Test test. >> Yeah. >> Chuck, check. Test. Got about 30 seconds, everybody. He has Mr. Jameson,
Miss >> Jerry Lur, we are live. >> Okay. Good evening. I'd like to call to order the Human Services Advisory Commission. Could we start with a roll call, please? >> Chair Lurie >> here. >> Vice Chair Culie >> here.
>> Commissioner Jameson >> here. >> Commissioner Jung >> here. >> Commissioner Shear. Commissioner Hill >> here. >> Commissioner Row >> here. >> Chair Luri, you do have a quorum. >> Okay. Commissioner Row is online. Okay.
All right. Good to know. Um, this is a time reserved for public comment. Citizens may address members of the commission during public comment regarding non-aggendaized items. Uh, public, excuse me, testimony is limited
to three minutes. Do we have any uh comment cards? >> Sure. Lori, we do not. >> All right. And moving forward, could I get a motion to approve our November 13, 2025 minutes? >> So moved.
>> Second. >> And a roll call. >> Chair Lurie, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Kulie, >> yes. >> Commissioner Jameson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Jung, >> yes. >> Commissioner Hill, >> yes. >> Commissioner Row, >> yes.
>> All right. Chair Lori, please be advised that uh Commissioner Shear is now present. >> Okay, welcome. Um, moving forward with the regular meeting agenda, we have uh first up, Pablo Flores from the Pyute Neighborhood
Center to give us an update on what's going on at Pyute. Okay. Good evening, Chair Lori, members of the commission. For those who have not met yet, my name is Pablo Flores and I am the super not the I am the supervisor at PY Neighborhood Center. Uh
this evening, I will be providing you with a brief update of what we've been doing within the last couple months. There is not working. Thank you. I first want to take a moment to recognize and sincerely acknowledge my
team for the outstanding work that they put in every single day. With Eddie being out on leave, the food bank being short staff, and the CAP office working to allocate remaining funds, several members of the Pyute staff have asked to take on responsibilities beyond their
usual duties. Despite these challenges, they have shown exceptional flexibility, teamwork, and willingness to step up whenever needed. I truly appreciate their dedication and their readiness to support our operations during that time.
I often say that Pyute staff is a small but mighty team and I truly do mean that. I myself will be organizing the 2026 pit count. Rosita, my caseworker, is currently at the CAP office two times a week. My other case worker, Hiel, is
currently assisting referrals for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. and my front desk staff, Margarita. She's currently at the food bank every Tuesday and currently helps the F FRC with child classes. So, this is why I say we're a small but mighty
team and we're always willing to help out while where needed. The total number of service contacts with clients that the Pyute team has served from January 1st until November 30th is 2,18.
The top services that we provide are case management, rent and utility assistance, food boxes, and ready to eat bags for those individuals experiencing homelessness. That demand has increased within the last three months due to the
SNAP crisis that is currently facing our country. We also provide a lot of grocery and gas gift cards and a lot of bass passes so individuals can get to job uh interviews etc. At the beginning of the year, Partners for PYU has graciously graciously
donated $10,000 for programming at PyO. Pyute neighborhood was able to revamp its monthly coffee and community where participants enjoy coffee, connect with neighbors, and now take part in a creative activity to start their weekend.
Each month offers a new and fun act opportunity to engage in a creative project. With this donation, we have also been able to provide an 8-week class of science on wheels and young remembrance drawing class for the community.
We have also added additional programming for 2026 and I will share more information on the upcoming slides. Jean, can you go to the next slide, please? Oh, the one. The next one.
One more. Nope. Go the other way please. Up next one please. Thank you. So for the coffee coughing community um all the feedback that we have received recently has been very positive. Uh some of the feedback
that we have received was you are bringing back more family opportunities for the community in the community center. Keep it up. I really like the art project idea that it's bilingual event and that it's very informative about events going on in the
community. Lastly, connecting with other people and coming into a welcoming environment. I'm excited to to announce that we are in the process of finalizing a contract with Noah. Uh so with this they will be able to provide community workshops and
uh consultations um there in person at the neighborhood. It will be located in building 9. Right now it's set as a bimonthly basis but if there's a higher need or a lot of interest it will become a monthly event.
Noah's family support specialist will help families enroll and access SNAP lie Medicare savings program and other resources that individuals may need there on the spot. We're committed to meeting the community
where they are. The Pillars of Light project was a recent creative project that we finished. The Pillars of Light project transformed ordinary light poles into vibrant works of art celebrating community and creativity. What began as
a small idea grew into 25 student design murals that now illuminate the PYU campus. More than 80 students from seven Scottsdale Unified School Districts participated, including six collaborative project.
Each poll features a name plate with the artwork title, artist name, and school of organization. Thank you to Partners for Pyute for sponsoring this creative project. Last October and November and December, Pyute held a focus group meetings with
local community residents and their top request was clear. bring community activities and programs back to Pyute. Since then, we've introduced a creative movement class for toddlers as well as an evening taichi class for adults.
We were also able to provide science on wheels and young remembrance drawing classes for the community. Thanks to partners for Pyute again for that. Jean, can you play the video please? If you go back and yeah, if you play that video,
if not then it's okay, never mind y'all. But it was going to be a video of the creative movement class that is currently uh takes place at the F FRC uh Wednesday mornings. That's fine. Thank you. Like I stated earlier this fall
neighborhood center hosted a free 8week young remembrance drawing class for students in grades K through six. Each session included fun skilluing art projects. A total of 182 students attended this free eightweek session.
This past fall, we also hosted an eightweek science on wheels workshop for K through six students. This free hands-on sessions included activities such as designing helicopters, exploring states of matter, building video game characters, and
launching stop rockets. A total of 194 students participated across all eight sessions. The current ongoing program that we have at PAU is our ESL classes. We offer two 12-week sessions, one in the fall, one in the spring, every Tuesday and
Wednesday evening. We are still continuing with legal night, which is every Tuesday or every second Tuesday of the month. and that's where community members can come and receive free legal advice. We're continuing with movies at Pyute,
which is once a month as well, and it's indoors in building 9. So, what's upcoming for 2026? In addition to our weekly creative movement and taichi classes, we are excited to expand our offerings by introducing both a soccer program and a
hip-hop dance class at PAU. We will also be bringing back the Young Reverence art program thanks to its popularity and positive feedback we received from families. Also, next year we will host our annual spring festival. So, keep an eye out for
more information. As of right now, it's scheduled for March 28th, 2026 from 9:00 a.m. to noon. And lastly, I want to finish with a success story. After receiving security deposit assistance from partners for Pyute,
Alexis wrote us the following. I am writing to express my deepest gratitude for the assistance and support Pyute Neighborhood Center offers to individuals and families who are working to rebuild their lives after experiencing hardships.
After being in a relationship of 11 years, I made the incredible difficult decision to leave due to ongoing verbal abuse and domestic violence. The situation had escalated to a point where staying was no longer safe for me or my child.
Walking away meant leaving behind nearly every possession, stability, and life I had ever known. I left with just my son, my dog, and the courage to start over. Starting again from scur one has been overwhelming, but knowing there are
people and programs like Partners for Pyute who care, support, and uplift survivors give me hope. Your willingness to help me through this process means more than words can fully express. It is not just financial or
material support. It's lifeline of compassion, validation, a sense that we are not alone. Thank you for being the light during one of the darkest times in my life. Your intention to help me and others in similar situations is deeply appreciated
and I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to begin again this time in safety and with dignity. Thank you >> Pablo. Thank you for that presentation. I'm going to look around for questions.
I've got some myself, but but but defer to Commissioner Jameson. >> Thank you, Chairman Pablo. Good stuff. Really appreciate it. Um, can you tell us about the total budget allocation
uh for the Pyute work that we do? >> Chair Lori and members of the commission, um, are you referring to the $10,000 that was given in regards to programming? Well, no, just uh how much of a the city budget is dedicated to uh
the programming and staff at Pyute? >> Yeah, >> Chair Lori, Commissioner Jameson, um we can get that information to you um tomorrow if that's all right. Um but it is probably less than a million dollars. >> I just need a rough estimate. That's
that's fine. That's fine. That's all I needed. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Pablo, great presentation. Thank you for everything that you and the team does at P Neighborhood Center. Um over the years I had some um ongoing
concerns that the city of Scottsdale was treating the Paute Neighborhood Center more as a real estate asset for income generation than it was what its original roots
were, which was a facility for programming for the neighborhood and the people that needed services in that immediate area. So, I am very very pleased to hear that we are the pendulum is starting to shift
back to where we are now uh not only seeing the need, we're hearing from people who are seeking those services and we're beginning to provide those services to our um to our residents in that area.
I'm particularly thrilled about the Noah contract and I commend the staff for making that happen. That's outstanding. Um, one question I have for you is relating to the service contacts
which were about 2100 for the first 11 months of this calendar year. Do you know offhand how that compares to the previous year in 2024? Chair Lori, members of the commission, I
am not sure since this is my first year with the city of Scottdale. Um, but I can definitely get back to you with that answer. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. >> Sorry, my mic was off. Commissioner RH, did you have any questions or comments?
>> Uh, yes, just a comment if I could. Pablo, that was an amazing presentation and I applaud your entire group for their flexibility in servicing across areas that might not be necessarily where they were expected to be and also
for the diversity of um services that you provide at Pyute. I think um Alexis's comments really did pick up the feeling, the spirit of what you do there and and I applaud you all for that.
>> Thank you. >> Hello. I just wanted to um congratulate you on all the different activities that are going on and the programming. So um good work. Thank you. >> Thank you. U vice chair. Yes, please.
>> Well, thank you, >> Pablo. Thank you indeed. Did I understand you to say that um you you've picked up the the pit count in Eddie's absence since he's on reserve duty? >> That is correct. I'm currently organizing that as we speak. So, I will be looking for volunteers. >> Oh, yeah. >> So, keep an eye out for that email that
will be sent out next Monday, actually. >> Oh, very good. Excellent. Do you have is the date out yet? What what >> it is? Um, it's the It's on my phone. I think it's the 27th. >> January 27th. >> Yeah, January 26th or 27th.
>> Okay. >> If if I may interrupt just just for >> Yeah, it's the 27th. January 27th. >> Um, uh, for Commissioner Hill and Commissioner Row, that is the point in time count of homeless people in the
city. It's an annual count that's done that's aggregated into I believe a a countywide system. >> That is correct. >> Indeed. Nationwide for that matter. >> Nationwide. >> Yeah, absolutely. And it's uh I think this will be I don't know if this is my second or third year, but I'm looking
forward to it. Thank you. Um what would you say the largest class sizes were uh for both adults and children at Pay is? >> Yep. Chair Lori, members of the commission. Um I would say the most popular class and the largest class
would be our STEM class um which was science on wheels that had the highest attendance of 194 students. >> Wow. >> Um in regards to adult classes, we only offer one which is Tai Chi at the moment. We're also looking at ex looking
at expanding that um to possibly include like a Zumba class. There have shown interest in a Zumba class as well for adults. Uh some more information to come in the near future. >> That's great. Um and congratulations on Alexis's success
story. I know that that's not uh doesn't totally fall on any one person, but the fact that it reflects so well on on Pyute Neighborhood Center and we appreciate that. Uh what what does Pyute need most? >> What does PYU need most?
>> It's a good question. Um, I guess the first thing that comes to my mind is is just space. Um, this might be too personal, but um, I don't even have a person like my own office. Um, I share it with my social worker, which is perfectly fine. Um, but we just need
space for programming. Um, we're just completely maxed out at Pyute. Um, so if we had more space, we could offer more programming. um we could offer we could bring other partnerships on campus but currently that's what's what's hindering us. >> Thank you. Appreciate all your hard work. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you >> Pablo. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you for all the great work that you're doing at at the Pyute Neighborhood Center. Um I wanted to speak about the coffee and
community the community and coffee coffee and community sorry whichever way that is. Um I attended I believe it was in November. Yeah, I attended in November and it was
a tie-dye event and it was so engaging for the community and it was really nice to see not just people coming out listening to a presentation but actually engaging in an activity and interacting amongst
themselves. Um and and and it was a very very well done event. Uh I I missed the December event that I understand they made snowmen or snow jars or something. >> Snowman lanterns. Correct. >> But uh but I heard it was equally as
successful. >> Uh I showed up as well at the movie night. >> There were 42 people in attendance which was great. Yeah. >> Um and and I anticipate this Friday, I believe it is, >> tomorrow, correct? >> Yeah. Yes.
>> It's the second one. and I I I anticipate the same kind of success. Um, also wanted to uh and I apologize if this is in Mary's director's report, but Tracy Whis from the Family Resource
Center um has is uh going to be doing a project along with Scottsdale leadership to create an outdoor play area on the campus, which I think is just wonderful.
and will be a great asset in addition to the property and and to the um families and children that that use the family resource center. Um the last thing I had was if you I I
don't know if you've shared that success story with the partners Paou board, but I wonder if you would with those photos. um because I I'd like us to be able to do a social media blast using that. >> Yeah, of course. I'd be more than happy
to do that. >> And and thank you again, Pablo. Very well done. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> I I just wanted to say so, um hi. Thank you so much for your presentation and welcome. This is your first year. uh
long time ago um in a far far land. I used to serve on the PYU board. So I uh and loved it very very much. So but things have changed very much since I've been on the board. Um I just have a a few questions just so that I can kind of wrap myself around how things have
changed a little bit and what your role is. Uh so when I was there, this shows you how far I go back, but when I was there, the the Boys and Girls Club actually used to be on the campus, right? So, it's not there anymore. I realize that. But we now have Hersh
Academy there and they're on there. Are you um directly connected or responsible for Hersh Academy? Is that a separate entity? How does that work? >> That is a separate entity. Um they're one of I consider like a partnership on campus. We also have several other
partnerships on campus uh which is SARKC and then we also have Head Start on campus. >> Okay. So they they are separate units that you don't actually you just work with and >> correct we work along we do do several like events throughout the year together where we collaborate um but they're
their own entity by itself. >> Okay. And what is the relationship now between and I don't mean to put anybody on the spot but between partners for Pyute and your group how do you work together? What is that relationship? >> Um from my understanding it's
phenomenal. Again, this is my first year, so I can only go based off of the last 12 months. Um, but we meet on a regular basis. We I guess I submit my week monthly reports to Deanna and that goes up to the chain of command which
goes to Partners for Pyute. It goes to Mary and from there on um I would say I have a great relationship with Partners for Pyute. >> Oh. Well, no, that's great. And I didn't mean to assume you didn't. I just I I meant I just meant what what like how you how did you work together? like how do you interact? How do you work
together? What is that relationship like? Like >> uh does that make sense? >> Pablo, would you like me to address it? >> Yes. Thank you, Roger. >> Um >> I don't know how many emails do you have in your inbox from me.
>> Just a couple. >> Maybe that's one way to address it. I think I've sent you at least half a dozen emails. Yeah. This week alone. So, we do regularly speak to uh the staff at at Pyute. Uh we agreed this fall to
start quarterly meetings with Deanna and Pablo to coordinate activities, identify um well, let me back up. In the spring, we earmarked $10,000 for the kind of
activities that you heard about. Uh but we want to keep a pulse on how that money is being used and um and as the money uh as we exhaust that 10,000 identify new funding a new funding
source for that. Um, also partners for PAU gets emergency requests for rental assistance, security deposits, uh, emergency medical care, um, variety
of different unique needs that fulfill persons emergency needs. Um, and and those typically will come through Pablo to me. Uh since I I am president of Partners for Pyute, I distribute it out
to the board for approval. >> So Partners for Pyute is uh an actual nonprofit charity. >> We we are a nonprofit. Exactly. >> Okay. And so when you need help that the city cannot provide, then you ask
request or help from the charity. >> Correct. We will send them what's called like a referral form. It has the information of the client, a snippet of what they're needing, um, and just details if they're willing to share their story, if they're willing to be photographed, etc. I send that to Roger
and then he sends it to the board members. >> That's great. And does when we have to do all the allocation for budgeting, do we um does Pyute actually request partners for Pyute request money to help
with programs that that help the center for Pyute? >> I better refrain from answering that. I >> Chair Luri, members of the commission, your next presentation will cover that from Mike Murphy. >> Okay then. Okay, >> hold tight.
I just segueed right into that, didn't I? >> And if I may, uh, Commissioner Jameson, if I could answer your question more directly, um, this year's annual, this year's budget for part, uh, for the Pilot Neighborhood Center is $554,000,
of which $515,000 is dedicated to personnel costs. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Any further questions or comments? All right, seeing none, uh, Pablo, thank you once again. Thank you. Thank you everyone. >> And and I'm sure you'll hear from me
again. >> I'm sure probably tomorrow. >> Um, Mike Murphy, you are up to give us a year-end summary. >> I guess I added myself as the budget guy. Um,
I'm my name is Mike Murphy. I am the business and analytics manager for the library and human services department. Um I'm responsible for the budget. I'm responsible for the grants accountants in the community assistance office and whatever else I'm told to do. Um what
I'd like to do is walk you through the results of um the last fiscal year in terms of the value that the human services uh department which is now a division by the way. It gets confusing. the human services division
pushed into the community. So, I'm going to be real subtle, Gan. I'm just going to say next slide, please. And there we go. Um, it's budget season, so we're going to show you a little bit of how the sausage gets made. I'm sure
you've all heard how we track our budgets. Well, this is the way we track them at a high level. Our expenses are in four broad categories. personnel costs, the contracts that we write with thirdparty vendors, the commodities that
we acquire, and then any capital projects that we have to do. What you're seeing for human services is last year's budget. In aggregate, it was 4.8 million. When the year was said and done, we came in $343,000
under budget, which means we all get to do it again next year. Um, so that's when you when you hear us talking about tracking budget, we always think of our budgets in those four broad categories and we are looking at these numbers every month
to make sure we're on track. Down below is um some a situation that's somewhat unique to human services and it's actually also unique to library. Um we have a lot of part-time employees both
in the library and throughout human services. So we do track by center and see we allocate x number of hours which also come with a a financial cost. Um and we track how many of those hours that we thought we needed that we
utilize during the year. You'll see in Granite Reef um and Pyute we use less part-time hours than we thought we would. In the case of Granite Reef, that was a somewhat conscious decision because we knew we needed resources in Vinda and Vista del Camino. Vista del
Camino, you're as you noticed, there was um a large negative variance. That means we used a lot more hours than we thought we would. That was a conscious decision that we kept part-time people on to help distribute CAP money as it kept coming
in. So that was the cost that the city ate to distribute cap funds into the community. Um it shows that we're 19 we were $19,000 over in our part-time hours budget, but that really rolls up
to that 51 personnel line. So even though we were over in part in uh overtime hours, part-time hours, excuse me, we uh more than made up for it in other areas. Next slide, Jean. Thank you. Let's start take a look at the brown bag program. And I know I understand this is a very
busy slide. I'm going to help help you navigate through it. In the top left corner, the text year to date was basically the year end. By the end of the year, we had distributed 3,175 brown bags to our seniors and another
809 TFAP boxes to 615 unduplicated recipients. If you go down diagonally to the bottom right corner, you'll see each brown bag weighs 21 pounds. Each TF fat box weighs
19 pounds. And if you move just to the left to the 2025 year-to- date totals, that means the bottom two orange numbers, we distributed 82,000 pounds of food to our senior community.
and that's valued at $146,862. So, the incredibly important uh program that the team does a phenomenal job. Those numbers are going to actually increase significantly now with the move
of our food bank into the new facility. We're seeing a lot more activity. Um, I had one of my analysts working with um, Jonathan Mononttoya, who I'm sure you all know who uh, manages our food
bank to improve and expedite the data collection process. Ultimately, what we're going to do is have um, basically a dashboard that people will be able to go in and see real time what's happening at the food bank. we
won't have to wait for us to compile these numbers on a quarterly basis. So that's the goal is we'll have a food bank dashboard. Next slide, Jean. Thank you. Um how does that break down? What did we what did we
give away at the food bank? Um food boxes. Uh you can see quarter by quarter we ended up giving three we delivered 310 food boxes to Pyute. and the staff then distributed it to their community. The
senior centers um 60 Vista del Camino that's where the food bank was. So those are people coming in and taking the food boxes right right from uh the food bank 3,86 indivi um deliveries.
That equates to in aggregate 4,176 food boxes for the year and 150,000 pounds of food. We also add additional food items into
that. And as you can see, Jonathan is pretty uh pretty aggressive when it comes to giving people extra food, which is great. Um, we there was 395,000 pounds of additional food added to the food boxes.
Then ready to eat food bags or homeless food bags, we gave away 520 of those during the course of the year. So that all nets out to just between food bags and food boxes coming out of the food bank,
548,617 pounds, almost a million dollars worth of food distributed into the community. And then below that, you'll see we also do things like pet food and diapers and whatever we can get into the community, we we try really hard to do.
By the way, I should have said this before. I apologize. If anybody has any questions, please don't hesitate. Ask them right away. I'd like to make this interactive. Um, you don't have to hold them till the end. >> Certainly. Um just about the commodities
that the food bank uses when the SNAP shutdown came along. Did you see an increase in public giving uh more food drives with people delivering food to the food bank and how did that work with
the shutdown versus u volunteers uh bringing additional food? >> It would be anecdotal. I don't have the data in front of me, but yes, there was definitely an increase. We have seen an increase in donations. >> Beautiful. >> Absolutely. >> Beautiful. Thank you.
>> Yeah, >> Mr. Chair, I have another question. Mike, thank you. Um, relative to the budget on your very first slide, >> I noted you obviously had a 7% positive variance. >> Y >> that was all attributed primarily to
personnel and my assumption is that's a function of personnel vacancies. You're absolutely right. >> So, where do we stand uh now in terms of being able to fill the vacancies that were reflected in the previous fiscal years?
>> I I think we're better right now in terms of staffing uh commissioner than we've been in a long time. We have less active vacancies than we've had in quite some time. Um that that's also true of the library. We're just we're pretty well staffed. We're not at 100% but
we're not um we're not scrambling and in trouble. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair Lur. Um Mike, let me ask you a couple you said interactive, so I'm going to do it just a couple of quick questions. Um >> more activity at the new food bank
location. Why do you think that is? Is it uh >> location ease of getting in there? What do you think? I think I again anecdotal but I I think that we've done a a pretty good job of getting the message into the community. I think there's also a need. You know,
it's driven by need. There's more need now than there has been in the past. >> So So less so from the location itself perhaps. >> I I who know >> don't feel confident in answering that. I don't know. And the the additional food items, would those be similar items
or something totally different or >> it's it's whatever they happen to have on hand. Sometimes it will be uh dairy products, meat, um whatever whatever we've got. It it could be more of the same, you know, more canned goods. Um
>> very good. Thank you. >> Anybody else have any questions before I move from the slide? >> Not at the moment. I'm sure there will be. >> Okay, next slide please, Jean. So, in terms of city funded programs, let's continue on. We the family resource center distributes baby food
and baby formula. Um, congregate meals from Granite Reef. Um, these are delivered by T these are prepared by TCAA. Um there were 4,85 congregate meals served last year at
Granite Reef. We also started a pro, as you know, we started a congregate meal program at V Linda Senior Center uh in collaboration with Honor Health that served 1,48 meals and that number will go up
significantly because we're increasing the frequency of that program. So in aggregate uh we delivered we served 6,213 congregate meals last year. Home delivered meals uh as you know uh TCAA
uh provides that service for us. Uh we uh rely on them to report their numbers and they reported that last year they delivered 22,253 meals through their program. And then we also distribute grip uh
grocery carts. We distributed 60. Those are city-friended programs. Below what we have, for lack of a better term, we're calling hosted programs. We wanted to separate these out because they're important, but we didn't want anybody to get the notion that we were funding them. We're not. We're hosting
them. The bread program is bas basically just donations from local bakeries, restaurants, grocery stores. Pyute distributed three thou over 3,000 pounds. Vista distributed over 33,000 pounds.
That's a lot of bagels. So in aggregate 36,000 pounds of of bread and baked goods, which is wonderful. Um the area agency on aging stages their home delivery meal prep in
um via Linda senior center there they report that they delivered 14,497 meals through their program and then the healthy practice program again staged not paid for by us but staged by us um 10,559
healthy packs delivered throughout the schools that participate. Okay, Jean. Uh, we also have some non-food programs, you know, bus passes, dental assistance, bus passes. Uh, we gave out 36 bus passes. Uh, excuse me, we gave out 73
bus passes last year. Uh, dental assistance. We have a program uh where somebody who needs uh dental work will get a voucher from us. they go to um we we have arrangements made with
dentists. Those vouchers are are up to $1,500 and as you can see four vouchers of 5904 they were almost fully spent those four vouchers. So that was for seniors that got dental work they wouldn't have otherwise uh received and in some cases
they need to get dental work before they can have some other kind of medical procedure. gas cards, 83 gas cards. Obviously, we do a lot of housing assistance and we have a number of sources that
fund our housing assistance program. Um, through the through the Granite Reef Senior Center, we helped four folks through Scottsdale Cares at Vista, we helped 16. Through uh also through Vista, using SRP and TBR money, we helped 23 other individuals.
Scottsdale Community Partners at Vista funded 22 housing assistants. Uh the reach program five and the big one uh Maricopa County the CAP program helped 142 individuals to the tune of $465,000.
So on average that's over um I did this math before it's like 30 it's $3,281. So in some cases it was multiple months. You know they'll help them for two or three months. But um so total rent and
mortgage assistance we helped that bottom line we helped 212 people last year uh to the tune of $584,000. Mike, the item under housing rent and mortgage that's labeled Vista Scottsdale
Cares, that Scottsdale Cares money is allocated to a nonprofit agency. So, do we know what nonprofit agency that money was directed to? >> Yeah, it's it's it's SCP Scottsdale
Community Partners. >> Oh, that is Scott. So, And then how is that different from >> um Scottsdale Community Partners applies for Scottsdale Cares money. They also have their own
um rental budget that they allocate to us. Okay. >> So, it's two different funding sources for Scottsdale Community Partners. >> It does get confusing. >> And Mr. Chair Mike, while we're on the um nonprofit partnerships that provide
so much uh support, on your previous slide, you talked about the healthy packs, which is an incredible program that provides uh weekend meals for um Scottsdale students who, you know, need that nutrition.
Are are those of funds also coming from Scottsdale Community Partners? Yes. >> Very good. >> Mary says yes. >> Yeah. I just think it's really helpful, especially while we're giving a presentation to um to the broader
community, that we highlight the um the partnerships that we have with the nonprofits that do such an incredible job for >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Any more questions before we move on to the next slide? Jean, uh some more uh non-food programs. We
have a moving assistance program where we help seniors who are being displaced. Um we were able to help 16 uh 16 seniors in our community last year. Uh utilities assistance again similar to our uh rent
and mortgage assistance. It we have a variety of funding. Uh we were able to help 292 indiv 292 folks to the tune of $114,000. Your quarters are they uh quarter one is January to March.
>> No, this is this is our fiscal year. So quarter 1 is July to September. >> Okay. >> Not to be confused with the calendar year or the federal year, both of which are different. Next slide, Jean. Special events. Um you're familiar with them. Adopt the family. adopt a senior
back to school, beat the heat. Um, last year those are the numbers. >> So, question um sponsors value that is Scottsdale Community Partners. >> It
I was afraid if I left this slide up too long there'd be questions. I have I have I'm convinc I'm I'm confident that if you add these numbers in aggregate it's the right number. >> Yeah. >> I'm not absolutely convinced they're in the right slots. Basically, donations
are people off the street. Sponsors are organizations that sponsor the program. Yes. And provide >> Yeah. Yep. I think that's really again important. It just shows us how much Yes. Scottsdale Community Partners
um provides in value and direct services. >> Absolutely. And what I in in um I mentioned the fact that we're looking at um a new data collection process for the food bank because
um because of the volume and because we have so many volunteers, we're trying to make it as easy as possible for everybody to just enter data once and have it roll up. We're going to be looking uh we're going to be looking at all of the programs so that we can get a
dashboard that reflects everything accurately and real time. >> If I may add, uh Scottsdale Community Partners has an aggregate budget of about 2.2 million per year.
So it's it's quite significant. >> Next slide, Gene. So, how does this all roll up? Um, if you look at food programs, our city food programs in the the yellow bar, 662,000
pounds of food, valued it at $1.2 million. Those hosted programs that we talked about, 79,000 pounds of food, $26,000. Our aid programs, bus passes, dental
assistance, gas cards, that's housing assistance. That all adds up to $718,000 and then our special events. So in aggregate, if you add all of these numbers together, what we did, if we could put a number on
it, was worth about $2.7 million last year. We distributed 741,000 pounds, which is 370 tons of food. Is that your last?
>> That is my last slide. >> I have been a part of this commission for four year over four years now and this is exactly the type of information that is so helpful. I am so glad that you're here presenting this and I I
think we can I appreciate all the detail but I I think what we're talking about or what we've always asked ourselves as a commission is the total of what Scottsdale Community
Partners puts in combined with the CARES funding Salt River Puma Maricopa County all the agencies that we fund with grant funding plus personnel is your total investment in human
services. And I don't think we've ever had that on one slide. So this is I think part of that conversation and I'm I'm like I said I'm just thank you. >> It was my
>> it helps us make good decisions or better decisions. You know, it's a fun job because these people do an incredible amount of good work and all I do is put it all together and make it look pretty. >> Yeah. Well, >> well, we agree with you. We We agree with you,
>> Commissioner Sher. >> Thank you very much, M Mr. Chair. Mike, great job. And I I too agree um with Commissioner Junk that the um quality of the the data is improving
year-over-year and this is excellent for my um way of thinking. The gross values of tons of food and all of that gets a little bit blurred. And so as we look to continue to improve,
I would love to see a fiscal year overyear data regarding these services on an unduplicated resident basis. So that because I can relate to the number of individuals served more
than I can tons of food. >> Right. I agree. So that that would be really helpful to provide >> um Commissioner that is definitely a focus of our data collection efforts is trying to get that elusive unduplicated count across all of our services.
>> Yeah. And that's um I know that's a little more challenging to sort of filter out and the best you can u we would greatly appreciate that. And I also just want to commend the staff for um the expansion of the food bank. It
was um not only fortuitous, it was really almost clairvoyant as it relates to what's going on right now with regard to the SNAP program and the overall economy and the challenge of our
residents having. And so I really do appreciate that staff um really put in the planning to make that happen. And it's a it's an incredibly beneficial uh service and thank you all who who had a
hand in that. >> Uh Commissioner Roe, any questions, comments? I just have one question about the um the food bank totals. >> Yes. >> Do you happen to know the percentage of
uh items distributed by the food bank that are donated versus those are purchased? >> We can pro we do I have those numbers? No. Could we figure it out? I will >> I will let you know. We will see if we can figure that out. Yep.
>> The >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Yeah. The other variable would be um what the food bank is now getting from St. Mary's >> that we have. >> Can we say that? Sorry, Mr. Chair, for
jumping in. on this topic. Can can can you say right now, Mike, that the vast majority of that food is donated or received without an out-of- pocket cost to the city of Scottsdale? >> Mary's giving me the Yes.
>> Okay, that Yeah, >> that's what we thought. Thank you. >> Oh, yes. >> You know, Neil, it's the um grocery rescue, too. That's correct. >> And waste. Yeah. And waste not it's an aggregate of a number of different
>> right >> organizations. >> And when you look at the commodities budget with the overall human services budget, it's not very much >> to purchase food. So >> thank you. >> You're welcome.
>> I do have one question and and you probably are not the person to answer this, but I'm just going to throw it out there. Maybe it will be answered in the next report, but I, you know, I'm looking at all the different programs that we have, the adopt a family and adopt a senior and back to school. Can somebody talk about the two things that
are happening right now, the adopt a family and adopt a senior for the holiday season? Can somebody just talk about that and what's happening and how that's going? Um, I would love to know more about that because it is the holiday. Commissioner Hill. Uh I think Mary will
talk a little bit about the numbers in the director's report, but as far as um numbers for Thanksgiving uh for adopt a senior, we had um a record year of the number of seniors we're helping this
year is 400. Um we I don't think we've ever made it over 350 before. So our numbers are really high this year, which we're grateful for. Um, and then also for adopt a family, it's a little less,
the numbers are a little less than normal. Um, but we're at about uh 200 families right now that are enrolled in the program. >> When you say it's a little less than normal, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Um
yeah, it's um we love to serve as many people as we can. So um >> is the is there need and it's not just not being addressed or we don't have the funds to address it or >> it's it's not about funds, it's just
about families enrolling. >> Okay, so we need them to en Okay, I gotcha. And and speaking of adopt a family, tomorrow there will be a delivery to Vista del Camino of 200 holiday meals
that will go out with the adoptive family packages, but there I I guess it's a full holiday meal packet and that's being donated by wast and blue zones. So that just yet another
donation. Yeah, we're really fortunate to have that donation. Uh this is the first year we'll be able to give out uh fresh food to the adoptive family families. It's uh milk, eggs, broccoli, I think ham, and some other things that
are fresh. Yeah. >> Thank you, Chair Lorie. Um Mike, back to you for a second. I don't know if this is a question you can answer. Maybe Mary can, but in the AIDS program there in the center, um, is there a way to tell which program, and I know you're not supposed to pick your favorite child,
Mary, but is there which aid program needs the most help? >> We can >> You want me to They all They all need help, but I can tell you that if you ask the folks that visited El Camino, if they got more cap money, they'd figure
out a way to use it. for rental and mortgage assistance. >> Thank you. >> Okay, Mike, thank you for your reporting. Thank you for aggregating all this. D Oh, >> yeah. I'm sorry.
>> I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. I just have to say this is this is such a great presentation and way to sort of culminate. I know it was a previous fiscal year, but a lot of this um and I seems to tie into
what the staff developed several months ago, which was our the human services strategic plan. And one of the core elements of that that that spoke to me was the the additional emphasis on collaboration, reaching out to our
nonprofits, uh, bringing them into the conversation about needs and coordination of services. And again, I just I just think the the staff does an incredible job with the resources provided by the city and multiplying
those many fold through our partnerships with nonprofits and our individual donors. And I just wanted to say thank you for that that work and that collaboration. >> Um, Commissioner Sher said it all. I'm done. >> Thank you. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you for your time. >> Mary, you're up. >> Good evening, Chair Luri, members of the commission. I'm not sure I can follow that with such a a great presentation. Mine is a little uh dry next to that. Um but let's kick it off and talk about what's been going on in the human
services division um since my last presentation in October. Um before we go to the next slide, I don't know if any of you saw, but yesterday was the Scottsdale um city employee awards. Um and we have had some recognition here in the human services department. Um the
Vista Del Camino staff in in its entirety including the food bank received the continuous learning award. So the entire staff was honored um for their dedication accepting new grant funds and learning about new complex complexities regarding funds and getting
those funds distributed into our community. And the second award out of human services department was the Bill Donaldson award which went to Jonathan Mononttoya. It was directly selected from the city manager himself um for his
selfless service and dedication to the food bank and the safety net that he provides. So, I am very happy with our human services team this year. Um, they're doing an amazing job and it's great to see the recognition that they deserve come to fruition. So, with that, we'll get down
to my report. First slide, we will talk a little bit about youth and family services. They have been um doing some focus on community outreach as outlined in our strategic plan. We held a faith-based community outreach um recently up at
Vinda Senior Center on December 8th where the senior centers provided information directly to our faith-based communities about the services at both the centers. Um our human services newsletter um as a whole department will roll out in January of 2026. Um I know
items were due to both Jessica and Christy this past week for the first edition. So, I'm looking forward to seeing that and hope you guys sign up for a subscription. Um, the subtle opioid settlement funds update, our strategic plan is officially completed
as of last week. You will be hearing a presentation about that um in the new year and our Scottsdale Youth Substance Abuse Coalition um are going to be working directly with a youth advocacy day in January of 2026. And then our regional veterans court programming. Um
Christie is going to be presenting that veterans court programming directly to our veterans advisory commission. So they're in the loop. Next we have our senior centers. And Jessica just recently gave you all the data related to this. There are 20 or 400 seniors registered with adopt a
senior and 200 with adopt a family. Thanksgiving distribution occurred on November 24th for seniors. They received a $50 gift card um along with a food bag, rolls, and pie. The Scottsdale families, the distribution um occurred at Vista Del Camino the week of November
17th where they received food bags, rolls, pie, and the $50 gift card as well based on family sizes. Our senior centers, we had the holiday Thanksgiving lunchon on I can't even remember the date now, but it was a wonderful event. It was a Wednesday. um
and over 200 seniors um were present. You can see here that the Scottsdale Fire Department showed up in droves and served our seniors um their pie and all of the goodies. Also present at the um holiday lunchon um was council member
McAllen and that I think that was the only council member that that showed up. So, yep, it was a great event. It was so much fun to watch them. The music was pretty good because they did play Johnny Cash, I will say. um some upcoming events at our senior
center. So this coming Saturday up at V Linda Senior Center is the holiday art show starting from 11 to 2. Um it is a new um testing it out. Normally it's been held on a Friday evening. So if you are in the area, please stop by on Saturday around 11:00. Um, the Granite
Reef holiday lunchon will occur on December 19th at noon and then Via Linda will be having a New Year's Eve bash at 10:30 in the morning on December 31st, 2025. So feel free to drop by and enjoying some festivities with our seniors.
Vista Del Camino has had um their recreation programs for the month of November. Um they had a partnership with South Phoenix Health Start um which provided nutrition, education, games and activities. And as you can see, they had some hands-on slime making sessions
going on. And I can tell you that they did have an event for the holiday season. It was last week, Friday. I'm happy to say I participated in that. And we made gingerbread houses. Um, and so families came out, we made gingerbread houses, and they were able to take a holiday family photo in front of the
beautiful tree at Vistadel Camino that I will show you on the next slide. So, donations were provided by Lawrence Lake Interiors. They donate their time and expertise to decorate the Vistadel Communal Library on an or library lobby on an annual basis. Um, and the North
Scottsdale Unified Methodist Church provided a donation in the amount of $27,000 to our food bank. Scottsdale Cares update. I know you guys have been waiting eagerly for this. There will be a presentation to the mayor and city council on January 13th
with a tenative rollout date of July 1st of 2026. We are placing it on the consent agenda. Um but I will be present should that item requires some additional presentation. Um you will find all of our human services managers um live at the parade at Paradel Soul.
Um we will be having the Scottsdale Care Bear mascot walking the parade route along with our human services managers passing out Scottsdale Care Bears. um having the QR code on the back and passing out stickers and trying to encourage participation and donations to
Scottsdale Cares. If those of you on the commission who have a Scottsdale Care shirt and wish to join us on that route, I more than welcome you to come and join us and be part of the festivities. Please let me know. Um before I get to the I actually there
is not a next slide after this one, but I do have one additional update that I'm really excited to share. We're going to be um kicking off a pilot program in January um with um the case worker who is assigned to the career center. So Sheila Williams um in partnership with
our library will be having a social worker over at the library by the cafe once a week um coffee with a social worker so that we can meet our clients or our residents in a low barrier setting and provide services and referrals directly from the library. So
I'm excited to see how that pilot will go. Um I'm letting Sheila and Deanna take that however they choose. It might be sips with a social worker as opposed to coffee, snacks with a social worker. Um, she can do career information and sharing it. It fits right in line with
the library's career corner. Um, providing referrals directly, helping with applications, doing all the case management stuff that is done in the centers. So, you'll hear more about that in the spring as we kick it off to see how it goes. That is all I have for this evening.
>> That's a lot. You're doing tremendous. >> Sure. Hill, please. >> Just a few quick questions. Thank you so much for your presentation. I'm just I just love this. I really do. I The question I have is, how do I get a Scots
Don't Cares t-shirt? Seriously. Is it something you buy? >> It is something that we buy. Um, if you're truly interested, send me an email and we'll coordinate. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> I am interested. And, um, what is the
date of the parade? >> January 31st from 9:30 a.m. 9:30 a.m. Okay. >> Um, >> Saturday. >> It's a Saturday morning. Okay. And um
then my other question is um do you need us as a commission to send emails to the city council regarding the Scottsdale still cares piece that's going to come out on January 13th. >> Chair Lori, members of the commission,
I'm not able to directly tell you to do things and to not do things with regards to that, but I can tell you a formal memo was sent directly to all of the council members. I believe they shared a copy of the memo that they received with all the information regarding the need for it.
>> Okay. Would you like us? I guess I can't ask you that. >> Yeah. >> Oh, Roger worked on it. Okay, then I'm going to let you answer whatever you want to talk. >> So, if you send an email and in fact I would encourage you to send an email as
an individual, not not as a member of the commission. to do it as the commission we'd have to have consensus and all of us would have to agree. Did I state that correctly? >> They well >> I am learning this is my first time
through. >> No, but it's a good it's a very good question. >> Roger. Yeah, Mary, thanks for all the great work uh for the entire meeting. This is very informative. Um, uh, Chairman Lori and I went to the
faith-based community outreach program this past week, and I I just have to compliment Gan and Christie. They did a fantastic, very thorough job uh, in presenting the the overall programs that we're doing there. And um, I was
impressed. I like the content and and extremely professional despite Jean's struggle with some of our technology that day. But you know, he overcame. >> Chair Lur, members of the commission. We are social workers. >> I believe Commissioner Sher's hand went
up. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mary, not not dry at all. Come on, give yourself some credit on that. That was great. >> Um I'm like Commissioner Hill. It's um exciting stuff. And um because this is the last meeting that we're going to
have this calendar year, I just wanted to also, you know, when we talk about staff, we thank staff. Um but I think you deserve um an an accommodation from from from this group. um because you're
also serving dual roles and things are continuing to move forward with community assistance office and you took on the broader responsibilities on an interim basis to be the human services director overall and we haven't missed a beat from our perspective and thank you for everything that you've done. I know
that's not been easy but we appreciate it. Thank you for saying that, Commissioner. Uh, Commissioner Row, anything from you? Um, I'll just say, Mary, thank you for
the presentation as always. It was rich in content and uh, very affirming for the end of the year to see everything that's been going on. And um, I thank you and everybody in the human services group that supports all of these
projects. and um wish you all happy holidays. >> Okay. And vice chair. >> Thank you, Chair Louie. Um Mary, on the um gift cards distributed from the senior centers, are they restricted in any way or can they be used however the
seniors need to? >> Chair Luri, members of the commissioner, I am not familiar on how to answer that question. So, I am going to defer to Jessica. Commissioner Kulie, are you uh referring to the gift cards for the adopt a senior and adopt a family? >> Yes.
>> Oh, okay. >> Um I don't believe they're coded. I think that they can use them, but they are for fries, so it's grocery store. >> No, I understand. Thank you. >> Yeah. Um I think the Walmart for adopt a
family, if they get a Walmart card, um they are coded just for groceries. >> Gotcha. Thank you. And uh Mary when Sheila's at the library um I presume what she'll have a laptop. I don't I'm not sure exactly what function she'll serve other than sipping and and you
know having having communications with folks. I mean what what and what function relative to the career center might it have? >> Chair Luri members of the commission she will have a laptop or access to a computer um while she is at the library. She will be serving as a regular I don't want to say regular in quotation marks
but as a case manager. Um, so it'll probably take a month or two to get the promotion and the word out that there's now a case worker at the library. Um, the goal is to just to meet people where they're at in a low barrier setting. Sometimes people um are a little
hesitant to go seek help at a community center or step inside the doors of Vista Del Camino because now I have to admit I need help. But also the library is the hub of information for the any city and uh the Scottsdale Civic Library is very big. It has a great cafe. People just
happen to see a social work sitting social worker sitting there. They may or may not happen to feel more comfortable to have a conversation with that person um who's there. But the goal is to it and it is not to address homelessness because we do have the navigators through Phoenix Rescue Mission. So the
goal is not to address homelessness. It is to address um seniors who may walk in and ask for information. Maybe a family is struggling and there's someone sitting there. It's just more of open up, have a conversation and provide resources and referrals to whoever walks through the doors. Um there will be
provided office space. Um should um the conversations require more confidential discussions that will be provided, but we are working directly with the branch manager of the civic center li civic center library and Mike Beck the director um as a joint partnership to
roll this out. So, you should be seeing um some promotional information coming soon with regards to it scheduled to kick off in January. Um and we just started talking about it this month. So, hopefully more to come as we go. >> Very good. Thank you, Mayor. It's a great idea and thanks for all you do.
>> Yeah, I I want to echo that. I think it's a great idea to provide those social services, caseworker resources at the library. So, thank you for that, Mary, and thank you for all that you've done. Um and happy holidays
to all of us. Uh we are at the point of the agenda I believe to potentially identify future agenda items and I will warn you that come January we will start the uh annual
uh uh review of grant requests. So uh we'll be plenty busy with that January, February, March. So, um, get ready. Here it's come. Here it comes. >> Other other than are there any other
requests for upcoming agenda items that are pressing? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> And a roll call. >> Chair Lurie.
>> Yes. >> Vice Chair Kulie. >> Yes. >> Uh, Commissioner Shear. >> Yes. Commissioner Jameson. >> Yes. And happy holidays. >> Yes. Commissioner Jung, >> yes. >> Commissioner Hill, >> yes. >> And last but not least, Commissioner Row.
>> Yes. >> We are adjourned. I wish you all a very safe, healthy uh holiday season with your families. >> And to you, sir. Thank you.