Good morning, everyone.

I'd like to call this meeting to order.

Welcome to the June twenty-fourth, twenty twenty-six community services and education subcommittee.

I'd like to start off by introducing our city attorney, Micah Alexander.

Mr.

Alexander, please explain the role of public comment.

For public comment, is that what you're asking for, Chair?

Yeah, thank you.

All right, so uh members of the public may speak for up to two minutes to comment on agenda items to be discussed.

Comments must be related to the agenda item and the action being considered by the council.

General comments that go beyond the scope of the agenda item.

During citizen comment, members of the public may address the subcommittee for up to three minutes on issues of interest or concern to them.

The issues being addressed, however, must be on the subject matters that fall within the jurisdiction of the Phoenix City Council, and upon which the Phoenix City City Council has the power to act.

The Arizona public meeting law permits the subcommittee members to listen to the comments, but prohibits members from discussing or acting on the matters presented.

Profane language, threats, or personal attacks on members of the public, council members or staff are not allowed.

Speakers should not act in a disrespectful manner that is openly hostile to also introduce our interpreter, Elsie Duarte, who will provide a brief announcement.

Thank you, Madam Chair Hodge Washington.

Stated, my name is El C Duarte, and I'll be providing Spanish interpretation during today's community services and education session.

I will now take a moment to address our Spanish speaking audience.

Buenos días, my number is El C Duarte.

Estarei interpretando la nostra audiencia de habla Hispana.

Durante esta sesión del subcomité de servicios comunitarios y educación.

But escuchar la reunion in espanhol simultaneamente.

Favor de pasar por unos audífonos ubicados atrada de la sala de camaras.

Las personas registradas para hacer un comentario publico.

Interpretados al momento que usted termine de hablar.

Gracias.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much.

We will move into our agenda.

Item number one is the approval of the CSE minutes from the May from May 27, 2026.

Do we have a motion?

I motion to approve the minutes from CSC April 22nd, 2026.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

Moving on, I'm going to consolidate item number two and three.

Item number two requests authorize the human services department head start birth to five program to apply for a non-federal share waiver from the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services Office of Head Start.

And then item three is a head start birth to five month monthly.

Sorry, birth to five monthly report from March.

Are there any questions on either item one?

Two or three.

No questions from either of my colleagues.

Madam Chair.

Um item two is actually for action.

I move I move to approve item two.

On consent.

Do we have a second?

Sorry, second.

All in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion carries.

Thank you for the clarification.

All right.

Moving on to item number item number.

Sorry, four.

So item number four is a report that provides information about the city's cultural pass program.

It's an initiative in partnership with Act One that provides a community with free access to cultural institutions statewide.

Good morning, Vice Mayor Hodge Washington, members of the subcommittee.

I'm here this morning to tell you about one of our most popular library services, which is the Culture Pass program, which provides free and affordable access to cultural institutions and organizations.

Alright, so what is the Culture Pass program?

Well, it was launched in 2013, and it's actually coordinated by Act One, which is a nonprofit organization that provides access to quality arts experiences for families all over the valley.

Culture passes are available at all 17 uh library locations and our bookmobile for customers to check out, two free passes to over 20 art and cultural institutions.

So a lot of institutions, and they're actually um all over the state.

So taking a quick look at how the service works.

Culture pass kiosks are located at all of our locations.

Library cardholders can visit any library and select from available passes to take to the desk and then check out.

You can see here on the slide, that's what uh the kiosk looks like at the Burton Bar Central Library.

They all pretty much look the same across uh the entire system, so um there has a unified look.

And then right next to that, you will see a sample of what each pass looks like.

Um this one's for the desert botanical garden.

So those live on the kiosk when they're checked in, and folks will grab those and then bring them to the counter to check out.

Upon checkout, customers receive uh due date slip like they would for any item uh that admits two people for one visit to the museum or cultural institution during the following seven days.

Um, customers don't need to return the slip or do anything with it, it just automatically expires.

They don't need to worry about it.

Um the passes, however, can't be renewed, so they have you know seven days to go, just so we make sure that they're uh available for other people.

They can and they also can't be placed on hold.

Customers are limited to one pass per family at any one time, up to two passes per month.

Again, just to sort of try to keep the maximum amount of passes available for folks at any given time.

So on this slide here, you can see that on our library's front page of our website, we do have a dedicated culture pass tile on the bottom left-hand corner.

So customers can click through there, find out all the details about the program, you know what locations are currently being offered, because it does change from time to time, and etc.

One of the greatest things I think about the part program from the library side of things is that it is searchable in our catalog.

So if a customer or library cardholder searches on our catalog, they can actually find in real time what passes are checked in at which location, which is good because we do have a lot of customers that uh if they find the pass that of their choosing not checked in at their home branch, they will drive sometimes to other locations, sometimes pretty far away if they're really into that location to pick up and check out a pass.

Um our community loves the range of options available to them for culture passes, especially right now, especially in the summer when families are looking for free and affordable activities to do together.

Um the library delivers on that.

So uh just in closing, some other facts worth mentioning about the culture pass program is that sometimes they may be limited to just general admission passes, and they may sometimes only be available seasonally depending on the institution, and all those limits uh are determined by each institution in conjunction with Act One, who are you know, who are the uh folks that run the program.

The popularity as you can see of this service has been overwhelming.

Over 18,000 passes checked out last year, and through May 30th, already almost 8,000 passes checked out.

So, we love the culture pass program, it's one of our mainstays.

We constantly get incredible feedback from our customers about it, and uh, if it ever went away, we would definitely hear about it.

So that's all I have for you today.

Thank you for your time and uh glad to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for their presentation, Councilman Fernandez.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and just I mean, how do we expand this, right?

I friends and family of mine have used this program, so I think this is a great resource uh for our residents.

So we're gonna find ways to expand this so we can get more people more passes.

Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much, councilwoman.

I too agree that this is uh the cultural pass is a great example of how we make our culture and educational experiences accessible to families regardless of their income.

And with more than 18,000 passes checked out last year.

It is clear that our residents value this resource and the opportunity it creates for lifelong learning.

Take a second to plug our quick read-in challenge that all of us on this subcommittee committed to that is currently taking place at our libraries through July 20th.

So when you go down to check out your cultural pass, also make sure you uh participate in our reading challenge.

But thank you again for the presentation, and I hope that our community continues to avail themselves of the resource that is our cultural pass.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, item five is a report that provides an update on legal on eviction legal services, including outcomes and emergent threads, as well as share and post-eviction stabilization strategies.

And to the table, we have our Human Services Director, Jacqueline Edwards.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chair and members of the subcommittee.

In today's presentation, I will be sharing eviction filing trends from data received by the Maricopa County Justice Courts.

Next, I will provide an update on outputs and outcomes of the city's eviction legal services program.

And we'll also provide an overview of the Maricopa County Housing Stability Stakeholder Work Group.

Then I will share information on two upcoming programs to address evictions and housing stability, including the Maricopa County Eviction Diversion Pilot Program and the City's Stability Assistance Program.

Finally, I will share potential strategies to address evictions in our community.

On this slide, we are reviewing the eviction trends in Maricopa County for calendar year 2025.

In comparison to the eviction legal services applications we received during that same time period.

The eviction filings, which are when a landlord formally files a case in court to remove a tenant, began to climb for the year in March 2025.

And at the same point in time, the applications for the city's eviction legal services program increased at a similar rate.

Actual evictions, which are also known as writs, are on the green line on the chart and follow the same upward trajectory as both the filings and the applications received by the human services department in the last quarter of 2025.

As a reminder, the eviction legal services program began in January of 2025.

This data represented here is from the beginning of the program through March of 2026.

In that time, there have been a total of 766 applications, and 436 were eligible to be referred to an eviction legal services provider.

The remaining applications were either incomplete at 260 or ineligible at 70.

The majority of incomplete applications were because the applicant did not provide any of the required documents, including after we made more than one attempt to obtain those.

And the majority of the ineligible applications were due to the applicant not living in the city of Phoenix or the case not being eviction related.

67% of the referrals to our eviction legal service providers were for legal representation, which means the eviction filing had been submitted.

In the 15 months of program operation, we have had 25% of all closed cases ending with a negotiated settlement, meaning that both the landlord and the tenant agreed to the outcome jointly.

The Maricopa County Housing Stability Stakeholder Work Group is made up of state, county, and city of Phoenix professionals along with those nonprofits and uh and in the legal community representing either landlords or tenants.

The purpose of the work group is stated as to support coordinated community-driven efforts to improve access to both the court system and existing resources that can help landlords and tenants in Maricoba County understand their options and stabilize their housing and financial situations.

Two improvements to existing materials that have been developed by the work group are the Justice Court post-judgment flyer as well as general and eviction resource guides.

Both are being community tested in July.

The Maricopa County Eviction Diversion Pilot is an $800,000 pilot program funded by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

The pilot will consist of landlord engagement and rental assistance focused on zip codes with the highest rates of eviction.

And because of the Vice Mayor's leadership and partnership with the county, multiple Phoenix zip codes will be included in the pilot.

The county city partnership includes provision of case management or resource referrals by the city's human services department to Phoenix residents involved in the pilot.

Next steps include the pilot program's final design and steps towards implementation, which are being reviewed in conjunction with the Maricopa County Housing Stability Work Group.

The County Human Services Department hopes to launch by the end of August of 2026.

The city's new stability assistance program is part of the one-time general funds that mayor and council approved for fiscal year 2027 under the Flexible Financial Assistance Program.

Households participating will actively engage in developing goals to support their continued stability, including in the domains of housing, finance, and education and employment, which will be outlined in a case management services contract.

Households may be eligible for up to $2,500, and these funds can be used for a variety of needs that will improve the housing and financial stability of the participating household.

The Human Services Department will be collecting outputs and outcomes to share the success of this program in the future.

The following are three preliminary ideas and would potentially address evictions in our city.

The preferred landlord program is where a landlord or property manager would opt in to have their property reviewed and also commit to mediation rather than first filing an eviction.

The benefit would be that landlords would have city recognition as a verified landlord, as well as for them to save in legal fees that are associated with filing evictions, as the program would pay for mediation between the landlord and the tenant.

Tenants would know up front that these landlords would seek mediation activities rather than simply filing an eviction.

A landlord risk mitigation fund program would potentially help households with eviction history to obtain housing and would support landlords to accept higher-risk tenants by providing such things as a tenant support hotlined, deposit assistance, and other program features that may mitigate risk for those landlords.

Another potential strategy would be for a one-stop stabilization appointment for households post-eviction.

This program would have clients meet with staff within three days of their eviction so as to enroll in eligible safety net benefits and connect with resources to ensure the eviction does not completely destabilize their household.

These strategies do not currently have identified fund source or other resources to implement.

However, HSD will continue to explore the viability of these programs and ideas and search for grant funding opportunities.

For those in financial crisis, please select the QR code or go to Phoenix.gov slash crisis assistance.

And for those who may be facing an eviction, you can select this QR code to learn on how to apply for eviction legal services.

This concludes the presentation.

Thank you for the time to share the information today.

Are there any questions?

Thank you so much for the presentation.

Are there any questions from my colleagues?

Councilman.

And then I'm sorry, Council Councilman Stark, were you saying something?

Yes, I just want to make a couple comments.

Oh, please go ahead.

Thank you.

So first and foremost, I want to thank you, Vice Mayor, for all the work you've been doing on evictions and the issue of eviction.

I know that you uh joined up with Maricopa County, and I do think this is a countywide issue.

I mean, evictions go through um justice of peace, and they're not just in the city of Phoenix.

Clearly, other cities have the same issue.

And so I'm happy to see that you are joining forces with Maricopa County.

This is really an important issue, and I appreciate everything you've done on it.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilman.

Councilman Hernandez.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

And I echo that um, you know, the the pilot program that we're that we're gonna team up with uh Maricopa County that you're spearheading is great.

I think these are the steps that we need to make sure we figure out how to keep folks housed.

Just have a couple questions on the eviction legal services side.

Um, what I mean, what these are great improvements, right?

Great numbers.

Um, it looks like we still have some room for uh to increase the um use of the program.

Is there anything additional we can do in the last you know, through the end of the year to get folks to know that this program exists, that there is some help right now out there for folks that are struggling with that?

Thank you, Chair Councilwoman Hernandez.

Um that we have uh approached the outreach in the community in a couple of different ways.

So recently uh we did send a postcard to landlords that we have worked with in the past, and it was to accomplish a number of things, but also to make sure that they know about our eviction legal uh services program along with our landlord tenant resources and our other community service programs, so that potentially, although our um eviction legal services is focused on the tenant, it has to be that tenant application, to try to get the word out there in a different way from a different avenue.

Uh also um we continue to post in social media and hit areas with uh community flyers and attend events where there's high rates of eviction.

So the team is is out there and trying to make connections with those who made it may need it the most.

Um in addition, I'd like to uh point out again the uh Maricopa County Housing Stability Work Group.

Um, the resource guides that have been created there also contain our city program information.

So just another avenue to try to reach those residents who may need our services.

Thank you so much for that, Jacqueline.

I think that's the right approach, right?

Like we need a layer in uh forms of access so folks really get the information.

I think all of that coupled up with um, you know, the continued outreach coupled up with uh new um the eviction diversion pilot program that's coming.

I think like having all those methods is great.

Um I want to shift over to um the potential strategies, love these three ideas.

I think especially on the one-stop stabilization appointments post-eviction.

A lot of times what we're seeing with some of these families, right, is that there it's not a one-time thing they they need help with, like one month.

It's how do we get them on a like an actual stable path?

And so I think that this is a great approach and a great idea.

Um, so really commend you and the team and everybody that has worked on coming up with these three um, you know, these three starting points, because this is what it takes to to really provide those wraparound services for our families that face you know these critical times, especially right now.

I mean, I think affordability of across the board is something we don't stop hearing about every time we're out in the community uh talking to our residents or they're calling in for assistance.

So I think this is a great starting point.

Um, I do like the I that all three of those working with um, you know, the on the preferred land loan landlord program.

I think um some of our you know, maybe out of state property management properties might struggle with that, but I think that there's a lot of opportunity to work with folks that are really do want to keep the residents in the properties because I think it's a benefit to them as well.

So great job on that.

Um, just looking forward to how these programs shape out.

Um, and then sorry, just for clarification on the city stability assistance.

Um, when you say that they'll develop like stabilization goals.

Can you give me just an example of what that means?

Yes, thank you, Chair Councilwoman Hernandez.

Uh, stabilization goals will be in specific domain domains.

So those domains can include um uh specifically towards housing.

So it's going to be uh driven based on those family needs, so housing, education, and employment, uh, financial uh and other family associated goals.

So one goal could be um creating a budget, right?

Families don't necessarily you know put that time aside to um understand how budgeting works and how they can try to make their their ends meet um in the best way.

So it could be let's create create a go through a um go through a budgeting class, create that budget.

Uh another goal could be uh to work uh towards um uh a credential so that they could uh go for a different type of job to increase their household income.

So it's really going to be working hand in hand with the staff, and not for staff to say, this is these are the steps that you have to do, but rather let that be driven because households really do know what's best for them, and we're there to walk right next to them and help them achieve those goals.

Thank you so much, and again, thank you so much for all the work you're doing on this.

I think you know, for me, love all these ideas.

This is the right approach we should be have taking as a city to make sure we're keeping as many of our folks from falling into um homelessness, you know, in these tough times.

So thank you so much for all the work.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much.

And I just want to also emphasize uh thank you so much your staff for this great presentation.

It's no secret to many that this is a priority for me because I hear so much about it in the community.

Housing stability is one of the most important factors that we're hearing that affects uh a family's overall well-being and economic mobility and just their long-term success.

When a household experiences an eviction, it creates a ripple effect that impacts their employment, education, health outcomes, and family stability.

That is why it's important, I believe, that we continue to invest in these types of preventative strategies and interventions that help keep our residents housed whenever possible.

I'm extremely proud of Phoenix has taken a proactive approach to our eviction legal services program.

We know that many residents facing eviction simply don't understand their rights or have access to the resources needed to navigate the process.

And by providing legal service, legal services and housing stabilization, it helps to level the play and feel, and that could be the difference between a family remain in-house or entering a cycle of housing instability.

I do have a couple of just clarifying questions on the eviction legal services component.

Um, and I guess it's more of a comment than a question.

Um, this is funded through ARPA interest through June of 2027.

I would encourage us to identify potential funding to continue this program beyond the ARPA interests.

I think the statistics speak for themselves.

We have just about one in 50% one of out of every two individuals that utilize our service have been able to see a positive outcome.

And we know that preventing homelessness is the key to one of the keys to combating homelessness.

So I do want to see us and continue to invest in the pre uh preventive measures.

So I would like for us to look into specifically some potential funding sources to continue this program beyond the ARPA interest.

So thank you for that.

I also want to say I really um I am excited to see the Maricopa County Housing Stability, sorry, the Maricopa County eviction diversion pilot move forward.

I want to just they come in and to thank our partners at Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, especially Chair Magee as well as Steve Gallardo for their willingness to partner on this program.

We happen to share the areas that have some of the highest evictions in our in our county.

And this is a using a tested program and bringing it to help more and more of our residents.

So I am very grateful for their efforts to do that.

And I also wanted to say I was very so I didn't expect to see the city stabilizability assistance in this presentation given that we just did the final vote last week.

But I'm very excited to see that it's moving forward so quickly.

I was grateful to see the information get some background, but I wasn't 100% sure when it will open to our community.

Thank you, Chair, committee members.

For the stability assistance program, in that one, we are projecting to help about 360 households because we want to support their further stability.

It's not for those who are experiencing immediate crisis.

So that if they are experience a utility shutoff or uh facing eviction behind on rent, this would not be the best program for them.

We have other services in case management that we can work with those households.

So when a household calls into our family services center or households that we are already working with, whether it's in the human services department or in other different departments across the city, we'll be looking to engage with those residents so we can wrap around these additional supports and work with them for a minimum of a four-month time period.

But again, if someone's calling in, that's where staff it will be able to identify what's the best pathway forward for them, rather than opening it up to a specific application process, which we are going to be doing for other uh funding associated with a flexible financial assistance.

Oh, in July.

Perfect, thank you.

And I was just double checking, I see that it's already on our Phoenix uh helping Phoenix Families website.

So I'm very appreciative of that.

Um so thank you so much, as I mentioned.

I think this is all great work.

Um, I take a moment to comment on our additional strategies.

I really think the preferred landlord program, the landlord risk mitigation funds, and the one-stop stabilization appointments.

I think they align with the broader work that this council has prioritized around housing stability, uh flexible financial assistance, and creating pathways that help our residents avoid homelessness before a crisis occurs.

We acknowledge that it is less it is less costly and more effective to prevent homelessness than it is to respond to someone who has already lost their housing.

Um I think I know the answer to this question, but I will ask it anyways.

Um, the one-stop stabilization appointments, um, you mentioned that was for three days after the eviction.

Is there any thought as to why that same is not given to someone before the eviction?

Uh chair, members of the subcommittee.

The reason why it's post-eviction is uh to mitigate um when eviction when an eviction may not be able to be avoided, what we can do with those families immediately.

And in order for someone to um, well, we have we're still we're still crafting the program, so I will strike that question.

But I just want to say I I really appreciate the proactive and ability uh proactive steps in trying to address it, come up with additional strategies to connect our residents with the services that we need.

I really appreciate the staff's commitment, and I know we have had multiple conversations about this.

I just wanted to publicly say thank you for all of the work that you've done on this.

I think we have made tremendous strides, and now we have the data that we hopefully other cities and jurisdictions can look at and see that this is a cost-effective way of addressing the issue.

And we have to, it has to be a team effort.

But I also wanted to say thank you again for the commitment to these innovative solutions that help keep Phoenix family safe, stable, and housed.

So thank you again for a great presentation.

Next up, we have item number six, which is a report to provide an overview of the city's social work internship partnerships with local university.

Welcome to the table.

We have Titus Matthews, our housing director, Aubrey Gonzalez, our housing department assistant director, Zona Pacheco, the housing director, sorry, housing department deputy director.

Welcome.

Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the subcommittee.

Glad to be here this morning and proud to present this item as well.

Today we'll be sharing an overview of the social work internship program.

And in the audience, what are folks from the fire department, library and human services department would be here to present answer any questions specific to their departments.

With this, I want to turn it over to Aubrey to start the presentation.

For over 20 years, the city has partnered with Arizona State University and most recently Grand Canyon University to provide accredited bachelor's and social work.

I'm sorry, bachelors of social work and masters of social work field placements.

These universities rely on the city to offer the supervised real world learning required for graduation in both direct practice and administrative tracks.

To meet accreditation requirements, interns must be supervised by staff who hold bachelor or master's of social work degrees.

City staff provide supervision, field instruction, and ongoing evaluation.

This not only ensures compliance with university standards, but also gives our staff valuable supervisory and leadership experience.

We are grateful to our higher education provider partners and welcome opportunities to work with other interested educational institutions.

Across the human services, library, fire, and housing departments, the social work internship program provides supervised required field experience while strengthening the city's capacity, response times, and individualized support to Phoenix residents.

I will now turn the presentation over to Zona Pacheco, Deputy Housing Director.

Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the subcommittee.

The human services department has hosted interns for over 15 years, with nine serving since 2024.

Interns support Head Start with Family Engagement and Case Management, Victim Services, conducting safety planning, advocacy, and resource navigation, strategic initiatives through trafficking prevention education, and citywide campaigns like Paint Phoenix Purple, and in their director's office conducting policy research, data analysis, and program evaluation.

The library's current intern program recently implemented in 2025, has had four interns that lead the monthly Teen Connect program using art and engagement activities to support initiatives like Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.

Seventy-three youth have attended this program.

Interns support the case worker by providing information and referrals during community connection specialist hours.

They've connected 146 residents to services.

And the fire department's community assistance program in turns service paid casework aids, supporting the response teams with field calls, crisis stabilization, resource coordination, and follow-up care.

They accept up to seven interns per year.

Interns receive a structured two-day orientation, ongoing field and task supervision, and are engaged in the following services.

Between 2024 and 2026, housing supportive service interns have assisted 592 households completing intakes, providing case management, and assisting residents to navigate housing programs and connecting them to essential services.

Through resident and community engagement, interns strengthened youth and senior programming and housing, and have conducted 107 events, including after-school activities, tutoring, wellness classes, and major community events such as getting Arizona involved in neighborhood gain event, community connection pairs, back to school events, and the yearly nationwide read for the record shared reading experience, which 1,059 youth read.

They supported 3,620 households through the St.

Mary's Monthly Mobile Pantry and Fibco Food Distributions.

Interns enhance program quality by conducting policy research, tracking key data, and gathering resident feedback through surveys and focus groups, work that directly informs program improvements and long-term planning.

Students consistently report that their internship provides meaningful hands-on experience with case management, groups, service coordination that deepens their understanding of community needs.

They support individuals, families, and the community.

They understand how changes in social service policies can impact people's ability to get support.

Interns gain confidence, practical skills, and a clearer sense of their professional role while contributing valuable services to the city.

Many choose to stay.

The housing department currently employs 10 former interns in both supportive services and development teams.

Former interns have been hired throughout the city in multiple capacities, such as case workers, supervisors, coordinators, and project managers.

We'd like to share a brief video highlighting one of our recent interns.

When I started, I was I was so nervous.

I was like, I don't know if I can do this, but as I was here and with the team I got to work with, they really encouraged me.

I feel like they really pushed me and I feel like I've grown so much, not even just as a social worker, but as a person.

My name is Nicole, and I um I've been an intern with the city.

I started as an intern with the city in January 2024.

Um I graduated from my bachelor's in social work and then I returned as a case worker for the ROS program, and now I've returned again as a community worker with the after-school and summer program.

The ASU internship program is a vital part of the services we provide.

Not only does it provide you know fresh perspective and energy with the interns we have coming in, but it also provides you know high-quality um services to our residents and expands our capacity as a team since I was in through with the current supportive housing program, which works with the youth and the after-school program.

So I got a good balance of like casework as well as like time interacting with the kids and program.

Our clients do benefit from this work.

They are receiving support with employment, they're receiving support with our you know life skills, health and wellness.

Um, they're they're getting more programming and more one-on-one time.

There's a lot of great kids here, a lot of great people, and I'm honestly really happy to have been working here with these people.

We would like to thank Nicole for sharing her experience, and I'd like to note that the other staff that were featured in this uh video have interned in either the housing or human services department.

Now we'll turn the presentation back over to Aubrey.

Thank you, Zona.

The Social Work Internship Program strengthens services for residents, supports city staff, and develops the future workforce.

We encourage current or future social work students interested in the city's internship program to connect with their respective higher education provider, social work program and administrator.

On behalf of the housing, fire, library, and human services departments, we want to thank the Phoenix City Council for over 20 years of continued support.

And we, along with our colleagues, are happy to answer any questions.

But again, thank you for that presentation.

I appreciate this as an opportunity to highlight the city's commitment to developing partnerships with our universities and creating opportunities for students to gain meaningful real world experience.

We know social workers play a critical role in helping our residents navigate some of life's most difficult challenges.

Whether or not that's housing instability, behavioral health concerns, family crises, or connected individuals, to essential services.

Programs like this not only strengthen our workforce pipeline, but it also expands our ability to serve residents every day.

So as we continue addressing complex community challenges, investing in the next generation of social service professionals is more important than ever.

And these internships I think would grant our students valuable experience while introducing them to careers in public service.

So thank you for the presentation and thank you to all the departments that are currently participating.

And I would encourage any department that is not currently participating.

Maybe there's an opportunity for you to do so.

And I we anticipated one of my questions was how many of our students interns have gone on to work with the city of Phoenix.

So it does show that we are that they are joining the workforce and helping to be a part of the change in our community.

Let me see if there's any questions for my colleagues.

Oh, question from Councilwoman Hernandez.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Just a super quick question.

Just to confirm, right now we're only working with ASU and GCU.

Okay.

I'm sure that was uh one at us.

Yeah, that's correct.

Okay.

And then um, are do any of uh the departments participating now have like a wait list for interns.

I do not believe there's as far as I have for housing, we don't have a wait list, but I'm not sure about the other departments.

Okay.

I would agree like if we have more departments that are interested in the program, I think this is a great program.

Um, and then just my last question is there any cost to us or um on this program?

For the housing department, there's no cost.

Okay.

Thank you so much, Tennessee.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Councilman Stark, do you have any questions?

No, just a comment.

This was a great presentation, and um my chief of staff has her degree in social work and she has been involved in this program, and she's uh big cheerleader for it.

So thank you again for the presentation.

Thank you so much.

Thank you again to for the great presentation and for highlighting the wonderful opportunities that exist here in the city of Phoenix.

Next up, we will move to item number seven, which is our update on the new suspected overdose spike monitoring system and provide a quarterly update on the city's naloxalone program.

To the table, we have Yanitsa Soto, our public health advisor, and Kelly Kozada, our special project administrator.

Good morning, Vice Mayor and members of the subcommittee.

We're excited to present to you today sharing a brief quarterly update on the citywide naloxone program as well as information on the launch of the opioid overdose alert system.

This update from Pragmatic Year 3, quarter three, ran from February through April of 2026.

The distribution of naloxone kits by department was consistent with what we have seen in the prior quarters, with library branches in green making up over half of all kits distributed in the community, followed by the Office of Public Health in orange, mainly during community outreach events, followed by the human services department in blue.

In subsequent slides, we will see how distribution has grown when compared to last year and last quarter.

Additional highlights about distribution this quarter include reaching over 54 sites where naloxone kits are made available to community members across the city.

This past quarter, over 80% of these sites experienced an increase in kit distribution.

Happy to report the expansion of kit availability with four new sites added this quarter with the housing department at Fillmore Gardens, Maryville Parkway Terrace, Sunny Slope Manor, and Washington Manor.

This visual map on the left shows the citywide naloxone kit distribution sites included in the green and white icons indicating library locations and the multicolored pins indicating other facilities participating in the citywide naloxone program.

This map is available for the city's website, so members of the public can find naloxone kits closest to them.

Overall, this quarter, over 5,200 overdose reversal kits were distributed, comprising a 65% increase compared to the previous quarter, shown in the orange and blue bars, and 68% more than the same quarter last year, as depicted in the green and blue bars.

As a reminder, quarter three is February and April through April, and quarter two is between November and January.

What this data illustrates is that the program is not only growing from quarter to quarter, but compared to the same time last year, the program has seen sustained program growth and providing this life-saving medication and making sure it's accessible to community members.

At Phoenix Shelters, Phoenix Rent Shelters, and the Safe Outdoor Space, nearly 2,000 boxes of naloxone have been provided.

And of these, over 1,600 boxes of naloxone have been distributed to clients at all locations combined.

This pilot began in November of 2025 and provides two dose boxes of naloxone at standalone displays at these locations, making naloxone easily accessible to people experiencing homelessness.

The image on the left is a display affectionately called a Barney for the identifiable purple color, were provided to us through our partnership with the Arizona Department of Health Services.

These Barney's have also been placed at our 24 7 heat respite location, 20 West Jackson during this heat season.

And finally, included in this quarter's reporting, the City of Phoenix Naloxone program has distributed 38,785 kits since program inception in August of 2023.

Overall, the naloxone program has made great strides this past quarter.

Next steps include conducting our annual evaluation to examine program growth and impact over the entire year, which we will be bringing back and we're scheduled to bring back into subcommittee sometime in the fall.

I'll now pass a presentation over to Kelly to share the update on the opioid overdose alert system.

Thank you, Initsa.

We are excited to announce a new initiative, the Phoenix Opioid Overdose Alert System, which officially launched on May 1st this year.

In this presentation, we'll be providing a general overview to introduce the program.

I did want to note, though, that we presented on the development of the system at the Arizona Public Health Association conference in 2025.

And that presentation is available online if anyone is interested in a more in-depth info on how the system was developed to get us to the point where we're at now.

So, what is an alert system?

In essence, it is a surveillance tool that allows us to detect and respond to spikes in opioid overdoses in Phoenix.

A spike is when the number of overdoses deviates from what we would expect to see based upon predictions from historical data for that specific location and time period.

The ultimate goal of the opioid overdose alert system is saving lives by allowing us to detect these spikes and inform our partners.

We are able to foster targeted responses in near real time.

The data gives us insight into what is happening in the drug landscape in Phoenix, who is being affected, and where these events are occurring.

Having this repository of data also allows us to inform the planning of future interventions, increasing the likelihood that these programs will be effective.

Now we will share a bit more on how the system actually works.

The Office of Public Health receives overdose data daily from Phoenix Fire EMS.

The data used for the alert system is our suspected opioid overdose data, meaning that when fire arrives on scene and provides naloxone, the patient responds to the medication.

The system then assesses the data to measure and detect spikes using statistical formulas that were developed in partnership with our colleague, Dr.

Matt L.

Miller, who was then at Arizona State University and is now at Oakland University.

If a spike is detected, the Office of Public Health is notified via an automatic email.

The Office of Public Health then gathers all the key information and sends an alert notification out to our partners.

This notification includes the general location of overdose incidents, demographic information such as age, gender, and housing status, and the severity of the alert or the alert level, which provides an indication of how severe the spike is.

We also include suggested actions based upon best practices from across the United States.

These include things like making sure outreach staff have naloxone on hand, that they're also increasing distribution of that naloxone during outreach activities, sharing life-saving resources like the never use alone line, and sharing resources that link people to things like treatment and mental health care, and of course also providing linkages to care if possible.

Once our partners receive alerts, they are able to activate their individual response plans, which are tied to their specific role, duties, scope, and available resources.

We will share more information on what our current partners plan to do for their response plans once activated by an alert towards the end of this presentation.

But first, we want to show you a little bit about what the alert system actually looks like.

These screenshots show what the system looks like from the internal dashboard that is managed by the Office of Public Health and the Business Intelligence and Data Integration Team in the City of Phoenix IT department to ensure that we protect privacy and honor the city's commitment to data security.

This internal dashboard is only visible to approved individuals from select departments, including police, fire, and the Office of Homeless Solutions.

What you're seeing on the left is a visual depiction of alert severity.

The system is divided into four alert levels from green or no alerts to red, which is our highest level indicating a very significant spike.

This screenshot is from an actual alert that was raised on May 23rd.

It was a red level or the highest level, and there were 29 suspected opioid overdoses detected in the 24 hours prior to this alert notification.

There's also a tab within the dashboard that lets us see a map of all incidents that day.

The map provides the general location of each overdose event, and we can see the demographic information of patients at all of the different locations, which provides us with helpful insight into what response strategies would be most appropriate.

For example, we've received alerts where the majority of individuals impacted are primarily housed.

And in contrast to that, we've received alerts where the majority of those impacted are experiencing homelessness.

As you can imagine, working with different populations can at times necessitate unique approaches best suited to that population.

And this demographic information gives us the ability to foster these tailored responses when it's possible.

To conclude the presentation today, we wanted to share where the system is at currently.

Overdose alerts are now being sent to the Office of Homeless Solutions and the Community Assistance Program.

Both have shared draft response plans with our office, which encompass what they plan to use this data for.

These draft plans will be refined over time.

We especially want to involve our colleagues who are working directly with people who use substances in the process of defining and refining these response plans, since they really have the expertise around this work that they're doing every single day to serve our community.

At this time, I can share the community assistance program will be utilizing data provided by this system to identify target areas for outreach.

Outreach efforts will focus on educating individuals about available treatment and recovery services, offering transportation support as needed, and providing education and distribution of the lock zone.

They also plan on collaborating and coordinating when possible with the Office of Homeless Solutions so they can ensure broad range of services and outreach to the community.

The Office of Homeless Solutions similarly plans to use alert system data really to look and compare at what they're already doing and see possibly where there are gaps or where things can be expanded.

For example, reviewing alerts alongside currently identified hotspots for council assigned liaisons to determine overlap and ensure a lock zone distribution is taking place.

Another example of what this might look like is determining if alerts reflect a need to reprioritize areas of focus and other high need areas that might not currently be identified by Office of Homeless Solutions.

The Office of Public Health is also in the process of planning how the system will be monitored and evaluated to determine its effectiveness.

And as a part of this effort, we do want to involve as many external partners as we feasibly can so that those doing work in the community around substance use can also receive these alerts, launch their individual response plans, and this will ultimately allow us to create a network working together to combat the overdose crisis as informed by the most up-to-date and cutting edge data.

I will now pass the presentation back to Yanisa to close us out.

Thank you, Kelly.

Thank you, Vice Mayor and members of the subcommittee for allowing us the opportunity to present on how we are addressing substance use prevention and response in our community.

We cannot take questions.

Thank you so much for the presentation on this very important work.

I'll ask my colleagues if they have any questions.

Any questions?

Oh, doesn't appear to have any questions, but I will I wanted to say I um I'm I don't want to use the word please because please means a problem continues to grow, but I am I'm encouraged by the expansion or the utilization of the NOxalone by the distribution kits and the numbers that we are seeing.

I'm also, um, I'm also a firmed by the launch of the opioid of overdose alert system.

I think it's an innovative data-driven approach to that will help us identify OFURS, sorry, open overdose strikes, spikes in real close to real time and help us respond with the appropriate services and intervention.

So public health challenges, as you noted, requires collaboration and coordination.

And I think this system will help us to be more proactive in protecting our residents and supporting those with substance use disorders.

I just want to again say I appreciate the staff's commitment to using evidence-based strategies to address this crisis and approve outcomes across our community.

So thank you so much for your presentation.

Thank you.

And our last agenda is item is item number eight, which is a report and an update on the third annual 602 day celebration.

And coming to the table, we have Ashley Patton, our deputy communications director, Athena Sanchez, Senior Public Information Officer, and Chanel Hooks for Management Assistant 3.

Welcome.

There it is.

Thank you.

Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the community services and education subcommittee.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide a recap of 602 Day.

Before we jump into the presentation, I do want to give a big shout out and thank you to Becca McCarthy from the City Manager's Office.

She was unfortunately unable to participate with us today.

602 Day continues to grow into one of the city's most visible and community-driven initiatives.

What started in 2024 as a way to celebrate Phoenix Pride has quickly evolved into a citywide effort that supports local businesses, activates neighborhoods, and strengthens community connections across all districts.

This year marked our largest and most successful celebration with record participation.

Today we will provide a brief overview of the initiative, our outreach and engagement efforts, and the results and impact from this year's campaign.

Before we jump into the presentation, we do have a short video we'd like to share.

602 Day returns to the city of Phoenix.

It's June 2nd, so it means it's 602 day.

Business days and places are celebrating 602 days.

So getting to take part in it and join all the other businesses.

Showcase our pride for the city is awesome.

And a big thank you to the communications office for providing that incredible sizzle reel.

602 Day was established in 2024 as a citywide initiative designed to celebrate Phoenix Pride while supporting local businesses and community organizations.

The concept was informed by community feedback and engagement data gathered through the Zen City monitoring platform.

The results highlighted strong resident interest in increasing neighborhood pride, supporting local businesses, and community-focused events.

From the beginning, the initiative was intentionally collaborative.

We created cross-departmental workgroups that were established to support business participation, employee engagement, department activations, and marketing and communications.

The goal was to create a celebration that felt uniquely Phoenix while also generating economic activity and encouraging residents to explore and support local businesses across the city.

Business outreach and engagement remains one of the largest focus areas of the campaign.

The 602 Day Business and Outreach Team directly contacted nearly 800 businesses, organizations, and institutions throughout Phoenix.

Outreach efforts included in-person business visits, phone calls, direct emails to individuals, email blasts, social media comments, and direct messages, and participation in neighborhood meetings.

Additionally, we dedicated Spanish-speaking staff to engage our Latino community.

The outreach strategy helped us engage businesses across all council districts and significantly expanded participation throughout the city.

Supporting partnerships also played an important role in helping increase awareness and visibility for the campaign, while strengthening collaboration between city, local organizations, and private sector stakeholders.

602 Day 2026 became the largest most successful celebration since the initiative launched.

In 2024, we only had 100 participants, which is a smaller number, of course.

And in 2025, we had 250.

This year we had more than 450 organizations, businesses, retailers, cultural uh institutions, and community partners that participated citywide, which is more than double what we've seen in previous years.

Major destinations and events also saw strong participation numbers throughout the day, including approximately 16,000 attendees at the Phoenix Zoo, 26,000 tickets purchased for the 2026 Arizona State Fair in the fall, and 22,000 tickets purchased for the Arizona Diamondbacks Kings.

In addition to the participation metrics, the city also receives strong positive feedback and community sentiment through Zen City.

And now I'll pass it over to Deputy Communications Director Ashley Patton, who will review the marketing and communication strategy.

Thank you so much, Athena.

Good morning, Vice Mayor and members of the subcommittee.

Marketing and communications are crucial to 602 Day as all participating organizations rally together as one big collective marketing campaign to drive traffic to the participating businesses and celebrate our community.

The campaign has two phases.

First, we conducted targeted marketing to recruit businesses to sign up and participate in 602 Day.

And then we pivoted to raise awareness about 602 Day to the greater Phoenix community.

Our efforts had great success this year.

The broadcast, television and radio, English and Spanish, coverage of 602 Day reached approximately 10 million viewers or listeners this year.

If we were to purchase that type of coverage through paid advertising, it would cost about 80,000.

We also leveraged social media platforms to promote 602 Day.

The city's official platforms, also in both English and Spanish, garnered more than 500,000 views.

We also shared the brand kit with all participants and the media, encouraging them to create content as well, which resulted in strong organic content across all platforms.

The community has fully and warmly embraced 602 Day exactly how it was intended, and because of this community-driven storytelling, as well as the support of our mayor and council members, all posts across social media earned approximately 11 million views this year.

We also created print materials and promoted 602 Day through newsletters, downtown kiosks pictured here, digital billboards, and more.

Positive online sentiment was 75% this year, the highest in our three-year history.

An analysis confirmed the event as a quote established civic fixture with the warmest and strongest reception yet.

One key marketing feature of 602 Day is the interactive map.

The information technology services department assisted us in creating this tool, which was greatly improved this year, and visually showcased all 450 plus participating organizations, both in person and online.

We also created a static printable list that you could download on the website.

The map was available at 602day.com, which had more than 130,000 page views.

Next, I will turn it over to Chanel Hooks, Management Assistant Three in the City Manager's Office to share how our best ambassadors, city employees, and departments engaged with 602 Day.

Thank you so much, Ashley, and good morning, Vice Mayor and members of the subcommittee.

Each year, staff partner with city departments to develop engaging, interactive events for residents.

These collaborations allow departments to showcase ongoing programs and initiatives to our 602-day participants, possibly introducing residents to services and programs for the very first time.

I'd like to highlight a couple departments who participated this year.

The library department launched the 602 Day, 602-day badge as part of the summer reading program and provided crafts and activities throughout June at all library facilities.

Fire, street transportation, and parks and recreation departments hosted a bike rodeo offering children bicycle safety tips, free helmets, and safety resources for families.

Participation from departments continues to grow each year, and with numerous activities for residents planned.

Celebrating 602 Day doesn't just happen out in our community, it also happens within our organization with our employees who make the city of Phoenix a great place to live, work, and thrive.

So what did that look like for our City of Phoenix employees?

Well, throughout the month of May, leading up to June 2nd, we launched several initiatives, including peer-to-peer recognition through electronic kudos, a wellness step challenge to encourage movement and mindfulness, and an opportunity for employees to purchase 602-day swag from an online store to help cultivate organizational and civic pride.

We held events that united employees and recognized the important work that they do to support Phoenix's community.

These celebrations featured food, refreshments, information booths with giveaways, a photo booth, and even a dunk tank, creating a fun and engaging environment for our employees.

As we look towards the future, planning for 2027 is already underway.

One of our big goals for 2027 is to engage at least 602 participants.

A fun and meaningful target that reflects the spirit of the 602 community.

And most importantly, everything we do is anchored in growing the overall sense of community among our residents.

That's something we've already we're already seeing positive movement on, and we want to keep that momentum going.

The metrics shown here highlights that we're making progress.

602 Day is becoming a key contributor to that upward trend, bringing people together, building pride, and reinforcing what it means to be a part of Phoenix.

This concludes our 602-day recap.

Thank you, Vice Mayor and members of the subcommittee for your continued leadership and support in building a stronger, more connected Phoenix.

And with that, we're happy to take any questions that you may have.

Thank you so much for the presentation, and I guess I should start off with saying congratulations.

I think the data, the numbers speak for itself, the community pride that we've all felt on 602 Day.

I actually have a 602-day event coming up.

And I was like, you know, 602 Day was a couple days ago.

They were like, well, we didn't get to participate, but we really want to participate.

So it's definitely a testament that people are catching on.

It is becoming the I wrote the comment down because I think it capsulated it perfectly.

It is becoming or it is an established civic fixture with the warmest and strongest reception to date.

I think that encapsulates what I think 602 represents for our community.

And I was very inspired to hear how our different departments are tying into this.

It's not just an economic development tool, it is a community build-in tool.

And I think that I see my colleague turning on our camera, let her talk about and what I know I'm sure she wants to talk about, but I just wanted to say thank you for a job well done.

You definitely have positioned our city in a place that we should be very proud of to see the participation grow to more than 450 businesses in such a short period of time is a testament to the pride that the people here in Phoenix and the strong partnerships that continue to make this occasion possible.

I again appreciate how 602 Day supports our local economy while also creating opportunities for our residents to engage with their neighborhoods and to learn more about city services.

Events like this truly do create a stronger sense of community and remind us that Phoenix is more than a place we live.

It is a city that we are all working together to build and improve.

So again, I want to thank staff.

I want to thank our community partners and our participating businesses for helping to create an event that continues to grow and showcase the very best of Phoenix.

So congratulations and thank you again.

Councilwoman Stark.

Well, I just want you to note that I'm wearing my 602 t-shirt today.

And uh I do want to thank staff for all the hard work they did on 602.

It was a great day.

I had a lot of fun, and just a little trivia.

Um, Vice Mayor, your chief of staff actually started the first 602 day.

I like to call him Mr.

602.

But uh hopefully next year will be even bigger and even more fun.

Certainly does really exemplify why Phoenix is so special.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Starks.

And yes, Zach Wallace.

I also call him Mr.

602 as well, because uh it's something that he's completely passionate about, but his passion is infectious.

And I cannot believe that the councilwoman did not mention the winning team as part of her comments.

I'll let you go ahead if you want to.

That's right.

So the step challenge this year.

Um, Vice Mayor and Councilman Waring and I teamed up with some marathoners, and we won the STEP challenge.

It was a lot of fun.

Yes, it was.

Thank you, Councilman Stark.

Councilman Hernandez.

Thank you, Madam, Madam Chair.

And I'm gonna have to put a team together.

I'm gonna come for that, come for that award next year, just so you know, telling you now.

Um but yeah, and thank you, Zach, Mr.

602.

I agree that is gonna be your name now.

So just embrace it, just embrace it.

Um, no, this was great.

I heard, I mean, I was out and about, we were all out and about that day.

Um, it was so much fun.

I think, like in the moment where things seem so hard for so many people, having something fun right in the city that both benefits like our local businesses, our organizations, I mean the residents get out and enjoy things, um, and maybe give some businesses ideas that they can incorporate not just on 602 Day because I think a couple of uh the D7 businesses are looking at making some some things um maybe weekly.

So it was great.

I did get a couple suggestions that I just wanted to share from one of the local businesses, um, or a couple of the conversations I had.

Uh one of the suggestions was like, could we get the or a question?

Could we get this packets, the sticker packets out to the businesses sooner than the week before?

Because they were super excited to just display everything, prepare everything, and then on the social media side, um, if we can make like a uniform template for our businesses participating, so they can just go and drop their logo, their deals, and there's like standard uh branding across the city for all the business participating.

So those were a couple of the suggestions.

Um, and then the last suggestion was like on the interactive map.

Is there a way that we can like do filters where maybe uh if somebody wants to drop down and just view light rail businesses that have that are participating in the 602 day, like can they just drop down to that?

Um, but that would be great to highlight for next year is like uh businesses all along the light rail paths that we have because we're the we're everywhere, right?

So that would be amazing.

Uh uh, that was an amazing suggestion.

Um, kudos to uh the branding because I was out me and the team were out with our shirts, and we got asked questions like hey, where can we get those shirts so people love the shirts?

Uh, just so you know, but it was fun.

Um, you know, I think I also heard right away.

Uh businesses that didn't get to participate um want to participate already next year.

So I think that the goal of getting at least 602 businesses next year or um organizations, um, it's achievable.

So it's exciting.

Other cities are probably copying us now.

You're welcome, Glendale.

Uh, but this is super exciting.

I had fun, um, and I love, I mean, I love to highlight D7 businesses, so this is a great way to do that.

And um I'm looking forward to what we do next year.

So thank you so much for all the hard work.

Thank you, Councilman.

Again, thank you, staff, for uh thank you for a great presentation.

Summarizing what it is that 602 really means for our community.

Um it's amazing to see it go from it's our third 602 day, and now it has created its own cult following.

I like to think.

Um, and it's because of the work that you guys have done and established and the relationships with the business, the city departments taking ownership for it, the communication, and just thinking outside the box when it comes to this.

So again, overall, great job for this, and thank you for the presentation.

And then our last item to for today is the call to public.

Do we have any registered speakers?

All right, we do not have any.

Are there any requests for future agenda items?

I don't see any.

So I will say thank you for everyone.

The meeting is adjourned.

Lear with the Lear system, and then NXT Horizon with the aquaponic system.

And so residents receive one of those garden systems