Committee Of The Whole, May 5, 2025

Okay. So what happened to the folks that were on that backlog? Did they have to reapply? Were they transitioned into another program? And have we done anything to clear that? Whether it's a different type of program, what are we currently doing and what happened to those folks that were waiting in the midst?

I do not have that information at this time, but I can provide that to you in writing.

Okay. And my next question because I was thinking if we're -- we shouldn't have people repeating systems and cycles over and over again. And if we're good at whatever we're doing now, whatever the current program is we should be focused on making sure people are made whole, whatever that means, family-by-family. And if we're going to make that investment, it should be into programs so low-income folks are able to do that. So that was my question. But just so I can get all my questions on the record, I was wondering what law firms do you use to participate in the resolutions of this event, whether with your office or through Orphans' Court? And I wonder what judges oversee this? And do the law firms get a percentage of the sales of tangled title properties through often Orphans' Court?

We have an attorney on staff that is assisting with the constituents in our program. But as far as your other question --

So you handle all of these things inhouse? You don't contract out to any other law firms outside of the Register of Wills Office?

Not at this time.

Okay. Thank you. That's it.

Thank you, Member Brooks. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Curtis Jones, Jr.

Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you for what you do around the corner from us. I too have noticed the increase in crowds. And I wondered is that in part due to the deportation policy of the Trump administration and how that has impacted your office? That's number one. Number two, I need to know about what are you doing about wills and educating people, not just about tangled titles but about the importance of properly filing a will? I will leave my personal story of me and my brother going through that kind of exercise and how traumatic it can be at the worst time of a person's relationship with a deceased. And then finally third thing, for the 250th anniversary you guys have an archive that precedes this country. The first charter was filed here in this county. And I wanted to know does that 250 celebration in part illustrate some of the historic aspects of your office? Those are the three questions I have.

I'll start off for you, Councilman. Thank you very much for the question. Quickly on what you pointed out about potential reasons for the marriage license and marriage records, unofficially -- I mean, officially people don't have to tell us why, you know what I mean. Only if they ask for expedited because of a passport, that's certainly reason. But there were other reasons or their own personal reasons. We did informally find out a lot of things last year in terms of marriage license, actually people applying for the license, not the record, were some fears regarding not so much the deportation point, just the election. And then there were some of that, but that would be unofficial. That's just kind of a casual observation that we made. So I wouldn't be able to answer that specifically. I'll skip the Wills and we'll probably bring up Roger to speak about that. The A250 we would love to be involved in those things. We are obviously seeking more additional funding for the digitization and preservation of the records. We do have some of that already on display. You could come to our office and we could show you what we have and we feel we could be a big part of that celebration next year with the city. So we would love to do it.

I got to believe that you should be working with Michael Newmuis over there to talk about this being a stop that visitors that are coming to Philadelphia kind of take a look at the historic nature of your office. And before we were a nation, the role we played.

He was in our office. We did have a great conversation. I think you made a great point. I'll bring up Mr. Roger Poe to talk about the Wills, more about our public engagement, how we're getting the word out and he can answer your question regarding that.

Mr. Poe.

Good morning Council President, other Councilmembers, Mr. Councilman Jones. I'm Roger Poe, Director of Communications. I'm not going to assume, but I'm alluding that in the previous administration there was a huge, huge focus on wills and doing them. We've continued to do that. Part of the people that we've hired contractually are doing outreach as well as myself continuing that conversation. I personally have been doing wills workshops every week for different organizations, but that's still an ongoing part of our process.

I'm very glad to hear that we have little understanding as to how the tangled title got tangled. And part of it is because we did not give specific instructions to you and the government and our heirs as to how we wanted property distributed and what our wishes were. And it's the kind of thing that at the point you need it, you wish you did it years ago. So I think it's an important part, particularly in Black and Brown neighborhoods where that kind of emphasis can go generations without being addressed and it's in a brown paper box in the back of the closet when it should be registered with yourself. So is there a marketing strategy, which I know you're very good at, to kind of get that message out there?

Again, we have a curriculum. All of our folks that are in our reach go out and do that. And I'm sure you're aware of the axiom, an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of a cure. So, yes, by getting that information, you won't have tangled titles, you won't have these issues because you will have dedicated and specified who the assets go to.

Last thing, how much does a will on average cost?

We work with several agencies, as you have referenced here, that don't cost anything if they take you in as a client.

We got to get that out there. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you very much. Just had a question before we go into our second round. You have an initiative, very good initiative called Legacy and Wealth: How Inheritance Shaped America, external project brief for partners and funders. So, one, I want you to give us an update on that particular initiative as we celebrate the 250th anniversary in 2026. And then also, as a part of your strategy regarding the City Hall exhibit, the statewide tour, lecture and panel series, community storytelling initiatives. Then it said public workshops and legal literacy campaign. One, I think that this is a very, very important initiative. So I want to get an idea of the coalition building that you are doing to make sure that this is successful, the partnerships that you're engaging in to make sure this is successful. And then also, it strikes out to me when you talk about legacy and wealth and how inheritance shaped America, I just want to recommend that as you partner with different organizations, you talk about 40 acres and a mule that's owed to African Americans, Black people here in America as it relates to how we help build this country. And also, the issue regarding redlining, particularly around the issue of housing and the role it has played in terms of the inequality of neighborhoods and opportunities for individuals to build generational wealth based upon banks doing redlining here in the city of Philadelphia, in terms of also the housing market. And also last but not least, in terms of partnerships I recommend and I'm going to point to my civil rights housing leader on City Council. On a federal level, it's called the Fair Housing -- what's the name of the actual agency that deals with the fair housing rights?

HUD really on the federal --

Not HUD. I'll come back, but I know actually there's a different department. Not particularly HUD because HUD just deal by housing, but there is a federal agency that specifically deals with the Fair Housing Rights Act that makes sure that we're being inclusive and equitable in terms of housing, but I'll make sure I get you the information. But I want to be partners. I think you taking on the inheritance piece in terms of how wealth was built in America is a very, very important issue. And it's an issue that's probably not normally talked about, but you can't talk about it if you don't talk about the role that African Americans have played when we talk about wealth and how pretty much -- I'm not shy to say, when we talk about 40 acres and a mule is because prior to the emancipation of freedom, I mean we probably provided free labor. I think we are the labor movement, to be quite frank, when it comes to building this country. And so, I'm glad that you are doing this. We want to be supportive of you as you do this. When you talk about a City Hall exhibit, when you talk about a statewide tour, when you talk about a workshop, my team will step up to the plate and I'm sure members of Council will support you in those efforts, because most people would dare not talk about inheritance of wealth in this country. And if you're talking about real wealth and how that wealth actually got started for a lot of different people that benefited in this country, I'll be less than a man to really talk about or a leader what this conversation really, really means. So as the leader, Register of Wills John Sabatina, you signed off on it with your team and we're here to work with you on your team to make sure that this is a story told. Because in 2026, it's a lot of advocacy around you know, if we talk about the Betsy Ross House, we got to talk about the Paul Robeson House, right. We had a hearing, which I think was great, at the Civil Rights Museum, which is the American Revolution Museum, which is great, right. But also in Belmont Mansion in Councilman Curtis Jones' District, right, we can also have a roundtable discussion around the Underground Railroad, right. So we just want to make sure as we celebrate the 2026 Anniversary of America, that the role that Black people and other indigenous people and other people of color have played in terms of putting this country on the map, and so far to be quite frank with you, a lot of agencies that have come in front of us seeking funding, I think this is probably one that pretty much that we be direct and have a conversation about it, talks about an issue of social justice and it's a part of your proposal. No one's given us a proposal thus far yet, at least that I've saw that says funding strategy and call to action, civil education and vote engagement, legal aid in estate planning and education, historic preservation and archival work, racial and economic justice, arts, humanities and cultural outreach. And so, just give us an idea where y'all at on this particular initiative moving forward.

Sorry, Council President. I actually summoned someone from downstairs to come up to address this. This is pretty much the author of these plans so I'm going to bring him up right now.

I think the gentleman's right behind you.

This is Joe Driscoll. He's the primary person --

He's on the email, Joe Driscoll. Come on up, Joe. (Witness approached Witness table.)

Good morning, Council President, Councilmembers. It's great to see you.

How you doing? How are you?

Good, sir. How are you?

Good. Give us an idea. I was just talking about this initiative about the inheritance of wealth in America. And I don't know if you were up here, but I just said quite frankly hopefully my recommendation is that when you're doing exhibits in City Hall, you're talking about doing a statewide tour, you're talking about doing workshops and panels, right, particularly as a part of their conversation you talk about 40 acres and a mule with African Americans in terms of the role that we have played in America for 2026, also the role regarding redlining that has taken place in the city of Philadelphia where banks didn't allow individuals to provide home mortgages in certain neighborhoods that resulted in what we see today in the city of Philadelphia and all throughout America. So those are two of the key areas that I believe played a major role in terms of how wealth has been generated in America. And then last but not least, at least from my perspective and I'm quite sure other members are here want to be supportive of this initiative in terms of organizations that we partner with that we recommend that you work with, coalition building around this issue. This is a very, very serious issue that y'all are embarking upon in my humble opinion.

Absolutely, Council President. Legacy and Wealth: How Inheritance Shaped America is about how inheritance shaped America, but it's equally about who gets left out of that promise. And we're not only telling the stories, but we're going to be attacking that through workshops like Roger was just talking about, and through all of the outreach initiatives that we do through next year we're going to include that in here. And so, absolutely who gets left out of this promise of generational wealth is going to be the most heavy focus on this program. So there will be the storytelling. There will be the power plays and who built lots of wealth, but we want everyone to build wealth. And so, this is really about education. This is really about making sure that stories are told and not just the good ones, the folks that have been left out. And so absolutely, Council President, any suggestions you or your staff have on this program we will implement.

All right. Thank you very much. And last but not least, good presentation regarding civic engagement and I see y'all do a lot of work with the school. Have we considered papers such as The Tribune, papers such as the Philadelphia Sun, local newspapers besides the School? It seems like there's heavily support on the School, but not papers such as The Tribune, Philadelphia Sunday Sun, WURD.

Good question, Council President. And you know, you and I have background experience with my media background, so all those are considerations. I don't know how much we asked for, but we might want to just put a few more dollars in our budget for that.

I'm just saying I don't steer. I'm just saying these are things that take in consideration to make sure it's equitable across the board. And I only see one particular paper. And so, I just wanted to put that out there just for the record just making sure you're diverse and inclusive, including WHYY for the record as well and those types of overall far-reaching types of media genres. And so, I just wanted to put that on the record. But I do know for a fact if we're talking about building generational wealth and getting to communities that haven't had an opportunity to build generational wealth as much as others, then you have that type of audience that do read The Tribune, that do read on the Philadelphia Sun, just so something to think about as you think comprehensively regarding your media strategy as well as there's a new radio station called Black Information Network as well that I think it's like a counter -- it's like a cousin to WURD. And also, this helps individuals to learn about tangled titles, again making sure we're just being intentional about reaching the most impoverished individuals in the city of Philadelphia. But again, I just want to say great job on the Legacy and Wealth: How Inheritance Shaped America. And with that being said, the Chair recognizes Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, Councilman Dr. Anthony Phillips, and then we'll wrap up with Councilmember Rue Landau.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Council President. Thank you especially for that line of questioning, and in particular the question regarding the H.O.M.E. Initiative and how the Register of Wills Office is working with the Administration. I know a lot of what we have received is relative to home preservation and helping folks stay in their home. And I'm glad to hear that you all stayed at the most affordable home one has is one that's already in the family. So my request is that you all as an independent ROW office schedule a time to meet with the Administration and let us know the summary of the conversation and what further work comes from that meeting so that we have that information when and as we deliberate this housing initiative. We still have an additional hearing on the housing initiative coming up. And so, it would be really helpful for us to have that information so that we better understand how you all are coordinating with the Administration around homeownership and preservation in particular, because that's a part of the 30,000 units. So I wanted to put that on the record. And you all mentioned several times that because of state law that you weren't able to waive certain fees and do certain things. I wanted to know if you all could give us a list, if you had a wish list of things that we could give to our partners in the Statehouse and in particular in the Philly Delegation regarding our specific needs in Philadelphia around creating some type of waiver program and/or deferring some of the fees, what would that list be? Can you all provide us with a list that we could give to our state partners? MR. DiGREGORIO: Definitely. I mean, out of the fees that are mandated by statute, you know, those are the things that we have struggles with. But maybe increasing the allowance of eligibility through the tangled, title fund, raising that bar. A lot of the grants that we submit for income requirements are attached to, so then we're in the same boat than we were before. Establishing maybe a grant or amnesty program for some of the fees that are related to utilities, inheritance tax, those conversations with the state. They've had amnesty programs in the past, which were successful --

Right. MR. DiGREGORIO: We haven't had one I think maybe in 15 years --

At least. MR. DiGREGORIO: -- so something like that could also help us get over hurdles. And a legislative grant or even a city grant to kind of put us in the parameters of people who are just above the poverty level, but also still struggling in these times. That group as well is something that we struggle with to try to manage and get them over the finish line.

Okay. I would request that you all give us a list that we could share with the state partners to our Council President for dissemination to all members of this Committee so that we can include that as a part of their process as well. I don't think we should be in a circumstance where we say every year, well, the state, the state, the state. And right now we have speaker Joanna McClinton, who is dynamic, our Philadelphia Delegation Chair Cephas, we have Chair of Appropriations in the House, my fraternity brother Representative Jordan Harris who's the best, and then also State Senator Hughes. And so, I think we have enough up in Harrisburg to sort of help us with whether we could do an amnesty program or looking at changing the percentage around AMI for eligibility purposes. I think there's a few things there, that low-hanging fruit that we need to attach to and try to bring those down to help open up more availability for our constituents as we're looking at this housing initiative. And I heard the bell and I'm going to honor the clock, but I did see on in Section 38 of your detail around the state administration that there was an increase over the FY25 estimated obligations to FY26 proposed budget. There's an increase for grants funding. Can you talk about what that grant is for? I think it's an extra 650,000 for state administration in particular. MR. DiGREGORIO: I'll pass that to our Finance Director.

Thank you for the question. So we continue to apply for grants and was the grant amount that we put through the state legislator, so it was increased --

I'm sorry. Can you repeat that? I don't know why I'm having a hard time hearing you.

Yeah. So we continue to apply for grants, whether they're federal or state. So we have conversation with some legislators about potential grants for archives. So it was not a said and done deal. We put in the application but we haven't heard anything. So it's still in the works and was an increase based on conversation with the administration, given the grant amount to include it in the budget detail.

I see. So it's the circumstance of it has a 0 net impact on your budget, but you're waiting to hear back on whether or not you'll have or receive the grant, but you have it there as a placeholder --

Yes.

-- just in case received?

Yes.

Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Council President.

Thank you, Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson.

I apologize for this, Council President. Can I just get this one additional question in?

Absolutely.

I apologize for this. I made a notation also on , Section 38 of your detail relative to interpretation. There's a contract for interpretations, Global Language Solutions LLC. It says 5000. And I see there was another contract for FY25 for Powerlang. That was only $1,000 for FY25 but that goes out afterwards. Can you talk to us about how you all are providing interpretation services for constituents for your print materials as well as in the office, you know, individuals who come in who may not speak English as a first language?

Yes. So the two contracts, the Global and the Powerlang they go through the MDO's office so we reach out to the MDO to encumber the funding. We also reserve interpreters for every marriage license appointment or the other services that we have in office. So first, they will book the appointment and then they'll shoot the details and then we'll reserve the interpreter for the specific date and time frame. There was an increase on Global currently because we got some documents, not legal documents but forms translated in Spanish so we are foreseeing invoices coming for those translations. Powerlang is a translation company. We normally don't use them for interpretation. We use Global mostly. But in case of who better has the better rates, you know, we kind of reserve the funding ahead when the new fiscal year kicks in.

I pointed it out because it was only $5,000 and I know that as an example for our hearings if we receive notification for a hearing as an example that an individual needs interpretation services, we have to provide that. And so, I just wanted to make sure that there was an opportunity for our constituents to receive translation services but also that the materials are translated as well and that there's someone -- is there anybody in your office just on your staff that can provide interpretation?

Yeah, so we have bilingual staff in the office. We have Spanish, we have Portuguese, we have Albanian, Italian. So we have all these languages. Just we don't have every other language. And we constantly book interpreters through Global for every appointment. We don't turn down anyone. There are circumstances where we book an interpreter and they might not show up or they double book with a different agency so that's when those circumstances occur. Then staff will step in if they know the language. But depending on the service, we're requiring person interpreter. But we also have the option of the phone line interpretations to provide to clients. And also, we have boards throughout the office with different languages to pinpoint in the right target language. So we constantly book interpreters for every appointment.

Right, I was just asking because I just know how much their hourly rate is and I saw it was only $5,000 for the whole year.

Yeah, I understand that we keep increasing in increments of 1,000. We don't have a lot of funding in Class 200 to dedicate to additional resources. But as we go through the quarters if we have additional funding we increase. But we don't let anyone with our interpretation services, either staff will step in or we constantly book interpreters.

Okay. Meaning that you as an example for FY25, you only utilize $5,000, right?

To start, to start.

Okay. I was just making sure because I'm like I know what the hourly rate -- okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much, Council President.

Thank you very much. Chair recognizes Councilmember Landau. Then we'll be wrapping up with Councilmember Dr. Phillips.

Thank you. I neglected to give you thanks earlier so I wanted to start with that. I appreciate so much that your brochure on marriage rights is completely gender neutral. And as somebody who got your first same-sex marriage ever in not only the city of Philadelphia but the state of Pennsylvania, I remember how you had a very quick learning curve in your office to not only handle same-sex marriages but to also then really just try to use gender- neutral language for any couple that was coming in to get married. So it was really great to see your brochure recently. Just say you want to get married, come on in, you're all welcome. Appreciate that. But my second thing, I think Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson really kind of handled it. I would very much love to see as much as possible not just relying on grants, but a fee waiver system for lower-income people who can't afford the fees in your office. It's just something I'd be happy to even help you set up. It's essential and we need folks with these houses to keep every dollar they possibly can, so thank you.

Thank you. Two brief follow-up questions, Councilmember Dr. Phillips and then Councilmember Quetcy Lozada. Briefly, please.

Thank you. I just had a quick question. What culturally-specific outreach strategies has the Department found most successful educating heirs on the complexities of probate and the urgency of getting it done? And so, how it's going to be expanded in FY26? So I just had that question?

I'm sorry, Councilman. Could you just repeat that?

I'll ask it again. So what outreach strategies has the department found most successful in educating individuals' right, heirs on probate complexities and its urgency?

Primarily just meeting them out where they are, various events, various organizations, churches, senior centers, the pop-ups we're doing in your office out in the District. We're meeting in all the Districts. We're educating all constituent services, people with City Council, with state legislators, federal legislators as well. It's just repetitively making sure that we get the word out.

A point of information then. Mr. Poe, is this your strategy? Is this your comms plan?

That's our strategy. We work as a team here, Council President.

Don't be shy. Is this your strategy that you put together, the comms team for the outreach?

Yes, sir. Sure. Sure, yes, sir.

I mean, that's how I know you. You do comms, right? From Radio One, right?

You and I from working together for several --

Don't say what you and I do. You come from Radio One, right? You do comms?

Yes, sir.

This is just a follow-up to what Dr. Phillips is saying in terms of the outreach and really meeting people where they're at. And then when I saw this with a picture of Phillips and the Register of Wills Sabatina, I said, okay, this is -- aren't you doing this with state legislators as well? I think I saw Senator Williams doing it as well.

Yes, we are. Yes, we are. But again to the Councilman's credit, that idea was initiated by him and his office so he needs to get the credit for that.

But you decided y'all are engaging together?

It was the perfect marriage, Council President.

That's why I asked the question because I said we need to have further ideas and innovation to make things like this happen because honestly, I get confused about the probate process, you know. So if I'm confused, I can only imagine --

Could you speak into the microphone please.

I only say that because if I get confused about the probate process and I know something about it, then I can only imagine how do you break it down to layman's terms for regular residents and all of your information and data. So it's just something I just want you to think about more strategically of how do you break it down simply for people to understand.

Duly noted, sir. We will take your recommendations in hand.

All right. Thank you so much.

Thank you. And last but definitely not least, Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.

Thank you, Council President. I just want clarification on my colleague's question. She mentioned that $5,000 was enough for you all for translation services. I know that my office has translated multiple documents for your office. When we met, you all mentioned that there were challenges and that you're trying to work on translation services. So I'm a bit confused now. Is that enough? With the increase in folks that are coming to your office for services as a result of your outreach, is that enough for you all to keep up with the work? And then you mentioned staff that is bilingual but you experience challenges in translating this stuff. So talk to me a little bit about -- help me understand the discrepancies in your testimony and in your materials and in your one-on-one meetings?

So as far as the translation, we can only translate brochures, informational brochures. In terms of being enough, no, it's not enough because we deal with limited sources in Class 200 where the professional services for translations comes in. But as we move towards the fiscal year if we have funding surplus, we'll dedicate it to additional translating brochures or increasing the interpretations. But also staff does a magnificent job in helping constituents, but we also have the Language Line available to us. The 5000 is to start the fiscal year because we got to go through the MDO to reserve the funding to pay for Global because their contract falls under them. But obviously as I mentioned, we can dedicate additional resources if we had more. But if we have a surplus, we dedicate those resources to the interpretation services. And obviously, with the new service there's going to be in an influx and obviously we're going to need more resources to dedicate to interpretation depending on the public request.

Who do you have in your office that translates for you all now?

I'm sorry?

Who do you have in your office that translates for you now?

So we have Spanish-speaking employees that work in Marriage License or Probate. We have Portuguese- speaking employees. We have people from Asia. They speak Vietnamese, Indian, so our staff goes out depending on the request. Everybody volunteers to help out in terms of public engagement, so they bring that language with them in that community. Now, if we target a specific community, then we'll book an interpreter to go out for that event as well. We'll reach out to Global and give the instructions where to report and what's the event all about. But staff normally if they go out, if there's a bilingual employee that goes out with the public engagement unit, obviously they'll help translate let's say in Spanish if there needs to be or Albanian or Italian, if they're out with the public engagement unit. But normally if they don't, then we'll reserve an interpreter for their event. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Any other questions from members? (No response.)

With that being said, the only follow-up I would like to do with you and your team, Mr. Sabatina and Jewel Williams, is just making a connection with Michael Newmuis regarding 2026 and just making sure that there's a partnership regarding the Legacy and Wealth: How Inheritance Shaped America initiative with the Register of Wills. And so, whatever we can do to forge that partnership with Michael Newmuis and making sure that as he shaped what 2026 looks like, that this initiative is a part of the conversation, and most importantly the rollout plan. And so, want to be helpful from that aspect. MR. DiGREGORIO: Yeah, Council President. Sorry to interrupt you, but we've met with Michael Newmuis and we've had a great meeting with him and having the idea of Visit Philadelphia, our documents, our presentation of documents and developing those stories that you discussed earlier, so we'll definitely circle back with more information on that, but he's seen --

Did y'all get funding for the work that y'all are going to be doing to help roll out what y'all are doing? MR. DiGREGORIO: We submitted what's in our proposal. And also, I think he was going to include it in his proposal to the Administration.

Good. Okay. All right. Because meetings are great. Funding is even better. So with that being said, thank you very much for your time. Sabatina, Sr., continue to keep up the good work with you and your team. Thank you very much. And also, shout-out to Lou DiRenzo. I know he's retiring. And so, I know y'all are sending him away for all the great work that he's done working under the Office of Register. So with that being said, we will be adjourned until the afternoon session at 1:30. (Lunch recess.)

Good afternoon, everyone. (Good afternoon.)

Good afternoon, everyone. (Good afternoon.)

We will continue our Committee of the Whole Budget hearing. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the next panel to testify.

We will have Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson, Health Commissioner, and we'll also call up Dr. Marquita Williams, Interim Commissioner for DBHIDS. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)

Good afternoon. Please state your title and please begin your testimony. And for the afternoon session, members, we have the Health Department and the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities.

Good afternoon, Council President. My name is Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson and I am the Health Commissioner and I have here with me, Ashley Clark Jackson, our Deputy Commissioner/Chief Financial Aid Officer for the Health Department.

Good afternoon, everybody. I am Dr. Marquita Williams, Interim Commissioner for the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services. And I have with me Deputy Commissioner Dr. Tierra Pritchett and Interim Deputy Commissioner Amanda David.

Thank you very much and please begin your testimony -- give me one second. I just wanted to make sure if the two of you could bring your microphones in and speak directly into the microphone.

Is this better, sir?

A little bit, but you maybe have to adjust it up a little bit.

I'll use my outside voice, sir.

All right. Thank you very much. Please begin your testimony again, either one of you.

I'll go first, sir. Good afternoon, President Johnson and members of City Council. I am Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson, Health Commissioner. Joining me today are Sarah and as Thorpe, Chief of Staff; Ashley Clark, Jock Jack Johnson, excuse me, Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Frank Franklin, Deputy Health Commissioner and our Division Directors. I am pleased to provide testimony on the Department of Public Health Fiscal Year 2026 operating budget. The proposed FY26 budget will continue to support our mission to protect and promote the health of all Philadelphians and to provide a safety net for our most vulnerable. You have my full written testimony so I will summarize the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 General Fund budget totals, 161,389,004. It is an increase of $6,186,599 over Fiscal Year 2025 estimated obligation levels. The increase is due primarily to $6,652,616 funding to support our health center expansion to increase capacity and provide increased access to health care in Northeast Philadelphia. The department is requesting 1,091 budgeted positions across all funds for FY26 and that is an increase of nine positions over FY25. The increase is attributed to one General Fund position, three hospital assessment tax-funded positions and five grant-funded positions. The mission of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health is to protect and promote the health of all Philadelphians and to provide a safety net for people who are disproportionately impacted by societal factors that limit their access to health care and other resources necessary for optimal health. We want Philadelphians to thrive, not just survive. Our work activities include -- I'm sorry. Our core values are based on our three pillars: Integrity, commitment and accountability across the department. Our work activities include providing primary care services to Philadelphians, promoting vaccination for children and adults, preventing the spread of HIV, investigating outbreaks of disease, inspecting restaurants, preventing lead poisoning, combating air pollution and creating safer air quality, reducing infant and maternal mortality, promoting the health of young children and preventing heart disease and cancer by promoting healthy eating, physical activity and smoking cessation. We also work very diligently to control the rat population in the city. Key highlights from this past year include: In 2024 we launched our Philly Joy Bank pilot designed to improve birth outcomes and support overall well-being of pregnant Philadelphians. We have enrolled 250 participants and families. We are continuing our work on injury and violence prevention using evidence-based approaches with youth-serving organizations. We are also working with other city departments on the Mayor's Vision Zero goals. And many of our divisions, including the division of Disease Control, air management services, environmental health services and our public health lab are preparing for the special events and festivities that are coming up later this summer and in 2026. These divisions ensure proactive prevention of diseases so that everyone can enjoy the festivities and be safe. We have a robust infrastructure with years of experience from our work during the papal visit, the DNC and other such activities. Our division of HIV Health has been assisting with transitional housing for people living with HIV. We have also received additional funding to help with our lead hazard remediation in homes where children have been lead poisoned. Our air management services division has implemented a training program for scrap yard operators working with Licenses and Inspections to prevent fires. Our Medical Examiner's Office has been working on conducting advanced DNA testing to help identify next of kin for long- term unidentified decedents. Our Ambulatory Health Services Division has been continuing to add capacity and services within AHS operations and continuing the improvement of our existing health center facilities.

Lastly, our core admin services have been diligently working towards filling vacancies, conforming contracts, procuring needed items and making sure that our Health Department facilities are in good repair for all Philadelphians. I thank you, Council President and members of Council, for your continued support of the Public Health Department and I am happy to answer any of your questions at this time. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Dr Marquita, please begin your testimony.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon again, President Johnson and members of City Council. I am Dr. Marquita Williams, interim Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services. Joining me today are Dr. Tierra Pritchett, Deputy Commissioner, who oversees the Division of Administration, Finance and Quality and Amanda David, who oversees the Behavioral Health Division. I am pleased to provide the testimony for DBHIDS's Fiscal Year 2026 budget. In April of 2024 I became the interim Commissioner for DBHIDS. My work with the department spans over years and I have had the privilege of serving in various roles throughout my time. I give you this context because I have seen the tremendous work that DBHIDS has done over the years to evolve the behavioral health landscape in Philadelphia and to a model behavioral health system across the country. I wanted to take this opportunity to say how proud I am to have worked alongside and now lead my fellow colleagues in work that they are personally committed to and invested in. We are together a strong DBHIDS. You've been provided with our full testimony. So today I will highlight our 2025 updates on the transformation of our crisis system, the expansion of our provider network to diversify and include more providers of diverse backgrounds, the partnerships that we have with other city agencies to serve the city's most vulnerable residents and finally, how DBHIDS is supporting the Mayor's vision of a safer, cleaner and greener Philadelphia with access to economic opportunities for all. The DBHIDS mobile crisis teams include four providers: Elwyn, PATH, the Consortium and JFK. These providers manage up to 29 adult community mobile crisis response teams hours per day seven days per week across Philadelphia. Each provider is responsible for a geographic region and their work is to respond and deliver immediate support in communities for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. This critical resource has helped to reduce the need for law enforcement involvement when an individual is having a behavioral health-related crisis. Between January 2023 and February 2025, approximately 14,793 dispatches were recorded and that number continues to grow. A significant part of our crisis system capacity-building effort was the expansion of our Philadelphia Crisis Line. DBHIDS has expanded PCL staffing to meet the anticipated needs of the 988 hotline. PCL now handles about 6000 calls per month providing telephonic crisis intervention, clinical consultation and seamless dispatch of mobile crisis teams when a person is in need of support. Additionally, the collaboration between 988 and 911, which colocates 988 counselors in the 911 radio room, has led to a 36% increase in warm transfers of behavioral health calls from 911 to 988 during the same period mentioned. This ensures that individuals in crisis receive the appropriate mental health services swiftly and effectively. In January 2023 through February 2025, 4,288 calls has been transferred from 911 to 988. In September of 2024, we also established the city's first adult behavioral health urgent care center located at 3125 North Broad. In the first five months of operation between September 2024, and January 2025 the Behavioral Health Urgent Care Center conducted 1,113 service encounters, reducing the need for more acute crisis intervention. Overall we understand that meeting the needs of people in crises across the city must be coordinated strategically and effectively to continue to save lives. In terms of our providers connectedness, related to identifying key areas of high need, the department has proactively sought to include providers of diverse backgrounds to ensure that the options of service for people seeking our help is representative of them and their communities.

This work specifically evolved from our efforts to address and support youth living in areas of the city heavily impacted by gun violence. So in late 2023 we convened 17 organizations working on the front lines of violence prevention and mental health services in their communities. Many of these organizations provide both traditional and nontraditional interventions that meet people at the level of their need and help to transform the experience of the people that they serve. Currently these providers continue to meet bimonthly with DBHIDS and the CBH leadership and are able to present various culturally-informed models and are helping to recreate new programming and barrier-free access to our service system. Additionally, over the last two years CBH increased access for care for members by opening the provider network for the first time in 14 years. This action allowed for more Medicaid-licensed providers for services to Philadelphians in need. We see this as an important step in ensuring that our network truly reflects the diversity of Philadelphians' needs and the individuals we serve. In terms of our partnerships with other city departments, DBHIDS partners with multiple agencies and departments across the city of Philadelphia including, but not limited to, the Office of Homeless Services, the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Streets Department, the Department of Human Services, Parks & Rec, the Managing Director's Office and several others, also with local hospitals and programming to serve the city's most vulnerable residents experiencing homelessness and whose lives and families are impacted by a variety of behavioral health challenges. In FY24, DBHIDS's homeless outreach team engaged over 9,200 unique individuals living on the street across the city. Homeless Outreach worked tirelessly and made 38,594 contacts with these 9,200 individuals working to build lasting relationships to facilitate placement acceptance. Their efforts resulted in 2,464 unique individuals or 23% accepting housing and/or behavioral health treatments. The DBHIDS mobile outreach and recovery resources team supports the city's neighborhood Wellness Court and other court systems. The Moore CDC program provides case management to our neighbors in need and helps to increase adherence to substance use treatment and the recovery supports continuum of care. In addition, our Behavioral Health and Justice Division is a crucial tool in our service delivery system. It serves as a centralized referral system for justice partners, including the District Attorney's Office, the Defender's Association and the First Judicial Court District. Our justice partners are able to make referrals for individuals they think would benefit from connection to behavioral health treatment and social determinants of health resources. BHJD navigators screen and assess the needs of individuals referred and ensure appropriate referrals are made to available resources. This portal plays a significant role in ensuring that individuals in need are connected to the right services at the right time. Approximately 500 referrals are made through the portal annually. Our behavioral health system also works in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia by supporting children in schools and in their homes. Services include SAP programs, which are provided in every district-operated charter and parochial school across the city, and a host of prevention programs addressing mental health and substance use disorders, such as a number of programming, Girls Circle, Too Good for Drugs and a Positive Turn. Lastly, our work supports Mayor Parker's priority of creating a safer Philadelphia. Our outreach teams are on the street every day, engaging people with mental health and substance use disorders.

Our Community Wellness Engagement team meets with community members and businesses to educate and support their connection to services for themselves and their communities. Our Network of Neighbors teams meet with communities impacted by violence to connect them to the services that mitigate the impacts of these traumas. Our Trauma to Triumph program seeks to break the cycle of violence that have trauma as their root cause. DBH partners across city departments and with a number of community-based organizations and providers to implement the behavioral health services and programs across the complete wellness ecosystem. In conclusion, DBHIDS plans to continue these initiatives in Fiscal Year 2026. We are firmly invested in bettering our best every day. The support of City Council has been crucial in helping to address the profound challenges to behavior, wellness and a trauma that has so widely impact Philadelphians. We appreciate the opportunity to highlight the work of DBHIDS, and my colleagues and I are ready to respond to questions that you may have. Thank you so much for your support.

Thank you and thank you, Dr. Williams, for your hard work and I appreciate you taking on the role as Interim Director, although I would push you to be permanent if that was something that would be in your vision. But nevertheless, we appreciate the hard work that you have been doing and I know the Mayor and her team are listening. And so, yeah, I think you should make her permanent.

Thank you so very much.

So thank you for your passion. Thank you for your commitment. And also, you've always just been on the case. I know you've welcomed me through the process of the possibility of bringing virtual trauma support to our young people and showing me the ins-and-outs of that process, but most importantly just staying on the case. And so, I just want to personally thank you for that. And also, Devan White also for being a liaison and talking to members of Council and keeping us abreast on all the great things that your department is doing. And so, I wanted to take a moment to ask a couple questions. First, starting with Dr. Nelson. And, Dr. Nelson, you're new to your position, and thank you for stepping up to the plate and taking helm of an organization that's critically important when it comes to health equity in the city of Philadelphia. And I know during COVID if we learned anything regarding the inequality of how health support is throughout the city of Philadelphia, that definitely showed us that we need to make sure that we're keeping health equity as a number one priority. So also, thank you. Quick question though, just going over a variety of different things that was mentioned, Dr. Nelson, in your presentation, we talked about air quality for environmental equity, health infrastructure, public health planning and events, federal policy and funding changes, community safety and business regulation, maternal and infant health, access to health centers, child-led exposure, substance use prevention, harm reduction, and I wanted to get an idea, I worked with Dr. Ruth Abaya in the past regarding the issue of gun violence and also with my colleague Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, we came up with the Injury Prevention Dashboard. That's what we fought for as one of our budget priorities. And although we had a historical low when it comes to gun violence and homicides, we still have saw an increase in juveniles being arrested and prosecuted as adults for gun violence. And so, we want to continue the mission of addressing gun violence as a public health epidemic as we have in the past administration. And just wondering what is this administration's position? Because based upon your testimony, we're not talking about gun violence. We're not talking about gun violence as a public health epidemic. And so, just giving us an idea from your perspective where we're at with your agenda. We work with a coalition of different hospitals such as Temple, such as CHOP, such as Drexel particularly on gun violence. I want to see where your agenda is since it's not mentioned or the Administration's agenda since it's not mentioned in your testimony?

Sure, Councilmember. So while I've been Health Commissioner for about four months now, I have been with the department for 29 years. And our gun violence injury prevention work is folded within our Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention. While Dr. Ruth Abaya has moved on to other positions, we're still continuing that work within our Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention and looking at -- we're also working with the office of or Adam Geer's group on different facets of how we can support the work that's being done, along with working with Dr. Williams and the kind of the Mayor's focused on breaking down silos. Having been in city government for 29 years and worked with folks side-by-side, it makes it a lot easier to reach across to another department and say, hey, this is the work that we're doing, you know, how do we continue this work and move it forward. So we are in the process of setting up some additional meetings and kind of getting a sense of what are the activities that we need to launch out, especially we know during the summer months things get escalated.

So let me give you some grace because you just got used to -- how many months?

Four months.

Four months. Okay. At some point in time in the future I want to get a more thorough idea on where you're at specifically around gun violence, shootings, homicide, addressing the issue of trauma, right, and making sure we continue to address gun violence as a public safety health epidemic. And even though I know you're just there four months, right, but you've been there in that position for how many years?

I started off as a health inspector so I came up the ranks so I've been here, but we'll get you a full answer of the work that we're doing in terms of that.

Because everything else is mentioned in your testimony but gun violence as a health epidemic or any work related to gun violence. And so, it's glaring just based upon the work that this body has done. And normally, when the Health Department is in front of us we get a chance to address that particular type of issue. And so, that's all I have.

We'll get you a full answer, sir.

Okay. And we're partners in this. And so, however we can be supportive that's how we work as a unit, particularly with Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and myself around this particular topic of gun violence. Thank you. So who'll be leading this session is Councilwoman -- the Chair of Health Councilwoman Dr. Nina Ahmad, but I'm going to just use a minor personal privilege because she has to leave immediately after she asks her question, so Minority Leader Kendra Brooks. And then I'm going to divert the rest of this conversation through the Chair of Health which is Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad. The Chair recognizes -- oh, she's not here. Oh, okay. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad.

Thank you, Council President. Thank you all for being here and for doing so much important and critical work for the well-being of Philadelphians. If we are not healthy, we can't do anything else, whether it's -- and health is the intersection of many things, mental health, physical health, financial stability, food security, housing, environmental justice. All of these things contribute to our health. But I wanted to focus in on something that was mentioned around the Joy Bank. You said you had 250 participants in the Joy Bank. Could you elaborate more on what your findings are, whether this was a successful pilot, what the plans are for doing more than those three zip codes? Do we have resources to do that? And what is the fundamental finding around implicit bias and maternal care that you might have discovered through this process?

Sure. So, Councilmember, the Philly Joy Bank began last year in 2024 in the summer and we have since that time enrolled 250 individuals. However, we're not quite at the place or a moment to fully evaluate yet. It's not been enough time, but we are working on the evaluation plan and can absolutely share the results once the evaluation is completed. We haven't quite reached a full annual cycle.

Any highlights you can share before we go to the actual formal report because I keep talking about the Joy Bank and I don't have any data to sort of underpin what I'm saying. So I would love to hear this even if it's at this moment, anecdotal from your perspective, because there's a whole conversation about how we work in human services, serving communities who are but for poverty of great families but that has become an issue in how we do child removal. So is there extrapolation of sort of what the Joy Bank finds and can we do something similar in some other areas, which is why I'm so interested if you can share any highlight, which we won't hold you to until the final report is out?

Absolutely. Well, I know one of the highlights that is up and coming is we're going to have the celebration for the first year of the program completion. So that is a big highlight. I think the other major highlight to think about is the fact that when you hear a program that gets initiated within not even a full 12 months, we have 250 participants already enrolled within the program. So those are definitely on the preliminary major highlights. There are so many times public health programs that get put in place and then you don't have participation and you don't have active participation, so we have full-on active participation and we can get you some additional details.

That would be great. My next question quickly is about vaccinations. The testimony did not explicitly mention vaccinations, but we know that the department has a focus on infectious diseases like measles, H5N1, could you elaborate on vaccination initiatives that DPH is planning for 2026 to prevent these and other diseases? I am particularly concerned about the drop in childhood immunizations and I would like you to comment on the target rate and where are we in Philadelphia.

Sure. So first and foremost, there's no 4 drop in immunization rates for our city. We're still staying steady at our high vaccination rates and we are continuing to do our work through our health centers and also partnering with other local juris -- the School District of Philadelphia and others to get as many children and adults vaccinated as possible.

So we're reaching our target rates as we did in the previous year?

Yes.

Is there overall reduce in rate for the region of Southeast Pennsylvania which will of course impact us because there are no real borders for viruses?

One more time can you repeat --

So is there any difference in the target vaccination rate for surrounding counties, not necessarily Philadelphia that you're aware of?

So in order to determine where we are compared to other surrounding counties, we will have to go ahead and get those results back over to you because that is a fairly complicated question and we need to go ahead and work with the state health department to get that --

Only because we know nationally it has dropped. That is a fact. Obviously I would like to know how well-prepared we are, even if right now we're seeing not an impact because it'll be impacted by people around us in different counties.

Our rates haven't dropped, Councilmember. And we're staying steady and we're continuing the work that we have been doing.

Can you just tell us what are the initiatives you take normally for vaccination rates to stay where they are? What was your general practice?

So generally, we work on vaccinations through our health centers. We also inform pediatric providers about the various needs of vaccinations. Most recently the Children's Hospital Philadelphia wants to do an event to get more folks vaccinated in the Lower Northeast area with our various populations so we're partnering with all of the folks that we possibly can to get the additional vaccinations done. And we have our Vaccine for Children program that we've continued and we will continue.

The reason why I'm on this issue of vaccinations, we're going to have a huge influx of visitors coming next year. And so, I just wanted to know how are we prepared for folks. We have no idea what their status is, vaccination status is and what can we anticipate to make sure Philadelphians stay safe at least on this front?

Sure. We can have Jessica Caum, our Division Director for Disease Control, come up and talk. But I just want to say one thing before she comes up and that is, our children are vaccinated and they'll be vaccinated at the same rate. I understand the concern about, you know, folks coming to visit us from all over the place. And while we may not know their vaccination status, our best defense is our offense of getting our folks vaccinated and making sure that vaccines are available for all of the folks that need the vaccinations.

Okay. Is she going to come up and tell us? (Witness approached Witness table.)

Good afternoon. I just wanted to address the question about preparedness for next summer's events. So we have convened internally several of our divisions to start planning. We have also convened a regional surveillance group where we are working with surrounding jurisdictions and the state of New Jersey to prepare for the events of next summer. And this surveillance group in particular will be working on identifying all of the diseases that may be occurring in the countries where we expect to have visitors, and we'll be notifying all the health care providers in our city to let them know about things that they should be aware of with respect to clinical presentation for various illnesses that may be happening at that time. I think we can anticipate now some things we might see, and certainly measles is something that we would want to be prepared for, but we'll also need to see what other outbreaks may be happening next year in order to notify health care providers. So we will notify them through something called the Health Alert Network. So the HAN, which is a national system, and we have a local system as well so we will notify all of those providers again about what to be on the lookout for. We will provide additional tools that they can use to make sure that if anyone is presenting to local emergency departments, that those providers are aware and have guidance as how to manage them. And part of our participation in the surveillance group is with representation from our hospitals through the health care coalition.

Thank you. I know the bell rang. Just last one question around communicating this plan and this sort of preemptive move to our communities. People are not following all your surveillance methods. So I just wanted to know what is the community outreach program under way, amongst maybe other things that you're telling people about the importance of vaccination and at the same time saying we are ready, prepared because this gives confidence in Philadelphia, and we want our communities to feel that.

Well, we have a few mechanisms for communicating with our communities. One, in our Division of Disease Control is something called the Community Response Partner Network, which is a list of hundreds of community- based organizations who we send regular newsletters to, regular communications out to, to make them aware of things that they should be on the lookout for. So most recently we have sent communications out regarding measles, as we have had a couple of cases occurring and have done a lot of work in order to contain transmission of those cases. That's a network that we will use next summer to alert all of our communities about activities that will be happening and things that they should be aware of. We also have mechanisms to do neighborhood canvassing as well as canvassing of early childhood education centers, community organizations. And one area that we have also looked at and have been working on actively, especially with respect to measles, has been urgent cares. They are not traditionally folded into all of the other communication networks. And so, we actually will send staff out to the urgent care networks across the city to provide materials and make sure that they are also well-prepared to recognize any diseases of concern that may present in those locations.

Council President, I'll have my second round for Dr. Marquita Williams. I didn't get to that at all. So thank you for giving me so much time.

Thank you. And at some point in time I'm sure you're going to talk about vaping and popcorn laws?

Yes. We're talking to them all the time right now. We should be putting our hearing back --

I'm going to stay in my lane, but I do want to hear more about the popcorn laws and the devastation --

I can do that now if you want to indulge me now. Okay. Yes, should I go ahead?

(Gestured).

Okay. As you know, your department has been working very closely with my office to talk about the bill we have under way to increase fines for retailers who violate selling vaping products and other tobacco products to our youth under and 14 I wanted to kind of look at why we 15 are doing this from a medical 16 perspective, the idea about this 17 irreversible popcorn lung situation 18 that occurs in young people and how 19 serious it is, because the hearing 20 we had really had young people come 21 to us and tell us you have to do something. And this is our response to their request because they're watching their peers really get impacted. And if you could speak to the addictiveness of these vaping products because these are pure nicotine versus what we got in a tobacco form smoking cigarettes, and where the Health Department is on this matter because we continue to see huge targeting of young people, particularly in underserved, underresourced communities and they're taking advantage of that?

Absolutely. So for the record, tobacco and nicotine specifically there's a warning label that says if you use this, it's going to kill you. And the tobacco industry has been very stealthy in the way that they do advertising. So as cigarette smoke and cigar smoke and other things started becoming less in vogue, they started doing vaping. They had issues and court cases that they lost associated with tobacco products, they started doing vaping. Vaping and JUUL are not necessarily as heavily regulated as tobacco products, for us at the Health Department and the tobacco industry traditionally hooks people while they're young. Okay. So if I think back to my youth, the going ad then was you've come a long way baby with Virginia Slims, right, making it look very attractive, very the in thing. Now, the newest thing are the JUUL products. So as the Health Department we have to be committed to prevent -- we can prevent people from getting hooked, from our youth from dying, our youth from getting chronic diseases. So we are working not only with your office, not only -- we have two divisions within our department that handle specifics with tobacco and tobacco and vaping and JUUL regulations and everything; our Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Division and our Environmental Health Services Division, which is our enforcement arm that goes out. We've worked with the Law Department. We're able to do everything from issuing code violation notices, which are tickets, to doing cease operations if folks are selling to youth, to closing businesses down for 14 days if they've had infractions multiple times. So we are committed to doing this work and working with the youth. We have funding from the JUUL settlement and we are working with Finance to increase the media campaigns and to do the anti -- there was a lot of truth -- I don't know if anybody remembers those ads, the Truth about Tobacco ads that were in place about maybe eight or nine years ago that were very effective to prevent youth from doing smoking cigarettes. So our goal is to use part of the settlement dollars towards advertising education and then also the enforcement work that we need to.

Are you keeping track of any data that shows what the rate looks like, where they're happening most? I know you have heat maps and all. Can you just tell us for the record where do you see the most sales, unauthorized sales or illegal sales happening in the city of Philadelphia?

Councilmember, that's very challenging to answer only because there's about 2500 or so places that have a tobacco permit in the city, right. We have no way of capturing those folks that sell tobacco products that don't have a permit and they're just selling because they're just selling. We have no way of knowing that.

Yeah, pop-up shops.

Correct, correct. And so, it's like any other activity people can, you know, we have no way of knowing how many people sell water bottles during a hot summer day on the street because they're not a regulated entity. They're not permitted. They're not licensed. But for the establishments that are permitted, we do inspect them. They get annual inspections. We work with the Law Department as well as Licenses and Inspections.

So I think you articulated the problem. We don't know what we don't know and how can we address that along with our law enforcement along with L&I maybe region-by- region? We have a sense of where they are most in Philadelphia. It's not all over. It's not in Chestnut Hill. It's not in Old City. It is in specific regions. We know what those zip codes are. So since we know that, what is our targeted way of addressing so those children know that we love them because we are putting resources, we are stopping those smoke shops, we are holding people accountable because that's what the children of Philadelphia told us to do. And I just wanted to know how are we going to get there? It's not impossible. If we can go to the moon and we have all these people coming and going, we can know where these smoke shops are and we can have a much more proactive program to address that. So I would like to know what we are doing from multiple -- not just Health but maybe Health coordinates, what is our effort to really crack down on that?

Sure. And, Councilmember, you know, I'm a firm believer the word impossible is broken down to I am possible. So anything is probable and possible. And so, what we are doing is we've received complaints, right. A lot of these illegal shops are on a complaint basis. So because we have partnered with and have been working with the Mayor's Nuisance Task Force and we work with L&I, the PPD, if there's alcohol involved, we work with Liquor Control Enforcement and everything and there are monthly meetings. In the interim, we do we do conduct joint inspections. Different departments have different authority. And so, we work together collaboratively and our staff go out in the field with their staff, the different department staff and we conduct inspections. And when we see evidence, because we need to see evidence of it, we take the appropriate enforcement activity, whether that's cease operating the establishment, if there's other behavior happening PPD goes with us and addresses that as well. So those are the sorts of activities that we're engaged in and we are tracking those activities through the nuisance PhillyStat360.

So we have data around it over a period of time?

Yes.

Could you please share that with Council President to show these concerted coordinated efforts have resulted in X --

Sure.

-- I would like to know that our tax dollars are being used to protect our children.

Sure.

All right. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. I'll reserve my questions for Dr. Marquita for the next round.

Thank you. Thank you, Chairwoman. Chair recognizes Councilmember Harrity followed by Councilmember O'Rourke.

Thank you, thank you. Thank your for the work you do. The work you guys do is for our most vulnerable population and it doesn't escape us here in City Council. We have a big respect for the work you guys do. That being said, this week The Inquirer reported this week that Judge Simmons was ready to shut down the program over frustrations with the lack of coordination and communications from the Administration. The Administration says the changes and delays were due to administrative protocols that we need to be resolved. In your opinion, what is the biggest obstacle in streamlining the process to get people into the Wellness Center program? We're all committed to this work, especially us in the Kensington Caucus. For us it's about getting people into this wellness ecosystem and giving them a chance to succeed. What are your views so far because you guys are working as part of that, correct?

Yes, we are working as a part of that team.

Correct. So what do you see as an obstacle or something that we can do to streamline the process? Because in reality, it's about getting people into recovery and the easier we can make that, the more people will have that will succeed. So just trying to see if you guys had any wishes or what you have seen so far that we can rectify, you know, administrative stuff, that stuff we can fix that.

I think any time that there is a new initiative in the pilot phase those initial months of all the teams working together, this is an initiative that's led by Public Safety, Managing Director's Office inclusive of partners like DBHIDS, I really think it's the time that it takes to bring a pilot to full bloom and to make sure that we are addressing all of the kinks as they come. That's the stage that we're in, right. I think that it's really sort of like par for the course in terms of implementing new programming. And I think that if everybody continues to come to the table and work together to make sure that there aren't these barriers to people being able to come into court and then move from that court process into treatment, if that's what's indicated, you know, so that's what it will become and we'll be able to scale it up for five days.

Yeah, we're looking forward to scaling it up to five days. All right. That's all I have. And again, I thank you for all the work you're doing. Look forward to working with you to get this situation moving in the right direction. But I really do feel that this Wellness Village is one of a kind. Once we work the kinks out, this is going to help a lot of people and give a lot of people the opportunity that they wouldn't have normally had. Again, always talking about people, places and things for us addicts is what helps -- you know, is what hurts us. So by not having to go back to the place we came from right away gives us more time to be able to deal with the realities of being sober. So I thank you for your work.

Absolutely. Thank you so much for all of your support. I mean, if you look back in history at programs where these revolutionary state-of-the-art programs, it takes time to sort of move outside of maybe some of our traditional ways of being, to implement new ideas, to get everybody on the same and to make it work for the outcomes of everybody involved. So I think you're absolutely right, and we're committed to continuing to support the Administration as well as all of the individuals in Council to make sure that people have what they need when they need it. So thank you for your support.

Thank you.

Chair recognizes Councilmember O'Rourke, followed by Councilmember Lozada.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you all for being here. Good afternoon. The services that you provide are critical to ensuring access to care for Philadelphia's most vulnerable residents, including the uninsured, including the undocumented, including the poor. Given the looming federal threats to Medicaid and to SAMHSA funding, I'm deeply concerned about the impact on health care access in our city. Dr. Williams and Dr. Raval-Nelson, have your departments engaged in any scenario planning or financial modeling to assess the potential impact of these cuts?

So absolutely, that's one of the things that keeps us up, right. Because we know that 40% of Philadelphians, around 600,000 people, are eligible for Medicaid here and potential cuts can be catastrophic for us. And so, we have been doing continuity planning, looking at if there is a cut, where potentially would that cut come from, what are the services that would be impacted, what would access look like for those individuals, families, children, whole communities, if that was to happen. And then looking at our provider network to see now where are there places that we can think about cost-saving, cost-sharing, constriction of the network in anticipation of something happening that obviously none of us want to happen, but in an effort towards thinking it through in the event that there are some cuts. And so, we've done that internally, but we've also started talking to our provider network about it. And in fact, later on this month we're supposed to go back to the provider network to include them --

Excuse me. I'm sorry. Can you do me a favor --

Oh, I'm sorry. To include them in some of the planning.

And two things, number one, can you make sure that you're speaking into the mic so the stenographer can hear --

Yes.

-- and number two, can you be a little more concise in your answers because --

Absolutely.

-- the Councilman has a limited amount of time and so do the other members and they really want to get a lot of their questions in and we're already at past our time.

Thank you very much. I will keep that in mind. Thank you.

What you shared is actually good to hear. Could you talk more about which services in particular would be at risk under the most-likely- cut scenarios and from what you know already, and then which communities would be most impacted? And I'd also appreciate if you could forward information about the planning that you guys have been able to compile herefore and it sounds like you have some more to do --

Councilman, I'm going to give you another minute because I know I interrupted and some things weren't actually heard on the record so we're going to give you a little more time. Sorry about that, Councilman.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for your indulgence. If you could forward the information about the planning to the Council President at your own convenience, that'd be super helpful as well.

Absolutely, we can do that. Thank you. And can you repeat the last part of your question?

Yes. if you could pinpoint the communities that are impacted, if you would like to talk more about which services are actually at risk as a result of these cuts? And then which communities would be most impacted in particular? That would be good for us to know in terms of what you all are seeing coming down the pike.

Absolutely. Thank you. We can get that to the Council President's office.

All right. That'd be super helpful. I'll try to get one on and then pass on the mic for Public Health. So last year our office and many advocates raised concern over the Parker Administration's announcement that they would not include any funding for syringe exchange programs in their FY25 budget. The Council passed a budget that reduced funding for syringe exchange programs by nearly $1 million and many health care experts said that Philadelphia should brace for "a spike in HIV and other bloodborne diseases." Couple of questions: Has the department tracked any changes in rates of HIV, of Hepatitis C or other bloodborne illnesses since the funding cuts took effect? If so, what are the trends? And are you aware of whether the organizations previously funded to oversee syringe exchange programs were actually able to identify alternate funding sources? You may not know that but I wanted to ask.

Sure. So the funding was shifted away from the harm reduction section of syringe exchange and our Division of HIV Health as well as our Divisions of Disease Control and Prevention, we've been monitoring the number. We have been keeping track and we can get you a full update about where the prevent -- you know, where we are with the HIV data and --

You don't have any of that on hand at the moment.

What's that?

You don't have any of that data on hand at the moment?

I can look through our division of -- our budget was changed around a little bit, the time frame. Our HIV director is not here today, but I can absolutely get you that in a few minutes. The rates have not spiked as we had anticipated. They have not, but we are keeping a close look at it. One of the reasons for that is that we've been focused on other upstream solutions. So what can we do in terms of PrEP and and other sorts of solutions to prevent the infections from happening.

Thank you, Doctor. I heard the bell. And I thank you for your indulgence, Mr. Chair. I'll come back around for the second round.

Thank you, colleague. And I too look forward to that data to see if we've seen any spikes or anything in that capacity. Chair recognizes Councilmember Lozada, followed by Councilmember Gilmore Richardson and then Councilmember Gauthier.

Thank you, Council President. Thank you both for being with us. First, I want to make sure that I extend my gratitude to Commissioner Raval-Nelson and Sarah for always being present in the 7th Council District. We had quite a ride at the beginning when I first arrived here and we were trying to talk about the need for more health centers and that still hasn't changed, right. We're still having those conversations and we still have the need. I just want you to for the record talk about the importance of the new health center that we are looking to see happen at Frankford Transportation Center. What are some of the challenges that we're still experiencing? And do you see this project as a project that will continue to be a priority, not just for Council and the residents but for the city and the Administration?

Sure. So we know based on the population and the demographics of the Northeast, we know that in the city of Philadelphia -- and I'm going to try to keep it brief but get it on the record -- of all of the health centers we have eight health centers, though the numbers are a little bizarro but we have eight centers. We have one health center that is on Cottman Avenue that serves the entire Northeast. The average wait time for a child is six months for an appointment and the adult wait time is over a year. So the Northeast is a health care desert and the population is as such that they don't have the capacity to go all over the city to seek care. So it is definitely a need. We are working, as the Councilmember is aware, to get the legal documents in place to move forward with the design phases and of the health centers.