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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-19-2020 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES October 19,2020 THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MET ON MONDAY: October 19, 2020 virtually. BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBERS PRESENT: Tamara Dempsey-Tanner, Pat Garavaglia, Susie Enoch, Jane Garrett, and Jamezetta Bedford. GUEST: None. BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Nancy Coston, Director; Sharron Hinton, Human Services Program Manager; Crystal Mitchell, Human Services Program Manager I. Call to Order and Introductions DSS Chair, Tamara Dempsey-Tanner, called the meeting to order at 4:04 pm. II. Board Comments Board members welcomed new board member, Jane Garrett. Jamezetta Bedford discussed some concerns she had about Cardinal Innovations including how they used CARES funding and some issues in other counties. Nancy Coston commented that Cardinal Innovations is trying a pilot in another area that provides wrap around supports to children in DSS foster homes with the goal of promoting placement stability. If this is successful, it could be duplicated in other areas. Ms. Coston also shared OCDSS Adult Services is receiving phone calls from Cardinal staff to make safety checks for their Innovation waiver clients because they are not currently having face to face contact with clients. Jamezetta Bedford responded adult services clients were not mentioned in the last Cardinal Innovations meeting she attended. III. Public Comments None. IV. Agenda Changes None. V. Action Items On a motion by Pat Garavaglia, the Board approved the minutes of September 2020. Tamara Dempsey-Tanner seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. VI. Items for Discussion and/or Decision 1. Introduction of New Board Member and Election of Chair/Vice Chair Tamara Dempsey-Tanner introduced and welcomed Jane Garrett to the Board. Jane Garrett provided the Board and staff present with a summary of her background to include career and t MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES October 19,2020 volunteer activities. Ms. Garrett highlighted her interest in joining the Social Services Board. The remaining Board Members introduced themselves and staff present made introductions. Tamara Dempsey-Tanner stated the Board needs to elect a Chair and Vice Chair. Pat Garavaglia made a motion that Tamara Dempsey-Tanner remain Chair. Jamezetta Bedford seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. The Board discussed naming a new vice chair. Susie Enoch shared she will need to leave the Board after December due to personal health issues. Tamara Dempsey-Tanner nominated Pat Garavaglia for vice chair. Jamezetta Bedford seconded the motion. Pat Garavaglia stated she was willing to assume temporary vice chair responsibility but requested this be revisited in the future. There was no dissent to Pat Garavaglia being named as vice chair. 2. Holiday Programs Sharron Hinton provided an overview of the Holiday Program for 2020. Sponsorship of children identified in the Child Welfare, Employment Services, Adolescent Parenting Program, and Child Care programs will occur. Additionally, the gift sponsorship program will serve adults served by our Adult Services team. The program will occur similar to years prior; however, we are trying to serve more individuals this year since the Toy Chest program will be altered due to COVID-19 response. Sponsorship letters will be going out this week. Sponsors are being asked to spend $200-250 per child and $75-100 for adults. Wish lists are due this Friday. Sponsors will be asked to drop off gifts at OCDSS (Commons and SHSC) on December 12 and December 13. Toy Chest will be held December 191" and 201". On the 191", the hours will be 10a-6p; on the 201n the hours will be 10a-7p. We have 8,000 families eligible to shop; we are planning based on an estimated 25% of this population attending. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents/guardians will not be able to shop for their child's toys this year. Instead, OCDSS will pack a box that will consist of a toy, book, and food. The toy will be selected for the child's age and gender. A food box will be provided to families. OCDSS will be assembling 1500 food boxes. Families will be assigned a time slot to arrive at OCDSS based on the first letter of their last name. This will be an event in which individuals park and remain in their car; staff will bring the items to parked car. Tamara Dempsey-Tanner asked if there will still be volunteer opportunities. Food box assembly will occur prior to Toy Chest and Orange County employee volunteers are being solicited. Pat Garavaglia asked how we plan to handle bicycles this year. OCDSS anticipates the number of bicycle donations to be down; however, donated bicycles will be utilized for the Sponsorship program. Pat Garavaglia asked if there will be still be Toys for Tots collection boxes in the community. Sharron Hinton stated Toys for Tots is still running this year and boxes will be in the community. Gift cards and monetary donations are accepted if an individual is uncomfortable shopping. OCDSS finance has a protocol to track these donations. 3. Ongoing Recovery Work Crystal Mitchell stated the social work staff continue to assist with the County's COVID-19 shelter when there is a need. The shelter is activated when there is a COVID-19 positive individual experiencing homelessness or there is an individual who cannot isolate properly due to living in a 2 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES October 19,2020 multigenerational home setting. Orange County Health continues to refer families to OCDSS who have identified social needs due to a COVID-19 diagnosis. Social workers make contact with these identified individuals and complete an informal needs assessment. We are most often seeing a need for assistance with rent, utilities, food, and hygiene products. Financial assistance and food/hygiene product porch deliveries are being made. Crystal Mitchell provided the Board with an update on additional ways CARES money is being spent in Child Welfare to include financial assistance with rent and utilities in addition to support of virtual education (tutoring, virtual learning centers, and internet payment). Sharron Hinton provided an update in regards to OCDSS's role in food distribution to County families. Around 3700 households or 15,000 people have been served through County food distributions. These distributions are held twice a month; the 2"d Tuesday at Cedar Ridge High School and the 4th Thursday at Carrboro High School. We have collaborated at times with the Food Bank and Cooperative Extension. OCDSS staff packs 400 boxes of food every other week. We have supplied Town of Chapel Hill recently with 50 food boxes and PORCH with 200 food boxes for a distribution they organized in Cedar Grove. There will be no community distribution in December, as we will be providing food boxes during our Toy Chest event. Sharron Hinton and Nancy Coston continue to assess the mass feeding needs of the community and plan to reconvene the mass feeding group to have further discussion about these needs. In regards to Employment Services, Sharron Hinton stated the Hope Renovations program finished their first cohort on 9/11/2020. This was a six-part course in the construction trade. The second cohort will be a seven-part course on plumbing and will start soon. There will be a drive-thru job fair on 11/4/20. This will be Health Care industry focused with 5-10 hiring employers present. Another job fair will be held on 11/18/20 with a focus on the Construction and Trades industry. Janet Garrett asked how females are recruited for the Hope Renovations program. OCDSS WIOA contracts with Hope Renovations and they recruit alongside OCDSS employment services staff recruiting from their caseloads. Susie Enoch asked the time of the job fair. The job fair will be 10a- 2p. To wrap up recovery work being conducted by the agency, Nancy Coston stated the childcare unit is supporting virtual education with financial assistance for virtual education centers. Adult Services also continues to assist other agencies by conducting safety check visits and meeting needs of adults in the community by making food and hygiene product porch deliveries. 4. Medicaid Transformation Nancy Coston advised the Board OCDSS is again in a preparation readiness phase for Medicaid Transformation. Open enrollment will begin on 3/15/21. Everyone has to choose their plan again even if they chose this in the past. Anyone who has not chosen a plan by 5/15/21 will be assigned a plan. Medicaid Transformation will begin 7/1/21. 5. One-Stop Voting Site Nancy Coston advised Orange Works is an early voting site. Orange Works will not reopen to the public until January 2021. Additionally, Seymour Center is an early voting site, which is located beside Southern Human Services Center (SHSC). Senior lunch distribution has been moved to the parking lot of SHSC during the Early Voting period. 3 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES October 19,2020 6. Director's Report Skills Development Center will open at Europa Center on 1/4/21. OCDSS completed an outreach with Skills Development partners last Friday to advise of the Project 203 building plans. A link to the building plan can be found on the Town of Carrboro website. The completion of this project is still several years out. The State/County MOU that outlines the State Performance Measures for DSS will cover 1/1/2021 to 6/30/2022. The Board of County Commissioners delegated authority to the County Manager to review and sign the MOU. Performance Measures that do not have good data to measure them have been dropped. Four performance measures for adult services have been added. VII. Announcements Pat Garavaglia shared some fundraising ideas for the Holiday Programs and will reach out to a contact she has with UNC Kenan Flagler Business School. Pat Garavaglia moved to adjourn the meeting at 5:24 pm. Susie Enoch seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. Submitted by: Nancy Coston, DSS Director Tamara Dempsey-Tanner, Chair 4