Oh my god.

Good morning, everyone.

I'm gonna go ahead and gavel us in and call to order.

Our uh community development recommending board following our agenda for a call of order, and I'll ask the clerk, sir, if you will call roll.

Chair Miller.

Present.

Co-Chair McKnight.

Present.

Member Marlin.

Present.

Member Hadan Bennett.

Present.

Member Prado.

Present.

Member Lathrop.

Present.

Member Burks.

Present.

Member Jackson.

Present.

Member Conyers.

Present.

Member Jones Zangaro.

Present.

Member Calliendo.

Present.

Member Freeman.

Present.

Thank you, Chair.

You have a quorum.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate that.

Um we are in compliance with open bidding law.

Yes, we are.

Thank you very much.

Moving on to agenda item number three, public comment.

Comment during this portion of the agenda must be limited to matters on the agenda for action.

If you wish to be heard, come forward and give your name for the record.

The amount of discussion as well as the amount of time any single speaker is allowed may be limited.

Is there any public comment at this time?

Seeing none, we'll move on to agenda item number four.

Report by Colleen Deweaker, Grant Program Coordinator regarding housing and urban development HUD, federal grants and allocation of federal funds.

And the community development block grant, C D B G.

The grant funds for each of these programs are designated as two-year grants designed to provide funds for selected agencies in fiscal years 2026 to 2027 and 2027 to 2028.

And the approximate amount of CDBG funding is 500,000.

Interested agencies were asked to attend one of two technical workshops held on October 28th, 2025.

Over the course of three days, the Community Development Recommending Board will hear presentations from applicants who met grant eligibility requirements.

Applicants have been asked to make presentations to the board.

Ten minutes have been allocated for each program, which is broken down into five minutes for the presentation and five minutes to answer questions from the board.

Today's meeting will consist of presentations for the C D BG grant program.

At this time, I would like to ask all board members to disclose any potential conflicts of interest you have with any of the presenting agencies today.

I work at and I'm on the board of Vegas Stronger, so I'm going to need to abstain from any questions, comments, or voting when uh they come up.

This is Robert Lathrop.

Uh heavily involved in the Desert Spring Community Resource Center.

My daughter was the founder and executive director.

And I will be recusing myself from that discussion.

I just want to check.

Um with Hope Christian Health Center, Foster Kinship has an MOU with them to provide services for our families.

Is that a conflict that needs I need to abstain?

Deputy City Attorney Terramar Canella for the record.

Um can you explain your relationship with that?

Um they come on site occasionally and provide health services for our families.

And what organization are you?

Foster Kinship.

Is okay.

Is foster kinship one of the applicants today?

Yes.

No, not today.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

Okay.

Um then you said one of the applicants that are on today has that relationship with foster kinship, correct?

Okay.

Um that'll be a does that'll be fine as a disclosure for today.

Um for tomorrow, you would want to abstain from discussion with foster kinship.

Um, as well as make that disclosure.

Thank you.

Okay, so we are good to go on too.

Let me take a breath.

Agenda item number five, presentations regarding application for community development block grant, CDBG funds for fiscal year 2026-2027, and 2027-2028, submitted by Hope Link of Southern Nevada, career workforce development expansion, Urban Chamber Community Development Corporation, AI, Artificial Intelligence and STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Career Pathways, Gay and Lesbian Center of Southern Nevada, Micro Business and Employment Pathways Program, ARIBA Las Vegas Workers Center, OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administrative Administration Workforce Development Training in the Construction Industry, Nevada Health Centers Incorporated, Homeless Youth Mobile Medical Services Program, Equality Uh Project DBA Henderson Equality Center, Community Health Equity and Empowerment Initiative, Vegas Stronger Outreach for Recovery Program.

There is no Hero and Heroin Foundation Incorporated, Adult Sober Living and Outpatient Services, Westcare Nevada Incorporated, Westcare Nevada, Transitional Recovery Housing Program for Women and Their Children, Helping Hands of Vegas Valley Bus and Volunteer Transportation Program, Solutions of Change.

Lost my way there.

Okay.

And I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, City Jewish Family Services Agency Emergency Services Program.

I think we spoke on this yesterday, has withdrawn.

St.

Jude's Ranch for Children, Drop-in Center for Homeless Youth.

That's pretty good.

I got all that in.

Okay.

Fantastic.

All righty.

We would like to tell our guests that are joining us today.

Again, you will have five minutes to speak and uh make your presentation, and then five minutes will open to the board to ask you any questions.

When you get to the one minute mark, I will hold up one finger to tell you that you are close to the you are at one minute, and you need to close up your presentation.

And we'd like you to speak loudly for the record.

And also when you speak, please tell who you are so we can have that on the records calendar also.

And at this time, we will begin presentations with Hope Link of Southern Nevada.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Kristen Obulis.

I am the Chief Operating Officer at Hope Link of Southern Nevada.

Hi, good morning.

My name is Stephanie Lara.

I'm the director of emergency and employment services with Hope Link of Southern Nevada.

HopeLink's mission is to prevent homelessness, preserve families, and provide hope.

For nearly 35 years, we have been keeping Nevadins housed.

Hope link is a leading provider of housing stabilization programs in Clark County.

We work with low-income individuals and families to prevent homelessness as well as provide emergency shelter and rapid rehousing.

Recipients of these programs are often in immediate need of employment as a next step toward long-term stability.

Hopelink's CareerLink program was implemented in 2021.

CareerLink provides participants in Hopelink's housing stabilization programs with job coaching and work readiness assessments.

In addition, Hopelink provides work cards, clothing, and transportation to participants of our programs.

Hope Link's employment specialists navigate the business community and build strong relationships with employers who need staff.

Last year, Hopelink matched 126 program participants with employment.

Hope link is requesting uh salary and benefit funds for one employment specialist so we can continue the impact and to continue to grow our program and build additional employment partners and uh service additional families who are either at immediate risk or who are recently rehoused from homelessness and get them back on their feet and back to self-sufficiency.

Um adding an employment specialist to our team will allow us to expand our reach to additional employment partners and to assist more individuals with reaching stability through employment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

At this time, I'll open the floor uh for any questions for our presenters.

Chair recognizes uh Member Jones Zagaro.

Oh my apologies, I forgot to turn it off.

Okay, not a problem.

Chair recognizes I'm looking over.

Is that uh member Jackson?

Okay, go ahead, Member Jackson.

Hi.

Um, I like your program.

Um, but I wanted to know about sustainability in terms of fundraising and how how uh uh involved is your board of directors.

Our board of directors is involved in helping us raise funds.

We also have um a community engagement team who is out there raising funds as well.

But this program is highly supported right now by um corporations and other foundations.

So it is a lot of private fundraising that we're doing for this program, and we've been able to keep it going since 2021, but yeah, we do have to reapply for all of that funding every year.

Okay, no other questions.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

We appreciate you.

There we go.

I was trying to get back on Jan.

Um, at this time we'll call the Urban Chamber Community Development Corporation for their presentation.

Are they with us?

Are we early?

I might be early.

I'm on schedule, correct?

Okay.

Um Cadina, can uh we have they have 10 minutes left?

Can I move or no?

Or where should we wait?

Callle Deiger, uh, neighborhood services.

We can move on if the next agency is here.

Okay, thank you very much.

Um, Urban Chamber has approximately 10 minutes, but I'll go ahead and call the Gay and Lesbian Center of Southern Nevada if they're here.

I guess I'm too on schedule.

I'm too efficient, apparently.

Okay.

Um is Ariba Las Vegas here?

I'm trying to make sure I get you to the 1030 break.

Good morning.

Yes, we're we appreciate that.

Ariba, Las Vegas.

Yes.

Okay, fantastic.

Okay, so our other two agencies have time to get here, but since Ariba's here, we're gonna go ahead and prepare them.

Just want to remind you, you have five minutes to make your presentation, then you will have five minutes to take questions from the board.

When you get to the one minute mark of your end of your five minutes, I'll give you a motion.

Please make sure you speak loudly for the record and you state your name every time that you speak.

And thank you so much for being early.

And you may begin your presentation.

Thank you.

My name is Eliasar Castellanos.

Good morning.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today.

But also to thank each of the program graduates and volunteers who are here today to ask for your support for this valuable program at Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center.

Gracias, companeros.

I have been an outrich trainer authorized by a federal occupational safety and health administration to conduct OSHA classes for the last 10 years.

And since 2017, I have offered training at the Riva Las Vegas Worker Center.

I usually train in Spanish.

Thank you for your patience.

Over the past five years, we have trained more than 2,500 workers in occupational health and safety.

Our Air Force aimed to build the capacity, well-being, and economic stability of low-income individuals and small businesses.

We are here today seeking your support to offer to offer no cost workforce development training, including OSHA 10 and OCA True Classes for residents of Las Vegas and employees of businesses in Las Vegas.

Now our executive director, Miss Record Trauss.

Thank you, Lazarus.

And I'd like to just share briefly with past partnerships with the US Department of Labor and Direct Partnerships with Northern Illinois University and Cal State Dominguez Hills.

We have built one of the largest Spanish language occupational safety and health training programs here in Las Vegas.

Now there've been some shifts in the landscape politically and federally in terms of funding, long-term funding that's been available for this program.

But we are ready to face the challenge.

And I would just like to add that since submitting this application, we have been working arduously to build corporate and business support for this.

We've been testing different income models to ensure program sustainability.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Margustrada, and I was once a worker like many others, walking into Arriva Las Vegas uh worker center, simply looking for an OSHA card.

In my case, I was seeking the OSHA 10 card to meet the requirements necessary to work on construction sites.

But after seeing everyone at the center working so passionately about the safety of others, it really motivated me.

Um I've always been concerned about safety in my own family.

I've seen workplace injuries, even up to amputations, uh which makes uh the value of work safety very, very important to me.

When the opportunity to take the OSHA 30 class came up, I wanted to invest more time, uh, not just for myself, but also for the other workers around me.

For years I had worked around construction job sites as a laborer, cleaning up, grinding, preparing for ornamental metalwork for residential and commercial projects, often with many or all Spanish-speaking workers.

While I am fully fluent and uh comfortable in both Spanish and English, I gained something important in learning occupational safety and health terms in both English and Spanish, as it helps keep us all safe.

Apart from the safety, my peers and I have experienced economic benefit from these training opportunities.

For example, when one of our members acquires an OSHA 10 card, they have now received the minimum requirement to obtain a job in construction.

When we've seen workers come to classes after getting job offers that they can't accept without the opportunity to discard grants.

Ricardo Jonas also have taken the 510 OSHA standard card, where they're qualified to oversee safety operations at large commercial job sites like casino builds, uh where they supervise the safety of multiple companies and crew working around each other.

Not only are these workforce development opportunities important for the safety and earning potential, but there's something special about Arriba Las Vegas.

I know that these programs out there where the instructor will just read off the prompt and show a PowerPoint.

Um but I can wholeheartedly tell you that that is not the case here with our fine instructor El Azar, who is so experienced in different fields of which the training covers, um, that he really does help show us how to be safe at work without showing or telling us that we can't we're not doing our jobs proper.

Uh and this organization has really helped us.

Alrighty, thank you very much.

Right on the on the nose.

Great job.

Appreciate that.

At this time, I'll open the floor up uh for questions from the board.

I'll start with member Caliendo.

Hi, good morning, Ali Calliando.

Um, thank you for the work that you're doing.

Given the tightness of this year's available funding, have you thought about how you might do this program with perhaps half the funds you've requested?

And also thank you to everyone who's here today to support.

Yes.

Um, and I also will, if if I don't, if you don't mind, um, if Kat Jacob, in case we have any questions, Kat Jacobs is our fantastic bookkeeper.

Um, just to invite you to join us.

Now, um, it is absolutely possible to adapt the program in a number of ways.

Um, federal programming, federal dollars usually uh include a cost maximum per student and for contact training hour.

So a student who takes 10 has had 10 contact training hours.

Um we could both reduce or expand uh with the same cost mechanisms and have been able to do that um at different points as funding has fluctuated in the past.

Chair recognizes member Conyers.

Hi, I have to say that I am very impressed with your organization, and I'm coming from an architecture and construction background.

So I understand the importance of having OSHA.

Um just commend you for all of the volunteers that showed up today, and I think I'm really impressed, so thank you.

Chair recognizes Member Prattle.

Yeah, uh hi, Member Prado here.

Um I had a couple quick questions.

One um was uh in terms of analyzing the budget itself, it seemed like the the largest cost was a contracted trainer, just kind of curious what um that's about, and then a similar question to member Calliendo if there was some proportional um or scale down if uh if the request is not able to be fully met.

And then secondly, maybe a little bit more context around the shifting political landscape issue or what what specifically has occurred recently that uh has disrupted this program.

Yeah, I'll in reverse order.

I will say that occupational safety and health programming has been federally funded.

We were federally funded consistently through the last five years.

We have not been um particularly singled out, but rather those recurring funds that are for capacity to building and capacity development have not been funded.

Uh, I'm not sure what will happen in future federal budgets, um, but that's been an important source that helped us to with initially with capacity building grants that enabled us the first year pilot opening of the program.

Capacity development enabled us to develop all the infrastructure internally that's required to be following and complying with federal and state requirements that are um both over those dollars, but more importantly, over health and safety.

Um, so that to speak to your sec your second question.

Um, it's not uncommon in occupational safety and health and training to work primarily with authorized contractors.

It maybe you could think of it a little bit more like a lawyer because trainers need to maintain their certification separate to and independent of our program, which speaks to a higher degree of um authority over their business.

Um, we are very grateful to have had the support of LSR all of these years, but have also brought in contract trainers through the um occupational um the OSHA training institutes federally for things like uh last year we offered the first Spanish language OSHA 500 class uh for new workers to become OSHA trainers that require like a master's level, and so um that speaks a little bit to the the contractor category there in the budget.

Alrighty, member uh Jones Zagoro.

Um curious how much are the OSHA cards and how many hours of training are required per student.

Um the the you want me to just go quickly?

Okay, uh sort of fire it off because I talk fast.

Um the OSHA 10 card, that's 10 hours of in-person training.

The OSHA 30 card, that's 30 hours of in-person training.

You know, we hear all the time about people who buy their cards at the SWAT meet or who might have sat through a video that they fast forwarded, but that is not the case with our program.

Every contact hour occurs in person in a supportive in-person learning environment.

Um, our program historically has been at no cost to workers.

We have been um exploring potential revenue models with cost to worker or cost to employers, although it's also a difficult time to ask um small business employers to come up with resources.

The commercial cost for an OSHA 10 card might range between 85 and 110, uh, 120 dollars, and the OSHA 30 card, we've seen everywhere between 250 to 350 or more for a worker to obtain that.

All right, thank you very much.

And we have ran out of time.

Thank you, board members, for your questions, and thank you, Ariba, for coming early and uh and stepping forward as we waited for our other ones, and thank you for joining us today.

Uh for your uh your graduates for uh joining us, and we appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

Okay, so we're gonna return back to I'm gonna I saw people come in, so I'm assuming we're going back on schedule.

So at this time, I'd like to call the Urban Chamber uh Community Development Corporation.

If they're present, please remember you have five minutes to make your presentation at the one-minute mark, one minute left.

I will give you a uh a sign.

The board will then have five minutes to ask questions.

Please make sure you speak loudly and that you state your name every time you respond for the record.

Good morning, and thank you for coming.

Good morning.

My name is Anthony Parnell.

I'm the executive director of the Urban Chamber, Community Development Corporation, creators of the UCCDC Online Training Institute, and AI and STEM Career Pathways Initiative.

A lot of people, because of Chat GPT and how AI is taking over, talk about how many jobs are being lost because of AI, but there's a lot of jobs that are being created out of AI.

Even just as an example, in the Microsoft space, there's already 20 AI certifications.

So what we wanted to do is not just create an introductory AI course to different certification pathways.

We wanted to create a workforce development pipeline.

So our program, our workforce readiness program, has three different components.

Component number one is training.

So we spent a lot of money and a lot of time to build an online training institute that has a 10-hour AI career readiness course.

And Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.

You already have co-pilot, which is a great introductory form of the power of AI.

Our course takes you through 10 modules, pretest and post-test for each module.

When you finish, there's a capstone project to show what you retain with your knowledge, and it immediately leads into a career coaching video that gives you the opportunity to upload your resume, take a quick career planning questionnaire, and then schedule a 30-minute or one-hour career coaching session.

So the second component is career coaching.

So because a lot of people, especially in the 13 and 19 age range or young adults, they may not have interviewed a lot or may not know little things like different etiquette to increase the probability of getting hired.

We contracted with a career coaching company called Avery Grace Careers.

So immediately after you get our certification, you can schedule a 30-minute or one-hour career coaching session.

The third component is we want to really, after people complete our course, lead them right into internships or part-time and full-time employment.

So that's our third component.

As soon as you get our 10 hour certification, they're ready to interview you for internships and part-time and full-time employment.

Any questions?

If I can get my microphone on, yes, I'll open the floor for any questions from any board member that uh they may have from the urban chamber uh corporation.

Member the chair recognizes Member Conyers.

Hi.

Um so with the idea of this database, would that have all the your client private information in there?

And if it does, like how would you in the future make sure the privacy of your clients aren't isn't exposed?

Oh, not at all.

So we put a lot of security measures in.

We already have contracted uh an expert IT person that built out the platform.

I meet with them every Wednesday, so any updates that are needed, you have the term that's called security patches, a lot of things because we're already getting a lot of spam now that it's online.

So we take that very seriously.

My other question so what foundational um LOM model are you using?

Uh Moodle.

Okay.

For the LMS learning management system, we use Moodle.

We use that as our built uh initial infrastructure and then customized it.

Okay, that's all my questions.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Um, Member Jackson and then Member Haddad Bennett.

Hi, Jamie Jackson here.

Um, how many of your students transition into employment um go by after going through your program?

Well, it took us six months to actually create the full curriculum because it actually, in addition to being online, we have an actual participant guide and a leader's guide.

So it is hybrid.

An individual could take it online or a course instructor can teach it.

So we just finished it in November.

So the first cohort we had was a nonprofit called Quiet Storm Foundation.

16 youth came to the urban chamber.

So we haven't gotten to the point yet of people graduating and then going right into the internships.

And you anticipate how many will transition into employment?

Um, we anticipate a minimum of 50 percent because we know, particularly in your when you're in the 13 and 19 range, you might not have the motivation to follow through, go take the career coaching and actually go to interviews.

So we're estimating around 50 percent.

When you get to the adult range, we think probably 75 percent, because they're already rich need to make money, they're working at want to be a working adult.

Uh thanks.

Oh, sorry.

Oh, it's member Prado and then Member Hadad Bennett.

I think memorand items first.

Oh, that's right.

I'm sorry, member Hadad Bennett.

I'll be fast.

Um just uh so you all your organization, it sounded like worked with some folks to create the curriculum.

Um, can you tell talk a little bit about the curriculum the development of the curriculum and um the evidence base that you've um discussed in your application?

Okay, well, I'll actually start backwards first.

I know because of having been in the nonprofit world for more than 20 years, a lot of funding is limited to you if you can't prove that your program is evidence-based.

So from the very beginning, we already have a contracted program evaluator.

Dr.

Tiberio Garza, he had been assistant research department at UNLV about three years ago, got an offer to move to Miami.

So, even in the very beginning, when you go to register, we're grabbing data socioeconomic status.

Are you from a single parent family or whatever?

That's another person on Wednesday I have my weekly call with.

So, as the students come through graduate, we're already grabbing their data and tracking them throughout the entire process.

So, we're hoping within six months after we get to probably a hundred students, I would say five cohorts of 20 students.

We believe that we'll have enough data to prove it's evidence-based.

Member Prado.

Uh Member Prado here.

I just had a question around kind of what the um uh source of your clients is or how recruitment works, given that some of them are sort of younger.

Well, one of the best sources is Jag Nevada.

Um, I mean, they're over they're in the entire state.

So we've already made two presentations to them, um, even to their whole state management meeting of our program.

So they are immediately available, but everything that happened with the government shut down um and and money being held up, they couldn't pull the trigger because they said they couldn't afford it, so that's why we're applying, you know, to try and get money so we can immediately go to a population like that.

All righty, seeing no further questions.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

We appreciate you.

Thank you.

All right, staying on schedule.

I'd like to call the gay and lesbian center of Southern Nevada.

Please remember you have five minutes for your presentation, then five minutes of questions from the board.

When you get to having less than a minute, I will give you the signal to start.

Please make sure you speak loudly.

And every time you speak, please state your name for the record.

Thank you.

Good morning, and welcome.

We have a handout that we're passing out real quick.

Good morning, members of the community development review board.

Thank you for being here and for the work you do to strengthen our community every day.

My name is Chris Lee.

I serve as the workforce development and program manager at the center of Las Vegas.

I'm joined by my colleague Priscilla, who is the director of behavioral health.

Every day we help individuals who are doing their best to move forward, working, caring for family, and trying to improve their circumstances, yet still facing housing instability and limited access to opportunity.

Not because they lack motivation, but because it lacked consistent support, education, and a clear pathway forward.

Today we want to share how our micro business and employment empowerment program would help turn effort into stability and potential into progress.

Hello, my name is Priscilla O2 Ajlolo.

At the center, we serve low-income residents across Las Vegas, especially individuals facing underemployment, housing and security, and behavioral health challenges that can affect employment and stability.

Many of our participants are manage and pulled multiple responsibilities and stressors are once.

Access to education, training, and professional development often becomes secondary to survival.

The CDBG microbusiness and employment empowerment program was created to change that.

It provides a structured learning, skill development, and supportive services that help people build both personal and economic stability.

This is not about temporary assistance, it's about creating long-term opportunity.

So our program is built around three connected pillars workforce training, entrepreneurial development, and real world application.

First, the workforce training.

So participants develop essential job and life skills such as communication, professionalism, customer service, and financial literacy.

These learning experiences function like adult education and practice settings, practical settings.

Participants are constantly building knowledge, applying it, and refining it.

So this foundation helps them enter the workforce with confidence and remain competitive over time.

Second, entrepreneurial development.

So many of the participants already have ideas, talents, informal businesses or trades that they want to harness, right?

So through these incubator workshops, we provide education and business planning, marketing, pricing, and operations, as well as financial literacy.

We help turn creativity into sustainable enterprises.

And then third is the real world application for this.

So they would practice what they learned through vendor events, community events, and farmers' markets, essentially.

They had would have pitching opportunities.

Together, these pillars create a complete pathway for learning to earning.

In addition to skills training, the program provides critical wraparound supports that remove barriers to participation and success.

Participants have the access to microgrants for business development, transportation assistance, and training and work.

Guidance with licensing and legal requirements.

There are often the obstacles that prevent motivated individuals from completing educational professional programs.

We also emphasize collaborative learning and peer support.

Participants learn alongside one another, share experiences, and build networks that promote accountability and resilience.

From a behavior health perspective, this is supportive environment helps reduce stress, improve focus, and strengthen long-term engagement.

So this work is really urgent, especially in the Zip Code 89101.

I'm sure is most of you familiar with.

Nearly 60% of renters in this area are cost burdened and at risk of losing their housing or housing and stability.

The demand for this workforce training and career education continues to exceed capacity.

So we want to fill that need, right?

Many CDB eligible CDBG eligible residents face health-related barriers and social stigma that limit access to traditional education and employment surfaces.

So without expanded programs like this, individuals remain trapped in cycles of instability despite their willingness to learn, grow, and contribute to society.

So our program directly responds to this need with accessible practical solutions.

Well we see through what we see through the program as genuine transformation.

Participants, once doubted their abilities, begin setting goals, pursuing continued learning and engaging confidently with employers and customers.

Through vendor events and pitching sessions, they experience what it means to be recognized as a capable professional and entrepreneur.

Community engagement reinforces learning and personal growth.

People are not just receiving services, they're building skills, relationships, and confidence that last beyond the program.

That sense of ownership is what supports long-term success.

By supporting the microbusiness and employment empowerment program, the community development review board is investing in workforce development, financial literacy, and small business education and housing stability all at the same time.

So you are helping individuals move from survivable survivability to sustainability from uncertainty to confidence from potential to measurable impact.

All right.

Thank you.

Yeah, you got you just sliding.

There you go.

That's fantastic.

All right, thank you.

At this time, I'll open the floor up to board members that would like to ask questions.

The chair recognizes uh member Jones Zengaro.

Good morning, and thank you for what you do in an underserved community.

Um curious, how do people come to you?

How do they know your programs available?

I I didn't see where you recruit from or um given the location that we're at, we have so many people just walk in for services, just want and hell, want water.

So we are in a place where it's very easy to get to on the bus, and we have tons of services that we provide with our primary care clinic, our STI clinics, and behavioral health clinic.

So we get a plethora as well as community uh support uh programs that we do.

So we get a plethora of individuals that come in there, adolescents um and adults and senior programs that we have.

Um this is Matthew Dang for the record.

Um we also partnered with um the YDHP grant, which is a COC grant related to youth on house program.

So this is a uh draw into participants as well.

Excellent.

And and your uh your betting of these people, the the vetting.

How do you know that they're not just some homeless person off the street that just wants a thing of water versus or a cool place to stay, but actually wants to develop and move forward?

Um we have eligibility screenings um for all our programming to ensure that participants are indeed eligible for that program based on how they answer the questions.

Thank you.

Chair recognizes member Lathrop.

Uh, this is a new program and some new funding you're looking for.

I'm really curious about uh since you don't have history uh to go back on, how you're gonna track and maybe your own personal experiences from your previous uh work in this area, what your expectations are really gonna be for successful well, overall at the center, we manage a lot of grants.

We manage a federal grant at 3.5 million, and our youth grant is 1.5 with a ton of other financial money that we do manage.

So I think that we are set up financially to be able to manage that appropriately.

Yeah, and we'll use evidence-based practices and the um that sector and just workforce and development in general, um, based on evidence-based practices.

So that's how we're gonna gauge the metric of success.

Um, yeah.

So your plan is for uh your affected clients to move into the service industry, right?

Services and trades.

And trades, yes.

Again, I'm I'm I I it's great, and I I think there's a great need uh in that area, but um I'm curious about again about the flexibility.

Somebody comes into the program and gets customer service training and whatever and they find out that uh retail is just not their thing, right?

Right.

Um, that's how we have the three pillars, which is the skill development, education and job readiness, as well as any innovation or mentorship growth challenges they need, as well as the practical experience and collaboration along with job placement.

So we try to fit them into one of those pillars.

And it's also not just for uh customer service and general retail, it's also for um like trade.

So if they want to get into a trade or skill that requires trade school or classes, this would also help with that.

Um, or small businesses, microbusinesses, um, as is the name for like online retail.

If they want to sell products that they create, um, this will help them get off the ground.

Okay.

This is Catherine Jacobs for the record.

I'm the financial controller for the center.

I just wanted um to add that uh a big piece of this is just instilling those initial skills and initial experience so that in their next venture, even if that area wasn't for them, they have those initial skills and that work experience uh to more easily make that transition into the next step of their career.

All right, chair recognizes member uh calendo and then member Prado.

Thank you.

Allie Calliando.

Um the budget shows that the main uh position sort of implementing this is your workforce development cafe manager.

Can you speak about how they balance that?

And then also, are they the ones trained in motivational interviewing?

Yes, yeah.

Um, motivational interviewing and also uh trauma-informed care.

Um this position would be the workforce development cafe manager, which would be me.

Um, and because we just hired somebody actually as of last week, uh, we have full coverage so that uh we can focus more can't do English mainly on the workforce development.

Okay, quickly, member Prado.

I don't know how quick this is gonna be.

I was just trying to get a sense of like the structure of the program.

Is it going to be cohorts for a certain length of time and so on so forth?

Because it's there is a client target of 33, and I'm just wondering how that happens over the span of a year.

Um, yes, that'll be cool.

All right.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

We appreciate you being here.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

All righty.

We are moving forward at this time.

I like to call Nevada Health Centers.

Again, please remember you have five minutes for your presentation, five minutes for board to ask questions.

And when you get to four minutes, I'll give you the one-minute warning.

Please make sure that when you speak, you state who you are for the record and speak loudly.

Thank you and appreciate your time.

Thank you and good morning.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and present to you.

My name is Lisa Detling, and I'm the executive vice president of ancillary services at Nevada Health Centers.

And I'm Rosal Faro, Senior Program Manager for Mobile Medical Services.

Our organization was found established in 1977, so almost 50 years ago.

We're a private, not-for-profit, federally qualified health center, and we're the largest provider of primary care to uninsured or underserved individuals throughout the state of Nevada.

Our mission is to provide access to care, regardless of people's income level, their insurance status, their geography.

Our goal is to make sure that they have access wherever they are.

We provide primary care services, pediatric care, dental services, behavioral health, pharmacy services, and telehealth.

Today we operate 20 health centers throughout the state.

Nine of those are in the Las Vegas Valley.

We also operate five mobile units, two medical, two dental, and the mammal van.

We're here today to talk about one of our mobile units, our mobile medical units.

We also have seven WIC sites throughout the valley down here in Las Vegas.

We're here today to speak about our Nevada Children's Health Project.

This is a mobile medical van that is stationed out of our Las Vegas area.

And we serve children and adolescents ages 21 and enter.

Nevada Children's Health Project is a 45-foot mobile medical unit fully equipped to provide primary care health services to children and adolescents, including well child exams, acute care for illnesses, and minor injuries, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, behavioral health screenings and counselings, immunizations, minor procedures, lab testing and prescriptions.

We provide an office administered medications for birth control, breathing treatments, antibiotics, and over-the-counter medications such as Benadryl, ibuprofen, tylenol, nasal sprays, and have the delivery service to site locations for prescriptions that are filled within our in-house pharmacy at our MLK clinic.

Our van is managed by a senior program manager, staffed full-time with a physician assistant, two medical assistants, a front desk representative, and a driver.

We operate full-time and provide care to the youth that are homeless, runaway, victims of abuse and trafficking.

These children do not have family support, often have chronic health conditions, and are need of consistent confidential care in a safe, private and trustworthy environment.

Our program reduces the reliance of emergency rooms, mitigates disease transmissions, and connects young people with ongoing primary care services.

Service sites within the city of Las Vegas are a WIC site that we have on Sahara and Decatur, the Embracium Project on East Charleston Boulevard, and we recently expanded our services to a WIC site on Rancho and Gowan adjacent to Project 150, a program that provides free support and services to homeless displaced and disadvantaged high school students.

Since implementing this program in 2018, we have seen 3,126 patients and a total of 11,710 visits.

Our grant request is for a two-year grant of 204,288 each year.

And this is to provide access to primary care for these homeless runaway youth in the city of Las Vegas.

Funds through this grant would support our clinical staff, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, lab fees, fuel, and maintenance and repairs on our vehicles.

Our annual expense for this program runs about $646,000.

We expect about $63,000, $64,000 to come back to us through revenue through our Medicaid billing and some other small donations.

The cost per patient on our vehicle is about $137.

So we believe that we can serve at least 380 children a year through the funding through this grant.

We have a strategy, and the strategy does include our mobile units for the long term.

It's a very key area for us to gain access for those people where they may be.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate that.

I'll open the floor up to any board member that has questions for Nevada Health.

Can you pause the clock for just a second?

I need to ask.

Deputy City Attorney Tamar Canella for the record.

Okay.

I don't think you do stain.

Thank you.

Are there any questions from board members from Nevada Hill?

The chair recognizes Member Marlin.

Hi, this is Dave Marlin, and thanks for what you do for what you do.

You said you spent about $550 per visit of services you deliver.

Could you give us a little more detail on what those services include?

So we do sorry.

So all of that just is included part of the visit in general, including prescriptions.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Chair recognizes member Prado.

Um I have two questions.

One actually just started to talk about, which is you know what happens if there's a fall-on need for prescription from even from an articulation perspective to make sure that this is it's being deployed and delivered, given that's theoretically a homeless person may have some transportation issues, so on so forth.

Is the mobile clinic have any pharmacy itself, or does it have some system for referring to particular other Nevada Health Center pharmacies or general pharmacies?

And then the other question is the request is somewhat large given the in entirety of the grant uh for all the 30 plus organizations who requested it.

So just curious about scalability and and what that would do to client targets if their entire world was not funded.

To talk about the first one, yeah.

Uh regarding prescriptions.

So we do carry over-the-counter medications on the bus.

So if we see that they need it there, we'll go ahead and give it to them.

And um, if we need to, what we do is we work with our partner sites and our patients that might have somewhere that they can have their medications delivered to, we just explain to them, we'll go ahead and deliver it here, be there, and they'll go ahead and receive it there.

So they don't have to worry about going to an actual pharmacy.

We try to remove that barrier for them because we know that that's actually one of the things that they won't for a homeless person, they're not gonna go to an actual uh pharmacy and pick it up.

They might feel fear or they might not have the proper documentation to pick it up, so we try to remove that barrier for them.

And regarding your funding request, um, you know, certainly the program we look we evaluate it all the time.

Can we continue to maintain the service level that we're at?

What can we do to make sure more of these children have Medicaid coverage, do eligibility checks, all those kind of things, so that we can bring in as much revenue to cover.

If we don't receive the funding we need on an annual basis, you know, sometimes we do make some modifications to our service level.

We have the opportunity to park and not travel to sites, um, and then help, you know, try to get our patients to come to us just by reducing days or that kind of thing.

But we we do a lot of grant funding requests, so you know our hope is that through everything that we do, we will get enough to fund the program and keep it sustainable, you know, each year as we go.

So far, um, we've been pretty successful at that.

Thank you.

Um, member uh Joan Zagaro and then Member Jackson.

Just real quick about uh you mentioned Medicaid.

Do you have people who come to you with absolutely zero insurance?

And are they not Medicaid qualified?

Is it something that you offer to get them on Medicaid, or is that not part of your we do have patients that do show up without Medicaid?

We do have an internal um program that we try to get our um patients to um patient navigators, that's what we call them, to be able to see how they can qualify.

So, what we'll tell them is how we'll tell them that we'll connect them with someone to be able to go through that process with them, and we have successfully been able to get people on Medicaid to be able to get coverage.

Just to add, our you know, our mission as our organization is to see all people.

So, regardless if they have any insurance, and in many cases, they're not eligible.

Um, the other thing with this program, it's very special.

The children that we deal with, you know, runaways, they're homeless, they've been oftentimes don't have that home environment.

They may have private insurance, but it's not something that we will build due to their privacy and trying to keep them safe.

So it's it's a little different than some of the other programs that we offer through Nevada Health Centers, um, and challenging that way for funding.

Thank you for your question.

Member Jackson.

Hi, uh yes, Member Jackson here.

And how do they find out about your uh mobile unit?

What's your outreach like?

So with our partnered sites, we will collaborate with their case managers, and we partner with their partner sites.

We have um, you know, we market as well ourselves.

We'll go to the Title One schools if we need to, and um, anywhere around the areas where we service.

So all of our all of our sites that we park at, we have them open so that anyone can come to us and ask for assistance if they need to.

Thank you very much for your presentation and for answering our questions.

We appreciate your time.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, at this time, we'll call the equality project.

Please remember you have five minutes for your presentation.

I will give you the one-minute warning when you're at four minutes and then five minutes to open the floor for board members to ask questions.

Please make sure you speak uh loudly, and uh also that you state your name every time in response.

And thank you very much for your time and we appreciate you.

Thank you.

Hello, and good morning, committee.

My name is Robert Thurman.

I am a fourth generation Las Vegas, Nevada.

I serve as the community outreach and director of events for the Henderson Equality Center.

Today we will discuss the RA quality project and potential funding for it that we're requesting.

The Henderson Equality Center has been in affective business for five consecutive years, and for five consecutive years, we have been voted best of Las Vegas in many categories.

Some of those categories include Best Nonprofit, Best Place to Volunteer, as well as Best Place for Men's Health.

Our current mission is Henderson Equality Center, a community supported organization that engage, empower, enrich and advanced LGTBQ Plus, allies and career communities of Henderson and Southern Nevada.

We provide a safe space, social groups, resources, support, educational and skill building courses, food pantry, as well as job assistance for at-risk, low-income LGTBQ, youth, and adults.

Today, the Henderson Equality Center, also identified as AGC.

Respectfully request funding to support our equality project.

The project will enable outreach to community events to deliver 5,000 units of HIV and SDI risk reduction, education units, and immediate service linkages at tabling events.

This is also known as Fast Track.

These events will happen in health fairs, cultural events, and invited presentations.

These efforts aim to connect Las Vegas residents to care, enhance access to quality care, and address disparities related to nourishment.

Our three key performance indicators are the Equality Initiative, will train and certify community members in evidence-based HIV SDI outreach and prevention navigation using a nationally recognized prep and PEP navigation training resource, which is also a CDC evidence-based intervention.

Our second key delivery will be to provide 130 minimum HIV and SDI screens and prep assessments, which we believe will decrease the stigma of related health health screenings.

And third, we will focus on self-identified health risk and underserved populations, such as underserved, low-income, gender diverse, youth, minority, and those who are disproportionately impact.

The Henderson Equality Center features both a full service health and wellness center as well as a full service pharmacy.

We have been voted once again more than five years consecutively best services in Las Vegas.

As it identified me, we have identified that in Las Vegas in Nevada, the 6% of our population identifies as LGTBQ, or 5.5, nearly 6%.

And there has been nearly 11%, 11.6% of residents that are lack health insurance coverage, nearly 12%.

And we all know that we are suffering from a shortage of housing.

We also identify that there has been nearly 12,000 STI infections between Chamedia and Gonorrhea alone, and that there has been an increase in new HIV transmissions.

On December the 1st, 2019, Southern Nevada mayors, County Commissioners, and other jurisdiction partners joined representatives from the International Association of Providers of AIDS, also known as MIPAC, to sign what is known as the Paris Declaration.

The Paris Declaration is a formal declaration of a commitment to end HIV epidemic the end HIV epidemic in Nevada by 2030.

In context, in context, the Las Vegas Clark County Territory of Nevada was identified as one of 50 counties that accounted for more than 50% of all new HIV transmissions in USA.

Other counties listed in the FAST track were Los Angeles and San Bernardino, and we all are familiar that those counties now, many, many of those individuals reside in Southern Nevada.

In 200 and 2018, there were 10,341 individuals that were living with HIV in Nevada.

Currently in 2025, there are 17,900 people living with HIV in Nevada.

There are two realities with that.

One is that individuals are living longer.

That is one success.

And the other is that we have increased our testing to individuals.

That is obtaining the 9090-90, which we are seeking the last 90.

All righty.

Thank you very much.

At this time, I'll open the floor for any questions.

Any board member that has for the equity project.

See none.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

Thank you very much.

All righty.

Next, we'd like to call Vegas Stronger.

Thank you very much.

You have five minutes for your presentation.

I will give you the one-minute mark when you hit four minutes.

And then you have five minutes of questions from the board.

Please make sure that when you speak that you give your name for the record.

And thank you.

And good morning.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Nicholas Newbauer.

I'm a licensed clinical social worker here in Southern Nevada.

And at that capacity, I have the privilege to serve the Vegas Stronger Nonprofit Organization as their clinical director.

On behalf of my colleague Nicole and Mr.

Brandon Light, I would like to thank you all for allowing us to be here as well as allowing us to serve the population, our city's most vulnerable population at the capacity in which we do.

We're grateful for our relationship with you all.

And we are here to discuss how we would like to work with you further.

Yes, hi everybody.

I'm Brandon Light, program director at Vegas Stronger.

And we're currently seeking 117,000 and 550 in order to fund some outreach and housing efforts that we have at Vegas Stronger.

Vegas Stronger is an outpatient behavioral health clinic serving the most vulnerable population, and our mission is to end homelessness by tackling those two main barriers, mental health, and substance use.

Regardless of your ability to pay what your skin color is, uh education or um criminal history.

Sometimes this takes multiple outreach attempts in order to convince somebody that uh treatment is the best option.

We we understand that homelessness is caused by untreated mental health and untreated substance use disorders.

Um naturally, as a result of going through treatment, we find that we have really good outcomes.

Um, most recent study shows that those that go through our program for a six-month stay, 87% of them are employed, housed, and sober at that six-month mark.

Um, and we continue to track them at the year mark as well.

Um, I'm gonna pass it off to Nicholas to talk about our clinical programming.

Yeah, and I would like to say specific to this specific ask, is that as much as we have had the honor to become a known quantity uh being uh housed in the corridor of hope to where we do have folks that come find us and seek us out and walk in our doors every single day again to instant access to treatment and case management, um being that uh I get to be front-facing with the populations that we serve uh over the course of the three and a half years that I've had the privilege to serve as the clinical director.

Uh there has been many folks, persons that I've looked in the face eye to eye, uh, that our relationship with them began at finding them in the tunnel.

Within the confines of our city uh developing a relationship with them, building trust, sometimes two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight times before they accept the invitation and come in.

So those circumstances, uh, I've had the firsthand uh honor to hear how and see how our services and our ability to find them where they are, invite that invitation, get them into services, has not only changed their lives, but uh, I would attest to you save their lives based on the experiences that I've heard prior to them being within our milieu.

Now, as far as our clinical services are concerned, um, if it's out there within the space that we operate in, we provide it.

Mr.

Light had referred to as integrated.

So we have everything from individual counseling to every level of our continuum of care, which incorporates primary or sorry, partial hospitalization, IOP, OP services, individual services, integrated uh medication assisted management for those, um, and pretty much on the case management side, anything from support with vocation, support with housing, uh, all kinds of services, medical primary care, uh, everything that we can provide within the scope that will help those individuals.

Um, we have an avenue to provide that.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Of course.

Yes, thank you.

Okay.

I will open the floor up for any questions.

I'll start with member Jackson.

Yeah, hi.

Just uh question about your recidivism rate.

Um, what would that be looking like?

And uh how many of the individuals complete the entire program?

I think you mentioned a little bit about that.

Uh as far as recidivism, uh, are you more so talking about relapse?

Uh as far as relapse goes, uh the expectation is that when somebody begins treatment for the services that we provide, um, it would be highly unusual that somebody didn't relapse at at some point uh during that uh and throughout uh treatment duration, uh the folks that we support uh do self-submit to uh urinalysis and uh and other screenings so we can measure uh as we treat uh their level of use activity.

Um and when those things are identified, those things are mostly or are absolutely uh addressed within treatment.

Uh as far as the percentages as far as who relapses and what level of care um and our overall patient population.

I apologize, I don't have that figure in my head.

Uh however, the folks that do complete uh our treatment program, we do again have uh an 87% success rate that they are able to stay off of substances, and like Brandon said, that is in part due to our longer treatment models to where insurance companies, health care providers, those kinds of things, they want to quantify, they want brief solutions focused, they want quick fixes.

And the reality of it is with the population, especially the homeless population, folks who have uh gotten to those points in their life and have had longer durations of having been using uh it's certainly uh you know, a train going in one way for a certain amount of time.

It takes a lot of effort uh and and a lot of support uh to be able to slow that and turn it around.

Um, but again, uh I I'm absolutely here to testify that we can slow that train and we can move it in a different direction.

Member Prado.

Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead, Member Jackson.

And uh, what happens after six months they still need additional treatment?

Oh, we've got uh again, uh we are one stop shopping if it were for all that.

We have an incredible alumni association.

Um we have all kinds of support services for graduates of our program, uh, as well as people who have not been successful in our comp uh in our program the first time around.

Our our door is never shut.

Uh we are uh the last house on the block for a reason, uh, and we make ourselves available to provide services to anybody uh who is even thinking about the potential to change their life.

Member Prado and then Member Conyers.

Two quick questions.

There's some notes about like some delayed audit uh production.

So just wondering if you'd speak.

Right.

I believe that's reference to an audit in 2023.

Uh I was told uh in preparation for this uh and have it on good understanding through my other associations with uh Vegas Strong that that should be done within the next six weeks.

Okay, great.

And then the other thing is just to understand like uh the success metric in terms of clients.

It says it states that there's a sort of 60 client target here.

Um and is that mean that the outreach persons are handing off 60 clients into the funnel of services and therefore theoretically 60 clients that would not have walked in, or how how do you track that?

That's correct.

This program that's correct.

So all of this data specific to if we were fortunate enough to receive these funds, all of that would be tracked with all of those metrics.

But yes, the the hope would be is that folks who don't self-initiate and walk in the door, that we are the ones that are out engaging them and bringing them into treatment.

I I think 60 is a is a representative realistic number uh based on uh all that's involved with the what it is that we're asking for.

Um, but yes, those figures will be specific to this grant, uh, and I have no doubt that we can achieve our goal.

Yeah, so just to summarize, it would be like 60 non-walk-in contact with that's right.

And again, which person I I understand uh, you know, I I had done the math on 117 and 60 myself, but uh one of the things that I would like to point out to the committee is that uh our ability to bring those folks in uh no doubt uh represents a a monetary value because of the other associated back-ended costs, to where if we can't get those folks into treatment, uh the round robot effect through emergency services, uh potentially you know being arrested, detained, uh emergency services coming to site, uh, those kinds of things.

So uh there is value in this because if we're able to support those folks in coming in our doors, we're able to treat them, it will eliminate the the potential cost down the road.

Uh and not only that, but the human costs of getting somebody safe, sober, and uh simulated back into the city.

And if I may uh real quick, uh outreach, yes, this would be in addition to what we are already doing, the 60.

Um, I have been on the other end of a thousand uh in-reach and outreach um individuals that we have you know helped over the years.

Do I have to stop talking?

You can finish your statement, but we've run out of time.

Um, but I want to allow member congress to ask our question.

Hi.

Um I actually live in the zip code 89101.

It's definitely challenging out there.

Um I know that you guys don't just get welcome to you also partner with the police police department.

So if one of our neighbors sees someone that is idling and sleeping on our property or our front wall, then my understanding, I just want to understand how the partnership with partnership with the police work.

We would call the police number for COPE, and then you guys would come out to assist the police with seeing if the person in need would want service.

If I can answer your question more broadly, we we work with the jails, we work with the hospitals, we work with other nonprofits, we work with uh the city uh local and all municipality law enforcement.

Uh, and yes, those would be mechanisms that could ultimately lead to a channel to where we get involved, uh, but also too, I we certainly uh would not not accept a call in regards from somebody that is a resident of of a neighborhood of any part of the valley that identifies hey, uh you know, we seem to have somebody that that could benefit from your guys' services.

Uh we would show up.

So I guess what type of time frame do you guys come out with uh police in particular with this one city program?

This would be uh this would be a day in and day out.

Um so as far as uh I'm sorry if I misunderstanding, but but we can only respond as as far as something would be brought to our attention.

Um but that response would be rather fluid.

I mean, to within 48 hours, uh, I couldn't imagine it being extended beyond that as far as our response time once we're notified of a I my only assumption would be is that the goal would be to try to facilitate that contact same day, especially if we we have a you know a specific location to be at uh and know that there's somebody there that we can address 100%.

As you can imagine, the demand is okay.

And my last question, I'll make it quick.

So if you have a client that rejects service, do you find that later on you get them to come back a second or third round that they'll would accept service if they reject?

All the time.

Yeah, my all the time.

My thought would be is that statistically we expect to know, but we expect to learn a name.

We expect to start and establish some degree of a relationship to where they know our name, we know we know theirs.

Um, and that conversation continues with encouragement uh and support to try to you know, with that person's consent, bring them in uh to change and and hopefully save their life.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, thank you very much.

Absolutely great question.

Thank you guys again for allowing us to be here.

Yeah, thank you.

Next, we like to call uh there's no hero and heroin foundation incorporated.

Thank you very much.

You have four minutes for your I mean five minutes for your presentation.

I will give you the four-minute mark warning with my finger, and then we'll open the floor up for five minutes of questioning by the board.

And please make sure that you state your name every time you speak so we can have it on the record and speak loudly.

And thank you.

Good morning, and welcome.

Hi, my name is Joseph Ingall.

I am the CEO and founder of the National Hero and Heroin Foundation.

I am attended with uh Camille Morris, our grant writer and Catherine Jacobs.

She's our accounting firm from Umbrella Bookkeeping.

Um there's no hero and hower and foundation is dedicated to the well-being of teens, adults, families, providing comprehensive mental health and substance use services.

We're requesting $65,000 in funding for the adult sober living and outpatient program, a program that provides adults 18 and over with housing and comprehensive support to adults transitioning from treatment to stable recovery.

Since the program started, it has housed hundreds of people who would otherwise have been unhoused.

We provide comprehensive treatment that supports their recovery.

Tin High Tin High is the acronym for the original heroin heroin.

So Tin High is has over 60 beds across four sober living homes while in residence with each with us.

Each participant is provided with a case manager who supports them in obtaining vital documents, job training, employee and employment opportunities, and broader support on navigating life recovery, life during recovery.

Adults in the sober living homes also participate in 10 high's outpatient programming, having access to individual therapy, group counseling, and psychiatric services.

The homes are maintained by by residents and managed by the housing director.

Case managers and counselors each maintain a caseload of approximately 20 clients.

Peer recovery support specialists maintain caseloads of 40 clients on average.

Five sober living homes, averaging about 2,000 square feet with four bedrooms, 10 10 to 12 person per residence.

Outpatient services.

We have two outpatient buildings that um services that that houses educational programming, professional development recovery programming, individual and group counseling.

We also have a clinical office for individual counseling and group therapy.

Tin High is honored to be considered for the CDBG funding as well as we have had many fruitful relationships with city and state funders in the past, including the city's home ARP, the outside agency grant through Clark County, and funding through the Nevada's division of public and behavioral health substance use prevention treatment and recovery services.

The outputs and goals for these use of these funds are specific, connecting case managers to vital documents, services and services, and routinely provide an assistance to clients looking to obtain said records and documents.

We want to hire a new case manager and a new peer support specialist with these funds.

We want to expand our efforts of providing workforce readiness and trade-based employment opportunities through a partnership with the College of Southern Nevada's Division of Workforce and of Economic and Development, which provides trade education and certifications.

We want to add two new job training courses for our to our programming, one of which will be on developing and refining resumes, and the other centered on understanding and strengthening soft skills such as conflict resolution and communication.

We also want to create a weekly peer-led groups focused on life skills, accountability, and resource sharing.

We plan to implement a parenting for recovery classes twice a year, emphasizing trauma informed care and communication with family involvement led by the in-house clinical staff.

We also will develop a Kids Connect Saturday program with supervised visitation activities and basic needs, snacks, hygiene kids, and reading for clients to strengthen fit to strengthen family connections.

We anticipate 70% of our participants will gain employment or enter a training program within six months of being in the program.

We anticipate increased income and job retention, reported into three and six-month follow-up post-graduation from our from our sober homes.

Our sober home program is seven months long.

Um they can apply to for an extension up to a year with us.

We also anticipate improved retention and compliance rates in sober living homes.

We anticipate increased peer engagement and satisfaction scores in our adult living satisfaction surveys, and we also anticipate 90% of our residents submit an application for vital document within 30 days of residency.

The impact will be strengthening sustained recovery through fostering the of community connection and overall engagement in the program, development of self-sufficiency on our clients, leading to longer term life satisfaction, successes in their professional life, and reduced relapse.

Family relationships that would have otherwise been turbulent are strengthened by the participation in our program.

And I will open it up if you have any questions for us.

Fantastic.

You slid right in.

Thank you.

I'll entertain any questions from the board at this time for uh no hero.

Uh the chair recognizes uh member Jones Sagaro.

Good morning.

Uh thank you for what you do.

I know heroin is extremely addictive, and I uh know there's a lot of relapse with it.

Um you mentioned your housing uh do you provide security?

Are your clients able to come in and out?

How do you keep drugs out of the housing?

Um notice you're looking for case managers, but uh case manager can only do so much if there's not security underlying in this.

Understood, and that's a really good question.

Thank you very much for it.

Um, we do have peer our senior peers for the housing, so we don't have any managers in the houses, it's the senior peer that's within the program.

Our clinicians, our case managers, and our peer recovery support staff and the housing director are all on site daily.

Um the houses are in neighborhoods across the valley, mostly up and down Sahara Avenue, uh, just somewhere in the neighborhoods off of that.

And they're in nice residential neighborhoods.

Um, we have the city city requires us to get the the the CUVs, the community use um per permits, so all of our houses are governed by that.

Um it it is an ongoing process.

There is no security on site.

Um it it's ran like a family, you know.

That you got 10 guys living in a house, and it's a dysfunctional family, but it is a family environment.

Okay, are there any other questions from board members?

Uh Chair recognizes member Marlin.

Um hi Joe.

Uh first uh great handout.

Thanks very much.

Nice job.

Uh second, are are you thinking about doing a financial audit?

Um yeah.

To as a as of today, we haven't been required to do an audit.

Um we haven't met the requirements.

Catherine, you you might be better to ask to answer this.

Um so I my name is Catherine Jacobs for the record, and I am the financial controller for Tin High.

And uh we were looking into probably starting with maybe a financial review.

It's really budgetary constraints to go for the full audit when it isn't required.

Uh we haven't hit that 750 now million dollar threshold that requires that single audit.

Um, but you know that the financial records are ready for audit uh once our our budget can sustain such.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next one would be member Prado and then Member Jackson.

This is Member Prado.

I had a very similar question because it seems like you're growing into the uh threshold, but not at the threshold.

Um and then uh the other question I had is just really around client targets and how how it works.

It looks like there's a 120 client target, but then just above that, in terms of understanding the program, it mentions the uh I think it's five houses with a limit of 60 beds or so, and that there's a waiting list.

So I'm just wondering if maybe I just misunderstood how how would that be met?

Are people staying like six months on average?

On average, they're about 120 days with us.

Okay, our our program is up to seven months, so some most of our clients that do make it through the seven months are continued on for the extension up to a year, but unfortunately, with this population that we serve, oftentimes it brings our averages down to 120 days with that they're here because sometimes they come to us and they're they don't want to stay but a month or so because they don't want it, they they either fail the year analysis.

We do a uh a weekly UA.

They if they fail that they're asked to exit the program, um, or they just don't want to participate in seven hours of outpatient programming and and all the requirements of the program.

Wonderful, thank you.

Member Jackson and then member Marlin.

Hi, I'm uh Jamie Jackson.

And so um to speak to the other gentleman's question, what happens to these individuals?

What what happens after 120 days?

What's your recidivism rate?

And um I would kind of like to see like more evidence-based information um as opposed to a lot of statistical information.

So, how do we know that what you're doing is making sure that people are transitioning out and not you know going back into the system?

Well, our clinical director does all of the you know, all of I mean, we're required by we're licensed by the state of Nevada to offer outpatient level of care, so they have to meet those that that's the evidence-based, you know, that they're with within you know complying with outpatient, you know, they they meet criteria for the acuity level of uh you know of our program.

Um the recidivism rate, we do get people that want to come back afterwards, you know.

If if if they leave for one reason or another, people are called calling our case managers and say, please, I didn't know how good I had it at 10 high.

I would really like to come back.

So unfortunately, this population is hard served.

Uh, you know, the in relapse is uh is often part of the story.

Member Marlin.

No further questions.

All righty.

With that, thank you very much for your presentation and your time.

And uh with that board, I'm gonna gabble us out for a break.

Um we're scheduled at ten thirty.

I got you three extra minutes.

Please return back at ten forty.

Members, I'm gonna go ahead and gavel us in.

It is ten forty at this time.

I am gaveling us back in for the community recommending recommending board as we stay on our schedule.

Um at this time, um, we'd like to call forward Westcare Nevada Incorporated.

Please remember you have five minutes to make your presentation.

When you get to four minutes, I will give you the one minute symbol that you have left.

You have five minutes for the board to ask you questions.

Please make sure you state your name for the record and speak loudly.

Thank you for your time and good morning.

Good morning.

Statistically, it usually takes between three and seven treatment episodes for an individual to obtain long-term recovery.

And that uh that number was five years of long-term recovery.

So we can start to think about a whole bunch of reasons why, which I won't really get into.

However, when you think about an individual that's trying to turn their lives around, and I'll speak specifically about this population.

We are working with other community providers in relation to getting the referrals for treatment for these women.

Um pregnant and parenting women is also included in that, which is not something anybody else does.

Some of our referrals come from the courtyard, and then there are some other agencies that are going out and treating homeless individuals or trying to bring the homeless in.

You heard a couple of them present before I did uh in relation to getting people off the streets and getting them into treatment.

Our population, women, many of them have been forced into prostitution, many of them have been trafficked in relation to human trafficking, and many of them are coming from a domestic violence situation where if they return back to where it is that they came from, more than likely they're going to struggle.

Uh, currently, what we do is we have 30 transitional living beds on our property now.

A woman, once she receives a thorough biopsychosocial assessment, she will be placed into whatever level of care, typically, if it's residential with us, they will participate.

When I started with the agency 15 years ago, they stayed in treatment six months and longer.

Now, based on Medicaid funding, the treatment episodes are about 30 days.

30 days is not long enough.

So what we do is we put them in a transitional living bed.

Currently, we receive funding through block grant dollars to cover that transitional rate.

As long as they're participating in outpatient treatment, they can live in transitional living.

We have learned that over the course of time, 90 days hasn't been long enough for somebody to truly work on all of the other social determinants of health, which is why we've brought this project together.

The number of what we're asking for with the daily all-inclusive bed rate of 102.76 cents isn't something we pulled out of a hat in 2016.

The state of Nevada had a study done, a rate study for all of the different levels of care, including transitional living by Myers and Stoffer.

It's actually 10 years old, but that rate is the all-inclusive rate for transitional living.

We are asking to be funded for three of the two-bedroom apartments.

And the reason why we've chosen the two-bedroom apartments to seek this funding is because mom can come in, we count that as the person receiving the transitional living bed, but she can actually stay there up to two years with her children in order that we can work on all the other things to help her be successful, wrap her with the services necessary, so that when she does leave us with her children, she's leaving based on her employment and her own, she gets to choose where she wants to go, and then she can really go and become productive in society.

Yeah, yeah, you hit it.

Thank you very much.

I could have gone a lot longer.

Felt like it.

All righty.

I'm gonna open the floor up for any questions for board members, and I will recognize Member Conyers and then uh member Ad Bennett.

Hi, um you intrigue me with your 118-page thesis.

Is this something public that you can share with the board?

I would share it.

It was actually for me to get through college, but it had to deal with what works and what doesn't work in residential substance abuse treatment.

Uh, it was really geared towards adolescence.

And when I did the research and looked for all of the studies to find out, you know, kind of what did and didn't, it was funny, they didn't have very much for adolescents.

It was all adult uh treatment episodes.

But yeah, uh, between three and seven, actually, what I found was three and five, and then the state of Nevada, uh, one of the agencies from the state actually corrected me and told me I was wrong.

It's about three is three to seven treatment episodes.

And if you really think about it, there's a cliche about, and I asked this to clients, they only need to change one thing.

And if I asked you all what that one thing is, I don't know what you would say, the but the answer is everything.

So they really do have to change the people, places, and things.

They had they can't be forced to return to that same negative environment either, which is why we're seeking this.

Well, this is why we found this need for um longer transitional living treatment episodes, keep getting shorter, and then we wonder why the recidivism rates are so bad.

So this will give us an opportunity to let mom and children stay in a safe environment.

Staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in order that they can really work on the safety and the security and all of the other um uh things that will make them healthy and and be able to return back to society.

Thank you for that.

I actually um did my thesis on a similar kind of identical topic a few years ago.

So when I was finishing school, so your project um when it comes to the treatment, you said how many treatments would it take for to sustain a client?

The statistics are long-term recovery, three to seven treatment episodes.

That could be one day in a withdrawal in detox, or that could be a long-term program.

That it's funny that there's not stats that are real specific to any level or length of care.

Uh Westcare Nevada offers a full continuum.

So again, we will offer residential treatment.

Typically, now it's all Medicaid funded, so it's a 30-day stay.

Then we offer partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, outpatient.

But again, those are all everything other than residential, they need to be living somewhere and have a safe place on a roof over their head.

So that's why the transitional component comes in.

Most of the people that we work with do not have a safe place to return to, and they require some type of a safety and security.

If you don't have safety and security, then you can't work on yourself.

And then again, that's for women and that's for their children.

We average 15 to 20 drug-free babies born in our program every year.

Of course, born at a hospital.

I haven't had to deliver a baby.

I haven't had to deliver a baby yet, but I'm looking forward to that day.

Um, and then we average about 20 family reunifications, and that would actually increase based on their duration of being able to stay at the village.

Uh, my last question.

So, do you work with um regular like architects and um contractors?

We do.

So this project actually went out to bid more than one time.

Um, so for the project and the construction, we've raised all of the section one money.

So, section one is going to be 26 apartments.

When all is said and done, there will be 84 apartments.

I would invite all of you to our ribbon cutting should be in April for these first 26 units, which are the ones that we're making, I'm making every effort to fund now because we don't want to charge any of these women any rent.

If they start making money, they can save money.

Um, they we do have it to where they can stay up to two years, but they that may not be necessary.

It could be anywhere between 30 days and two years based on their need.

We've got to look at different needs of different families differently.

Thank you.

Thank you, Patricia had it in it.

Um, just to follow up on exactly what you're talking about.

So the building you said will be ready for occupancy in April, and then these funds would support women moving into those units.

These funds would support the we have 22 one-bedroom apartments being built in section one and four two bedroom apartments.

This funding would actually cover three of the two bedroom apartments for it for as many people as we can run through that in in this funding period.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, we have about 40 seconds left.

So member Jackson, thank you.

Um are there two people that um that are related that are on it that work in your organization, and could you speak to that?

I serve as the vice president of operations.

My better half is actually the director of the women and children's campus.

She does not report to me, although I do oversee all of Nevada programming.

West Care is a little larger than that.

We're in 18 states now and and the Pacific Islands and the Caribbean.

I oversee Nevada.

Uh my better half uh actually reports to our chief operating officer of the Western region, and then at home I report to her.

It's worked that way for 20 23 years.

I'm not changing it.

All right.

Thank you so much for your presentation, sir.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Next up we have helping hands.

Please uh remember that you have five minutes for your presentation.

When you hit four minutes, I will give you the one minute symbol.

And then you'll have five minutes uh for the board members to ask you questions.

Please make sure that you speak loudly, and when you do speak, please give your name for the record.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Chair and board.

My name is Marcia Blake.

I am the executive director of Helping Hands of Vegas Valley.

I'm Ireland Otto.

I'm the grant writer for helping hands of Vegas Valley.

So we're here today to talk to you about our bus and volunteer transportation program.

We have been providing transportation services to older adults 60 and over in the Las Vegas Valley for the last 25 years.

And we have been fortunate enough to receive funding from the city of Las Vegas to ensure that we have CDBG clients that are able to access our services.

I'm going to let Ireland tell you more about that.

So today we have serviced 117 CDBG eligible clients, which is currently reaching 156% of our goal that we originally proposed to you back in October.

And with that, we have also provided 150% of our rides, which totals to 2692.

We have reached or our total client base is 49% CDBG for just our transportation program.

And 56% of our total rides provided are also CDBG participants.

So we are requesting 65,000 to help with direct services for this program to fund drivers that transport the seniors to and from their medical appointments in the grocery store and for operating expenses such as insurance and maintenance on the vehicles to ensure that we can keep them on the road safely.

Alrighty.

I'm gonna open the floor up for questions for any board member, Member Jackson, and then Member Friedman.

Hi, Jamie Jackson.

So what's your what's the difference between like access and for transportation and what you do?

Can so we provide non-medical transportation, and so the clients that we service need to be able to make their own appointments, so they need to have and be able to ambulate in and out of our vehicles.

Our vehicles are ADA compliant, but the client needs to be able to get in and out of the vehicle either by themselves or with assistance from a companion.

They can bring a companion with them.

We have case managers that go to their home and do that initial assessment to ensure that our program is a fit for how well they ambulate and how well they're able to use our services.

Hi, Member Freeman.

Can we stop the clock for just a minute?

Um, unfortunately, I'm sorry, I think I have to recuse myself from this.

Ums is my my organization is actually in discussion with you to provide services to one of my senior communities.

So I will need to abstain.

Are we good with that?

So the attorney.

Um yeah, we're good with that.

Okay, fantastic.

Thank you very much.

Okay, are there any further questions for helping hands of Vegas Valley?

See none.

Thank you so much for your presentation.

We appreciate you.

Thank you so much.

You guys have a great afternoon.

All right.

Next, we have solutions of change of change.

You have four minutes for your presentation and five minutes, and then I'll give you the one-minute code.

I'm jumping ahead.

I'm sorry.

I'll give you the one-minute warning, then we'll open up the uh floor for board members to answer any questions.

Please speak loudly and make sure that when you speak that you do identify yourself for the record.

Good morning and thank you.

Good morning, good morning, everyone.

My name is Lakeisha Oliver, and I'm the deputy executive director at Solutions of Change.

I apologize for the flusteredness of who I am this morning because I'm a woman of a certain age and I got lost, so I'm hot.

So I appreciate you all giving us the opportunity to talk about our programs as solutions of change.

We are committed to creating pathways to mental health and well-being for underserved families.

What we do is provide free and low-cost therapy services, cycle education workshops, and wraparound services to support our families in need.

What that looks like is we have intake specialists that work with clients to determine what it is they need.

And sometimes what they need is just somebody to vent to to give a moment to be heard, and we can offer that assistance to them.

A lot of times what we see is that our families require additional resources, which means they may be looking for housing, food support, education, employment support, and our family support specialists work to assist individuals in finding viable resources that support what their needs are.

We are a mental health organization, but our heart is in making sure that people are taken care of.

And we know that if you don't know where you're going to stay or what you're going to eat, then you can't focus on resolving your trauma or establishing new behavioral practices for yourselves and for your families.

So with that, our family support specialists support with that.

And then we have clinicians, therapists who work in the mental health space that support our families in processing trauma, grief, all of the things that we work through as human beings.

If you have been untouched by any of these things, God bless your soul, keep living, because we're all dealing with something.

And it doesn't matter if our families are operating at the highest level of functioning or the lowest level of functioning, they're humans, and our responsibility is to support them.

So we provide those clinical services that assist our families with bettering their lives.

And whether that looks like just having better communications with their family members, or it looks like being more professionally posed to be able to hold a job for long term, or just being able to find outlets that support family well-being, those are the things that we focus on.

So our program, the Youth and Families Wellness Project, encompasses all of those things.

It creates the idea that if we support our families on a foundational level, that they operate in a better space and operate in a better space in all areas of functioning.

So what we've seen is this type of support assists students and being better students, assist parents and being better parents, creates a family dynamic that supports our families being successful and becoming productive members of society.

So we offer all of those services that I discussed, and then additionally, what we do annually is we provide a youth wellness summit that supports our adolescents and understanding that we've all been adolescents before, that we know it's difficult, that we know that you have a lot of ideas, a lot of wants and a lot of needs, and not a lot of power and control.

So we offer real life tools and strategies to help them communicate that.

Emotional intelligence was one of the bases that we use, and that just realizes that everybody's got feelings, we all feel something about something, and it's not always easy.

How do we control our behaviors?

How do we express how we feel and how do we operate in the space of understanding that we got to get through it?

So what we're proposing to do is to bring in our parents during this year's youth summit, which means that they also have the ability to connect with their youth, work through these issues, and take home collective ideas and strategies to support their well-being.

Okay, thank you very much.

I'll open up the floor for any questions from board members that I'll have for solutions for change.

Board chair recognizes Member Conyers.

Hi, this is Vanessa Conyers.

How many families do you serve again?

So when it comes to the city of Las Vegas, we generally serve about 180 families annually.

Overall, we've served 17,000 members of communities locally over the last five years.

So hi, my name is I need to step forward.

You get you gotta be on the mic because we have to see you have to be on the record.

Thank you, man.

Hi, my name is Denisha Mingo.

I'm the founder of Toluccive Change.

Thank you for my tardiness.

So we've served that many families through our community engagement, but we also have served over 7,000 families through our direct family support and therapy.

So that's 25,000 numbers and families that we've served in five years.

I think that was important to include.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next, Member Prado and Member Hadad Bennett, please.

I had a uh couple questions.

One, I couldn't quite determine exactly if you complete client service or some quotes that sound like testimonials around access to therapists of color or black therapists specifically, but I couldn't quite make uh out if that was just uh anecdotal, if there's actual uh survey thing.

The other questions totally very different, so you can tackle them separately, but one of them was it looked like um there was a single audit performed in 2023, a large amount of American rescue plan funds, over a million, which looks like your annual receipts now as of 2024.

Uh so I just had some sustainability questions, if there's been some scaling up and scaling down.

Absolutely.

So when it comes to the question about whether it's anecdotal when we talk about having black therapists, it's not.

It is very prevalent and needed in our communities.

We recognize, so we started off with the intention of being able to support underserved families, and that means that we have to have a diverse team.

So it really helps when somebody looks like you.

So we don't just have black therapists, we have Spanish language therapists, we have Caucasian therapists, we have a Caucasian therapist who is Polish who speaks fluence fluent Spanish and Polish.

So our goal is just to be representative of the communities that we serve, but we understand that some demographics suffer more from misunderstanding and misinformation about mental health, and so we try to represent what that looks like so it brings them in and creates a trust dynamic between us and our community.

Yeah, apologies.

Just to clarify, I think I understand statistically speaking, there's a dearth of providers, period, and then definitely minority providers.

I meant more like is there an actual survey that's administered because there were quotes that seem like people's anecdotes or or they were retelling.

Oh, for sure.

So we recognize that it's important for us to receive information from our clients and participants.

We want to know what they think, and that has been largely across the board what folks say to us that it is easier for me to come in and utilize these services because though you may not know me, I trust you because I see you.

And I know that sometimes that seems a little cliche for what we do, but it's the truth of what human beings think is that I belong here and it's important.

So we've heard a lot of that throughout the years that I don't want to stop coming here because I feel safe seen and supported here.

And while we don't have the I guess what you're asking is our our clients saying in a survey, I came here because my therapist is black or speak Spanish or any of that.

Yep, part I'm just asking if you administer service.

I couldn't tell.

Yes.

And the other the other question was more around like the large American rescue plan funds, which are now in the rear view, and if there's been any impact in terms of that, yeah.

Sustainability.

So some of the things that we are doing with sustainability, we have been applying and working with the state of Nevada to become a Medicaid approved provider.

We have had application in for three years.

I don't know how much you all know about how difficult that process can be.

Just last week we finally found out that we're finally at the signature stage.

That has been a major part of our sustainability plan.

It just has taken quite a while to get in.

Last year, we also began with our board being more effortful, being a grassroots organization.

We were not strong in fundraising and garnering those types of dollars because we were more about the work, so that's where our board has learned to um we have learned to staff our board with people that can help with that.

And last year we were awarded 250,000.

I won't say awarded.

Well, yeah, awarded, but we didn't apply for for the Las Vegas Raiders 250,000 to us.

That showed us that someone is seeing it wasn't a grant we applied to seeing not just our value, but our actual impact for that kind of dollars to come unrestricted.

Um, another organization, philanthropy organization, Ingle Stad, which is the largest philanthropy organization in the state of Nevada, found us and invited us to their Inspire and Children's Foundation program.

So we have been very effortful in finding multiple streams of income so that we're not relying on grants because it has impacted our organization, and that is actively happening.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Sorry to hog the mic.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm so sorry.

Staying on our schedule.

Now we'll call up Desert Springs Community Resource Center.

Please remember you have five minutes for your presentation.

Um at the four-minute mark, I'll give you the symbol you have a minute left.

Then the floor will open up for five minutes of questions with the board members.

And please remember to state your name every time that you speak and respond for the record.

Good morning and thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Peggy Marash.

I'm executive director, Desert Spring Community Resource Center.

I thank you for the opportunity to expand on our request for $76,900 in funding.

And um and also answer any questions you may have about that request.

We also offer refer referral resources for those needing more than food.

They also recognize the need for a full-time executive director who's there every day and who has the experience to move the agency to more programming goals through more programming goals and as I said financial stability.

I am I have been with the resource center for about four months.

More than food is a national evidence-based program that requires a nine-month commitment from participants.

More than food uses motivational interviewing stages of change and other specific scientifically based training for staff to help them identify and guide participants through this process.

Alrighty, thank you very much.

I'll open up the floor for any questions that anyone may have for Desert Springs community.

Chair recognizes Member Kalindle.

Thank you.

Yes.

The participants are identified, as I said, through a very specific process, and a mentor who is a staff member who's been through that training, works with them to help them coaches them, mentors them, and helps them identify the challenges within their lives that are preventing them from maximizing the opportunities available to them.

This is done in a way that does not mitigate or damage the role and responsibility of the person who is making this commitment.

So the initial process moves a bit slowly.

And then the participant is asked to sign a nine-month commitment that outlines benchmarks and goals that they would intend to make over to achieve over that nine months.

Okay, hi, I'm Jamie Jackson.

So I'm looking at your assessment from the city of Las Vegas, and it doesn't, it's not very, it doesn't look great.

And it doesn't, it's not very, it doesn't look great.

So I was wondering what what happened with the new executive director and additional staff.

How did that come about?

What's the culture like there?

Our our culture is very family-like.

We're a small group.

We rely heavily on volunteers and we ask volunteers for their input.

We ask them to participate fully as we build new programming.

And as far as staffing is concerned, when I came on board in October, we we had two staff members, and very quickly they left, but they left for reasons that had nothing to do with that transition.

The one young man was offered a job that was more in line with his long-term career goals, and the other person just felt a need for a change.

We have identified likely candidates.

We are working through those, and we hope right now we're in the process of relocation for it to a larger facility, and once that's finished, we hope to move dramatically and quickly in filling those two spots.

And those both of them have impact on this grant, too, by the way.

Member Jones Cigaro.

Okay, I have a couple questions.

Seems like you're going through some reorganization, and that's fine.

That's understandable.

Um I'm questioning your food bank, but you talk about a nine-month commitment.

So my understanding of a food bank is you either receive SNAP benefits or whatever, and you go through the line and you receive food.

So can you just give me a little bit more detail about what the nine-month commitment is for, and um the community outreach coordinator?

Are they going to look for people who need food?

This program, More Than Food, is truly about more than food.

Um, we may identify a participant in More Than Food through the food pantry because we we try to learn more about people when they come to us.

We have our intake spends time with them to identify.

Um the outreach coordinator will be fully trained by the More Than Food staff, and um will have understand how to identify people who are ready to do the hard work around the changes we're talking about.

So it's more it's more than mitigating food insecurity, nutrition insecurity.

It's truly helping people manifest their dreams to recognize what they would like to do with the rest of their lives and help them set those goals and find the path to achieve that.

All right, member Conyers, did your question get answered?

I saw your light on.

So I was just curious about your goals and the benchmark.

Can you give an example?

Um it seems very broad what you're offering.

So I'm trying to understand.

I I can understand why it seems broad, but it gets very definitive when we have identified a participant, and it that happens very quickly.

And some of the benchmarks may be um learning a new skill.

I I will give you an example.

We worked with a person in Washington who had who had been an RN forever, and the community hospital was closing, and she didn't want to drive to Seattle every day, needed to find a new way to support her family.

And we helped her uh find career counseling, we helped her find new skills and a pathway to achieving what she wanted to do.

So individually, the it it is not uh broad or vague at all, it's very personal each person, which is what in part helps it be successful.

Thank you.

All righty, and thank you.

We're for your presentation.

We run out of time, uh, but thank you very much for coming.

Thank you.

Next is Hope Christian Health Center.

Please remember you have five minutes for your presentation.

When you get to the fourth minute, I'll give you a signal that you have one more minute left.

Then you'll open up the floor for questions from the board for five minutes.

And thank you.

Please make sure you speak loudly.

And when you speak, make sure that you say your name for the record.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Morgan.

I'm the grants manager at Hope Christian Health Center.

I'm Summer World.

I'm the Chief Financial Officer here at Hope Christian Health Center.

Miles Adamson, the Chief Operating Officer at Hope Christian Health Center.

Hi, I'm Katie Osborne of a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse.

And today we are seeking seed funding to expand our behavioral health program, substance use disorder program, which will be sustainable within just three months.

This investment isn't about starting something new, it's about strengthening work that's already happening.

Every day we meet patients that are ready for help, but the system isn't ready for them.

They are uninsured, unhoused, or managing substance use paired with mental illnesses.

And too often when they seek out help, they find a system that is too difficult to navigate, it's intimidating, or simply just out of reach for them.

What's our challenge here?

It is a lack of access, an increase in substance use.

The demand is growing, and access to care isn't keeping pace.

Nine out of ten Nevadans live in a behavioral health provider shortage area.

So that's like saying nine out of ten people in this room need to see a provider and won't be able to.

And on top of that, Las Vegas also has a shortage of substance use disorder providers and treatment facilities.

So further increasing that gap.

The need in Clark County is urgent and it's growing.

Last year, almost 700 people died from overdoses, and nearly 70% involved opioids.

Substance use is both a driver and a consequence of unstable housing.

And it is increasing disproportionately among individuals experiencing housing instability.

So our solution, medication assisted treatment.

Medication assisted treatment reduces overdose death by 50%.

I'll say it again just in case you missed it.

Medication assisted treatment reduces overdose death by 50% by half.

So with this funding, we can expand an intensive outpatient medication assisted treatment within our existing program.

This will enable us to have more providers delivering these services to see more patients, allowing us to see about 250 City of Las Vegas residents annually.

Care will be provided through our clinics, through community partners like Freedom House, which is a sober living facility, our outreach and street medicine teams, all in an integrated system to avoid patients having to go from one place to another just to get the care that they need.

So, why us, why hope?

Our approach is grounded in dignity, compassion, and whole person care.

We have already started to respond to this growing demand.

We have built strong referrals within our own health center with our community partners.

We have a growing behavioral health team, community health workers addressing social determinants of health.

We have established street medicine teams, recuperative care center, serving our most medically vulnerable and unhoused individuals.

But most important, people trust us.

They recognize us in the encampments and the shelters and recovery spaces and all throughout the community.

And that trust isn't something that's easily built, but it is the foundation which makes this program work.

Also, Hope has a track record of turning grant-funded initiatives into permanent sustainable programs.

We do so through creating sustainable revenue.

We hire and train staff rather than hiring contractors.

We improve and maintain quality measures.

This funding creates capacity, not dependency.

Ensuring that impact goes beyond the grant period.

So with this access, Hope can reach people faster, we can stabilize them sooner, and we can reduce preventable crises, increasing the city of Las Vegas' behavioral health safety net.

Hope is ready.

We're already doing this work, and with your support, we can meet this need.

Thank you.

Thank you.

At this time, I'll open up the floor for any questions.

First go to member Hadad Bennett.

Thank you.

Um Patricia Hadad Bennett.

Um two questions first.

Looking at the budget, there I think it's probably your largest line item has to do with office equipment.

Can you just share a little bit about what that would be used for?

Oh, yes.

And so uh summer world uh here for Co Christian.

Um, a lot of the equipment will be for specialized equipment uh whenever it comes to uh supporting the Medicaid assistant treatment and counseling in addition to uh the um softwares and and EMR services.

Thank you.

Um, and then my other question is um recognizing your mission and being a faith-based family medicine health center, um, reading from your document here.

Can you help me understand um how does that play into or not play into how you work with clients and how you work with folks on the ground?

Again, chief operating officer at Hope Christian Health Center.

Uh, we we never intend to um supply any services with the grounds of trying to uh implement any ideology onto individuals.

Instead, we see it as a calling um for each and every one of us that we've been given by God to be able to serve our communities and those people within them.

And so we we identify every single person uh as they're a unique person who has a unique beliefs and unique um uh views, and and we care for them regardless of those views because we want to make sure that everyone receives high quality care.

I member Prattle.

Yeah, time member Proudho here.

Uh, just kind of want to follow up on um member Hadan Bennett's uh question.

I'm trying to picture is this like an enabling a new space?

Is that what's happening?

Because it looks like there's um computers and software.

The software appears there appears to be a monthly software, what I assume is monthly software cost because it's on the um non-CDBG uh column, but is this just like a new room, new location within your an existing facility?

Uh, whenever it comes to the software, it's just an add-on into our existing software that we already have to specify uh to be able to support the substance use disorder treatment and Medicaid assisted treatment.

So um none of them are actually computers, it's all software, and then as far as the equipment, just I guess the base level question is this a new environment somehow that's being refitted or retrofitted or newly fitted.

So we will have additional staff members, and so that the computer equipment is to support the additional staff members that we would have.

They are in existing locations already that we are already um are providing primary care through.

Uh, and so this is allowing us to be able to um now bring in people and that are specializing for substance abuse.

All righty.

Not seeing any further questions.

Thank you so much for your presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next we'll have Jewish Family Service, the senior lifeline.

If they're here, come on down.

Thank you very much.

Five minutes for your presentation at four minutes.

I'll give you the one-minute symbol.

Five minutes for the board to ask questions.

Please make sure that when you speak or answer a question that you please put your name on the record, and thank you so much for being here.

Thank you.

Okay, my shot clock going over there.

I'm like a professional athlete up here.

Um, my name is Lisa Popowski.

I am the director of um the entire senior service department and senior lifeline is the program that we have requested 87, 700 um worth of funds for.

Um, this is to support a case manager within that senior lifeline program.

And senior lifeline is designed to keep vulnerable low-income older adults independent and living within their own home in the community.

We've been providing this service with the support of the CDBG program for 10 years.

Um we've always met our goals, and the population that we serve, 82% are of the population is the lowest of the low.

So we are serving the most needy and the most vulnerable.

Um, oftentimes older adults lack support, um, and they're challenged to secure needs that they have that um to secure resources that exist in the community.

Um, and this program links a professional case manager um with an older adult.

Um they do an in-home assessment, they I of course they verify that they are income qualified, live within the C D B D district, and all of that, but then they too um their um their assessment, they make an individual service plan, and then they get to work putting those um needs into place.

Some of those needs are internal.

Jewish family service and the senior service department has a pretty extensive offering of direct services that we provide.

We provide homemaking, we provide assistance with prescriptions and medical co-payments for doctors.

We provide transportation, financial assistance, a senior companion program, we have in-house counseling, and then we have home-delivered food and a food pantry.

But the case managers also work with the seniors to help them connect with the large network of external resources that exist in the community on both big systems and small systems.

That might be helping them to secure a paratransit certification, working in the public benefits arena, helping them with food stamps or other public benefits that they might need.

Housing, huge issue.

We always, you know, there's limited resources for that, but our the case managers are working with seniors on that.

Um legal, but then something is I don't want to say simple, but as challenging to a senior is something like helping them resolve a bug bed issue.

Um that is a problem that if if an older adult doesn't have the financial resources to eradicate bed bugs, it can be devastating.

Um that's a problem that maybe I would be able to help my older parents with, even if I didn't have the finances, I could secure those resources.

Many of our seniors don't have family or other social support.

That case manager can really step in in that situation, and um, and that is really gathering bits of resources because there is no one program that's going to help that senior.

It is working with um adult protective services in conjunction with care chest out of Reno.

So it's really putting together resources that support the senior.

So it's um it's a long-term relationship.

The case manager and the senior um work together, they don't come in for one time.

Um we believe success is for them to stay with us, right?

The longer they are with us, the longer they are independent in their own home, the better we're doing our job.

We have seniors that have been with us for the entire 10 years, and um they're still home and they're still getting services.

So that's how we're really gauging our success.

All righty, thank you.

I'll open the floor up for any questions for Jewish Family Services.

The chair recognizes um Member Conyers.

Hi, so I would just curious about you have in-home service for the seniors.

How many of them own their own home?

Uh the home meaning the place they reside.

They don't have to own the home.

Um, almost none of our seniors actually own their home.

They are in an apartment or whatever they might be, but it just needs to be independent.

I we don't provide in-home in-home assistance if they are like in an assisted living setting, living independently.

Okay, that makes sense.

Yeah.

That's all my question.

Thank you.

Okay.

Are there any further questions?

There's four minutes.

Come on.

Okay, member had to admit it.

Thank you.

Because I needed that beat.

Um, looking at your budget, this um is for a case manager that would be fully funded by this program.

Recognizing we have a significant amount of requests, limited number of uh limited amount of funding that we have available.

Um, if you if your request was reduced, would you still be able to, and maybe it's a question about your sustainability?

Would you be able to ensure that there's still a case manager in place that can provide these services?

That's the catch 22 question.

If we were to receive a reduction in funding, we would still operate the program.

There might be some reductions in the number of clients that we were able to serve.

Yes.

Uh member Lambthrop and then member Freeman.

My understanding is uh some of the challenges uh for people living independently is socialization and and connection with other people.

And I think the Jewish family uh services organization does some some great work in that area.

Are your case managers um helping people connect within your your organization or they they they go outside the organization?

Tell me a little bit more about how that fits into the total care situation.

Um right we agree that that is a important part.

Um social connectedness to the community is vital to seniors' um well-being.

Um we do several things.

We do have the senior companion program.

That's where we take the most vulnerable seniors that are um very very isolated, and we link them with a senior volunteer that is um active and able to be their companion, go into the home.

They actually help them to, they transport them to doctor's appointments, listen to what the doctor's saying, and help them in a very structured way.

Um we also have a it's it's been growing back since um COVID, but we have a um a quarterly um socialization luncheon that we invite our seniors to and we provide the transportation.

But yes, we also do um connect them to if there is a senior um center that's they're close to.

We connect them with the local city of Las Vegas Senior Center to make sure that they're getting that type of socialization.

We can um utilize transportation funds to include socialization events for seniors be on a limited basis because we know that those are just as important maybe as getting to the grocery store.

Member Friedman.

Hello, um, member Freeman for the record.

So um in your narrative, it's it states that you have a wait list of about 300 seniors, which is is disheartening.

It is and that um, so I'm assuming that this position is going to assist with the capacity, and it says you're about an additional 140.

So is the it's is that really the the ask is the capacity building to help you with your wait list?

The that won't that is not an additional 140 seniors um being added.

Um that is um 140 seniors that is that is we are currently we are currently serving that many.

We have um seniors that are coming on and off at all times.

This funding at this rate, because we were very um conservative.

We did not ask for capacity building knowing the limited resources that were available.

We asked for sustainability.

So this is really to sustain the current level of services.

And then um, just a follow-up is um where are you sourcing your clients from?

What what avenues are you using to source your clients?

Um wewish family service agency is um the one of the two state Nevada care um Nevada Care Connection Resource Centers.

Um, so that it is um the state funnel for all um senior and disabled individuals that are seeking services.

So that is um a main source of our referrals.

Um we also receive referrals from medical professionals, social service agencies, um, the state of Nevada um and Clark County Social Service older um senior service departments.

All right, thank you very much for your presentation.

Thanks.

All righty, and calling up St.

Jews Ranch for Children.

Please remember you have five minutes for your presentation.

I will give you the one-minute mark at four, then open up the floor for board members to ask questions for another five minutes.

Please make sure you state your name as you you speak for the record.

Thank you very much for your time.

Hello, everybody, and thank you uh for inviting us in today.

It's a pleasure to be speaking to you.

My name is Jed Blake, and I'm the chief operating officer at St.

Jude's Ranch for Children.

Uh good morning, everyone.

My name is Denise Charles.

I'm the chief program officer at St.

Jude's Ranch for Children.

Uh today I'll give you a little bit of background about the proposal, uh, the rationale for it and the need, and then I'll hand it over to my friend Denise to give you a little idea of our programmatic makeup and the services we provide.

So it's St.

Jude's Ranch for Children.

Our mission is to transform the lives of abused and at risk children and young adults.

Since 2011, we've been working with the housing and urban development administration to solve youth homelessness.

We saw it as a great need because we are in the foster care uh business.

Many of you have been to our campus out in Boulder City since 1966.

Foster care has been our business.

However, we did see quite a few young people entering homelessness, living on the streets and having nowhere to go.

That really spurred the housing component of what we call the housing and supportive services program.

What we're doing is we're putting youth in their own apartments throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

And every year we have approximately 120 scattered site apartments.

About five years ago, we worked at the state of Nevada to what they were able to do was to give us funding for homeless youth who are victims of crime.

On a percentage basis, our youth, about 80% of them have been victimized while on the street or prior to becoming homeless.

The state's money allowed us to add on to an existing office that we have.

It's actually through a formal rent agreement.

So we hold a lease agreement for 2,000 square feet, where a church used to be.

Thank you, Jad.

So the services that we provide at the drop-in center are very similar to other nonprofit organizations.

So we provide drop-in center case management services because the space is open.

We are an access site for coordinated entry.

So any young person experiencing homelessness between the age of 18 and 24 with or without children are able to visit our location and receive a housing assessment.

Doing that housing assessment, referrals are made to emergency shelter, motel hotel organizations, as well as transitional housing if the candidate or the client has already have a housing assessment on file.

Some of the services include the basic necessities of food clothing and then connection to shelter as well as bus passes.

Every Wednesday we have a drop drop in DSS worker providing uh SNAP Medicaid and utility assistance with that EAP application.

My apologies, as well as connection to birth certificates, ID card if the candidate or the client is interested in school.

And then we are a housing provider.

So most of the young people that access our drop-in center, if they come today within a day, a week, even six months or even a year, could potentially end up in one of our housing programs, which we provide transitional housing at 5005 McLeod, which is our single occupancy location.

We also have scattered site transitional housing for one of our grants that we receive from Clark County to provide transitional housing to families.

We also have five rapid rehousing programs.

So the young people that are accessing our drop-in center could potentially be connected to one of our housing programs to reduce their homelessness, and then we're able to provide the additional services such as education assistance, employment, training, child care assistance, all of that which is reimbursed through other grants that we have within the organization.

All righty.

Thank you very much.

You have about 30 seconds left.

That's fantastic.

I'll open up the floor for any questions from any board members that uh have any questions for St.

Jude's Ranch for Children.

And I see the light of member uh Joan Segaro.

Go ahead.

Hi, good afternoon.

Uh I think the work you guys do is fantastic.

And I guess uh I can probably speak for a lot of us because you have stood before us before for financial issues.

Um where's the um accountability or the corrections?

Your financial audit is at a high risk.

You've been late on draws, and I know you were addressing that in our last meeting.

Has that been corrected?

Yes, uh, thank you for the question.

And uh to be fully candid, uh, we did have a turnover with our chief financial officer about a year and a half ago.

Uh her replacement was our accounting manager, who unfortunately had to take an extended leave of absence to an extreme medical illness.

So uh she is back to normal, thank God.

Uh, she's back with us, Miss Crystal, and uh we have hired a CFO.

Uh CFO came out of uh Northern California working for a hospice company, so he was very familiar with uh Medicaid reimbursement as well as grants.

So I could tell you 100% that the ship has been studied, and we are putting our reimbursements to our jurisdictions back before the 15th of every month, just as uh promised, and uh meeting our outcomes.

Are there any further questions for St.

Jude's Ranch for Children?

Seeing none, thank you so much for your presentation.

Thank you.

You're very welcome, thank you.

Moving on to agenda item number six, citizens' participation.

Public comment during this portion of the agenda must be limited to matters within the jurisdiction of the board.

No subject may be acted upon by the board unless the subject is on the agenda and is scheduled for action.

If you wish to be heard, come forward and give your name for the record.

The amount of discussion on any single subject as well as the amount of time any single speaker is allowed, may be limited.

Is there any citizens' participation at this time?

Seeing none, I will entertain a motion to adjourn till tomorrow.

Member McKnight must so motions.

Second, we have had a motion and a second to adjourn.

I will gavel us out.

Thank you very much for your service.

We're adjourned.

Okay.