Okay. All right. You got a point of information, Brother Phillips?
Point of information, Member Dr. Anthony Phillips.
Thank you. I just wanted to bring it up because also I've been hearing in terms of staffing, does this budget allocation reflect, especially with low wages and so forth compared to other sectors, how are you recruiting and retaining staff? Is this budget allocation showing an increase in salary for these workers? I'm just thinking about how are you going to do a better job with retaining staff and attracting them for positions like this as well as other clinical areas?
Yeah. So we work closely with our providers. We know that this is a position that leads to high burnout. So we work with our providers around salary increases, around incentives. I believe Councilwoman Lozada asked us to submit to the President what those incentives are and what it looks like so we can include that in the information that we submit to you, but it really is a result of relationship that we build with our providers and them working on their staffing needs. We can provide the funding to support it, but understanding their staffing patterns and sort of what the incentives are that would retain workers relies on the side of the provider. And I do have a piece of information for you from your last round.
Just a point of clarity, there's no 14 increase in salary in this fiscal year for staff members who are doing this work?
I do want to let you know you asked about the suicidality. 70% of those calls had to do with suicidality. You were asking about the calls that came into the PCL line.
So it was Member O'Rourke who had the floor and Phillips asked for a point of information. And you were wrapping up, correct?
One more if you give me some time. But if not, I can hold it.
Thank you. This was kind of picked up already by Member Harrity a little bit, but I do want to go there myself, Dr. Williams --
My apologies. I thought I was doing a pretty good job on it. Your testimony mentioned that your continuity of care team provides case management for up to 90 days in connection with the Neighborhood Wellness Court. Only 120 of the 3,400 folks that the team engaged with actually ended in a linkage to case management. That's 3.5%. And I had a few questions that I'd like to get on record as I get off the mic. What factors contribute to this extremely low uptake? How many of those 120 actually stayed with a case manager beyond the initial linkage? And has anyone successfully completed the 90 days of provided case management thus far?
So the Moore's Continuity of Care team serves individuals in the Wellness Court, but also serves individuals that the Moore's team connects with outside of the Wellness Court. And the idea behind the Continuity of Care case management team is really to make those connections and then transition individuals off to other services. So if the Moore's team gets somebody assessed and gets them into some kind of treatment placement or housing placement, they then follow up with the individual just to make sure that the continuity of care continues. And so, they've been pretty successful in that arena. The Wellness Court piece we are working with individuals. And as Adam Geer mentioned in his in his testimony that the data is just not ready to be shared yet, so we would be happy to share it along with OPS data related to Wellness Court. But the Continuity of Care team that works outside of the Wellness Court has had success.
Thank you, Council President. I just want to get three questions on the record that are all unrelated. But because this is Round 3, I want to make sure that I get them in. In 2024, you mentioned the launch of Trauma to Triumph. The program serves 100 youth and young adults annually that live in high poverty, high crime zip codes across the city of Philadelphia. Considering this information, how many of the youth or young adults participated and completed the Trauma to Triumph program in the 7th Council District? Through these programs were the kids ever asked what they wanted? And if so, what was their response? And then how can City Council best support programs like this that impact young people directly?
Thank you, Councilwoman, for that question. So the Trauma to Triumph program, the 100 youth, 75 completed the cohort. We partnered with grassroots community organizations, Every Murder is Real, NAMI, Mothers in Charge, Black Men Heal and the Philly Children's Movement. Based on the interviews that we had with the youth about what they'd like to see as well as feelings that they had about not being seen or heard in traditional spaces, and we're able to take them through 12-week curricula, that in fact just in the last month they've completed. So in terms of City Council support, like any resource, would be helpful for us to be able to continue to engage additional youth in these programs beyond this initial 75 cohort.
How can we as a legislative body continue to support programs like that to directly impact young people?
Always about money. And then my other two questions is how many needles were distributed versus the number of needles that were collected? Do we have that number?
I'm sorry. Can you repeat that question? I didn't hear what you said.
I think it's for the Health Department. How many needles were distributed versus the number of needles that were collected?
So we can absolutely get you the numbers in terms of what was collected. Our SUPHR Division does that aspect of the collection. The distribution is not a number that we would readily have. That's done through the other entities.
Okay. If we can get that, that would be great. And my last question for the record is some folks spoke about beds and availability. I know that we talked about getting those numbers onto PhillyStat360 in realtime. Have we been able to do that? And if not, when do we think that we will be able to see that in realtime?
In realtime -- so we are working on an RFP for a bed registry. And so, it's taking a while to get the RFP together because we want to make sure that the RFP is comprehensive and includes all the needs. We've also met with all of the bed-based treatment providers in order to understand what would be helpful for them, what would be helpful for the crisis response centers and what would be helpful for us in general. And so, the RFP is due to be released in early summer. And then it'll take time to get things up and running and connected in the network. Because what we want is we don't want it to be an extra job for somebody to do. We want it to be a seamless thing, because things that are seamless will continue. And if it becomes an extra job, we don't want it to become a laborious process for folks. So we're hoping to have that up and running. I can't give you a date now. But as the RFP process rolls out, we can give you more of an update related to what the rollout looks like, if that's okay.
Thank you. I have a brief question for Dr. Williams. I talked to you about this briefly regarding the initiative that I want to bring in the city of Philadelphia. But just give me an overview on the level of support we are providing for the children in our School District and our charter schools around trauma support. We know gun violence is significant in the city of Philadelphia. And although we've had a historic low, when it comes to shootings and homicides we've seen an increase amongst juveniles, right. And so, I'm one to believe that a lot of our young people walking around shell-shocked, right, as it relates to them seeing their friends being murdered, families being murdered and they go to school with this trauma every single day with not really having the ability to process it on its own. So what are we doing as a city to support such young people? I know we did have one company that had a contract with the City that we don't have anymore. And so, if we don't have that contract with, say, a company, what are we doing to be supportive of our youth around the particular issue of trauma support when it comes to gun violence?
So trauma has been one of the pillars of our -- addressing trauma has been one of the pillars of our department for years. And so because of that, we address trauma from a variety of different angles. And so, you're familiar with some of the grants that we've been able to implement like the ReCAST grant going into the communities specifically looking at youth and supporting youth in terms of their exposure to violence and the aftermath of violence, meaning the sort of traumatic sequelae, if you will. We also through our Engaging Males of Color work with younger men through the JJC program to sort of deter them against indoctrination to gun violence and so forth. We just talked about our Trauma to Triumph program that targets a younger set of youth around looking at high poverty areas, high crime areas, high violence areas and exposure in terms of trying to move people away from the earlier indoctrination to selecting gun violence as an option. We also work with our providers. There are several providers who are of color who have made a specific culturally competent series of programming to engage young African American and Latino males around understanding violence, understanding the cycle of violence. And so, across our system there are a number of programming. You mentioned also about our school-based connections. So in every school there's an IBHS provider, that's a behavioral health provider, that would also work with children who are exhibiting some symptoms of trauma. So in various places, whether it's prevention, whether it's actual treatment, whether it's support services, trauma is embedded across the programming. And addressing trauma is embedded across the programming --
Tell me about Network of Neighbors. Are we expanding that particular program that actually goes out after shooting and homicides and actually trains the community on what the community wants to see as a trauma response?
Network of Neighbors is in high demand constantly. They are out in the community, requested frequently from some of our city departments --
How many staff do we have? Let's see if the Administration -- to be quite frank we talk about priority. I know when they came at one time, we said could we expand the number of individual staff because it was like two people at the time for the City of Philadelphia as a whole. How many staff do we have now?
So since then -- I don't have my number exactly with me, but it's more than two people. We've expanded -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: 10.
We have 10? Okay. So that investment shows it's a priority.
You sure you don't want to be permanent in the position, no? I know y'all watching.
She made y'all go from 2 to in a two-year period. 8
And we 9 are -- the funding for Network of 10 Neighbors is coming to a close soon, but we're trying to make sure that we get some additional funding to keep that program moving. But they are in high demand. It's a very well-respected program. We have been able to expand from the 2 to 10. We'd like to expand even further.
Some more, okay. Well, I know you have members here, including the former Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Black Male Engagement, Dr. Ahmad, and also Councilmember Jamie Gauthier who's advocating around youth gun violence as well as Councilman Jeffrey Jay Young and members as a whole who have been working on this issue to support such expanding of that particular department as well as Dr. Phillips. And so, is your hand raised for a point of information, sir?
I just want to say just going back on my comment earlier, this would be an opportunity for you on social media to kind of display showing young people the benefits of that type of counseling because we always say -- after those events we always say that is available, but they can't visualize what that looks like. So maybe y'all can do some role play and skits or something to make it interesting. Thank you.
All right. Thank you very much. Wrapping us up --
So, Councilmember, we collected 11,921 syringes for FY25 Quarter 3. 11,921, the number's dropping this quarter, but that's how many we collected during January, February, March.
Okay. And can you clarify that? That was in response to -- go ahead.
Yep. And Councilmember, Council President, I did provide the information about the Gun Violence Nonfatal and Fatal Injury Prevention Dashboard so we can get you the exact web address and everything for that.
I have it. Joshu Harris sent it over to me. I have that part. I just want to make sure that the agenda is still on the top priority of the Department of Public Health in terms of moving forward. But, yes, I do have the Injury Prevention website dashboard actually in my phone. But I want to know the response regarding the syringes. I wasn't here for the initial question.
The Councilmember just wanted to know how many syringes we had collected. We don't have control --
That's the Health Department's distribution, right? That doesn't include all of the other uncoordinated providers that just distribute syringes, right?
I just want to be clear. It's just a collection. It's a number that we keep track of.
Well, thank you for your work on that because I know we had a young lady talk about how she has to get tested every so many years for HIV because she stepped on a needle in Kensington and she gave her testimony in front of members of Council. So very, very important job. Wrapping us up today will be the gentle lady from 8th Councilmanic District from the Northwest part of Philadelphia, Councilmember Cindy Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. So just a couple of questions. I know we're running out of time so I just want to be quick about these. I want to shift gears a little bit to restaurants and business closures because I've had instances where restaurants were shut down for various things. And it's a little confusing to me because I've had restaurants that shut down that seem to be clean and well-organized and an inspector will come in and there's a cracked floor tile or they come in July and during the lunch rush and the temperature is off a couple of degrees in the freezer and they get shut down. And then I'll have, sort of like my stop-and-gos that never get shut down. And they've got dirty cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. And we talked about this before, because the floor is filthy. They have a restaurant license. And I was told by one of the inspectors that cleanliness is not something that really rates with the Health Department when it comes to closure. So can you explain that?
Sure. I'm not sure who would have said that, but that's beside the point. Our Food Safety Inspection Program is based -- it's a risk-based inspection approach which means that we're not just looking at walls, floors and ceilings. We're actually focused on actual handling practices looking at temperatures, making sure that folks that have Hepatitis A are not making your salad so you end up getting Hepatitis A. So the inspection form itself has about 54 categories. The top 27 are the risk-based inspections, which looks at everything from whether or not the place has a food safety certified individual, whether they have an understanding of food safety principles about foodborne diseases, whether there's reporting. We look at vermin. We look at --
Don't mean to cut you off, but what you're saying rings a bell. So I think I probably in my mind just sort of paraphrased what was told from the inspector. But you're right, what they said was that it wasn't one of the priorities to close a restaurant. But my thing is if a restaurant location is pretty filthy, which most of these stop-and-gos are, shouldn't that be a reason to close anyone with a restaurant license? Shouldn't there be some level of cleanliness required to stay open besides the other items that you listed?
Sure, Councilmember. I don't want to send the wrong message. The good retail practices are about the cleanliness, the cleanliness of the floor, the cleanliness of the ice machine, the cleanliness of the countertops, whether or not there's mouse droppings all over the place. So it's a combination of those things. Looking at ceiling tiles, missing, dirty ceiling tiles, moldy ceiling tiles, all of that factors into whether or not an establishment is given an opportunity to correct those violations or they're cease operated. And it's a combination. So it's not just one category. It's not just everything else is fine and you have a dirty floor right there. We give them the opportunity because we want businesses to operate safely to maybe go ahead and sweep that up or mop that up now. If that keeps happening, then we know that it's a repeat offender. So it's a very complex matrix of how an establishment is open or closed, unless there's a sewage outbreak or you know.
Well, I'll say this, some of the restaurants -- stop-and-gos, not restaurants. But some of these stop-and-gos I can tell you are on the frequent flyer list in terms of just being chronically dirty. And it just seems like any way that we would expect that we could get some help to address the problematic business that it is for the community we just can't get any sort of motion from the City to say, well, this is something that's a violation or this is -- you know, sort of like the things that we think of as commonsense reasons to tell a business that they have to shut down and clean don't really seem to resonate with the Health Department. Have we ever thought about doing like a grading system, like a grading system like in some cities where you'll walk into a restaurant and it'll say this restaurant was inspected and it's an A or this restaurant was a B or C and you can decide if you want to go into a C restaurant or a D restaurant or whatever but you have the information up front as to how this particular restaurant was ranked?
Sure. And I want to kind of separate out the notions and the challenges that we have with these businesses that operate as stop-and-gos right, those businesses and addressing enforcement with those businesses, a grading system would not fix that. Okay. And I know that the Health Department along with other departments is working with your office specifically to address some of these issues as nuisance businesses and fold those in. I know that we've been working with your office to provide information about inspections on varying spreadsheets and all of that. And there are businesses that use the loopholes to continue to open and operate. But as far as the inspections go, we do have to allow folks the opportunity regardless of where they -- regardless of where they're located if we're going to offer an establishment that is an eatery, I don't know, Center City eatery the option to fix a violation onsite and continue to operate or cease operate for 48 hours, we have to afford the same opportunity for other establishments.
So when we issue violations with hefty fines in the city, let's say -- if I park my car in a bus zone now, right, I'll get a hefty ticket and I don't get due process. It's kind of like the ticket is the notice and that's the due process and you have to pay it or else. So whether it's that or you put your trash out early or whether you get a speeding ticket or whether you get a violation because your grass is too high, you get that ticket and you have to pay it. You don't get due process. You don't get a warning first. You just get the violation and you have to address it right away. So I don't understand why this particular type of business -- if you do construction and you're out working without permits and L&I comes across you, you have to stop. They issue a stop-work order. But we have this thing with certain businesses who are afforded a level of due process that works against the needs and wishes of the community. And it's like, well, we need to give them a chance to get themselves together. And it just really feels quite unfair.
And, Councilmember, we take each of those businesses and we cease operate them. And when we cease operate them, they get the opportunity just like when we get an opportunity to pay a parking ticket or pay PPA to untow our car or what have you, they get an opportunity to fix the violation and they're then allowed to open up. The stop-and-go issue is very complicated because it also involves the Liquor Control Board, and others -- I know that for years now we've been trying to work on this. I'm hoping that in this new role that we can figure out additional creative opportunities.
Well, Dr. Nelson, I'll say you and I, we've worked together for a long time when I was Chair of Health and Human Services and you're a great partner to work with. But for me, this issue is not complicated at all. And I think for most people this is not really that complicated, but I look forward to continuing to work with you and hoping to push past where we are right now to really get the level of enforcement that I think people really want. Let me ask one other quick question because I know I'm a little bit over time. Does the City of Philadelphia Health Department do anything in terms of organizing our regional health providers into some sort of a network? So I know that in some other cities and some other states they're actually -- I can't remember if it was Florida or Georgia or somewhere, somewhere down south where it's kind of mandated that they have to meet, coordinate, talk just so that they are all working on the same together. There's not a duplication of services, you know, just more efficiencies. So I wanted to know. I don't think that the City of Philadelphia does anything like that so I wanted to encourage that. And actually, I think it should be a regional network of health providers, because now we have what's happened with Crozer- Chester closing down and Taylor Memorial. People out there need health care too. It's not a next door neighbor, but it's close enough that, listen, if you're in Chester and you're pregnant, you still have a baby that's coming on the way whether Crozer is there or not. So how are we working to make sure regionally that this region is stable medically and to address some of the health disparities that have been existing for a very long time, which is quite shameful in the city of eds and meds?
Sure. So we're working -- a lot of that work is led by the State Secretary of Health and we're working with our local hospitals as well as with the items or the issues happening with Crozer. We work with our local counties, municipalities. I work with the Delaware County Health Director, which is a brand new position. They didn't have that role before. So we are working together. These are kind of newly- formed or differently-formed relationships now because they were forged and formed due to COVID and other things. So now, we're coming upon other areas where we can communicate and collaborate. So those networks are there. I'm not necessarily sure that they're mandated, but they're in existence and we do work with them.
Okay. I would just like to say in closing that I hope the City of Philadelphia doesn't just work with them but leads them to what we need, because I think left to their own devices, you know, good people, but the disparities have continued to grow.
Thank you. As there are no more questions from members of the Committee, we want to thank all of you for your presentation. Continue to keep up the good work and thank you very much.
Very quickly I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and the Council for just all of your support for the department and your partnership and working hand-in- hand with us to make sure that Philadelphians thrive. Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson earlier acknowledged my team, and I just wanted to echo that and say I think that this is the most fantastic group of professionals that I have had the opportunity to lead on the television and sitting right here behind me. So thank you all so much for the support.
Thank you. Keep up the good work. At this time, the Chair recognizes Majority Whip Councilmember Thomas for a motion of the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolutions before the Committee today stand recess until Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. All those in favor will signify by saying aye.
Aye. So moved, Council President. So moved. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolutions before the Committee today stand in recess until Tuesday, May 6th at 10:00 a.m. in Room 400 City Hall. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. This motion carries and the Committee will stand in recess until Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. Thank you very much, everyone. (Committee of the Whole concluded at 4:15 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL