Human Services Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay. Let's see here. I'm gonna just use this. This meeting is called to order at 6PM. Live captioning is available this evening. To access this, select the show captions button in the meeting toolbar and select your preferred language. Staff and commissioners are participating both remotely and in person. Members of the public are welcome to provide public comment and listen to the meeting in person or on Zoom. I will now call the roll. Commissioners, please say here after I call your name. Vice chair Hayes? Here. Commissioner Gonzales? Here. Commissioner Singh?

Here. Commissioner Perelman? No. She's not on there? Yeah. Okay. And commissioner Rashid is absent. There is wait. So 1234. Okay.

There We have four.

We have four. There is one set of minutes to approve this evening. Please take a moment to review the January 5 minutes in front of you. Any discussion on the January 5 minutes? Is there a motion to approve the January 5 minutes?

So moved. I second.

All those in favor, aye.

Aye.

January 5 minutes are approved. Okay. At this time, we are taking oral communication. Staff will call the names of people in the order they have signed up either online or in person. Members of the public may speak during one of tonight's oral communications for up to three minutes per person or agency program. After everyone who has signed up to speak has been called, staff will ask if there's anyone else who would like to speak. Staff, can you please call speakers for oral communication?

We currently do not have anyone signed up in the room or online. But if there's anyone that would like to speak, you can go ahead and raise your hand. I don't see anyone in the room or online. You can continue. Okay. I

do not see council member Robinson or major Inman to share further communications. So I'll go straight to staff and commissioner reports. Do we have any commissioner reports?

I

can report back from this council meeting last week. So council meeting happened last Tuesday. It was me, Tony, and Michael, is this always happens before the funding cycle. The chair goes and rec and and off like, gives our recommendations, like, what we've worked for worked towards. And, historically, the city council has been pretty like, they trust the commission and the staff with their recommendations, and they they agree to it.

We got into a little bit of a discussion. First, I'll start off with they didn't really seem to have anything any issues with the actual recommendations. I got asked why there was why we decreased behavioral health from eighteen point two one percent to eighteen percent. But, again, if you guys all remember, we have our three critical areas, housing, shelter, food, and financial assistance with housing and shelter taking 35%. So there were some slight slight decreases.

I did share with the group, with the council that we feel very privileged that these decreases were very slight when we know that organizations are getting federal cuts that result in, like, $500,000 and more. Right? So there was questions from council about that. We did have a council member ask us about our contingency where we had a if you gotta remind me, a 2% like, our fluctuations couldn't exceed 2%, and a council member did ask if we would like if they would like to recommend they would like to recommend an increase to 5%, which would give us a little not a little, a lot more flexibility. And if we ended up seeing something wildly different than what we're expecting when it comes to applications.

Right? We're assuming we know what we're gonna see, which is why we have the recommendations like we do, but they were offering us a little bit more flexibility. They ended up not voting that. So it's still at 2%, but they might talk about it later. They I think they just needed more time to talk to staff about what that actually means with that increase.

We did, they did agree to our recommendations fully, so I will say that. There is a language issue with certain council members on our priority. So how we have on the priorities we want, and I'm gonna get the numbers wrong, but more than 26% to youth programs and then more than 23% to cultural, linguistic specific services. A council member, and I would wish she was here so she could speak to this, suggested changing culturally, linguistics specific services to something more broad. There was she changed it a couple of times, but I think was trying to look for, like, organizations that serve historically marginalized communities.

There were some other language that she was adding in there, but making it very broad. Everyone from the human service staff, myself, continued to talk about the importance of this language of creating the safety net so that we can serve our culturally linguistic, community members the best way. But I will say that they tabled it, and they will discuss it next week's council meeting. So staff has to come up with different language to present to city council, and that will be presented next week.

This week tomorrow?

Not this week. It's not on the next Tuesday.

A week.

Yeah. But the good news is that the per like, our recommendations went through were approved. So even if language changes, that doesn't stop us from not being able to fund programs through our strategic plan, how we've decided to do it, and with the contingency plan in place. So I will say that's great. Is there any questions?

Olga has her hand up. Yeah.

Welcome, Olga.

Yeah. Hello. Sorry that I am a couple minutes late. Just so I understand, I think I joined when you were talking about the 5%. Can you maybe just clarify what that's all about?

Commissioner Perilman, do you mind speaking up a little bit? He's in a little bit quiet on our end.

Okay.

What is the 5% that was referenced?

So in our recommendations for contingency plan, we have it in the in place that our flex like, our adjustments due to, let's say, the applications that we get are wildly different than what we were preparing for, we will be able to adjust as necessary, but nothing to exceed over 2%. I said that right. Yeah. Council member wanted to increase that percentage, but that was a a question and a wondering from one of the council members that they ended up not voting on because they wanted some more context, I think, from staff.

Okay. So what did they vote on?

They voted on they voted through our recommendations. So they voted on that, and then they voted to talk about the language change at a next meeting.

Thank you. Yeah. Good job. Thanks.

It's always fun.

So to my understanding, the proposed language change went back and forth a few times, and one of the concerns that staff brought up is that it would broaden the category a little too much that would then kind of void the purpose of of that specific bucket. So I was wondering if it would be appropriate for the commission to make a motion in terms of our preference in language to the bucket and it doesn't necessarily need to be exact language, but to honor the spirit of what we are trying to capture in that bucket. Would that make sense?

Yeah. Yeah. I also would like to add too that it was brought up, and we all know this from serving on the commission, that this language was a direct ask from our human needs up update assessment. It's what the our community had asked for. And so that's why that language is the way that it is. Like, we and so I think what Chris is suggesting just for us to make sure that we stand behind the why the language is used the way it was the way it is. Yeah?

Yeah. Can I I guess I'll make a motion for staff to to add our preference and language in the report to counsel with in regards to maintaining the spirit of what we're trying to capture within that bucket? And correct me if I'm wrong. I've well, let me start with that motion and pause there.

You got it. And before the motion, we And then a discussion. Okay. So is nope. Someone second Chris's motion. I hear a motion to add to staff's report our preference to keep language the way that it has been intended?

To maintain the

To maintain the spirit. So can you do you remember what exactly was the language? I think we discussed that in the when we put that specific.

What do you mean?

That we we changed that wording. When what was exactly we the wording was?

For our wording or for what was suggested by council?

Our wording.

Culturally, linguistic specific services.

Okay. And what they want?

Historically marginalized communities.

The council is asking staff to come back to the next meeting with some alternative language. And so to to alter it from what William. Is from culturally and linguistically specific.

And, again, we're talking about the programs that the organizations serve, not the peep like, that's the programs, culturally and linguistically specific services and programs. But we need a second, and then we can have a discussion.

I second.

All those in favor, say aye. Aye. That was not say nay.

Well, nay because I feel like we haven't discussed it.

Yeah. It was a so discussion.

For this discussion?

Yeah.

Oh, I was told I needed a second before we had a discussion.

You got the second.

Yeah. Oh, okay. So then don't vote yet. No. Okay. Got it. Okay. Got it. No vote. Just needed the second. Okay. Thanks, Olga. Okay. So now we're able to discuss.

I guess maybe we should talk for pros and cons because and I guess I have more of a question for Ruth. What are things that the staff is going to come back with? Because maybe we should influence that versus just saying we should stick with the language because I'm more concerned that we have no say in these options. Options.

Mhmm.

That's a really good question. There was a meeting today to prepare for the council meeting, and I'm trying to see if I have the language. The proposed new definition is culturally and linguistically specific programs are programs and services that are designed for a particular linguistic or cultural community to meet the diverse and evolving needs of Bellevue communities and delivered through approaches that are shaped by the culture, language, and lived experiences of those receiving the services. That is the recommendation that the human services staff is putting forward. I don't know what happens with that.

It's being proposed, so I'm not sure if I'm not sure what happens next.

And I just want to clarify the motion on the table. It's not to stick with the original language per se. It's to stick with the original intent of the language, which means that we are trying to capture a certain sector of the nonprofit field or arena, a sector that delivers direct services to in a way that is culturally and linguistically relevant to their community. So what my feel was is that if we broaden this language too much, it it it might it might void our intent of targeting specific organizations with with this intent or mission to serve culturally and with relevant programs.

I wish we could find what they suggested last week so that we could hear the difference between what was suggested and why it was very broad. Even Michael Shiozowski was saying with that definition, any of the organizations can, qualify, and it would definitely do a disservice to the work that we're the commission has been trying to do in order to serve a specific community specific communities. Do you have anything to say?

I just I can't believe it. We wanna use that word. I mean, it's something that I can. It's very strong for me as a Latina. So all I can

But the new proposal, it covered a lot of the stuff already.

Yes. That's why I said it would be important to hear what the what the council's suggestion was because what Ruth read was great.

Great. Yes. It covered what we were Yeah. Changed.

Yeah.

So we need to hear what they want. Yeah. Yeah. I agree.

Multiple alternatives were said out loud at the meeting, but I don't know that any of those are actually being considered. What the city manager said after that meeting is that staff will offer an alternative, and that's what I read to you. So I'm not I'm have no idea if other language is being considered or not.

And if I remember correctly, the council member wanted this category to align more with the disabil or sorry. The diversity, plan? Or Yeah. With what?

We, align more with the DEP plan.

DEP plan. And I'm curious if we have that language in front.

That was one of the bits of language that got suggested, and I don't have that in front of me, and I don't know if that's still being considered as a possibility. I do think you have a motion. I understand you're still discussing. But I'm not sure if we had any of these other bits of language, if it changes what you all will do because we don't know what else is going to be considered next week. We only know that we were told to offer some alternative language, which is what I read.

That's the only part we know.

The only thing that we can do then is just stand behind our original language by the motion that or the spirit of support the human service staff for the report next week with the language that Ruth brought. Right? Like, I feel like that's

So what are the other options? They still have to work if they send us the whole or this is the final one you are sending?

We don't know what else they're considering. This is the this is the one staff was told to write some language, and this is the language

we wrote. I know you want to.

But we don't know what else they will discuss.

City council will discuss.

City council.

And they're gonna decide it without and, like, it's not coming through us. So counsel is gonna end up deciding it.

So we cannot vote?

They are deciding at their meeting on Tuesday, and I don't know what different pieces of writing they're considering and then they're choosing. We were only told to to offer an alternative.

If we take this, then we have to attend the meeting city council. We should go and sit back with our wording and express that we want. Let's see what they say. I'll come on the meeting city council. Let's see.

Yeah. I guess I find it strange for the motion we have on the table. No. No. We don't know all of the alternatives. I I I like the idea, but to vote on it seems odd. It's it's fine to have it on our notes that we are interested in keeping the spirit, but I'm not sure why we need to vote on it.

I agree.

So they directing to staff in order to add in their report, the commission's stance on on the language that is going to be discussed. And unfortunately, this will be decided before the commission has another opportunity to gather and further discuss. So even if we left it in our notes, it it it doesn't guarantee it doesn't obligate the staff to inform counsel of the body's preference for this category language.

I don't understand that why a vote makes it any different still.

So the vote is a directive to staff to add our preference into the presentation that they will give to council next week.

I want to hear what they have in their mind, city council, so I will not refer to vote today.

Prefer not to vote. Yes.

Say

Vote on what, though?

Any any language. We stand behind the language proposing before the city.

K. But could we put could there be a way that we are still allowing like, we still want staff to report that the Human Services Commission stands like, just even by, like, our original language or no? We're just gonna

I want to hear what they want.

Okay.

Same because I felt like we're not getting the whole picture, and it's hard to tell which direction they're leaning. And they might have some really great ideas that we have not contemplated as we're speaking here.

Okay. Also, just wanted to remind everybody that we have the language. So it's the things that we've already voted on, we've already agreed on, and I totally hear that there's great ideas. Everyone has great ideas. But what was presented was a broadening of the language to make sure that to ensure to not ensure that the communities that we wanted to serve by using this language are served.

They might throw a curveball and have something or might go with human service staff's suggestions, but just, like, the overall theme of the meeting last week was generalizing the language instead of having it be so specific.

You can always vote.

I can hold a vote for what? Hold a vote for the motion of Chris of Chris' vote.

And then

okay. So still holding a vote, and we are voting on be or okay. I motion no. What are we voting on? To For staff to have okay.

To report commission that the commission's preference oh. Yes. Sorry. Sorry, Hilda. You're voting on whether you are voting that, yes, the staff should report their preference to the city council that the commission would like to maintain the spirit of the original language.

Okay. So can we have a vote for staff to report to council next week that the commission supports the spirit of the language, the original language in the human service recommendations? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Do I vote still as a I still vote. Yeah? So I say aye too. All those in favor, say nay. Nay.

Nay.

All those oh, sorry. I just tricked you all. The highs have it. Right? Yeah. Yes. Okay.

I will talk with Tony about what it means to represent the commission's vote in when we go to council next week.

And then just highlighting that we should attend the council meeting next week at 6PM. Right? Do you know what time you're on the agenda? No? It's in the big council chambers.

So send us a email what time, yeah, we'll go.

Once they publish, the agenda, I will send it out, and we can see kinda where we land.

K. That was fun. Now for new business. Oh, no. Staff reports. That that wasn't that was just all of my report. So staff report, Ruth.

Thank you, chair fan. Let's see. I have two things to tell you. There's a vacancy on the commission because Angela White stepped down.

The

council member Lynn Robinson will continue to be our council liaison, and I haven't heard yet what's happening with filling the vacancy. But, certainly, if you know anyone who's interested, encourage them to apply. But I it isn't posted yet, and I will let you know as soon as it gets posted. The other announcement I have is that the big picture school, which is a Bellevue School District Middle High School, they are having some classes that I taught today where they learned about the human services needs update, and they are preparing speeches that they're going to give here on March 9. They're looking at the needs.

They're going to pair up and do some research about different needs. And then they're going to be advocating for the need that they think needs to be funded. I think some of them will be advocating for specific agencies because I think in their research, they're gonna end up advocating for agencies. If and it is coming up on March 9 from eight to 11:30 in the morning, and Giselle and I will send that to you as an official invitation. If more than four commissioners attend, then we will label it a special meeting because you'll be listening to the topic of human services, and we would need to call it that would be a quorum.

So if you're interested in going, I'll be checking back so that I can get a count of how many people are coming. They'll be in two different rooms giving three to five minute speeches on the topic. So

yeah. Really?

Yeah. Those are my only reports. Thank you.

Any questions, Jimmy? Do you have any questions?

We need to let you know now that

Okay. You can let me know later. Do you already know you're coming? Okay.

Do you even know what day or week that is? I had to look at that. That's a Monday.

Yeah. What

time do you see it? Eight to 11:30.

Monday, March 9.

Which grades? Any idea? Which grade?

They were seventh and eighth graders.

Yeah. I'm preparing eighth graders for different things.

Thank you, Ruth. New business. New business item number one. Our first order of business is an overview of the monitoring of Citi funded human services agencies over the past year. So this is going to sign up. Whoo.

Alright. Let me make sure. Giselle, can you click out of that little thing that says to sign in? Oh, you're okay. Yeah. Are you able to just cool. Alright. Well, welcome, everyone. Today, we're gonna get to talk about what is monitoring. I think most of you know what it is, but we will go through that.

And what is the process as well as items considered during our monitoring visits, and we will provide a little quick snapshot of where we're at with our data and some key themes. But before we get to that, we have couple of professional actors in the room that are gonna act out what it is like to go through a monitoring visit. So, Andrew, welcome.

Yes, I am. Thank you.

Okay. So, Andrew, thank you so much for allowing me to come and monitor you all. How are you doing today?

I'm well. Thank you. It's always a pleasure to have you here.

Yes. It was Thanks for coming. Seeing you. At our coffee chat and at ehack, I've seen you in so many events.

Right. It's always a pleasure. And I'm seeing I'm seeing you in person.

Yes. Good. So today, Andrew, you've already got me all of your checklist. You've got me all of your policy that covers your whistleblower policy, conflicts of interest. We've already talked through some of your do you need me to make it bigger, Jimmy? Bam. Yes. I can. Everyone, hold on just a moment. Okay.

Oh, okay. Let me zoom in. This just gives you a quick idea what Andrew at his agency is gonna be talking about. So thank you, Andrew, for sending this ahead of time. I was able to review all of your policy that covered whistleblower, conflict of interest. We also went through your internal controls. You got me, a copy of your policy around that. That was very detailed, as well as your records and retention, nondiscrimination, grievance policy, and your audits. So thank you so much for that.

Of course. Pleasure.

And at this time, I would just love to hear a little bit of how is the program that we are funding. How's that going?

Yeah. Thanks for asking. And the program, we are working. We we have success stories. We've had families exit homelessness, those that we've placed into housing.

But, of course, we also have you seen in the narratives that we send during our reports some challenges that we are having. A bit of those challenges I can share with you is increased operational costs, staffing gaps, you know, but also limited funding streams that is making it hard for us to sometimes meet our goals. But we are trying. We are doing our best to serve our residents and the community.

Thank you, for speaking into some of those challenges. And we have been incredibly amazed how you all have been attentive, providing services, getting your quarterly reports in on time. And as you can see on your scope of work that you're contracted to do, you have been meeting your service units and providing bed nights, for the shelter services. I know that in your narrative, you also spoke about it now that you all have exceeded your service units and that funding has been a barrier. So thank you for including that in your in your narrative.

Has there been any other challenges in terms of communicating with the city or any support that the city can offer you all?

Yeah. Thank you. First of all, we appreciate the funding we are getting from the city. And, also, we appreciate the technical assistance that staff, human services staff provide us, that you're always available when we need you, and that helps us a lot during our reporting or even other challenges that we face. But as you said, we meet our goals.

However, there's also a lot of challenges that we can't actually meet every family, that comes to us for services to meet their needs or provide shelter to them, which is a constraint, and there's no much other alternatives in the community. But I appreciate the fact that the city has always there to support us, be it in funding, but we could use more funding because, as you can tell, there's more demand for our services than we can afford.

Thank you. And anything that you share with us, I do share out to our commissioners who do help inform

Thank them for us.

Yes. All the hard work,

ma'am.

All the hard work that they do. Absolutely. I will get that over to them. And in terms of how you're verifying residents' income or data, can you tell me kind of the process that you all do to report out to the city?

Yeah. Thank you. So for our day center reporting or, bed nights, we do use, HMIS, homeless management, information system that helps us track their data. That means from their intake to everything that they provide us, be it income verifications, the last place of residency, whether they're in the city of Bellevue or any other cities, and other information and helps us also maintain data integrity. And it gives us also a visibility of other programs that the our clients are participating in.

Great. Yes. Thank you for that and for providing the residents that you're providing or residents' accounts and just verifying where they're at with their income and residency. So with that, unfortunately, city of Kirkland and city of Redmond were they were not able to make it, so I will make sure to share my notes. But as you know, we do, shared monitoring just so that the burden is not heavy on you all to hold multiple monitoring. So thank you for that. Anything else that we can support you in as we move into, the next steps?

Yeah. So as you've I've already mentioned about limited funding streams, I would appreciate if there's any other funding resources or opportunities to share that with us and also any connections in the community since you work with multiple organizations. If you think there are any organizations that we call collaborate and for the purpose of serving our residents, we would appreciate that.

Absolutely. We will make sure as information comes to us that we share out or if there's opportunities that we can help facilitate partnership, we definitely will do that. Alright. You, Andrew.

Alright. Thanks for coming.

Alright. Professional actors, I told you. And, Andrew, I'll let you take over this.

Yeah. Thank you for listening and paying attention to your script there. I hope you made some sense, just a little bit, of what and how what, you know, our monitoring visits look like. I want to hear from you all as well what you think monitoring is from what you've seen. Just so I've seen between me and Sadha, what does monitoring mean to you? What do you think it means? For some of you, I've been at some of the monitoring visits you could share out.

How many monitoring visits do you do a year for one organization?

That's a great question. We monitor all of our agencies that are funded every other year. So right now in 2025, they all got on-site monitoring, and that is where we go through that heavy checklist where they provide all of their policies, and we do compliance check as well as, again, monitoring really is the focus is on continued relationship building. And then when we're on the others year, we're doing more the light touch check-in. That's where we've invited commissioners to come with us and be able to do on-site touring.

Again, an opportunity for you all to get to know who our agencies are and the work that they're doing. And it's always honoring to our agencies for you all to take interest in their work and to be able to firsthand witness their work.

Thanks for that, Christian. Anybody else wants to share?

I've had the opportunity to go with Christy to with Andrew, and then I I was part of a monitoring visit with SADA because it was the organization that I was with. And I will say all three of you are super open, kind, communicative. Like, it was being on the other side when people you're dealing with funding and, like, strict, like like, strict monitor like, you know, like, reporting. It can be very stressful for others. And so just the fact that you guys make it very friendly and open and more of, like, that dialogue, I just always, like, appreciated.

And Christia was we were there for, like, two and a half hours. It was so much fun, though. But I just so, yeah, the work that you all do to keep those relationships, to keep that communication is like, it's a lot. So thank you so much for the work that you do. I did have a question about what happens if that checklist that you provided at the beginning, like, if the if organizations don't provide certain things? Like, I I picked out, like, board minutes. Like, it was, like, three board meeting minutes. Like, what happens if they don't provide certain things?

So we do usually ask for these documents in the checklist a couple weeks before the monitoring business to give them time to collect that. But, of course, there are times when we reach that monitoring date when they have not received some of the financial documents, for example, or the board minutes have not been signed off, we give them time before we send our summary letter to submit it to us after the monitoring visit. So they have that as a grace period where they can actually share any missing information or pending information.

And there's also an opportunity for staff to provide technical assistance. So sometimes it may be like, well, we're newer agency, and we've actually never created a whistleblower policy in house. So that's an opportunity for us to just walk alongside of them and, you know, or get them plugged with other agencies that have done that work or that have created that. And sometimes even with the board meetings, if they're just got getting started with that, they let us know, and we always keep justifications. If something is missing, all of that is documented.

So, again, it's not at all a I got you moment. All of this has been in preparation. It's very transparent. Agencies know what to expect. And if there's gonna be any kind of hindrance or barrier, we're addressing that with them. Staff come together if we're not quite sure how to do that. We talk amongst ourselves to figure out how to best support them. So we're truly not going there to find, like, hey. What is happening? What's the shortcoming?

It is what are the barriers, and how can we support you to make sure that you do stay in compliance? The compliance piece is also just to honor both council that we're showing council that we're being, you know, good stewards of the dollars that they're entrusting agencies with, but also honoring our agencies to make sure they stay in compliance so that they can continue to engage with city federal dollars because they will have to continue to show the compliancy piece.

But as the things are changing everywhere and this is the taxpayer's money and we need accountability. Yes. We can be nice to everyone. We want to help everyone. I want people who really need help. The help should go there, but we need accountability how the they'll do the checks and balances. So that's the monitor I think. We can't go on. We need to verify. We need accountability.

Our state is doesn't have infinite nobody has infinite money. We have to budget as as we have to cut our funds. When last year, we have to check we want to give the money, but it's a tax bill money.

And we need accountability.

The accountability piece, commissioner Jimmy, it comes in many, many levels. On-site visit is just truly an opportunity for us again to support them holistically. But before agencies can even contract with us, there is multiple things that is verified that they have to stay in compliance with. And then once agencies do go into contract with us, then they are most of them are on a reimbursement model, which means that they provide the services first, and then we pay them out. And in order to get paid, they provide their reimbursement reports that has the services that they're providing, who they're providing those services to, and then we ask for backup documentation to show where the dollars are being spent.

Which means if you're asking us to pay for personnel for $7,000, you have a backup that shows that $7,000. If it's for office, you have a backup that shows where that money is going. And that happens every quarter, and some of them are also on monthly depending on if they're doing monthly or advanced payments. So the accountability starts quite early. So we're not necessarily looking for monitoring visit as the accountability form because we often know what we're going It's not a surprise for us. Yeah.

Do you verify that person who is helped? Like, if they give any information, let's see so and so which spend on this much. Is there any cross check that is actual money went to that person or that anything?

Andrew, you

want Yeah. I can just say on what Sadh just mentioned that that accountability starts from the beginning. So through the contracts that we have with our agencies, the service what you hear about service units, you know, the services they are providing are equivalent or appropriate to the costs to the to the funding that they receive. And this comes from the beginning when we negotiate, like, the scope of work. I think Assata showed a bit of that.

So they tell us what units or what services they're gonna provide. And all these services also have cost attached to them. Right? So we that's what we verify through what Sada just mentioned, monthly reporting or or quarterly reports when they submit their reimbursement reports. So we verify that even before the monitoring visits and work with them if they you know, there are some struggles. But we could report that most of our agencies, if not all, actually achieve their goals, and that's because they also know they that's that's their target. And so they have to work around the scope of work that has that we know they negotiated at the beginning of the contract's term.

And when we do on-site visit, it's not a financial audit. However, agencies are expected that they keep all of their backup documentation, their receipts if we do need to be able to see them.

We are not doing financial audits.

We do financial on a a more what we're funding, but we're not going deep, deep into their accounting and into their books. We simply look at what we are funding them for. So if we're funding the shelter bed knife for $70,000, they're providing us quarterly backup document to to show us where those dollars are going. So that's what we monitor. It's just simply where we're funding them.

Okay. Yeah.

Okay. Is there anything else you wanna add to this, Andrew?

That's okay. How often do organizations utilize the city of Bellevue in terms of logistics or operational challenges that they may be facing? And what are the typical, struggles that you see within a nonprofit organization?

Yeah. So one of the what we are hearing from agencies is that funding uncertainty. And right now, the most of our agencies are facing that. So operational wise, also the increased staffing costs are part of the themes or things that we are hearing from our agencies, that there is that demand to retain staff, but also the costs of they can't meet the costs of the staffing needs, which creates a gap, right, in the services. And also, there is personnel, there's operational costs that we are hearing that, be it maintenance, facilitate facilities, if they have, like, shelters or housing facilities, that they are having those gaps.

And, of course, what we know now about also the federal cuts that have that have happened that are really been a challenge to most of our agencies that we fund. Yeah.

And I think the other support that agencies are looking for is the reporting. Our reporting process is pretty in-depth for accountability and to show where our money is going. So when there is staff turnaround or turnover constantly and they were entrusted to do the reporting, it's really hard to for agencies that have limited capacity to do the training. So they often look to us to provide ongoing training for new staff to be able to do our reporting process.

And I just want to add about the operational costs because this is also a theme and hearing from agencies about office space and community space costs that most of our agencies can't afford to do their work.

As you all know, City of Bellevue is quite expensive, and our agencies are trying to expand their footprints, and they're trying to provide more services around City Of Bellevue. We keep hearing that it is a challenge to be able to get affordable space that allows them to do that. I don't think it's shocking to you all. But

Just really quick. I just wanna ask commissioner Pearlman, did you have any questions? Well, I just wanna make sure we remember that you're there.

This might be a bit repetitive because you all ask great questions, and we covered most of it already. So, again, the monitoring process is not any kind of, like, I got you moment. We have been doing that very intentionally from doing their quarterly report or monthly report. We know where our agencies stand and what kind of support they need or what kind of barriers barriers that they're experiencing as well as incredible wins that they are having. All of this process is very transparent.

Premonitoring mostly means it is us providing technical support, us providing this information, And then on-site monitoring, that first year monitoring is conducted on-site in partnership with other cities to streamline oversight and reduce agency burden, ensuring program compliance.

Yeah. So the monitoring process continued. Like I said, we send an email to our partner agencies a few weeks before the visit with a sample form that has all those checklists to also give them enough time to collect all that data or documents and send them to us. And then we schedule the day we go in for a site visit. Then it it takes about one or one to three hours for that site visit, depending because some of the agencies might have only one program, others have five, six, so, you know, time varies.

Then, you know, that's when we review about performance policy and also provide support and note any follow-up questions that we may have from what they already sent us. And then the last piece is that we do a follow-up and send a letter, a summary letter of how they did with to address actions and also close out monitoring.

Okay. And items considered during monitoring. Did the agency serve clients living with the within the city? As you all know, our dollars are intentionally put out to support Bellevue residents. Did the agency ensure clients were low to moderate income?

Does the cost associated with activity service unit appear reasonable? What kind of support does the agency need from city staff? You see that as a theme is, again, the relationship building and providing support for them. And does the agency demonstrate that their systems and procedures are in place to collect accurate information of their reports? In 2025, we had 70 agencies providing over a 130 programs that we monitored. So we were out in the community, people, and we loved every part of that.

Yes. Among, the themes the key themes that we've had, from our agencies, we've heard about the, growing community needs, with limited funding, rising staffing sorry, rising staffing and operational costs, like I mentioned earlier, that is impacting sustainability and actually sustaining programs. Some programs have had to be stopped, unfortunately. So there is also lack of affordable office space and community spaces for agencies to work from and also conduct their events or engagements. We've heard about we've heard from several agencies also about the increased fear among immigrants and refugees, communities, which definitely affects, service access, because of the federal policies, targeting them.

And also, we've also heard about housing instability, shelter capacity constraints, not enough shelter for those that are seeking it seeking seeking that space, and raising basic needs assistance among, among very many other themes that we've had.

This one did not make it on the list because I forgot. But one of the things that our agencies are also sharing with us is that they, as providers, identify with lot of the clients that they're serving, that they themselves are not very far from the work. So when we say increased fear among immigrants and refugee communities, that means the same people that are providing the services are also in fear for their own safety. So again, when thinking about who our agencies are, they're very, very, very close to the work that they're providing and the services that they're providing to our residents. With that, are there any questions before I hand it over to Ruth?

K. Ruth, can you tell us a little bit more about how this work informs commission?

Yes. Thank you, Sara. Thank you, Andrew. So when the planners complete monitoring visits, the feedback, the themes that they're hearing, those come to the staff meeting, and then I give that information to the leadership, and that makes the higher ups, I would say, aware of issues like the problem, the challenge of space, and the high cost of space, and the And need for we bring those themes to the commission, and we invite the commission to join us on the site visits and sometimes on the monitoring visits. If there is a monitoring visit, we often don't have invite commissioners for the whole visit, because sometimes for some agencies that would be a little intrusive.

2026 will all be what we would call soft touch site visits, so a tour, a check-in, and those are really wonderful opportunities for you all. So we're excited about that. Yeah. Yeah. Good

job. Thank you, Sara, Andrew, and Ruth. New business item number two. Next on our agenda, human services. Man I don't need to say it. Ruth will provide an overview of the 2728 funding cycle schedule and expectations.

Fun stuff. Yes. Wonderful. So I am going to start by holding up one of these notebooks. Mhmm. Mhmm. Chris, I think you're our only person here who wasn't here for the last funding cycle, and Olga, I think, has been through this. So with our last funding cycle, we had over a 150 applications. So it was three notebooks. Each of these notebooks has holds 50 applications.

What I just passed out and what Olga got in email is the staff review form. And over the next few weeks, you are going to decide whether you want physical notebooks with numbered applications with staff reviews or whether you want it all, online. And and in addition to that, Giselle is gonna pull up the other document, and we're just gonna take a look at what's ahead for everyone, and it's a lot. So brace yourselves. I'll just tell you the teen after school and the convening RFPs opened today, and those two applications are open until February 29.

So for the month of February, agencies will be applying for those two specific, pots of money that are not funds that get go through counsel. These are funds that are just approved by the parks department. On March 2, those applications are going to come to you all. And on April 6, you all will be, making your recommendations for us to give to the parks department for those two funding buckets. One is for after school care for teens, and the other is the convening funds.

This will be the second year for both of those.

Is it the same amount of money?

It's the same amount of money. Okay.

Yes. But now it's including the teen con the teen Those are Those are separate. Okay. So how much money is for the teen? The teen is 86,000

a year for two year. 86 for year one, eighty six for year

two. Okay.

Thank you. The teen in convening is up is 200,000 for year one and 200,000 for year two. Last year, we only got less time. We only got three applications. We'll probably get more this time. It'll be more work. Yes.

Are those buckets of funding block grant, or do you divide them among applications?

That would be something you all would be deciding. Okay. So the it could be divided many, many ways or could yeah. Great. That'll be your job. So we will be getting those applications to you, and staff will be

doing the staff reviews. Chris, the convening one was Eastside Pathways and Eastside For All that got it last time. And then Eastside Foundation, but they were a different name. They're a different name now, was the third applicant for, like, the convening one that we did last time. And

then underneath that, on March 2, the large RFP opens that where these come from. It opens on March 2. It closes on April 6. After April 6, all of the 17 cities that use the same application will spend about a week downloading all the applications, getting them sent to the cities because someone might have applied to Burien and Bellevue. So it takes about a week for all the applications that are ours to land with us.

On March 3 and March 4, our two funders workshop, I just wanted you to have a a sense of how the funding cycle will go. That's where people can go if they think they want to apply, and they can learn about how to apply for these funds. Sorry. Then the download of the and the file creation goes on from about April 7 to April 14. And then at that point when they're ready, that's when they're ready to give to you all.

You all are gonna be expected to read all of the applications, and we will get more than a 150 this time. We will get more. But to begin with, you're going to be assigned to a few groups. So Delfina may be assigned to shelters and food. And so that's where you would focus your energy.

Even though you'll have all of the applications, those are the ones that would be your group. And while you all have your hands on the applications, the staff are going to be doing the reviews. So they have to read the application, and they create this summary. So you'll have the applications, and these will come in shortly afterwards. After they're finished with these, they'll send them to you.

On May 4 at this meeting, we're gonna have a public hearing. I'll warn Chair Fan that that meeting could run long. We do expect a lot of agencies and people to come and speak on behalf of the work. On May 18, this is a tentative schedule for these. But currently, on May 18, June 1, and June 15, we have three special meetings.

So those would be in the other room where it's not recorded and where we can work in groups. And Delfina will be in a group with another commissioner and a staff person, and commissioners will be paired off with a staff. And you'll be looking through shelter. And what we know now is shelter is going to get x percent of the money. So you'll have this many applications, and you'll be figuring out within shelter how to move that money around and what recommendations you make.

So we're gonna do that over three meetings, possibly two meetings. We'll have to see how long it takes. And then July 6 and July 20 are currently public deliberations. So you'll be back in this room, and Delfina and her group will present their recommendations. We did shelter. This is what we recommend. And then the group will make other recommendations or ask questions, and we'll do that over the next meeting or two. We could be finished by July 20. There are no meetings in August. But if we're not finished, we'll come back in September and finish.

We do expect lots of public comment on the July 6 and the July 20. And it's possible those meetings could run a little late too. I think we need to be prepared for that. But we can bump into September if we need to. And then just that's the end of the list there.

But just so you know, as soon as, you all make your decisions, the planning team can get started on scopes of work. The final approval will be with the budget in November, but it really allows our planners to start early early with the agencies to get started with their contract and their scope of work so that it actually can start in January when the when the new budget year starts.

When when do we know how much money we have, or do we know that already? No. We don't know that yet.

We have an estimate. Okay. And we know the percentages. Okay. So, yes, we'll have a number to work with.

We'll have a number to work with. Yep.

Are you going to walk through the application process with us?

The application process that the agencies go through?

Yes.

What would what would you like that to look like?

So I'm just curious because I've I've never written a grant proposal. So as someone who has never been on the other side of the table, I would like to know the kind of pressures or stresses or challenges a organization might be facing with these applications?

That's a great question.

On on March, you have a funders workshop?

Yep. The the funders workshop, they're both virtual. And I think Christy

Christy, do you have your hands up?

Did Christy have her hand up?

Yeah. We're gonna promote her to panelists.

Go go ahead, Christie.

Okay. Thank you. Yeah. I was just gonna say, I think, one of the,

We lost you.

Okay. Are you able to hear me now?

Yes. So

I think one of the opportunities would be to join the funders' workshop. Alar typically leads those workshops, and he gives a really great overview of kind of all of the different space pieces, how to actually do an outcome, how what a service unit is, how those are taken into account in the application process, and then, again, as we're doing the scope of work. So I think that it is a great opportunity for anybody that is interested kind of in just, like, what the nonprofit side of it is to attend one of those. And like Ruth said, they are hybrid, so you can log in online. There is also if you Google ShareOne app Redmond, or just put that into your search bar, it will bring you to the site that actually has all the resources that the agencies can can where the application will be uploaded and then where all of the, different trainings of how to do the different pieces of the application are.

Fantastic. Thank you so much. Just one quick follow-up question. Are there office hours for organizations to maybe drop into the city if they need help or struggling with translations or or some kind of barriers in the application?

Yes. Yes. That's a great question. We will have staff that will be on call essentially while the application is live so that we can answer these questions as they're coming. Our staff is also gonna stay available to provide technical assistance throughout the whole application process. So from the time that they apply to the time they go into scope of work negotiation all the way until until they go into contracts. And then after contracts, we kinda talked about the process of that continued technical assistance for with staff as they're figuring out the reporting process. They'll do all of that with us.

Perfect. Thank you.

And the applications are available in any language, and we accept them in any language.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

True fact. Yeah.

Commissioner Olga, do you have just, again, any question?

So that is the sort of the lay of the land for the next few months. Some of those dates could shift. Some things might go more quickly. Some things might slow down, but that's generally how it looks. We will be checking in. It's too soon yet to find out if you're gonna want notebooks or if you're gonna want online. And if you already know, you can let us know. And

Notebooks.

Notebook. Notebook. Do you know, Chris?

I don't. I'm I'm the fancier. Can I be greedy and do both? Absolutely. I might be greedy, though, and do both.

Absolutely. Yeah.

I guess for me, the same thing. I'm well, I don't know if I want the notebook. I've had notebooks before. But can I see how big the notebook is gonna be?

Yes. Yes. When we say how many applications we have in, then we'll know whether it's three or four or yes. Minimum three.

Right. Yeah. I remember that.

We had three last year. You had three.

Yeah.

I guess, Ruth, is your preference and I'm sorry. I was on mute, and I was having a hard time getting off mute earlier. I just wanna make sure when you say that, hey. We will be done on July 20, but we could go and further in September do the work. But that delays your team's work at creating scopes of work, right, by a month or month and a half? Is that how I'm interpreting, or you still won't start until September creating the scopes of work?

This schedule is way ahead of how it's ever, ever been before because, usually, we don't start scopes until after the applications go to counsel. But the applications aren't going to counsel, so all of this is way early. So if we're not finished in July, it's just fine if we need to come back in September and finish finish the negotiations. That'll be just fine. We have plenty of time. But thank you for asking.

Perhaps. Thank you.

So for my historical knowledge, you're saying we are doing this differently than past year. Can you quickly highlight the differences we are seeing this year compared to others?

Yes. Happy to. So Thanks. Two years ago when I was brand new, same, and and in all the previous years, the entire list of program applicants that the commission decided, 20,000 for this program, 30,000 for this program, All of those specific contract amounts and recommendations went to the council. And the council in the fall would look at all those recommendations and could debate whether that shelter could should get $60,000 instead of $70,000.

Compared to all the other business that's done in the city of Seattle, and I'll just use parks as an example, if a park gets $200,000 for a playscape, the parks department doesn't take the cost of the trees and the cost of the slide and the cost of the they don't take that to council to approve. They just take the whole park. And the council says, yes. You can spend $200,000 on that park. And so with this new process we've done where you all made percentage recommendations, 6% of the funding is going to go to this area.

5% of the funding is going to go to this area. Council is approving those percentages, and so the specific agency amounts are not going back to counsel. The direction you all have been given is to follow the percentage guidelines. And then when you do that work, the work is done. And then they are going to approve the whole big giant budget. And when they approve the big giant budget, our x millions of dollars are in there just as a lump sum.

Okay. Great. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

Any other questions? Thank you.

So should I bring back the notebook from the last year? Because I don't wanna have, like, that many at home.

If you still have your other notebooks, you're welcome to bring them back. Thank you.

K. Thank you, Ruth. Okay. So now we're on reminders. The city will be observing the President's Day holiday on Monday, February 16. Also, keep in mind, there's no school if have kiddos. Therefore, our next meeting oh, and it's midwinter break, so enjoy. Therefore, our next meeting is bumped to the following Monday, February 23. See you all Monday, February 23. This concludes our meeting, and we are adjourning at what? What's the real time? Hold on, Jimmy. 722.

722. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Christy.

It was good to see you on here.

Good to see you all too. Good night.