Madam Clerk.

Madam Clerk, are you ready to start?

Good afternoon, everyone.

Good afternoon.

The Richmond City Council's budget work session will now come to order.

And that will be followed by our council chief of staff, Mr.

Earl Warren, with the overview for the proceedings for today.

Upon activation of the emergency alarm signal, all persons should immediately exit the building.

Do not use elevators or escalators.

After exiting the building, security would direct everyone down Ninth Street to the assembly area located inside the former public safety building parking lot.

Today you will things will start off with a presentation on human services, specifically within City Hall.

But just so you know, we go to questions.

Uh a list has been provided before you, you know, for example, Richmond Ambulance Authority, Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, uh, the Virginia Health District, I mean the Richmond and Henryco Health District, and that will be for your second five minutes there.

And we'll then most likely take a 10 minute recess, uh, followed by coming back into the chamber and having a presentation from CAO Donald on CIP.

Uh and then you will have five minutes to ask questions at that point, and we'll kind of see how you all feel and how the day is gone.

If we're gonna do a second round of CIP questions uh at that point at the end of the day.

Uh it'll be a long afternoon, but OD, as you know, has been canceled.

So you will be out of this building foreclose of business, and you won't have to stay here tonight.

And uh just a friendly reminder that uh amendments are due tomorrow night at 11 30 p.m.

And if you have no additional questions of me, I will conclude.

I'll be available.

Thank you, Mr.

Warren.

I believe the first up is DCAO, uh Amy Popovich.

Welcome, ma'am.

Good afternoon.

That was good.

Good afternoon.

Um I'm Amy Popovich, uh DCAO for human services.

I'm here today to give you a 20-minute, and I mean exactly 20 minute presentation on our work for this year.

Uh thank you to the mayor and the CAO for their work on this budget.

Uh, and thank you to to you all to City Council for your partnership serving our humans in the city.

I've gotten to see all of you at a variety of different community events out in the uh out in our our Richmond City this year, um, and we are better together.

We are better when we approach our work as one.

As I prepare to reach my one year mark in this role, it's been meaningful to reflect on the work we've done and challenging to prepare for the work ahead.

While I've worked in public service for 15 years and been a Richmonder for 20, uh, it has been an absolute privilege to be a part of shaping the systems and the work we do for our community towards making Richmond a place where all people thrive.

I'm here today to talk about the fiscal year 27 budget, which is a roadmap to a thriving Richmond for our human services portfolio.

You have met with the other three portfolios, the brains and the engine and the backbone.

Today, you get to meet with human services, the heart and soul of the city.

Uh I'd like to introduce my human services staff seated behind me.

Uh, if you're in human services, if you can wave your hand.

Look at this beautiful group.

Uh we are wearing our polos today uh with a variety of different colors uh that really represents um the vast work that we do, all focused on one mission of serving our community together.

Thank you to the Office of Community Wealth Building and Parks and Recreation for the phenomenal work and growth this year.

Uh and I'm thankful to my fellow DCAO colleagues.

And I believe uh as those transition to different portfolios, our cross-sectional partnerships uh and the our cross-sectional partnerships for these departments will only see expanded growth and development as we push past silos and further integrate our work.

Also, thank you to our community partners, some who are here in the room and some who are online.

Uh we cannot do this work alone, and we are better when we do it together.

So I'm gonna start out by talking about the mission of the human services portfolio, which brings together now these four key uh city agencies that really focus on the quality of life for every Richmonder at any stage in life.

Uh we focus on people who are pregnant all the way to those who are nearing their end of life.

Uh and no matter where a person is in that stage of life, giving quality services to all.

We're guided by this shared commitment to economic stability, improved outcomes, and just the overall health and well-being.

We know that health is a lot more than just the absence of disease, but it is the focus on the whole person.

Uh and we are focusing on the city's mission of being a city where all people and places thrive.

So these are our four departments.

We have our justice services, uh, which now the Office of Gun Violence Prevention is living under, uh, a really seamless way to focus on that work strategically.

Richmond Public Library, uh, we're also joined today by the chair of the Richmond Public Library Board, our social services team, and you'll hear about uh a lot of new things they're doing.

Uh but I do want to spend a number, uh spend a minute on the DNCS, the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services.

As you can see, there's a network of several offices under DNCS.

So DNCS is a network of offices that are focusing on our priority populations within the city of Richmond.