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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-11-14 Contract Review Committee November 14, 2006 2 Fairgrounds Road Attending: Brian Chadwick, Christy Kickham, Jack Gardner, John Belash, Rachel Rosen, Maryanne Worth, Ann Medina, Kathi Hackett, Rev. Georgia Ann Snell. Excused: Dirk Roggeveen, Alice McWade John handed out a IRS 990 form to explain how to read it. This is form filed by 501 (c) 3 non-profit organizations to elicit information; who does what, what it costs to do it etc. Part 1 deals with revenue and expenses. This shows where an ormwifb~ its revenue. NAN71JCt<,jiK'S OFFICE Part 2 breaks down in detail where they spent their money , MA 02554 Part 3 gives us a better picture of what they are asking for DEe 1 4 2006 Part 4 Balance sheet TIME: fO . Part 5 List of officers and directors 01 ~ CLERK: Martha's Vineyard Communtiy Services $15,000 Kathi Hackett The amount of the request $15,000 will be used to offset the costs of Family Support Services director Kathi Hackett's travel expenses to Nantucket. This is her nineteenth year providing services; working here on Nantucket over 12 years. She provides services to 15 families here with one new referral and the possibility of 2 more. Kathi works with families on a casual basis, she provides case management, transportation to doctors visits to Boston and takes notes for the parents, she advocates for equipment for families through the "Pass It On " program that passes on equipment that somebody has out grown or no longer needs. Families choose what they want Kathi to do. Problem solving is one of her strengths. Nantucket is the only community in MA that does not receive Mass Rehab Commission Services. In the past year there have been a number of meetings and Kathi has advocated getting the services here. It looks like there may be a connection with Nantucket Behavioral Health Services and Mass Rehab Commission. The Family Support Services have been on Nantucket since 1992; last year was the first year they applied for funds from the town. This program uses lots of dollars, it has always run on a deficit; last year the deficit was $197,000. Martha's Vineyard Community Services does fundraising; they rely heavily on the Possible Dreams auction held every summer, however they are also looking for other sources of funding. How does word get out about availability of these services? Kathi is connected to a number of programs here as well as the school, she also does outreach and is planning on doing more active outreach. This program supports year round residents only, is not able to support seasonal residents. The committee asked Kathi if she had to pay full price for transportation to the island and the answer is yes. It was suggested that maybe she could access Marine Home Center's plane because they fly their help over everyday so Kathi will look into that. The comment was made that the request is for $15,000 for 15 families, $1,000 per family, is not much and does not go far for all the services Kathi provides. Inter-Faith Council Rental Assistance CNRAP) $25,000 Rev. Georaia Ann Snell Maryanne informed the committee that she is a member of the Inter-faith Council and an advisory member of NRAP. A conflict of interest statement is on file. The amount of the request $25,000 will be used to help clients with rent. Funds, up to $3,000 per applicant, will be used in any of three ways to pay: first and last months rent; monthly assistance up to 18 months, or an emergency situation caused by a financial crisis. The program was not going to help with mortgage payments but they have helped two single mothers with a mortgage payment. There has been great success with this program. There has not been one client who has been helped that has not done what was required of them and there have not been any complaints from Landlords. Two of the requirements are you must be employed and have lived here for 2 years; right now there are 5 applicants that do not have jobs however Georgia does have other sources to send these clients to, Peter MacKay at NCH and Cheri Goulding from Nantucket Community Services. They do not have the same restrictions the NRAP program does. NRAP has advertised this program in the newspaper once in September 2004 and since then it has been word of mouth. The program has helped 35 families so far. If more funding should become available an administrative assistant will be hired. Right now Georgia is doing all the work, talking to clients and landlords, mediates between renters and landlords to prevent evictions and keeping records. She has paid for expenses out-of-pocket. NRAP could do more if they had an administrator. Right now the majority of money goes to the program and the administration is all volunteer. This program started with a $50,000 grant from Community Preservation Committee (CPC); the Inter-faith council did have a Housing Advocate that helped people find housing, however there were not many rentals available so now the program is helping people already in rentals stay in them. They would like to have a pool of rentals available between the $1,200 and $1,800 range. NRAP has talked to the Tuppancy- Harris Foundation and the Sconset Chapel for funding and they are applying for FEMA funds and will go to the Children's Classic for funding. Most of the clients are single mothers going through a divorce although there are some 2 parent families that have been helped. The committee wants to know how many applied for assistance last year? In two years there have been 80 applications. The average is 40 applications a year. The first time and only time the program was advertised there were 13 applications and all those were helped. There is a large list of people who have applied but did not meet the requirements so they did not receive funding. The Inter-faith Council was hoping that the Nantucket Housing Office would take over this program however they are not prepared at this time to do anything with rentals. What does the Housing Office do? Covenant Housing and the Rehab program up to $30,000. If funds are not available what would happen to this program? We will try to keep it going until we absolutely cannot do it any longer. Have you had any interaction with the Community Network for Children? Yes, with Pauline Proch we have received referrals and were unable to help two of them. We are helping people with subsidized housing, we were not going to get into that but they do have legitimate reasons for requesting help. There are currently 3 clients getting $250 or $300 a month to help them out. People are not taking advantage of the program, no one has called back even though you can reapply after 18 months. Comments: Martha's Vineyard Community Services. This is a valuable service provided to the community's 15 families that use it. This is not a lot of money and these services need to be provided and no one else is providing them. Nantucket has always been penalized because it does not have the numbers to support these services. Having a voice on the Cape is very significant. NRAP: If we are going to fund this program what is the liability? Is there anything in place making sure that the rentals that NRAP is subsidizing are legal apartments? Also there are discrepancies in the numbers in NRAP's applications to the CPC and CRC. We would like clarification. One committee member wanted to know why the NRAP program only received $10,000 for FY07 when their request was for $30,000. The committee feels that this is a program, although worthwhile, that could potentially get out of control with funding requests and decided to fund it but keep the funding at $10,000. The meeting adjourned at 1: 15. The next meeting will be on Thursday November 16, 2006 at 11 :00 2 Fairgrounds Road. On the Schedule is A Safe Place, Elder Services, and Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Respectfully submitted, Ann Medina