COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 3, 2024 11:44 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILMEMBER NINA AHMAD COUNCILMEMBER CINDY BASS COUNCILMEMBER KENDRA BROOKS COUNCILMEMBER MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILMEMBER JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILMEMBER KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON COUNCILMEMBER JIM HARRITY COUNCILMEMBER CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMEMBER RUE LANDAU COUNCILMEMBER QUETCY LOZADA COUNCILMEMBER NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMEMBER ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMEMBER MARK SQUILLA COUNCILMEMBER ISAIAH THOMAS COUNCILMEMBER JEFFERY YOUNG, JR. BILLS 240179, 240180, 240181, and 240182 RESOLUTION 240193 - - 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
This is the public hearing and public meeting of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bills No. 240179, 240180, 240181, 240182, and Resolution No. 11 240193. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the roll to take attendance.
Councilmember Young. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. (No response.)
Councilmember 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Harrity. (No response.)
Here. Thank you. A quorum of the Committee is present and this hearing is 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. now called to order. Ms. Loughead, will you please read the title of the resolutions.
Bill No. 240179, an ordinance to adopt the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Bill No. 240180, an ordinance 9 amending Chapter 19-1800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "School Tax Authorization," to provide for an increase in the tax that the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia is authorized to impose on real estate; and amending Chapter 16 19-1300, entitled "Real Estate Taxes," to establish an equivalent reduction in the tax rate for the City real estate tax; and making technical changes; all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240181, an ordinance 22 to adopt a Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Budget. Bill No. 240182, an ordinance 25 to adopt a Capital Program for the six 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Fiscal Years 2025 through 2030 inclusive. Resolution No. 240193, providing for the approval by the Council of the City of Philadelphia of a Revised Five Year Financial Plan for the City of Philadelphia covering Fiscal Years 2025 through 2029, and incorporating revisions with respect to Fiscal Year 2024, which is to be submitted by the Mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority pursuant to an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement by and between the City and the Authority.
Thank you very much. Today we will continue the public hearing of the Committee of the Whole to consider the bills read by the Clerk that constitute proposed operating and capital spending measures for Fiscal Year 2025, a Capital Program, and a forward-looking Capital Plan for Fiscal Year 2025 through Fiscal Year 2030. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. This morning we will hear testimony from the Office of Children and Families, the Free Library, Parks and Recreation, and the Department of Human Services. This afternoon we will continue our hearing and hear testimony from the Commerce Department and Mural Arts. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the first witness to testify from the Administration.
The first person to testify is Vanessa Garrett Harley, Chief Deputy Managing Director.
I also want to acknowledge the presence of Councilmember Rue Landau. Also, for all members, you can ask questions of the following organizations that falls under the jurisdiction of the Office of Children and Families: The Free Library of Philadelphia, Parks and Recreation, and Department of Human Services can all be 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. called during this morning session. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Always good to see you, Vanessa, but just officially for the record just state your name and your title and you can begin your testimony. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Good morning, Council President. Vanessa Garrett-Harley, Chief Deputy Managing Director for the Office of Children and Families. Good morning, President Johnson and members of City Council. My name is Vanessa Garrett Harley and I'm Chief Deputy Managing Director for the Office of Children and Families, which is now encompassed within the Managing Director's Office. I'm here to testify on the FY25 budget bills. The Office of Children and Families, otherwise known as OCF, includes the following City departments: 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. The Department of Human Services, Parks and Recreation, and the Free Library of Philadelphia. OCF, through the Early Child Education Division, administers the PHLpreK program and through the Prevention Division administers the following programs: Out of School Time or OST, Youth Workforce, Social Service Supports and Community Schools, and the Education Support Center, ESC. With me today are Kimberly Ali, Commissioner of DHS; Sue Slawson, Commissioner of Parks and Recreation; Kelly Richards, President and Director of the Free Library; Sean Perkins, Chief of Early Childhood Education; and Christine Piven, Chief of Prevention Services for the Office of Children and Families and Nadine Perese, Chief Financial Officer for the Office of Children and Families and other members of my team. While each of our departments has submitted formal written testimony, I'm pleased to be here today representing 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. all OCF. I'd like to highlight some of the successes and plans for our departments and programs. The Department of Human Services has continued to make great strides towards keeping children and families at home and in their communities. For the first time ever, the number of children in dependent placement is close to 3,000, down from 6,200 in 2017. This amounts to a 50 percent reduction of children in dependent care. In addition, the number of kids in placement -- out of those number of kids in placement, 50 percent are placed with kin. With regards to juvenile justice, DHS continues to support at-risk youth in their own homes and communities to prevent them from entering into the juvenile justice system. With the assistance of City Council, we have increased our community-based safe spaces by adding two additional Community 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Evening Resource Centers, or CERCs, one in the Northeast Division and one in East Division of the City, bringing the total number of CERCs to 6. Additionally, we've grown our juvenile justice diversion services in an effort to keep those youth involved in the juvenile justice system from further penetration, making every effort to keep those youth who can be safely maintained in their own communities at home and utilizing detention only when necessary. At Parks and Recreation, during the summer of 2023, we were able to host over 5,000 youth at our day camps, and we had almost 640,000 visits at our 60 public pools. Parks and Rec is gearing up for another summer season with robust program offerings and services. We recently held the second annual Philly Freeze, a one-day pool fundraiser that supports our aquatic programs and assisted in raising awareness of the need for lifeguards. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Parks and Recs will once again offer hiring incentives for lifeguards to assist in recruitment and making sure that we have the necessary number to ensure that pools open on time and are safe for the 2024 summer season. Free swim lessons will also be offered for residents at many of the pools. Working across City agencies and with community partners, Parks and Rec will continue to provide safe and fun programming by offering summer camps and play streets throughout the City.
Youth can have supervised play, water activities, receive free nutritious meals and, via a partnership with the Free Library, reading opportunities to enhance literacy. m. m. Moreover, Parks and Rec will 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. once again provide Kensington Activations, which provide high-quality experiences to support working families and youth through the Play Parks initiative at Hissey Playground, McPherson Square Park, and Harrowgate Park. The Free Library of Philadelphia has made major strides in bringing new staff on board to allow us to offer stable five-day service in the branches and Saturday service in 27 libraries across the City. The Free Library is also currently gearing up to offer Sunday service hopefully in the fall. The revitalization of our city's libraries is a bright spot in our city that will assist residents of all ages with the ability to read, research, and learn. Thanks to the budgetary support that the Free Library received from the City and City Council, we're now rolling out new computers for staff and public 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. use. This will provide the libraries the ability to enhance services by providing digital access. This technology upgrade will improve the internet speed and bring wireless printing to our patrons. Additionally, the proposed increase in the FY25 budget will allow us to do enhanced cleaning and environmental services in the neighborhood libraries. Our early childhood education or PHLpreK program is thriving. With a 93 percent enrollment rate, our 5,250 slots are placed throughout the City in 223 locations and 43 zip codes. Over 96 percent of our seats are in high-quality centers, and we provide support for those other seven centers that are striving to achieve high quality status. Nearly three-quarters of our centers self-reported as being M/W/DBE. This spring, in conjunction with our partners at the School District and the funders at the state and federal level, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we will be launching a universal enrollment process for parents to choose a publicly funded pre-K program for their children. This process will allow the City to maximize its publicly funded seats. Our focus for the new fiscal year will be on maintaining the quality of the program and supporting and retaining a highly qualified workforce in order to educate our young learners. Finally, our Prevention Services Division has been working feverishly to develop two new amazing programs for children and youth this summer. In conjunction with the School District, we'll be debuting the Summer Achievers program, which will offer 63 programs at 50 District schools. The programs will offer academic enrichment, including English language arts and math instructions, taught by School District teachers in the mornings and fun camp-like enrichment opportunities 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. facilitated by qualified out-of-school-time providers in the afternoon. And for our older youth and young adults, in partnership with Philadelphia Works and the School District of Philadelphia, we've created a new summer youth employment program called Career Connected Learning, C2L-PHL. C2L is a youth workforce development program that replaces the summer jobs program known as WorkReady. This program will offer 8,000 summer work experiences with enhanced training, career exposure, and work-based learning experiences. Moreover, for the first time, 2,000 of these slots will continue during the school year. We expect the applications for this program to go live and be available to the public by no later than mid April. gov/C2L-PHL. My staff and I are here today to answer any specific questions that you 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. may have about any of these departments or programs. Thank you very much for your support.
Thank you very much for your testimony. I just have a couple of brief questions before I turn it over to my members. When you talk about the new Summer Achievers program in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia, the program will offer 50 sites with 63 programs. Give us an idea of how the sites were determined, the actual budget for those particular sites, and also will this be a part of the Mayor's year-round school initiative where she talked about also partnering with other organizations, non-profits for year-round programming for schools? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Understood. I'm going to ask Christine Piven, my Chief of Prevention, who is over that program, to come up, but while Christine is coming, I will just in 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. general, in terms of your second question as to whether it would be a part of the Mayor's program as she looking at full day, full year, the Mayor is looking at -- and those of us who are working with her, looking at all of the existing programs and seeing how all of these things are aligned and integrate together in order to achieve that full day, full year. So, yes, the Summer Achievers program, some would argue, might be one of the first steps towards what we're looking at to build that model that she's talking about for full day, full year.
Will full day, full year also, would that be under your purview? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Full day, full year I believe will come under the Mayor's Office of Education, the Chief Education Officer that they have now hired, but I do work very closely 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. with them. And so you heard in my testimony as I talk about us providing supports for certain programs. All of that stuff will still come under Office of Children and Families, so we'll be working kind of hand in hand.
We're in good hands, Vanessa. Thank you. Appreciate you.
Hi. My name is Christine Piven. I'm Chief of Prevention. So the first question you asked was about how the sites were chosen, the 50 sites. So about a year ago we went through a rigorous RFP process to pick new OST providers, and we did that in conjunction with the School District to identify high need schools across the City. So those are the sites that we've chosen. Certainly can get you a list of all those sites. You can see the neighborhoods, et cetera.
And 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. when you say high needs, I guess this would be based upon poverty, crime, gun violence?
We can provide that analysis that we used to make those determinations.
Please just provide that for the Chair so the members could have an opportunity to review it as well. And what's the budget for that particular initiative?
We can break that down for you. The budget for just the Summer Achievers, that's what you're looking for?
All 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. right. Thank you. In terms of early childhood pre-K, what is the percentage of PHLpreK eligible three- to four-year-olds in the City of Philadelphia pre-K program and the number of seats that are supported, and out of the current seats, how many seats are currently filled? And I know I asked this question early on when we kicked off the budget process, so I'll be very short in detail on my questioning. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: No 14 problem, Councilman. As you see, Sean Perkins has joined us, and he is the Chief of the Early Childhood Education and will give you more detailed answers. More generally I would just say to you that we currently have 5,250 pre-K seats, and of them, we have a 93 percent fill rate that we're very proud of. About 93 percent of our seats are filled, and they spread across those 223 locations and 43 zip codes that I mentioned. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I'm not sure I remember the other part of the question.
The other -- well, you actually answered it. It was how many seats were actually filled. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Okay.
And also I know we're flat-lined in terms of funding going into FY25. There isn't a significant increase. Just give us an overview on what is the Administration's agenda over the next five years to continue supporting the, I guess I would call it, the pre-K to career pipeline for our young people? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Absolutely. So for FY25 budget, there was not an ask for a tremendous increase because we are focused on quality. We are focused on trying to maintain the program that we have and also on instituting an implement of the universal early education process in the City. We 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. wanted to be not just about PHLpreK at the City but for the ease and availability of both children and families, it's about building a whole ecosystem about early childhood education. And so we worked very collaboratively, and Sean will give you more details, with the School District as well as with the state and the federal government, because you know, there's Pre-K Counts and there's also Head Start in the City, which are all part of this. What we will hope to be launching in May is what's called a universal application, and that is so that families only have to put in one application. Right now each one of these programs has a different application, and it puts a different level of onus on a parent to try to figure out what may or may not be best for their child. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that the process is easy and that our parents are getting 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. high-quality education. And so a lot of the focus is on that. Now, I think your question went to in the text couple years, though. Certainly I can't tell you the dollar amount right now, but I'm sure there will be some ask for some increases as we move forward over the years. But some of the things are not just about increasing seats. We have a good program in Philadelphia that's being touted even nationally. It is thriving. We want to make sure that it stays that way and you don't lose the focus on the quality and where you're really trying to go just merely by adding seats, right? And we want to maximize all seats in the City, because there are still some vacancies available in these programs that I'm talking about us putting together. But the other focus is also on working towards enhancing the workforce. The PHLpreK is experiencing workforce challenges just like many of 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the other jobs in the City. So doing what we can, we are certainly exploring ways and opportunities to help, along with recruitment as well as retention of those teachers and teaching assistants that you need so desperately to make sure that this runs. But I'll turn it over to Sean may have some additional details.
Good morning. Sean Perkins, Chief of Early Childhood Education. One of the other elements that we've heard from providers across the City regardless of the child's age, income status or location is the mental and behavior health needs of the children that are showing up at younger ages and the interventions that are necessary for them. We invest in a quality support center to provide those necessary coaching and professional development trainings to ensure that the teachers are well prepared, as well as the child and the family are getting the services all 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. in one cohesive unit together.
In terms of the portal that you are creating, the one-stop shop, how will you separate seats that are based upon income criteria and seats aren't, right? I'm a fairly new dad, so I know a little bit about the Pre-K Counts as well as PHLpreK process, right? And so how would a new portal kind of break down the income piece versus the non-income criteria when people go on their portal to see if they qualify? And then the second part is, what are we doing to make sure that we're still building up the providers in terms of making sure they go from a three star to a four star to a five star? Because as a parent, you're looking for five stars for your little ones, and that will determine if you're going to enroll in certain programs, but also I know early on there was a process where we were actually helping providers get from four 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to five stars as well.
Yes. Thank you. So the first part of the question about the administrative function about making sure families who are income eligible for seats are indeed filling the seats that they are eligible for, that's the administrative function, and as Vanessa mentioned here, that's the collaboration we have to do with the School District, the administrator of those means-based programs like Head Start and Pre-K Counts. That's the work that we do together with them, and it's been going quite well and we've developed a process by which we would be able to identify that. But, yeah, families will have to insert their income information or other eligibility determination criteria, but we'll have web-based opportunities. We'll also have supports from our 370 locations across the center. We have administrators at the School District and 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. with the PHLpreK team to help. Also, it's available in different languages. 4 So we are excited about this opportunity. 5 Council President, you 6 mentioned about the rise in the quality, 7 and that's where we're very proud of 8 receiving a Gold Medal from the Kaiser 9 Permanente evaluation of early childhood 10 programs across the country. Of the 75 11 major cities across the United States, 12 Philadelphia is one of less than a dozen 13 that received that Gold Medal for 14 focusing on that quality. 15
Can you say that again for the record, please? We need to hear you. We need to celebrate when we do good. Say it again.
We do. We're very excited. Of the 75 largest cities in America, Philadelphia is one of less than a dozen to have received a Gold Medal for having high-quality, accessible pre-K.
Can 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we clap for that, y'all. - - - (Applause.) - - -
I mean, if you want to keep going, we can say other than New York City, there isn't another city in our country's history that has grown as fast as Philadelphia has. So while we have been growing by -- in the last six years, we've grown 162 percent. We've also improved the quality. In Year 1, 56 percent of our seats were considered high quality by the state. We are currently at 96 percent.
That's what's up. Best news I've heard all day.
You asked about how we're assuring -- I think it's great 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to talk about where we are right now, but let's talk about the future too I think is really important. Yeah, we have what we call pre-qualified centers. So we currently have identified locations 7 this year where we are building up their 8 quality for any future investments to be 9 prepared. So while we don't contract 10 with them right now, they're in a quality 11 improvement process to make sure that 12 when we are ready to add more seats, 13 they're also in our priority zip codes 14 with whom you heard from Ms. Piven that 15 we have identified parts of the City that have higher needs than other parts. That's our equity approach to this.
Okay. That's what's up. Now, Vanessa, your former life, you were doing this under your purview, correct? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: My former life -- oh, in the last Administration? 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Good job. This is new, but you've been doing this, so we'll give you the credit. You can clap for them. Give people their flowers. - - - (Applause.) - - -
We're not here to tear people down. Let's celebrate. And all jokes aside, that's near and dear to me, right? Because we meet a lot of lobbyists that come like and advocate for a variety of different things, right, but our most precious asset here in the City of Philadelphia are our children, right? That's not a political statement. That's not a statement for likes and clicks. That's just the reality of our city, right? 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Because ultimately those young people that we're investing in now, right, they'll be the future Councilmembers, they'll be the future Mayor, they'll be the future State Representatives. Some of them can run for President. They'll run our city, right? And so that's the reason why I want to double down on how we look at continuously investing in our young people. And we talk about making the City of Philadelphia safer, cleaner, and greener, which is great, but there's also the economic opportunity for all, right? That part right there is like the crux of most of the departments who are here today, because it's all social service focused -- DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Understood.
-- during this part of our session. So I do want to commend your team for what you're doing in this 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. particular area. I'm going to shift to Parks and Recreation. Welcome back, Sue Slawson. Come on up to the table, Susan. We appreciate you. (Witness approached witness table.) - - - (Applause.) - - -
Giving a shout-out to Aparna and Francesco over there for every time I'm calling every five minutes to make sure my playground equipment is done, right, or my architectural design for new equipment is moving forward, they're very patient, even when I text them on the weekend. So I just thank you, Aparna and Francesco, for just being patient with me. Just around Parks and Recreation, I just want to get an idea on 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. just a couple things, particularly around support for diverse small businesses and making sure that what's our plan to strategize to make sure that we're making sure that we're supporting small Black and brown and women-owned businesses. I know under the former Rebuild initiative we were exceeding our goals in terms of making sure that process was diverse and inclusive and part of our negotiation with the prior Administration when we signed off for Rebuild but that this had to be a priority. So if y'all can just give us an update on where we're at from that aspect. And then also out of your top five largest contracts, four out of five have like zero participation, right? And we want to see how we're looking at addressing that in terms of making sure it's diverse and inclusive and making sure people have an opportunity to participate. Now, you're new, Susan, so 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you're just picking up from the last Administration, so that's not on you, but nevertheless, when we address poverty here in the City of Philadelphia, I'm a strong advocate that unless Black and brown small businesses have a seat at the table, we'll be in a continuous cycle of poverty forever. So any major projects that come through this body, we all in this body recognize that diversity and inclusion is the key part of helping us address poverty. So those are my two questions, where are we on Rebuild and then in terms of our largest contracts, how are we making sure that Black and brown and women-owned businesses have a seat at the table. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Council President, we're going to ask Aparna to come up and help us both on the Rebuild and probably part of the secondary question as well. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: First, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. let me say thank you, President Johnson. I'm actually really glad to be here. I'm hoping that I can --
Good to see you. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Hoping that I can bring some enhancement, some changes, thinking about our young people, safety, clean, green for Parks and Recreation, make some changes, along with the support of all City Council. So I am excited to be here. Thank you. Aparna is going to talk about Rebuild, because that's her baby, and just want to congratulate Aparna as well for being the Director of Capital Projects, former Deputy Commissioner of Capital Infrastructure for Parks and Recreation. DIRECTOR PALANTINO: Thank you, Susan. Aparna Palantino, Capital Projects Office Director. Council President, I'd like to 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. break your question into two parts. So with regards to capital projects, we have been able to exceed the ranges that were established by the Office of Economic Opportunity on all of our requirements contracts. In addition, for Rebuild, 56.6 percent of all of the committed dollars have been awarded to minority or women-owned businesses. One of the benefits of having a combined office in the future is that we'll be able to take the best parts of both programs and continue that work, be able to find opportunities, whether they be smaller contracts broken up into more trades per project, to offer opportunities to those smaller businesses to be able to get their foot into the door on City projects and grow those businesses to then become the prime contractors, large prime contractors on projects moving forward.
When you talk about everything being 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. housed under one system now in terms of capital projects, right, it's no secret that a lot of particularly District members and at-large members that support a variety of different projects recognize that there's been a bottleneck in terms of getting these projects actually done on time, definitely not under budget. Most of our projects are over budget, right? And the thought process early on was to separate the two entities. We had Rebuild over here, capital projects over here. Now that it's combined, just reassure us that we will have more efficient and effective process moving forward, because we were all under the impression that the first model was the model to go by putting the multi-million-dollar huge projects in one area to work on versus the smaller projects that we have in our districts in another area. So just give us an overview of what your vision is moving forward to get 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. our projects moving. DIRECTOR PALANTINO: Thank you for your question, Council President. So the goal of the new Capital Projects Office is to make all of the capital projects more efficient as well as more cost effective, and in working with DPP and our analysis of projects over the last eight years certainly, we have found different contracting mechanisms that are helping us to do that. At Parks and Rec alone, we were able to complete about 54 projects at a value of $45 million in one year. So we have found ways, different contracting methods that continue to encourage participation, et cetera, to be able to complete projects more quickly. As I mentioned previously, it's breaking them down into further components, using cooperative contracts, other bidding mechanisms, being able to reach out to more businesses to 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. participate in that. So we want to take that and utilize it across the board. We will continue in both for capital projects as well as Rebuild, which will in the future just be part of the Capital Project portfolio, to work with Council offices like we do currently on capital projects so that you're able to better prioritize your investments across the systems and have a better sense of project scope, project budgets. You'd have a direct involvement in development of all of that as well. So the goal is to work partner or closely with Councilmembers to be able to create more opportunity in partnerships for business participation, but as well as to control costs moving forward.
Okay. And this is my last one. I'm going to turn it over to my members. I want to go back -- if you can just provide to the Chair the numbers that you 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. exceeded in terms of diversity and inclusion based upon the Office of Equal Opportunity. So we don't have to go over it. Just provide it for the record. I also want to give a shout-out to my good friend Frank Fabey. So when you see him, tell him I said thank you. He's made my life a little -- oh, he's here. Thank you, Frank, publicly for making my life a little easier. The last thing is, there's always been a major issue regarding workforce development in terms of how there's a pipeline for neighborhood people to really be a part of Parks and Rec, but you have to have a degree, you have to take the civil service test. And what I've seen is that a lot of the neighborhood people who have seasonal positions, right, but they live in the neighborhood and they adopt the rec center and probably spend half of their lives at that rec center, right, so it's 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. a combination of me serving as a seasonal worker but also as a volunteer because you just love the rec center and playground because -- or park because it's in your neighborhood. I remember there was an initiative where there was a pathway to be like a community engagement liaison as opposed to being an RS-1. I guess that's the official one where you have to have a degree and so forth. Where are we with that initiative? How can we open it up so more people from the neighborhood -- because I think one of the only gripes I do have is when you do have the people that's volunteering and doing the work, but they can't really be a part of having an actual job at that rec center. Then you send somebody else from a whole different neighborhood that don't know the nuances of the current neighborhood and then there's -- sometimes it's just off, if I just be up front. So if you can just elaborate on 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that particular initiative, and then I'll turn it over to my members. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: So we actually have a position which is our recreation outreach worker. It was intentionally designed for those young people, those older adults as well that may not have that degree that have participated in recreation opportunities and facilities and hanging out, growing up, but they can't pass the test, because that's real, right? So we had that position put in place on purpose so we could hire people from the communities. Those positions are still there. Sometimes there are some challenges with passing some of our background, because there's still a process, because we made sure that you didn't have to have a degree for this. We changed some of our processes intentionally so we could hire within the community. So we still have those 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. positions available, and we are looking for people. Let me just put that out there. We actually have a job fair that's coming up. It's going to be at the Dell Music Center. We also have an opportunity to go and be a part of some other job fairs, because we are pushing. We are trying to fill some of these positions. And we do have those positions, because we want the community members that have been supporting Parks and Recreation for years and for decades to be the ones in there working, because they know the community, they love the community, and they love our facilities.
Well, thank you very much. Very, very near and dear to me from a job opportunity for individuals who live inside our neighborhoods that want to be a part of Parks and Rec. So I'm going to turn it over to my members. Just want to give a shout-out to Cindy Bass, who is the Vice 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Chair of Parks and Rec. When it comes to diversity and inclusion, she held up the hearing and the bill a couple years ago when we first started Rebuild and said, this bill does not move if it's not diverse and inclusive. I don't want a handshake, I want to have it in writing. So we are going in the right direction, Cindy. So I just want to give you your flowers publicly as we make sure Philadelphia is diverse and inclusive as we move the City of Philadelphia forward. At this point, I want to acknowledge the current Chair of Parks and Recreation, Councilmember Anthony Phillips.
Thank you, Council President Johnson. And also I want to thank my co-partner, Cindy Bass, Vice Chair, for all her years of service as Chair, and I'm looking forward to seeing what we're going to be doing together as a team to take Parks and Rec to another level. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Welcome, Commissioner Slawson. I'm excited that you're here, and we want to begin to roll up our sleeves and do the work of the Lord for our city. The first question -- I just have a couple of questions for Parks and Rec. If I get time, I'll get to Office of Children and Family and then the Library. I am greatly concerned about -- I just want this on the record -- about public safety and cleanliness in our parks. Over the past several months, we've had public safety incidents happen in parks. We've also had a number of short dumping happening in our parks as well. And there's been a large request from residents to have park rangers in parks to help with public safety for our young people and our seniors, even during the day for dumping, during the night. Is there anywhere in the budget that talks about how we can increase the number of park rangers in our parks and 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. what would that look like in order for us to make that work so we can extend public safety and illegal dumping to get rid of that as well? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: So I think the park rangers are key to what we do, but when we're talking about public safety, when we're talking about short dumping, it's more than just park rangers. It is a coordinated effort with the Streets Department, with Sanitation, as well as the Philadelphia Police Department, because we need enforcement. We just had last week an incident where we had major short dumping in West Fairmount Park. Someone must have demolished a house or a few homes and they dropped it right in West Fairmount Park, and this is where the collaboration comes in. I reached out to Director Williams and Commissioner Jacobs Shipman. I texted them pretty late at night. By the next morning, the short dumping was clear. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. So there has to be some type of, one, we need to educate our communities, because we're talking about clean, green, and safe. We need to be on the media. We need to show people that we're doing everything we possibly can to make sure the City is clean, but we need your help. We need you to identify these people that are short dumping. We need you to give us the license tag. But we also need to show that we're out there cleaning it up as soon as they're dumping it. So that's part of what needs to happen. We need to work collaboratively, like we're doing, Streets Department, Sanitation, Parks and Recreation. And let me just say that the short dumping, we have staff that we get the short dumping as well. This particular time the Streets Department assisted us. That pulls us away from our everyday work. It pulls on our resources. And so education, some kind 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of media, and enforcement, and it has to be a collaborative effort. So the park rangers can be out there. They can write tickets, but it is difficult, because our people go through trash trying to identify who dumps, but if you're cleaning out a house, you have wood, you have toilets, you have sinks. You don't have anything that identifies that particular person that has actually dumped. We are working and we do have opportunities now where we're talking about putting additional cameras, and Frank just talked about solar cameras, right? But you also have to pay for the poles for those solar cameras to go on. So there's some things that we're already in the works talking about. The rangers can come. We can lock gates. That's the other thing. You know, our rangers, we lock gates at a certain time, we open them at a certain time, but we also need our community members to be our 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. eyes and our ears to make sure this happens.
And just a quick follow-up. What some of the residents have mentioned is that they just sometimes want the rangers to be present during the day or even during the evenings when they're sitting out there hanging out just for like a sense of comfort and a sense of peace, and that's why it was brought up. So we can continue to talk about that, but I love -- just a quick follow-up. If we could -- I love what you just said about the process to do cleanups and so forth with our parks, but if you can get something that we convey to neighbors whereas can we have a written process to kind of like -- if there's illegal dumping happening, if I can say, here are the steps and protocols to go to just to make sure that you get that taken care of. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: So are 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you talking about something for the community where they know the process of reporting --
Yes. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: -- this whole -- absolutely. We can definitely come up with that.
That way we can hand that off to them. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Okay. Thank you.
Commissioner Slawson, given your experience spearheading significant renovations at the historic Dell Music Center, which you did a great job at, how can City Council collaborate with you to facilitate major renovations for our recreation centers? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: It's funding. It's really about -- so we get our funding. You get funding. It's about us coming up, going out together, looking at your district, me going with 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you, and us saying, okay, here's a priority list, this is the facility that we're going to pour money into right away. So I think we just need to work together to go out to your districts and let's identify where you want your funding to go, how you want to start changing your district.
One last question, Council President, just one last one. In regard to major renovations at recreation centers, could you elaborate on ways in which private investors can contribute to the progress of those renovations and in what way should the City work with them also given your experience with Snider Hockey? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Aparna is actually going to take that.
Okay. Thank you. DIRECTOR PALANTINO: 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Councilmember Phillips, so we currently -- as you know, we're significantly underresourced for the level of capital investment required at parks and recreation centers. So we have a number of projects annually that we work with non-profit partners, for-profit businesses. We solicit every opportunity we can to bring in private investment in a number of ways and to be able to do more with less essentially. So we always welcome that. For Councilmembers, if you're aware of businesses, for-profit or non-profit, that are interested in partnering with us, we do that on a regular basis. We have standard contracts in place that help to facilitate that. Annually I would say off the top of my head we probably at least have 10 to 15 projects a year where we're partnering with the Sixers, the Phillies, non-profits like Make the World Better, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. et cetera. So we welcome that investment. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Can I add something to that? Vanessa just reminded me. So when I was back here in my other life, I had the Flyers reach out to me. So those ice rinks that we have throughout the system, that was a phone call that I received that we worked hard to get the ice rinks. And so there are opportunities. We just have to be willing to work and work through all the nuances of the City to make these public-private partnerships work.
Thank you. And I also recognize in going through the data, there's not an increase this year for Parks and Recreation. Could you elaborate as to why there's not 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. a funding increase? Not on the capital side, on the operational side. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: I'm actually going to ask Deputy Commissioner Washington to come up and respond to that. We are flat, but it's for good reason. (Witness approached witness table.)
I want to hear why we're flat. Because we're cleaner and greener, safer, economic opportunity for everybody, and I think during the pandemic, we really utilized Parks and Rec like hours a 17 day from a programming standpoint to keep 18 our young people occupied, and so when I 19 saw flat, I just want to get an idea of 20 why not the investment. 21 DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WASHINGTON: 22 Good afternoon. Marissa Washington, 23 Deputy Commissioner for Parks and 24 Recreation. So we do have a slight increase 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to our budget this year. So we added $255,000 for CEO to help us clean some of our parks. We also received over the last couple of years a lot of money from Council and we're still trying to spend down those funds. A lot of that is based on the vacancies that we have, having the same issues that everyone else has been having. So we're still trying to fill those positions, but we did have a small increase and we also have some funds that have been fronted in FY24 that we're going to use for activities in FY25. So you're not seeing a full -- kind of the full picture in this budget. So I think we will be fine with the budget that we have for FY25 and being able to provide the services that we need as long as we can fill our positions.
Awesome. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you, Council President. I want to stay on this line of questioning. I want to better understand what this budget tells us about our capital investment strategy in our parks and recreation centers. So Philadelphia spends $50 per capita on our Parks and Recreation Department. This is less than half of the national spending, which is $98 per capita. For comparison, Pittsburgh spends $89 per capita on parks and rec and Baltimore spends $125 per capita on their parks and rec facilities. Philadelphia's underinvestment in capital projects means that there's a lot of deferred maintenance that is needed for parks and rec facilities. In fact, as much as we all love Rebuild, I would argue that Rebuild was hundreds of millions of dollars for deferred maintenance as a result of our budgeting decisions over the years. So what is the Administration 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. doing to do more proactive maintenance work so that years from now we don't 4 need a Rebuild because we're taking care 5 of our assets? 6 COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: I 7 believe the first step was putting 8 Capital under Aparna, having everything 9 run so there is a streamline, there's a 10 focus, and things are not all over the 11 place, having someone to manage and work 12 with City Council specifically. That's 13 number one. 14 The other piece is us, Parks 15 and Recreation, working along with City 16 Councilmembers and helping to direct your 17 funding in our facilities where we know 18 the most work needs to be done. 19 If there was an opportunity to 20 get additional funding, we would love to be along the line of Baltimore, New York and have that type funding to do the work in our facilities. When I came years ago, there was a project, there was a survey done and it talked about how 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. much -- that's over years ago -- how much it would really cost to upgrade recreation facilities, not parks, just recreation facilities. Over years ago 6 that was up 400-some-odd million dollars. 7 And so we're looking to get 8 additional funding in order for us to not 9 just maintain but to enhance our 10 facilities. We can't continue to provide 11 the kind of services in our facilities if 12 we're talking about clean, green, safe, 13 economic opportunities. Like you, I'm a 14 grand-mom now. So I want to take my 15 young people to a rec center, but I want it to be a recreation center that looks wonderful. And so we have to invest in our facilities in order for us to look like a New York or a Baltimore or some of those other facilities.
We fully agree. I would encourage us to really take a look at that capital line for Parks and Recreation so that we have what we need every year so that we don't 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. need a Rebuild. And I can tell you I spend my ITEF money. Councilmember Jones I think has as deficit, because he spends his ITEF money, right? So we are putting that money out, but it's not enough for the capital needs of our facilities. Earlier this year Parks and Rec was forced to leave millions in RACP grant money on the table because we did not have enough grant-writing capacity on our staff. So I want to hear about whether the budget includes a grant writer to allow Parks and Rec to maximize the amount of state, federal, and local dollars going to our parks and rec centers to help with these capital challenges. And are there other challenges that Parks and Rec has faced in executing capital projects and how can Council support you in removing those barriers? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: So I can speak to the grant writer. That's one of my top three priorities, is that there's 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. a lot of capital money out there from the state, from the federal government, but we don't have the capacity right now to pull down on that funding because we don't have a grant manager. And so that's on my list for us to hire, and it is in our budget to have a grant manager. So that will be happening. Again, we'll be able to put in for those RACP grants and federal grants.
That's really important. If the state has -- the state has billions of dollars that we don't have and we're leaving money on the table that we need just because we don't have grant-writing capacity, which I would argue if we pay a grant writer -- I'm not sure what the going salary is, 70K, 80K, whatever it is, it's going to be a high return on investment if we're able to pull that state money in for the capital projects that we need. I have some questions about the Juvenile Justice Services Center that I 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. will come back and ask later.
We're going to rock and roll. It's going to be a long day, thanks to the Appropriations hearing, but we're good. We'll keep this thing moving. That's how we get business done. I do just want to note for the record, the Capital Program over the next five-year program is actually decreased each year. And so just something for you and your team to review in terms of how you're having conversation with the Administration. But capital investment, Parks and Rec actually decreases over the next couple years in the Five Year Plan and just wanted to note that for the record, unless somebody wants to address it now. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: So the decrease is strictly related to the move of Capital Programs from Parks and Recreation to the Capital -- Aparna's department. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Okay. So it's a shift in funding from one to another? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Yes.
Okay. So we'll still see significant investment as we move forward -- COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Absolutely.
-- following the line of questioning of Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier. Jamie Gauthier, recognize.
Can somebody just clarify the number so that we are clear, right? We know that the money is moving under Aparna's management, but we just want to be able to compare the number for this proposed budget to what other years have looked like.
Do you want to answer that now or do you want to provide that to the Chair? 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: We'll provide it in writing to the Chair to make sure that we're giving you the totally accurate amount, but I will say that as Commissioner Slawson said, it aligns with at least positions that 8 are moving to the Capital Project Office 9 as well as a few other things, but I'll 10 return it to the President in writing so 11 you'll have it exactly. 12
13 Okay. Thank you. 14 The Chair now recognizes 15 Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you, everyone, for being here. Council President actually asked a couple of the questions I was going to ask, so I don't have to worry about that. We had one of the special interest groups, and I'm slipping on which one it was, come in requesting 250 more pre-K seats. If there were more 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. seats, would we have the children to fill those seats? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: I'm going to ask Sean to come back up, but I will say to you it's a little bit complicated. Certainly we would have the children to fill the seats in a sense, because we don't have as many pre-K seats as we have children in the City, and I would never be disingenuous and sit here and tell you that. However, it's more complicated, because you also have to have the teachers and the staff and the providers to be able to provide the program and the space for those children to go. And so that's some of what I was talking about when we're trying to make sure we maintain that quality and that we drill down and building that workforce and supporting the workforce, so that you have requisite places for those kids to go. Sean can elaborate a little 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. more, but I do know that there are places where there are some wait lists. There are places where some classrooms have closed because you didn't have the teachers and the teacher assistants or the employees that you needed. So it's not quite as simple as we put in 250 seats and we get you 250 kids immediately. You have to have the qualified providers and staff to be able to accommodate that.
That's beautiful. You actually answered a couple of my follow-up questions right in there. So the STAR three and four providers with full wait lists, right, we currently have that going on now, right?
Yes, Councilman. We do have STAR three and four high quality locations that do have wait lists. That's part of our job as administration is to make sure that we reallocate seats accordingly to make sure 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that children and families are receiving the quality care that they can across our city, and we know that different neighborhoods have different needs and different quality, and I'd also say different types of communities that are being served. We have percent of our 9 children are English learners, so we want 10 to make sure that we're providing the 11 services that they need. 12
Okay. And will the City be promoting and advertising the pre-K again still? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Absolutely. We will be promoting it in different avenues and exploring different media, everywhere from social media to print to radio. Anywhere we can, we actually will be promoting it, yes.
Okay. I thank you for that. I mean, I get it, that the shortage of employees is hitting everybody, but I also think that when we can, we need to build this up more. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. There's a lot of kids in Philadelphia that may be on the cusp of qualifying and, you know, I think that this program is too important to the children of Philadelphia for us to settle. So thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Kathy Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. President. Moms get the job done. I had to take a call about my son. So at any rate, I wanted to thank you all so much for this testimony this afternoon and for all the work that you all have done. I truly appreciate the PHLpreK services and particularly the summer program. I wanted to just ask a really quick question about that relative to how we are ensuring that we're focusing directly on reading during the summer. I 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. know for the summer camp, it's typically -- I think it's in the morning 9:00 to 12:00 you have the instruction period, and then 12:00 to 5:00 they have the sort of recreation, activity, arts and crafts or whatever they're doing for that particular day, but I do believe that we need additional instruction relative to reading, reading-focused, reading-based instruction. And so could you just talk about the morning portion of the summer camp, the 9:00 to 12:00?
So just -- sorry. Christine Piven, Chief of Prevention. So the morning program for Summer Achievers is actually managed by the School District. So it's their teachers coming in with their early literacy curriculum, their math curriculum, and the OST providers are there all day to assist with transitions and to assist in other ways. So I can get you more information, but I think the School 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. District will be best equipped to answer specifically all of the activities, because that's under their purview.
Okay. Because that's one issue that I think we hear about very often relative to the summer slide in our young people, but also ensuring that they are on par with their reading skills. And you know K through 3 you are learning to read, and beyond that you are reading to learn. And so I ask that not as just as a member of Council but as a parent, as someone who has children who have participated in these programs. I know and understand it very, very well. And I also say that because I'm going to go out and put them in a special reading program just for this summer to try to get their reading on par. The kids need help with reading. So I don't know how you all can work with the District to align or realign the curriculum, but these young 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. people are those who -- they're the COVID children. When they went to pre-K and kindergarten and first grade, it was COVID. So now they're catching up and they're playing catchup, and all of our kids in the City are playing catchup, because the kids out in the burbs, they went back to school. All the private schools in the burbs, they went back to school, but our kids are the ones that have to catch up. And so my request is if we could -- if you all in your team and your department could work with the School District to realign that curriculum to really focus on reading for our young people. If you look at the scores, they're not on reading level at all.
So I guess I just want to reemphasize the Summer Achievers, that is part of the focus. So why we have the morning and the partnership with the School District, again, it's the teachers, the School District teachers, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that will be teaching those sessions. They'll focus on early literacy and math. So using the School District curriculum. And I would add that across the board with our OST providers, we within their contracts and the work, we are aligned with the School District around early literacy. So that is also baked into the OST providers year round, not just summer as well.
Sure. I just wanted to put emphasis there, but I appreciate the work and everything you all are doing, but we got to get our kids on reading level, because they're matriculating up and through to middle school and high school and we're hearing from -- even I know Councilmember Gauthier had a hearing and employers seeking employees for life science positions and they're saying our young people just aren't on par. And so I just wanted to put a special emphasis there. Really quickly, I know I had 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. already mentioned this and defer always to my District Councilmember, Councilmember Jones, on this one, but I have to put this on the record for Wynnefield that the John C. Anderson Culture Center is closed, and I'm just going to say that. Any response there? Because we have no recreation center in Wynnefield at all. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Yes. Thank you. The center closed on -- and I'm sure you know -- on January the 8th and it was an abrupt closing unfortunately because there was a pipe that burst and we just did not have time to notify the community that we were going to close, but we did move the programs to the Parkside recreation facility. And there's a cost, and so if we want to talk about that offline, we can have that conversation to get the facility up and running and open again.
Okay. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you.
I heard the bell and I will honor the clock and come back on the next round. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Cindy Bass.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. President. Good afternoon, everybody. (Good afternoon.)
You know what, I am actually going to come back to Parks and Recreation. Is that okay with you, Sue? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Yes, it is.
But it's good to see you and I'm so glad that you're back. Welcome. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you.
So I'd like to talk to the folks from DHS. I have a number of questions, and then I'll probably have to come back around for Parks and Recreation and some other questions that I have. And my first question is on -- as the former Chair of the Committee on Health and Human Services in which DHS was under, we did an extensive amount of work on talking about CUAs, the CUA system. For those who don't know, the CUAs are community umbrella agencies, which were supposed to take the place really of the traditional social work system here in the City of Philadelphia. And so my first question is around the CUA Scorecard, the DHS Scorecard. But there was this report that was issued annually, Improving Outcomes for Children. I haven't seen it in a minute. When was the last time it 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. was issued and when will be the next time it will be issued? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. So good afternoon. My name is Kimberly Ali. I am Commissioner for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services. And so the community umbrella agency or CUA Scorecard, the last time it was issued was in FY22. The FY23 scorecard will be posted within the next couple weeks.
Will it be done before budget hearings, most importantly? COMMISSIONER ALI: Oh, definitely, yes.
Okay. And I'm assuming that you'll make that available, because I'm sure that there will be some significant questions from the body regarding the report. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. COMMISSIONER ALI: Absolutely. I can make it available.
Can you also talk about one -- or actually there were two of the providers who were listed as community umbrella agencies that have since, from '22 to this moment, are no 9 longer providers because they had significant lawsuits based on actions that happened particularly around sexual assaults around children. And so can you discuss that matter? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. I can discuss the process --
Yes. COMMISSIONER ALI: -- in terms of why the decision was made in reference to a provider. I will name that provider since that information was public. And so in the end of 2022, Turning Points for Children, after much conversation with the Department, made a decision that they no longer wanted to provide case management services through 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. community umbrella agencies.
Can we pause for one second, though? Because I thought that the decision was made by the provider because they could not get insurance, they were no longer insurable based on their actions. Is that not true? COMMISSIONER ALI: So the provider was insurable, was able to get insurance. We have consistently paid for insurance for CUA providers since the inception. What the provider wanted the City to do was pay and to indemnify them for their own negligence, and that is what the City was not going to do.
I see. I see. Okay. Thank you. But continue. COMMISSIONER ALI: And so after we received notice, we certainly issued a very rigorous RFP process, because we were talking about four different geographical locations. And so in August of 2023, we actually named three 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. community umbrella agencies. That was for CUA 3, it's Concilio. For CUA it's 4 APM. For CUA 9 it's Greater Philadelphia 5 Community Alliance, or GPCA. The second provider that you are referring to is Tabor Community Partners, who gave us notice January, so January of 2024, that they too had made a decision that they no longer want to provide community umbrella agency services. Again, we issued an RFP, and we are in the silent process of the RFP process now in that we are vetting the providers who applied.
So let me ask you a question. Why are we offering RFPs for new providers when -- and this is wholly my opinion -- when the CUA system was put into place to sort of relieve the current -- well, what was then the social work system that was operating here in the City of Philadelphia? And so the idea was cases are overflowing, the caseloads are too 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. big, you know, we need to bring in additional providers, we some assistance. You know, the Department's idea was to shrink the number of social workers and to bring in this outside sort of -- these entities, which I never thought was a good idea, because you can't -- with a vulnerable population, you can't reduce the amount that you spend on the issue and at the same time expect an improved result. And now it seems as if we've spent the same amount -- and correct me if I'm wrong, but whatever our budget was through DHS prior to the CUA system, we currently have doubled that budget, because we have the same budget in the City of Philadelphia and we have the same expenditures with the CUA system. And please correct me if I'm wrong on that. COMMISSIONER ALI: So I'll do the first question that you asked in terms of why we moved to the CUA and then I'll ask our CFO, Nadine Perese, to talk about the finances. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. So when we decided as a system to move to Improving Outcomes for Children, which is the system transformation as it relates to the CUAs, the decision was not made based on wanting to shrink the number of social workers. That wasn't the decision. The decision was made because we did not have a presence with communities, so we lacked the engagement of communities at the Department. We also had a blurring of roles and responsibilities, if you will. We used to say that DHS at that particular time was everything for everybody and our mandate was around safety and keeping families together, and we lost sight of that. And so that's why we entered the system transformation. So what we maintained at the Department was our expertise around investigations, investigating child abuse reports, supporting families when there were general protective services reports, and allowing provider staff, because DHS 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. has always had contracted providers to do the ongoing case management with families once a decision was made by DHS whether or not the family needed formal child welfare services. So DHS does the investigation. Once the decision is made in terms of if the family needs ongoing support, then it's transferred to community umbrella agencies, again, providers who was doing the work since the inception of DHS. And so we wanted to clarify those roles and responsibilities. Additionally, we seen a lot of gains, just to be frank, in terms of the CUA system. We have challenges. Child welfare is extremely difficult.
Absolutely. COMMISSIONER ALI: Extremely difficult. So when I think about since Improving Outcomes for Children, we did have some periods of instability. I want to make that clear. From 2015 to 2017 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. was very, very difficult in child welfare, but we made some significant --
Why is that? COMMISSIONER ALI: Part of the reason was turnover, so turnover at the community umbrella agencies. I want to be very transparent in reference to that. The other thing, which was extremely significant, is that there were a number of changes to the child welfare laws, and so our system imploded during that particular time, the number of investigations, the number of hotline reports that came in, and we could not keep up with the demand. And so we had to do an infrastructure change on our front end, because we only want to investigate reports of child abuse and support families who need that support. And so we had to build a system on the front end in order to address that.
I thank you for that answer. It makes a lot of 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. sense, but I will say this, so we do this dance every year. COMMISSIONER ALI: We do.
But this is the first -- I got to say this is the first time I've heard that explanation, but I appreciate it. It makes sense, but I'm just saying this is the first time that I've heard that information. And I know that the bell has rung, but I just want to leave one thing on the table for my second round and, that is, I had a question based on what you said, which was the rationale for bringing in the CUA system was essentially to shift the responsibilities of DHS and the investigative part of it. I would like to note Philadelphia at one point had the highest rate of child separation in which we removed children from homes. We had the highest rate of 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. child separation from homes in the United States of America. COMMISSIONER ALI: We did in 2017, yes.
Yes. And in 2020, it was a rate that was three times higher than New York City and four times higher than Chicago. And so I'd like the data on that when I come back around. COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. I have that.
Thank you very much. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Isaiah Thomas.
Thank you, Council President. Good morning to the Admin. Thank you all for the amazing work that you're doing. Vanessa, thank you for all you 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. do. I want to start with you. Talk to us a little bit about what's going on with out-of-school-time-based initiatives. A couple things. So you and I have talked in depth about some of the things that we need to do to get ready for summer learning and summer work. We know JEVS has the contract and they've taken it from PYN. Just give me a couple seconds to talk a little bit about where we are with summer readiness and what we're looking to do, and then I want to ask a couple more questions about the Library as well as Parks and Rec. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So I feel good about this summer, excited about the summer and what it will bring for our young people. I do convene a multi-department or sort of collaborative summer planning meeting to make sure that we are all on the same page. We meet every other week right now, and that's various City agencies, including the 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Police Department and the School District and others, in order to make sure that we're all aware of each other's summer plans. The lion's share of the summer planning obviously comes out of Out of School Time. Our investment in Out of School Time was around 42 million, about where we continue to have it. We're excited about this Summer Achievers program that we talked about, and the reason we're so excited about that, it's the first time that we will have 63 programs in 50 schools. We had a very small cadre of school and out-of-school-time programming last year, but this has been much skilled up and much expanded, and so we're pleased with that. We also have our Parks and Recreation who continue to have summer camps across the City that are either free or low cost for residents. We're opening our pools. They will also be 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. doing play streets. Our goal is to get to around 300 play streets. At those play streets we provide play, water activity, free meals, because we also are very concerned about our food security. We do food security work, because we know for some of our young people the only time they may eat may be in school. So we want to make sure we supplement that in the various summer programs that we do. And then our Free Library also has a myriad of programs that really try to -- and this goes to some of what Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson was talking about. We've recognized there are issues with literacy and want to make sure that we are intentional at OCF and all of our programs are aligning together. So the Free Library does various programs around reading and literacy and other kind of STEM programs and other summer camp-related programs that we work on as well. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
So since you mentioned the Free Library, I prefer that the leaders of the rec center and the Library not come up, because my time is limited. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Understood.
They both -- the leader of the Library, he does great work. We've met. We've talked in depth. But I'm wondering from the Admin's vision, how do you see the future of gaming having an impact on libraries as well as rec centers, gaming, coding, things of that capacity? Right now only about 30 percent of Philadelphia residents have a library card, from your testimony, and we're doing yeoman's work on the Council side to get both the Library and Parks and Recs the amount of money that puts them in a position to be open in non-traditional hours, right? We don't want our parks and recs open only between 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. 9:00 and 5:00, because our kids can't take advantage of that. We want them open after school and on the weekends, and we want them to be able to have things that young people find interesting. And right now gaming is a big thing. My office has been pushing the City to become branded around gaming. We want to be known as a gaming city nationally, right? Just like we're known for our restaurants and our historical landmarks, we want to add gaming to that list. So from the vision of the Admin, how can we incorporate gaming and the work that's done -- gaming and coding and the work that's done at Parks and Recs as well as in our libraries to become more future thinking and to become more of a resource for our children? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Thank you for that question, Councilman. I know this is something that's near and 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. dear to your heart. We are trying to increase gaming. I agree with you, it's sort of the wave of the future. I will say to you first and foremost, though, that the City's infrastructure in terms of from a technological standpoint was far behind where it should be, right? And so we are just beginning to really make those level of investments. I think I talked about in my testimony thanking City Council for giving some money to help us be able to even get new computers at the Library. When I tell you that the Library has one of the most archaic computer systems, it absolutely does. And so working on that both to even refresh staff computers and now we're beginning to roll out additional work computers for public use in the libraries will help, because quite frankly, I don't even think that the system or the computers that we have would have been able to meet the demands 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of what the gaming infrastructure would have been. We're also working on, and there was some special money given and there's a rollout going on right now, of putting computers in the Parks and Recs, into the recreation centers as well. So that's the first part, is we have to have the requisite equipment, and then certainly we will continue to push it. There are a few eGaming centers that Parks and Rec have opened that we're looking to scale up to continue to move them.
That's good. So this is what I will ask, Council President, and listening to the testimony kind of inspired me. I wonder what it looks like for us as a city to examine where we are as it relates to government buildings and technology to figure out how archaic are we, right? Like I'm sitting here screaming and 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. begging for more gaming and technology and I can't even plug my phone in to nothing while I'm in the Council session. We're not blaming the current Council President for that, right? But the reality is, what does it look like for us to really challenge ourself as a municipality to examine where we are as it relates to just technology in general and what do we need to do to come into 2024 as it relates to how we digitalize stuff, access to some of the things that you talked about as far as equipment to be able to provide more resources to the City. There's a lot of independent studies and companies that we can work with to try to do that, but listening to your testimony, I think that that's something that we should possibly discuss to figure out how bad off we are and what direction we need to go in. As I close out, I just really want to commend you and the agencies 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that's testifying here today. I listened to Councilmember Bass who has been adamant about issues with DHS compliment DHS. I'm listening to what's going on with Parks and Recs and Libraries, and we've met with you all prior to coming into this hearing, and we know that there are going to be some hurdles this summer. We know for a fact. But we all recognize that if we can make sure young people are as busy as possible and their time is occupied in a positive way, that's our number one crime prevention tool, right? And we're going to do our best, and I know you and your team are doing your best already to be able to address this crisis. Thank you, Council President. I believe my time is up. I don't have a second round. Thank you, Council President, and thank you all for all the great work you do.
Thank you for your time. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I just want to -- before you leave, though, Councilmember Thomas, one, we are doing an assessment of this room 5 and our Caucus Room technology-wise. So we're going to take a look at that. But I also just wanted to say as we move forward and become a more gaming-friendly society, particularly with Parks and Recreation, that Councilman Thomas spearheads the effort to make sure that when our young people come and play games -- particularly for me in my household, it's Roblox and Fortnite. And they will go on my phone and say, dad, can I spend $10, 10.99, $30 for a new skin. So we're going to make sure Councilman Thomas makes sure there's a stipend as we upgrade when kids go and play Roblox and Fortnite and all those other games. But very good comments as we go into the next century in terms of being technologically savvy as a city. Those Roblox dollars is something 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. vicious.
And when you log in at the rec center, they don't want to log in with a fresh new game. They want to start where they were at with their skins that they have, but that's a different conversation. But good line of questioning, Councilman Thomas. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. On that note of making sure that young people have something to do I think is the best crime prevention, violence prevention thing there is. So I want to know about year-round employment, not just summer jobs, but for a lot of the high-risk people that we run into in GVI is that -- hold that answer. I got some thank-you's to do. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. One, I want to thank Commissioner Ali for working with us on Parent University, and the good news is that in a meeting with the former Mayor, our current Mayor Cherelle Parker asked as a single parent, if I wanted to plug in my address and my kid, what activities there are and things that they can do, whether it's reading, whether it's out-of-school-time programming, she asked the last Mayor and there was nothing that was coherent. Based on Parent University, which you helped us with, the good news is that we're getting ready to take that one-day activity and turn it into an online matrix so that the answer to Mayor Parker's question can get answered, here's what's available to you as a single parent in this zip code and in others. So we're excited about that, and thank you for that. And thank you, Mr. President, for you and my colleagues 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. coming out and supporting that. I want to also welcome back Sue Slawson. Welcome back Kotter, and Aparna. But, you know, I got to call you about Shepard. I'm going to say Shepard, and you'll know what I'm talking about, so I don't need to discuss that here. But my number one -- oh, and the Juvenile Justice Center. Me and my colleagues, Gauthier and Quetcy Lozada, it seems like all of the female members of Council aren't afraid to go up to the jails. I don't know. We walk those tiers up there to look at where some of the young people are going, and thank you for bringing those numbers down that our young people had to suffer through. It was all hands on deck. It was a constant fight with the state. The state finally heard us, the Governor heard us, and we're reducing those numbers. So now with that, where are our numbers at JJC? Where is GVI? What's 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the future? Where are we going with that? And can we get a year-round job program for at-risk young people? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So our current numbers as of today at JJC, the total census is 186.
That's right -- wait a minute. Hold it. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Our license capacity is 184.
So you're two people over? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Yes.
Can we give them a round of applause for moving them numbers down. - - - (Applause.) - - -
Okay. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So that includes 156 males, 30 females. We are a little concerned. They're looking into what's going on with our young 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. ladies, because that's a much larger number than we typically carry of young ladies, but we will be working with all of our partners at Public Safety and Police and others to try to figure out exactly what's going on and how we can address that trend. So we're doing much better in terms of the Juvenile Justice Center and the population work. I think your second part of the question was around GVI.
What's the future? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: The future of GVI, you know I helped start that and spearheaded and continue to work with it even though it technically isn't under my purview but work very closely because it's a program I care a lot about, and I do think it has made the difference in reducing the gun violence, the shootings among gangs and groups, particularly in that certain area that we started with. Your area and Councilwoman 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Gauthier's reduced by about 40 percent based on an evaluation we got from University of Penn. Our future, we are now in conversations with the Police Department and other partners to that thing about moving it to doing a more very specific or focused GVI for juveniles, because I'm concerned about what we're seeing in the trends around juvenile justice and the upscaling kind of violent acts that juveniles are doing. So we're now beginning those conversations and exploring how we may do a more tailored version, still keeping the GVI that we have for the adults. And even though you can have some juveniles in it, it is really not as tailored, as the juvenile justice system is a little different. There are nuances. So we're looking at how we tailor that and how we use the existing resources that we both have in the current GVI model on the social services 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. side but also accessing all of the prevention and diversionary programs that we currently have on the juvenile justice side to do something specifically tailored toward juveniles to hopefully offset some of these violent crimes before they happen.
Mr. President, we should take a hard look at how much resources that we offer these young people when we go and knock -- I actually went out in your district, Member Gauthier, because I wasn't going to do it in my district, knock on the doors with the team, and a lot of people are on that cusp, like I really don't want to do this, but tell me what options there are. And the better -- that's why I asked about the year-round jobs and other than that. One of the things that I want us to do, and I'm going to end on this, is that we need to make those young people a promise, that if you go back to 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. school, if you put down that gun, if you're not out past curfew and get a C or better average, we promise you positive outcomes, that we're either going to put in a college, put you in the military, put you in a CTE program or put you in a wage-paying job. And if we keep that covenant with them, maybe they'll keep that covenant with us. Thank you, Mr. President.
No. 13 Thank you, and however we can be supportive of those efforts and also the staffing piece, because I know we did some visits up at JJC Center and just looking at how we focus on the robust staffing of that particular facility, particularly young men. I know there's a lot of young ladies that want to work there. But I'm going to slide a real quick one just real fast before I call on the next person. How are we doing on the staffing of men? And then also we know 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. several different organizations that go in there. I know Bilal Qayyum goes in there. You also have a lot of young men -- I think you had an Imam come do like a major Jum'ah service this past week, which I was told was very, very successful. But along the lines of continuing opening up the partnerships and while you have those young people captured in there, the opportunities to hopefully get involved in something that's positive as opposed to something that's negative, because they can get involved in negative stuff up there as well, correct? So just elaborate on the staffing component. COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. Since the last time we testified, we actually hired 60 additional -- 60 juvenile detention counselors. - - - (Applause.) - - 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. COMMISSIONER ALI: And definitely we have to say kudos to certainly Deputy Commissioner Gary Williams as well as Executive Director Michael Scott, our HR department and OHR. OHR was there with us on a Saturday twice hosting job fairs all day.
Inside? COMMISSIONER ALI: Inside the PJJSC. So we have made significant gains in our staffing. They only have 30 vacancies, and they are looking to bring in another class the end of this month. What we are working on is keeping the staff. Again, I talked about child welfare being difficult. Juvenile justice and working in a residential facility is very difficult. It is difficult work. We have to adhere to certain ratios. And so we want to make sure that our staff and complement is robust so that staff do not have to work mandatory overtime. We want to do this 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. work-life balance. And so we do have a ways to go, but we certainly are moving in the right direction, and kudos to the leadership.
Let me ask you this, right? Is there opportunities for non-traditional individuals, some call them credible messengers, some people call them those who have lived life experiences, that would love the opportunity if they can like work with their background, they may have did some time, come back home, but they would love to be in that type of environment, but I know there may be certain guidelines and regulations that say if they can and they can't. But I see a lot of people who want to do good if given the opportunity. COMMISSIONER ALI: So we actually made that investment. And so as you know, we had that crisis that peaked in October of 2022. And so in 2023, we actually invested in some credible 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. messengers, violence interrupters, if you will, who come to the PJJSC consistently. They were the ones who helped hold us down during the time that we were struggling with staffing. And so they continue to come support us in the PJJSC. They make the connection with the young people, sometimes the connections that my staff are unable to make, and we are making some tremendous gains. And so we do have credible messengers that are inside the PJJSC working alongside our staff.
Can they be hired under the City's budget? COMMISSIONER ALI: So some of them are. And so we have part-time options and also full-time options. I certainly have to do the appropriate --
Due diligence. COMMISSIONER ALI: -- due diligence, but, yes, we have hired some credible messengers. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
All right. Thank you very much. The Chair now -- keep up the good work. She hails from South Philadelphia, so we're from the same neighborhood. So want to give a personal shout-out. Not too many of us made it out. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you for being with us this afternoon. My first question is for Children and Families. I know in your testimony you mentioned a youth center being in East. Can you share with me where it is, who operates it, how were they selected? I didn't know that it was there, so I'm really interested in just knowing like what services are provided, where the children -- what are the zip codes that the children come from. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: I'm sorry, Councilwoman. I think I missed the first part of the question.
You mentioned in your testimony a youth center being in East. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Oh, the community -- we call them CERCs, Community Evening Resource Centers. Thanks to -- and I have to give a shout-out to Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson, who help spearhead a lot of this and worked extremely hard with us to get them up off the ground. We have them in different districts throughout the City. The most recent that you're referring to, one is in East Division, which would be in your district, and one is in the Northeast. They run -- and the unique thing about them is that they run the hours of 7:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., so they operate as a drop-in site. We do a lot of community 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. canvassing, and while the lion's share of the young people that are there are people from the community who like to come there, we offer a myriad of programs. And you come and it's free of charge, and once the kids like it, they keep coming back. So it's a safe space for them to be on those difficult days and hours that are very much supervised. It is also a space that the Police Department utilizes for curfew violators, that they are also able to bring them there if in fact when they take them home, there's not a responsible adult to assume the young people. So they use them. The one in the East is -- I was going to say I'm going to pronounce it wrong, Councilwoman. Xiente, I believe, is the provider of that particular one that's in your district, and then there's one in the Northeast. That's the Juvenile Justice Center. And those are the two that are most recently opened. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
And how many youth can typically be found there? How many youth are serviced out of that facility? COMMISSIONER ALI: So I can give you a snapshot from since inception. And so we opened the first Community Evening Resource Center, or CERC, in the latter part of -- well, in January 2022. So the latter part of December 2021. And so thus far, 1,720 young people have visited the centers and participate in the activities. And so what speaks volumes about the CERCs is that they did 22,000 visits, which says that those young people continue to go to the CERCs, because they are safe spaces for them. And I just want to do one clarifying. The Northeast is Unique Dreams. Northwest is JJC.
Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much for that. I didn't know that, so I'd like to visit 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. them whenever I have an opportunity. Thank you for sharing the information. And then I just found out a few weeks ago that my district has the highest number of children enrolled in pre-K, but we also have 64 vacancies. You also mentioned in your testimony that you guys are doing everything you can to try and fill those vacancies. Can you share with me what are some of the strategies that you guys are doing to be able to fill those and how we can help promote those opportunities? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Sure. I'm going to ask Sean Perkins to come back up, but they work closely with both the School District as well to try to maximize where the vacancies are on all sides as we try to fill them. They also do some work directly with the providers, because there's several providers in your district especially, but I'll ask Sean to give you the particulars.
Sorry, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Councilmember. It's a little bit difficult to hear you over there. Was the question about vacancies for PHLpreK in your Council district?
Yeah. So as Vanessa mentioned, we work very closely with our community-based organizations and the providers themselves, your office, as well as all the other District Councilmembers to make sure that they're well aware of like where are the places that we could be filling. But as we mentioned before, PHLpreK has a 93 percent fill rate, and sure we could improve on the seven percent. I also want to highlight it's healthy to have about a five percent excess capacity rate, just because there are some movements that happen throughout the school year, families move here, children become more available and families say I want to come in and be available. So five percent is kind of 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. healthy, so we're right on the cusp of that. But like Vanessa mentioned, we work with our community-based organizations. We have a lot of provider council organizations. We work very closely with Children First has a provider council itself. We have a PHLpreK advisory. We work with the Head Start collaboration. We have an organization called The Voice of ECE. We also work with Latinos Educando Juntos, LEJ. And the other one is SEPECC, the Southeast Pennsylvania Early Childhood Commission. So those are like our core collaborative opportunities to make sure that we're working to identify what are the major places that we need to be helping fill and advertise and advocate to put families into seats that are available to them.
And do you foresee those positions being filled before the summer? How quickly do you 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. think those positions will be filled? Have they been challenging to fill in the past?
How quickly do you think that those positions will be filled?
Oh, how quickly? It depends on what families are seeking. It really is. I think it's a matter of a family choice and like what families are mostly looking at. But I think that Vanessa mentioned earlier here too that it's important to have a highly qualified staff available. So each center has a unique set of circumstance, and in some places -- I don't want to speak about like a specific place in your Council district perhaps, but like I would want 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to look at the data to understand. It may actually be just a teacher vacancy may actually exist there, and that's a real problem that we're trying to help support and solve right now, but each case is unique, I think.
Thank you. And then I just have one question for PP&R. Before my question, I just want to say thank you to Commissioner Slawson for always making herself available since she arrived. She's been available to respond to questions that I have, and I'm grateful for that. I know that sometimes I can be really frustrated, and you've been able to kind of calm me down. I'm also grateful for your staff. They have been very willing to tour my facilities. I have expressed concern and frustration, a lot of frustration, as it relates to how clean the rec centers should be and could be, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and as we work with the Administration in our cleaning and greening initiatives and as we encourage young people to use our rec centers, they should be spaces that are at least clean, at minimum clean, and I have to say that some of my centers are disgusting. I just want to be very honest with you. I want to know what we can do to better improve the cleanliness of our recreation centers if we are going to start encouraging our young people to use them. We don't have to -- I'm just going to say rec centers should be clean, especially if we have full-time maintenance people there and especially if during the summer months we have additional SMAs to support them. What can we do? I don't think that we should be spending extra money to do deep cleaning, but a lot of my centers -- and I don't know about other centers, but a lot of my centers really deserve a deep cleaning and then 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. maintenance by those who are hired to maintain them. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you for those statements and the question. So I want to say for some time our facilities in certain neighborhoods, especially communities of color, resources and high-quality programming has not existed. So what we're going to do is, we're going to align our staffing model to better serve those distressed communities by focusing on neighborhood-based data. We're going to have some strategies and some goals, and I've actually had this conversation with my deputies already, because I've been to some facilities and I have issues with the way they look. And so I echo your concerns, and we are putting together a plan to -- we do need to deep clean, but it shouldn't have to be a deep clean. It should be an everyday clean so you don't have to get to a point where you are deep 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. cleaning. So we are working on a strategy with our Operations, with our Programs Department to start cleaning each one of our districts. And you're right, we have staff. They're in our facilities from 7:00 until 3:00. I can't sit here and give you an excuse. I'm not going to try to. But what I will say is that we are working on how to bring our facilities up to par where not only will the staff be happy -- because it's not just about our kids. We have staff members that are working in those facilities that we are concerned about as well. And so we want the community -- so what we say to our community speaks volumes on how our facilities look. So what are we saying? If you come into a facility and you're sitting here and you're saying they're deplorable, so it's our responsibility to step up and make the changes. And so what I can say to you, it's already in motion for us to make the 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. changes, and thank you for bringing it up.
I appreciate that, and I look forward to touring the district with you. When I toured the district with your team, the goal was to evaluate each facility and figure out what the priorities were, how do we make the spaces better and more welcoming for young people, but I also had the opportunity to talk to some of our community young folks in certain centers, and a lot of what I heard was that, yes, the rec center is there, but there's not programs that interest them. So what are we doing to communicate and engage with young people to talk to them about what they want to see, what activities would make them want to come to the center? How are we changing how we do outreach to them now? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: So I think that there should be two things going on in rec facilities. I think 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. there should be some consistent programming, because we can't -- there's no measurement if there's nothing consistent going on. So I believe there should be some consistency. We should be able to say, this is going on at these facilities all the time, this day, this time of week. But I also think that every facility is unique. There are going to be places that want to do eGaming. There are going to be places that want to do -- and I'm just making it up in my head -- you know, sewing. And so we should be able to have those opportunities, those specialty opportunities, for different communities, because all of our communities are different. So it's okay not to have sewing in the Northeast, but to have it in North Philadelphia. It's okay to have eGaming in West Philadelphia but not in South Philadelphia. And so we should have those opportunities. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. And I'm going to say one of the things that I did some time ago, because when I came in 2008, Cecil B -- no; Martin Luther King Rec Center, there was nothing going on there, and they said, well, the community is just not interested, there's nothing that they want to do. Not so. I put the right staff person there. We cleaned that place up, and we had listening sessions. I went to these sessions. I listened to the kids and I listened to the parents. Within a matter of months, that place was overflowing with young people and parents. So we need to have some listening sessions. We need to hear -- and we're not going to like what we hear all the time, but it's a part of building up the programming and making sure that we are giving the community what they need but also doing what we need to do to provide programming. So we're going to be addressing those issues. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
I'd like to also -- my last comment. I'd like to also offer the need to hire from within the community. If you're hiring from the community, people will be vested, right? So they're going to maintain and take care of it as well. Thank you, Council President. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. I wanted to speak about pre-K and community schools, and I want to come back to Human Services later. I hope I get a chance. So I just first wanted to congratulate you on so much success in the pre-K space. I have a special interest in this because I was part of 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the Kenney Administration when we worked so very hard to make this happen, and to see the growth is very gratifying. So thank you for all the work you've done. This is really showing our children that we care and we're investing in them. So kudos to all of you, and I'm just so pleased to see how far we've come. The question I had was about the current STAR three and four level learning programs. They make up about 71 percent of your programs, and the goal is to reach 80 percent. How realistic is this goal and will we be making aggressive changes to contracts or to help existing contracts to go to three or four? What is the plan around that? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So my understanding is that we have about 90 percent of the programs are STAR three and four, not 70, we're happy to say, but I'll have Sean talk to you a little bit more about -- we do offer technical assistance and other stuff to the 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. programs that are not at that level yet, which is only about seven or so, quite frankly, about --
Excellent. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: But we're offering special assistance to try to bring them up to the level.
Yes. So there are seven locations across Philadelphia that receive PHLpreK funding, and they have options available to them. They're on an improvement plan, that we assign them to a quality support center where they get specific coaching and technical assistance, professional development, make sure that the teachers and their staff are getting the quality educational resources that they need to move up in that STAR rating. So we do invest in them, and we also invest in the priority areas of our city that have the highest needs. We talk about literacy rates, we talk about 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. low maternal education, we talk about crime and violence. Like we know that we add additional resources into those communities.
The follow-up on that is -- this is just anecdotal feedback I've gotten from parents who have gone. They said to me, and I was surprised, they said they found the three's and four is sometimes better than the five's. And I don't know what they were referring to, but they said they've toured a lot of these spaces. So that's just -- you don't have to respond to that. There's maybe --
If I can respond for just a quick second. I'm not sure what they are saying there, because the quality rating system is only up to four star, so there is no five.
Four. So they were like the lower, not the total high number but the lower numbers they found to -- maybe they were on the 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. improvement scale, so they were already gung ho. I don't know what it was, but that was an observation that was shared with me. I had a quick question about looking at the community schools. I didn't quite understand this table that you said about getting community schools to show gains in student attendance to go from 10 to 20. The target was -- FY24 is 20 and FY25 is 20. What does the 20 number refer to?
Sorry. This is Christine Piven, Chief of Prevention. The number refers to the 17 number of community schools. So it's 18 looking at year over year gains in each 19 community school in terms of student 20 attendance. So it's saying that -- I think it should say in FY25, that all 20 community schools will show gains in student attendance, and then in FY24, it's ten community schools. So that's the benchmark that's being explained 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. there.
Is that the maximum number we want to keep community schools at or are we working to get more schools to become community schools? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So I'll say we currently have community 10 schools. We just brought on about three 11 about a year ago or so within that last 12 year. So they've been phased in sort of 13 incrementally. 14 I certainly am a fan of 15 community schools and would love to see 16 us have many more in the City, because I 17 do think that they make a tremendous 18 difference for the children and families 19 that we see, but certainly I'm sure 20 you'll see in budgets to come what that may look like.
And my last question, because we're all going to lunch, is there was an in-house data analyst position that was eliminated in 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. FY24 that continues to be excluded in the budget. So do you have other capacity to do this analysis or is this that you didn't need that analyst?
Sure. So within the way the Office of Children and Families is structured is the back-end operations are centralized. So there's what's called PMT, performance management technology. So all the data supports sit under there. So each program works with PMT for their data needs. We don't each -- we don't have our own data analyst.
Individual. Got you. And the very last question I -- first a comment, that I think the structure is great, and if we can be helpful in any way to all of your goals, please make sure to ask us. I just wanted to comment on the distribution of where the community schools are and where you're targeting, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. how are you doing the assessments to say the next ones we want here, and do you have co-location with other services? Obviously that's what a community school is, but in terms of the high violence spaces, are we looking to do some more there? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So we try in OCF, at least since I've been there, to prioritize neighborhoods and needs, and what I'm saying prioritize a neighborhood, we take into account everything from the lower income levels to the lower educational levels to the violence, quite frankly, because that still goes into the trauma that the residents are experiencing and our young people and their needs may be enhanced because of that and a number of other factors that we look at when we try to prioritize. One of the things about community schools, though, was it is sort of an application process, and some of it 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. is about the principals at the schools, right, do they want to be a part of this, do they want to be involved. This is a collaborative effort with the School District. And so the School District is heavily involved as well as we make those selections. But you certainly want that school community that are amenable and want to be a part of this is a lot of how we also choose it. It just so happens that most of them happen to be in some of the more impoverished neighborhoods, and I'm sure it will continue to be that way, because we really are trying to hit those branch schools that need more help than maybe some of our more specialty kind of schools. It is those sort of neighborhood branch schools that wind up being the ones that really need more help and attention.
And the final structural question, Mayor's Office of Education and what you do, is there overlap or how does that work? I don't 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. know the structure. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So that's a somewhat new transition that we are working out. I will say to you that community schools probably will be transitioning fully to the Mayor's Office of Education come FY25, so let's say July, because it makes sense. It is directly education, and the Mayor's Office of Education is also taking on those matters that directly work with the School District and the School Board. So Mayor's Office of Education as well as Adult Education Services will be transitioning to the Mayor's Office of Education in FY25. Those are the only things I'm aware of right now. Now, having said that, we will still be working very closely with my colleagues in the Mayor's Office of Education and happy to do that and support that, because these are all really, really important programs and goals. And while community schools will 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. transition to Mayor's Office of Education for supervision, management, and other things, we will still be, "we" being OCF, will still be providing the support services, and they will remain on the budget for OCF to provide all the necessary supports and the contracts and other things that we pay for there.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you very much, Council President. And thank you for answering already some of my questions. I appreciate that. I wanted to know about the Mayor's Office of Education. I'm going to focus right now on Parks and Rec and Libraries, I think, and then come back to DHS later, second 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. round. But for Parks and Rec, Commissioner Slawson, nice to have you back, and it was great to hear about the leadership that you're providing for the rec centers in Philadelphia, focusing on each one of them in each neighborhood, and I'm hearing this collectively from all of you, because as we know, this is really just a matter of equity, right? We want to make sure that all of our libraries and rec centers, no matter what neighborhood you're in, are clean and beautiful and well funded and thriving and absolutely responsive to the community that they're in. So I love the concept of getting the input from the community. And I've been around the City for a long time too to see that sometimes programming is based around the expertise of the supervisor there or the leaders in the rec center versus the community, and then they move around to get other jobs and there's vacancies. So I think I like 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. it from the bottom up. I am very set on making Philadelphia the most teen-friendly city in America, and I would like to know what you are doing to focus more on teen programming, especially when the teens aren't into sports. And I think this is probably a Library's question too. I have a couple of questions here, but we really got to engage them more and would love to know what you're doing. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So, Councilwoman, you know we've known each other a long time, and I have that same interest, which I know you know. Older youth are sort of my thing. We are really trying to focus on that. It goes to some of the eGaming stuff that Councilman Thomas was talking about but also last year for the first time, and we will continue. We do programming at Eakins Oval during the summer, but we have dedicated Thursday nights to being teen 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. nights. We'll be coming to all of you for some advertisements that help get out to our networks, because last summer was the first time, so you can imagine it was a little slow start, but we bring in a deejay. We bring in someone who's known in the communities that these kids -- you know, the kind of music they listen to to be able -- they come out. They dance. We bring in food trucks. We pay for the food for them. It's just supposed to be a safe space for them to gather. As you know, across the City we have been challenged with kids just popping up with a party somewhere and it gets out of hand. This way it's a party that has a little bit more supervision, so to speak, for them on Thursday nights. So we'll continue to do that. That's an example of just trying to think out of the box. We know we have to go back and do some real rethinking about how we attract our kids and how we get to them. I think that's 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. what Councilwoman Lozada was saying, about how do we get to them, what they like, what kind of programming do they really want to be there, and that's what the Commissioner was saying about talking to them. So do plan to do a lot more work around getting youth voice and youth input into what is it that they really want, and also partnering with some community groups. We did have a night or two at that teen night last summer that we partnered with another community group or two who have a great relationship with kids. We had one who did some work particularly with sort of our higher risk kids who were able to come out and bring other things that they knew would attract them or that they would like. So we're also exploring that again for this summer and moving forward.
That is great news. Thank you so much. Is there any -- have you had 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. any thought about my dream, which is to get an app, not a website but an app, for all of the programming to put it all in one place? And this isn't just to say where your rec center is or what the hours are or where your library is. It is literally to tell you, hey, tonight is the dance party, tomorrow the pools are open from this time to this time, adult swim is only this time. People should not have to go to the rec center or the library to find that information out. An app would be great. You would know at any point at any time. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: And so the answer to your question have I thought of that? No. 20
Well, congratulations. You have now. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: All I can do is tell the truth here. But Vanessa says they have. I haven't. But, I mean, of course it makes sense. We 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. live in a technological age where everyone is on their phone. And so that is something we can definitely look into and start actually having conversations with our team and talking with the young people, what does this look like, talking with our leaders, what does it look like. So that's definitely something that we can do. I also wanted to share something else that we're doing in addition to some of what Vanessa just shared. We are providing -- last summer was great. Let me just say we have some wonderful leaders and people that work in these facilities. You really dedicate your life when you're working in a rec facility. They work 1:00 to 9:00. If you have children, if they're not coming to the rec center, except for the summer months, you're kind of missing out. So I just want to give kudos to those people that are running those facilities that are giving up their time day after day, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. year after year. I just want to thank the staff and the teams for what they've been doing, and most of them have been doing this for decades. So I just want to publicly say thank you to them. So we provided last summer some initial projects, right? So this year, this summer we have this project to reduce the cycle of violence. One of the things is, Council -- I wish he was here. Councilmember Jones gave me a document and it was called the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia, and I had an opportunity to read it, and one of the things in this Blueprint, it suggested that you have access to parks and recreation. That's one of the things they say that helps deal with the crime and the violence. It's paramount to prevention, intervention, and solution. The document also provided other thoughts, and what I'm happy to say is, Parks and Recreation covered every one of those thoughts that he had in 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. here, one of them being this summer we're going to do this project to reduce the cycle of violence. The mission is to reduce the violence by empowering our youth through sports, mentorship, and conflict resolution training. Our kids need to know how to deal with conflict. They need to know how to argue. I want to push -- I'm putting it out here. I want to push to have more boxing in our facilities. When I grew up, I fought. And so if I could fight, I don't need to pick up a gun, right? So let's teach our boys how to fight.
I hear you. Okay. I don't know if y'all caught that, but I understand. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Let's teach our young men. Let's get them back in our facilities.
Put the guns down, pick up the gloves. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Let's 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. put the guns down and pick up the gloves. That's what I believe. So the project will also incorporate trauma-informed practices by providing a safe and supportive environment for our young people. We have a template that will assist groups. We see -- our Mayor talked about seeing young people outside collecting money to purchase equipment. We're going to provide fees for coaching. We're going to provide opportunities for them to run their programs, including games and music and dance, eSports. We're going to provide opportunity for additional eSports. I wanted -- the Deputy Commissioner just mentioned to me back there two months ago we had a huge eSports gaming city event at Venice Island. So we are doing eSports. We just have to just do it a little more in our facilities. And so those are some of the 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. things that we're going to do this summer in addition to what we've always been doing. DIRECTOR RICHARDS: Kelly Richards, President and Director of Free Library of Philadelphia. There was the conversation about what are we doing for teens and then there was a conversation about gaming. The Library actually does have gaming programs at some of our libraries. Now, it depends on creating games or playing the games. And at some of our libraries across the City we do have gaming programs where teens are at the library and they're competing with one another with various popular games that are out now. Our staff, we have very creative staff who work alongside -- you mentioned working with the community -- who work alongside with the community coming up with a variety of different programs for teens in all of our 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. branches, and they do this on a regular basis. We have over 30,000 programs a year, and 600,000 people visit these programs. So we do a lot of teen programming at our library with our very creative staff.
Yeah, Round 2. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Kendra Brooks.
Good morning. Good afternoon now, I guess. And I just want to thank everyone for their testimony and the work that they have done. So everybody up there, you guys know that I love Parks and Rec. I love libraries. You know, my tagline was like libraries saved my life. So I saw the same excitement in the Five Year Plan that the Mayor put 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. out, and I just had a couple concerns, and some of them have been asked already, but I'm going to kind of float around my notes here to see if I could kind of capture all the things. My first question is about the investment in community services and expanded programming, and this question is for the Free Library. In the Five Year Plan, it talked about the Library not planning to increase in-person visits this year, and I was kind of trying to understand the thinking behind this, because I think that we should want to expand the number of people coming to the libraries and why aren't we increasing funding to make sure that we're doing more recruitment to make sure our libraries are open and accessible to more folks than what they already have? DIRECTOR RICHARDS: Councilwoman, I'll probably have to get back to you on that, but the only reason why the numbers wouldn't increase is 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. because some of our libraries are closed for Rebuild.
Okay. That makes sense. Okay. Do you know the number of libraries that are closed for repair? And does that add up to the -- I think the number was 3,000 less preschool students -- DIRECTOR RICHARDS: Five.
-- attending and a flat number for teen adults and senior programs and 20,000 less children attending programs. So that's kind of where my concern was coming around. Like shouldn't we be increasing access to libraries instead of -- I mean, access to programming instead of decreasing? So I was wondering are we cutting programs or are we just not devoting time to prevent the decline in programming? DIRECTOR RICHARDS: Very good question. No, we're not cutting programming. The impact I believe was on 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the branches closing for remodeling, but, you know, again, like I mentioned earlier, our staff are very creative. I mean, very, very, very creative in coming up with programming and providing services for the community. So that number I have to look into, but I believe that number has to do with the branches cycling in and going through closing to be remodeled in communities where a large number of the kids come.
I'm very glad that you're saying this, because I'm always trying to, my team is trying to connect to expand programming at the libraries and I just want to make sure that that's what we're going to continue to do. So if you can get back to me on that, that would be helpful. DIRECTOR RICHARDS: Sure.
My next group of questions is for the Parks and Rec and how it connects to community 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. services and City services as well. And the advocates have been calling for full staffing and an increase of $25 million, and I heard you say that you're doing some spending down with some hiring, things that were happening. So my question is -- let me go back. And then even Council President pointed out how we can have more community members being able to have access to hiring. So I was just wondering what is the plan to fully staff the centers and how does -- how will that happen if we're flat funded? I understand you have some spend-down happening. So when the hiring happens, do we plan to still increase the programming in libraries across the City? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: In the rec centers?
In the rec centers. I'm sorry. Yeah, back to the rec centers. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Deputy 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Commissioner Washington is coming up to address that. (Witness approached witness table.) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WASHINGTON: Good afternoon. Deputy Commissioner Washington, Parks and Recreation. Excuse me, Councilwoman. Could you repeat the question again as far as the -- with the positions?
So how do we plan on ensuring that the staff are fully -- the parks and recreation centers are fully staffed even after the spend-down happens? I remember -- so my question changed because the spend-down part. I get that. So once we hire the position, what does it mean to continue programming if we were able to? Because I know at the hiring fair someone mentioned -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WASHINGTON: So after that, the job fair, but also -- so the bulk of our vacancies are in civil 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. service positions. So of course we go to a list. One of the things that we found out with our rec leader trainees, even with all of the changes we've made to the scope of the job, kind of decreasing the requirements during the height of the pandemic, we're just not getting a lot of names on the list. In 2020, before 2020, 2019, we probably averaged about 60 to 70 rec leader trainees on the list. The last two lists, even with changing them, we're averaging around 35, and we don't exhaust the list. So, you know, we're going to continue to reannounce until we can get our full complement of recreation leader trainees, outreach workers, and all those positions. I will say -- I think it was mentioned earlier with someone else, that it's a lengthy process. It can take a few months to kind of -- anywhere from four to six months to fill those positions. We also utilize our seasonal 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. workers to help us with the programming. So we're focused on making sure we can put the appropriate programming in, and we're going to continue to focus on that and using all the positions we have from our outreach workers to all of our recreation leaders, from our 1's, 2's, and 3's and our seasonal workers. We hire about 2,000 seasonal workers throughout the year. At least half of those positions are in our Programs Division.
And could I just -- just added to that, I know there are non -- I don't know what you guys call them, the ones who don't necessarily have to go through the civil service employment to work. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WASHINGTON: So those would be our seasonal workers.
The seasonal workers that are running programming. I just want to make sure that every recreation center, to 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Councilmember Lozada's point, is not just clean but it's active programming going on at every recreation center throughout the City. And just in conversation with various folks at rec centers across the City, I've heard both extremes, that there are programs that are supposed to be running that aren't running and someone is there collecting money for after-school programming that's not happening, and then on the opposite end, that there are parents in more affluent areas that are sending their children to out-of-school-time programs that there's a fee and no one is there to collect the fees. So I just want to make sure that we're as efficient as possible, because that's a problem with programming. In some neighborhoods it's supposed to be happening. We're paying someone and they're not doing their job around recruitment, to other areas where parents are willing and able to make a 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. contribution that can help money go much further. How can we make sure we're tackling this in every community so parks and recreation centers are thriving around our city? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WASHINGTON: Absolutely. And this is probably something for Commissioner Slawson to answer, but I'm going to try my best and answer it. One of the things that she did mention was about having those listening sessions and going out and talking. She's been in this role for about 30 days now. So she already has plans to go out and visit centers. There are going to be some changes that we're going to make with expectations for folks. So she has some really big ideas and wanting to change some of the things to make sure that there is equity across the board, because we recognize that there is not, and there has to be some accountability from the top down, and I think she 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. recognizes that and has a plan kind of once we get past these budget hearings, which was a lot for her coming back in. So we're going to go out. We're going to be visiting together, talking to not just rec leaders but also our seasonal workers and community folks to really find out what is it that you need and you want and start to put some policies and procedures in place to hold folks accountable.
Thank you. That's time, but we're going to do a second round as well. We started a little later today for a good cause, but we're going to do a second round. But I just want to also just note, right, I want to highlight what Councilwoman Brooks was just talking about, the critical importance of the programming component. And I always use myself in terms of my lived experience. I'm a kid who used to attend Chew Playground, free summer program. My Nana 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. used to drop me and my sister off, lunch, swimming all throughout the day, and it's free. And then now it's 50 years later, but we're still -- this is really a key point. When you're raising a family in our neighborhoods, right, we choose not to go to Lower Merion. We can. We choose not to go to Bucks County. We can, right? But we choose to stay in Point Breeze where I'm born and raised and carrying on the legacy with my two young boys now. But we go to Wharton Square Park for free tennis. We go to FDR Park for the brand new free Anna Verna Playground. We go to Marian Anderson for the free Monarchs baseball team. And so that programming is so critical for families that have high amenities in the neighborhoods in which they're raising their families. And so we're going to double down our efforts and be supportive of you, because a lot of times as parents we make that decision to stay or leave based 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. upon what's available for our children in terms of where we live. And the truth of the matter is, something I experienced as a young man is that we shouldn't have to leave our neighborhoods. I shouldn't have to leave Point Breeze to go to Markward, which was called Taney a long time ago, to enjoy ourselves. I should be able to still enjoy myself at high amenities, rather it's at Barry Playground, Guerin, right? And so just want to reiterate the programming part is so critical and important. With that being said, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Nicholas O'Rourke. And also for the record, we have Councilmember Driscoll who is present, for the record.
Thank you, Council President. And first set of questions are for Parks and Rec, and blessings to you, Commissioner Slawson. I wanted to 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. highlight some of the lesser discussed components of your work, like the Urban Agriculture Plan and the Tree Plan. The Urban Agriculture Plan is particularly powerful and important to our office, and I think we have a lot of potential to do something truly transformative with it. I wanted to ask, could you detail your vision for implementing the Agricultural Plan? What's your process for bringing those recommendations to life? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: I'm going to ask Erica Smith, who oversees that, who has this program really down to a T and she can give you all the details, to come up and respond.
Hello. Erica Smith Fichman, City Forester, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I was the project lead for the Philly Tree Plan. You mentioned the Ag Plan as well. My colleague, Ash Richards, is probably best to answer those questions, but in terms of the Philly Tree Plan, we've made some really great progress in the last year. We have hired our first City Forester, which is me.
Thank you very much. Which is one of the things that we wanted to do to increase coordination amongst the City and between the City and residents. We have brought together the coalition of groups that we worked with to create the plan to successfully fundraise for implementation, and we received $12 million from the Forest Service last fall for implementing the Philly Tree Plan over the next five years, and with that, one of the things we're doing is creating a coalition that 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. will formalize implementation of the plan. It will streamline the communications about what we are doing, fundraising for implementation, and coordinate all activities towards implementation. We have worked with Councilmember Gilmore Richardson on improving the zoning code, and a lot of wonderful things have happened with that in the last year since it was approved. We have partnered with the Commerce Department to plant over 250 new trees along commercial corridors with Taking Care of Business ambassadors, and those ambassadors are being paid to do training to care for those trees and paid to care for those trees for two years after implementation -- after they've been planted. Excuse me. So that's an example of coordination between the City working with the community members who are living in those communities to care for trees, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. which is another big focus of the plan, and we have also successfully increased our tree maintenance here at the City. We know, because of all the outreach we did to create the plan, that maintenance of our existing trees is a crucial trust-building activity we need to do so that we can bring more people on to plant trees in their -- on their properties. Trees can represent a burden to people with known and unknown costs, and so we want to address that directly, and there are a couple of other programs that we're excited to be implementing with partners within the City and with stakeholders to address hazardous trees on private property and caring for newly planted trees as well as mature trees. So there are a lot of amazing partners who are working together on implementing the Philly Tree Plan. I can name them, but it will probably take a really long time. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and Fairmount Park 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Conservancy are incredible partners. The School District has been amazing, Power Corps and the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia and hundreds of community-based organizations that we are hoping to provide some of that Forest Service money to. There's over a million dollars in that budget that will be going directly to community-based organizations to implement community forestry projects in their neighborhoods.
You want to slide real quick before I call on the last person for this round, sir.
Not slide. Let me be more formal. One last comment before I turn it over to Jeffery Young.
For 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. sure. I thank you for the Tree Plan, commendations for sure. The next question I really had was around the Urban Ag plans in particular, as folks are finding that it's difficult to hold onto land to be able to do their work. And so I wanted to ask more about that. Maybe I can get it on the next round or what-have-you if you're unable to speak to that at all.
I think I would defer to either the Commissioner or maybe our Deputy Commissioner, the Director of Capital Projects for answer on the Ag Plan. I'm not sure. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Councilman, our specialist on the Urban Ag Plan is not here.
Understood. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: We would rather give you a really direct and exact answer. So perhaps we can submit 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. it in writing to you.
That will work. That will work. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: And we'll work with your office to get the exact question. And then we'll also make sure that you have a copy of the plan and whatever your specific questions are, we lay out answers for them.
Fabulous. Thank you, and thank you for your grace.
Is he available in the afternoon or he's just not available for the full day? Just wanted to ask that for the record, because we're not finished. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Council President and Councilmember, she's not here, and I don't want to give you any inaccurate information. So if we could just get your question and we'll get the answer back to you, like Vanessa said, if that's okay. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Okay. That's cool. I think the question was she's not here or she's not available at all today, correct? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: She's not here. She could be available, but she's not here.
If she could be available for our second round of questioning, that would be great. If not, just submit the information to the member. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: I will check and see if she's in the office and I will let you know and we'll get her over here.
Thank you very much, Commissioner. I also want to acknowledge the Chair of the Library, just welcome you back to City Council, Ms. Sade Lewis. We appreciate you. Good seeing you. Welcome back home. Good to see you. - - 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. (Applause.) - - -
I want to also -- to wrap this up this round, this session, we're going to have Jeffery J. Young. Take us home, Jeffery.
Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon. My first round of questions are regarding DHS and the foster care system. First, could you speak to the aging out of foster care issue here in the City. I represented a client who was developing property, affordable housing for this particular population. Could you tell us what is the process for -- what process does DHS follow when alerting children and their kinship families that they will be aging out of DHS and what resources are available to those children once they age out? The premise of the question is because I was told by -- I have a lot of 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. friends who are in kinship care. I grew up, most of my best friends were in foster care, and they were like, yeah, like a month before we turn 18, they can say, oh, here, by the way, this is what you get. So could you explain to us what the process is for those children who are aging out of foster care and what resources are available to them? COMMISSIONER ALI: Absolutely. So, again, I'm Kimberly Ali, Commissioner for DHS. And so when individuals are interested in becoming a kinship caregiver and/or a foster parent, they know, depending on the age of the child, because we tell them in terms of what is the age that the subsidy stops. And so if the young person achieves a form of permanency with that kinship caregiver or foster parent before the age of 13, that subsidy will stop at the age of 18. If it is after, they get permanency after 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the age of 13, then it remains until they are 21. The reason why is because the state, when they instituted that a few years back, recognized that teens -- so teenagers tend to age out of foster care or kinship care more than if you were returned to your parent or you are adopted as a baby. And so we prepare the kinship caregiver and the foster parent, because we visit with them during the time that the case is open every single month. So once a month they have a social worker that comes out to their home to make sure that it is stable. Beyond that, if the case is closed, again, they have the information in terms of age-out. But a couple years ago City Council actually gave us some additional funding for young people, so aging out is up to age 21, but gave us some funding specifically around housing, so for older youth rental assistance. And so we 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. invest $2 million in young people who do not have a place to stay after they age out of the foster or kinship care system. We pay --
When are they told that these resources are available to them? COMMISSIONER ALI: How are they told?
Yeah, and when are they told that these resources are available to them? COMMISSIONER ALI: So they are told throughout the duration of their case. So it depends when their case closed. But also there is a resource called the Achieving Independence Center that we have that is located right at Broad and Oxford in which young people can continue to go there up until the age of in order to get supportive 23 services. So if that individual does not 24 know, I would suggest that they contact the office and we can talk to that 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. individual directly. But I will say the resources that I talked about in terms of the rental assistance, that's for young people who don't have a place to stay. When we have individuals who are still in kinship care with a loved one, so that is someone that they know also, or in foster care and their foster parent achieved permanency with that young person to say, listen, I want you to be part of my forever family, that's what we expect in terms of the foster care system in terms of caring -- continuing to care for young people beyond. We know that 18-year-olds, 21-year-olds cannot live on their own, and so that's why connecting them with someone who loves them is the goal of the foster care system.
I understand the goals. In reality from what I see, I just don't see that's what's happening every day in every 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. single case, right? So I'm just trying to make sure that my constituents who call our office, my friends who call me have the resources that's necessary to help move that young person into adulthood, because essentially what we've been seeing is that they don't -- many don't know what resources are available to them. Some of the children themselves don't know where to go, where to turn, and they essentially are left out on the streets because, one, the foster parent is only in it for another reason, right? It's not really a loving place for them. And so they are looking for places to go. So I'm glad you told me about this Broad and Oxford facility. I'll look that up to make sure that they know that that is a resource for them. COMMISSIONER ALI: And we can also make sure that your office as well as the other Councilmember offices have the information for the Achieving Independence Center. It has been in 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. existence at least for about or more years.
Thank 5 you. It's in the Fifth District, so I 6 would love to learn more about that 7 space. 8 COMMISSIONER ALI: Absolutely. 9
I know my 10 time is coming short, but one more 11 question regarding foster care and the 12 criminal justice system. What services 13 are provided -- so essentially when a kid 14 goes through the criminal justice system 15 or if they're in DHS on one floor, they're in front of a judge, they're talking about their story, why they don't -- their family circumstances, and they're removed from the home. And then that very same kid can go on the next floor when they commit a crime and be in front of a judge and be the worst person in the world, right? One floor they're so loved. The next floor they're like the worst person in the world. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. So what can, I guess, DHS do or what services does DHS provide when those children who are in DHS's custody have contact with the criminal justice system? Are there additional services? Are there additional support that's given, or can you describe that, what that process looks like? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yeah. So first I would want to first state that as you know, DHS is responsible for both child welfare as well as juvenile justice. And so if a young person who was known to the child welfare system now experienced a juvenile arrest, if you will, then that is what we categorize as crossover, so that young person has dual dependency as well as dual delinquency. So there is a social worker that will walk alongside of that individual and certainly will be able to share with the court the history around the young person, particularly as it relates to dependency. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. In terms of the services that we have to offer, it depends on the needs of the young person. All of our services are individualized. And so when I think about the continuum of services that we have in prevention or intervention on the juvenile justice side, they could, for example, go to an evening reporting center in which that is a site-based program that they go every single day after school so that they can learn the conflict resolution, they can get anger management if needed, they can do some gaming if needed. So that is one service, an evening reporting center. Those recommendations in terms of what a young person needs on the juvenile justice side is by way of the Probation Department. They can also receive in-home detention, if you will, again, a case management service in which a social worker comes out to the home in order to mitigate anything that was causing the young person to commit or 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. last have committed a juvenile act. Now, when you're talking about involved in the criminal system, which is the adult system, the young people who are involved in the adult system are young people who are probably held at our Juvenile Justice Center. And so at the PJJSC, we have young people who are juveniles but also have an adult charge. And so they would get all the services that are afforded at the PJJSC. So that's their medical, that is their behavior health. We have web design. We have gaming. We have an on-site school that is ran by the School District of Philadelphia at the PJJSC. They get anger management, conflict resolution. I talked about the credible messengers that are also there. Mural Arts is also there for our artistic young people. So there's a number of programs that they will get while they're at the PJJSC while they are waiting for a disposition. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'll save my questions for Round 2. Thank you.
Thank you. At this time, we will be at ease for recess and we will return at 2:45 promptly. Thank you. - - - (Recess from 2:12 p.m. to 2:47 p.m.) - - -
We will now begin our second half of this hearing. Sergeant-at-Arms, please clear the floor. We will continue our hearing, and then also once we finish this lightning round for the Office of Children and Families, Free Library of Philadelphia, Parks and Recreation, and Department of Human Services, we will hear testimony from the Department of Commerce and Mural Arts. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I feel that energy from Jane Golden all the way over there. That's what I'm talking about. Murals do matter. At this time, the Chair recognizes the Chair of Parks and Recreation and also the Chair of Children and Youth Committees, Councilmember Anthony Phillips.
Thank you, Council President Johnson. I'm interested in receiving the following sometime in the near future or soon. Our Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier mentioned something that I think was really important, is that there's levels of capital investment in recreation centers across the nation and compared to the City of Philadelphia, we do not -- we're not doing a great job with capital investments when it comes to recreation centers. So what I think would be really helpful for us is to get an infrastructure plan from our recreation 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. centers and also our parks to let us know how much funding it would take for us to do a massive capital campaign to renovate all of our centers within a timeframe that is appropriate. And right now even with the $152 million that is currently being allocated to -- well, it's suggested as being allocated from the Administration to Parks and Rec, we don't know where that's going or how that's going to go, right? I think transparency with the public is important, because we hear all the time how important that is. So how we're going to be -- what are the ways that we're going to make sure that we have a very strong capital program recommendations from the Department. That's a statement. Well, hold on. And also while you're thinking of that, how will the Department fill the increasing numbers of vacancies for recreation leader positions considering that the budgeted positions for the feeder class, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. recreation leader trainees, are significantly lower than the current vacancies? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So thank you for that, Councilman. We're going to have our Deputy Commissioner Marissa Washington come up. (Witness approached witness table.) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WASHINGTON: Good afternoon, Councilman. So the recreation leader trainee and the recreation leader 1, they are really the same position. So when you look at the budgeted positions, you should put them together, because the rec leader trainee after 12 months automatically promotes up to a 1. With that being said, we do have a significant number of vacancies. Right now we are going through the interview process for rec leader trainees. Fingers crossed, we have 23 people that we interviewed. Hopefully 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. they will accept the position and all pass the on-boarding. So we'll have 4 folks starting. But with that, we will 5 still have roughly probably about 40 6 vacancies in the trainee. So we will 7 reannounce again to see if we can get new 8 candidates on the list. It's something 9 we're probably doing every year. 10
And 11 how are you making these positions 12 attractive for the individuals that have 13 vacant positions? 14 DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WASHINGTON: 15 So one of the things that we've done 16 probably over the last four or five 17 years, so we have opened up the 18 qualifications. So at one point there 19 were a certain type of degrees that were 20 accepted. We've opened it up now where 21 we're accepting more degrees. Also where 22 folks have a certain amount of 23 experience, especially in our recreation facilities, that helps to give them credit. We also have done a lot of 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. recruiting with the support of the Office of Human Resources reaching out to local universities and colleges to promote our positions.
Just real quick 30-second question. This is actually for the Free Library. The Library received approximately $9.7 million in state funding in 2024, most of which went to the library materials and some property management projects. Currently all libraries, with the exception of those closed for renovations, have stable five-day service. In light of the stability in library services and recent funding allocations, what plans does the Free Library have to further develop its role as a community hub, citing Wilmington, Delaware's library system where they're transforming library space and making it more of a community hub where individuals can gather for social and education 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. events and utilize the space to connect in various ways. Are we putting together a capital program or campaign to really transform our libraries? Because as Councilmember Isaiah Thomas said earlier, only a small percentage of people are utilizing their library cards. What are we doing to take it to the next level? DIRECTOR RICHARDS: Thank you, Councilman Phillips. That's a pretty broad question. Sorry. I couldn't get the word "question" out of my mouth. The Library is -- our biggest focus for the last two years, and we really appreciate the support from Council, has been opening the buildings. We've been closing anywhere from 15 to 19 of our locations or more every day, and 20 we really appreciate the support to have five-day stable service now, and we're on our way to six-day stable service. We've got about 27 of our locations that are open now on Saturdays, and once we complete that number and get it up to 54 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. where we'll have all 54 of our branches open. On Saturdays we're going to be moving toward Sundays, but we can walk and chew gum at the same time, so we're also looking at our programing efforts. And we know what Wilmington is doing. There are two locations. We've got 54. So we've got to be very strategic in the programming efforts that we provide based on our communities and the different needs and the objectives we have for each one of those locations. We are building a team. We have a new Adult Services Division that we didn't have before, where different programming was kind of scattered throughout the system. But we're working hard on doing just what you're saying, providing a robust level of programming throughout our community. Currently right now we do about 26,000 to 30,000 programs a year and have about 600,000 people come into the Library, and we expect those numbers to 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. increase going forward.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. My next set of questions are about the Juvenile Justice Services Center. So first I want to acknowledge our really good and hard work in bringing the census down. It's amazing that we're at 186 today, which is just two above what sort of the capacity is, and I want to commend you, Commissioner Ali, as well as Councilmember Jones, the Law Department and the whole Public Safety Committee of City Council for getting to where we are. But we know that this is something that we have to keep pressing on, right? Because at times we've seen 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that population -- or that facility holding as many as 242 young people with a capacity of 184, and that's led to some horrible conditions, kids sleeping on floors, conditions that we would not want our young people to be in. We know the factors that caused these conditions, a lack of state placements and understaffing, which I know that we are already working on. I want to make sure that we keep up the good momentum as we're heading into FY25. And for the last few months, my office has been researching how we can continue to keep the census down, how we can reduce the number of kids who even have to go to PJJSC in the first place, how we can improve conditions and services and ensure that kids returning from detention or placement are integrated effectively back into their communities, because they are the future leaders of our city. I wanted to talk a little bit 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. about placement. So the primary driver for overcrowding has been a lack of beds in state placement facilities. As a result, kids wait months for an opening. And I commend my colleague Councilmember Jones for his resolution calling for a lawsuit against the state, which has produced some tremendous results and gotten a different type of action than we were getting before. However, even though we're pressing on the state to do its job, no 14 one is going to care about our kids and take care of our kids like we will, right, here in the City of Philadelphia. And so I'm invested in working just as hard to find solutions that can help at a local level. For the last three years, DHS has put out an RFP for mid-level placement in Philadelphia and we've not received a response. So, Commissioner or Deputy Managing Director, can you speak to the situation. Why are we having 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. trouble using the funds that were budgeted to provide local placement options for young people? What is the impact of not having these services on the PJJSC census in an ongoing manner? And what do we plan to do differently this year to actually get a response to that or responses to that RFP? COMMISSIONER ALI: So thank you for that question. You are correct in that the Department did issue a request for a proposal three times, and we actually did get individuals who bid on that, on the proposal. I'll talk about the first round. The first round we were very much interested because we were aware that we couldn't attract providers. And so we put in the RFP that even if the provider did not have a facility, that we will walk alongside them to build a facility, to locate a residential location. Smaller is certainly better for young people, and then to help them 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. along that process so that we can contract with them. Our plans were well underway. The particular provider had a leadership change, and so we found out about three months ago that we were not continued to go in that direction. They indicated -- the new leadership indicated that they were still willing to locate a facility. However, we need to pivot because they pulled out, if you will. And so what we plan on doing is reissuing the RFP again. We believe that it probably was too complex. As you know, we were asking for multiple services. We want to be more targeted. So the next target will be for a female community-based detention center.
As Vanessa indicated, we are looking at our female population that is beginning to grow, so we want to relieve some of that pressure at the PJJSC, but then we also are going to look for a smaller group home. Again, a provider can have an 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. existing building or not. So if they do not, what we want to do again is work alongside of them. In terms of how Council can help, any individual that you know that is interested or provider that's interested in becoming a residential provider for delinquent young people to provide them the appropriate treatment and supervision, we certainly will want them to apply to the RFP. And so when it is posted, as we do with other RFPs, we will circulate that again with City Council. We will also circulate it with our juvenile justice stakeholders so that we can identify a provider.
And can you just expound. Was the group that pulled out, were they the only organization that responded? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. To the building your own, yes.
Do you have an idea about why -- one, we've 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. issued this three times, and then when we were successful, there was only one organization. What's your sense of that? DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So, Councilwoman, you know me and I'm going to be very frank. Part of the census is very hard to get people who want to contract with Philadelphia to do this work. We've heard everything from Philadelphia is very litigious. We have a very robust advocacy community. Folks will say, why do I have to deal with all of that when I can go and get kids from Bucks County, Delaware County or some place else for the same pay and not take that same risk, right, in terms of defending lawsuits and all the other stuff that goes on. And this is just my personal opinion. Some of it is also there is a profile, if you will, or prototype that they have done of the young people in Philadelphia, plain and simple. Some of it involves race, in my opinion, and some 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of it involves this profile that they have created that our kids are inherently more dangerous than others, and I submit to you that is not true, right? A kid in the delinquent system is a kid in the delinquent system, whether he's in Philadelphia or if he's in some other county, but those are all those stereotypes and barriers that we are trying to break down to make sure -- and the other thing is, we as a department, meaning the Department of Human Services and Office of Children and Families, are particular about where our kids go, and we should be, right? I want to make sure that they're treated correctly, as does the Commissioner. We do go out. We do do a lot of evaluation and a lot of monitoring, and there are some providers who know that, and that's not always as attractive to people. But we care a lot about the young people in this city and we want to make sure that we are making sure that they're being treated 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. appropriately.
Okay. Thank you for expounding on that. Frankly, we don't want to have organizations that are, A, scared that we're going to force them to treat our kids right or, B, scared of Black kids, you know, responding to these RFPs. So my last question would be, what are we doing to build the capacity of folks who are right here at home, who know our young people, who are not afraid of them, and who could grow into this work? COMMISSIONER ALI: That's exactly what I was speaking to in terms of building your own. We certainly know of providers, organizations that are interested in providing that quality treatment for our young people. And so 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we want them to put the money where their mouth is, right? And so we are willing to support them, as I indicated. We are willing to fund them and fund them adequately, because we do want them to provide the necessary service for young people, and we want it preferably in Philadelphia. And so that's why we will continue to come to you in City Council, but also go to the advocate community around helping to support and helping to identify a provider.
When is the RFP going out again? COMMISSIONER ALI: It will be out soon. As you know, I can't state when the RFP will be posted.
You're welcome. And it may be good to even -- I don't know if you got a working group or 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. not, but from what I get from this as well, you have the providers and some don't have buildings, and as District Councilmembers, we deal with developers on a day-to-day basis that have property that could possibly be utilized as a part of a public-private partnership. Something to take in consideration. So I know most of us know individuals who have land or buildings available, but also that provider in a partnership may be able to come in and kind of provide that opportunity for a safe haven for our young people. With that being said, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. I thank you so much, Mr. President. And, again, I just wanted to thank Vanessa Garrett Harley and Commissioner Ali for all of your work. I've had the wonderful pleasure of 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. working with you, not just over the last term but for very many years, and I wanted to appreciate the work that you all have been doing to work directly with me and my office, particularly on the Community Evening Resource Centers and the ability to go from one to two and six in less than four years. So I'm so appreciative of the entire team at DHS for your work with putting together the CERC centers. You all continue to provide us with additional updates around the utilization numbers, and I know Councilmember Lozada asked about this particularly with the center over in East Division. And I visited four out of the six and I still have to get to the two new locations, but I wanted to ask how we are tracking the way our CERCs are funded in the budget just so we can ensure that that's happening year over year, and then how do you measure sort of the success rate for each of the CERCs and then how 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. can we engage all of the providers together so they can cross-collaborate on some opportunities for the young people at each of the centers. You know, they all have their different projects. Some have a camera program. Some have a barber shop. They all have different things. But how do we ensure that cross-collaboration amongst the centers as well so they can take best practices from each other. And, finally, I'll talk about this more when we hear from PPD, but how are we engaging the young people who, as I say, they come to the center involuntarily? COMMISSIONER ALI: So thank you for those questions, and then I'll start with the latter in terms of the work with the Philadelphia Police Department. And so as I indicated, in terms of the CERC utilization, we started in January of 2022. So this data is up until February 29th. We do provide City 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Council with quarterly updates, but as I indicated previously, that we had 1,720 young people who participate in activities at the various CERCs, amounting to almost 23,000 visits. And so we know that the CERCs are attractive to young people. One of the reasons why they are so attractive to young people is because the CERCs have the ability to engage them but also ask them what do they want to see at the center. So that's why you see the differences in programming, is because they get the feedback directly from the young people. And so when you see a CERC, you see a CERC in South Philly, it will definitely be different from the CERC in Northwest because of the needs of the young people. The other thing we do for the cross-collaboration is, my team actually meets with all of the CERCs so that they can share some of their successes and also share some of their challenges, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. because certainly they want to continue to consistently service young people, because there are ebbs and flows, if you will, in terms of the winter months versus the spring and the summertime. And so we continue to do that. In terms of the Police Department, to go back to that question, we have been in communication consistently with the Police Department about bringing young people to the CERCs when they are unable to take the young people home. And so we have had a conversation with the current Commissioner. We will continue those conversations. We will make sure that -- he has new leadership in some of the police districts -- that, A, the CERCs reach out to the police, because what we find is the young people who are brought for curfew violations, the highest number of young people is from the Northwest section, but they have a great partnership with the police. So the 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. police are familiar with that program. As you know, they do the Cooking with the Cops.
They do the haircuts, a police officer come and do haircuts with the young people. So the CERCs that have the closest relationship and the strongest relationship with the police is the ones that the police are bringing the young people in.
Right. And I heard the bell and I'll honor the clock and submit the balance of my questions, but I just wanted to say thank you again for all of your hard work. I mean, to stand up six locations in less than a two-year period, I could not believe that. COMMISSIONER ALI: You pressed us.
And I thank you. COMMISSIONER ALI: You pressed us now.
I'm 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. giving you kudos. COMMISSIONER ALI: But we recognize the need, and we appreciate it. We recognize the need.
I appreciate it so much, because, I mean, to do that is just unheard of, and really it was in response to the cops who said, you can't expect us to pick up a kid in South Philly and take them all the way up to the Northeast. So we really wanted to make that accommodation. So thank you very, very much. I will submit my questions for the Free Library, but I want to give a shout-out to Kelly Richards and his team. They have been stellar and superb in their work, and a special shout-out to the LEAP program and the TLAs in particular for hiring our teens and our young people to work at the Library, particularly in the summer months. So thank you, Council President. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Cindy Bass. (No response.)
Excuse me. I didn't see. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Kendra Brooks.
All righty. So these questions are for Parks and Rec, this group set. So summer is coming up, and we know that our youth need activities, and one of those is public pools, which I'm a strong advocate for. So of the 60 pools that were open last summer, how many were open for the entire of the summer and how many pools does the City own and why are only 60 set to be open at some point in time this summer? And of those pools, how many of them are accessible and is that in every district? I know that's a loaded question and it's a repeat. And I 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. know you've only been here -- you're new to these questions, but if you could help, that would be helpful. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you, Councilmember Kendra Brooks. Susan Slawson. So all 60 of our pools will be open this summer. The 60 pools that are open are Parks and Rec's pools. The pools that are not open are under some type of construction, either with Rebuild or a maintenance challenge. So there are -- five of our pools are actually pools that we use for training. I actually have that information written down, but I know it, so -- and so are you concerned about the pools that are closed?
You just said five of them are closed for some level of maintenance. I was just wondering whether or not -- COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Some of them are Rebuild. Some of them are 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. maintenance.
And then are there wheelchair-accessible lifts at a pool in every district? I asked this a few years ago and I know some were broke or they needed to be repaired. Are we closer to having a wheelchair-accessible pool in every councilmanic district? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: I'm going to let someone else answer that, because I don't know. I do know that for years we have been working on trying to ensure that each one of our pools, not just one in each Council district, but each one of our pools were to be handicap accessible, so --
And I'm asking because I know it has been a struggle in the past, and then with the closing of Carousel House, this was something that was said was going to happen long term and before you got here. I just wondered what's the status of us having accessible pools in every 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. councilmanic district at least, if every pool not being accessible. (Witness approached witness table.) COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: I'm not going to -- I'm going to let someone answer that. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: Good afternoon, everyone. Bill 11 Salvatore, Deputy Commissioner of Programming at Parks and Rec. Thank you for the question. So we have 36 accessible pools right now. Of those 36 that we can get wheelchairs up to, 14 have pool lifts. We're working with our Director of Inclusion, Gwenn Vilade, every year to identify funding to add pool lifts to the other pools.
So within those 14, is there one in every Council district? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: I'll have to get back to you. I'm not quite sure. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Okay. Thank you so much. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: I'm sorry. I'm just told behind me we do have one in each Council district.
Just for clarification, you said there is one in every Council -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: One in every Council district, yes.
And is that a capital investment requirement? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: No, it is not.
Okay. Just wanted to see how do we ramp up making sure there are more pools accessible. So that wouldn't come out of the Capital Budget? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: It would not.
All 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. right. Just wanted to note that for the record.
So I am -- thank you so much for sharing the information about the utilization of outdoor pools, but I'm very interested in indoor pools as well, because I know with the indoors pools, that's where you can do your lifeguard training during the winter, and every year my Council colleagues and I hear about the shortage of lifeguards, and we realize that you can't train up lifeguards in like a small period of time before the pools open, so we need to make sure we have access to more indoor pools. So I was wondering, what type of lifeguard pipeline programs are in place to ensure that we are recruiting and training lifeguards from our 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. neighborhoods and schools to ensure that we have proper staffing? And another part of that, because in my community there are two indoor pools, one is Marcus Foster and one is Pickett, and they both have potential to be used during winter months for youth recreation and training, and I was wondering how is Parks and Rec working with the School District of Philadelphia to open these pools and what does that relationship look like between the District and Parks and Rec? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: So we currently have one indoor pool that we're using with the School District. That's up at Lincoln. We also have partnerships with Friends Central, Saint Joe's Prep, and some local YMCAs to do lifeguard training. We start as early as January of this year with lifeguard training. And as far as recruitment goes, we've been to a number of recruitment events both locally at 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. community centers, rec centers, as well as hosted districtwide recruitment events. We actually invite previous lifeguards and previous seasonal employees to invite a friend to get a job this summer, and then also we go to recruitment events at schools and colleges and universities as well. As far as your question around your local indoor pools, both Marcus Foster and Pickett are offline from the School District. I think they need some capital investment. That's more of a School District question than it would be for us.
Well, we have done the tour of Marcus Foster and Pickett with the School District of Philadelphia, and part of the conversation is that they are in conversation with Parks and Rec. So I'm just trying to figure out what's the status of the conversation in order for 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. us to begin moving forward on that process. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: So I can look into and set up a meeting with the facilities with the School District of Philadelphia and see where we are and see if there's some type of a partnership. If it's a funding issue, if it's a staffing issue, I can follow up and get you that information.
Okay. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Councilwoman, I just wanted to add one thing going back to one of the questions that you asked, was how do you establish that lifeguard pipeline, and part of the ways you establish that is the free swim lessons that we're trying to give across the board. I'm sure you know this as well as I do, that swimming wasn't necessarily taught in all of our communities growing up. So when we are hunting for lifeguards, we often have a difficult time getting lifeguards, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. particularly out of the vulnerable communities that we serve or the communities of color. And so part of that offering those swim lessons is to build that up differently to start much earlier teaching young people how to swim and all of that, and then in the future, it will be less difficult. Because we have some kids that would like to do it, but they don't have the fundamental swimming basics that they need to be taught.
And that's kind of why I was kind of asking about these central pools. I know that I live in North Philadelphia. There isn't access to an indoor pool that's free and open to everyone. I think the Kroc Center has a pool, but that's a paid program. And Lincoln University is very far. And at one time Pickett had one of a huge swim program for the community, and the pool is no longer available, and we have to keep in mind that Rhoads had 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. an amazing swim team that produced Olympians that are no longer open or we have access to, and we need to create -- in order to create that pipeline, we need to give children the ability to swim year round, and they can't do so if the closest pool for them to use is in Northeast Philadelphia. So that's why this push is so big to me. As a person that was not allowed to swim, so I cannot swim, but I know the importance of pools, and I think it's something that we should expose all young people to, because it's a life-changing experience. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Absolutely. I agree with you wholeheartedly. So we'll explore with the School District what the situation is with both Pickett and Marcus Foster.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Landau.
Thank you, Council President. I wanted to follow up with some DHS questions. Because they're timing us, I'm going to start talking quickly. Councilmember Gilmore Richardson just talked about the LEAP, the Free Library LEAP program. I just want to -- this is a quick question. The rest are going to be focused on something else. But I noticed that it was cut $330,000 in, I believe, the DHS budget, but I didn't see that funding in the Free Library's budget.
That's correct. Nadine Perese, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you for that question, Councilmember. That's correct. Actually it was just shifted in the budget. So with the new Career Connected Learning budget, we had done some reallocation, and that money is still going towards the LEAP 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. program. It's just not as a direct line item there. It's a direct line item within the larger budget of JEVS.
Okay. Thank you. Now, youth aging out of foster care, I want to follow up on all of this. I am very concerned about the youth aging out of foster care or out of the DHS system in general who have complex needs, and I wanted to know more about what supports do they receive for housing, medical care, employment searches, advanced education before they are released. We'd want it to be graduated, but they don't. They're released. And then what are we doing for housing, other than relying on the adult shelter service that we have in Philadelphia? I'll start there. COMMISSIONER ALI: So thank for that question in terms of young people aging out. First of all, let me state that young people once they turn 18 years 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of age, they can actually remain in the DHS system until the age of 21. It is certainly a choice of them, and the only criteria they need to have is if it's a service need by the way -- the fact that you need child welfare placement that constitute a service need or they could be in school or employment. So we prefer for young people to remain in care with the Department of Human Services up until the age of 21, because we want to help them transition to adulthood. Young people with complex behavior health and medical needs, that is a given that they remain into our system until the age of 21. If they have complex behavioral health needs and they need adult services, we work alongside of the Department of Behavioral Health in order to identify the appropriate placement for them. So it could be like a community living arrangement, for example. And so the young people can also receive those particular services in 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the adult system. If a young person -- for example, a young person may make a decision that at the age of or they 6 don't want to remain in the child welfare 7 system. We know that some young people 8 don't, just like they want to leave home 9 at the magical age of 18. A young person 10 can exit the DHS system at any time 11 between the age of 18 to 20, but they can 12 come back. And so that's why we want all 13 young people to know about, and certainly 14 Council, the hub, which is the Achieving 15 Independence Center, because all of the 16 services for young people starting at age 17 12 is right there at the Achieving 18 Independence Center that helps them move 19 to self-sufficiency. So you're talking about education. So helping them complete their financial aid applications, also have employment opportunities. So Career Connected Learning will be attached -- is attached to the Achieving Independence Center. If 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. they need any type of therapeutic services, again, can get it at AIC as well. And so that is a hub for young people so that they can avail themselves to services.
How many young people are enrolled at the Achieving Independence Center? COMMISSIONER ALI: Hundreds. So at any given time, usually around 500 young people are enrolled in the AIC.
Okay. COMMISSIONER ALI: In terms of housing, so we do have some housing services through the Department of Human Services, not nearly enough when you think about the housing needs of the young people in particular. And so certainly we work with the Office of Homeless Services, because we have family unification vouchers. We actually have 75 slots. We have Fostering Youth to Independence vouchers, which is another 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. 125 slots, Shelter Plus Care, which is also 100 slots. We have quads. We work with PHA, which is slots available. 5 We have Northern, which is a young adult 6 program. We have eight slots there. We 7 also have Valley Youth House, which is 41 8 slots, and Congreso, which is 25 slots, 9 in addition what I testified earlier in 10 terms of the $2 million investment for 11 young people who age out of the foster 12 care system.
You said Council allocated that money last year. Is this ongoing, the $2 million, or is it one time? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes.
That's good to hear. Last question. I know he's going to yank me soon. There was an ordinance passed by City Council in 2022 about having young people -- helping them to get on Social Security benefits and also to create accounts for them so that 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. they can save their money when they get out. Can you tell me about that, the status of that?
So currently we are mandated by the state to collect RSDI, so it's Retirement, Survivors, and Disability benefits for youth that are in our care, and the requirement is for us to put that towards the cost of care for those youth. So first we ensure that the cost of care is higher than what we're collecting, and then we put that towards the cost of care. The majority of our funding for the Department comes from the state, and this is a state mandate, so we're required to do that. So what we've been trying to do on the side is figure out how we can best satisfy that requirement as well as continue to do what's best for youth, right? So to try and conserve benefits. As we've been in part of this planning process and we've been working 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. closely with advocates as well as the Law Department, we found that we see possible roadblocks. So we're not sure of how we would conserve the benefits, if there are implications. We don't want to cause any future problems for youth as far as them applying for any sort of welfare benefits or whatever they may need once they exit care. So we actually just released an RFI. We're very excited about that. It's the first step in the process to make sure we do this the right way, and that will help us figure out who, like an outside consulting firm, can help us do this the right way and conserve benefits on an annual basis for youth so that they have funds when they exit care.
Thank you. To be really clear, you're saying if they receive benefits, Social Security benefits, the state says that you must pay yourselves for the cost of housing or their services from that amount, right? 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
That's correct. Because it affects the share the state has to pay. That's why.
Okay. Thank you very much. COMMISSIONER ALI: I just want to add, the state has said, though, that you are able to use your money, so all City funds and not the state funds, in order to conserve benefits. This is why we released a request for information, so that we are able to identify a consultant, a provider to help us so we can build an RFP.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. I'm not going to ask anything of Parks and Recs, but I wanted to just 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. do a shout-out for our Commissioner here. I had a constituent request, and her office and she herself was very speedy and the constituent was very happy. So I thank you so much for that. My questions are for Commissioner Ali and DHS, and the question is about just understanding your budget. There was a large increase in special grants funding between FY23 and '24. Are you -- it went from 17.7 to 73 million, if I'm reading this correctly. And are you going to be staying at that level? Is this a sustainable grant that comes year after year? And also does this get divvied out to other service providers and is this for program specific or general operating support?
Thank you for that question. So the variance within the budget under the special grants is actually additional appropriations. We have fluctuations in the bracket above that, which is just the Grants Revenue, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and that's our state funding. And so as we have fluctuations in that funding throughout the year, we're able to take just appropriation power to shift it into that Grants fund. So it's just as we have increase in the cost of care, and that's what that's there for. It's a reserve. But it's actually not additional. It's not additional funding.
And that's why in the actual obligation year, you'll always see it decrease dramatically, because we're not utilizing it for the most part.
Understood. Okay. Then the next question is about the CUA, Class 200 CUA budget, which looks to be like 115 million. And so this is a Class 200 off your General Fund sector, and I was just wondering what the remaining 66 million outside of the CUA is being used from that part of the 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. budget.
So the allocation in FY24 as well as FY25 is a little larger than it usually is, and that's to accommodate for the transitions that we're going through within the CUA system. So as the Commissioner had stated earlier, we do have a little bit of additional start-up costs with new providers. It's one time. So it was one time in '24. It will be one time in '25 as we continue to transition, and it's really just to support the success of the new provider coming in. So there will be additional IT costs as they come in to a transition, if there's any additional outfitting, if they selected new space. So that's what some of the earmarking is there.
And quickly last question. I heard the bell. What is the Department's strategy to achieve permanency, including reunification for children? It seems 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. like it's taking longer, from 33.9 percent in 2018 -- sorry; the overall length of stay have increased from 16.6 months to months in 2018 to 6 2022. So I'm just wondering what is the 7 overall strategy to hopefully reduce and 8 reunite? 9 COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. So 10 thank you for that question. So as we 11 became a system that only have young 12 people that are in care with us that have 13 complex needs, either the young person or 14 their family, what we have found is that 15 it takes longer to reunify. We want to 16 make sure that we work alongside the 17 family so that they can reunify with 18 their young person. So that may mean 19 behavior health treatment. That may mean 20 substance abuse treatment. So that's 21 what you see the timeframe being 22 elongated. 23 We also certainly also experienced the impact of COVID. And so when I talk and had meetings with our DBH 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. colleagues and our CBH colleagues around the availability of treatment and behavior health treatment in terms of getting a consistent therapist, we've seen some issues around there. But the bottom line is continue to engage families, get them connected to the services that they deserve, and then also making sure that there is meaningful reunification and meaningful visitation. And so we also just released an RFP for visitation houses, because parents told us it's not natural, if you will, to visit with their young person in an office. It's not natural. And so we did issue an RFP to identify a visitation house so that parents can come, they can cook dinner, they can bond with their children, do the natural things that they would do upon reunification. So we also believe that that will support reunification as well.
Wonderful. I look forward to the CUA 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. metrics that you're going to be publishing soon, and also the balance of my questions I'll put into writing for you. Thank you so much. COMMISSIONER ALI: Thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nicholas O'Rourke.
Thank you, Council President. And I am not sure if Ash Richards made it down. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: She did not make it down, Councilman, and I profusely apologize. We will contact your office, though, set up a meeting where we can actually bring Ash and go over all of your questions. Anything you need submitted, we can do that as well.
It may still be possible. Just to quickly 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. follow up on the question about the Urban Agriculture Plan -- and thanks again for the Tree Plan report. That was incredible, by the way. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: So, Councilman, the Commissioner is also telling me that we're going to bring up the Deputy Commissioner, Sue Buck, who may be able to answer some of your questions just for today. (Witness approached witness table.)
Thank you very much. It was just this one question around the Urban Agriculture Plan and the lack of land security for urban farms and community gardens. Just want to better understand what Parks and Recreation would need to help provide permanent land security for the gardens and farms in Philadelphia. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BUCK: Good afternoon. Sue Buck, Deputy Commissioner 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of Operations.
Good afternoon. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BUCK: As was stated earlier, the Urban Ag Director couldn't be here today. I will try my best to answer your questions. There is the Neighborhood Garden Trust. It's a sister organization to PHS, and they have the ability to access land and acquire land and provide it for gardening groups. But if the question is how would the City acquire land rather than going to Land Bank?
Well, you need, so that way you can hold onto it. That's been some of the complaints, is that one of the -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BUCK: I would say for the City to acquire the land would be one question. I don't think that Parks and Recreation has the ability to acquire the land and maintain it. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Okay. We'll submit kind of more clarifying questions to the piece, and thank you so much for that. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BUCK: Yes. I apologize Ash couldn't be here.
No 9 worries at all. No worries at all. Turning now to DHS. Thank you for being here to discuss the important work of supporting children and youth in the City, and good to see you again, Commissioner Ali. I want to ask about child separations. We know that nationally poor Black children are twice as likely to be removed from their homes than white kids are, and once you've had first contact with DHS or if you have an open case against you, you're more likely to have your children taken away. How does DHS in the FY25 budget increase prevention services, resources for poor parents and caregivers and 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. family reunification as opposed to using more punitive practices per se, like family separation? COMMISSIONER ALI: So thank you for that question. DHS has been on a journey around looking at the disproportionate number of Black children in particular who have been separated from their families, and we have been on that journey for the past three years. So we've been doing a lot work in that space, but one of the major things that we did is, we had to do our work differently. And so I had to put investments on the front end to prevent a removal. The first thing I needed to do was look at the infrastructure on my hotline so that I am able to respond differently to calls coming into the DHS hotline. What we know is that about 80 percent of the calls that come into the DHS hotline is because it is a service need or support need for families 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and not because of physical or sexual abuse. So as a result of that, what we began to do was not transfer those reports to investigations. A hotline staff will go out to the family, make an assessment, and then we would divert from the DHS hotline. And so the past four years we have been diverting over 50 percent of the calls that come into the DHS hotline; that is, we get 34,000 calls. And so we needed to control the front door first. The second thing is that I had to build up our prevention continuum so that we could refer families appropriately. And so we have a number of providers that provide case management services to families as a supportive service. The goal is during the course of being diverted from the hotline or during the course of investigation, let's work with the family so that they are not accepted for service. And so we have been extremely successful with those 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. programs. To give you a sense of the outcomes, the families who avail themselves to our diversionary services, we look to see if we get a subsequent call. We do not. Ninety-four percent of those families do not get a subsequent call to the DHS hotline. So, again, controlling the front door, building the prevention continuum. I'm also proud to state that in 2017, and Vanessa testified to this, in 2017 we saw one of our highest numbers of young people who were in placement. We were at 6,200 young people who were in placement, child welfare placement in the City of Philadelphia. Today we have 3,025. So we reduced that by 50 percent, again, because of the work that we are doing on the front end in order to ensure that young people are not unnecessarily removed from their homes.
Thank you. Thank you for that. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I did hear the buzzer go off already. One more question?
I wanted to shift to talk about our caregiving workforce for Office of Children and Family. I want to talk about caregiver and workforce like our early childhood educators. It's concerning to our office that in Pennsylvania, early childhood educators make less than $13 an hour on average. It comes at a time when many of our early childcare centers have massive wait lists and childcare is expensive for most families. As the PHLpreK administrator, what is OCF doing to support the early childhood workforce? What are we doing to raise wages and working conditions for this sector?
Good afternoon. Sean Perkins, Chief of Early Childhood 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Education. This Council has a living wage requirement that we require all of our contracted early childhood centers to uphold. We start there. And I want to add a little bit more to what Vanessa was mentioning earlier about it's a bit of a complicated system where centers receive funding from Head Start, federal grants. They receive it from the state, PA Pre-K Counts. They receive some funding from us from the City in order to provide that high-quality early childhood education experience that they need. I'm not going to sit here and say that they get paid what they deserve. They deserve more. We are working with more and faster and further and deeper. We reallocate the funds that we don't end up using, because we do still have some seats that are vacant. If they don't get used, we repurpose those to give them back to the centers to make sure they go 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. into the salaries. But we know that the expenses that the centers are incurring aren't just the salaries. They also have lease and rent requirements as well as the materials and supplies. So we don't fund the -- we don't hire or fire the teachers. We actually fund the center, and we allow them that flexibility. Again, not going to sit here and say that they are paid what they actually probably deserve. They deserve far more, way far more. That number you gave, the statistic there about Pennsylvania's rate does not reflect what I believe's Philadelphia's rate is. We have seen the number be higher, but not high enough.
The kind of crux of that -- and I'll wrap up with this. The crux of that was really to get at the actual workforce development on this piece. Is there any work being done to develop caregiving work pipelines and low-cost 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. certifications? How can we incentivize young people to work in early childhood education to make that more robust?
Councilman, you're right on there. Incentives are the key proponent here. So we work very closely with our partners at the School District, and the state designates a professional development organization for each region. Philadelphia is its own region. So we actually contract with the professional development organization to make sure that we are building that pipeline. Again, it's a body of work that we're trying to work on closer with our institutes of higher education. Drexel, Temple, Penn, not to mention a lot of our community-based organizations provide CDAs. Parkway West is one of our high schools here in the City that is working on doing that, and we're looking to build that out even more. There's a grant proposal that the U.S. Department of Labor just put out 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that we are building towards with 1199C as well to try and work on adding those incentives to build that pipeline as well.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Cindy Bass. Welcome back.
So just a couple of questions just following up from the first round. And I wanted to know -- and I know the question was just asked about removing children from homes, but before we parted, I did ask for the numbers. So do we have those? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. And so you actually indicated that the City of Philadelphia had the highest number of removals from their homes, and so -4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
And that's as of? COMMISSIONER ALI: That was in 2017. So in 2017 we were actually placing for every thousand children, we were placing eight young people, removing them from their home. So now as of today, that number is three young people for every 1,000. It has a lot to do with what I just indicated in terms of our investments in prevention, us wanting to support families as opposed to removing young people from their homes. It is still slightly above the national average, which is like 2.9 or something like that, but we are certainly headed in the right direction.
Where do we place? Are we still number one in terms of removing children from their homes? COMMISSIONER ALI: So I can't answer that question because that data wasn't published again. I've asked for 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the data from a number of individuals, but it's not published. And the data that you're referring to, yes, it compared us to New York, I think LA --
Right. COMMISSIONER ALI: -- Baltimore. No one has recreated. So the latest chart that I had was from 2017. That was the eight for every 1,000, and now we are at three per every 1,000.
I would urge that I think it's worth for DHS to produce it themselves. Like I don't know who produced the first report, but it might not be a bad idea to just see where we stand so that -- and particularly among comparable cities, because the population between like a New York and a Philadelphia is not comparable, but still we outpace them in terms of child separation. But having the data to be able to make informed decisions and really just know where we stand, like are we doing a good job with the system that 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we have in place, are we doing not such a good job, because we could all use some constructive criticism or some suggestions in terms of how we could do things a little bit differently or better. So it might behoove us to do our own report, as a suggestion. COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. And in order to do that, I will have to get the data from the other jurisdictions. So we've tried, but we will certainly, you know, try again. So my Performance Management Technology team will reach out.
The other question I had before we broke was the amount that we spend on the CUAs versus how much we're spending. Originally it was just a social worker system without CUAs and we were spending X amount, and then we were spending having a traditional social work system and then we paired it with the CUAs, which -- and I know your explanation from earlier, but 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that wasn't the original explanation that we were given. The original explanation, if we go back and look at Anne Marie Ambrose and her testimony, it will say that those numbers were supposed to like -- it was supposed to be a cost-saving measure. But can you give us an idea of where we are now versus where we were then?
Sure. Thank you for that. Unfortunately, that's correct. It's not a cost savings overall for the budget, and I'm sorry that you were told otherwise.
Well, but you know, it never should have been. It never should have been a cost savings. When you're dealing with a vulnerable population, you got to spend as much as you've got to spend to make sure that they're taken care of.
Agreed. Agreed. And that's one of the things that 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Commissioner Ali touched on prior in the other round, is that we've continued to make -- to streamline the work that the social workers inhouse are doing as well as the work of the CUAs so that they work together but not separately, right? And so what you would see in the budget over the past, I would say, five fiscal years is that we have incrementally increased our funding to the CUAs. We're at about 110 million right now for --
Yes. And that's not including the transition dollars that were noted as a placeholder earlier, but that's the actual investment right now in our contracts. And so that has grown. I would say in the past five years, we were probably closer to 90 million, and those additional investments account for increases around retention support, right? So the same issues that the departments within the City are going 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. through, the CUAs are experiencing as well. So we tried to level-set some of the front-line salaries as well as additional support for insurance. Insurance costs are just through the roof, and the Administration and the state have been incredibly supportive of continuing to fund that increased cost.
Thank you, Mr. President. Okay. Some of my other questions I will put into writing, but I did have just a couple of other different questions for Parks and Recreation and Libraries. Can we do Libraries real quick first? Because it's just one quick question. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. And so my question for our Library Director, and I think it was 2017 in the budget hearings, I had asked the Department -- and of course you weren't here, but I was asking -- and I think we passed a resolution in this body that I authored asking for the City of Philadelphia to offer what some surrounding counties were doing in terms of library services that will bring us into like the new age and things like being able to take out like a library hotspot -- I mean a WiFi hotspot, a tablet, that kind of technology, which is the new way to read, if you will, and we were told that the City didn't have the budget to be able to do that. And then maybe a year or two later, miraculously we did have the budget, but it was kind of like a secret, like no one was told that we were doing that. So I don't know -- I guess I'm asking that to find out are we doing those kinds of services? We were for a 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. while. We started off saying we can't afford it. Then we were doing it, but it was a secret. So are we doing it? Are we not? Like what's going on with that? Is it on the horizon? DIRECTOR RICHARDS: Kelly Richards, President and Director of Free Library of Philadelphia. I can't go back to 2017. Thank you --
Yes. DIRECTOR RICHARDS: -- for recognizing that. But as we build our technology in the Library, first we're trying to get the computers to actually be updated. They're about 15 years old. And so we're working on that project right now. And I'll get back to you, but I think we got a grant or something that we're working on --
Yes. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DIRECTOR RICHARDS: But I'm not sure, but let me --
No. It was. There was a grant that was provided from -- I don't know who, from -- DIRECTOR RICHARDS: I believe what you're talking about was a federal grant during COVID where we were given dollars to provide computers to the public, but I'll verify that. But that also started, you know, more than -- I believe it was more than two years ago. It was probably three years ago.
It's been a while. Because the thing is, if we're really trying to bring folks forward -- listen, I like a book. I like to sit down with like a real book in my hands, but I know that for a lot of people, they want a tablet, and even beyond that, there's a lot of folks who don't have access to WiFi at home. And so having those kinds of tools available only makes sense. If we're really trying to do 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. something to address literacy and to address the digital divide, these are the kind of tools that I think our Library needs to be offering these days. DIRECTOR RICHARDS: We offer eBooks. We offer electronic resources and services, but the equipment is what you're talking about taking home.
Right. DIRECTOR RICHARDS: And the federal government, they did offer that and the Library received it, but it ended in December, but there is some talk at the federal level to provide something again. But going forward, the Library, we're always looking for grant opportunities, and some of those things are out there and available, but that's to come. And it's something the Library, me, my team, we're always looking for those opportunities for citizens here in Philadelphia.
Okay. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Thank you. DIRECTOR RICHARDS: Good question, and we're always looking for those things.
Well, listen, I just want to -- like I said, I know you weren't here, but just making sure it's on your radar so that if there is an opportunity to do that, if grants become available in the future or if we even put in an allocation maybe in next year's budget if it's too late this year, but maybe in next year's budget, that that might be something worth considering as really providing our citizens with the latest in tools and technology. DIRECTOR RICHARDS: I support that.
And, Member, if you shall want to see it in this budget, we can talk offline, because we're still negotiating. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
All right now. How much we need for that? Throw me a number, Kelly. Throw me a number.
Before we go into our next session, a lightning question and a lightning response from Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier.
Lightning? I wanted to ask about data. This is for DHS. Sorry for the musical chairs. So in order to make sure that we're improving the lives of young people, we need good data, right? We need to know what charges are bringing young people to PJJSC for the first, second or third or fourth time. We need to be able to trace a young person's journey through the juvenile justice system, understand what services they receive, and what outcomes are tied to those services. If we have that 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. information, we can know what works and what doesn't so that we can invest our dollars accordingly. So I wanted to ask about how we're currently tracking outcomes. How are we currently measuring the effectiveness of specific interventions like the services offered at PJJSC or in-home detention programs or IPS? How are we currently doing that? And what kind of investment do we need to provide publicly available data about juvenile justice that tracks young people through our system from beginning to end, and is that end this current budget? Is that lightning enough? COMMISSIONER ALI: So I'll actually ask Deputy Commissioner Williams to start with that question. (Witness approached witness table.) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. Good afternoon, Council. My name is Gary Williams, the Deputy Commissioner 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. for Juvenile Justice Services. And so just to level set, when we consider recidivism, Councilwoman Gauthier, we just did a major study on recidivism, and we looked at 3,000-plus young people who went through our juvenile justice system. And how we defined recidivism is the fact -- is basically when a young person goes through the juvenile justice system and completely discharges from court, we look at a two-year period after that discharge. And so of the 3,000-plus young people who went through the system, there were 85 percent of young people who remain recidivism-free. It's pretty good. And so now we're at the point of looking at each program, because we want to know which programs are making a difference, and the way that we do that is what we call impact assessments. So all of the dependent -- excuse me; the delinquent programs that we have are 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. undergoing what we call impact assessments. And so with that assessment, we'll identify those particular outcomes that are unique to those programs. The second phase of that is actually to do a deep dive review of scope of work and contracts. So we align the desirable outcomes to those -- for those particular programs and make sure that they're in the scope of work in contract. And the next phase is really to develop a comprehensive tool to measure those desired outcomes, and we're projecting in Fiscal Year '26 to be able to regularly publish those qualitative outcome reports that we all need.
When are those reports that you mentioned, when will they be available and will they be publicly available? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. The quality evaluations that we do even now are made public. So they will 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. certainly be made public. I would be remiss also if I did not mention the deep dive evaluation process that actually, with the help of Drexel University and their Juvenile Justice Research Lab, they did a major study on what we have as IPS, intensive prevention services, which is a diversionary program that is also used for our school-based diversionary work, and they did a five-year -- they looked at a five-year period, and with that, they were able to basically conclude as a result of actually receiving this particular intervention, there were -- there was an 84 percent reduction in arrest rate across schools. Alongside of that, there's also been -- it also was discovered that there were -- there was a 34 percent reduction in what we call serious behavior incidents. So what that means is as the arrest rates declined, there was no 25 compromising of school safety. And so 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. with that information, we also opened that particular intervention up to the general public, and that's actually on the continuum as a diversionary primary prevention program. So those are the types of studies that we're looking to move towards.
Timelines? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For that, again, the qualitative reports that we're looking to do is, we're projecting that to be in the Fiscal Year '26.
Okay. So nothing this year? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, we have the impact. We have the impact assessments that could be made available to you as we complete those. That gives you a really good indication of what's working in terms of the interventions that we have. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. COMMISSIONER ALI: The reason why Deputy Commissioner said for FY26 is because, as you know, the data that's available for Philadelphia DHS or Juvenile Justice Services is the data of young people who avail themselves to our services. And so we know that we need to look at the MOU that we have existing with the Police and probably have to do a revision around that, the MOU that we have standing with the courts, so Family Court as well, and then we need to enter into some discussions with the District Attorney's Office, because when you talk about the charging of young people, all of that is done by a separate entity. So in order to do a comprehensive look at the young person, as you indicated, from the time that they are arrested until the time they receive services through the Department, we would need the support of other departments to do that. We have started that conversation already with the Police Department and certainly with 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. our court system.
You're welcome. And I would think that -- are you working in partnership with Adam Geer, the new Public Safety Director, as it relates to this comprehensive approach of having the District Attorney's Office, First Judicial District, as well as the Philadelphia Police Department as a part of this conversation? COMMISSIONER ALI: We have not yet. Adam Geer is actually scheduled to come to the PJJSC, and so we will be providing him with an update on all of the services that we have but also the needs that we have as well. So we will certainly have that -- raise that question with him.
And just also -- go ahead. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: I'm sorry. I just wanted to add, Councilman, I have had conversations with Adam Geer about our collaboration together. And so very confident that we will be working together. And his Deputy Commissioner that he brought in is Evangelia Manos, who is coming from working and reporting directly to me on our juvenile justice strategic stuff, so she's very aware of the need for this. So we have had -- I have had some of those preliminary conversations.
Good. And just give me a brief overview about our Evening Reporting Centers. What do they compose of? What's the criteria for individuals to go to an Evening Reporting Center? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you for the question, Mr. President. The Evening Reporting Centers, basically they're offered to our 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. young people based on the court posture of the young person. So we have a pre-adjudicated Evening Reporting Center. That is the young person who hasn't been adjudicated as of yet. We also have a post-adjudicated Evening Reporting Center. The services are similar, but based on where that young person is within the juvenile court system, it may look a little different. We also have what we call the Community Intervention Center, which is for those young people who are on a deferred adjudication. And then we have the post-placement ERC. Those are -- that particular intervention is for young people who actually are returning to the community. So, again, it's a pretty robust continuum of interventions geared towards those young people who are in the system. And then alongside of that we do have reintegration services. So the provider basically who provides that particular 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. intervention can work with a young person six months post to their discharge from placement.
And where are they located at, the Evening Reporting Centers? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I can actually give you those addresses, Mr. President.
That's cool. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's for -- they cover the span of the City.
Sure. And are we -- this will be for you, Vanessa. Are we moving forward with the Day Reporting Centers? I know there was an RFP that was put out over the last two years for Day Reporting Centers, and I haven't seen them come to fruition. One of them was at Southwest CDC, was one of the actual places they were going to 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. actually house a Day Reporting Center, and I haven't seen anything move forward since then. I don't know if that was under your purview at the time. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: I'm not sure I know what you're referring to in terms of the Day Reporting Center. It's certainly not under DHS at this time. We can talk about it.
It was an alternative for individuals being placed in placement, but this moved beyond juveniles. It was also adults as well. But maybe that's another conversation for another panel, but I'm matching up the Evening Reporting Centers -- DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: I got you. I think it comes under the Public Safety Director. This is what I'm thinking. You may be referring to the Neighborhood Resource Centers that we had been working on years ago that folks could have went to if they were 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. reintegrating from the adult system.
I think that may be what it is. That was under Erica Atwood at the time, that proposal. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Yes, and that's now under Public Safety Director Adam Geer.
We'll save that question for him just to get the status of it. I want to defer back to Councilwoman Cindy Bass, because she was in the middle of her line of questioning before I went to Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier. I know we don't have no problem working and have some questions, so report back.
That's okay. It was a lightning round, right? So a couple other questions, Parks and Recreation. Good afternoon again. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Good afternoon. Susan Slawson.
Good afternoon. So a couple questions. So in 2013, we initiated a camera program for all parks and recreation centers -- or for all recreation centers and playgrounds in the City of Philadelphia, and it was scheduled to take, I think, like three years or something like that. It was somewhat delayed, and by the time I think most of them got done -- it was supposed to be done, I think, in 2017 or so, and then in 2017, it wasn't complete. And then I think closer to 2019, and then we hit the pandemic. Can you give me an idea, is everything done now? Do all of our centers -- are they equipped with the camera equipment that was supposed to be provided? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: We have 1,972 cameras that we have in place currently. There are 12 facilities that 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. are in design. We have about 36 that still need to have cameras placed. So we've done an amazing job. I want to say it was about 300 less a year ago. So within a year, we've done --
So we're almost there. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: We're almost there.
Okay. And I remember when we started, I think we had something like 50 cameras throughout the entire parks and recreation system. So kudos to you all. You did a great job in making this happen. I know we did our first camera announcement when we alerted the public over at Marian Anderson in the Second Council District with the Council President. So that was when we first kicked it off there, and since then, you all have just been going non-stop. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: It's 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. times like this, Councilmember Bass, that your push makes a difference. So now here we are these many years later, our system almost completely outfitted with the cameras.
So we've got how many left to go, you said? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Well, 36 left.
Thirty-six centers? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: So now 12 are in design.
Thirty-six cameras? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thirty-six centers. Right now 1,972.
Cameras are in place? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Cameras are in place.
Very good. Another question, back under previous Commissioner DiBerardinis, we 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. asked for -- actually this body passed a bill that required annual reports of crime on Philadelphia Parks and Recreation property, and every year I ask, like are we getting that report any time soon? Because as a District member, it helps us as we allocate money through ITEF dollars to try to figure out where do I need to put my ITEF dollars. Like if I know that there's a rec center that's a problem, that things are happening, that they need more, they need more attention, they need more improvements, we need more light, let's flood it with lights if we're having problems over there, more cameras, maybe we don't have enough cameras, you know, more security measures, things of that nature, more programming. But we don't know if we don't know what's happening and where it's happening in our districts. So I'm pretty sure you probably don't have that report, but I'm going to ask if you could produce it 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. sometime in the near future and get it to Council maybe by the end of this budget cycle. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: That's a great question, and I've met with Adam Geer, and so we are working together. And just as coordination, I'm also working with the Police Department. So I don't think that will be a difficult ask for us to get the information to let you know what's going on in your particular districts. Parks and Recreation has a great relationship with the Police even prior to me and when I wasn't here. So we'll be able to get you that information.
Thank you so much. I think as a District member, it's important. Two more questions really quickly. One is around Ready to Swim, which is a program that our office authored and presented to the previous 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Commissioner and asked if they would fund it. Ready to Swim was a program that was pretty much guaranteed to ensure that any kid that wanted to learn how to swim would learn how to swim. And so we would provide quality instruction, training, swimwear, the whole nine. And so the giveback on that was that we were hopeful that some of those young people would be able, like the older ones, would be able to be lifeguards in the summer, because as you know, we end up closing our swimming pools in August and it's still very, very hot in August, but we close them because kids have to -- the young people who are the lifeguards have to go back to college, and so that has been our talent pool for a very long time, but it really doesn't work with what the needs of the City are. So we authored this program, Ready to Swim. We were told that there wasn't any funding, and I think in the 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. last budget cycle, the previous Commissioner said, oh, yeah, we did that, but they didn't let us know. But is it still happening? It's called something different, though. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: It is. I'm actually going to ask Bill to come up, because we are doing something to ensure that we're trying to teach our young people how to swim, and I'm not sure if you're aware of the initiatives that started last year where we're paying an additional $1,000 to those, whether young, middle age or old, if you're willing to come on and be a lifeguard. If you sign up and you complete a certain part of the process by April 15th, you get an additional $1,000. And it goes a little further. If you don't make the April 15th cutoff date, you still have May 15th and you get an additional $500, and this is an incentive, because we're trying to do everything we can to not only get the lifeguards but to get them 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. in a timely manner so all of our facilities can open. But, Bill, if you could speak to... DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: Absolutely. Bill Salvatore once again, Deputy Commissioner, Parks and Rec. So to respond to your question, I'm not quite sure of the program that you're speaking of, Councilmember, but we did expand our Swim for Life camps this summer --
That's it. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: -- to an additional three sites. We did get an additional grant from the Red Cross to expand our swim lessons. We mandated swim lessons in all our summer camps. So even if you don't have a pool at your summer camp, we will bus those campers from that summer camp to the nearest pool for swim lessons. And we also added adult swim lessons outside of normal swim hours, so adults 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. can get swim lessons after o'clock. 3
That 4 sounds like the same -- I just want to 5 make sure it's still going. 6 DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: 7 Yeah.
Like people are learning how to swim and that hopefully we'll be able to expand our talent pool so that we don't have to close our pools so early. And one last thing. Speaking of swimming, I do want to ask about -- because I was absent for the conversation about pools in my district, particularly Marcus Foster and Pickett pool, and I wanted to just briefly, if you could, recap the conversation, because I've been working on this for a long time, so I feel like some kind of way, you know, that I'm not in the room when we're talking about it, because we've been working and working and working to get these pools up and running and open, and 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we know that PPR doesn't really want them in their inventory, at least that's what we were told. So if that's not accurate, feel free to let me know, but I know right now it's School District property. At one point they were operated by -- well, at least Pickett was operated by Parks and Recreation. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: At one point they both were. So if you can speak to that, Bill. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SALVATORE: Yeah. So years ago when I was in the field, yes, we did use Pickett and Foster for lifeguard training. In our last conversation with the School District -- and this is information that we just got today from Councilmember Kendra Brooks that the School District is interested in talking about Foster and Pickett -- we were told they were out of service. So I think we need to go back and have a conversation with the School District to 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. find out how we can partner to perhaps get them open like we are doing at Sayre.
Well, we've been having conversations with the School District and it hasn't been as productive as we would have hoped. We're going to continue to have conversations. I know that there are folks who feel like, oh, it should go -- listen, School District doesn't want them anymore. We want to give them to Parks and Recreation. Parks and Recreation doesn't have the dollars to be able to maintain, properly maintain, the pools and bring the pools online. And, you know, we're looking at every possible alternative, because it matters less to me in terms of who is actually the main operator and more important that it's a resource that's open and available to the community. So I just wanted to just go on record on that, because it's easy to, when folks start rah-rah-rahing around a 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. particular issue, to jump in front of the parade, but you really have to be mindful and knowledgeable and have to have been at the table with the conversations to really know what's been happening all along. So I just wanted to thank you for that. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you. And if you are interested in us being a part of those conversations, I'd be willing to be part of those conversations.
So I'm going to do this, because we do have two departments who have been waiting patiently. And so these three -- these four departments can be available for callback. And I know there was another event going on that kind of prevented members to come just a little bit later, but for the sake of us continuing to move 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. this process forward, we're going to wrap up this round, but also offer the members who I do see want to have follow-up questions and so forth either we call you back for an official part of the next part of the hearing so they can still get their questions on the record and then we'll go from there. And so -- and then also on this particular topic as well, hopefully the key parties can kind of get all on the same page so we can figure out how we move this process forward, and I'm going to defer to Commissioner Sue Slawson as well as yourself, Vanessa, to kind of facilitate that process. DIRECTOR GARRETT HARLEY: Absolutely.
So we'll all be straight moving forward. So with that being said, because I said lightning round around two or three times, and so we are wrapping this particular session up. And with 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that being said, I'm going to call -- first of all, thank all of you for your testimony. I want to thank Gary Williams, give him a shout-out, as well as Mike Scott and his team. With that being said, we're going to ask for Mural Arts and the Commerce Department to please come on up. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
So we want to thank you for patiently waiting. I know some of you have been here since 10 o'clock this morning. So we had a delayed Appropriations meeting while we took care of some business, and then obviously starting at 11 o'clock, we had four to five different departments, so obviously that conversation was going to be very, very robust. And I do want to say it's exciting that members want to go even longer, and so that shows the dedication and commitment of individuals being laser-like focused on this budget 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. process. So thank you for your patience. And so up now we have Mural Arts as well as the Commerce Department. You both will give your testimonies, and then we will allow members to ask either one of you their questions simultaneously as we go through this process. So with that being said, Jane Golden, state your name and title for the record and please begin your testimony.
Thank you very much. My name is Jane Golden and I'm the Executive Director of Mural Arts Philadelphia. So good afternoon, President Johnson and members of City Council. I am pleased to provide testimony on Mural Arts' Fiscal 2025 Operating Budget. 68 million. I want to start out with gratitude and thank all of you for your support and the opportunity to testify. I always love this. This is such an important time in our city. We have a 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. new Mayor with an exciting agenda, a committed and passionate City Council. The positive feeling that I see from people all over the City is palpable. In spite of multi-layered challenges, I am an optimist. I am inspired daily by the spirit and tenacity of citizens in our city. I feel a collective determination, and every single day somewhere in the vast array of the work that Mural Arts does, we encounter love and faith and a tremendous hunger for beauty and for art. We at Mural Arts are excited as well. After all, it is our 40th anniversary of the Anti-Graffiti Network and the Mural Arts Program. Every year over 100 community groups, arts non-profits, and social service agencies partner with us on programs and projects of all sizes across Philadelphia in every neighborhood. 4 million directly into the creative 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. economy. Yay, artists. Because of your support, we serve over 25,000 constituents through our many departments, including Art Education, the Porch Light program, which is our partnership with the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, Restorative Justice, Community Murals, Restoration, Special Projects, and the Mural Arts Institute. So let's start with Restorative Justice. Here we work in the state prison at SCI Phoenix, and we started working at Graterford back in the day in 2002. We work with the DA's Office, and we have programs like the Guild and the Rec Crew where we create pathways for people who have been impacted by the criminal legal system so they can reintegrate back into the community and prepare for the road ahead. The recidivism rate among participants is very low. It's less than a third of the average in our city. More importantly, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. and what's really inspiring, we see people start to believe in themselves. Our Porch Light program uses art to help people who are struggling with mental health issues, substance use, and trauma. Porch Light takes on major projects that are really complicated, like one we're doing now about suicide awareness, but we also have permanent storefront locations in the Southeast, the Northeast, Suburban Station, and Kensington. And why do we do this? To bring vital support and resources to people where it's needed the most. We want to be on the ground. Our Color Me Back initiative is a same-day work and pay program that provides people facing housing insecurity with opportunities to earn money and access to services, and we prepare them for work. Sometimes they stay on with Mural Arts and sometimes they go far beyond Mural Arts. Since 2019, we've worked with several thousand people. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Every year we're serving a thousand people in the Color Me Back program. Right now in the last few weeks, 92 new people signed up, and we have a waiting list of almost 300 people who want to get into the program in Kensington. This is a needed service, and it's incredibly inspiring. Our Art Education Department annually serves over 2,200 young people ranging in age between 11 and 18. Every young person in Philly deserves access to art through programs after school and during the school day and during the summer. Mural Arts is able to provide safe spaces with highly trained teaching artists where students have an opportunity to learn, grow, thrive, and express themselves. We provide young people a choice and a voice and a way to harness the talent and genius we see inside them.
Art can bring life to corridors -- and I'm so happy to be here 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. with the Commerce Department. Thank you, Alba Martinez -- and communities across our city. We see this at work every single day. In Philadelphia, public art transforms empty walls and turns them into living, breathing beacons of color and hope in our city. People's stories once untold are told in big, bold, beautiful ways, honoring people's legacies, stories, memory, and history. Representation matters in our city and culture -- yes, culture -- is part of our everyday lives. We also believe empty storefronts can be transformed into thriving community centers. A perfect example of this is our Tacony Lab, which continues to grow and thrive after eight years. It's miles from an anchor arts institution. This amazing space offers a wide range of programs and artist's residencies, enlivening the Northeast with activations and engagements. We see 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. potential everywhere. And let's remember, our murals are civic assets, and we work hard to maintain them. We are known nationally and internationally as the City of Murals, and that is fantastic. Ten thousand people come on tours. We have million press impressions from a year. 10 I know that sounds so high. And even 11 Abbott Elementary had an episode called 12 Mural Arts. Quinta Brunson worked on a 13 mural in 7th grade, right? That's 14 amazing. 15 And as 2026 draws closer, let's 16 lift up our extraordinary collection of 17 public art and shine a light on it, 18 because the art in our city helps make 19 our city sing. 20 So thank you, thank you, thank 21 you from the bottom of my heart. Your 22 investment makes all of this work possible. And just as important, your support helps us leverage every single dollar so we could inspire individuals, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. foundations, and corporations to multiply the power of that investment. Your commitment in us is an investment in the City, the way it looks, the way it feels, the way we live, and how we dream. No matter what the problem or obstacles are, the truth is I believe, and I believe this from the bottom of my heart, that working together, we can make our city a healthy, creative, cooperative, cleaner, greener, and safer place to live. And I am more certain than ever, and I've done this work a long time, I am more certain than ever that art -- yes, art -- has an essential role in that movement for change and inspiration. As I always say, art ignites change. Thank you. ) - - -
4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Talk about bringing the smoke. You know that's right. Ms. Martinez, just state your name and title for the record and please begin your testimony. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Well, I'm going to tame my expectations about a public response for my testimony.
Hard act to follow. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Good afternoon, President Johnson and members of City Council. I am Alba Martinez, Director of Commerce, and I am joined today by our Deputy Directors to provide testimony on the Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Budget for the Commerce Department. Growing up in Puerto Rico, I never envisioned the opportunities Philadelphia would offer me. My love and gratitude for our city fuels my dedication to ensuring all Philadelphians can achieve their dreams irrespective of 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. their diversity or background. As a member of Mayor Parker's Administration, I commit to work with each of you to make opportunities more plentiful and accessible for your constituents. Philadelphia boasts world-class assets, a dynamic business sector, leading educational institutions, and people with the drive and aspiration to succeed. Businesses from large corporations to small neighborhood enterprises form the bedrock of our economy. Our mission at Commerce is to foster an inclusive, globally competitive city through proactive business support, a business-friendly environment, and coordinated attraction and retention efforts. In Fiscal Year '24, we have achieved notable progress. We expanded the Taking Care of Business cleaning program, enhancing 116 commercial corridors and supporting 250 cleaning 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. ambassador jobs with 39 non-profit and Black-owned business partners. We are advancing minority firm participation in infrastructure and development contracts via the Supply PHL initiative, and we invested $1 million in Philadelphia Business Lending Network incentive grants, supporting businesses like Top Dog Groomers and Lee's Deli in the Second and Third Districts. We launched the PHL Made Grant for local manufacturing companies like Insinger Machine and AA Plasma in the Sixth District, as well as a youth seed fund challenge to support young entrepreneurs in the creative economy. We nearly doubled the typical grant amount of the Community Opportunity Real Estate grant program, known as CORE, which supports projects like the Frankford CDC development at the Transportation Center in the Seventh District. We are launching an overnight 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. food truck market in the First District to enhance the nighttime economy and are introducing the Liberty Bell Safe Certification Program to improve safety in nightlife areas. We invested $500,000 in grants to enhance the safety and appeal of commercial corridors, such as the mural and lighting project by Mount Airy CDC at Zsa's Ice Cream in the Eighth District. We disbursed $270,000 in Quality Jobs Program grants to create 54 jobs with living wages and health benefits. With our streetscapes programs, we are enhancing the visual and functional appeal of key thoroughfares, like Broad, Germantown, and Erie. Our Office of Business Services continues serving as a resource for about 4,000 businesses annually, with dedicated representatives for each Council district. Looking ahead, we aim to position Philadelphia as a premier 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. business destination by working in a coordinated, disciplined manner with our partners across government, business, and the community. Through our new Open for Business initiative, we aim to streamline processes and foster a business-friendly environment that will make it easier to do business with our government. Through our expansion of Taking Care of Business, a crucial part of the Administration's clean and green agenda, we will continue revitalizing and enhancing commercial corridors, with a focus on underserved areas like Kensington. To boost our attraction efforts, we want to promote our business brand with a Bring Your Business to Philly message that celebrates our city's many strengths and highlights the exceptional businesses that are already here in sectors like life sciences, education, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing.
4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. To expand business access to information and resources, we will refine and deepen our community outreach strategies and we'll launch a user-friendly digital business hub available 24/7/365. We aim to introduce an ROI-driven workforce system framework that will more efficiently meet business needs and align our city's talent with apprenticeships, training, and jobs that lead to financial mobility. The proposed General Fund budget of $46,807,708 reflecting an increase of $7,144,414 over the previous year will enable us to implement these initiatives and continue our foundational work. Thank you, and we welcome your questions and insights at this time.
Thank you. - - - (Applause.) 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. - - -
So we're going to get right into it. For all the young people who are here representing Mural Arts, can you please stand? We have some young people that came out to be supportive. Let's give them a round of applause, please. - - - (Applause.) - - -
We had another group of young people that's here, and it's just critically important to acknowledge them because they're in the right place at the right time. They do not have to be here. They could be somewhere else doing something totally different, getting involved in all types of other things. And so I just wanted to acknowledge their presence. And so I'm going to be very, very brief, because I want to turn it over to my members, because I know they 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. have a lot of questions, but I did see the departments -- the Administration slashed your budget by a million dollars. And so just give us an idea of what program services are no longer being funded, the impact of those programs and, most importantly, considering the wide popularity and demand for murals throughout Philadelphia, how sufficient is the funding to meet the demand for art in public spaces? So the cuts and the impact from those cuts and then also based upon the demand, how we're going to go about being supportive and sufficient in terms of those initiatives. And I just want to say just real quickly, I just left Phoenix Prison about three weeks ago for the FACT, Fathers and Children Together, and as soon as you walk into that complex, the beautiful mural is in the back, and then talking to the young men, were very, very proud of the work that they're doing with Mural Arts. So it was very, very 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. therapeutic. And then also I would hope and I would think as a part of the agenda to create Philadelphia to be the safest, cleanest, greenest city, with economic opportunity for everybody, that hopefully there's a conversation where Mural Arts can be a part of that clean and green initiative. When I'm going to and out of the City of Philadelphia along I-76 east and west, right, the amount of graffiti that I see on both sides of the Expressway, right, is very, very demoralizing, to be quite frank, and I would just think that if we have beautiful murals that align the Expressway, I think it would just boost morale, right? And I don't know who owns that part, maybe PennDOT. And then I also see when you're going toward the Zoo and you also have Amtrak, right, again along the Expressway, like maybe partner with them and they'll allow us to kind of beautify 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the area. I just think this morale and this sense of pride as a city, and I come from the era of Bill Clinton and Colin Powell and America's Promise where we actually toured Germantown Avenue, right, and we did the mural tour to kind of see all the beauty that the City of Philadelphia has to offer. So hopefully there's some synergy there to make you a part of -- a key component of making the City clean and green, but also beautiful. And so with that being said, Ms. Jane Golden, I will turn it back over to you to answer those two questions and I'll turn it back over to my members.
First of all, thank you. Thank you for those points. And I want to say you are an official wall hunter, President Johnson, because you notice those great walls. It's true, 76, 95, and there is a graffiti problem. It's growing and growing. And CLIP does a remarkable job, but, you know, I think 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we also need to work on changing behavior, right? Because we can clean and clean and clean, but what we saw at the Anti-Graffiti Network is that a lot of young people were rerouted, because they got to see that they actually had talent and skills that had just gone unrecognized, and we say recognize it and let's provide options. So I've been in conversation with Director Carlton Williams, which is very exciting, because we've known each other from back in the day, and we are cooking up some ideas, which is super exciting, and we gave him a proposal with, you know us, like 5,000 ideas and we can do this and this, because when we heard Mayor Parker say clean and green and beautiful and safe, it's like that just made our hearts sing, honestly. So we would like nothing more -- it would be fantastic. Like let's marshal the energy of young people and have more public art in our city and 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. along those major corridors. Yay, major corridors, Alba Martinez. And so I think rethinking an Anti-Graffiti Network would be very -- it's an opportune time as we look to 2026. And then about the reduction, to answer your question, I mean, we will work with City Council and the Mayor's Office to do the best we can with what we have and try to leverage and raise money and just -- you know, we do this -- this is like, in all honesty, like for me and I'll speak for my colleagues at Mural Arts, it's not really just a job. It's like a moral imperative to do right by the citizens of this city. Like I feel it's such a privilege to do this work, to wake up in the morning and do work that has real meaning and that you feel connects with people everywhere. It's like such an honor. And so we'll figure it out and we'll figure it out together somehow, but 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I'm here, we're here, and we're completely committed.
No, it didn't, but I just want to really quickly so I can turn it over to my members, but like in all seriousness, their million dollar cut impacts what areas?
The million dollar cut, you have been cut a million dollars, so which services are being impacted?
Well, I would say, you know, we will have to do less Color Me Back, the Guild, new murals, restorations. I mean, it's all -- you know, yeah. They would all be vulnerable, and that's why we want to work as hard as we can with all of you to 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. try to see what can happen.
But I feel like we are very determined. The work is so important, so we really want to see what we can do to not just actually keep it at what it is, but we would like -- we want to see it expanded. So whatever funds we get, we will do our best to like leverage it, stretch it, and do good work.
Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Starting this round off, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Anthony Phillips.
Thank you, Council President. First question, I hope this is not a hard question for Jane Golden. We and a lot of District Councilmembers are 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. ecstatic about murals, right, and what they do to create beautification for our city. In particular, what a mural does oftentimes, it gives, I guess, a neighborhood a sense of pride that this belongs to us, right? How can we facilitate the number -- the completion of at least two murals annually in each Council district, and this is beyond the Rebuild project, but at least two murals annually that we can have in each Council district? What strategies does that take?
Well, first, thank you for the question, and we do have -- the one thing that's wonderful about Philly is that there are murals everywhere and that we have a really big waiting list, and that's good because, as you said, you said that beautifully, there is an appetite for public art in our city, which is great. I will say, Council President Johnson, with the cut, we do go down in 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. what we can do. So really it's about funding. And the thing is, whatever funding we get from the City, you know we're going to go raise extra money and we're going to leverage it. But we will go from 75 down to probably 50-something or 60 murals. I mean, that's just the truth of when you have funding and then you don't have funding. So that's why the funding is really important. And if you look at every project we do, there's a little bit of private money and public money, because we never want to be overly reliant on any one sector, so we're busy bees trying to leverage.
But that's what I'm saying. I think there's an appetite. If you present the data on what something like this would take to happen, our neighbors would not only love it, but we could potentially find ways to make that happen. So it's about streamlining the process so you can say 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. how much this will cost to make that happen, roughly.
Well, we could submit a proposed -- we could give you the data of what it would take.
That would be helpful. And then I have a question for Commerce. We have in every councilmanic district, we have avenues and commercial corridors. Is the Commerce Department committed to doing like a roundtable or -- not a roundtable, a symposium in each councilmanic district without us having to organize it as Councilmembers for small businesses in our neighborhood to provide resources of -- provide information about technical support, opportunities for small businesses to expand their operations, as well as other services that the Commerce Department has available? DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: Thank you for that question. I'm going to ask Jane 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to help me answer it -- just kidding. First of all, thank you for the question. The short answer is absolutely, yes, and the slightly longer answer is that it's consistent with our commitment to deepening our outreach strategies and our approaches, and we're piloting something that we're calling Commerce in the Community to going straight into the neighborhoods, into spaces where we feel people have not traditionally seen the Commerce Department and engaging people in learning and networking and connecting to resources, and at the end of the workshop, we're providing office hours. We're doing that in the Seventh District once a month. We'll do it for the second time on Friday. We had 60 people come out the first time. We're having community members do the outreach for us, and we would love to see that extend into every Council district. It would be an honor 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to do it.
Absolutely. I love that, because what I want -- what I was trying to get at is, I don't want us to have to initiate it. I want you to call me and say, this is what we want to do, right, and we can collaborate, and you already have it together and we just provide the input. And I think that would be really helpful for a lot of our small businesses. I mean, I just think that's helpful for a lot of folks. Lastly, how are we improving accessibility to grant and loan process for a lot of our small businesses? Additionally, how can a department assist in facilitating more access to loans and grants for our small businesses? I'm not sure if they're very much aware of this and how well we advertise a lot of the small grants that are available as well as the low-interest loans that are available too. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. DIRECTOR MARTINEZ: So I'll start with a short answer and then ask Deputy Director Yvonne Boye to go deeper with the details. Fundamentally, outreach is something that we need to continuously improve, assess how we are -- who we're reaching by zip code. I believe that's an important analysis that we need to do. And then we need to affirmatively target zip codes where we are not being as effective reaching people. Second of all, we are going to step up our efforts in terms of reaching people digitally through a resource hub that we're creating. And, thirdly, I'll mention communications and marketing. We do have an infrastructure that is fairly new in the Commerce Department, and we think that we can definitely reach more people by deepening the utilization and the effectiveness of our social media strategies. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Yvonne. DEPUTY DIRECTOR BOYE: Thank you. Yvonne Boye, Deputy Commerce Director. I lead the Office of Neighborhood Economic Development. Thank you for your question. One of the things that is at the heart of what the Commerce Department does is to provide opportunity to communities and businesses that have otherwise not had opportunity. And so we have an array of programs that improve the access to the funds. No matter how much funding is available, if the opportunity and the access is not available, they don't get it. So one of our -- we work very closely with the CDFI network, which is the community financial development institutions, who fund small businesses and mostly in the neighborhoods and businesses that do not usually have access. So we work with them very closely. We meet with them and exchange 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. ideas as to the best ways to do this. We also fund community development financial institutions so that the underwriting criteria might be better tailored to the businesses that have issues accessing regular modes of financing. We also have the business -- the Philadelphia Business Lending Network, which is a portal, which eases the access for small businesses, small and micro businesses, to help towards reaching lenders. We have about 33 lenders in that network right now. And so they fill one form of interest, and we farm it out to 33 lenders, and that is an elevated way in which we are able to do that. And we now add access to grants to incentivize the lenders to do that. We have also technical assistance to help the businesses get ready to access the capital. I hope that answers your question. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
It does. I just want to say that's the bell. I had a quick statement. Hopefully I think another Councilmember is probably going to bring this up, but we do have skyscrapers in Center City Philadelphia that are nearing being empty or going to be empty soon, and I just want to make sure Commerce has a plan to build relationships that's going to help us make sure that those skyscrapers are not going to be empty in the coming years.
Thank you. Just for a little housekeeping rules, just ask for members to be succinct and direct with their questioning, because we have a whole list of members who would like to get through this round. With that being said, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Thank 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you, Council President. Hello. How is everybody doing this afternoon? Thank you for waiting around for so long. My things are for Jane. Jane, I just got to tell you, I've known you since the early to mid '90s, and you haven't changed a bit. You still have the same energy when -- I had the honor of being the Assistant Managing Director for your program during the Street Administration, and I remember when we had the kids on North Broad Street for the after-school program, and just to see how much that has grown over the years is just amazing. You know, the thing with you is the budget money you get goes a long way, because, as you said, you raise extra money. You go out of your way to make this a beautiful city, and we appreciate that. I'd just like to -- I'm still waiting for my mural for Marvin Harrison, 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. NFL --
-- all-pro Hall of Fame. But just if you could tell us a little bit about the stuff you're doing in Kensington with the Porch Light program and stuff like that. If you can just give us little bit more information on that and how that's going.
Well, we're working with about -- I think this is sort of one of the secrets. People don't know this about Mural Arts, but through Porch Light, we've been in Kensington for about ten years working. We're working at schools. We're working at rec centers. We're working with different social service agencies. We're servicing about 7,000 people every year. We're also doing a major project with a very well-known artist, Roberto Lugo, who is from Kensington, and we're building these 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. giant vessels. He's a ceramicist. So it's going to enliven public space. And we have a mobile pottery studio, so we're going to be having workshops all throughout Kensington. And our charge to ourself is to work with seniors, work with young people, and everybody in between with all kinds of programming. And then we have a space at K&A, and that's where Color Me Back meets, but it's also an art space that's really lively and wonderful and means a lot for the Avenue. So it's like -- what I think about is like how do we create individual change and community change at the same time and link them up. But to answer President Johnson's question to me, which I should have answered more directly, Kensington will close because of the million dollar loss. We will not be able to stay there with Porch Light. So that is -- I know. I should have said that in the first 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. place. I'm really sorry. I was trying to be really positive.
Hey, sometimes you have to be honest in order to get your point across. These are programs that are needed, especially in a neighborhood that really needs programs for our kids, stuff for our kids to do that show them that they can be somebody. I remember this program started out at Anti-Graffiti, as they stated earlier, and I remember a lot of my friends getting put into Anti-Graffiti's group, and that's when we first started the murals back in the day, was with the kids that we're tagging, and we showed them that there was another way, and I believe that's what we need to do.
We also have something else. We have a gun buy-back program that we're doing, and we're going to be working heavily in Kensington, and then the guns will be melted down and we're creating a public sculpture that is 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. a tribute to public safety in our city. So, again, how do we use art in the most innovative way possible to impact people and impact the community and to deal with the really serious issues. We feel every issue that's on your plate and the Mayor's plate, that's an issue we should be thinking about through the lens of art, but we can be aspirational and pragmatic at the same time.
Yeah. It's just not art. It's programs, it's kids, it's adults, it's seniors. Okay. How many artists are employed?
Well, we're very proud of this statistic. It's 250 artists are employed every year, and it's a very, very diverse group of artists, and we're proud of that as well. And we have a fellowship program for Black artists. We have an internship program, apprenticeship program, a muralist 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. training program. So we've really worked hard to create platforms and a foundation for artists to come into Mural Arts and work in public space. If you look at public art historically, it's been very aesthete and sort of -- there's been like sort of hands up, but I think Anti-Graffiti and Mural Arts have caused a paradigm shift where we value equity and that we want people to come in the door that aren't necessarily classically trained. And so we have a small walls project. We're doing big projects and everything in between, but we want to mind the creative spirit that exists in our city and put it to work in tangible ways.
It's got to make the kids feel good to look up and see something they did.
Yes. Exactly. So people in our Guild program or our Art Education program or Porch Light program. When you look around at the huge 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. collection of public art in the City, it is not just made by one classically trained artist. I mean, sometimes they are at the top of the food chain, but there's so many other people involved, and it's also economic development. It's getting money in people's pockets to do something that they love and is transformative for the community. So it's a quintessential multi-tasker.
Nicely done, Mr. President. So let me quickly say I love you, Jane Golden. I've been with you for a long ride, since Tim Spencer days, and I know how it's grown. My son actually did murals once upon a time on the Expressway, Mr. President. So thank you for that. 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Thank you for the Container Village and all you're doing out there. I love the Commerce Department as well. Equal love. Let me say all of the good things. You guys have worked on the over 100 commercial corridors doing wonderful things, keeping them alive through uprisings, through pandemics. You worked well with PIDC to filter and create those loans. You worked with small businesses in order to kind of reconstruct records so they could get loans. So amen to that and welcome on board. Mr. President, who introduced the resolution to look at affirmative action and inclusion for -- who was that? Was it you, Jamie?
No. For the City of Philadelphia to determine if -- because I may wait until that resolution's hearing, and here's why: As 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. a former alumni of Commerce Department, as a former Director of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation, as a former Director of the Minority Business Enterprise Council, I am not convinced that we are on the right path with that inclusion of DBEs, MBEs, and female-owned businesses. So I don't want to take that time today. I would rather just talk about the wonderful things you do and say thank you, but I want to have a deeper dive to see if we are not watering down the old 17-500 and now post 17-500 Croson decision impacts. For example, who did -- when was the last disparity study done and who performed it? (Witness approached witness table.) DEPUTY DIRECTOR NEWSOME: Good afternoon, Council President, members of City Council. Thank you, Councilman Jones, for that question.
Move that 4/3/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. mic a little closer. DEPUTY DIRECTOR NEWSOME: The last full disparity --