The meeting will come to order.

Welcome to the March 13, 2024 meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee.

I'm Supervisor Connie Chan, Chair of the Committee.

I will be joined shortly by Vice Chair Rafael Mendelman and now with Supervisor Mirna Malgar.

Our clerk is Brent Halipa.

I would like to thank Matthew Eatnall to SFGov TV for broadcasting this meeting.

Mr.

Clerk, do you have any announcement?

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Just a friendly reminder for those in attendance to please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices so as to not interrupt our proceedings.

Should you have any documents to be included as part of the file, this should be submitted to myself, the clerk.

Public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda when your item of interest comes up and public comment is called.

Please line up to speak on the west side of the chamber to your right and my left along those curtains, while not necessary to provide public comment.

We do invite you to fill out a comment card and leave them on the tray by the television to your left by the doors if you wish to be accurately recorded for the minutes.

Alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways.

Email them to myself, the budget and finance committee clerk at B R E N T dot J A L I P A at SF G O V dot O R G.

If you submit public comment via email, it will be forwarded to the supervisors and also included as part of the official file.

You may also send your written comments via U.S.

Postal Service Tower Office and City Hall, that's one.

Dr.

Carlton B.

Goodlick Place, Room 244, San Francisco, California, 94102.

And finally, Madam Chair, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors' agenda of March 19th, unless otherwise stated.

Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr.

Clark.

And before we call item number one, I would like to just uh remind the public that we have budget and legislative analyst reports for items one, two, four through six on today's agenda.

And so for those items, we will have department presentation first, followed by the budget and legislative analyst.

Then we will take questions and public comment.

And with that, Mr.

Clerk, please call item number one.

Yes, item number one is a resolution approving a third amendment to the grant agreement between the city and county and the nonprofit self-help for the elderly for the administration pardon of the home delivered meal nutrition services for older adults program to increase the grant amount by approximately two million for a total not to exceed amount of approximately 11.5 million effective upon approval of this resolution with no change to the grant period of July 1st, 2021 through June 30th, 2025.

Madam Chair.

Thank you.

And we today have the Department of Disability and Agent Services here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning, supervisors.

My name is Tiffany Kearney, and I'm the lead nutritionist for DOS.

We are seeking the board's approval to amend Self-Help for the Elderly's grant agreement for home delivered nutrition services for older adults.

This amendment increases the grant by approximately 1.2 million dollars and will support about 82,500 more meals between this fiscal year and next.

Today they are known for providing essential and culturally relevant services for the city's Asian population, which includes the delivery of healthy Chinese cuisine meals to homebound seniors.

Last year, self-help delivered over 246,000 meals to 1,100 plus clients compared to 71,000 meals to 400 clients in fiscal year 1819.

That is almost a three and a half times more meals to three times more clients in five years.

The pandemic and its lasting impacts are notable factors contributing to the elevated service levels I just described.

However, seniors are also the fastest growing age group in San Francisco, with the AP, the senior API population experiencing the most growth.

The senior API population is now the largest racial ethnic subgroup of older adults in the city at 44%, making self help for the elderly a preferred and culturally responsive service provider for many more seniors.

Currently, 90% of self-help's home delivered meal clients identify as Chinese.

In addition, 70% of self-help home delivered meal clients report income levels at or below the federal poverty line, putting them at increased risk for food and security.

San Francisco's Department of Public Health recently published the 2023 biannual food security and equity report.

That report notes that food insecurity rates among participants of city funded and community programs are up.

However, the report also notes that clients who participate in congregate and home delivered meal programs, like the one before you today have lower food insecurity rates compared to clients who participate in other city funded and community programs, reinforcing that DOS's funded meal programs are effective at addressing food insecurity.

Like all DOS nutrition contracts, the self-help grant has compliance and quality assurance requirements.

These requirements are essential in ensuring the health and safety of older adults and help meet the needs of our consumers more completely through in-home assessments, nutrition risk and food security screenings, nutrition education, and referrals.

Menus are evaluated by registered dietitians to ensure the meals provide provided are healthy and tailored to meet the nutritional needs of older adults.

These requirements also include food food safety and sanitation monitoring, which is extremely important when providing meals to at-risk populations.

I will also mention that self-help is monitored on an annual basis, and they have been monitored every um every year in at least the time that I've been with the department, and they are always in compliance.

Self-help is one of many DOS nutrition champions responding to the needs of older adults living in the community to the extent they can with the resources available.

This amendment will provide self-help with the additional funding needed to deliver critical nutrition support to eligible clients for the remainder of this year and next.

Thank you very much.