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Q&A
Council Member Stevens questions OMB on homeless youth funding and program contracts
3:20:41
ยท
3 min
Council Member Althea Stevens engages in a Q&A session with OMB Director Jacques Jiha and Senior Deputy Director Latonia McKinney regarding funding for homeless and runaway youth programs. Stevens expresses appreciation for the administration's prioritization of additional beds for homeless youth while also pressing for information on the implementation of these beds and the continuation of related funding.
- Stevens inquires about the number of locations for additional beds and the potential to baseline funding for housing navigators.
- Questions are raised about increasing funding for youth programming contracts, including after-school programs like Compass and Sonic, which haven't seen increases since 2015.
- The OMB representatives indicate that they are reviewing these programs but cannot commit to specific increases at this time.
Althea Stevens
3:20:41
Well hello.
3:20:42
How are you doing?
3:20:43
You're doing great.
Jacques Jiha
3:20:44
Thank you.
Althea Stevens
3:20:44
Thank you for being here with us.
3:20:46
I know it's been a long day.
3:20:47
So I'll make it brief.
3:20:48
Well, I just wanna start off by saying for the last three years I've sat here and been yelling about additional beds for homeless and runaway youth and I will be remiss for not saying I appreciate the administration for prioritizing this and seeing these young people who have felt unseen in their communities and and by all of us for so long.
3:21:09
That was not an insignificant thing and so I want to make sure that as much as I yell at everyone and give everybody the business, will take the time to make sure I say thank you for seeing the vision and understanding the importance of what that is.
Jacques Jiha
3:21:21
Appreciate it.
Althea Stevens
3:21:23
But I do have some questions around it.
3:21:25
How many locations will receive the additional beds and with the funding in the additional beds, the administration plan to baseline the 1,600,000.0 one time funding added in fiscal twenty twenty five and the adopted budget for the full time housing navigators across all drop in centers throughout the borough?
3:21:40
Those
Jacques Jiha
3:21:41
are I think I would defer to the deputy mayor for help to give you briefing on the exact plan.
3:21:51
So because I don't know my neighborhood, you know, where the bed's gonna be located.
3:21:56
I don't have that information.
Althea Stevens
3:21:57
Okay.
3:21:57
So follow-up
Shekar Krishnan
3:21:58
to that Yeah.
Jacques Jiha
3:21:59
If we could follow-up with them and if you want me to make an introduction or whatever.
3:22:04
I'm pretty sure you know them.
Althea Stevens
3:22:05
I know all those.
3:22:06
Of course I know them.
3:22:07
As much as I call you, I call them for this too.
3:22:10
Don't worry.
3:22:11
But do you have information about the 1.6 for the housing navigators?
3:22:14
Is that something that we're looking to baseline in the budget?
3:22:17
And, that's for the homeless, runaway youth as well?
Jacques Jiha
3:22:18
Again, as I said, you know, depending on resources.
Althea Stevens
3:22:22
Depends on our resources, are we gonna depend on it?
3:22:24
Don't give me a hard time.
3:22:26
I'm not giving you.
3:22:28
But, that's
Jacques Jiha
3:22:28
Did you, everyone, was everybody wants their thing to be baseline?
Althea Stevens
3:22:33
I'm asking because we did it and so every year I don't wanna have to fight for it in the same way I don't have to fight for the beds this year, don't wanna fight for this again.
Jacques Jiha
3:22:39
I'd love
Althea Stevens
3:22:40
for us to get to a place where we have to baseline it so that I don't have to come back to you, you know?
3:22:44
So my next question is also still about the homeless, runaway youth.
3:22:47
With the administration, we extended the contracts for a lot of these youth programming.
3:22:54
However, when we're looking at not only just homeless and runaway youth, but even with the after school and the compass and the sonic programs, the funding for those programs were not increased and they haven't really been increased.
3:23:06
I know for sonic since like February 02/2015.
3:23:09
So are we looking to find some way to increase these contracts that we continuously increase because with inflation and all these things, it's not keeping up with the programs?
3:23:19
Thank
Latonia McKinney
3:23:23
you, council member.
3:23:24
With all of these programs that potentially need need RFPs in the future and so forth, we have to look at them.
3:23:29
So we don't know exactly what we'll do, but we're looking at them and we're, you know, working with deputy mayor Almazar in conversations with that.
3:23:40
So we'll certainly look at it.
Althea Stevens
3:23:41
Yeah.
3:23:42
Listen.
3:23:42
We are excited about the extension and we want the extension but at the end of the day we can't continue to push these programs forward without any type of right sizing them for what they should be working for and so I'm happy to hear that you guys are looking at it but this is something that we have to do because like I said Compass and Sonic has not seen an increase since 02/2015 and they cannot continue to sustain this this work without some type of increase.
3:24:03
And homeless runaway youth as well, they need to be right sized for the work that they're doing especially since we're expanding it.
3:24:08
I have some more questions but I'll just follow-up follow-up with them at a later time.
3:24:12
Thank you.
Justin Brannan
3:24:13
Thank you.