Congratulations on your first budget hearing here.

Thank you.

We jump right in.

Please introduce your staff and feel free to begin your presentation, sir.

Just one moment, please.

For your get here.

Coordinate.

Coordinate.

We've been here all day.

Coordinate.

Coordinate.

And we want to thank you for your patience as well as we wait for you.

You've been uh patiently waiting.

I know you're supposed to start at two o'clock.

We've, of course, as you saw, had a budget hearing prior to you.

And uh got a number, but we had two budget hearings earlier today and got a little late start.

So again, thank you for your patience.

And uh again, welcome.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Um wanted to to be here to sort of present some of the mayor's um overall views um and uh priorities for the for the health department.

Um the health department is an extremely important uh department, just like all of them are um to make sure that Detroiters have long healthy um uh lifespans.

Um the mayor has objectives around chronic disease, around making sure that programs and resources are readily available.

Um there we're talking about a process where you can possibly go pay a water bill and get connected to health resources that way.

So, really a no-wrong door approach to making sure that health resources are available.

There is a close alignment between the human services capacity that's being built right now and the health department because we know that when you have your basic needs met, such as housing, transportation, uh, we can then have you prioritize physical health needs.

And so we both need a uh extremely strong human services capacity as well as a strong and connected health department capacity.

And so really happy to be here to talk about what the health department is doing now, uh, and also to talk about what the health department will be doing in the future to make sure that all Detroiters are readily connected and have access to the resources they need uh for long and healthy lives.

Through the chair, I would like to yield to the deputy director for public health, uh, Ms.

Christina Floyd.

Okay, everyone.

Uh my name is Christina Floyd, and I'm Deputy Director of Public Health for the Detroit Health Department.

So for the uh Detroit Health Department, we've been doing public health services, very essential services for over 100 years to uh all residents, visitors of the city of Detroit uh through our mission, uh which is to address public and population health priorities of Detroiters, because we want to ensure that everybody has an opportunity to thrive.

Most of our services uh go from environmental health, maternal child health, uh, all the way to uh your uh smaller, most um social determinants of health type programs as well.

And so uh throughout this, you will be able to see how those services intertwine with the new vision admission of our administration.

Question We at the health department have uh really looked at how we can transform into a trusted partner uh within the neighborhoods for the entire city of Detroit.

We have four critical buckets that we have services under uh that we provide for public health programs, environmental health, social determinants of health, as well as our clinical services.

Most notably our HIV services, which have come through for multiple reasons.

Uh those services have been provided from really the inception of the health department.

Um we also have our safe roots programs uh and especially our behavioral health programs through our public health programs.

Environmental health has two main uh capacities, one for food safety, but also for environmental health, where we also uh review pools, plan reviews, uh, and other uh such as tattoo uh institutions as well.

We have programs that focus on social determinants of health, such as our communical disease as well as emergency preparedness, which allows us to be able to respond effectively and responsively to any public health emergency within the city of Detroit.

Our clinical services range from reproductive health to women infinite children, as well as immunizations and a plethora of maternal child health services.

We have several locations within the city of Detroit, not only for our main administrative building, which is at 100 MAC Avenue, our satellite center, which is at the Samaritan Center on the east side.

Throughout last year, we were able to accomplish quite a bit throughout 2026.

And so our rise to care program, which started in 2024, later part of that year, we've been able to have over 25,000 rides administered to mothers and those who are caregivers of children up to one year of age.

We have distributed over 20,000 Narcan kids through our public health response for opioid as well as our behavioral health teams.

And we have also throughout the entire services that we provide touched well over 70,000 residents.

We did most certainly an astonishing be able to complete our community health assessment as well as develop a community health improvement plan to be able to see those activities through in order to address the priorities of the community.

And we have integrated our community health worker type services within the city of Detroit through all districts to address those social needs as well.

So our RISE to care program, as I stated, started November 18th of 2024, and that is to ensure that mothers who are pregnant as well as caregivers of children from zero to one year old are able to go to prenatal, postnatal, or pediatric care services, and again that is something that we have seen be able to grow in success.

As it started in uh November 2024, we slowly had close to roughly close to 500 rides per month.

We steadily saw that increase all the way to uh whereas of December 2025.

We have seen close to 1,900 rides per month.

Again, our HIV STI program is very critical in the uh ensuring that we are intentional about the work that we are doing to prevent HIV and STIs throughout the city of Detroit.

Uh we have been able to have an 87% viral low suppression rate throughout the clients that we have.

Uh understanding what that looks like in 2024, uh, new cases of HIV were at 212 within the City of Detroit, where we actually have our coverage throughout the City of Detroit as well as our surrounding counties.

New cases were at 435.

And so why that's important is to ensure that those individuals are into care quickly, they know their stylus quickly, and they're able to be undetectable to be able to be untransmittable very easily.

We uh through various resources distributed 90,000 condoms throughout the city of Detroit for free to residents, uh partners and other services who uh request to have that type of service provided.

And we have over 50 plus HIV community testing activities, and that's through various activities and again throughout our uh 20 sub-recipient contracts that we have with HIV STI.

Our opioid crisis response uh is coordinated uh with the mayor's office as well as through our other partners such as DEWAN WANG County and so on.

And so, again, as I stated, we've been able to successfully have over 20,000 kits uh provided throughout the city.

Uh we have them uh at various stations such as our bus stations such as okay, such as uh the uh bus transit stations, uh we have some at churches, we have also some uh at various locations that are just freestanding.

Our Narcan training, we were able to successfully have 43 training throughout the city of Detroit and over 155 behavior health overall trainings.

Um we're looking to have uh more NARCAN news stands throughout the city that provide not just um NARCAM but other harm reduction type services uh and uh items for free to all residents.

Our emergency preparedness response uh in uh last year was very critical role throughout for the Southwest flood that had occurred.

Uh we were able to have uh over a period of almost two months uh over a hundred of our uh staff to be able to go out throughout various times uh to assist.

I'm sorry, over 50 staff to go out throughout the city uh to assist in in this effort, uh be it either in actual district six at the location or as well as those where uh the residents who were rehoused um at the hotels through our community health workers.

Uh that particular um public health emergency operations response was led by our um our team through emergency preparedness and our PHOC was uh activated for that time to make sure that our residents had the uh necessary, as well as our mobile unit was stationed throughout uh that time as well.

Uh various community input situations that are throughout the entire department.

We have our community advisory board that is mandated by Charter 7 for the health department.

We have our um youth advisory board through our I decide uh reproductive Title 10 program.

We uh definitely encourage and uh often have our uh Southeastern Michigan HIV AIDS council uh to be able to provide us with guidance on best practices.

Uh and finally, uh like I said, our safe suite and fatherhood advisory board uh is uh critical in order to look at maternal child health activities and other ways that we can best serve the community.

So I will now turn it on over to our chief public health officer.

Awesome.

Uh good afternoon, counsel.

I'm really excited to be here.

Um excited to introduce myself.

My name is Ali Abazid, and I'm the chief public health officer and director of the Detroit Health Department.

I really want to extend my thanks to our chief of staff for being here for Ms.

Christina Floyd for sharing some of what this department has done over the last year.

Um and I'm really excited to talk about some of the priorities going forward.

Um, this mayor has a big ambition for the health department, embedding what we do across all city plans and operations because that's how health operates.

And so going forward in some fiscal year 27, um our focus remains on increasing our positive maternal, infant, and child health outcomes.

That's been a core uh goal of this department, will continue to be one.

Programs like Rx Kids, programs like Rides to Care, um, our our maternal and child health home visiting program and our WIC uh breastfeeding support are all aimed at helping us bring down those numbers in terms of uh preterm birth rates, infant and maternal mortality rates.

That's gonna continue to be a focus of this department's.

We're gonna expand education and access to asthma care for Detroit families.

That's a huge priority for the mayor.

It's a huge priority for this department, and the integrated structure within this new sort of uh paradigm is gonna help us tackle this pressing and tractable issue across the city of Detroit, across every single neighborhood.

We're gonna address chronic disease at its roots.

That means nutrition, that means physical activity in the built environment.

You may have heard me talk a couple times.

I'm wrapping up my third work or third week here, uh, and I'm learning a lot and recognizing what that built environment looks like in terms of our programs and policies.

We're gonna continue to address those chronic disease uh prevention and action at its roots.

Uh we're gonna continue to increase equitable access to affordable, high-quality, healthy food across Detroit.

Um, there are programs that we can weave in.

There are programs that we can help uh tuck under the umbrella of ongoing programs.

Sometimes the best way to expand programs and services is to let people know what those programs and services are that are already ongoing, and we'll continue to do that at the health department.

Uh we want to continue to reduce barriers to prevent preventable health care access.

There are the neighborhood wellness centers, we have community health workers in our rec centers, rights to care.

Those are all examples of ways in which we can help uh introduce new ways of access to health care services.

And then finally, we want to expand access to mental and behavioral health supports.

Um, mental and behavioral health is an issue that touches just about every other issue in the city, and by addressing that ahead on, we're able to tackle multiple public health issues at the same time.

We can go on to the next slide, please.

And all of this is predicated on this phrase that you may have heard uh a few times already.

Health and all policies.

Um it's not too jargony, it's not too academic.

It's basically a synonym for collaboration.

How do we better collaborate across the department?

How do we best collaborate across city operations?

And so the mayor has made clear that health outcomes cannot be separated from the city's work, whether that's in housing and transportation, whether that's economic development and public safety.

Health and all policies simply means how do we put in how do we apply a public health lens across all city departments and programs?

And we're actively thinking about ways.

This is not theoretical.

We already do it.

Our community health worker model is basically already tying into that health and all policies approach.

Just yesterday at our all hands to all staff meeting.

We had a wonderful story from a community health worker who is basically doing that work already.

We want to make sure that we're helping to operationalize it.

We want to make sure that we're helping other city departments tap into the expertise of the health department so that we can help others make more health conscious decisions decisions.

This isn't about every department becoming a health expert.

This is about other departments tapping into the expertise and the experience of the health department.

Yet again, another way of expanding programs and services without having to quite literally expand programs and services.

Moving on, I want to talk a little bit about our total uh fiscal year 27 funding source summary.

And so what you see here is a total budget of 60.4 million dollars.

Uh about 42% of that, close to 26 million, uh, is uh from the general fund.

We have state block grants.

We're a department that receives a lot of grants that does a lot of work.

Uh approximately 20 million of that is from state block grants that includes the essential local public health uh services, which are uh include MDHS, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services grants for programs including vision and hearing, maternal and child health, lead prevention immunizations, those are all part of the grant funding that we receive and roll out to the community.

We also receive uh a bunch of federal grants, uh approximately 14-15 million dollars of that.

A lot of that's Ryan White Part A, uh, which helps drive our HIV STI work.

Um we also have Hop One, Title 10 Family Planning, City Readiness Programs.

I can tell you I've gotten to know the emergency preparedness team intimately the last couple of weeks.

We've been working very closely together, um, and those dollars are well spent.

Um, those programs are up and running.

Uh they are machines in there.

Um we also uh are a department that has service fees and revenue, about four million dollars, including licenses, permits, inspection charges, and other service fees as well.

A little more detail here shows um where the the sort of allocation of our FTEs and our dollars are across the department.

So you'll see here close to 300 FTEs uh across the uh city of Detroit Health Department, uh approximately 26.5 million of that is on staffing, uh, another 34 million is on non-staffing costs, leading us to our total budget request of 60.4 million dollars.

And then just some high-level budget highlights um what you all saw in your binders there.

Uh we have the community violence intervention program.

It's a one-time 10.8 million dollar budget line item.

This is the single largest uh uh line item in the budget.

It represents the mayor and council's shared commitment to addressing uh continued uh uh addressing of violence as a public health issue.

We know from best practices across the country that by treating these issues, whether it's this or the mental health co-response as public health issues, you are better tackling and making it so that those services are spreading across the city uh in in a more efficient manner.

And so applying that health in all policies lens, uh, these are two great programs that show that the third that you see there is the 33 uh thousand dollar rides to care position conversion.

This helps it's a small but it's an important investment that converts a temporary position, uh ensuring the continuity of a program that served over 25,000 rides.

We want to make sure that we're continuing to do uh good work there going into the next fiscal year.

Thank you all.

Thank you, Chief Abazar.

Um we Ablazeed, excuse me.

My apologies.

Uh, we'll now go to questions from colleagues.

We'll start with Member Waters.

All right.

So thank you uh so much for being here.

Good afternoon.

Um I want to ask happens to be regarding senior citizens.

I did notice that you talked about Narcan being available to people who I can assure you that NARCAN is also um needed in our senior buildings as as well.

And so I'm happy to help you make sure that we get those to them.

The other thing I'm kind of want to know just a little bit more about what your plans are for our seniors in terms of their health.

So if you could just kind of share that a little bit more specifically, if you would.

Yeah, um, through the chair, I'd like to yield to our chief of staff.

To the chair, uh the council member waters.

Um so the the capacity for the um Office of Senior Citizen Affairs, um, the the director or the the area that directs that program actually sits in the mayor's office, and the staff are funded by the health department.

And so what this uh establishes is sort of a health best practices approach when it comes to seniors.

So you'll have the services being provided uh by um you know health department staff that that intimately understand the barriers that seniors face, but you also have leadership that's positioned in the mayor's office, so there's more of a citywide purview, so we can also talk about things like fire safety um and other issues, you know, BC um, you know, uh compliance when it comes to senior buildings.

So it's a pretty good uh mix of subject matter experts within the Office of Senior Citizen Affairs, but you'll see the staff coming out of the health department to make sure that they are providing sort of the the physical health lens to what it is that we're doing on the service side for seniors.

And so you you'll be working together.

Absolutely.

All right, well, well, that's good.

That's real good.

Um tell me what's gonna be the future approach now that state and federal dollars are dwindling.

Yeah, I'm I'm getting to know intimately the uh the budget of the department.

Um, you know, those are conversations that uh we've had um and the department's operations.

We have contingency plans uh to date.

We haven't seen a significant dent to our federal or state grants.

Um, but you know, public health is only as strong as our prediction of human behaviors, right?

So you can I can promise you that we'll we're prepared.

We have contingency plans in place uh to prepare to prepare to be prepared for those outcomes should they arise.

So you're gonna be applying for as many grants as you can as well, right?

State and federal grants.

Absolutely.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

Chief, I uh so last couple of years that we kicked off the uh Protect Your Crown campaign, uh, an initiative mental health.

Um, and I know you talked about mental slash behavioral health and wanted to know a little bit more about what that entails.

Uh no, we've talked about in the past, and everyone thinks it's a great idea, but it hasn't been instituted yet.

New uh blood in that seat in the mayor's office as well in other spaces.

Um talked about having um uh therapy, behavioral health services, mental health services at our rec centers because that way it's accessible to folks in the community.

We're doing all we can to invite them into our rec center.

We should be inviting them to also uh take care of their mental uh situations as well.

So talk to us a bit about what your plans are uh moving forward uh in the space of mental health, behavioral health um beyond just referring everyone to DWIN, and also the concept that I've brought up, and everyone again thinks it's a great idea.

Would love to see what uh how it could be instituted, uh, behavioral health therapy uh inside of our mental inside of our uh rec centers.

Yeah, council president, thank you for the question.

Um, I want to yield in a second to the deputy director to talk about some of the previous work, but I can tell you going forward, one of the priorities of the department overall is that any interaction we have with the resident, whether it's at a wellness center, whether it's at a rec center, whether it's at one of our WIC clinics, that we're providing them, not just the services that they're coming in for, but letting them know what other services exist across the city.

That's part of that health and all policies paradigm.

It's also per part of a wraparound services paradigm.

When it comes to mental and behavioral health, um, as you well know, it's it's it's it's something that requires a lot of collaboration from a lot of different departments.

And so as we build out those tentacles as I like to call them across other city departments and agencies for how we at the health department can better advise them on making more health conscious decisions, including in mental and behavioral health.

Uh, we'll be building out those lanes formally so that we can be tapped into to provide that expertise.

Um, and uh through the chair, I'd like to yield over to uh Ms.

Christina Floyd.

Thank you to the chair.

Uh part of our strategy as well is to be able to have our community health workers as well as the behavioral health specialists that we have at the health department uh be more intentional about the work that they provide within uh the both uh neighborhood wellness centers as well as rec centers uh to have that uh lens of mental health, behavioral health focus.

We have worked diligently and we are continuing to collaborate with D WAN, but also Wayne County and others to be able to provide those services that uh our critical need that we don't normally provide, so just clinical services.

And we're looking to also have not just uh a referral process, but also have uh uh having in conversations services within the department as well as other areas that D WAN and Wayne County and some of their service providers, because they have over 400, uh, be able to provide those services and we can tap into that information uh and make sure that uh in all districts residents are fully aware of what is available to them.

But I would definitely um uh encourage that uh our CHWs as well as behavioral health staff who are all uh trained through MISHA for behavioral health.

I mean for community health worker, they are uh very much aware of what social determinants of health care, what mental health brings uh and the capacity of behavioral health uh in the city of Detroit and how they can utilize that to the best of their ability to provide services.

Thank you.

So what what just uh again about the rec centers?

Maybe uh Chief Alzheimer assist with that or someone else what was what's the thought because I know I've talked about it, we've had those conversations.

Uh any thought to it?

I know it's not in the budget here, but um since we've had our conversations, anyway to the chair.

I I think that we are we have been talking about using rec centers and other um areas in the city as opportunity hubs that have many different services there.

Um I know on the therapy side there could be or there should be some partners out there that can provide some mobile services while we sort of work out a strategy to provide on site through the city or through a partner with the city at a particular rec center.

Um quality of life issues as well.

So what I've seen is that what we've all seen really is that if folks don't have stable housing, they're gonna deprioritize their their emotional health, their behavioral health as well.

So I think if we have that direct line from human services into therapy, into mental behavioral health services, um, we'll have a lot more uptake and we can kind of uh you know address the stigmas that are around behavioral health too.

But I think right now we can find partners.

Um we're talking right now to uh quite a few partners that have mobile clinics um that can sort of provide these sort of issues as an entry point or these services as an entry point into longer term care.

We can definitely prioritize um therapy uh and find a partner that provides that while we think of a plan internally to have it at a at a rec center or two.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Colleagues can I have a motion to place uh into executive session or discussion regarding um mental slash behavioral health services at our rec centers.

Okay.

See you know any objection?

Discussion.

With the further discussion, Member McCown.

If I can join you on that with some joint it.

Member McCampbell.

Seeing no objections, that action shall be taken.

Thank you.

And there's another question I asked in the past as well.

Um COVID hit us hard.

Um and there were it was some areas in the city of Detroit that got hit harder than others.

I don't know if we've done a real analysis.

I know we sometimes hate going back and looking at things, but you know, really that gives us a uh sometime a map, uh, a pathway to see how we can prevent things in the future.

Uh I would love to see us uh do a real analysis because of what I saw that came from the state, it didn't really feel like that was a true analysis and gave us a I did gave us a pathway to truly identify why certain uh parts of the city got hit harder than others.

Um and I would like to see us do just that because we never know when uh another pandemic is gonna hit.

I know it took a hundred years before the last one.

Um we see these hundred year everything now reduced to five years, two years, and we're starting to see these things happen a lot more often now.

So uh colleagues, can we get an uh a motion to place into executive session a discussion about a and I'll get the language uh together, uh a study, a research study uh on the effects of COVID uh in our in the city of Detroit.

I'll just leave it at that right now.

Motion.

See no objections that action shall be taken.

Thank you.

And again, we'll get that memo and uh get the language uh more finalized.

Uh our next one coming up is Member McCampbell.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um good afternoon and congratulations again and just also want to uh congratulate you all on all the work that has gone on in the health department that you laid out, Deputy Rector, and um also knowing um where the health department is coming back from in the post-bank corruption.

So I just want to commend the department for all of their work um and looking forward to the continuation of it.

Uh I also as bringing up health in all policies, uh something that I'm uh huge supporter of, and as you I know you brought up the way to work across departments.

Um hopefully we can continue continue to have conversation on how as a legislative body that we could um have health and all policies in mind as well as we do our policymaking.

Uh I wanted to bring up uh uh uh aspect also as uh council president brought up looking to do all we can to bridge that job that we see in mental health um folks getting those services that are needed.

But I had a question around um if as we're thinking about if you can go deeper into um the uh what we are thinking moving forward around tackling asthma and the high asthma rates and and um one aspect on one absolutely treating the folks that uh have asthma and but also what are we thinking about around tackling air quality and improving air quality in the city.

Councilmember, um thanks for the question.

So uh when when you think about asthma, and I I uh uh I've been talking uh about this quite a bit in my first few weeks, um, it's not uh it's not caused by a single risk factor.

Um as our chief of staff just mentioned, if if you're not someone who has safe and stable housing, then your concerns about other elements, whether it's physical or mental or otherwise, uh, they won't be a priority.

As someone who grew up with asthma, I grew up in a very working class neighborhood, two blocks from Tylerman Avenue on the other side of the border in Dearborn.

Um you don't realize until you get much older in life that that was likely caused by environmental factors, and also growing up where we lived in a basement where there was mold and mildew and whether there was more sort of humidity.

And so recognizing that it's a multi-risk factor issue, um, it's going to ta take the same kind of dedication as our health and all policies approach to recognize what do we do across the city, whether it's in housing, whether it's in transportation.

If your kid has childhood asthma and you're a parent that's working a job, you you don't have transportation access, that that treatment is inaccessible.

And so when we talk about access, I like to complicate that a little bit because access isn't this simple word that relates to whether or not people are insured or uninsured.

And so um we're doing a lay of the land now, and I can promise you that it's a priority for the mayor, it's a priority for this department, that's a priority for Dr.

Schaefer under this vertical.

Um and as we learn more about what other departments are doing and can be doing, uh, we'll incorporate that into the paradigm of health and all policies to tackle childhood asthma.

Absolutely, and and thank you for the breakdown that and you also as someone who grew up with childhood asthma as well, um, realizing those very that was many factors there.

So definitely want um as you get the layer of the land and and see more program and how that lays out with asthma, definitely would love to be a part of that conversation.

Um I also want to um touch on the aspect around and I don't know why I'm losing my place on what I had, but um as we're with the health department on RX kids, um, and I brought this up at the table before.

If you can just talk to us about what we've seen so far in RX Kids, um what the pathway forward and what's needed there.

Um and also like if we can be visionary in if we had a fully funded RX Kids program for let's say I'll keep it in the four years, right?

What is what is the goal of a fully funded RS kids over the next four years and what does that mean for Detroit families um to have a program like that.

Through the chair, I'd like to yield to Dr.

Luke Schaefer.

Thank you.

Uh through the chair, thank you so much for that question.

Uh I would just add on the childhood asthma, one that um uh we've been working with uh our uh health department um experts on indoor air quality as well and adding that to the portfolio of our uh home repair program.

So there is evidence-based strategies for uh reclamating mold, dealing with moisture, dealing with pests, um that as we look for other policies, other opportunities we could add to different home repair programs that we have.

And so I think this is a great example of uh director uh Abazid's uh health and all policy strategy trying to build on those things.

Uh with RX Kids uh through our state funding and uh the very generous funding from the city in our philanthropic, uh we have funding secured for three years of the program.

Uh so that is the uh uh $1,500 one-time payment during pregnancy and then uh five hundred dollars a month for six months.

Um so for future funding, uh we can be thinking about uh extending that period over time.

Uh we can be thinking about um what are the possibilities for having a program that goes to the first year of life.

Uh we can be thinking about um what are the possibilities for having a program that goes to the first year of life and uh how could that uh expand in different parts of the city.

I think those are all things that other communities are looking at.

Uh in Flint so far, uh we've seen improvement in low birth weight, uh, reduced low birth weight, uh, reduced preterm uh births, which is very uncommon among interventions, increased prenatal care, uh reduced uh NICU admissions.

We've seen reduced postpartum depression uh and uh reduced eviction uh during uh uh the infancy.

Um and so uh from the research standpoint, you know, the evaluation standpoint, uh we will be looking very closely, uh partnering with the RX Kids research team to see uh how all of those outcomes uh play out uh in the city of Detroit.

Um there's uh uh and then uh thinking about how health care uh dollars could be utilized.

So there's uh of course um RX Kids was funded through uh originally through TAN-UP dollars, which is through uh social safety net dollars.

Um but um health care dollars are much larger, and through the NICU missions alone, uh pays for a substantial uh uh part of the fraction of the cost uh in Flint.

And we could see that as a path to sustainability uh if we could have taken advantage of those cost savings there.

Um so uh we're gonna uh look in the first three years uh on um improved uh uh health of babies, uh, moms and families and to the economy as a whole.

Uh so an independent group of labor economists showed that um uh in Flint uh that the uh investment of the cash transfers that get spent at grocery stores, uh in the rent, um uh all through local communities, diapers uh first and foremost.

Uh it resulted in a hundred to two hundred added jobs uh with uh four times as much in cash prescriptions here in the city of Detroit.

We um we'll be looking to see if we if we see uh a much larger uh improvement in the uh economic um activity of the city.

And through the chair too, Councilmember McConville, I also like to add that uh at the onset of the implementation of RX Kids, we were able to see for referral services that were adjacent to the application process through the health department.

Uh many of the referrals uh that people rub around services people were really looking for were for WIC services, maternal child health.

Uh that's necessarily weighing down a bit where we were getting close to maybe 10 to 15, sometimes 20 referrals a day.

However, uh we can see that uh many of those residents, the health department has actually already touched in one way or another, especially through uh children's special health care services as well.

And so we're we're really seeing uh how uh all the as they say, health and all policies tie into the work that we're doing and how uh the services have already really been rendered to citizens seeking that.

Through the chair, I just wanted I I forgot to add uh we have an uh RX Kids has enrolled 1,100 families and paid uh just in the first month and a half of 1.5 million dollars in cash prescriptions, uh and there are 570 babies that have been born to our cupboard.

Thank you.

That's great.

Well, thank you all so much, and and and thank you for all the work on this.

Um Dr.

Schaefer as well, uh everyone has who has advocated for this, I know Member Calloway um has advocated for this as well, and of course, Mayor Schofield um on this.

Uh the last thing I will say uh it's not a question just to end.

Um, as we're thinking about health and all policy, one thing, and I'll submit questions on this as we're the access to healthy food um and uh um especially the need to have uh more grocery stores that have fresh affordable food, and as we think about health and all policy and that connections to um our plan and economic development teams and also uh the economic growth uh corporation as well.

So thank you all so much.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

That's it for me.

Thank you.

Member Callaway Thank you, Member McCampbell, for that acknowledgement.

We've been on this body been advocating for RX kids for a number of years now, and um I'm glad on day one with our new mayor, she made families and children's first by rolling our rolling out RX Kids.

So I want to thank my my colleagues, they've always supported it, but it took our mayor to get it across the finish line.

So when you put children first, um it we're gonna have a very, very successful next four years under her leadership, and I'm excited about it.

Rx Kids.

And thank you, Member McCampbell.

You answer a number of my questions related to the program.

We know that it works, and I would um recommend that everyone go out and get Dr.

Hannah's book, what the eyes don't see that I read in 2018.

And um here we are today, um, eight years later, and we're talking about RX Kids, which is um a wonderful program for children, and um uh just being there when they rolled it out.

Um, I forgot where we were on Woodworth, but it was an amazing day for me, and to see all those babies that have been born in 2026, and then to know that there have been close to 1,500 um families have signed up.

We know that when we um do good work for our children, when we put them first, everything else um um will succeed, and that's always been my belief.

We have to put our children first and our preamble and our charter um on page three, I think it's page three, requires that we put our children first.

We have to remember them, and I think this is the first time that we as a body since I've been on the council, we are really putting children first intentionally and um deliberately.

And I'm very, very um happy that our kids is a reality for us.

Um was told that it couldn't get done, but it got done.

Um, the childhood led prevention program.

Um we put, I think close to two million dollars in the program last year, looking to put um more funding behind this because we know that it works.

All homes that were built before 1978 are gonna have lead-based paint, and that's a large inventory of our homes in the city of Detroit.

We know that a lot of them are out of compliance, but we're helping them to get in compliance, our landlords.

But what are we going to do in terms of the lab prevention program?

I don't hear a lot about it.

Um, I don't see the billboards that I see in other communities talking about it.

I don't see anything on the radio.

I don't uh I don't hear anything on the radio.

I hear no public service announcements.

We gotta get the word out because we still have it's just not in the paint.

Sometimes it's the dust right around the windows that our children get access to.

So, what are we doing to uplift and upgird and um increase our lead prevention program and what about the funding for it?

That's one of my questions.

And I don't know who can answer through the chair.

Yeah, Councilmember Cowley, thank you for that question.

And welcome, sir.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Uh I want to yield to uh Christina and second here, but I can tell you that uh this is a conversation that I've already started having across departments, um, but also within the department as well.

Uh this is one of those critical areas where that collaboration across buildings and housing, um, working with other organizations in the community is gonna be critical to get the information out, but also to uh correct for some misinformation too, uh, which can be just as damaging to public health.

Uh Christina.

Uh, through the chair to council member Callaway.

So right now we have added uh at least three more additional uh lead advocates to our program, which we didn't have before, uh which we were able to do through uh increased funding from the state.

And so uh with that is uh a part of what uh uh Ali has talked about as well as an increased presence of communication uh but also awareness within the community.

And so uh it it used to fall heavily on our uh lead nurse case managers, uh but now with those advocates who can be more out in the field uh working with uh HRD as well as B uh B seed uh and our other uh partners uh in the lead fight.

Uh we uh I can see that we'll be able to branch out more and have more communication.

Uh but right now uh we just recently onboarded those individuals in the past few months, and so getting them out into the field and getting them ready to be uh uh really productive, I think it's gonna work within the next couple of months, and so you'll see more information, especially from our communications, uh but also more of a visible presence of those individuals within the community.

Thank you.

And um, it would be wonderful just to get some information that can go into some of the schools when um when the parents are up there in the in the registration office in the main office, they can have that materials right there where they can just access it.

Um I'd like to see that as a former educator in DPS and also uh Detroit Edison Public School Academy, DEPSA.

So I I would like to see that, and I think if we can make the the um information available readily available to our parents, because you don't have to take the house down to the studs to remediate the lead that's in the paint.

You can actually there's something out there where you can actually paint over the walls or prime them, and then that should help.

I'm not an expert, I'm not a health expert.

I just know what I've learned since I've been investigating, but you don't have to take the house down to the studs, and that that has been a problem or a um I would have to say uh uh a barrier with respect to making the home safe because a lot of people are thinking um uh sometimes you do, but sometimes you don't have to take it down to the studs, and we've seen that, and the led um prevention program has been working.

But I would like to see how we can better better support it.

So I'm going to make a motion to put the childhood led prevention program into executive um into the executive session.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections seeing none that action shall be taken.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

And lastly, um these are from 2024-2025 numbers.

Child poverty rates in Detroit are triple the national average, making us one of the poorest cities in the United States for children.

What's your plan to address that?

Councilmember, thank you.

So through the chair, I'd like to yield to him.

Through the chair.

Councilmember Callaway.

So the poverty push is an administration-wide focus.

It continues with the living wage.

There's a lot of different indicators that we can use to understand which families have the highest barriers versus data we have zip code level and even at times neighborhood level data around poverty.

There's education, there's there's so many different areas that we have to build a toolkit around.

It's not going to be a silver bullet or one thing that helps us uh make a dent in poverty.

Uh but I want to defer to uh to Dr.

Schaefer as well, who is um the mayor's you know poverty expert um that we have uh assigned uh through through the chair, uh Chief Bowser uh really highlights a lot of uh the underpinnings of the strategy.

It's got to be a multifaceted approach.

Um as uh council president Tate has pointed out, uh it is a matter of of good jobs, bringing the the best economic uh opportunities available.

I think the move to a living wage uh by the city is a is a great step in that direction.

Um much more uh will continue to be done on that.

Um the city leading on that uh and showing other employers uh that they can also benefit uh from raising wages and increasing uh retention, I think is a big piece of it.

Um the ARGS kids will uh both improve the health of children and also cycle um 30 to 40 million dollars through the local economies, which is uh gonna have a beneficial effect.

Um lead uh prevention, so uh as my colleagues mentioned, both identifying children who have been exposed, have higher lead levels, uh which is what the health department does in our home repair programs uh that will reside in uh HHFS of uh the preventive work uh that you just described is gonna be a very big piece of the puzzle.

Uh the strategy for infill housing of building a a thousand um additional new houses and trying to streamline our processes uh is gonna bring more residents in uh and spur uh that too.

Um but the city itself uh cannot uh be the only player in this.

Uh and so I think we're gonna be looking for uh all of your um partnership on figuring out who are the other entities that we can be working with uh to build the most comprehensive package to really bring that number down.

We have been lower uh than 50 percent uh in recent years.

We were down to uh 43 percent.

Uh we should be shooting to get there uh and then go even lower uh and really uh make a historic transformational shift uh in the city.

Thank you, Dr.

Schaefer.

And um, I um I saw a map from employee solutions um a couple um budget sessions ago, and it's the same configuration.

There's a lot of concentration on the east side, but not a lot up here in District 7, District 7 and District 6 have the largest cons concentration of youth from zero to 24 years old.

I'm not a data person, I just read.

But there's nothing here in those districts on the west side in terms of satellite services, that's east.

Detroit Health Department, that's east.

So, how do we service all those families over here without them having now remember now we're transportation uh challenged in our city, public transportation challenge?

So, how do we accommodate them?

Because part of that is in my district, but when you look at the numbers, district six and seven have the largest concentration of zero to twenty-four, and the most high-risk zip codes are 48209, 4821, and 48217.

So I know maybe why that's here, but it's similar on the west side, but according to your map, there's not a whole lot going on over here.

We have to come all the way across town to get to Mac.

Now, if you're talking about Evergreen, Joy Road, Chicago, tiremen, you got to cut through my district to get there, but that's a long way, and that's a about three buses.

That's about two or three buses if they ever come.

So how do we address that?

That's where the babies are.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Through the chair, uh, I believe that the strategy has to be about figuring out the most evidence-based way to bring services across the city as possible.

Uh, I've been looking at models all over the country, and uh I think I want some more time to figure out exactly what that looks like.

If we want more brick and mortar in places, uh, do we want uh a set of mobile services that are stationed for long periods of time that people know about?

I think it's gonna uh it's gonna be done uh in partnership uh with council in terms of understanding exactly what the services are that people uh want and need and how to deliver them is effectively.

This is uh absolutely a priority of this mayor uh that we want to we want to get right and we want to do it the best possible way.

Uh the second part of the strategy is uh around transportation.

So you heard about the incredible success of rides to care going from uh just 300 rides for prenatal, postnatal, and well baby visit uh rides uh to about 1900 a month.

Uh so what that tells me is that there's a model there that works.

Uh is it something that could be built on that that could be used uh for uh uh transportation in other purposes, and are there other uh tools in our toolkit?

So doing more to bring uh the uh the services that people want and need uh to their communities as part of the strategy, and also uh doing more to make transportation possible to get people uh to where they want to go uh for jobs for appointments is the second piece.

Yeah, thank you, Dr.

Schaefer, and through the chair, thank you all so much.

I'm excited about all the wonderful things and initiatives and programming that are coming from the health departments of breath uh fresher, what do you call it?

Breath of fresh air.

I'm excited about everything that I'm seeing here.

Uh you have my full support, and I'm looking forward to working with you in the next four years.

Thank you, God bless each and every one of you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Member Johnson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Good afternoon.

Great to see you all.

Um looking forward to new direction as we have new leadership.

So welcome to all of the new folks that are here.

Um I do want to just say first and foremost that the East has been underserved for decades.

For decades.

And I'm really glad to see there has been a response to what the community has addressed.

Um we know the satellite um center primarily came online at the Samaritan Center because of Stillantis and FCA and the two uh facilities that sit back to back and and the um challenges that residents were having with the emissions coming from those facilities.

Um with that being said, uh I really would love to understand the capacity of the health department to be able to do health assessments, um, health impact assessments for areas that are resident residentially zoned that abut industrial zoned land.

Yeah, council member, um, thanks for that question.

Um when it comes to public health processes, uh, this is something that I've done a lot of work on, whether it was at the federal level, whether it's at the local level, even internationally.

W uh health impact assessment, which uh we spoke about before, it's it's a formal process.

It's something that takes, in my view, way too long.

Um, and there are a lot of public health practices nationally that I think that we can do a little bit better, a little bit more seamless that integrate residents' experiences in a more holistic way.

Councilmember Callaway uh talked about expertise.

One thing that this health department will be leaning into going forward is that people are the experts of their experiences.

And so when it comes to health assessments, I'm not a believer that you gotta take 18 to 24 months to assess a problem because people in those neighborhoods have decades of experience.

So tapping into that, we are gonna be an evidence-based uh uh health department.

We are gonna lead on data, but also sometimes you don't need more data to show what we already know.

And so, but recognizing you need that sort of formal presentation of the comprehensive issue.

We're looking at ways.

This is something that I did in my prior role is truncating a formal two-year community health needs assessment process into something less than six months.

Uh this is one of the most historic cities in the country.

Um, I think we can do that even better here.

And so we're looking, I'm looking, this team is looking at ways in which we can capture those stories, those anecdotes, that data, that evidence, and produce something that can move policy and programs and plans going forward.

All right, excellent.

I totally agree with you, and I'm just curious to know if you all have within this budget the um intent to do those studies to get that information from residents in various parts of the city.

Well, this health department just wrapped up a pretty comprehensive community health needs assessment process that we'll be rolling out soon.

Um it was a 24-month process um and it captured over um look.

Over 6300 residents uh input, and so this was whether it was surveys, whether it was focus groups, it was all across the city, so in every single district.

That's important.

Um, and we'll look to ways we'll look for more ways to refine those processes to better capture residents' experiences.

Okay, I look forward to to seeing the information because um for me in District 4, I'm keenly focused on the area around FCA installantis.

Um there have been a number of residents that I know who've had health challenges in the recent years.

Um, and so I while I understand the full citywide assessment, um, I'm really interested to see if it delves a little deeper into certain areas, particularly areas around industrial industrial zone land.

Um so look forward to that.

Thank you.

And through the chair, I'd like to yield to Christina.

Uh, through the chair to council member Johnson.

We also have a great work of relationship with uh URC, which is a research facility that um really works in tandem with University of Michigan, Wayne State University, Oakland, and uh various other public health entities as well as community-based organizations.

We have done uh health impact study some time ago.

However, we're looking to really strengthen that uh resolve with them to be able to bring back those type of services that they have been able to provide to us at a at a very higher level, uh, but now we can uh I believe get more in detail to neighborhood level as uh chief of staff has been able to talk about as well.

So we can most certainly look at that as an aspect throughout this uh fiscal year.

Okay.

Excellent, thank you.

Um my other question is relative to the travel in.

Um some of you may be familiar with the property in District 4.

It sits on I-94 encounter.

Um, it is a haven for criminal criminal activity, drugs, prostitution, um, and unsanitary conditions inside of the complex.

Help me understand what role the health department plays in addressing those types of situations.

Through the chair to council member Johnson, we work with BC in inspecting those type of uh what's called trouble locations, while that may not necessarily have come on the line of the trouble locations uh project through the mayor's office with Rob Shzinski.

However, we have been contacted, and there have been several occasions where we've actually inspected the location previously, uh back in 2025, but then also as recently as of uh a few weeks ago.

And so whatever findings that we have that would uh really propagate to be able to move forward or uh bring it further to BC, we provide that information to them and they take it a step further with any of the uh enforcement codes that they may have to do on themselves.

And so uh once those problems are uh brought to our attention, we do collaborate uh and and not just only send it over to BC, but if there are any issues that residents are are needing to have addressed, we also provide those services as well so that we can get them the resources that they need.

Thank you.

Um and if you can share that information with me because I'm trying to also understand at what point in time does BC escalate an issue to get it resolved.

Uh I would appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Um I'm sorry, Mr.

Chair.

Um before I turn over the microphone, if I um can make a motion to add to executive session um health studies, uh, and really understanding them in more detail to be able to determine whether or not there's any additional financial support that's needed.

All right, colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Discussion with further discussion, uh Member Santiago Romero.

We'll like joinage with you, Member Johnson.

We'll join it.

Any objections?

See none, then action shall be taken.

All right, uh member uh pro to thank you.

Hello, everybody, good to see you.

Um Detroit is number one in STDs and STIs in the country.

Um so that's for infections like chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV.

About 1,491 STI cases per 100,000 people.

I want to know what are we going to do to be able to address this?

What are we doing involving technology and artificial intelligence to be able to address this?

Are we I I know recently there were times where I would go on ads online, I would see like um let's see Detroit ad talking about this.

Are we in in don't judge me in the audience here, but are we going to like you know, uh grinder or tender or other such apps um to be able to provide those ads to their what exactly are we doing about this?

And where does the community health core come in line here and play a role at all in terms of the distribution of condos and other such uh prophylactics and things that nature?

Council member, thanks for the question.

Um this does touch upon whether it's HIV STI, whether it's asthma, whether it's a range of other health outcomes.

Uh the the strategy of this health department is going to be one recognizing the problem, what is the data show, where are some of those hot spots.

I can tell you we're already getting to work on zip level data on a range of of health outcomes working with Dr.

Schaefer.

It's why this vertical uh is so crucial because whether it's uh with Luke or with Benita with the mayor's office, uh it's one integrated structure because that's how people experience health.

And so when it comes to particular issues that are uh more hot spot, we want to know where the problems are.

And as you know, uh to council member Callaway's question.

I I I've had so far two directives to the wonderful, amazing staff, the 283 staff of the health department.

One is use your imagination.

Go find the best practices across the state, across the country, across the planet, and bring them to Detroit because Detroiters deserve the best ideas.

And two is we're not going to be a department that's inside.

We're gonna be outside.

And so our office or administrative office is at 100 MAC.

We have our wellness centers, we have our WIC centers, we have our rec centers.

We're we're we're going to be outside at all times.

And so we'll touch those.

It's it's it's the health department's job, not for residents to come to us, but for us to go to them.

And so we'll find them where they are.

We'll provide the resources and support where they are.

Um and in terms of some of the prior work, uh, I'd like to yield to uh Christina.

Thank you.

Through the chair to uh Pro Tim Young.

A part of that strategy as well has been to make sure that our service providers that we have as sub-recipients of our HIV STI uh program, uh which is close to roughly 20 or so, uh, that they are strategically placed throughout not just the city of Detroit but in the county as well.

And so I had talked about the fact that uh just for HIV, we have um just a little over 212 new cases that were in 20 uh 2024.

That could be much worse if we did not have the resources that we currently have now.

And so being able to not only have uh the capacity to have resources for our uh sub-recipient contractors to do a lot of the work that we may not be able to do in the field, but also uh advocate for more funding for our ending the HIV along with uh other strategies for uh increased uh support funding-wise, especially from the state and the feds.

Uh we not only just do the work ourselves, as you already know, uh, and as Ali has talked about, we utilize our partners 100%.

So whatever we aren't able to do, we spread that out to uh again, not just those who provide STI screenings, but we're talking to our insurance companies, we're talking to uh the uh uh disease surveillance teams at uh Wayne County.

But we're also looking at our um domestic violence shelters, uh the services that provide uh uh entities uh and things to women, uh, those kind of aspects, we don't just partner just only in our public health wheelhouse, but we really make sure that we look out and advocate to those that uh can spread the word beyond the borders of just public health.

No, I think that's excellent.

And what I would just say is um I don't I don't know if the community health corps still exists or not.

I I I think it I don't know if it moved to a different department or something of that nature, but if if it is there, I would say I would suggest that one.

Secondly, I would also suggest that you use artificial intelligence to be able to track this and look at some of these things.

Um but thirdly, I also say this this is more of a sensitivity issue.

I think the fact that um part of the reason why we need to be more sensitive to this community is because they are not subject to the Elliott Larson laws.

So a lot of people within the LGBTQ community are forced to go into into sex work and they are exposed to this type of things because they're not protected under those laws.

So I mean, I would think you would be able to have a little bit more sensitivity around opening yourself up and partnering within Ruth Ellis and other centers as well for that purpose.

So I just you know that's more of a that's more of a recommendation, it's not actually a question, it's more of a statement.

But I just wanted to say that and then uh ask another question and then I'll be done.

Oh, I was gonna talk about Ruth Dellis really quick.

Uh through the chair to uh Pro Tim Young, we actually do uh through our I decide program, uh which is Title 10 Reproductive Health, we partner with Ruth Ellis on uh various aspects, and so along with our HIV STI program, and so uh Youthville, Ruth Ellis, uh other homes and services that provide uh like transitional housing as well, we also reach out to them.

Now, as far as AI is concerned, we uh we uh public health as a whole, and we've heard this just recently, uh we just still haven't quite uh yet adopted the AI.

Okay.

Uh but uh obviously there are uh various other mechanisms that we can use and platforms that we can uh utilize to make sure that we're reaching the populations that we need to speak to.

And then I'll yield over to Chief.

I will tell you why you should adopt it a little bit later.

Yes.

Through the chair to council member, uh, Council Pro Tim.

So the community health corps is still active in uh in human services.

Uh once that will once that's established, you'll have that team going out again.

There's a variety of different um outreach components to the housing services office.

So uh in addition to community health core, we'll have uh their departments, other entities sort of getting that information out.

I think that as we look at the approaches that we use to reduce numbers here, we have to be looking at metrics.

Uh we have to understand which thing works the best and and establish these benchmarks so we can know what the best practices are going to be for Detroit.

Uh wanted to pass it to Dr.

Schaefer to talk about uh other underpinning uh factors when it comes to STDs and STFs.

Uh through the chair, Councilmember Young, uh I think that there's this prevention part of the strategy, and I was impressed to learn that our health department uh distributes 90,000 condoms every year.

Uh there's a communication and education piece, and and I think you rightly point out that that is a targeted type strategy.

Uh and so the health department does advertise on on Grinder and uh I believe uh you know continues to think and innovate and try to evaluate uh those.

And um we're excited to uh talk about your ideas on how to further sort of target and get it to the right person.

As Chief Bowser mentions, I think that there's an indirect strategy too.

The the anti-poverty strategy is a good job strategy, they're trying to expand out sort of opportunity um and sort of uh change the choice set uh that um is at play when people are making decisions that could protect them or not uh from these things and is another piece of the puzzle.

And as as um as we continue to expand out um opportunities and and jobs and and meaningful jobs and educational pathways, I I I believe that we're gonna have an indirect fact on these numbers as well in combination with these other two prevention and communication education pieces.

No, actually, I I really appreciate that.

And uh and I thank you for that response.

I just wanted to ask uh you, Mr.

Schaefer, uh, one more question.

I know we're dealing with the issue of RX Kids, which I think is a really good program, but and and and I didn't want to talk about this because an excellent champion.

And if there is a legislative um component to that, I hope that she's the one that is leading that.

Um I didn't want to do this because I didn't want to muddy these waters, but I want, but after we have a a couple years, maybe a year in terms of seeing what the impact of RS Kids is, would we be open to then talking about the issue of guaranteed income?

And the and and the difference is that RS Kids is targeted towards a certain group of people, whereas guaranteed income is about a people who qualify for and who make a certain amount of money, whereas universal basic income is everybody receives the money.

I'm not saying that, but I'm just talking about for the guaranteed income program.

Would there have there any be discussion about that, or would you be open to that afterwards?

And would you also be open to baby bonds?

And would you know what the potential benefit of both those programs could, or all three of those programs combined would be.

And really try to really and you're for poverty solutions, so really try to wow me here.

I read a lot of you, I've been a big fan of yours for a very long time.

So I read most of your reports, so really try to wow me here.

Uh through the chair, uh Councilmember Young.

I've been a big fan of yours for a long time as well.

Uh and uh I think cash transfers can be used in a variety of ways.

And uh we have, of course, the example of the expanded child tax credit, which is what the um uh ARGS Kids was based on.

Uh it was from 2021 where we saw child poverty actually hit the all-time low in 2021.

Um that's a federal policy.

There, you know, the federal government is one that tends to have um a universal kind of approach.

The uh uh economic impact payments uh are another example during that period that was uh in essence a basic income.

You know, I can say from the research that we saw uh food hardship fall to an all-time low low.

Uh we saw actually credit scores hit their all-time high in the wake of those cash transfers.

Uh, we were able to stave off um the economic crisis of 20 million lost jobs.

Uh how that plays out in a city um with uh the parameters that we have uh in in terms of uh funding and and how something would be, you know, the constellation of things, uh I think that's an open question.

I'll be honest, just speaking for myself as a researcher that uh there have been a number of of just straight basic income studies in the United States that have not yielded uh the results that I expected, and I think there's a lot of reason to uh think about those studies.

It's something I remain very interested in.

Um I think a lot of folks read those studies and think something that's more targeted, it doesn't necessarily have to be towards children, but maybe people who are experiencing um you know at risk of eviction or experiencing a particular acute hardship for a particular time uh is something where we could see sort of uh the impact uh on a broader scale.

Uh baby bonds is another strategy.

Um my very good friend uh Derek Hamilton is one of the champions of that.

Uh and it takes a very different approach.

So a basic uh cash transfer type approach says uh people have trouble paying their rent, they have trouble buying food, uh, and we're gonna provide that money right now.

The baby bond is a strategy that says if people have something to look forward to in the future, uh a dollar amount that um could be used for college or trade school or to purchase a house or to start a business, that it can lead to forward orientation that tracks people uh throughout their childhood.

Um and I think I do think that there is very good reason to think that those two things especially can work in combination.

I tend to be a cash transfer person in my reading of the evidence.

Again, I'm just speaking for myself.

Um, and that uh giving people the money now so that they can use it in the ways uh that they see fit, especially in these sort of targeted moments like infancy when families are poorest right around the birth of a child, which is maddening.

Uh that we get the best possible results.

But I do think baby bonds, uh child savings accounts, these things that create four orientation have uh very positive results.

Um and they can help with some of the things we were just talking about about changing sort of orientation.

Um as people deal with the crisis of going through school um while in poverty.

If you have like another thing on the table uh that is there for them, uh it uh it it can have an impact on these outcomes indirectly.

So I would be very supportive of this.

There's a number of uh very supportive of a conversation about this.

Uh again, I don't know what the parameters are in a place like this, uh, but there are uh examples around the country that we can start to learn from who have adopted um a uh a baby bond or sort of a children's savings accounts approach.

Hopefully that impressed you a little bit.

No, no, it did it very very very much so.

I appreciate sir very much for understanding the assignment.

Uh I just wanted to say, just for everybody just for the record, but um baby bonds you're talking about a government funded uh savings or uh investment account that's just that's created for the purposes of reducing income inequality or poverty for people upon where people are born.

So I have to do that.

Often established at birth, uh can't be used until 18.

Right.

Officers at birth, but can't be used till they get 18, actually.

Thank you for that.

You know, I appreciate it.

Uh I just wanted to say the reason why I was talking about uh artificial intelligence.

I first of all let me say you should adopt all of my ideas.

I think you'd be better off if you do.

But um but it but the reason why I think that you should, and I'll give you more of a detailed in terms of what this applies to, because I would normally, but it'd take too long.

So I will just tell you what the impact of this would be overall if you chose to do so.

The uh total annual cost of your investment would be about sixty million to one hundred million dollars, but your total annual savings would be about five hundred million to one point one billion.

Your net economic benefit would be about four hundred million to one billion.

Your return on investment will be about five to ten times return.

Your mortality reduction would be 10 to 25% preventable deaths, your chronic disease reduction would be about 20 to 40 percent preventable deaths, or your preventable, excuse me, or reduction, excuse me.

Your ER hospital burden reduction would be 20 to 30 percent, your gross domestic product as a goods and services on the provided on the market be 10 billion to 25 billion dollars increase, and your annual tax revenue increase would be 100 million to 250 million.

So that's what this means if you would implement artificial intelligence within your department and use it.

So for that being said, thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Um, Mr.

President, before I give you over, I would like to make a motion.

Uh I would like to make a motion to put a guaranteed income in closing resolution.

All right, colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

And I'd also like to make a motion to put baby bonds in closing resolution.

All right, colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objection?

Discussion with discussion, Member Benson.

Uh folks might like to join you on that when we've been having the same conversation around Operation Hope with the World Civil Ration Task Force with the administration.

So, yeah, they'll be joining on that one.

We'll join it.

All right.

Any objection, and Callaway as well, Mr.

Corley.

Any objections, colleagues?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you so much.

Member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Uh, thank you for being here and looking forward to the new direction of the health departments.

Um, it's been a lot of questions already asked around the health and all policies, so we can continue to have that conversation.

Um really one pointed question is around our Detroit ID program.

So this used to be housed under the health departments.

I do not see it in our budget.

Just want to confirm that we will have a program and that we have staffing to make sure the program is happening.

Would like that confirmation, please.

Well, through the chair to Councilmember Santiago Romero.

There will be an amendment um uh submitted that moves it to human services, uh, and it still has I think three staff members and we're gonna be thinking about all sorts of different ways to deploy that program uh all across the city.

So the chair, thank you.

Excellence.

We saw that to just want to confirm uh because it's a really important program, um, not just for folks that are undocumented, but returning citizens, seniors, folks that might have gone through a fire.

Um, so we know the importance of the Detroit ID program, and happy to hear it's still going to be supported.

Um really what I'll say with my time is the emphasis on the need for us to really utilize the health department to address um uh air quality.

Um so member Callaway mentioned D6 and 7 have the most amount of babies.

Yes, we do.

Um, and I do know that in District 6, because of that historically and because of the need, there are a lot of organizations that work with families and children.

Brilliant Detroit, Matrix, CLC.

So we have the partners, uh, but we still have a lot of need from the city to help us address the air quality as as we're working to making sure that that the that our children are are cared for.

We still need a lot of help there too, but that work is being done.

Um to member Johnson's point, I guess.

Here's what I need.

I need the data, which because I know the stories, I know the impact.

What I need the information for is so that we're able to create them the policies like the fugitive dust ordinance, or to set up a fund to support families that are being impacted by truck um trucking in their neighborhoods.

I guess that's just why I'm I'm emphasizing.

And I agree, I don't wanna spend a year every year looking at what we already know.

But just if you can help us with that data, so that I'm able to better create the policies, the support, the resources, because we know that people are being impacted, but we just need to create those systems of care.

Um so I'm glad that Member Johnson mentioned that, because that's really where my head is and and the need that I have there.

Um your thoughts on on that ask.

Through the chair, uh councilmember, thanks for that question.

And uh just to clarify, when I say um we wanna walk and shoe gum.

We wanna be able to collect information, we wanna be able to collect better data while also deploying what we know works and what we already have the data for.

When it comes to air quality, this has been a chief concern of mine my entire career.

Um, it's something that I devoted a lot of time, resources, and energy in my previous role.

And one thing I can tell you is that knowing what a 130 AQI is might be something that's salient to some rooms, but it's probably not salient to every room.

Or what's a 105 for what's a 95?

And so recognizing that this is an issue that's far bigger than Detroit, it's something that's global when it comes to we will have more air quality days going forward.

But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't provide information to residents in terms of today's maybe not the best day to take out the lawnmower.

And there are systems in place that we can do that.

Um in terms of learning what's happening across city government.

Uh, we have those air quality monitors.

We're gonna take a look at them, we're gonna take a look at what those response mechanisms are.

Uh I'm learning in real time, uh, those alert systems.

How can we use those alert systems to better communicate to our residents what the AQI means for today if you're a kid with childhood asthma, you're a senior with COPD.

Um, and so that information is hugely important, even if it already exists elsewhere.

And so we'll be taking a comprehensive look across city operations and programs and departments and divisions uh to see how we can best uplift that information and make it a little bit more salient for our residents.

Okay.

I think I saw your like your eyes lit up with other thoughts.

No.

No, no, no.

Yes, I I totally agree with what uh Ali has just spoken about.

And but I do also want to uplift what the children's special health care services has been able to provide with the work that they do with uh chronic illnesses.

But to that point, we had a conversation with uh councilmember Johnson as well, and being able to leverage NAD just the data that we house, uh but also the community, and just as Alias spoke, the community has a lot of data as well.

So being able to tap into those reservoirs to make sure that we are really speaking, as you say, to that that level of policy making that is needed that we can uh most certainly have that information really available for and it's like I said, not just through the health department, but through our community partners as well who who've been on the ground uh from day one collecting this information also.

So just having us all work together um to figure out the the solutions that we need would be incredibly helpful.

Um just want to end by sharing that our office has been we've been working with um Trisha Stein on uh rolling out what we're calling Detroit Care, is a campaign called Detroit CARES.

Um there's a lot that the city provides through our health department, the police, um, through fire um resources um that can help, and people just don't know about it.

Um so the the emphasis on us promoting the work that we have is going to be really important, making sure that it's in different languages.

So you just mentioned you know the notices, those are often only in English.

So those need to be in Arabic, Spanish, Bengali, um French, you know, all the other languages that we need, those alerts to be going out to.

Um so I I really really just want to emphasize the needs for us to coordinate.

Um, because the last thing that's really big and on my mind is mental health.

Um, and just to confirm the mental health co-response, is this still with DPD?

Or what does this mental health co-response look like for the health departments?

Is through the chair, I'd like to yield to Nidra, is Niger Slayer?

Oh, Trisha.

Oh, or Trisha, forgive me.

Uh good afternoon.

Uh Trisha Stein, uh Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for Mayor Sheffield, uh, through you, uh, President Tate to Member Santiago Romero, thank you for the shout-out.

Yes, uh, I've worked with both you and President Tate to uh lift up behavioral health and and uh make sure that it is uh uh front and and and paramount uh in our work, both from an education and outreach, which is what the health department does directly.

Um I appreciate what um public health director uh zeed said about health in all policies and that being the foundation, and so that's why co-response is in the the health department and to make sure that it is within that framework and that we are working collaboratively, and it is with the education and outreach efforts with the health department.

It's also with the first responders, both the fire department and the police department co-responding, they train together.

It is a collaborative approach and HHFS.

We will be talking about this next Friday.

We will be back and talking about that.

This is woven through uh to make sure that we are finding the appropriate response and meeting folks where they are, and that is working with our partners with DWIN as well.

We've piloted an initiative uh that I'm pretty sure has been shared here, but um hopefully next week you'll hear more about it with the police department, and then we'll be as I said, coming back that we are transferring 911 calls directly to D WIN and having a response that is non-law enforcement, and um with that pilot has gone very well.

We piloted it for six months during one shift uh that uh had two call types, and uh there was a less than five percent return rate to DPD and needed a law enforcement response.

So we feel like we've found the right call types, and uh now we've expanded that starting in February 24 hours so that we can refer those.

It's approximately 200 calls uh uh a month that have been referred to DWIN.

Uh that uh again that they are uh either de-escalating or referring to their provider network or providing resources uh and less than five percent of returning to DPD.

So we are working together, as you know, and President Tate, uh, and I appreciate the that you are constantly pushing us and and trying to find um thoughtful approaches and added capacity.

I love the rec center um and just had a great idea that I shared with the chief of staff when you brought that up about adding capacity uh and um it really was was the school of social work.

Uh I love the uh shout out right here.

I was thinking that we really need to get our our universities and uh so I appreciate you wearing that today, uh to be honest at GoBlue, and uh making sure that uh we we are being uh not only internally but external partners to add capacity.

As you know, you both know I can talk about this all day.

So I appreciate the the question and thinking about how do we weave it in, um, making sure that law enforcement is responding appropriately, making sure they have the training and uh the the crisis intervention teams that behavior health is part of it.

The uh it's uh policy uh health in all policies and builds off that uh public health approach of of outreach and education.

Through the chair, thank you, Tricia.

And thank you for working with us.

Um I I do think that's uh we are figuring it out.

Um, and I I appreciate us trying what is best to make sure that we solve the problems as quickly as possible, that we don't create any unintended consequences.

Um, and then just a note um around a note, so we don't talk about this now, but evaluating this process right now.

I have heard of folks look at the coal response unit with police and have the social workers not leave the car and have police response first.

So I'm just wondering what it looks like in practice and making sure that we're doing the best that we can and that we do have social workers responding when they need to.

Go blue, also into school of social work there.

Um and just want to make sure that that we're prepared.

Um but thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Mr.

President, if I could just add one thing I promised to be quick, uh, but members on the Merse November, we are evaluating it.

So we did uh uh one with a grant a few years ago that was uh really uh uh a pilot, if you will, and we are adding on to that.

So we um absolutely took that recommendation.

Thank you.

Member Benson.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for all for being here.

Welcome to your first budget.

I've worked closely since I've had this job with each and every one of your predecessors.

We've had a great relationship, and we work very closely with the health department.

We've helped grow your fund through tax revenues.

You guys have partnered us on numerous programs, and unfortunately today I don't see any evidence of those programs in your presentation today.

So I want to start out with our two cool for drugs program, which at which is by ordinance was funded by the two percent of marijuana revenues.

And if you go to the ordinance, I'm not sure if you had a chance to look at this yet.

Under section 20 tax six TAC 47 Bravo, subject to the annual budget approval process, the city's annual budget will contain an appropriation equal to 2% of the gross allocation received by the city in previous in the previous fiscal year, pursuant to Section 14 of da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da, to the Detroit Health Department.

That would be approximately 62,000.

I don't see any evidence of that in your budget.

Not that it's not there.

I just don't see that evidence.

And that's money for you to use within your department.

What I am seeing is now being titled substance misuse prevention.

And we started with youth substance use abuse prevention, then we went to youth substance use prevention, then we went to family substance use prevention.

Now it looks like we're at substance misuse prevention.

So just want to find out what's going on with that.

What are we doing for family substance misuse prevention with the two percent of revenues that are by law required to go to that to that program and then just looking at how we're prioritizing that it doesn't like we're doing very much there?

So if you look in the in the budget, marijuana is identified nine times in the budget this year.

Substance misuse is identified one time.

So we're all in when it comes to growing our marijuana revenues, but we're not so focused on protection and and reducing substance misuse.

As our new health director, where do you stand with this?

And how we're gonna use this money.

And I also want to go, I got a motion on that one as well.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Uh, in terms of some of the nomenclature, I'm gonna uh through the chair yield to Christina um and Leah if necessary.

Through the chair to Councilmember Vincent, we have uh been able to kind of grow that program where originally was too cool for drugs and only focused on our youth uh to be able to expand that information through our youth ambassadors to be ambassadors to their families.

And we're also looking at interject there, and that was a conversation that I had with the president a couple years ago.

We wanted to change the focus from youth only to families as well.

So please continue.

Yes.

Uh, and so to that point, though, we have about eight or so youth ambassadors that provide that information.

We've reached uh through the two cool for drugs, uh, a little over 1200 uh youth this past year, just past uh two quarters.

Uh but uh to your point of the the family aspect of it, we uh are looking to integrate supportive services uh through uh communications with our behavioral health team as well as with uh those youth ambassadors to be able to strengthen that partnership of how uh communication looks for uh substance misuse.

Uh, another part of that is adding an extra FTE to the extra funding that we did receive uh last um budget year uh so that we could also have more of a reach that would uh give us at least four uh more individuals to be a part of uh that type of a response, and so we would see that implementation of that new individual that won FTE uh in this particular uh budget year to be able to provide those uh increased services.

A part of that too is also looking across other uh areas within the department to be able to um kind of co-collaborate uh so we understanding where we're resource thin, how can we also spread that out and we have an individual who uh is a part of the crime violence, but also has that supportive uh circle lens and so provides that resource uh to families who are needed that we may refer them to as well.

And so uh not limiting ourselves to only being able to say we can only provide this, but being able to look at uh some strategic partnerships within and externally as well to be able to provide those services to families.

So I would say in the next year or so we should be able to see an expansion of looking at what those services look like to families and particularly targeted.

Okay, as per the ordinance though, the concern is that those dollars are getting to where they're supposed to be.

There is no evidence that I can see within this budget that that's happening right now.

Doesn't mean it's not happening, but I just don't see any evidence here now.

Maybe you can point that out to me.

Through the chair, I'd like to yield to Don Johnson.

Uh through the chair to council member Benson, yes, those dollars are in there.

Uh marijuana revenues um, if you recall, they come in centrally as part of our broader excise tax revenues.

So the revenue side of it is going to show in non-departmental interject right there.

And so that's going to be on page Bravo 35 TAC 19 under appropriation 29352, cost center 350365.

I see the revenue.

Yes.

And the expenditure, because it's just a general fund revenue, the expenditure is in the health department budget.

It's $63,000, that's two percent of the revenue estimate.

So $63,000 was allocated from the general fund pool of resources to health for too cool for drugs.

Okay, so that that's fantastic.

But being that it's in an ordinance as it's this has this is mandated to be applied and spent, it will really be helpful, even as it's just a note of where that money can be found just to verify.

So someone who goes through an ordinance says, Oh, we're supposed to be here, where can we find it?

Who it doesn't have this level of support at this table.

That would be very, very helpful in the future to be able to show that and then be able to talk about how we're actually spending the money.

Now it's great to have this conversation here at the table, but that should be someplace within your actual budget, how you're planning to spend that ordinance mandated revenue that comes in annually.

And now looking at another program that we work very closely with the health department on, which is dining with confidence.

Big fight on how we're ensuring that our restaurants, all 1,900 of which you all inspect annually, can handle and properly handle food safety.

So I am looking at a reduction in the number of health inspectors, or I do understand some of those have been identified as grant funded versus general fund funded, which is why they're no longer in the budget.

But on top of that, there was a concern about the ability for the health department to handle the number of inspections because we have uh dining with confidence, although the inspections didn't increase, um, they just became more prominent and a greater focus.

In addition, there was a concern about the ability to recruit, and recruiting health inspectors is challenging.

And the other challenge was with the diversity of our culinary industry, hospitality industry, the number of restaurants that are actually owned.

So if you have a Chinese restaurant, actually they're owned by people of Chinese descent.

If you have a middle a Mediterranean restaurant, ah, it's owned by members of the Mediterranean who are from the Mediterranean, and they speak different languages, and that have been a barrier for our restaurateurs with the relationship with the health department and our food inspectors.

We talked about how we were going to recruit bilingual food inspectors, and there was a challenge at the time.

And we now also have the training program, which we promised that is being led by Detroit at work, but I want to ensure that we're partnering with the health department.

You all have direct contact with our 1900 restaurants that receive biannual inspections.

What are you all doing?

I'm going to advocate for this in a motion.

What are you all doing to ensure you're playing a role there?

May not be what you all are doing.

We also said the same thing to Trade at work.

They gotta bring you all in.

I want you all to play a role here because you all have that direct contact.

Your inspectors have now had customer service training to make sure there's not an adversarial relationship.

They see you as help and not as the big scary health inspector monster who's coming in.

They're help they're you all are there to help.

What are we doing here?

How can we continue to help?

And if we put money into the into your budget, how would you use it to grow that program, making sure it's robust and working?

A lot of questions, a lot of statements, some questions there.

Uh councilmember, I I I I want to provide general thoughts on our approach going forward with workforce development with recruiting, with retaining.

Uh but on your particular question through the chair, I'd like to yield to Christina.

Thank you through the chair.

Uh to Councilmember Benson.

We heard everything that you said, and a part of the recruitment strategy for our environmental health team, our food safety team, rather.

Uh we have uh Mandarin, we have Arabic speaking, we have uh uh the use of uh Spanish as well, and so we have a broad range of inspectors who are able to outreach, and that really helped uh through the pilot process of the dying and confidence to make sure we heard exactly what uh the restaurant had asked for, uh, being able to outreach but also communicate, uh, and we still have that.

Now we know uh and it's always been uh that recruiting of the special type of uh services, uh it can be challenging, but we've been able to rise to that occasion, and never once have we had to um uh reduce the force uh uh I mean reduce the services that we provide to our restauranteurs, and so uh we've been able to provide those inspections as necessary, but we've also seen because we have been intentional in the work that we've done with your team as well as within the community, uh, the support from our restaurant who are happy to have uh the placards posted, who are happy to talk to their uh their their counterparts to say this is.

Happy to have those placards when we have the debate at this table, it was said we will put black owned restaurants out of business because black people do not know how to handle food safely, yet now people are happy to have it.

Please continue.

Uh, to that point, uh and it's not just your restaurants, you also have them uh your food trucks as well.

And so we we see this have expanded beyond and and we know uh with the new uh food service, uh the the new service training that uh has just been rolled out.

We most certainly will definitely partner with the trade of work to make sure that uh the information is needed uh and and as well as evidence-based uh but best practices because our inspectors are the ones that will be uh in direct contact with these individuals getting trained.

Uh a part of that too, also to to speak to the level of um making sure that our recruitment is is up to code.

We are uh we're constantly making sure that we are at uh industry standard, and so that's a part of what we're gonna be looking for moving forward to make sure that we can sustain uh the workforce that we have.

We have a great team that have been able to hold the system in place on top of um not just providing for food services, but for the other environmental health services that we also provide.

So uh we really can say that uh within this next year or so uh we're looking to to continue this process, continue that partnership, and now with the new uh uh food service uh training.

I think we we can make things so much easier for our restauranters uh and their staff so that they have equipped staff coming in and and not having to lag behind with plan reviews and making sure they have adequate staff before opening, and that's a big piece that we want to make sure that there is no bottleneck uh with opening restaurants with repeating uh service and annual inspections.

Music to my years.

Mo, Mr.

Chair, through the chair to Councilmember Benson, just to add on to the recruitment strategies, Leah Smith, director of administrative operations.

So, one of the recruitment strategies strategies that we'll be working on to target candidates to specialized skills and candidates to specialized degrees or professional licensures and certificate certifications, like the environmental health specialists and for future and early career talent, is we are going to be establishing at least one community academic partnership to build a stronger pipeline for departmental growth.

I will share with the board that we do have already existing partnerships with University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, University of Detroit Mercy, and as well as out-of-state colleges.

We're also looking at joining professional associations and environmental health and public health to recruit younger talent, and then also establishing a pathways to public health program for future and early career talent, introduce them to the field of public health and job opportunities therein, especially the hard-to-fill positions like the environmental health specialists.

And yes, you are correct.

We have lot we have had one EHS2 removed.

We are still confident that operationally we can fulfill the needs of the community and the restaurant industry.

Thank you.

Just want to interject there as well.

That was also a big debate here.

Oh, there won't be enough health inspectors.

Do you will you have enough health inspectors?

Uh through the chair, I believe that we will.

We have had vacancies and we have not had an issue with meeting our uh needed recommendations.

All right, thank you.

Motion, Mr.

Chair, to the closing resolution urging the health department to partner and work with Detroit at work on the dining with confidence training program to provide this information, the training information to all of its restaurants.

I believe it's 3400, the the balance of from the 1900 being those who only receive inspections once a year.

So to ensure that all the restaurants, all of our food service organizations know about that program.

Colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Mr.

Chair, my next um motion is for a closing resolution to increase funds for family substance mis use to use the new term uh from the health department description from our two percent mandated by law to a ten percent as per our conversation, Mr.

Chair's motion.

There's a motion on the floor.

Any objection, colleagues?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Mr.

Chair, motion to move to executive session 62, excuse me, 249,000 250,000 from appropriation 29352, cost center 350365, our marijuana excise tax revenue to your family substance use prevention line item as per that conversation.

That is 10 percent of our revenue as per that conversation.

We have lots of funds when it comes into how we support that business.

We also need to have a basic safety net when it comes to how we support our families from substance use from substance misuse, excuse my appropriate use of jargon.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

See none, that action shall be taken.

All right, then Mr.

Chair, my last motion will be for the closing resolution.

And this goes to the moratorium request that this body six to two passed this past Tuesday.

If you look in Crane's today, there's a coalition coming out of Lansing of utilities, organized labor as well as business community to advocate to dispel myths and rumors regarding data centers.

What they're missing there is the health stakeholders or the municipal stakeholders.

And I'd like to make a closing resolution to strongly urge the health department to participate in the City of Detroit regulation development, which will be happening with our data center stakeholders, i.e., business, labor, um, utilities, uh, CPC, PDD, and we'd like to add the health department to lean in and help us provide regulations to protect and provide a level of rules of the road for any new data centers that come into the city of Detroit.

There's a motion on the floor with discussion.

Thank you.

Uh Member Benson, I I appreciate the uh what you're trying to do, and we want to include the health department in.

I don't support the two-year policy uh ban, but I do support the health care.

If I support this, I'm not saying that I support the two-year ban.

I'm just saying I support the health care being involved in making the decisions, right?

Mr.

Proteging Wow.

I heard you Lima Charlie.

Okay.

Not one two years, but I also heard my colleagues who said that they do.

Okay.

So what I'm saying is for the discussion is we want the health department at the table helping us develop rules of the road and regulation when it comes to how to safely and effectively and properly locate data centers within the city of Detroit.

So this so I just want to make sure just to just make this clear.

If I'm voting for this, I'm just voting for the health department to make rules of the road.

I'm not voting on the prohibition of data centers for two.

For clarity, what this is is a motion to put into closing resolution.

Right.

So that we can have a discussion and then we will finalize as we get further along the process.

That's what's happening today.

I just want to keep my integrity by supporting this motion.

All right, thank you.

Any objections, colleagues?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Mr.

Health Director, welcome to the city of Detroit.

Glad you're drinking with the fire hose.

It's a lot of fun.

And as I tell everybody, welcome to the suck.

Thank you.

Oh, um, some member Callaway's hand for the question.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I'd like to join um member Benson on all three of those uh motions if I if I could be joined on those.

Gladly.

Mr.

Corley.

Yep.

Just adjoin it.

All right, member.

Mr.

Mr.

Chair.

Oh, you have enough.

You want me to wait for my motion?

No, so you have the floor.

Okay, yes.

And thank you.

Um, thank you, um, Mr.

Chair, and thank you, Member Benson.

Um, I'm going to motion to put into executive session.

Um, and this will complement the ordinance, the proposed ordinance on the safety um storage of cannabis products like edibles, gummy beers, and all that, out of the reach of our children.

And I know LPD or the law department is working on that ordinance or at least looking into it, which I asked two weeks ago.

Um, I my motion is to to put into um executive session funding, 75,000 will start to um purchase child resistant and lock safety containers um for cannabis products.

And it will be similar to the um the um gun locks that Wayne County provides.

Everywhere I go, there are gun locks everywhere, and we need these containers to be just as available.

So that is my motion, Mr.

Chair, to put in 75,000.

This is an executive session, 75,000 to purchase child resistant and lock container for cannabis products.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Member McCampbell.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, first I would like to, if Member Benson is open to join on that last motion regarding data centers.

Uh Ms.

Corley Member McCampbell, I'm not a selfish man.

You can come on all of those previous motions as well if you would like.

But that's the one you want, please join us.

Thank you.

Mr.

Corley, please note.

And further motion.

If we can just um there's a motion to add to the closing resolution.

Um between health and workforce development, um, to build towards a more sustainable behavior health workforce in Detroit, uh, whether that's through um incentives or programs to encourage front lines employees to both live and continue provide affordable accessible care in Detroit.

Okay, and I'll follow the language as well.

Thank you.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

See none that action shall be taken.

Uh Pro Tim Yo will be the last voice you hear.

Yes, thank you.

I appreciate that.

And I I just want to make a statement.

Um working with uh uh Ms.

Darn, it was a pleasure, and I just want to say I put an extra one million dollars in the co-response program so that mental health workers so that mental health workers could go to mental health incidents, not police officers.

I just want to make this clear, I'll repeat that I put an extra million dollars in the co-response program so that mental health workers could go to mental health incidents, not police officers.

I just want to say thank you, Stein, for allowing me to do that.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

All right, Chief.

Any uh last uh final words before we wrap this budget hearing up it's been great being before you all looking forward to working together.

All right.

Uh last one, Mr.

Chair.

Okay, last one.

Last one.

And I just want to say to the pro Tim, I agree with you.

I think two years is gonna be going back along.

But I'm hoping that with your help and your AI expertise, we can get this done within nine months.

All right, thank you so much.

Thank you all.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

I would like to now call for public comment.

If there's anyone in the public who would like to speak, please raise your hand now.

Uh we see one, two, three hands in the committee of the whole.

If there's anyone at home who would like to speak, please raise your hand now.

Going once, going twice, going three times.

Collection of public comments have now concluded.

As I mentioned uh during for the duration of our budget hearings, it will be abbreviated public comment sections.

We have one minute, noting that we will have a public hearing for public comments regarding the budget on March 30th at 5 p.m.

All right, we have our three individuals take those three seats up front.

And we'll start with the gentleman to my left.

You may proceed, sir.

Yes, sir.

Uh thank you, Mr.

President.

My comment is regarding the health department.

Um, so as mentioned before, we're in a place where federal health care funds are at risk and federal health standards are uh being attacked and actively rolled back, putting the entire country, especially majority black and brown cities like ours at extreme risk.

Um our city's continued responsibility to its residents includes ensuring a healthy Detroit, and I would encourage stepping up the funds for free vaccines, increased testing and treatment for acute disease, chronic disease, and sexually transmitted disease, as well as an expansion of mental and behavioral health services.

Um something that I will add affects disabled Detroiters disproportionately.

Um all of these investments when taken will equal an increase in the quality and length of life of Detroiters and provide an economic benefit of nearly 11 times the cost.

This is confirmed through government and academic studies, and I'll send those to the rest of the council through you, Mr.

President, when I'm done here.

And uh I really would encourage all of you to increase the budget for these crucial programs before uh we have the full impact of a federal administration trying to take away our health.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Um gentlemen to the middle.

Thank you for your service as well.

Floor is yours, sir.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Hi, my name is um retired master Sergeant Alphonso King, United States Air Force.

Um with the Tuskegee Thomas Chapter Um West Bloomfield.

I'm also with the Friends of the City of Detroit.

Um make an announcement that they're going to be a program with the Friends of the City of Detroit and Schoolcraft College.

Uh the part 107 program for drones are going to be starting out at the airport.

Um starting in May.

So I just want to get that information out to everybody.

Thank you.

And Ms.

Beverly Kindle Walker.

It'll be a Saturday class from 9 to 12.

All right, thank you so much.

Start that clock over again, please.

Beverly Kendall Walker.

The floor is yours, ma'am.

Let's hit that button in front of you to the red turns green.

Sorry.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

And congratulations to our new people.

Congratulations to our new president and President Pro Tim.

We are to say the least excited for all the things that I happened at uh the uh Coleman Young International Airport.

After so many years, I'm part of the Friends of Detroit City Airport, which was established 20 uh 36 years ago from the Honorable Carol uh Coleman Alexander Young because he needed people, residents, taxpayers to support the airport from uh uh persons uh concerned about the activity around the airport.

And so that's how we began.

Uh, some of the things that we want to talk about is um new activities that's coming on board besides the drone.

Uh cybersecurity is uh issue as well as AI, your your other favorite uh subject, uh uh Council President Pro Tem.

And so uh our donor who gave us over a million dollars for the building that we currently are in that we have shared with the administration.

Thank you so much.

It was abbreviated.

Oh, abbreviated.

Yes, ma'am.

I did announce it.

I make sure I'm not trying to be slick with anybody.

But the time I didn't hear that.

T B B B B.

Oh my goodness.

Yes, ma'am.

Well, nevertheless, we are here.

We're supportive, and we thank you so much.

We appreciate you so much.

All right, we'll now go to our online callers.

How many callers do we have?

And who do we have first?

Good afternoon, Council President.

There are 12 online callers.

Our first caller is Betty A.

Varner.

Miss Betty A.

Varner, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Uh good afternoon.

This is Betty A.

Varner, the president of DeSoda Elsewhere Black Association again, advocating for asking the council to please allocate monies for to help black clubs, associations, and 501c3s pay that land use hearing fee when they have to go before the city of Detroit, the BC department, to get their okay for projects that they want to do in their community.

Also, I'm asking that you allocate monies for corridors to help redevelop, revitalize to help get them cleaned up so that new development and businesses can come to the neighborhoods.

We're asking that corridors that have not received some of the same attention that uh a lot of the corridors throughout the city of Detroit.

They are beautiful.

We are just looking for the same blessings.

And don't forget the Finkel Corridor.

Thank you for this time.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Cassiana Gibson.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Good afternoon.

May I be heard?

Yes.

Thank you, Honorable Council members, for listening to the needs of our city and presenters for sharing the importance of this department.

My name is Cassiana Gibson.

I work for Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.

And you've heard the Detroit ID program currently under the health department is moving to HHSFS.

This program provides government IDs for many Detroit residents.

It helps them access city services, interact with law enforcement, and open bank accounts.

The program allows many of our neighbors to participate more fully in civic life.

I urge you to allocate sufficient funding in this budget to ensure the Detroit ID program has appropriate resources and staffing to continue providing this essential service for Detroiters.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Next caller is Matthew Murray.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Okay.

Good afternoon.

My name is Matthew Murray from Gingerroot.

We prioritize the health of black men and families and their well-being.

The first thing we just wanted to say is we look forward to our meeting with Miss Christina Floyd and Ms.

Angela Wilson next week.

And we're inviting the health department to be thought partners in addressing the mental health of black men and boys.

What we want is investing into more restorative care and mental health care programs for black men, boys, and families, expanding mobile remote access to care existing programs into a more accessible ecosystem, expanding supportive counseling and other community-led strategies, and if possible, escalating funding gaps up to our state government to get what we need so we can make sure that black men and boys and those connected to them have the resources that they need so they can live well and comfortably.

Also, I'm against data centers in the city of Detroit.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Justin Dale.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Caller, are you there?

Hi.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, sir.

Hi, my name is Justin Dale.

I am the founder and creative director for Black Men Work Detroit and a core member of Ginger Root Collective.

And we are advocating for the support and overwhelm overwhelm overall well-being of black men and boys through workforce development, holistic mental wellness, and through more direct programming and interventions, such as the Jabali Project, which is a scalable group therapy and supportive counseling ecosystem that builds community and equips black men to be leaders within their communities through policy and community leadership.

I would appreciate your commitment for allotting allocating funding to start and develop this program and provide resources and avenues upon continued refinement.

In addition, I look forward to meeting with this week with Christina and McCole and Angela to invite.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Council President, our next caller is Cassie P.

Cassie P, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

This is Casey Peller with Detroit Disability Power.

As many have noted today, um, federal health care protections continue to be slashed, and as more residents are struggling to access health care services.

It's really important that the health department invests in key free and reduced services, especially accessible for disabled Detroiters.

We urge and support the city council to maximize funds for free and root free routine and seasonal vaccines and testing services, HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment, community-based behavioral and mental health programs, inhalers and air purifiers, mobile and pop-up health clinic partnerships to bring services closer to home, as was mentioned, like the REC centers, but also thinking about partnerships with disability service providers to make those more accessible for disabled residents.

And also just want to think about um not only accessible provision of these programs, but accessible promotion and making sure that we're getting the word out to folks across the city.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is owner Papa.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Good afternoon, the chair may I be heard.

Yes.

The law works both ways, uh, Councilman uh Benson.

You're you quip about the law all of the time, but you know you just had the health department there, and uh, we were supposed to have uh uh an evaluation once a year.

And I know of the last five years we have not had one, and I don't hear you asking for funding for that.

Um there there is a problem with um particulate matter in our neighborhoods, and much of it is coming from speed humps.

I would have liked to have asked um the the person from the health department um to do a study on that.

Um there are so we we we get ignored our problems.

How about how about uh uh mortality rates?

How about the infant mortality rates of black women and the death during birth is higher than any other group?

Why don't we focus on some of our own problems and try to solve them instead of giving our money away and uh port projects that you guys just described?

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Council President, our next caller is Tim Bent.

All right.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute, general public comment.

Hi, hello.

Um, my name is Timothy Bent.

I am with Ginger Root Collective, uh, we the People Michigan.

Um, I would like to express my appreciation to Christina Floyd and Angela Wilson for agreeing to meet with our group next week and invite any and all health department executives to invite us in as Ginger Root to be thought partners and addressing black men's mental health.

Um, we want investment in restorative care, mental health care and programs for black men and boys and their families.

And me as a construction worker, I especially want the expansion of mobile and remote access to mental health care services.

Um I also would like the expansion of supportive counseling and other community-led strategies like the Jabali project, and if necessary, which likely will be escalating funding gaps up to our state government.

Um I would also like to take my last 10 seconds to oppose data centers in the city of Detroit.

We need to focus on increasing our mental health care workforce, not giving away our land to data centers.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is William M.

Davis.

Mr.

William M.

Davis, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Uh good afternoon, because happy heard.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

First thing, health department.

Uh, I think that uh the RX Kids is a good program.

I advocated with the previous administration.

He didn't want to hear it.

Uh also I think that since the West has over half the population of the city chart, we need to have some health facilities actually on the West Side.

Uh, I think 100 Mac is horrible.

Um, there's no parking for seniors or disabled people or pregnant women.

You know, that's a shame.

We need to have a health department that has free parking or close to having free parking.

Uh also we we need to be doing more to encourage people to be healthier.

And the health department needs to be putting out regular health assessments for the city of Detroit.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Jabari Cook.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Hi, my name is Jabari Cook with Ginger Root.

Um, firstly, I want to thank Christina Floyd and Angela Wilson for meeting us with the health department next week.

Mainly I want to advocate for restorative care and mental health programs for black men and families and actually expanding access to that care.

I appreciate everything that the health department is doing.

I appreciate the specificity in our actions, and I hope that the same specificity will be given a mental health issues.

If we could be specific about asthma, HIV, and AIDS, we can be specific about schizophrenia, autism, down syndrome, etc.

All of these things require a myriad of different intervention methods, and we need to take this into account when we come up with any solutions.

And I agree with my members of Gingerroo.

We need to uphold data centers at all costs.

Constantly bringing up AI and data center where we're worried about mental health and people's access to help so they can be physically well-feeled, blatantly disrespectful as someone who actually works at health care.

Nobody wants AI data center.

People want access to health care that they can actually use and they can actually benefit from.

Don't nobody give no nobody care about AI.

Nobody wants that.

We need actual equitable mental health services.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Tyler Kitan.

All right.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

Can I be heard?

Yes.

Hi.

My name is Tyler Caton with Ginger Root and an autonomous vehicles engineer for Ford.

I think not two weeks ago, I met with the council president and we spoke on data centers and the lack of information in the office.

And I think one of the most important things here in lack of state evidence is community-based agreements and other clear city-based action to protect and empower the Detroiters in this.

But we are we are here for mental for the health department today.

We appreciate Christina Floyd and Angela Wilson for meeting with us next week, and we invite others to participate in these actions to address mental health needs of black men and boys.

We are looking to invest in restorative care and mental health programs as well as expanding the mobile and remote access to that care.

We're looking to expand supportive counseling and other community-led strategies as well as escalate funding gaps up to our state government.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next caller, please.

Our next caller is Kamal Jawara.

Caller, the floor is yours.

You have one minute general public comment.

All right, appreciate it.

Um Kamal Joara, lead organizer for Ginger Root.

invest in restorative care and mental health programs as well as expanding the mobile and remote access to that care while we're looking to expand supportive counseling and other community led strategies as well as escalate funding gaps up to our state government thank you thank you next caller please our next caller is Kamal Jawara caller the floor is yours you have one minute general public comment all right appreciate it um comeal joara lead organizer for ginger root i want to express uh some alignment and support for two closing resolutions raised by council president Tate um and Councilmember Denzel around providing uh mental health access at rec centers and expanding our behavioral growth workforce we'd love to be thought partners on that um of course we hear uh in support of investing more into restorative care um and mental health care programs for black men boys and families expanding mobile remote access to care connecting existing programs in our accessible ecosystem uh expanding support of counseling and other community led strategies such as the Jabali project and escalating any funding gaps that we have up to the state government um we're looking forward to our meeting with the health department next week and look forward to working with council as well on some of these solutions and I do want to echo um the stance of others is that we have a great opportunity to really scale up our healthcare workforce um and maybe that's something that we should consider over data centers in AI.

Thank you next caller please council president our next caller is iPhone noting that this will be our last caller all right iPhone the floor is yours you have one minute general public comment yeah what about the girls I just saw somebody pass and I tried to smile and wave and they're unhappy it's not just boys they got reason to be but okay I uh there's the things about health diet exercise and sleep and there's a fourth one that I was thinking about right now creating a non-racist prejudiced environment where people are open to uh not only each other and other uh people with differences but the the I want to make a motion that we uh transfer the 75000 for the marijuana gun boxes and safety boxes and put it into my building and to uh Mrs.

Warner's projects and other people's projects that's you know you're ignorant mayor I use it to sleep with the Simpson all because I'm in pain it's better than oxy call them with all right thank you so much and it takes us to the end of our public comments we have lost the quorum uh so we can't have any additional comments back and forth but want to let the public know that we will be back at it with the budget hearings at 10 a.m on Monday colleagues there are a motion to adjourn motion see no objections that action shall be taken