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Council member Ayala suggests improvements to shelter intake processes
1:39:44
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Council Member Ayala suggests improvements to the shelter intake process, emphasizing the need for mandatory questions and better training for staff. She draws from her personal experiences and constituent feedback to highlight areas for improvement.
- Ayala suggests creating a mandatory list of questions for intake staff to ask
- She emphasizes the need for better training and possibly employing social workers
- Ayala highlights the disconnect between policy and practice in shelter intake processes
- Jill Berry acknowledges that many of these suggested practices are already mandatory
Diana Ayala
1:39:44
Yeah.
1:39:45
So how do we make it so that it is a mandatory part of that conversation so that we're not waiting until day two, three, or four to realize that you know the family's struggling.
1:39:58
Because you know I get it in in paper it looks really good.
1:40:01
In practice, it's not as it's not as nice and rosy as you know as as we painted.
1:40:06
I you know, and it I've been in shelter a couple of times, and you know it's been it's been a minute, so I'm hoping and assuming that a lot of things have changed, but based on my conversations with a lot of my constituents, it doesn't look like a lot has changed and you know it seems like a lot of the staff is very overwhelmed or not necessarily informed that they don't they don't have the experience, right, in in making these determinations or I used to do psychosocials.
1:40:35
I worked with older adults that were homebound and that really helped me because I got to know the entire person.
1:40:41
I didn't make any assumptions.
1:40:42
I just, you know, I listened and I had specific questions that I had to ask that were not, you know, too intrusive, but allowed me to gauge where the person was.
1:40:51
And a lot of the times, know, we're not necessarily we don't have the resources to employ social workers in, you know, in these facilities.
1:41:00
Right?
1:41:00
That's a funding problem that I get that.
1:41:02
But I think that if we give them a set you know a list of you know questions that are like mandatory, you have to ask this, right?
1:41:10
You have to you know and if this is a yes and this is what you do you know this is where you go next.
1:41:16
I think that that would be really helpful.
Jill Berry
1:41:19
Yeah and and it many of those are mandatory as part of the completing the independent living plan.
1:41:25
Yeah.
1:41:26
Especially information about income and benefits and all that.
Diana Ayala
1:41:30
Yeah.
1:41:30
I just I'm trying to figure out how do we how do we you know how do we do this?
1:41:34
How are we proactive in a situation where we don't have much control over who is providing the service and who is interfacing with the client at the moment?
1:41:44
So sometimes you know we make it a little bit easier by putting these practices in place and ensuring that, you know, that the providers are complying.
1:41:55
Okay.
1:41:59
Council member Vazda, did you have any questions?
1:42:01
Okay.
1:42:03
Okay.
1:42:05
Could you okay.
1:42:06
So could you tell us what the actual spending wait.
1:42:09
I don't I don't wanna move too far because I think I skipped something.
1:42:11
Okay.
1:42:12
The the American Relief Act of 2025 signed into law on December twenty first of twenty twenty four extended the 2018 farm bill which included funding for snap through 09/30/2025.
1:42:25
Rhetoric from the current federal administration especially in relation to cutting government spending has caused concerns about whether snap funding will be maintained after the farm bill expiration.