made sure to report that to in the
29:32 review process um so I totally agree
29:35 with you it is important to understand
29:37 outcomes um in the next funding cycle I
29:41 I don't believe the programs that the
29:44 ones that did not meet their goals um
29:48 were not were not actually they didn't
29:50 apply um there was one that didn't apply
29:54 uh that was mission Africa they didn't
29:56 meet their goals they had a hard time uh
29:58 serving isqua residents they are based
30:01 Auburn um yeah yeah okay so you you said
30:05 you can't remember but now you're
30:07 remembering I'm remembering one now I
30:09 can't remember the
30:10 two I would be I would be interested
30:13 yeah I mean I imagine everybody on the
30:15 commission would be interested yeah yeah
30:18 what I can stop sharing my screen and
30:20 find that information um and while we do
30:23 our commission report and I can report
30:25 it back if that's okay um I can pull up
30:28 real quick I just want to take my screen
30:29 off yeah no I don't want to interrupt
30:32 your flow I wasn't sure if it was on the
30:34 next slide to be quite honest oh yeah to
30:37 be honest I don't really want to call
30:38 out especially on a public um written
30:42 agenda that's posted right I don't want
30:44 to necessarily negative call out an
30:46 organization because although maybe they
30:47 didn't meet a service unic goal right we
30:49 all know it doesn't mean they're not
30:51 doing amazing work in our community
30:53 they're just having a hard time
30:54 connecting with isaa residents for
30:56 various reasons a lot of them being
30:58 they didn't have the staff um to be able
31:01 to um complete it or you know for
31:04 mission Africa for example they they
31:07 didn't have a way to connect with isqua
31:09 residents as they are outfaced in Auburn
31:12 and as much as I try to get them
31:13 connected it just they didn't have
31:16 capacity to do it um and they were okay
31:19 with that they they actually didn't
31:20 submit invoices um so so I don't really
31:23 want to call it out like especially on a
31:24 slide I'm happy to discuss it in in a
31:26 public setting like this but but um just
31:29 want to be mindful yeah I I appreciate
31:31 that thank you yeah but it's good for us
31:33 to understand why I mean particularly as
31:37 we go into another uh granting cycle the
31:40 challenges and that should influence you
31:44 know kind of our decision- making go
31:45 forward yeah yeah and actually Trish
31:48 that's a good point maybe you guys can
31:49 all help me remember when we are up next
31:51 cycle one thing we can consider adding
31:53 to our toolkit is kind of a review if it
31:57 makes sense to add at like a how was
32:00 their outcome from last cycle we would
32:02 have to be careful because that would
32:04 could put somebody at a disadvantage who
32:06 wasn't right um I think it's also to
32:10 understanding why they weren't able to
32:12 what what were the hurdles yeah right
32:14 it's not just you didn't do your job but
32:16 understanding why they weren't able to
32:18 yes yes yes yes exactly so that could
32:21 that's a good point Trish we can
32:22 consider including that just remind me
32:29 okay um and then as far as residents um
32:33 here this is basically all the numbers
32:36 from the different organizations of
32:37 unduplicated
32:39 residents um how many all of them
32:42 together served one thing to note is
32:46 when you pull them all together though
32:47 you there's no way to be able to tell if
32:50 it's duplicated so for example one
32:53 person is counted at the food bank one
32:55 person is counted at isqua Community
32:57 Center one person's Community is at
32:59 meals program so they do all those three
33:02 programs that's three numbers in that so
33:04 I will say it's a little bit of a
33:06 misrepresentation but it's really hard
33:08 to be able to um show those exact
33:12 numbers um but to highlight in
33:15 comparison um it was a 24% increase from
33:18 from last year that's a huge number yeah
33:21 I think that that is telling you people
33:24 are accessing Services um a lot more
33:27 here in
33:29 2024
33:30 um yeah so just wanted to point that
33:34 out yeah so highlighting here a few
33:37 things that I think went well with our
33:39 organizations this year um again this is
33:42 I'm gathering information from their
33:43 reports with their narratives and really
33:45 just trying to see the
33:47 trends um so I guess this is a positive
33:51 but maybe not a positive but our
33:53 organizations are um doing a great job
33:57 in serving our esca residents our
33:59 numbers are tripled from our goals again
34:02 it's one of those catch22 we want them
34:04 to help people but we also don't want
34:05 people to need
34:06 help so but but again it just I want to
34:09 highlight the heavy lifting that our
34:11 nonprofits do um and and really what it
34:15 takes um I kept on seeing and hearing
34:19 that there was improved collaboration
34:21 with any within each other and um
34:23 nonprofits learning more about this year
34:25 their organizations and be able to lean
34:27 into each other for different resources
34:30 different referrals um so I I think that
34:33 is a great um a need that was met this
34:37 year uh one thing that was different
34:39 from last year is again not all of them
34:41 but I saw an increased trend of
34:43 organizations that were staffed it was a
34:46 major problem in 2022
34:48 2023 um and so again not perfect some
34:51 organizations still struggle but um
34:53 overall I saw some some patterns that
34:56 organizations were selling celebrating
34:58 that they got the position
34:59 filled um so those are nice to hear I I
35:04 believe these are great numbers I mean
35:06 you're over 4,000 more than
35:08 anticipated right so um
35:12 that for the next cycle you you're
35:15 talking about okay these are the funds
35:17 and you know to qualify
35:20 that keeping the funds as is or more so
35:23 than reducing them yeah is I think
35:26 that's a great a great data point you're
35:28 right to share hey there was a 24%
35:31 increase and every year it's gone up I
35:33 can show
35:35 that um okay so what I want to do is a
35:37 little different than my typical
35:39 quarterly updates is just kind of zoom
35:41 in on a few organizations that stood out
35:42 to me that I think provide some helpful
35:45 information so this is the chart that I
35:47 got from um our crisis connections um so
35:50 this is like 211 um organization where
35:53 people can call 247 in crisis for
35:56 resources
35:58 um so 2024 where it's highlighted you
36:01 could just it just similar Trends but I
36:03 wanted to show um that their how food
36:07 need went up um from it started off the
36:10 bottom this year to the fourth and then
36:13 by the end of the year you saw which I
36:15 think we're all experiencing food
36:17 increase of prices by the end of this
36:19 year and then that became a high need so
36:22 these are people calling in saying um
36:25 hey I need resources for this and report
36:29 kind of where those um resources and
36:31 needs are going so housing and shelter
36:33 always up there and then kind of the
36:36 twos and threes kind of
36:38 change so I found that interesting
36:40 wanted to share you with you all um the
36:43 circle again one of our just well
36:46 embedded organization here um they
36:48 report kind of on the top needs that
36:50 they work with with their partners and
36:53 just again I think the trends that I'm
36:55 seeing so you can see here all the
36:57 different resources that they are making
36:58 sure their folks are connected with and
37:00 a lot of them are non-english-speaking
37:03 um uh residents that they work with and
37:06 so it takes additional work to make sure
37:07 they're not just saying hey here's a
37:09 link to this you know website or here go
37:12 to the food bank it is making sure that
37:15 they understand it there's cultural
37:17 navigation that's what they're we're
37:18 funding them for and one of the things
37:20 that I see here is just how much
37:22 financial aid is needed right uh whether
37:25 it's for with food or rental assistance
37:28 uh Finance information um they report I
37:31 think Arabic is a language that has
37:33 increased recently um so I find that
37:37 interesting um so again just to kind of
37:39 see the the different types of resources
37:42 needed in our community so you're saying
37:44 these are these like the top 10 that
37:46 kind of stood out in terms of um what
37:50 people needed the most from the circle
37:53 specifically so the the circle works
37:55 with a lot of our okay and so when you
37:57 employment here is that people needed
38:00 help with Employment Services okay yeah
38:02 so helping them kind of whether it's
38:04 resume building
38:06 or so is Food Services number one and
38:09 then or yeah yeah kind of goes
38:14 down
38:16 um so of course our food bank I think is
38:20 I think uh I mean obviously a very um
38:23 sorry let get this the food bank is a
38:25 very Central organization um and I think
38:27 their numbers really help tell the story
38:30 of what's going on with our community so
38:32 wanted to talk about some of their
38:34 numbers and a little bit of their Trends
38:37 um so the food big saw a 26% increase in
38:40 number of um individual households uh
38:44 receiving Food Services I think that's
38:45 in par with how many Resident increase
38:47 we saw 24 26 um their numbers also keep
38:52 increasing um they their numbers of um
38:58 they provide emergency food and U that
39:01 went up
39:03 32% uh their power packs that they
39:05 provide went up 21% again just the theme
39:08 and the trend of their numbers are going
39:10 up um two things I want to note about
39:13 the food bank um that they reported to
39:15 us is the biggest takeaway from them
39:18 they saw this year is yes they saw their
39:20 numbers increase um but what they saw
39:22 mostly increase was just the num the
39:25 number of touch points each person need
39:28 so their households number of households
39:30 you see yeah that's a pretty significant
39:32 increase they need to serve um but the
39:34 amount of times that people came and
39:36 utilized their services they had Case
39:38 Management Services um it really
39:41 increased and I think a lot of our
39:42 nonprofit saw that was that each um kind
39:46 of it it wasn't just like oh here's your
39:49 help or here's your you know your um
39:51 food or your um gas ticket or whatever
39:54 it is it was people were just needing
39:57 more more indepth services and more
40:00 often um the other thing I want to note
40:02 from the food bank is um which really
40:06 aligns with um also that I heard from
40:08 our school district which is a little
40:10 bit of change in our non-english
40:13 speaking neighbors and um what the
40:15 trends we're seeing so Spanish is still
40:17 one of our highest languages mandrin as
40:20 well but the big shift is uh Ukraine and
40:23 Russian um and so there's been a that
40:26 was one of the bottom
40:28 um languages and it's it's taken now a
40:30 third spot in our school district and
40:33 something that again the food bank has
40:35 has beened so as a city that's been
40:37 noted so when we try to translate um
40:39 items um Spanish and Mandarin are always
40:43 it but we realize we probably need to
40:45 have a third one uh as our um Ukraine
40:48 and Russians speaking community members
40:50 it's it's
40:55 growing okay so a few highlights here on
40:59 our housing so again I think one of the
41:01 things I saw in 2024 was just a major
41:04 need of affordable housing and financial
41:06 aid
41:07 assistance um we saw that um our our F
41:12 our rental assistant programs had to
41:14 really cut back on how much they gave
41:16 how often um so they had to kind of
41:18 tighten their checkbooks understandably
41:21 uh because their funding went down sign
41:24 significantly uh but what I saw was this
41:26 really cool collaboration of um people
41:30 trying to tap into other resources
41:32 working with the food bank ICS St
41:34 Vincent depal Maps
41:36 MCC um so just really wanted to
41:38 highlight just again that other theme of
41:41 kind of collaboration within or
41:43 nonprofits that it really takes a
41:48 village um but again um Human Services
41:51 there's always challenges that we see um
41:54 with our nonprofits the work that are
41:55 seeing like I mentioned just that
41:57 increase of needs and touch points um
42:00 cost of living is really challenging
42:02 because when that goes up you see our
42:04 nonprofits struggle to keep livable
42:06 wages for their staff and then also
42:08 their clients of course are also
42:10 struggling and usually needing more
42:12 financial aid or basic need assistance
42:15 which again I think another Trend I saw
42:16 in 2024 was that became more of a focus
42:20 is making sure people had um food and
42:23 gas to go to work and um hygiene
42:27 Essentials because that became really
42:28 hard to afford for many of our community
42:34 members um I think this is helpful to
42:36 see some of the housing needs and the
42:38 increase so I pulled numbers from our
42:40 rental assistant programs um so in 2024
42:43 we had three with maps mcrc isqua
42:45 community services and St Vincent Paul
42:49 um so Maps mcrc saw 40% increase of um
42:53 eviction notices um that they came to to
42:56 try to kind of keep them out of eviction
42:59 you all are probably aware that a lot of
43:02 those laws in place that protected
43:03 tenants have completely gone away yeah
43:06 uh and so evictions are happening more
43:09 rapidly IC had 86% increase in Services
43:13 um so there they saw quite a few more
43:15 households and individuals and again
43:18 keep in mind so you see 262 households
43:23 2024 that's unduplicated they are 100%
43:27 not 100% most likely seeing those people
43:29 twice a year um so although that's maybe
43:33 just one household most households will
43:35 tap into IC twice a year which is the
43:37 max they can so I mean they're seeing
43:39 probably 500 households that they're
43:42 serving so that means in 24 they sell
43:48 14500 am I reading that right
43:52 no for so I'm looking at the households
43:56 262 so that's a unique um household who
43:59 to to use their services at least once
44:02 but I'm saying most of them use them at
44:03 least
44:05 twice um and then similar St Vincent dep
44:09 Paul um again their trends that they
44:10 were seeing was just inflation job
44:13 losses I mean was a common reason why
44:16 people needed financial aid
44:22 assistance okay so that's uh that's a
44:25 little bit recapit 2024 some really good
44:29 things some some heavy
44:32 challenges overall I think you
44:35 see um you see some really impressive
44:38 numbers um and again they're not all
44:41 reported here I think the overall trend
44:44 that I see is I mean our nonprofits do a
44:47 lot of our heavy lifting in our city
44:48 they do a lot more work kind of the
44:51 Unseen work that really changes people's
44:54 lives um and again if if resident is
44:57 utilizing something like the food bank
44:59 usually they are also um connected to
45:03 the circle or to the meals program or um
45:06 to rental assistant programs so really
45:08 it's um it's impressive seeing the the
45:12 embedded organizations really working
45:14 together um to make an impact on our
45:18 community so looking ahead what we're
45:20 excited for in 2025 and what we're kind
45:22 of gearing up for in
45:24 2025 um as you all know we have our new
45:27 contracts so 42 programs that we're
45:30 funding um we are working on Advanced
45:32 payments which is kind of a let's see
45:34 how this goes kind of a thing um so we
45:37 are in the process of Contracting um
45:39 just about to start signatures so we're
45:41 in a good so that's a go it is a go
45:45 people and I'm very excited about it let
45:47 me tell you took took many red cakes to
45:51 get through but we made it so here we
45:53 are um but I also want to call out some
45:55 some new trends I'm seeing right
45:57 this was a 2024 report all good to know
46:00 and reflect on but my goodness 2025 is
46:04 ramping up and needs are are growing in
46:08 a little bit of a different direction
46:10 that I really just want to sit back and
46:12 just have a human services conversation
46:14 about if you all are interested and just
46:16 kind of call out the changes that we are
46:19 seeing um as a nation is impacting us as
46:22 a community um and we're feeling that
46:25 and so I really wanted to kind of
46:27 highlight again this this was about 2024
46:30 but I want to transition as to what's
46:32 going on today and how are we preparing
46:34 for what's ahead of us um so the trends
46:37 that I'm hearing and the needs that I'm
46:39 seeing one um obviously severe weather
46:43 was just Forefront just because we had
46:45 that cold we had I want to say it's
46:47 almost 21 days of um so when there's
46:49 severe weather King County basically
46:52 does daily severe weather calls where
46:55 with all the shelters and providers to
46:57 basically say what are your numbers
46:59 what's going on it's a it's a Well oil
47:01 machine now that works well and so that
47:05 that we saw our community members really
47:07 when it's cold people will ask for
47:09 shelters and go into shelters which is
47:11 good um so that's a big thing the other
47:14 thing we're seeing is legal services
47:16 that is a major need of how what are
47:19 know your rights right what what are
47:21 people's rights in this time of error um
47:25 and and then I can't tell
47:28 you I can't tell you how many messages I
47:31 am getting from our nonprofit
47:33 organizations and from individuals just
47:35 about like this sense just this like
47:39 fear you know what I mean this just like
47:42 living on in unknown yeah and and like
47:45 we all know psychology tell us like if
47:47 you're in unknown it creates this high
47:49 level of stress and cortisol and I'm
47:51 just seeing that like our nonprofits
47:54 carry this heavy weight of the their
47:57 residents who are struggling not knowing
47:59 if they're safe or not safe um and I
48:03 just I can't help but to call it out to
48:06 you all of like this is a problem in our
48:07 community and there's there is fear and
48:10 I I just I would love to hear your all
48:14 perspective
48:15 and I don't know it just kind of safe
48:18 place to open up about 2025
48:25 Trends I think had your hand up and Huma
48:28 no no uh we have a hand up up here
48:32 though Huma please thank you um yeah I
48:36 was just going to share in h the
48:39 Community and Technical colleges system
48:42 it's very much the same
48:44 environment um many of our students are
48:46 too afraid to come to campus anymore
48:48 because the parking lot is a public
48:50 space where ice can come in um we have
48:54 conversations and informal training
48:57 about what to do as instructors on
48:59 campus if Ice is to enter our classroom
49:01 to detain our students um so it's very
49:04 much that sort of climate I think uh one
49:08 of the first kind of baby steps that
49:10 we've taken is provide know your rights
49:12 information in any format we can in
49:15 multiple languages so for example uh
49:19 next week we're going to be holding a a
49:21 Ramadan table and using Ramadan as a way
49:24 to hand out goodie bags that have no
49:26 know your rights pamphlets in them in
49:28 multiple
49:29 languages um and I and I know that you
49:33 know we have an undocu allies group that
49:36 um works with more of the latinx
49:37 population they're doing a similar
49:39 approach with know your rights
49:40 information Etc um I wonder if um I'm
49:45 sure many of the organizations that
49:46 we're funding are already you know doing
49:49 similar work with their clientele but
49:52 can we as a city um make make such
49:55 signage more visible or available at
49:58 places like the food bank if we aren't
50:00 already um yeah that's it just wanted to
50:05 share the know your rights experience
50:07 and what's going on Huma thank you so
50:10 much for sharing what's going on in your
50:11 community I think it's really important
50:13 and great to hear the support that you
50:15 all are having in the training um I love
50:18 the know your rights I think the city of
50:20 bie has a really helpful website um
50:23 their police chief did a really helpful
50:24 video um City basa has not uh posted
50:28 anything about that um and I believe
50:31 they're working on something still I'm
50:33 not a part of that conversation though
50:38 yeah uh I saw another oh Trish there you
50:40 are go for it yeah well um Huma thank
50:44 you for
50:45 bringing all that up and your current
50:48 experience that's really important for
50:51 us to know about and so this very last
50:55 bullet you know regarding the sense of
50:57 fear and high anxiety is that mostly
51:00 from The Immigrant population Hannah
51:02 that you're sensing that or hearing
51:05 about it yeah thanks for clarifying that
51:07 Trish yeah I would say it is primarily
51:10 from our immigrant and Refugee
51:12 population but I will also say our
51:14 nonprofits are also really fearful of um
51:18 funding cuts and what does that mean
51:22 right and so we're kind of everyone's
51:23 just kind of holding their breath
51:24 waiting yes um there was an article
51:27 somebody sent me that said you know
51:29 there's an about worst case scenario
51:32 Medicaid and Med Medicare will see up to
51:35 33% of programming and funding cut so if
51:40 somebody who lives off a Medicaid
51:43 Medicare in a very expensive time of era
51:46 to live here and in general had 33% of
51:49 their funding cut that's going to have a
51:52 huge trickle effect so so yes I will I I
51:56 think there's two I think it's a general
51:58 feeling that our community members that
52:01 we work with in human services in
52:03 nonprofit and are um they clients that
52:07 they're working for um for various
52:09 reasons I think um immigrants and
52:12 refugees and then also our nonprofits
52:15 for funding and then just people in
52:17 general for who who rely on these
52:20 resources and it's a lot of hold your
52:22 breath and weight yeah okay thanks for
52:26 that and then um this is another thing I
52:29 wanted to bring up are we did we decide
52:31 to fund elap this next bium we are
52:35 funding them we are funding them for
52:37 their housing stability program we are
52:40 not funding them for their uh it's
52:43 called pooled contract Legal Services uh
52:47 it doesn't mean that they won't service
52:48 a residents uh but they we don't have
52:51 funding from them directly part of the
52:53 reason why I'm asking is I've gone on
52:57 website um several times since the
52:59 beginning of the year to refer clients
53:03 you know because I work for is isqua
53:05 community services and they are not
53:07 taking on new clients so that has been
53:10 very disappointing to me because if
53:13 Eastside Legal
53:15 Services uh what is the other group that
53:19 that Services provides legal services
53:22 for free to low income King yeah King
53:26 count
53:28 it's proo
53:32 um there's two of them right elap and
53:36 then another one right yeah it's king I
53:38 think it's King
53:40 County I think it's yeah I'll have to
53:44 look them up yeah so I've been really
53:46 disappointed because if elap is not
53:48 taking any new clients I mean yeah just
53:52 I just wanted to point that out that's
53:54 great yeah no that's good to know lack
53:56 of Legal Services again big gap for us
54:00 right now so really great stuff in the
54:03 chat and why are they not I mean I'm
54:06 sure they say that they're at capacity
54:09 but so what do we need to do to help
54:11 them get over that hurdle I don't know
54:14 yeah yeah and um there's other
54:17 organizations too that we refer
54:19 immigrants and refugees it's called
54:20 Northwest projects they provide support
54:23 it's it's a little different than elap
54:26 um but I could send you that so in case
54:29 that's a relevant resource for you to
54:32 yeah no I'm very familiar with North you
54:34 are great okay um yeah thank you okay
54:39 thanks
54:40 Trish c a i r w also provides legal
54:44 support perfect okay so I just want to
54:45 call out a few um comments from Huma
54:47 humo I'm happy to read them but is there
54:50 anything that you would you like no I
54:52 just didn't want to interrupt and I
54:53 didn't want to lose the thought either
54:55 uh good but yeah Care Washington is a
54:59 civil rights organization uh it's like a
55:02 Muslim civil rights organization but of
55:03 course they represent uh everybody so
55:06 especially in know your rights types
55:08 issues discrimination cases any types of
55:11 civil rights issues they do provide
55:12 legal services and I know a couple of
55:14 years ago uh they hired a full-time
55:16 attorney on their staff so I don't know
55:18 what their case load is like but that's
55:20 another organization located in downtown
55:22 Seattle uh to think think about and then
55:24 I was sharing that um our College
55:27 received uh an ominous letter from the
55:30 office of civil rights from the federal
55:32 government that kind of indicated that
55:34 we might have
55:36 to cancel the sort of Dei work that we
55:40 do um it is not the the letter is not
55:44 saying it's illegal for you to do this
55:45 it's just like here's our interpretation
55:47 of what the law is and um the bottom
55:52 line is that we may just need to change
55:54 the way that we do things maybe rename
55:56 departments and titles etc etc and um I
56:01 assume that that's not just limited to
56:04 the colleges system it's gonna also be
56:07 municipalities nonprofits or or anybody
56:10 who receives funding so I imagine we'll
56:12 be having those conversations as
56:14 Commissioners as well
56:17 here yeah yeah and I'm glad you point
56:20 brought up the point about the trans
56:22 students I mean oh my gosh
56:27 so if I if I can add to that comment
56:30 actually I we we are funding now PR
56:32 across the bridge um and so in
56:36 Contracting and working with their their
56:38 Ed um you know just had opportunity to
56:42 ask how are you doing how is your
56:43 community doing and it is very Bleak for
56:45 them right now um there Ed reported that
56:51 uh maybe for those who are transitioning
56:53 who are at a place maybe they could stop
56:55 transitioning that's what they're
56:56 choosing because they feel safer not
56:59 continuing that because they don't know
57:00 if they'll get the care or right stuck
57:03 in it car is being denied right now in
57:06 some places
57:08 Anna car is being denied in some places
57:12 yeah Children's Hospital for instance is
57:15 not doing uh trans work right now wow so
57:20 it's it's it's impacted not just the
57:23 Immigrant Community but it's also the
57:25 LGBT Q Plus Community is um is really
57:31 really afraid right now and uh
57:35 yeah yeah no I think that's really
57:38 important to call that out and and again
57:42 we're calling this out and you know we
57:44 will not be able to solve this problem
57:46 but our role it's a good question is as
57:48 a city what is our role in this you know
57:53 um to I go back to as humans Services we
57:56 are here to support Advocate um be the
58:01 voice for the
58:03 voiceless um be in a place where we can
58:07 um fund and lift up all our residents
58:11 all our residents and and specifically
58:15 the most vulnerable population that is
58:18 Human Services heart and our mission is
58:20 to really serve those who need that
58:24 additional support and help I think a
58:26 real challenge is going to be um and I
58:29 it already came up in a previous
58:30 conversation but people that are going
58:33 to be hesitant to access services so
58:36 what how are we going to think
58:37 creatively about still being able to
58:39 provide some level of of service to keep
58:44 those people housed and fed and safe
58:47 yeah yeah and you've seen um the
58:50 organization like the circle they made a
58:52 comment um that they they don't because
58:54 of safety concerns are going to have
58:56 have a less social media presence their
58:59 work continues but it's just not
59:02 advertised the way that it used to be um
59:05 yeah so really understanding where're
59:08 fear factors coming in yeah Happ yeah
59:12 exactly and I I would say as as a city
59:16 uh I feel like the rule is for us to
59:18 provide educational information right so
59:21 like making sure we have information
59:23 people to know their rights or what does
59:27 this law mean for us what can or can we
59:30 not do how what are the resources out
59:33 there and so I think it's just a little
59:35 bit of everybody's in limbo right now
59:36 just trying to figure out very much so
59:39 um what is going on with the world what
59:41 what is all these changes mean for us
59:44 you know on a micro level um so I think
59:48 that's just it's a little bit of a wait
59:50 and see at this point but um the the
59:54 hurt the fear uh the the kind of lack of
59:58 safety and lack of belonging is is
1:00:00 boiling It's You Feel It In in our work
1:00:05 so I appreciate this conversation y'all
1:00:08 it's not easy um but it's important to
1:00:11 have it's important to call it out and
1:00:14 it's important to be thinking ahead and
1:00:15 thinking creatively
1:00:20 yeah any other comments or closing
1:00:23 thoughts on this
1:00:30 it it's just such a huge topic I mean
1:00:33 it's just
1:00:34 huge yeah yeah well let's just team
1:00:38 let's
1:00:39 all if if it's appropriate we'll put
1:00:42 these items on our agenda but let's just
1:00:44 if if um during our future com meetings
1:00:48 that we want to continue to talk about
1:00:49 this there every month I think we'll
1:00:51 feel and see changes we can use our you
1:00:54 know commission or staff report time to
1:00:56 also discuss some of the different
1:00:57 Trends or updates or resources or
1:01:01 challenges that we see so please I just
1:01:02 want to have this our purpose is Human
1:01:06 Services not just the grants right but
1:01:08 our human services and this is very much
1:01:10 us so let's keep talking about it change
1:01:12 the name to
1:01:14 Services yeah
1:01:16 exactly exactly okay well then I'll go
1:01:19 and stop sharing
1:01:23 oops okay
1:01:26 all right Manny we're we are done with
1:01:29 that one all
1:01:32 right well thank you Haren appreciate it
1:01:34 it's like you said it's a very difficult
1:01:37 conversation to have and being in a
1:01:40 public forum you have to be conscious of
1:01:45 everyone um moving on to the chair and
1:01:49 commission
1:01:53 reports um I believe myy a report for us
1:01:57 and unless any other Commissioners
1:02:00 have anything they want to update us
1:02:03 on I can wait till the end I just have a
1:02:07 flyer to share at the end
1:02:10 thanks would you like to go
1:02:13 first
1:02:15 okay all right so on the on the 10th of
1:02:19 February I attended the Human Service
1:02:21 Commission meeting for the City of
1:02:23 Redmond they invited us to attend uh
1:02:27 with the idea that um if we went to that
1:02:30 meeting then the presenters there
1:02:32 wouldn't have to come to our meeting and
1:02:34 present to us also so by me sharing you
1:02:38 with you today what they shared uh there
1:02:41 um then U we they got to two um uh
1:02:46 commission uh two Commissions in one uh
1:02:49 it started off with a uh it was
1:02:51 introduced by the remarks of a a fellow
1:02:53 by the name of Brad fold from the
1:02:55 Seattle and King County Public Health
1:02:58 departments his remarks address the
1:03:01 growth in overdose deaths uh
1:03:04 particularly those in involving
1:03:07 fanol um he started us with an alarming
1:03:10 statistic last year over 1,000 people
1:03:14 died of fanol related overdoses in King
1:03:17 County that's a lot of
1:03:20 people uh even more alarming 50% of the
1:03:23 fentanyl overdoses occurred with the
1:03:26 victim having methamphetamines in their
1:03:29 system so it was that we used to call
1:03:32 that when I was a kid we used to call
1:03:33 that a goofball you get the you know the
1:03:36 the thing to put you to sleep and the
1:03:38 thing to keep you awake and you would um
1:03:41 uh put you in a different I have no idea
1:03:44 but anyway they did it
1:03:46 um um so he uh talked about the a rent
1:03:50 and a loan for The Last 5 Years 80% of
1:03:54 all overdoses in Redmond
1:03:56 um not all were fatal but they involved
1:03:59 fentanyl so this is a huge huge
1:04:03 issue um in 2020 there were two
1:04:06 fatalities 41 o all overdoses were 41
1:04:10 2021 four fatalities 58 all overdoses uh
1:04:15 2022 10
1:04:17 fatalities uh 83 so it's just it's just
1:04:21 exponentially increasing uh last year
1:04:24 2024 there were 11 fatalities in redmund
1:04:29 Alone um and
1:04:31 73 um of all the overdoses he talked
1:04:34 about the need for outreach and care for
1:04:37 people that are using uh he described
1:04:40 the need for low threshold low threshold
1:04:44 availability of Naran and Other Drugs
1:04:46 that save lives as well as needles and
1:04:49 condoms I showed it us showed us slides
1:04:52 of free to the public vending machines
1:04:54 in Seattle great big things look like a
1:04:57 Coke machine or a or a big cigarette
1:05:00 machine free to the public you just push
1:05:02 a button and boom there you get what you
1:05:04 need right um there's a lot of
1:05:07 resistance to having
1:05:09 those uh he introduced us to the staff
1:05:12 of the of the point of this whole thing
1:05:15 it's a a group called Health Point it's
1:05:17 a new clinic in Redmond and it's the
1:05:20 only one I believe on the east side
1:05:23 correct me if I'm wrong there Hannah um
1:05:25 are three people he introduced us
1:05:28 to Dr Duncan who ran the clinic there
1:05:31 was a a middle-aged woman with a ton of
1:05:33 nursing experience who was the nurse and
1:05:35 there was a young person a cam horn
1:05:38 who's the Outreach person for a lot of
1:05:41 King County mostly on the east side and
1:05:43 down into South King
1:05:45 County um the clinic is open uh for
1:05:50 Walkins on Wednesdays from 11: to 1 now
1:05:54 this cam person spoke spoke of saving
1:05:57 lives constantly by being there with Nar
1:06:00 Naran or supplying others with Naran it
1:06:05 was Cam's opinion that everyone should
1:06:07 have a can of naron Naran on them or
1:06:11 available to them um available close at
1:06:14 hand I can tell you that just two days
1:06:18 ago one of my children who runs a DS
1:06:21 DSHS um intake Center down in Kent uh
1:06:25 had to use Naran on a woman in the
1:06:28 bathroom um it's this is um you know she
1:06:32 was dying and uh was basically purple
1:06:36 and it worked brought her
1:06:38 back um let's see where was I hear yes
1:06:44 um Cam said they spent he that they
1:06:46 spend four days a week in the field
1:06:48 trying to get people to services and a
1:06:51 half day at the Redmond Clinic helping
1:06:53 there uh cam also mentioned the recent
1:06:56 politics making it harder to serve those
1:06:59 in needs when asked about that I asked I
1:07:01 said what do you mean by that Cam said
1:07:03 that some local municipalities don't
1:07:06 allow some of the life-saving drugs in
1:07:08 their Community they're okay with naram
1:07:11 they're okay with uh methadon but some
1:07:14 of the other things that treat some of
1:07:15 the other drugs they're not okay with
1:07:18 and they don't want there so you're you
1:07:21 know it's and the way that cam also
1:07:23 described that that that the uh um uh um
1:07:28 methamphetamines which are so prevalent
1:07:30 down in the southern part of the county
1:07:33 um are being cut with fanol by the uh by
1:07:36 the by the um the cartels uh to try to
1:07:40 get people a little bit hooked on that
1:07:43 um let's see what
1:07:46 else um I guess that's about it it was a
1:07:50 you know these people were Heroes
1:07:51 they're saving people's lives and uh I
1:07:55 was I was totally touched and uh and
1:07:58 felt honored to hear their story so
1:08:01 that's
1:08:02 it I I don't I don't know if you know
1:08:05 Mor I was at that meeting too I just
1:08:07 didn't have my camera on and thank you
1:08:10 for thank you for taking such good notes
1:08:14 um the the question was asked about are
1:08:18 there other areas on the east side that
1:08:21 Health Point
1:08:22 services and they basically well and I'm
1:08:26 just talking to the whole group here
1:08:27 they basically said the only Clinic they
1:08:30 have on the east side is in Redmond
1:08:32 right and right now right now cam I mean
1:08:35 cam physically goes out and walks around
1:08:39 and so he walks around Redmond and you
1:08:41 know the radius around the clinic or
1:08:43 whatever but um so we don't have any
1:08:46 kind of service like that now here
1:08:49 actually actually Cam said that they
1:08:51 don't spend much of their time in
1:08:53 Redmond most of the time they spend down
1:08:56 in the southern part of the county
1:08:58 because that's where they're needed
1:08:59 they're needed so much more right and
1:09:02 Brad fine good he's really well known in
1:09:05 King County he actually lives in issaqua
1:09:08 and his kids go to school here I do want
1:09:11 to point out one thing and I meant to
1:09:14 get a clearer understanding of this the
1:09:17 overdoses spiked I'm looking at I took a
1:09:20 picture of the graph the overdoses
1:09:22 spiked in 2023
1:09:25 and then started to go down in
1:09:28 2024 and I can't remember what Brad said
1:09:32 was the reason for that do you remember
1:09:34 what remember I don't remember him
1:09:36 saying anything about it they did Spike
1:09:37 at around 1400 I looked at the same
1:09:40 graph um but and and Health Point has
1:09:44 only been there in Redmond I believe for
1:09:46 about three months now they real I'm
1:09:49 looking at a King County graph that he
1:09:51 gave yes yeah yeah but the trend now is
1:09:54 is going down and I can't remember if
1:09:56 it's because of people's education or if
1:10:01 it was because you know during Co the
1:10:03 fentanyl overdoses were really bad but
1:10:06 anyways so we'll see if 2025 is lower
1:10:09 than 2024 in terms of
1:10:12 overdoses yeah I'm I'm gonna guess
1:10:17 no yeah well thank you Commissioners uh
1:10:21 Huma you have uh something to
1:10:23 share oh yeah um if it's okay I'm just
1:10:27 going to drop a flyer in the chat and
1:10:30 then maybe Hannah can email if it's
1:10:32 relevant but I just um want to share
1:10:35 that Maps we fund a couple of their
1:10:39 programs um is giving out food boxes
1:10:43 that support a family of four um for
1:10:47 dinnertime meals for the entire month of
1:10:50 Ramadan and of course these are geared
1:10:53 towards fasting families but um a mosque
1:10:57 is not going to turn away anybody in
1:10:59 need so I do want to share this with the
1:11:02 commission if you know any um any folks
1:11:06 in need Muslim or otherwise Maps is
1:11:09 having this program I think it's ongoing
1:11:11 till February I can't remember the date
1:11:14 but the Flyer's
1:11:15 there thank you sure
1:11:19 yeah thank you thank you all
1:11:22 Commissioners um youth report
1:11:28 pres can you hear me all right
1:11:32 yes all right so just a few things today
1:11:36 so I don't remember if I said it last
1:11:38 time but we have an official event
1:11:40 official event date for the Izzy kids
1:11:42 triathlon that being June 8th from about
1:11:46 8 to 4: and if you don't know the Izzy
1:11:48 kids triathlon is um the most like
1:11:52 basically the largest event held by the
1:11:54 youth Commission where we um host
1:11:57 approximately like almost 50 to almost a
1:12:00 hundred kids every year to do a um small
1:12:02 Triathlon usually middle Elementary to
1:12:05 Middle School Age and and near the end
1:12:07 of um near the beginning of jun is kind
1:12:10 of like is an end of year
1:12:12 celebration and then the other two
1:12:15 things I have is so during spring break
1:12:18 during um the isqua School District
1:12:21 spring break we're going to try to be
1:12:23 holding an isqua issues you debate
1:12:25 tournament and that's going to be um at
1:12:29 the first held in two sectors the first
1:12:32 sector being a seminar where um students
1:12:35 will be able to listen to different um
1:12:39 nonprofit organizations to learn about
1:12:41 different issues that are facing the
1:12:43 community and then the second sector is
1:12:45 going to be a debate um sector where
1:12:47 students will take a position and have a
1:12:50 full debate tournament with um Awards
1:12:53 and such and then the final thing I have
1:12:56 is prep to impress which is our event
1:12:58 that's going to be held in I believe
1:13:00 March and this is part two to something
1:13:03 that we held in January um part of a uh
1:13:07 two part um programed for teen
1:13:10 preparation um in January we held an
1:13:12 event that was for basically a job fair
1:13:15 and resume building for um isqua upper
1:13:18 classman and this part two is about
1:13:21 marketing and working on like networking
1:13:24 and and building a LinkedIn
1:13:27 page and I think that's it I that's all
1:13:29 I have for
1:13:31 today thanks Preston thank you
1:13:35 Preston staying busy I can't believe how
1:13:38 much they do all right um St for okay
1:13:43 just a couple quick things but first I
1:13:45 just wna um I want to thank myy and
1:13:47 Trish thank you so much for both being
1:13:49 there um on your Monday evening I really
1:13:52 do appreciate that and and the ray Port
1:13:54 out I think very helpful
1:13:56 information um so just again want to
1:13:58 thank you both for um attending and for
1:14:01 the report out and of course Huma thank
1:14:03 you for the resource I'm happy to follow
1:14:05 up with um everybody to share that um as
1:14:07 an option um and I will also share it
1:14:10 with some of our nonprofits as well
1:14:12 thank you for that um okay staff report
1:14:16 two items here uh February Black History
1:14:20 Month I know we've got um an event uh
1:14:23 it's not it's a city sponsor event but
1:14:25 it is um it is out of isqua Highlands
1:14:29 Blakeley Hall in Partnerships with Onyx
1:14:32 Fine Arts um this is um the organization
1:14:36 that we partnered with last year if you
1:14:38 recall the um event was at the community
1:14:41 center so we have just moved it over up
1:14:43 into the highlands um that is open
1:14:46 they're open Monday through Friday
1:14:47 please feel free to stop in they have 13
1:14:49 different artists there um displayed um
1:14:53 and um and they're open basically to go
1:14:56 view uh they will have on the 27th
1:14:59 though a familyfriendly event where
1:15:01 they're going to have a performance um
1:15:03 again that's the end of this month so if
1:15:05 that's something of Interest please uh
1:15:07 look into that more um love to have you
1:15:09 all there and then the other last one is
1:15:14 uh recruitment so brought this up um
1:15:16 just want to do another friendly
1:15:18 reminder um recruitment for boards and
1:15:20 commission is currently open um friendly
1:15:23 reminder to those who's turned terms are
1:15:25 I don't know if you've already reapplied
1:15:27 but if your terms are ending you do need
1:15:29 to go through the quick application
1:15:31 process again um happy to touch base
1:15:34 with the two of you separately about
1:15:36 that um but yes please we have quite a
1:15:38 few positions to fill um and kind of
1:15:41 historically kind of a lower um
1:15:44 application to rate for it for some
1:15:46 reason um so if you know anybody um that
1:15:49 you may want to recruit I think would be
1:15:50 interested um and then also please don't
1:15:53 forget we have a stip in program for
1:15:54 your El or those that you're may be
1:15:56 helping us recruit um we will start
1:15:59 interviews in March and I will ask myy
1:16:02 and hie to join me on those I forgot to
1:16:05 ask okay great so myy you have a hands
1:16:09 raised yes uh I have two people that uh
1:16:13 are interested in the information and uh
1:16:16 I'm wondering what how do I make that
1:16:19 connection could you just give them what
1:16:21 they feel comfortable like texting me or
1:16:23 emailing me um um and and saying hi I'm
1:16:27 so and so I'm interested in the
1:16:28 commission can you tell me more or
1:16:30 should I reach out to them I'm I'm happy
1:16:32 just to chat with them if that's what
1:16:34 they're wanting or do you need um the
1:16:35 information for to send to them to
1:16:38 apply um
1:16:43 yes so I'm I'm thinking just that
1:16:47 perhaps if it's you know as maybe to
1:16:50 winnow out the
1:16:51 faint-hearted uh maybe I should have
1:16:54 them email you um and um or you could
1:16:59 just um let me know how it is that they
1:17:02 apply and I'll and uh uh I'll give them
1:17:08 whichever yeah I will email you more
1:17:11 than the um actually Commissioners would
1:17:13 it be helpful for all of you to have the
1:17:15 link should just follow up with
1:17:16 everybody great yeah all right so my
1:17:20 homework is to follow up with everybody
1:17:22 on the recruitment process and link to
1:17:25 reply thank
1:17:28 you did you see hum did you see humus um
1:17:33 her comment in the
1:17:35 chat yes I just I I told her and
1:17:39 hopefully this is not incorrect that she
1:17:42 could just sit out of the when we're
1:17:44 reviewing grants and you know not do the
1:17:46 circle to resolve the conflict of
1:17:49 interest is that correct that is correct
1:17:51 I think Trish is a great example she
1:17:54 works with is Community Services she
1:17:55 still reviews the applications but how
1:17:58 we divide it up um we just remove her
1:18:00 from that category and that's what we
1:18:03 would do with this individual and happy
1:18:05 to do that okay awesome yeah thanks Huma
1:18:08 appreciate it
1:18:11 sure I like the idea of uh what my
1:18:14 mentioned about weeding out the F of
1:18:16 heart because tell somebody I'm
1:18:19 interested but to save you time and
1:18:21 effort and not to bother you with
1:18:24 someone was not going to totally so
1:18:27 thank you Lai yeah thank
1:18:30 you all right um that moves us to uh
1:18:36 other business any announcements or
1:18:38 anyone have anything
1:18:41 add can I make a comment yes go ahead
1:18:45 okay um Manny I really appreciate the
1:18:49 the land acknowledgement you did at the
1:18:51 beginning of the
1:18:52 meeting and um I would like to to see
1:18:55 that happen you know more often uh
1:18:58 within our meetings and if and as this
1:19:03 is um you know black heritage month and
1:19:06 we missed it maybe we could have a labor
1:19:08 acknowledgement uh next month is if
1:19:11 that's okay with with Hannah and the and
1:19:16 city um sounds great um let you know
1:19:19 that I didn't run my little thing
1:19:21 through Hannah first um I like is
1:19:25 approved and admired and loved I didn't
1:19:28 really care tell you
1:19:29 [Laughter]
1:19:31 too it was perfect it was perfect but
1:19:34 ask for forgiveness later
1:19:37 right no I think I think it's great um
1:19:41 and I appreciate that Mar and I would
1:19:42 love I am with you and I would love if
1:19:44 the commission agrees and and finds that
1:19:46 suit you know in in line with our
1:19:49 meetings like it love to include that so
1:19:52 I will work with our current chair and
1:19:53 vice chair and Manny on what that will
1:19:56 look like moving forward and also um
1:19:59 I'll just double check with our clerks
1:20:01 it should be fine but I'll just double
1:20:03 check so we are in a compliance one I
1:20:05 didn't get cic on tribe names and I
1:20:10 would anyone so yeah man I have a labor
1:20:14 acknowledgement already hammered out if
1:20:16 I can send to you um if you
1:20:20 want yeah that' be great yeah okay yeah
1:20:26 yeah yeah we'll see how we can
1:20:27 incorporate that into our meeting more I
1:20:29 appreciate that thank you yeah thank
1:20:33 you okay anything
1:20:36 else well um our next meeting is
1:20:40 scheduled for March 19th correct and um
1:20:44 please inform Hannah if you can make it
1:20:48 personally or Thea
1:20:51 uh net internet
1:20:55 wall everyone be safe for the
1:20:59 next few
1:21:01 months and uh be kind to yourselves what
1:21:05 was the date on that one Manny uh March
1:21:08 19th third Wednesday thank you see you
1:21:12 all in a month and it is
1:21:16 7:59 and we are
1:21:20 a I do want