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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-15-2025 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES December 15,2025 THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MET ON MONDAY: December 15, at the Orange County Department of Social Services at 113 Mayo Street, Hillsborough, NC 27278. BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBERS PRESENT:Oscar Fleming, Chris Barnes, Jamezetta Bedford, and Ann Wilkerson GUEST: Phil Marsosudiro BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBERS ABSENT: Jane Garrett STAFF PRESENT: Lindsey Shewmaker, Social Services Director; Crystal M.Wiese,Assistant Director; Sharron Hinton, Assistant Director; Rebekah Rapoza, Fiscal Operations Manager; Lakecia Robbins, Economic Services Program Manager; and Serena McPherson, Administrative Officer I. Call to Order and Introductions DSS Chair, Oscar Fleming, called the meeting to order at 4:10 pm. II. Board Comments Chris Barnes mentioned that Jane Garrett's father passed away last week and the DSS Board will be sending over food tomorrow. Also, he had a conversation with Lindsey last week and learned that Toy Chest registrations for Hispanic families is down over 50% from last year and it's believed to be due to current government policies. DSS staff have identified an alternative way for toys to be distributed to that population. III. Public Comments None. IV. Agenda Changes None. V. Action Items On a motion by Chris Barnes, the Board approved the meeting minutes from October and November 2025. Ann Wilkerson seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. VI. Items for Discussion and/or Decision 1. HR 1 Updates Lindsey Shewmaker provided the Board with a presentation on the current changes in Food and Nutrition Services due to HR 1 provisions that have gone into effect. In September 2025, just under 4,700 households were receiving FNS benefits in Orange County. Residents receive approximately $2.6 million in FNS benefits per month. During the federal government shutdown, benefits were late, partial, and then fully restored causing a lot of unnecessary stress for families, especially approaching the holidays. The County held two food drives on November 8 in partnership with PORCH Chapel Hill/Carrboro and PORCH Hillsborough and gave additional funding to IFC and OCIM to help bolster their pantries. t MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES December 15,2025 The big change happening as of December 1, 2025 is expanded FNS work requirements for parents of children aged 14+ and recipients up to age 64. Additionally, veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and foster youth under age 24 are no longer exempt from work requirements. It is estimated that about 173,000 adults in North Carolina will be subject to these expanded requirements. This change goes into effect for new applications and recertifications. Non- citizen eligibility goes into effect January 1, 2026, but it is currently tied up in legal challenges. For Orange County this will primarily have an impact on our refugee population. Currently, the federal government and state share of SNAP (FNS) administrative costs is 50/50 but beginning October 1, 2026, the share will shift to 25/75 federal/state. In NC, we are a county administered system so the impact is that the federal share will be reduced to 25% and county share will be increased to 75%. Benefit cost sharing is scheduled to start October 2027, and states will have to start paying some of the costs loaded onto EBT cards. Under the current error rate plan, NC would be at the 15% level (or$420m). This is the first time that states will be given the opportunity to opt out of offering the SNAP (FNS) program in its entirety if they are not able to pay their share. 2. DSS Board Annual Work Plan Lindsey Shewmaker presented the annual work plan template from the Board of County Commissioners and reminded the Board that the work plan gives them an opportunity to share with the BOCC a few issues that they would like their attention focused on for the year. DSS management team has identified some recommendations for the Board's consideration: • Sustainable funding for SNAP (FNS) and other DSS programs. We have already started having conversations internally about what we can do to be fiscally responsible given the upcoming revenue cut to FNS. Director Shewmaker will be speaking with the County Manger next week to see if we can get information on the front end to help us draft our budget request and to ask that we be included in any conversations about proposed cuts as opposed to making cuts without our input. • Behavioral health and placement access for children and adults in our care. • Emergency management and sustainability of DSS staff to be able to meet ongoing needs. Historically, DSS staff have taken on most of the heavy lifting during both response and recovery phases after emergencies. This effort will take some of the pressure off DSS staff. We will remain the lead for emergency support function 6 but will work towards pulling in community partners and other county departments for assistance. The hope is that this will make things easier for our staff, not more difficult. Board members can give feedback today or review and provide feedback for approval at the January meeting. 3. Holiday Program Recap Serena McPherson presented on the outcomes of the holiday sponsorship program for 2025. The sponsorship program serves the most at-risk children and adults within DSS. The program matches community members/organizations with a child or adult and provides the sponsor with a wish list that the social worker submitted. This year more than 60 adults, 217 children involved with child welfare, and 160 children from non-child welfare social work program areas were sponsored. For those not involved with a social work program who are at or below 200% of poverty or receiving public assistance (FNS, Medicaid, etc.), the Toy Chest provides families with an opportunity to come in and select gifts for their eligible children. Sharron Hinton informed the Board that this year it 2 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES December 15,2025 operated 10a-6p Thursday and Friday last week, and today and tomorrow staff are offering walk-in hours for those who did not register. So far we have served 1,224 children, which is about 600 less than last year. When looking at registration data last week, we noticed that we didn't have as many Spanish speaking residents to register. We are looking into reasons that could explain this decline. We have spoken with El Centro Hispano and will be providing toys for their distribution on January 6th. Again this year we partnered with Toys for Tots and had 86 collection boxes placed throughout the county. We collected approximately 4,900 toys and 250 books. Our fundraising for this year supports next year and we've collected about $18k with a little over$3k coming from Jeans for Joy collection (for Orange County employees). Through the County's online Community Giving platform, we collected another $3,200. We do not use any county funds to run this program, so it all comes from donated toys and funds. It costs about$20k to run the program, so to have $18k at this point puts us in a really good position for next year. This year we have focused on rebuilding community connections and partnerships after losing a lot of community support and donors during Covid years. 4. Child and Family Specialty Plan Crystal Wiese presented on the Child and Family Specialty Plan (CFSP). This is the single statewide health plan that went into effect December 1, 2025, for kids in foster care, those who aged out up to age 24, and youth receiving adoption assistance. Everyone in DSS custody on December 1 was transitioned to CFSP administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield (Healthy Blue). Youth with an IDD with an innovations waiver, in intermediate care facility, or receiving CAP-C are exempt. We had three youth who were exempt and remained with the tailored care plan with Alliance. The transition went pretty smoothly with staff training and preparation for child welfare and Medicaid staff and foster families. We have four assigned care managers and one supervisor for Orange and Chatham counties. A potential hiccup right now is that Healthy Blue does not have a contract with U N C Health. However, there is a 6 month hold harmless period where it doesn't matter if the provider isn't in network, and we have been reassured that it is in the works and hasn't delayed or prevented care for our kids. 5. PATH NC Rollout Changes Crystal M. Wiese updated the Board on changes to the schedule for PATH NC rollout. This is the new child welfare technology system that will ultimately be rolled out statewide and will encompass intake/assessment through adoption. Eighty-nine counties are currently in for intake/assessment and we will be one of the last 11 for intake/assessment. When we do go in it will be for all components (intake/assessment, in-home, foster care, adoption, etc.) and we are a pilot county for all the ongoing work. NCDHHS has delayed the February 2026 rollout due to glitches and wants to make sure the system has full functionality. There has been no update on the rollout time for the last 11 counties, but they estimate about 2 months. Training now will not start until February. 6. Director's Report DSS has signed a contract with SAS to continue work on the child welfare data project. Staff are finalizing a contract with Allies40utcomes that will start in January to provide leadership development training for our supervisors and managers. The County HR provided training focuses more on policies than developing leadership skills. 3 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES December 15,2025 The Low-Income Energy Assistance Program was fully-funded and applications will be open in January. This program provides a one-time bill credit for heating. The next DSS all staff meeting is scheduled for January 23, 2026 and is normally the one that board members attend to celebrate and recognize staff. The meeting will be held first and lunch is usually served around 11 or 12. More information will be provided as details are confirmed. VII. Announcements None. Chris Barnes moved to adjourn the meeting at 5:25 pm. Ann Wilkerson seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. Submitted by: Lindsey Shewmaker, DSS Director Oscar Fleming, Chair 4