I do not believe they are screened for drug use, entering the prison.
That has historically been 1407 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET the case, and I honestly cannot speak to the why of there has never been a screening.
You know, as I said, if someone's sentenced and he has been using drugs, how do we deal with this? If we don't screen them, how do we know what their problem is?
To follow up, I'm going to ask Assistance Commissioner Bencivengo to come up and speak to that. I also think that at certain times during the year, there is some screenings that are done at the Roundhouse to try and get some assessment of the number of individuals who are coming into the criminal justice system who may have drug and alcohol issues there. (Witness comes forward.)
Mark Bencivengo, Assistant Health Commissioner of the Behavioral Health System. The individuals are not screened when they go into State Road. There is, however, a very aggressive release program, early-release program, that's going on in there called the "Forensic 1408 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Intensive Recovery Program." Actually, when one looks at screening versus self-report, there's not a great deal of difference between whether or not the self-report yields more or less than the screening, and these individuals who acknowledge that they have a substance-abuse problem, how long they've been using and what they've been using, that's generally quite accurate. In Philadelphia, we're generally dealing with cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or alcohol use. There are a variety of other drugs, as you know, but Philadelphia is a fairly conservative city, unlike some of the other cities out on the West Coast where there's a much larger array of drugs. We think we'd pick up, through self-reporting, A lot of what's going on and is --
What percentage of people up on State Road have a substance-abuse problem?
70 to 80. 1409 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET And as you pointed out, about a third of the people that are in the county jail are there pre-trial, so they have not been sentenced yet.
All right, thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Along the same line, but first a question on -- you did not -- did you promise to send the 92 schools that are currently still not in compliance with getting rid of the lead problem in their fountains? I would like to have a list of those schools. Can you send that? COMMISSIONER DOMZALSKI: Absolutely.
Around February of this year, we were told that that problem had been solved about the schools and, obviously, you say we have 92 still with a big problem and others that still have large areas of their system that are still with problems with lead and those fountains cannot be used. So I'd like to see what schools these are and what is the plan that the Health Department has in place. 1410 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET In terms of the prison and the drug- addiction problems and the transmittible diseases, as people who come out of Curran Fromhold and State Road, do we have a process in which the Health Department takes -- and these individuals come into the Health Department system? 'cause a lot of -- a lot of them are coming out with transmittible disease -- HIV, chlamydia -- out of those systems. And I want to know, do we have a follow-up program for these individuals to integrate them into a case-management system by the Health Department or DHS or whatever? COMMISSIONER DOMZALSKI: We do.
What is that? COMMISSIONER DOMZALSKI: As far as the transmissible diseases --
Tell me how it works. You're in prison and you're going to be released; what happens? COMMISSIONER DOMZALSKI: Well, in prison, we would -- most of these diseases are symptomatic, and --
I understand. You're Robert C. Jones, you know, and you're going to be 1411 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET released at o'clock this afternoon, you are 3 suffering from HIV; what happens to you once you walk out onto State Road from there? What does the City do? where does he go? does he have a support system that is going to be able to carry him across? Do we have that in place? COMMISSIONER DOMZALSKI: Yes.
Tell me how it works. COMMISSIONER DOMZALSKI: The person that you just described would be counseled before release and would also be given a supply of medications and then counseled about the importance of seeking a primary-care provider. If the person has a physician that he or she is seeing, then we would encourage that person to continue with that process. If the person tells us, "I don't know who to see, I never had any medical care," we tell him, "Come to our health centers." And if he asks which one, we'll say, "Here are a list of the centers and their addresses. Pick one that you think would be most convenient for you to come to." And then we work with the health center, and no appointment is required and we get that patient in immediately. 1412 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET
That's sort of haphazard. I mean, you're leaving it to individuals really that have very little structure to their lives. COMMISSIONER DOMZALSKI: Right.
They're coming out of prisons, and obviously they're coming out of prison with something that is going to impact negatively in neighborhoods that they're going to be living in. Shouldn't we have in place a system in which they come out of that prison with a case manager that they're supposed to see at a designated health center, and that information then goes to that health center, and if that guy doesn't show up at an appointed meeting and session, that then that is notified. Because this is about HIV, this is about chlamydia, this is about very, very dangerous situation on viruses that we have, and we have certainly no control built in as people come out of these prisons. COMMISSIONER DOMZALSKI: You're a hundred percent on this, a hundred percent correct, Councilman. 1413 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET What we've done is build in now a layer of case management, where we have a person agree to allow us to make a referral, respecting confidentiality, to a case-management agency that will then be able to follow up and do that, exactly what you're saying. That is relatively new. (Addressing a colleague.) Joe, did you want to help me with this? (Witness comes forward.)
I'm Joe Cronauer, Co-Director of the AIDS Office, City of Philadelphia (AACO). Yeah, every person who tests HIV-positive through the AACO counselors at the prison -- we do all of the HIV testing -- are given the option of being referred either to a case manager that's actually stationed at the prisons or a new program that we're in week two of a six-week process of getting started with, which is a care outreach program, so that every individual is linked with somebody on site, at the prisons, that not only works with them at that point, but is also available upon discharge for up to a three-month period to continue to work with the individual to make sure 1414 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET that they're placed in the treatment once they are out of the prisons.
The case-management program has been in place for two or three years.
Yes, yeah. And certainly we're aware that that program was not able to handle the quantity of people with HIV coming out of the prisons that we believed need additional assistance and linking into care in the community, which is why we've now begun the care outreach program to augment that so that we know that certainly by the middle of the summer, we're going to be able to link every single individual who chooses that option because -- certainly we can't make them do this, but every individual who will chooce that option will be presented with a one-on-one contact, an individual that will be there for them to guide them into care.
Shouldn't we be much more proactive, knowing what HIV does and knowing the impact that it can have and the result of transmitting the disease in our neighborhoods and to 1415 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET our city? Shouldn't we be more proactive in making sure that there is a follow-up to see that "X Y or Z" doesn't show up to one of the case managers? Does that happen? In other words, if someone doesn't show up, what happens?
If someone does not show up to an appointment with the case manager?
That case manager tries to locate that person and set up another appointment.
Tries to. I would actually have to go back and talk to the provider about that to see --
Do we have any data in terms of this program that began three years ago and that has now been supplemented by more in terms of how we're doing and how many individuals came out and how many individuals we actually kept in touch with and are within a system of case management? Do we have number on that?
Yes, I'd like that. 1416 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
Commissioner, thank you very much. And thank you very much for doing such a fabulous job. We really appreciate it. COMMISSIONER DOMZALSKI: You're welcome, Madam President. Thank you so much.
We'd like to continue on with our hearings so if you're having discussions, please do so in the corridor. (Witnesses come forward.)
Good afternoon, welcome, and thank you for your patience.
Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Thank you. Naomi Post, 1417 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET President and CEO of Philadelphia Safe and Sound. Good afternoon Council President Verna and members of City Council. I am Naomi Post, President and CEO of Philadelphia Safe and Sound. Today I'm here to present testimony on the budget and operations of Philadelphia Safe and Sound, its relationship to the City, and to answer any questions you might have. As you may know, Philadelphia Safe and Sound operates on a calendar-year budget from January through December. Our total proposed budget for calendar-year 2002 is $2,868,590, compared to $2,874,252 in 2001. Of that amount, we anticipate revenue of $2,432,690 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; $410,000 from other primarily grant-funded sources; and $25,900 from individual corporations and foundations. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant award comes to the City. Since Philadelphian Safe and Sound's six full-time staff are employees of the City's Recreation Department, salaries and benefits are paid directly by the City. The balance of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other grant 1418 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET funding is passed to Safe and Sound from the Department of Human Services. We anticipate spending approximately $549,290 for salaries and fringe benefits, $905,754 direct costs such as rent, utilities, equipment, and supplies; and $1,413,550 for various contract services. The structure of Safe and Sound is best understood within the concept of its inception and its history. In 1995, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation solicited applications related to comprehensive plans to improve the health and safety children in urban areas. Twenty cities throughout the United States, including Philadelphia, submitted proposals to what is now known as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Urban Health Initial. Philadelphia was one of eight cities selected to engage in a two-year planning process, and in 1997, was one of five cities awarded an initial four-year implementation grant. In 2001, the City was successful in receiving another four-year implementation grant to continue its work. We are now in the seventh year of this ten-year initiative. The other Urban Health 1419 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Initiative cities are Baltimore, Detroit, Oakland, and Richmond. The mission of the Urban Health Initiative cities, in the broadest terms, is to improve the health and safety of children. While the grant is generally non-prescriptive, one major condition is that it prohibits direct service delivery. Sites are encouraged to implement plans that support system reform and which assist the City in incrementally going to scale with services designed to improve the lives of children. This guidance from the Foundation epitomizes the role that Safe and Sound has developed in relation to the City. Our express mission is to be a resource development and technical-assistance agent working constantly to support and strengthen the City's service delivery system and always in coordination with the City's priorities. There is variance in the strategies each side is advancing, and each developed a slightly different agency model. For example, in Richmond, the initiative called "Youth Matters" functions under the auspices of the local Chamber of Commerce. 1420 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Philadelphia elected to have the City receive its award in our initiative, "Philadelphia Safe and Sound," initially reported to the former mayor's Children and Families Cabinet. During the first two years of implementation, Safe and Sound's governing board, which was the children's cabinet, along with other advisors, such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation fellows, determined that the best interests of the initiative would be served by converting to 501(c)(3).
The reason for the conversion to the nonprofit was twofold: First, while the Initiative would continue to provide assistance to the City, we knew that over time, we would have to leverage charitable dollars to complement the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and government contributions. And in this regard, it should be noted that although our Robert Wood Johnson Foundation award is greater than previous-year allocations this year, the amount received will decrease in each subsequent year. Each site will be securing charitable and competitive governmental dollars to compensates for decreasing foundation awards over time. 1421 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Second, and of equal importance, was the recognition of the critical need to broaden the membership of our governing board to include private-sector partners. Such a change reflected an acknowledgment that government alone cannot resolve the conditions our children and families face. Diverse leadership and a strong public and private partnership is needed to create and sustain the changes the City is seeking to accomplish. Safe and Sound is a non-profit corporation, which has a board of directors composed of City officials and representatives from the business foundation and faith communities. In keeping with our grant conditions and our philosophy that supports the Initiative supports change within government with guidance from the private sector, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant remains payable to the City, which contracts with Safe and Sound for the purpose of implementation. The City details employees to the corporation and the corporation has the ability to contract for other services to support its work. As President and CEO of the corporation and as a City employee, there are multiple levels of 1422 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET accountability. While the mission is guided by our board, I have continued to report to the Director of Social Services within the Managing Director's Office. Further, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has established a National Program Office, which is responsible for providing all five entities with oversight and guidance while monitoring our progress. The Foundation has also engaged New York University Wagner School to evaluate this multi-year effort in each city. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation fellows, who connect to and support the work, have been selected by the Foundation. The Philadelphia fellows are John Delaney of the District Attorney's Office, Janice Davis of the Philadelphia Finance Department, Alba Martinez of the Department of Human Services, and Ann Schenberger from the Southeastern Regional Office of the Department of Public Welfare, Paul DeLorenzo from the Office of Children's Policy, and, of course, your esteemed colleague Councilwoman Reynolds Brown. In connection with fiscal matters, we report to the City, to our board of directors, and to the National Program Office. We secure 1423 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET independent audits and also have also been audited by PriceWaterhouse in connection with a randomized foundation audit. While the scrutiny to which we are subjected is intense, we welcome it, as it serves to enhance our accountability. I recognize that the unique structure of Safe and Sound has left some people confused about its relationship to the City and its mission, but our mission is quite simple and our relationship to the City less complicated than might appear. Philadelphia Safe and Sound exists to provide support and technical assistance to a city which has determined that improving the lives of its youngest residents is a high priority. " Philadelphia Safe and Sound operates both as an arm of City government and as a technical- assistance resource to it.
In this capacity, the City, through the Division of Social Services, can: Direct our efforts to assist in the development of new projects; facilitate cross-department efforts, as we have done to produce the Children's Report Card and Children's Budget; and support citywide 1424 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET initiatives, such as the Children's Investment Strategy. As a 501(c)(3) and an RWJ grantee, we are able to tap into resources and experts across the country on behalf of the City, secure private funds to help expand City services, and stay on the cutting edge of emerging research and best practices. The City and its vision drive our focus for its children and families. Allow me to explain to you what that means and how we operate to fulfill that role. As you proceed through these hearings, you will be receiving extensive testimony about the City's efforts to meet its many mandated responsibilities. Much of what Safe and Sound does is to find the most effective strategies and resources available to assist the City agencies in that work. These include activities like Safe and Sound's participation in the development of the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership. YVRP, after a year of intensive planning, was first introduced in the 24th Police District in June 1999. Today, that project has helped reduce youth homicides by 63 percent in the 24th Police District, and it is 1425 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET now being replicated in the 25th District. Preliminary data from the 25th District shows a decrease in homicides from a year to 8 a year, a 5 decrease of 68 percent for our targeted age group. 6 In connection with the Youth Violence 7 Reduction Partnership, Philadelphia Safe and Sound 8 co-chairs the project along with John Delaney of the 9 District Attorney's Office, and we host the weekly 10 meetings. We request, receive, and analyze police 11 homicides data, which serves to inform and guide the 12 efforts. 13 We secured over a million dollars in 14 federal funds from the Juvenile Accountability Block 15 Grant to pay for the street-worker component of the 16 project. And when acting Police Commissioner 17 Johnson emphasized to us, as he did to the general 18 public during his recent testimony that we cannot 19 arrest our way out of the problem, we convened all 20 of our stakeholders. The net result was the 21 creation of the Recreation Department's Teen 22 Centers. 23 For the Teen Centers, we convened the 24 group, we provided research and guidance, and we 25 secured federal funding in the amount of $225,000 1426 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET for the Recreation Department. We've also developed the evaluative tools necessary to measure the effectiveness of the centers and reaching and successfully intervening with high-risk youth. While the precise activities in which we engage can vary, our mission and role is to identify proven strategies to assist the City in developing and implementing them effectively and then to step back as the City institutionalizes and replicates them and responds to its mandated responsibilities. The gain is improved outcomes for kids and a more efficient use of City funds and resources and more effective resulting services. Our contribution does not end there. We also indirectly help to generate other resources on behalf of the City. For example, we have facilitated funding for evaluation projects, and the City's integrated data project has been launched with foundation funds that Philadelphia Safe and Sound helped to secure. As mentioned earlier, we assisted in securing federal funds for YVRP and Teen Centers, and we supported the City's request for TANF funds for home visitation and CIS. These are only isolated examples of an 1427 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET ongoing commitment that we have to support City services.
Because of my direct-report relationship to the Director of Social Services, this commitment is always aligned with that office's responsibilities and priorities. One of our newer challenges has been to take the knowledge and information gained in producing the Report Card and use that as a spring board for developing an intensive mapping capacity that can cross-reference multiple risk and asset information about kids, families, and our neighborhoods. This is providing new and more informed viewpoint to guide how and where the City's targeting its services and resource. This type of intensive mapping information assisted the City in identifying targeted zip codes to receive priority consideration under the Children's Investment Strategy (CIS). The CIS was developed by the City to respond to and to improve the Report Card outcomes. The Report Card represents the City's commitment to track and understand the state of our children and youth. We are not satisfied with those outcomes and always recognize that documenting the current 1428 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET outcomes was only the beginning. The next step was to research proven strategies and approaches for improving those outcomes, and that search led to a focus on the non-school hours and the critical and pivotal role those hours play on how our children fare. Through an exhaustive exercise, we were able to help the City estimate that approximately 100,000 of our school-aged children have no 11 supervised after-school options. As a result, the Mayor encouraged City agencies to join forces in developing new and expanded after-school and youth- development opportunities. The CIS is more than an increased availability of services; it is built on research- based strategies that have demonstrated the ability to contribute to improve student attendance and performance and safer school and community environments. The CIS is not a silver bullet; it is a proven approach that, if carefully implemented and supported, can change the way schools, parents, providers, and communities join forces to benefit kids. The CIS is lead by the Mayor and an oversight committee composed of public and private leaders 1429 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET across the City. As you have learned in previous testimony, there are over 100 new after- school programs operating, serving approximately 4,608 school-aged children. Additionally, new Beacon 7 Grants have been announced. Beacons are a 8 nationally-researched school-based community-center 9 model that was developed in New York City and has 10 been replicated in other parts of the country. 11 It is equally important to discuss how Beacons fits into the overall strategy for community-based programs. Beacons, Family Centers, Teen Centers, and other community-collaborative models share many core principles and strategies, but each has its own specific mission and objective. Our challenge is to find the most effective ways to combine these resources where they coexist. Need in this city more than outstrips resources. The strengths and various scopes represented by these different models offer new opportunities to combine these efforts. For example, the strong family-support focus of a family center, working side by side with the after-school and youth-development expertise of 1430 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET a Beacon can only benefit a neighborhood. The City is now positioned, with its evolving mapping and targeting capacities, to more planfully position and resource these programs. Our strategic system reform effort consists of ongoing technical assistance and guidance and helping government officials develop, reform, and restructure operations and systems based upon data, research, and best practices. Safe and Sound has focussed on four primary initiatives to strategically reform Philadelphia's systems.
Our first initiative is the Report Card on the well-being of children and youth in Philadelphia. The Report Card tracks the well-being of children using 27 key indicators that objectively measure progress toward 5 desirable results, and it is intended to guide public and private investments and policy decisions. Second, the Children's Budget, a companion document to the Report Card, annually measures and analyzes all government spending for children in Philadelphia. This document allows comparison between government spending-decisions and 1431 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET areas of need as depicted by the Report Card. The Children's Budget presents data by funding source, the purpose of the spending, and the type of services being provided. It provides comparisons of spending for children over time. This type of analysis will be increasingly critical in future years, since patterns and trends in investments and results become clear when viewed over a long period of time. Together, the Report Card and the Children's Budget illustrate the need for expansion and improvement of programs and services to strengthen the development of children and to reduce the level of risk behaviors. Many of these outcomes can be improved through greater front-end investments in youth-development and after-school activities. Yet the Children's Budget reveals that only about 10 cents of every public dollar currently spent on children are devoted to preventive and development services. Clearly, there is potential to change these outcomes by redirecting a larger portion of overall spending for children away from the current high-end crisis intervention and corrective services 1432 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET to more effective, proactive prevention and early- intervention strategies. Our third system reform effort, the Children's Investment strategy, has been developed to do just that. As I mentioned earlier, the centerpiece of this strategy is an effort to provide access to after-school and youth-development activities to the 100,000 children and youth currently without access. Our fourth system reform effort supports the City's Integrated Data Management Project. Safe and Sound is providing technical assistance to the City on the development of a secure, integrated system. The project involves integrating the data systems of five social-service agencies with those of the School District and the Police Department. An integrated data management system will allow greater data and information exchange among City agencies to foster better coordination and effectiveness. Beyond major system reform, another key role for Safe and Sound is development and monitoring of research-based programs that reduce antisocial behavior among high-risk youth. These 1433 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET programs are based on best practices that research has proven are successful in improving the health and safety of children. In this role, Safe and Sound provides research and development to the City by researching and testing innovative models to improve child and youth well-being. Many of the resources this City needs, as is the case with all municipalities, are controlled or influenced by state government. We believe that elevating issues related to the best interest of children and families to create consensus across the State and in Harrisburg is critical to our success. It is for this reason that Safe and Sound is cofounder statewide coalition, Folks Five For Kids, Pennsylvania's campaign for children and families. As I have indicated in my testimony, Safe and Sound will continue to be responsive to the needs of the City, its youngest residents, and their families.
We do so, recognizing that in order to substantially improve the well-being of children, a unity of voice and mission, which is non-partisan and which includes private-sector partners as well as local, state, and federal partners, is critical to our success 1434 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET I appreciate the opportunity to testify before you, and I am happy to answer your questions.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, President Post. And I see Commissioner Richman is back. I'm sorry, I mean Managing --
-- Director Richman is back. Thank you. I have just a couple quick questions. Philadelphia Safe and Sound, as you mentioned on your first page of testimony, is in the seventh year of what's anticipated to be a ten-year initiative?
Okay. And what would be the anticipation at the ten-year mark with the City? Is there a proposal to do anything beyond the ten-year point, and how would with continue some of these activities? 1435 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET
I think that there are certain officials within the City and members of the board who think that beyond that ten-year period, it would be helpful to have an entity such as Safe and Sound around to provide technical support and technical assistance to the City. Whether that would continue to be Safe and Sound or whether the functions of Safe and Sound would be integrated into City government is very unclear to me, and I don't think we've had enough discussion and debate to be able to advise you of the plans beyond the ten years.
Okay. On the foundation side of this discussion, do they have any thoughts beyond the ten-year time period, or is there any discussion -- I mean, all of the cities pretty much started at the same time?
For the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation side, do you know if they're anticipating providing either extended funding? Or what's their expectation of the cities at the ten-year mark?
With this last four-year 1436 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET implementation grant, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation decreases the amount of its commitment every year. It has encouraged each site to do fund-raising both from government resources as well as charitable resources to reach a level of sustainability. Each model is a little bit different. If I look at Oakland, which is more closely connected to government than the other sites, Oakland is now -- the county is now picking up 50 percent of the costs of the operation of that particular initiative. I think in Philadelphia, as we explore the continued need for this service, we would try to lend public and private funding to continue the work in some fashion, either within government or through a separate entity. And Miss Richman may want to respond to that as well. MANAGING DIRECTOR RICHMAN: This is actually the third major Robert Wood Johnson Grant that the City has gone after of this nature that are long-term systems-change grants. One was Health Care for the Homeless, Philadelphia Health Care 1437 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Corporation; and the other was Philadelphia Mental-Health Care Corporation, which was applied to for care for chronic mental illness. Both of those the City continued to support when the initial grant from Robert Wood Johnson ran out because they do give us an opportunity to find best practices and basically pilot things to determine whether they would be effective for the City. While the decisions have not been made as of yet for the continuing role, when the Safe and Sound or the Urban Health Initiative Grant from Robert Wood Johnson expires, we certainly will look at the other models that have been very successful for this city and see whether it fits in that, but those decisions have not been made as of yet.
Okay. On the testimony -- and I think it goes back at some point to -- the reference was made to the other -- maybe it's in the first paragraph. There are six full-time staff who come from the Recreation Department?
Okay. And I mean, 1438 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET that -- that's the entire complement of Safe and Sound?
Well, you'll notice that we contract out well over a million dollars for other services. The full-time City employees would be those six. There may be other people participating and working a 40-hour week but not necessarily as City employees on contract, without paying fringe benefits or... We have some contracted consultant services is what I guess I'm trying to say in my very inarticulate fashion.
No, that would not be the case from you. All right, so you pay for some other contract services, but those people are not public employees; they're just additional.
Okay. The Children's Report Card and Children's Budget, that started two years ago or --
Our first publication was in June of 2000, which was the initial release, and a second was June 2001. And we anticipate releasing 1439 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET the third edition in June of this year.
And how would you compare that to -- or is it more localized or more intense information? How would that compare to -- I think annually there's something produced by the Annie Casey called "Kids Count"?
Yeah, the Kids Count Report is by far more general and actually because it looks more globally less accurate than the Report Card indicators that we measure every year.
Okay. I think one of the questions that I've had from time to time -- and my recollection is that you may have been here two years ago or three years ago as a part of the Recreation Department testimony, although I'm not sure that you actually testified. I seem to have some recollection that you were actually in the room 19 on a previous budget hearing.
I thought I had seen 1440 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET you here once before. Maybe it was a different occasion. On of the testimony, there is a great amount of discussion about activities in the 24th and 25th Police Districts, and I think we heard, maybe in Capital Budget -- I've not been to every police district in the City. I think the 24th and 25th, are they together either presently or soon to be together in a new building?
Okay. One of the things that I have not completely understood about Philadelphia Safe and Sound -- and I'm sure it's in some of the materials -- is just where does it function? Is it primarily a localized program? is it a citywide program? I know the testimony then starts talking about Beacons, and I know that they're all over the place and some teen centers -- Recreation was in last week, and we did determine that there was no 22 teen center in the western and northwestern part of Philadelphia, which we'll continue to talk with Recreation about. Where does Safe and Sound function? 1441 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET
And although some of the initiatives we may be supporting or advancing target specific neighborhoods, our data and our work is citywide. If we look at the 24th and 25th Police Districts, the reason those two districts were initially selected for the Youth Violence Reduction Project and the Teen Centers had to do more with the data. We looked at the number of homicides for young people to 7 years of age, and where those 14 numbers were the highest is where we began our work. 15 If you look at the expansion plan for the 16 Youth Violence Reduction Project that has been 17 agreed upon by the partners -- and that's the 18 District Attorney's Office, Adult Probation, 19 Juvenile Probation, the School District, the Police 20 Department, and others, clergy and street workers -- 21 the next area of penetration would be in the 12th 22 Police District, again, because as you look at 23 homicide trends, there's an escalation in the 12th 24 District in particular for that age population of 24 and under. 1442 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET So it's a data-driven initiative that tries to harness resources to expand to those areas of the City most in need of that level of intervention. It targets specifically kids most likely to kill or be killed.
I understand. Could you give us a sense of what may happen -- and I understand that if you're in Year 7 and you're not sure what happens in Year 10 either on the City side or on the Foundation side, it may not be the time to start embarking on a wide variety of new initiatives, but if we can suspend some of that reality for a second, given how the data is driven, I mean, what would you envision in some other areas for expansion to be, based on the data?
We actually helped the City partners to create a three- to five-year expansion plan that begins this July when we anticipate moving into the 12 Police District, and it anticipates every July thereafter, moving to another police district -- I think three additional district. We call them "District X" because you really need to look at the data at the time that you're prepared to expand, and that's going to drive 1443 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET where you make your investment. And sometimes trends change in terms of the kinds of activities that result in escalating violence. Drug trafficking or possession of guns may be highly concentrated in one area, but because of strategic law enforcement, it may move to another. So we decided to reserve any recommendation for expansion beyond this year until we're closer to a point when we're ready for expansion so that we can look at the data then.
Okay. The reason I asked you the question is I know that the 12th is primarily in Southwest Philadelphia but also -- I mean, there's, unfortunately, a significant amount of relationship between some of the activities in the 12th moving north to the 18th and then concentrating themselves also to some extent in the 19th. And more specifically, there are some areas in the borders between the 18th and 19th that have a serious amount of that kind of activity going on. To the extent that there are any expansion opportunities for the police have changed some of their designations, I don't know whether that whole area is now Southwest or West Detectives, 1444 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET but there is a fair amount of that kind of activity going on over there, and I would ask if we could give them some attention.
Okay. Also on 5, either from yourself or Managing Director Richman, is it possible to get a list, if not a potential mapping, of what we now have? The Beacons, the Family Centers, and the Teen Centers are all mentioned together, and sometimes --
We certainly can send that to you. I think what we'd like to do is to send you the after-school programs since there are well over 100; the Beacons, of which there are 11; the Teen Centers, where there are now 2; as well as the Family Centers. And we can break it down on a type list by zip code, and we can probably also map it for you.
Thank you for the recommendation. Actually, the other part of, I think, the communication of the program -- its reach, its depth has been just trying to keep track of after-school programs, different places where different things 1445 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET are going on, and what our ability is to either promote them or let people know that they exist. I mean, we know that since the last administration, there has been an expansion of after-school programs throughout the City, and in many instances, we hear about the communicating of where they actually are, what they do, how they function, and operate; it seems to be more on a happenstance kind of basis. And, I guess, if you live near one, you know; if you're a few blocks away, you may not know. So I think it may help all of us if we have that kind of information and can point people in the right direction. Let me just ask a couple last questions your testimony and into . I don't know when you may have come into the room this morning, but there was a fair amount of extensive discussion with the Health Commissioner specifically about lead and lead poisoning and a variety of different other things. Your testimony going from the bottom of 6 into 7, where you talk about 10 cents of every public dollar currently spent on Philadelphia 1446 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET children -- I'm sorry, only about cents of every public dollar currently spent on children are devoted to preventive and development services. Could I ask you to -- I know that you've thought about this. Could I ask you to give us some of your either ideas or recommendations as to how we might improve that number? What should we be doing? I mean, I don't know what the right number is, but, I mean, even for me, 10 cents sounds a bit low if it's children's dollars. Do you have a range of what the number should be and some of the recommendations for things that we should be doing?
Yeah, I'm probably closer to you, Councilman, in that I'm not sure what it should be, but I know it shouldn't be 10 cents on every dollar. One of the things that I am particularly encouraged about is the manner in which our various City agencies are responding to both this Children's Budget and Report Card. I think when we report out next year, we will see a different picture, and I know that I don't want to steal Commissioner Martinez's thunder, but she'll be talking 1447 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET extensively about the tremendous investment the Department of Human Services has made in prevention services. Some of our challenge relates to the fact that most of the money that comes into the City of Philadelphia happens to be categorical dollars that are traditionally triggered by aberrant behaviors or other problems that families experience. What we've worked hard to do with our various departments is to try to identify those dollars that are discretionary so that they can be moved into the area of prevention, early-childhood development, after-school, youth development, the David Olds model, home visitation, nursing that you heard testimony about and other parenting programs. I think we also have to aggressively advocate for what I consider on a statewide level to be some budget-neutral waivers. For example, if you look at the Department of Human Services and its needs-based budget, if it happens to be really, really efficient and not expend all of the dollars allocated by the State, it then loses those dollars, they goes back to the State, and the next year, the budget is smaller because the need is considered to 1448 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET be less. I'd like to see a statewide system that has incentives for municipalities, that if they save money by diverting them from crisis intervention, that they can reinvest in prevention. So part of what I talked about, I think, at the latter part of the testimony is the statewide coalition that's looking at how do we leverage more federal and state dollars and have a greater ability to be flexible in our spending patterns to be able to pool and divert funding.
Okay, let me ask this one last question; I know some of my other colleagues have questions. With regard to the Beacons, is it correct that the State grant does not cover the entire cost of the Beacon schools? Is it 11 sites or 13 sites?
Okay. Does the State grant cover the entire cost or is there a bit of a funding gap?
I'd like to get back to you on that. I think that the money that we have dedicated this year, which is about $325,000 per site, is 1449 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET enough for the initial development of the program. There is an expectation that we're not paying 100 percent for all of the services. Part of the goal of the Beacon is to reach out to other community-based organizations as well as public agencies to collocate systems and to have referral systems because it can't be a one-stop shop where we fully fund, and there might be some redundancies with other community-based organizations. We did look for those agencies that had capacity to do additional fund-raising as well because we know that in order to achieve the quality of services and the diversity of services that we want within the Beacons, there may be a need to leverage additional not just only resources but dollars as well to expand and enhance.
Okay, thank you. Madam President, I'll come back. Thank you.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam Chair. 1450 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Good afternoon and thank you for your testimony. When was the decision made to use City employees from the Rec. Department to come over to work with Safe and Sound, and how was that process conducted, and what was the rationale behind it? And it's for either witness.
Well, I'm going to speak to that very briefly, and then I think Miss Richman, who was on the Mayor's Children's Cabinet, should address that issue. The individuals working with Philadelphia Safe and Sound have always been City employees, so I don't think that there was a decision after we received the grant to detail people to Safe and Sound; we were always City employees funded through the Recreation Department. So I'm probably less clear on the precise decision. If you're asking, when was the decision so convert Safe and Sound from an exclusively governmental operation to a 501(c)(3) organization? that occurred in 1999 under the previous administration. And, again, that was a recommendation from the then-Mayor's Cabinet and the 1451 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Robert Wood Johnson fellows as well as the National Program Office. At that point in time, it did not appear to make a lot of sense to discontinue the employment of those people who had been dedicated to the work because of that conversion to a nonprofit organization. Miss Richman, would you like to add anything? MANAGING DIRECTOR RICHMAN: Originally when Robert Wood Johnson released this RFP in early 1996, the City determined we were going to respond to it. There was a few opportunities that can go after a ten-year foundation grant. There were two years of planning and two four-year pieces of this grant. Because it was described as a "Health and Safety Grant," the Health Department was the lead agency on applying for the grant, along with the Department of Human Services and the Department of Recreation. At that point, the three commissioners -- former Commissioner Michael DiBardineras (ph) and former Commissioner Joan Reeves and myself -- determined that we wanted to do 1452 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET a model that put the grant in the City as opposed to outside of the City, and we would use the Recreation Department for that vehicle to staff the grant. For the first few years of the Planning Grant, we proceeded in that way, and the Recreation Department employees became the essence of that grant, and the early leaders were high staff members within the Department of Recreation. Once we received the grant -- and we received the full grant after the two years of planning -- and we reviewed it, we determined that as this was progressing -- and the things we wanted it to do and the primary point in that were the violence initiative and the after-school initiatives -- we began to think whether or not it would be better to have that grant a private nonprofit. And that's the direction we moved into at that point in time. Thus, in about 1999, early 1999, we began to move towards creating a private nonprofit, but we wanted to maintain the continuity. The City employees that had been part of it we wanted to continue to be part of it. And hence, by the time Naomi Post-Street had been hired, those decisions 1453 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET had already been made.
So that I understand the mechanics of it, the $549,000 for City employees is directly from the City; they just pay the employees directly? Or is the money given to Safe and Sound, and then they pay the employees? The City cuts a check and --
I'll defer to Ellen Steiker on this, but my understanding is that the Robert Wood Johnson Grant comes to the City of Philadelphia. There is then an allocation to the Department of Recreation to from that grant to cover what we call our "Class 100 funds." The balance of the Robert Wood Johnson Grant would then flow to the Department of Human Services, which we then invoice for our expenses.
Okay, so it's -- they hold the money and it's almost like a spend-down type of a situation.
What do the other four cities do, Baltimore, Detroit, Oakland and Richmond? What is the construct of their situation; are they using city employees? does the money flow 1454 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET through their department of human services or recreation? What exactly do they do?
We are probably the only truly government model of the five cities and, quite frankly, the Foundation wanted to test different kinds of models to see if one might be more effective than another in achieving the mission of improving the health and safety of kids. So each is structured differently. If we look at Richmond, which is functioning under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce, those employees are employees of the Chamber of Commerce, not really Youth Matters, although they have begun to identify themselves as Youth Matter employees, and Youth Matter has a 501(c)(3) and they are connected to and closely coordinate and respond to the Chamber. I'm less clear about the structure of the others, but if you want that information, I can get that for you.
At your leisure, I'd like to just take a look at that.
Is there any plan, or 1455 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET are there any plans, to expand the complement of City employees associated with Safe and Sound in the near future so we're looking at six and probably no 5 more than six?
of the testimony indicates that in conjunction with fiscal matters, the Safe and Sound organization reports to the City, to a board of directors, and the National Program Office, and that you secure independent audits and have also been audited by PriceWaterhouse in connection with a randomized Foundation audit. Does Safe and Sound pay for those audits to be conducted?
We pay for our independent audit; we did not pay for the PriceWaterhouse, as we were selected randomly by the Foundation, so the Foundation paid for that.
I have the audit for 2000 that I can make available to you; our 2001 audit is not yet available, but we can send it to you when it is completed. 1456 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET
What is the cost of that audit, just in general terms?
Our accounting services -- and it probably would be a bit broader than the audit our -- (Addressing colleague) Denise, correct me if I'm wrong, is it $14,000 a year?
The question I have is, would it be more fiscally better for Safe and Sound if they allowed, for example, the City Controller to audit, which would save the organization money? And would the City Controller's audit be an acceptable document for Foundation purposes and other types of things? (Witness comes forward.)
This is Ellen Steiker. In general, Safe and Sound is a 501(c)(3), and each 501(c)(3) has to have their own independent audit. If the City Controller wants to audit, they also have the prerogative to do so.
But wouldn't the City Controller's audit eliminate the need for a privately-secured audit?
No, it would not. 1457 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET
Have we pursued that, or do we know for sure if -- have we asked whether or not that would be acceptable?
There are certain requirements, you know, reporting requirements, to the State, for example, and to grant funders that are not normally done by the City Controller.
Okay. There was a -- the other question I have is on funding. Of the $410,000 that does not come from the Foundation, what are the sources of those dollars?
The sources are the Department of Human Services for a projected $370,000; and, again, that's a combination of various grant-funded sources that are in the General Fund, where most of DHS's funding is located. And beyond that there's about 40,000 that will come through HealthChoices from CBH to fund one physician who has some association with that.
Okay. Does Safe and Sound act in any way as a contractor for other agencies within the City? Do they have any contracts with the Health Department or with any 1458 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET other City-related agency? Is there a relationship the other way, where Safe and Sound is a contractor for those?
Okay. I heard on the radio myself some of the advertisements for Safe and Sound, and I believe they have conducted a pretty extensive advertising campaign. Could you give me an idea as to what the cost of that campaign was and what it was supposed to accomplish and how we quantify the results of the ad campaign?
I believe you're talking about the radio ad campaign that was launched the latter part of this previous calendar year.
Or any other types of advertising that may have been done.
I can get those costs to you, Councilman. You're talking about from our inception in 1998 to date?
I can get those costs for you. I think last year, we spent about 40 to $50,000 on radio advertisements to elevate really the visibility of Philadelphia Safe and Sound, 1459 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET again, in anticipation of having to raise private dollars to supplement our foundation and governmental grants over the next four years. We are kicking off this year a campaign to raise approximately $4 million to fill the anticipated gap as that Foundation funding decreases. And we had conducted a feasibility study, the net result of which was, as corporations and foundations heard about our work, they were inclined to be supportive, but that our visibility was so tremendously low, that we needed to make an effort to reach that population of people who control those foundation and corporate dollars. Thus, most of the concentration of those ads happen to be where business people listen -- KYW News and others.
I heard it on WIP, so that says something about my listening habits, I guess.
The $1.4 million in contractual spending, could you give us an idea as to what types of services are contracted for by Safe and Sound with those dollars? 1460 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET
Certainly. I can give you a more extensive list, but generally speaking, that includes costs for evaluation, that includes the costs for developing and producing Report Cards and Children's Budgets. That includes our medical consultant, who's a physician we share with Temple, who works on our weapon-related intentional surveillance system work and our substance-abuse incidents and prevalence study. It relates to the consultants and technical assistants for the City's integrated data initiative. It relates to costs associated with building some capacity for the Children's Investment Strategy. It involves the cost of a part-time consultant to help us refine our mapping capabilities. It relates to technical assistance and IT assistance internally as well. But we can get you a more comprehensive breakdown.
Thank you. 1461 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Are there any plans at this date to allow Safe and Sound to be used as a repository or a recipient of any of the funds negotiated as a result of the new stadium development with the Phillies and Eagles as part of the Children's Fund?
No, sir. I believe that those funds are restricted and will be managed by the Philadelphia Foundation
Okay. Does Safe and Sound receive any TANF money or access to TANF money? There was mention of TANF in the testimony, and my question is two-part: Is that, in fact, the case? and, two, are there restrictions on the use of TANF that are supposedly going directly to families?
Can I answer that in two parts? The reference in the testimony that I think you're alluding to relates to our technical assistance and support to the City as it crafted its needs-based budget to ask for additional TANF money to support the launching of the David Olds model as well as its CIS. 1462 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET I'll defer to Ellen in terms support and special grants that come to Safe and Sound.
And the second part of my questions is, are there any restrictions on TANF which requires it go directly to families as opposed to this kind of planning process?
There are restrictions on TANF funds. They need to go to provide direct services and they normally go to contract agencies who have to keep track by individuals to make sure not only that they're going to direct services, but that the individuals who are receiving them meet specific guidelines. And so none of the TANF dollars are going to administrative functions; they're going to direct services and the oversight of those direct services by United Way and PHMC. They're not going through Safe and Sound.
Okay, thank you. Just one final thing, and I know my time's coming to an end for this round. I want to thank Safe and Sound. I've been involved with a youth athletic association in South Philadelphia for about 35 years now, and 1463 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET recently, the Mayor attended a fund-raising event and presented a $150,000 grant check from Safe and Sound, and it's a wonderful program that deals with after-school programs for children and athletic opportunities and summer camp and some of good things that, you know, this organization has been trying to promote and advise City agencies on. The grant was in the amount of $150,000, and I'm just curious as to what process there is for other similar organizations within the City who do that kind of work to access that kind of money and apply for a similar-size grant or grants similar to or less than that.
I certainly would like to take credit for that because you've been so gracious in your expression of appreciation, but that was not Philadelphia Safe and Sound money, and I don't think I'm clear about what you're speaking about. Safe and Sound has not given $150,000 to any organization in the City of Philadelphia for the purposes you've just described. However --
Well, then I apologize because at the event that I attended, there was a large ceremonial check that had the 1464 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Mayor's signature and yours and "Safe and Sound" at the top of the check, so if I'm mistaken, I apologize.
That probably was more symbolic. I am certain -- although I can stand corrected by Miss Richman -- that that's probably part of the Children's Investment Strategy in which this city invested close to $6 million in after- school programs throughout the City of Philadelphia, and that organization was probably one of many recipients of dollars to support those kinds of services. There was a request for proposals that went out that we could share with you as well as criteria that a team of people used to select the recipients for that first round of expansion. I didn't personally participate on that team, but I can get to you the criteria for selection as well as the full list, as I promised to Councilman Nutter, of all agencies, which will include that one too, I'm sure, that received funding under that $6 million.
Well, regardless of how it happened, whoever's responsible I'd like to 1465 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET thank 'cause it is a wonderful program and it's doing a lot of work -- good work for kids in South Philly, and if more can be coming for other organizations, that would be appreciated. That's my final question for this.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
I actually wanted to ask a question and kind of give you some kudos to the organization on the organizing side. I actually have a lady -- Cynthia Vance is her name?
See, that's an age thing, Councilman. I can't remember Cynthia's last name either.
She's actually done a good job in organizing up in the lower triangle part of my district. 1466 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET
And to be honest with you, I didn't know that Safe and Sound did that type of work in terms of community-organizing and pulling together various entities throughout the community, and they were actually instrumental in pulling a project -- putting it back on the table, one that was, you know, when I was a staff person for the former Council President that we had promised on one of those campaign trails, and it kind of got lost in the shuffle, and it was put back on the front burner, and I think we're going to actually end up getting it done. Can you talk to me about the organizing aspect of Safe and Sound in communities? And they weren't specifically targeted to children and youth; it was more of a community-type of effort.
Sure, I'll speak about that, but there has been a transition in the community- organizing for a variety of reasons. We have had have in our employ in the past eight community organizers that worked in different neighborhoods to create agendas for community, and they did that door-to-door 1467 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET solicitation to help identify leadership within the community as well as areas of need and priorities for that particular community, and the range of their activities could be from helping to establish a PAL Center for after school, to building playgrounds in the area, to doing lot and trash cleanup, to creating a more extensive plan for how particular properties or services were to be deployed. And they served as a bridge between community and government for those particular purposes. And we still are very closely connected to the community organizers and we meet with them frequently and we coordinate with them, but they have transferred over to the Mayor's Office of Community Services.
One of the reasons for that transfer was a desire within this city to ensure a community voice within the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, and it was believed that the highly-skilled community organizers of Safe and Sound could connect to and support that particular initiative. 1468 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET We still engage them; in particular, they're going to be involved in the Beacon process because the Beacons have to do a lot of community outreach to tie the energies of different agencies together to avoid duplication and replication and also need to do extensive outreach to attract participants in the program. So we still are closely connected, we still meet with them regularly, we still have one common staff person that goes back and forth between both agencies, but they've been detailed to MOCS for the purpose of NTI.
Thank you, did a good job. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much. I do have one point of information in response to my colleague Councilman Kenney's question that I just shared with him and that I would like to put on the record. The bond counsel for the stadiums made it exceedingly clear over six months that all of those 1469 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET dollars collected as a result of the stadium deal in were not to be in any way tied to the City or any entity of the City, and consequently, we, in our homework, learned that the Philadelphia Foundation was appropriate to serving as the receiver of those dollars. With regards to the Beacon schools, you mentioned that it is a goal with Beacon schools that they be community anchored and have a partnership with the surrounding community, but is that not also a criteria that in order to be selected as a Beacon school, there has to be a connect, that the school has to have a connect with the immediate environment -- immediate community.
That's correct. The lead agency that was selected to operate the Beacon in a particular school had to demonstrate a closeness to the community and awareness of community need. And, again, I can share with you the particular criteria on how that's worded. But our expectation was that that organization would be familiar with, sensitive to, and connected to the community in which it was going to be venued. 1470 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET
Did the mapping also apply in the selection of the Beacon schools?
Oh, yes. There was a number of criteria that were used, and we can share them with you, but certainly the mapping helped the City to determine where it was going to prioritize; not that the investment exclusively in those neighborhoods, but that priority might be given to particular neighborhoods based on the mapping. And then there were a number of other factors as well that the City took into consideration in making its decisions.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Maybe you'll take a cut in pay.
A big cut, as 1471 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Councilman Clarke said, but then you get the title. (Laughter.)
I just want to follow up briefly on Councilman Kenney's question concerning the $150,000 grant that was issued to the EOM community in South Philadelphia in my district. You said that it was from where; what was that organization? Or did the Managing Director say where it was from? MANAGING DIRECTOR RICHMAN: This is Estelle Richman. Let me clarify. Those were after-school grants that went to any number of agencies. This was not the highest grant that we gained for after- school agencies. We gave them -- I believe there were 100 agencies that received these after-school grants, and they were all based on demographics that were set by Social Services at that point on what had to happen to both qualify for those grants and receive them. But there were 100 agencies that received grants anywhere from about 15,000 to 1472 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET 170,000.
And I do appreciate the EOM getting that money, they do a great job. Is there any interaction with the District Councilperson as to the applications and how the District Councilperson would like to see some of that money distributed? because EOM is one of those agencies that does have an ability to raise money, where other neighborhood groups don't have the same ability. And when we're dealing with a limited number of monies, I was wondering if there's an opportunity for the District Councilperson to be involved in at least the discussion. I mean, we'd like to see an equal amount all over the City and the highest amount possible, but we understand we have a limited amount of funds. MANAGING DIRECTOR RICHMAN: I will refer this back to Naomi in a second. We do do a request for proposals; the proposals are guided by data that we've collected around the crime rate in each one of the areas. The proposal did go to each Councilperson, all of you, and these proposals were released in the summer to be reviewed. 1473 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET I did personally review the listing of how people scored, whether it was a good proposal, how much they had requested, did they meet the guidelines of the proposal in terms of the crime rate that they picked to choose to activate. So there are many of these. They were not distributed just, you know, in a geographic as much as it was what areas of the City have the highest crime rate that these after-school programs are meant to resolve. So that was the basis that the decisions were recommended to me that we made those decisions. But RFPs in general, we really hope to make sure that the Council offices have them so that if people call you or ask you about them, that you have a copy of these grants. Naomi?
I don't have anything further to add. I mean, I think we always want to have input and dialogue with the Councilpeople. I don't think that these decisions are guided by that input, although we certainly are receptive to it. There was objective criteria, and then there was a committee of people, some of whom were City staff, 1474 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET some of whom were employees from the private sector, who reviewed a host of these applications based on a scoring system. And then when those scores were aggregated, certain recommendations were made to the Managing Director's Office based on how agencies scored. The only thing I'd like to amend is, although we targeted neighborhoods based on reports of abuse and neglect and teen parents and juvenile (indiscernible) petitions and homicides and crime and narcotics and other risk factors, we also looked at census date for concentrations of numbers of school-aged kids and also didn't use exclusively the highest-risk neighborhoods because the concept of the Children's Investment Strategy is that after-school and youth development will become universally available. And although we may prioritize certain neighborhoods, there will be new rounds and further expansion over this to years until we can reach at least 100,000 children.
Thank you. I would agree that -- not having seen the list, and I'm not suggesting that it wasn't sent to me; it quite 1475 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET possibly was, and I apologize if it was and I'm not out of turn here asking this question. But I would agree that -- I would have to assume, I should say, that other community centers, community groups, if within my district made application as well, and South Philadelphia is where I come from and I don't live very far based from the EOM, but based on my six and a half years in Council, I would say that there are some other neighborhoods, especially to the north, which probably, in my opinion, would better qualify for a grant of that size, if there are no other grants given within my district. So, again, without having that data in front of me, I'm just kind of speaking off the top of my head, EOM, which is between the 3rd and 4th Police District, are probably the least problematic of the communities within the district that I currently represent. So going forward, again, I'm not suggesting that I should pick the sites, but I would like to be a party to that because, you know, as a District Councilperson, we do have a lot of interaction with these groups, and I kind of know 1476 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET which groups are able to raise money as opposed to groups that have a difficult time raising funds as well.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter
Thank you, Madam Chair, and let me say the Chair has improved dramatically since Mr. McPherson was making the calls.
I'll be glad to yield to Councilman Mariano. This is my second turn and he came in subsequent to that. That's fine.
Since the Councilman is willing to yield, the Chair recognizes Councilman Mariano.
Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilman Nutter. I just thought it was a round and another round. First of all, let me thank you for Safe 1477 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET and Sound. The first time I ever ran into Safe and Sound was probably in '96, up at (indiscernible) Marine School
It was a very economically diverse area, and it's right in the middle of the 25th Police District, and probably if they could have picked a place to start Safe and Sound in my district, this would be perfect, because of everything Safe and Sound does -- and I'm familiar with a lot of it strictly because it seems to be the test pattern that Robert Wood Johnson was looking for when they got their Safe and Sound was the 25th Police District, and I was confused of both, but it's the 25th. So after, you know, the weapons, the WRISS weapons-related injuries surveillance system and the Safe Corridor thing that we didn't mention, when the (indiscernible) was built, it was in a area that needed a public school, and it needed a public school, like, very badly because of the economic 1478 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET status of the neighborhood, and where a lot of Catholic schools were leaving the area, the public schools were the Beacon, you know, and I hate to use that word "Beacon" 'cause you're using that, but it was a place where you probably wouldn't put a public school, 'cause it was a industrial area. And when we put a public school there, it became, Well, now we have a public school here, now there's all these other problems that we deal with putting this public school in a traditionally industrial area, but the kids live there, and the schools have to go where the bases where the kids are, so we had kids getting home from school and going through corners that were major drug corners. That was my first time I came in contact with Safe and Sound, so in my mind, I thought, Well, that's what Safe and Sound does. They do a lot of other things. Three weeks ago, we did the Teen Center up at Rivera at Fifth And Allegheny. Now, they picked Rivera for probably the same reasons that they picked (indiscernible) because of the same economic area, the same conditions, older kids. You notice at (indiscernible), we have a grade school, 1479 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET now what do we do with these children when they're out of grade school and high school, after high school? You know, they're still using Marin (ph) to go from 2:30 or 3:30 when school closes to get to 5:30, 6:30, when mom and dad come home from work or the caretaker's there, which works good. But now, the Teen Center, now, I didn't know a lot about the Teen Center. I went up with Councilwoman Blackwell basically because the next Teen Center's in her district, and she was sort of spying on 'em to see how it was going, it was probably a good case for her to spy on. I was amazed 'cause I wasn't involved. I mean, I knew when it was happening, I was happy that they picked Rivera because Rivera has a PAL Center, and it's centrally located for what we need. But the Teen Center is a great thing because the kids actually run the Teen Center, and any other District Councilpeople here that aren't aware of it, I invite everyone to come up to Rivera to see it because the kids run everything: They're responsible for the money, they're responsible for the hours, they're responsible for the management, they're responsible for what they want to do with 1480 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET the program, the actual physical plant, which takes the whole gamut. I mean, we have an area that has a whole lot of problems. The little kids are being taken care of. Now, the older kids, who we tend to forget. Now, I live in the next census tract up in Juniata Park, and one of the main problems in Juniata Park right now is it's not quite the same economic status as Marin and Rivera is, but it's not far away right now. So as this changes, we're going to find out that it spreads out. I see some of the kids from Juniata are having the problems 'cause they're writing into the local newspaper, and a Teen Center would be perfect. Now, I'm not asking for another Teen Center, but maybe some of them could just go down there, but regardless.
Now, the other things that I think you do and I know you do is the Olds model for the health -- I guess it's a nurse that does visiting.
And, again, the same economic status, the same growth area, where kids are -- you know, it's boom and the kids are there. 1481 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Some of these young women wouldn't get a visit, you know, and then they go through three four months, and the formative months of pregnancy without getting a visit from a doctor, you know, just because of the way it is, and nobody knows where to go. This is a good program and, you know, if you want to give 150, $250,000 for my district, feel free to do it, whether it comes from you or from the Managing Director's Office or from anybody that wants to do it, we're looking on moving up and getting these things done.
We'll certainly talk to both commissioners about expansion in that area. And, again, they did use data. It's a phenomenal program for which we did a lot of research. It's been around for over years, highly researched, 19 extremely effective, so we'd like to see it expanded 20 as well.
I appreciate it. MANAGING DIRECTOR RICHMAN: Councilman, let me just clarify where I believe sometimes people may misunderstand. Safe and Sound -- the money from the City 1482 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET will not go to Safe and Sound for this program, they don't do the contracting with the other agencies. They've done the research, they've done the best practices, they've done all the behind activity that allows the Health Department to do the contracts
Or the Rec. Department to do the contracts 'cause it seems to -- MANAGING DIRECTOR RICHMAN: Or the Rec. Department to do the contracts for the Teen Centers. They're the people who go online, who do the research, who do all of the information-gathering so the departments can then do the contracts and the monitoring of these programs. They may help set the standards, they may help be a part of that brain trust, but they aren't the ones who receive or give out the money.
One of the main things that I wanted to mention -- this will be the last thing that I mention -- is that you spoke in here about the Integrated Data Management Project. Very many times we find out, especially in the departments that I deal with -- I mean, I deal with some departments more than others, but there are people receiving multiple services from the City of 1483 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET Philadelphia, and a lot of it may be repeated. If this system does come on line, I don't know, but I'm sure some cost projections that possibly the Managing Director's Office has -- I see Alba nodding her head over there, so either I'm doing good or I'm right on that. People go out, right? I mean, you got the same people doing the same things, and it's the City footing the bill, so maybe there could be some cost effectiveness there that could possibly --
I think it will probably mean better service as well as cost-effectiveness, and this has been a mission of our now-Managing Director for some time, so I'm pleased to be a part of that project in advancing in and providing technical assistance.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilman Nutter. That's all I have.
Councilman Nutter, would you mind yielding to Councilman Ortiz?
Good morning -- good 1484 3/4/02 WHOLE - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET afternoon.