Summary of Proceedings
Montgomery County Health and Human Services Committee Annual Priorities Meeting – October 22, 2026
The Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee held its second day of annual priority meetings with HHS boards, committees, and commissions on October 22, 2026, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. virtually. Chaired by Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles, with members Andrew Friedson and Dawn Luedtke, the committee heard from three panels covering health care access, juvenile justice, community health, children and youth, foster care, childcare, social services, health equity, and substance use. Discussions emphasized coordination, workforce sustainability, communication gaps, and equity.
Discussion Items
Panel 1: Health Care Access, Juvenile Justice, and Community Health
- Dr. Catherine Kelly (Montgomery Cares Advisory Board) presented five priorities:
- Increase provider reimbursement to $175 per encounter (70% of care cost) to stabilize clinics reduce ER visits.
- Achieve payment parity between Care for Kids and Montgomery Cares for pediatric and adult care.
- Expand the East County dental pilot (currently serving 300 residents) to upcounty, targeting an additional 150 residents.
- Develop an integrated behavioral health respite and substance use stabilization program for homeless individuals with complex needs.
- Fund two bilingual social workers for the Montgomery Perinatal Program to reduce barriers for high-risk pregnant women.
- Frederick Hawkins (Commission on Juvenile Justice) outlined six priorities: diversion programs, delinquency prevention (mentoring, leadership, out-of-school time), coordination between DJS and HHS, reducing school exclusion, improving behavioral health services, and state legislative advocacy. He noted the commission is exploring data on school suspensions and arrests.
- Donna Collie (Commission on Health) focused on three areas: behavioral health (workforce shortage projected at 32,800 additional workers needed in MD by 2028), communication and engagement (citing 98.2% school vaccination compliance as a successful outreach example), and nutrition (food insecurity as a chronic disease driver). She called for strengthening navigation and coordination across programs.
Panel 2: Children, Youth, and Family Supports
- Marie Lenise Cruz-Weiss (Commission on Children and Youth) identified two priorities: juvenile crime/safety and school-based mental health services. She highlighted that youth often don't know about available programs and emphasized the need for trauma-informed, culturally competent adults. She noted a youth roundtable is being planned to gather direct input.
- Melin Edson (Citizens Review Panel for Children) presented two focus areas for FY27: support for older foster youth (18–21) reluctant to engage in service planning, and mentoring for those aging out. The panel reviews monthly data on child welfare calls, investigations, foster care placements, and resource homes.
- Dr. Ramona Johnson (Commission on Childcare) reported refreshed membership after pandemic challenges. Priorities include onboarding new commissioners, assessing childcare funding streams, and reviewing MCPS community use of public facilities policies to support stable after-school care. She cited low pay for early childhood educators and expensive childcare as key issues, noting that many providers leave for paraeducator roles.
Panel 3: Social Services, Health Equity, and Substance Use
- Larnice McCoy Moore (Board of Social Services) reviewed accomplishments (marketing campaign for resource parents) and priorities: reduce barriers for foster parent recruitment, raise awareness of social services, collaborate with other BCCs, and advocate on emerging issues. The board has almost full membership with a mentoring program for new members.
- Dr. Wang (Asian American Health Initiative) reported serving 32,000 individuals through 33 community organizations over four years. Priorities: building capacity of CBOs for behavioral health and senior wellness, and developing a data system to capture disaggregated AAPI data. He noted challenges with language diversity (20+ languages) and limited English proficiency (26%).
- Chair Mitchell (Alcohol and Other Drug Addiction Advisory Council) highlighted all 16 seats filled after recruitment. Priorities: increase outreach and education (e.g., naloxone access, prevention across lifespan), reduce stigma, update county code for stigmatizing language, and improve treatment/recovery access. She noted a 49% reduction in overdose fatalities but 83 deaths in the last year, with rising concerns for youth and adults over 50. She called for better coordination with MCPS and other bodies.
- Jackie Williams (African American Health Program) presented two priorities: sustain the SMILE program for black maternal health (severe maternal morbidity 54% higher for black women; nationally 44.8 vs 14.2 deaths per 100,000) and support displaced federal workers through hiring preference (Bill 10-25E) and visible job announcements. She reported over 100 SMILE clients, many with advanced maternal age (35+) and chronic conditions.
Key Outcomes
- Chair Sales directed follow-up on several items: establishing quarterly meetings with the HHS director (last held ~2 years ago), improving communication from BCCs to the public, exploring internship programs with Montgomery College for social media outreach, and better coordination across BCCs to avoid silos.
- Councilmember Friedson reiterated support for phased-in reimbursement parity and promised to follow up on data from the Montgomery Cares board and best practices for black maternal health.
- Councilmember Luedtke flagged the state’s bed capacity crisis, delays in psychiatric evaluations, and the Handle with Care program (state dashboard available). She requested further details from AODAC on reducing opioid prescribing for those under 25.
- The committee emphasized the need to translate existing resources into measurable resident outcomes, especially in behavioral health, food security, and foster care transitions.
- No formal votes were taken; the meeting concluded with thanks to all participants and a commitment to incorporate priorities into budget and policy deliberations.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. Thank you to all of our residents who have contributed to these two days of discussion. I want to welcome everyone back to the Health and Human Services Committee's second day of speaking with our board's committees and commissions from the Health and Human Services Committee. I am joined by my committee colleagues, council members Andrew Friedson and Don Ludke. And thank you to everyone joining us via Zoom or watching on County Cable or online. Yesterday we heard how housing instability, workforce shortages, and changes in the federal support are affecting residents and straining services. Across those discussions, a clear message emerged. Providing a program is only the first step. Residents must also be able to find it, trust it, and receive timely help. Today we turn to our next group of advisory bodies whose work spans children and families, health care access, juvenile justice, behavioral health, and health equity. As chair, I encourage you to be specific about what needs to change and what you need from the county, where programs are working, help us understand what we should sustain, where residents are facing barriers, identify the decisions, partnerships, or resources that would help remove them. I also ask that you highlight opportunities for coordination across programs. Residents often need support from several parts of our system, and their ability to get help should not depend on navigating those connections alone. Thank you for bringing both community experience and practical recommendations to this discussion. Ms. Clemens Johnson, I'll turn to you to introduce today's agenda and staff packet. Good morning, Chair Sales, members of the HHS committee, and our guests, the spokespersons and chairs for the uh HHS boards commissions and committees that are joining us today. As noted by Chair Sales, this is the second day of our annual priorities meetings with the BCC. So I want to thank everyone for joining us and submitting their information timely for the staff report. I just want to note that the staff report is online, available on the council website. If you want to view everyone's priorities, the 17 BCCs and three health initiatives who have submitted their priorities, they are all listed online and are available for reference ongoing even after this meeting. This meeting will follow the same format as we did yesterday, that there will be a panel of three that will speak. You will have four minutes, and after that, there will be questions from the committee members. I ask that you please be mindful of your time as you present so that we can stay on time as much as possible. And if there are any questions, please feel free to contact me via email andor pose those questions to the HHS committee. That is it for me. And thank you so much, uh Chair Sales. All right, thank you, Miss Clemens Johnson. We will hear from three panels. First, um, our first panel. So as Ms. Clemens Johnson mentioned, um, our first panel will bring together perspectives on health care access, juvenile justice, and community health. So without further ado, I welcome Dr. Catherine Kelly, Chair of the Montgomery Care Advisory Board. Frederick Hawkins, co-chair of the Commission on Juvenile Justice, and Ms. Donna Collie, Chair of the Commission on Health. Dr. Kelly, please begin when you are ready. Good morning. Um the Montgomery Care's Advisory Board provides guidance to the county executive and the county council in their efforts to financially and operationally support the health care safety net programs for uninsured, underinsured, and low-income residents of Montgomery County. The Midcap has identified specific priorities for each of the health care for the uninsured programs, which includes Montgomery Care, Care for Kids, County Dental, Healthcare for the Homeless, and the Montgomery Perrinatal Program. The following are the Metcalf's top priorities, which will guide the board during the development of the fiscal year 2028 budget. The first part relates to the Montgomery Care's program, which supports primary care for uninsured adult county residents.
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