A BARBARAA HUMAN. Call to Order: Roll Call. Absent: Ava Polan. services. She. Agenda Items: A motion was made. recommendations.

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1 County of Santa Barbara 105 E. ANAPAMU, SANTA A BARBARAA HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING - ACTION SUMMARY Date: Thursday, March 6, 2014 Time: 10:00AM to 12:00PM Place: Parlor, St. Mark s Episcopal Church, 2901 Nojoqui Ave., Los Olivos, CA Call to Order: Roll Call Chair Lucille Boss-Ramirez Members Present: Chrissy Allen, Ruth Jensen, Carol Keator, Michele Mickiewicz, Christina Pizarro, Lucille Boss-Ramirez, Lauren Saltman, Julie Kessler-Solomon, Rubayi Srivastava, Silvia Uribe Absent: Ava Polan Staff Present: Terri Maus-Nisich, Asst. CEO, and Amy Schneider, Consultant Public Comment Period: Yesenia Curiel from Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center expressed gratitude for the Commission s past support and provided an overview of the Center s programs and services. She highlighted the organization s 40 years of experience in the field of sexuall assault, referenced participation on a newly formed Human Trafficking Task Force, and entertained questions and comments from Commissioners. Agenda Items: I. Approval of the Minutes of January 16, 2014 Michele Mickiewicz has only one l in her name. A motion was made by Commissioner Allen and seconded by Commissioner Kessler-Solomon (Jensen, Keator, Pizarro, Srivastava, and to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion carried with five abstentions Uribe). II. Committee Reports A. Contract Compliance (1) Committee Approval of the February 25 Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Uribe and secondedd by Commissioner Jensenn to approve the minutes. Motion carried. (2) Approval of Recommendations: Committee Chair Allen reported on the Committee s deliberations and recommendations. (a) Casa Serena Recommendation: Note to file. No action. (b) United Boys and Girls Clubs Rescind grant funds for Hold until agency is properly noticed. (c) Channel Islandss YMCA Accept agency report for file. No action.

2 Page 2 A motion was made by Commission Keator and seconded by Commissioner Uribe to approve the Committee s recommendations for Casa Serena and Channel Islands YMCA and to table action on United Boys and Girls Clubs until proper notification is provided to the agency. Motion carried. (3) Discussion: Casa Esperanza Executive Director Mike Foley reminded the Commission about the 2013 decision to discontinue the shelter s drop-in lunch services and move to a sobriety-based residential model. He reported on figures for the winter shelter noting that demand is still high. He then made an appeal to retain the funds awarded for the drop-in services and combine them with funds from SB City Human Services to support general shelter services and including meals to residents. He proposed aligning the goals and objectives for both funding entities, which would make for ease of reporting. Commissioners reviewed their options and current procedures noting that when an organization discontinues a funded program it cannot simply shift funds to other needs within the organization. Further, if the Commission wishes to reallocate the funds, it may do so by identifying a current grantee providing similar services or by issuing a NOFA. Due to the fact that at least one organization identified as a possible recipient is not a current grantee, there followed a brief discussion about amending or making an exception to the committee s procedures. There was general consensus against this course of action in response to a specific situation. Rather, Commissioners expressed openness to reviewing procedures as part of a larger discussion at the retreat, for example, and if adjustments were deemed appropriate due to changing circumstances. There was a suggestion to continue to seek information from C3H to help inform the Commission about current priorities and trends. Commissioner Solomon expressed concern for the non-sober homeless population as funding and services are prioritized for sober clients.. B. Allocations (1) Committee Approval of the Minutes from February 4 and 5 A motion was made by Commissioner Allen and seconded by Commissioner Mickiewicz to approve the minutes. Motion carried. Committee Chair Pizarro provided a report on the process for recommending Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) Public Service Funds, referencing the list of applicants, the federal criteria, and the limited available funds. She acknowledged staff members A.J. Quinoveva and Susan Foley for their assistance. Nine programs are being recommended for ESG funds totaling $104,814 and ten programs are being recommended for CDBG funds totaling $155,000. The Committee was commended for its work and commitment of time, and specifically for being the first to use the new Zoomgrants software.

3 Page 3 In response to a question about outcomes and funding amounts, it was noted that no programs were fully funded due to the great discrepancy between the requested amounts and available funds. The Committee is not charged with aligning the grant outcomes with award amounts, rather staff works with organizations during the contract development process to ensure that performance targets match the level of funding provided. III. Staff Report A Update Terri Nisich reported that Community Action Commission (CAC) has agreed to serve as the community host for the Helpline Program. On April 1 the Board of Supervisors will be asked to approve CAC s role and will review a request of $30,000 to update the resource database. Ms. Nisich suggested that a show of support from Commissioners at this meeting would be welcome. Due to past fundraising challenges, CAC is seeking assurances from the county that it will help secure additional funds. To that end, Ms. Nisich recently submitted a grant request to First 5, and will also solicit support from city governments. Commissioner Keator referenced the recent Grand Jury Report and specifically its recommendation that the county, cities, and other entities benefitting from the services provided by the Helpline Program contribute funding in proportionate amounts. Staff will forward the Grand Jury Report to Commissioners. B. Community Asset Mapping Status Update Ms. Nisich reported that the Request for Proposals (RFP) is finished and is currently being reviewed by county counsel. She then noted that C3H has expressed interest in joining the Commission on this project and feels this is worth exploring. The C3H group meets next Wednesday and specifics will be discussed at that time. Commissioner Srivastava will attend the meeting with Ms. Nisich should her schedule allow. Chair Ramirez asked how this might affect the timing on the release of the RFP. Ms. Nisich responded that one way to expedite the release will be to issue it with an addendum from C3H, rather than try to incorporate the information into the current document. C. Food Bank of Santa Barbara County Ms. Nisich spoke about her recent meeting with representatives of the Food Bank at which she had the opportunity to review results of its asset mapping process. While food distribution is clearly a much more finite and therefore simpler service to map compared with all countywide human service programs, she was impressed with how the data was visually represented. Commissioners expressed interest in seeing the presentation at a future meeting. D. Officer Nominations Ms. Schneider outlined the timeline for the election of officers and was instructed to facilitate the process per the Commission s Bylaws.

4 Page 4 IV. Liaison Reports A. Kids Network No Report. B. Adult & Aging Network Commissioner Kessler-Solomon reported on recent legislative updates and activities on preventing elder-abuse. She offered to forward the legislative update to staff, who could pull out relevant information to share with Commissioners. Commissioner Uribe asked if there was interest in asking someone from the District Attorney s office to speak on the elder abuse program. Commissioner Srivastava noted that if it is the same person working on the human trafficking task force, she would be interested in learning more about both issues. C. Child Abuse Prevention Council Commissioner Srivastava noted that April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. People are encouraged to show support by wearing and distributing blue ribbons throughout the month and by wearing blue on Friday, April 4. She also provided an update on the CAPC grants consortium. Ms. Nisich offered to follow-up with First 5 to help get a sense of the number and type of applicants submitted per focus area. D. Homelessness C3H Coordinating Council meetings conflict with monthly HSC meetings. Commissioners Saltman and Keator agreed to share liaison responsibilities. Staff will provide both Commissioners with the calendar of Policy Council meetings and will forward future agendas and minutes from the Coordinating Council. V. Calendar and Announcements A. Filling Commission Vacancies Ms. Nisich reported that there are two vacancies in the fourth district and no nominees at this time. The fifth district also has two vacancies and Supervisor Lavagnino has indicated his intent to reach out to Commissioner Allen for recommendations. Commissioners discussed various methods for advertising the positions more prominently. It was noted that Commissioners Srivastava, Kessler-Solomon, and Pizarro have terms expiring in June. B. Partnership for Excellence Conference Commissioners Kessler-Solomon and Mickiewicz are registered for the conference on April 17 and Commissioner Keator is on the waiting list. Ms. Nisich will attend as a county representative and Ms. Schneider will attend on behalf of another organization with which she is involved. Attendees were asked to bring a recap of the conference to the May meeting of the Commission. C. Mileage Reports Commissioners were reminded to turn in their mileage reports monthly or quarterly, and were encouraged not to wait until the end of the year. Other announcements

5 Page 5 Commissioner Jensen acknowledged the agricultural community for its contributions to the nonprofit sector and shared that March 25 is national Ag Day. Commissioner Kessler-Solomon raised an issue for future discussion regarding the Commission s current allocations process wherein only a third of Commission members are involved in the business of reviewing and recommending grants. Given that this is the Commission s foremost responsibility she would like to see all Commissioners involved if possible. She posited that the past format was likely the result of old technology which precluded large number of reviewers due to the onerous nature of distributing the information and huge amounts of paper required. With the new online tools the process is much less burdensome and therefore should allow for greater participation. Commissioner Mickiewicz referenced the number of city and county government funding entities supporting essentially the same pool of grantees and asked if it might be worth exploring what might be done to help streamline the process for nonprofits. Currently agencies fill out different applications, with different and sometimes onerous reporting requirements, from multiple sources and often for very little funding. She suggested bringing the leadership from the various departments/commissions together along with county counsel to look at the issue. VI. Adjournment There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 12:05 (MSC Keator/Saltman).