And if you could get us a breakdown by zip code of the number of people over the past year who have participated in the training programs, that would be helpful. And do you have any information -- I took down this number. In the past year, I think the gentleman indicated that 530 people have been trained?
Is there some other program? Are there other training programs?
Got you. Let's stay with that. 242 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 Of the 530 people, do we know how many have become employed?
Now, is the work that we do different than -- and I know we are going to have tomorrow hearings actually later on this week -- is this training different than what the Philadelphia Work Force Development Corporation does?
I am not familiar with what Philadelphia Work Force Development does. I am not familiar with their training.
You mentioned earlier that all of the MOCS employees are city employees and subject to the usual regulations, Charter provisions, that the rest of us are. Do they receive the document that most of us usually receive some time early every year with regard to political activity? Are MOCS employees allowed to be involved in politics?
No. We receive the same 243 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 document.
No, MOCS employees are not allowed to be involved in political activity.
And are you anticipating any impact with regard to, some of the departments are, naturally, being asked to, where they can, reduce the size of their work force, but in a way so as to not negatively impact general service delivery. Has MOCS been asked to do the same?
Well, we are -- have not been asked to do the same. MOCS, just like many other city departments, are always looking for ways to be more efficient and more effective in our service delivery. Because the majority of the people employed by MOCS are actually supported by Grant Funds, we are contractually tied to the goals and 244 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 outcomes of those proposals that were funded.
How was MOCS created? Now, is it just an entity that sits within the Mayor's Office, or was it created by an Executive Order, or is it somewhere in the City Charter? What's the origin of this agency?
Okay. That's a good description. I would like to understand how --
Councilman, the agency is actually old, in that we are 30-plus years old. And I am really not sure of what the origins are, whether there was an Executive Order or not. I do note that the --
Point of information. MOCS was founded, I forget the predecessor, but it was founded in the anti-poverty programs about 30 years ago. MOCS was founded as an anti-poverty 245 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 agency of 30 years ago through the anti-poverty program sponsored by the federal government. It actually came MOCS as it is today under Mayor Goode.
I thought the Councilman would know a little about the history of it. We tend not to ask each other questions, though. Thank you, Councilman. I appreciate that. So, as it is presently constituted, it operates out of or under the jurisdiction of the Mayor's Office?
So just to kind of recap, you are going to get me a listing of the staff with name, title, date of employment, salary, and zip code. And you are also going to get us -- this is all going to the Chair -- on the training program, you are going to get us, for the 530 people just in the past year, a zip code breakdown of who the people are who were trained?
We will furnish that information. 246 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03
I am not expecting any name information on that, just for the record. I do not expect that. One last question. And thank you, Madam Chair. The truancy-prevention issue, did I understand that this only operates in the Frankford cluster? Was that the testimony earlier?
Yes. Our truancy program is housed in the Frankford Family Development Center, which is actually a program that provides services in the Frankford section of the city.
Well, Councilman, MOCS, you know, for a number of years, has been an agency that has developed programs based on the needs, and always considering the level of funding that the agency receives. If we had more funding, we would actually be much more aggressive in expanding that program and doing the same good work that is occurring in Frankford in other parts of the city.
I am very happy for 247 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 the folks in Frankford, but there are probably a few other truant young people in other parts of the city. So you are saying, I mean, there is no 6 opportunity here to expand the program? And did I understand that we get in touch with these children after they have been absent times? 10
Yes, I am saying that what 11 we are doing in Frankford, to some extent, is 12 happening in other areas, it is just not being done 13 necessarily by MOCS. 14 We do run two family centers, and there 15 are others within the city. 16 To give you more details on who may be 17 doing truancy in other parts of the city, similar to 18 what we are doing, I will bring back up Steve 19 Blackburn, the Director of the Frankford Family 20 Development Center. 21
You might want to 24 grab a chair. Once you get near that mike, you 25 never know when you might be able to give it back. 248 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03
The DHS Office of Truancy Prevention contracts with other family centers around the city. MOCS happens to have two family centers, one in Frankford and one in South Philadelphia. But there are more family centers around the city. And different provider agencies have those contracts to provide those services.
I am not sure that all areas of the city have family centers.
Well, in the Northeast region, that I am most familiar with, there is a Lincoln Family Center that dealt with the schools that were formerly in the Lincoln cluster. And the Nationality Services Center, which is located at 13th and Spruce, they also have a contract to handle truancy in the formerly Fels cluster in the Northeast.
That's very important information. Can you tell me who is taking care of West and Northwest Philadelphia?
Youth Services Incorporated, Hope Family Center. 249 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03
I don't have that information readily at hand, Councilman, but I can provide that for you.
Excuse me, Councilman. I am sorry. Did you say someone was taking care of South Philadelphia?
Yes. There is also a truancy initiative that's handled by another agency other than MOCS in South Philadelphia.
Last question. Who decided on the number of in terms 19 of absences and when a child is considered truant? 20 I mean, if you get 25 unexcused 21 absences -- 22
Well, that's in the 23 contract. I think that was decided by the School 24 District based on the number of the backlog and the 25 number of truant youth. 250 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 As the backlog is being dealt with, that threshold will be lowered. But because of the great number of children that were truant, they established as that threshold, with the goal of 6 reducing it year by year as that backlog gets 7 reduced. 8
When was the goal 9 made 25, and then what was it reduced from? 10
So you are saying 22 that unless you end up in some other system or you 23 end up being arrested, or something like that, you 24 pretty much get 24 free shots before we pay any 25 attention to you? 251 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03
Now, there is another truancy initiative that deals with youth with less -- with a smaller threshold. It is just that, as the family center, we are not part of that initiative.
I understand. That's like five weeks of school; right?
Yes. And, unfortunately, most of the cases that we are handling now are from last year, the backlog from last year.
So let me understand this. You are chasing after kids who were truant last school year right now?
So you could be doing anything from September up through February of '03, and you haven't even achieved radar-screen status?
No, not necessarily. I am saying a lot of the children that were on the list, say, in June of last year when the school ended for the year, a lot of those children didn't get served. 252 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 So come October, when the court open again for this school year, they were the kids on that list, and they went back to the last previous school year.
Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon, Ms. Gladstein. A few routine questions. What is the balance of Empowerment Zone fund?
As of September 30 was invoiced $49 million out of $79 million grant. We have had further expenditures, but we have not completed our invoicing for the last quarter of last year.
How much has revolved back into community lending institutions?
There are -- not sure I 253 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 can give you that exact information right now. What I can tell you is that we have loaned over $25 million. Now, those are varied loan repayment schedules.
I am more interested in the actual dollar amount, actually, that has revolved back into lending institutions.
In total, lending institutions have done 142 loans, totaling 25.5 million, leveraging 77 million, which is a great leverage, about three to one, in terms of private dollars invested per public dollar allocated. But for the past year, you took 27 loans, for 4 and a half million dollars, leveraging only $2 million. That's a negative leverage. Can you explain why there is a negative leverage for the past --
Not so much comparing. Totality is a leverage of almost 3 to 1, 254 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 a positive leverage, over the course of its inception of the lending institutions. But for last year, it is actually a negative leverage, and a dramatically negative leverage. There is 4 and a half million dollars of public money spent, but only 2 million in private money leveraged.
Right. Well, it is still 2 million leveraged, but the preventative leverage is --
I will accept your definition. I was using it differently. I would have to --
Over the course of the whole program, since inception, you were getting 3 private dollars for every 1 public dollar invested. The last year you got roughly, off the top of my head, maybe 60 cents.
I would have to go back over the individual loans. I know some of them were lines of 255 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 credit, which bring less leverage than other types of loans. I would be happy to give you a narrative on that. Because I would look at those 27 loans and look at the type of loans and why there was a low leverage.
You are welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon everyone. I need some clarity or the Truancy Prevention Program. MOCS currently runs two truancy prevention initiatives which are subcontracted from DHS.
And there are a number of others across the city, so any nonprofits who are interested have to do their bidding with DHS; correct? 256 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03
And you shared it with my colleague Councilman Nutter that you are, in effect, a year behind because the numbers are so incredibly high. And, so, what does that mean, that you track those number of young people for a year? How long do you stay with that particular list of young people? And at what point do they move to no longer truancy?
Well, when truancy court commences in October, of course being that school just started in September, the children will not have accommodated in that short period. So those 16 children that have reached that threshold will have 17 reached it in previous year. 18 So I would say it is not until maybe 19 December that we are actually dealing with children 20 that reached that threshold in the current year. 21
Does MOCS decide 22 that you wanted to do your business in the Frankford 23 community, or did DHS do their mapping process? 24 Say, "Here is where the need areas are, and, based 25 on this, we want to you provide services in this 257 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 community?"
Well, when the School District was divided in that cluster system, of course that has been disbanded, community-based agencies were selected to deal with certain clusters. And because we were the Frankford Family Center, we were selected for the Frankford cluster.
Very well. Thank you very much. That concludes my questioning on truancy. Back to the job development. You said there were 531 people trained.
And in response to President Verna's question, 100 moved to computer training; correct?
The balance, then, went through four weeks of what one might call life skills job readiness.
And from there you 258 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 moved them into --
And you gave a hard number for the number of people currently employed.
And the retention piece of that, how long does MOCS oversee the retention activity of those 261?
And, so, a certificate of some -- what is offered at the end of that?
You have a relationship with Metropolitan Career Center. And, according to your testimony, they offer an 259 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 Associate's Degree now? Metropolitan Career Center offers an Associate's Degree?
That's correct. They offer a few different Associate's Degrees, but all related to computer training and computer knowledge.
So they have grown. You mentioned, again in your testimony, if we have individuals who meet the criteria, that you would be interested in helping them. So what do you currently do with regards to outreach of individuals, Philadelphia citizens, who could benefit from this? Does this suggest, on , fifth paragraph, that your numbers are not where you desire them to be?
Actually, that was included in the testimony primarily because that contract with MCC was recently awarded. And so that, because we were in the first few weeks of that contract, we wanted to make that opportunity available to Councilpeople who may know of people who are eligible, and that they have a high school diploma, and that are interested in a career in a computer field. 260 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03
So, then, do you have brochures, or anything like that, on that specific program? I would be interested, if you do.
Yes, we have information. And Odessa Clarkson, who is our Director of Community Services, to make sure that we continue to operate within the contract. If you have people who you think may be interested, we will direct you to her. So we will furnish you with information through the Chairperson, and you can get back to us with any people who you think may be eligible and interested.
Any contact relationship or partnership with the clergy of Philadelphia for something as important as this?
We have -- in fact, I attended a meeting, and always willing to attend meetings with clergy. But just two weeks ago I attended a meeting with a number of clergy people and made this program aware to them. So that they are actually looking within their respective churches for people who may be interested in taking advantage of this program. 261 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 MOCS have a number of programs in which we are all pushing to increase the capacity of service. And, so, even if we, as in the case of our Kids Cafe, we are right now capped, in a sense, but we are always looking at ways to increase capacity. So I would like to say to City Council and to anyone, if you are interested in anything that we are doing, and if you believe it can benefit some people, if you would get in touch with us, we would certainly try to place that person in the appropriate program.
Two more questions on two similar programs. The Fatherhood initiative, which I am very familiar with -- and my personal point of view is that it is a great program -- where are you in terms of participation? Are you a want-to-be, need-to-be? Where is it, in terms of numbers?
I can bring the director of the Fatherhood Initiative Program, who is Gilbert 262 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 Coleman, up. But I would like to say that, for a program that's only been in existence for a couple of years, we have moved from what would be considered the incubator stage, to a point of being nationally recognized for this program. As it is mentioned in the testimony, MOCS has the -- actually, the great fortune of having four staff people who are master trainers of this program, which means that the agency has the capacity to go out and to train facilitators of the program, when most agencies only have the capacity to actually provide the workshops to people who are, you know, in that category of being an absentee father. We have the capacity to go out and train other agencies to actually deliver the service.
Does it have a separate funding stream, like the truancy project?
We are in the process of applying for a number of grants. We have been partnering with other agencies. As it is in the testimony, the Common Pleas Court has partnered with us, and they have 263 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 been making referrals. There are a number of collaborations, which the director can speak of. We are looking forward to getting more funding. We have received limited funds from other city agencies in the past. I believe DHS gave $25,000, because they have a large block of money for parenting programs. And I believe they gave a number of awards to city agencies and nonprofit agencies in Fiscal '02. And, we received one of those awards. And, if I may, I would like to turn things over to the Director of the Fatherhood Initiative program, so that he could speak a little bit more about the number of people who have been serviced by the program.
Good afternoon, Council. To date we have currently had 212 people enrolled in our program throughout the city. We get a number of about 80 percent of our referrals from Philadelphia Domestic Relations Court, we get 10 percent of our referrals from DHS, and we get another 10 percent of our referrals from word of 264 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 mouth and referrals from other agencies. Right now we are working on not only expanding, but we also are looking into the Philadelphia Prison System. We are looking also into the shelter system, where we are going to reach out and contact as many men as we possibly can. Our goal is -- for the next coming years is to reach four to five hundred men per year.
It may be too early or premature to determine outcomes. But once you would make the investment on the funding side, the hope is that you indeed diminish, as you put it, reverse the absentee-fatherhood trend. So what protocols or procedures do you have in place for the evaluation end of this? And when you say 212 enrolled in the program, that means what, for a designated period of time? Help me out.
Right. Normally our enrollment period would last for a 30-day period. Right now we have 212 men enrolled. With the population that we are dealing with, we will probably end up with about 50 percent that actually complete our 12-course curriculum. 265 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 The program is designed, basically, to get the men involved in the lives of their children, whether they are custodial or noncustodial. We focus on four aspects of involvement. One would be involvement, consistency, awareness in nurturing of their children. And this we hope to reduce that trend, understand the importance of the father in the family itself.
So often parents, period, are not able to do what they can because of lack of resources. So does the program include collaborations with arts and culture institutions around the city, some of which will provide free tickets to those kind of enrichment activities, if asked? Any kind of linkages with that community at all?
Yes. We recently in the past have made linkages with the Philadelphia Phantoms, Philadelphia Flyers to provide tickets to us, men to bring their children to events like that. We have also talked with a number of different agencies to give us tickets to cultural events, like the Philadelphia Afro-American Museum. 266 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 And we are also looking at a number of different ventures to bring the guys and their families together.
Thank you very much. I will look forward to the report on the back end to see what your successes are beginning to be. And finally moving to Safe Schools, Safe Communities Program, help me understand how what you do -- and you mentioned that there is definitely a partnership with Philadelphia Anti-Violent --
Where are there similarities and where are there -- where does the partnership begin and end? I ask because so much of what you do, although it has an interesting twist on it, The knock Out Violence, that kind of initiative, but where is the connect with PAAN? Help me understand.
Well, initially we work with PAAN to diffuse situations within a certain period of time. Say, like, there was a fight at the school. And we would get notified and PAAN would 267 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 get notified. The school has -- the school Administration has both of our numbers. We have worked with the school in previous -- on previous occasions. But we would come and diffuse the situation. At first PAAN used to do a lot of conflict resolution and prevention programming in the schools. But they, kind of, like, now don't do that. They are just, basically, they are doing more of the responding to the crisis in the schools.
So what I am doing is, I am filling a void when I am bringing in the program. And I do a lot of partnerships with various agencies, like the recreation department, the Philadelphia Police Department, District Attorney's Office, Anti-Violence campaign, the clergy. I use businesspeople. I use community-based organizations, any people that are just interested in helping in the schools. So, basically, I am like a one-man shot. 268 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 Right? And I do -- a lot of the stuff I do is because of the relationships that I have developed with people throughout the city who want to come in and help in the schools with the circumstances of the school in their area.
Well, then, is it possible for there to be a systemic change, where the School District embraces what you do and systemwide takes what you do in schools across? And recognizing that dollars are few, start with a -- used to be cluster, it is now called what? Service area. Have those kind of conversations been had, where systemically you can make a change and take what you do to those districts of the city where it is real clear, again, based on that mapping, that the problems are so pervasive?
Well, to date the School District has been involved with the Safe Schools, Safer Communities Program, in that they have hosted programs in their various schools. To date, there have not been these conversations with the highest level of the new School's Administration, Mr. Paul Valis. 269 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 But there are avenues to rekindle those kinds of conversations that were taking place at one time under the previous School Board Administration.
What we do, we have relationships with the prevention of violence department of the School District, with Dexter Green, with Bernard Trent, and people that work in that area, the conflict that resolves around the conflict and safety issues of school. That has -- we have worked with them in the last three or four years.
So you are plugged in in that way in that particular unit.
But one of the main things is, we have, like, special programs that we do. Like we are doing a 28-day/28-School Partnership with Power 99 radio for Black History Month, where we go to 28 schools in 28 days and do some kind of conflict resolution program in an auditorium assembly format. And then, after that, with the Safe Schools, Safer Communities, we do the workshops throughout the week, and we do special interest groups and we work with, say, all male population. 270 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03
I am curious. 28 schools, how did those lucky 28 end up being the 28, when there are something like 200-plus buildings in the city? Help me out.
Well, we just picked 28 schools. But it has been snowing, and we are really behind on that now. But what we are going to do, that will go over into March. Because this is our fourth year partnering with Power 99 doing this. And we have -- you know, we have been to, like, West Philly, North Philly, South Philly, West Oak Lane, Germantown. You know, we try to get at least a high school, a middle school, and an elementary school in each one of those areas. So it has been pretty successful. Because a lot of the young people are real responsive to a radio station coming into the school, or personalities from the music industry, sports industry, that they recognize visibly, and then they get real excited about it. And then when we have their attention, at that point, then we are able to bring in the conflict-resolution stuff that we talk about, and 271 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 the peace measures that we talk about, being like the Peace Ambassador's Club.
I would like to add that the 28 schools were located in, you know, all of the councilmanic districts throughout the city.
Thank you very much. Two more questions, Madam Chair.
of your testimony, you talk about one Super Food Cupboard and three Emergency Food Cupboards. I am struck like this because we actually held hearings on the lack of nutritious foods in a lot of our underserved neighborhoods. So tell me a little bit more about that. Are you at capacity? Are any schools involved? And where is this food cupboard.
I would like to say that you have mentioned a very serious need in the City of Philadelphia. There are a number of families who need additional food. And one of the areas that we are particularly looking at at this time is 272 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 grandparents, particularly grandmothers, who are providing care for grandchildren, and there are no 4 resources for them to do that. But the Food Cupboards that we do operate at this time, I would like to have Odessa Clarkson here, who is the Director of Community Services, talk in more detail about those particular programs.
Good afternoon. I thank you for the opportunity to speak about our Emergency Food Cupboards. We have four Emergency Food Cupboards and we have a Super Food Cupboard, which actually teaches nutrition education in South Philadelphia. That has been operating for approximately five years. At that particular site, we have approximately 20 senior citizens who come in on Mondays just to be taught the nutrition education. We also bring people in from St. Agnes Hospital, as well as other mental-health facilities, to teach the older people not only about nutrition, but about diabetes, how to cook, heart condition, 273 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 and various things of that nature. We also have a emergency Food Cupboard at the Frankford Family Development Center, which is at 42nd and Leiper Street. We also have one at the Workwise Program, which is at Broad and Girard. We also have one at the Adult-based Education Program in Germantown Avenue. At that one particular site we also have SHARE, which is another food commodity that comes out to teach nutrition education once a week for the participant at that particular class. It is the intent of my -- and I have spoken to Mr. Blakney about it -- that we do intend to open two more food cupboards in '04. As a matter of fact, we are planning for that at this particular time.
Finally, the Foster Grandparent Recruitment. How do you do that with the Foster Grandparent Program? How do you find them?
That question I would like to refer to the Director of the Foster Grandparent Program, who is Phyllis Royal.
Good afternoon. 274 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 The Foster Grandparent Program recruitment is mainly through word of mouth through our volunteers. We do broad-based community-based recruitment through churches, area churches, and social service agencies. But I would say 99 percent of our recruitment comes from word of mouth from our seniors.
Yes, we are. Actually, we have a waiting list. We are funded for 110 seniors. So, yes.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Let me first say that I didn't know that your budget was this big in terms of Mayor's Office of Services. It really has grown. But I want to go back to the truancy 275 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 program. How many people are employed in the truancy program?
Councilman Ortiz, we have two case managers employed at the Frankford Family Development Center that deal specifically with truancy, and their salaries come from the Department of Human Services, Office of Truancy Based Prevention. But their supervision is provided by myself and the program coordinator.
No. Our total staff, we have seven staff persons there, seven full time.
Only two for truancy, though. See, our program handles other things, other than truancy.
Well, I am concerned with the truancy program. 276 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03
Two persons. Two case managers are hired under the truancy initiative.
These are children who are attending schools that were formally in the Frankford cluster.
I want to know how many schools we are dealing with and where those schools are.
Schools that are in the Frankford cluster, they include -- there's about ten schools. Being, Frankford High School, then you 277 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 have --
Do you or the individuals that are in this program have a relationship with each of the principals in those schools?
Well, the nature of the relationship, we have to be in contact with -- they have what they call a truancy designee at each school. Once we get the court lists that lets us know what child is truant, we have to get in contact with that truancy designee to find out what's the actual record of latenesses and absences, what is the child's academic standard.
Could you let us have 278 Bill Nos. 030004, 030008, and 030010 - 2/24/03 parts of those records, please?