REMARKS
Inquiry about additional funding for Afrikana
0:57:23
·
85 sec
Council Member Althea Stevens inquires about additional funding for Afrikana to support their work with unaccompanied minors. She acknowledges their frontline efforts and asks for updates on any additional support they have received from the city.
- Adama Bah responds that they are still in conversation stages but have received a contract for St. Bridges
- Bah emphasizes the need for support at their central office, which serves as a hub for unaccompanied minors
- The discussion highlights the ongoing challenges and need for more comprehensive support
Althea Stevens
0:57:23
Thank you.
0:57:24
And I'll definitely make this the same because I know we are running behind schedule and we have some members who wanna ask questions.
0:57:30
But first question, I just wanted to ask Mahu Mah have you received additional funding from the city of support?
0:57:37
Because I know since the beginning of the influx, you have been on the front lines, and I know there's been lots of talk about making sure you're getting and I'm just trying to see has there been any update around you getting additional support for the additional work that you have taken on?
Adama Bah
0:57:52
I think we're still in the stages of additional conversation, but we just currently received the contract to be at St.
0:57:57
Bridges.
0:57:58
But the challenge is really big.
0:58:00
It's not just St.
0:58:01
Bridges.
0:58:01
We need to be at our central office.
0:58:03
Our central office is the hub.
0:58:05
It's where unaccompanied minors are literally being dropped off all hours of the night.
0:58:09
But I also wanna add about the language part.
0:58:11
The city really heavily relies on a language line.
0:58:14
And for these children who are dropped off at all random hours, overnight, you don't have those languages.
0:58:20
And staff have sympathy to say, listen.
0:58:22
There's no translator, and I cannot take this child unless someone interprets, and we interpret for them so that they can enroll these children.
0:58:30
Language acts is a big issue, and we do need funding to support our volunteers who are translators.
Althea Stevens
0:58:36
So you have volunteers who've been like, when the language line is not open, where they're picking up for that.
0:58:42
And do you know how many hours roughly that might be?
0:58:44
Like, in sometimes a 24 hour job.
0:58:48
Okay.