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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunity Development Block Grant PH SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD PUBLIC HEARING October 18, 2016 7:32 PM Present: Supervisor Scott Russell Justice Louisa Evans Councilman William Ruland Councilwoman Jill Doherty Councilman Jim Dinizio, Jr. Town Clerk Elizabeth A.Neville Town Attorney Bill Duffy Absent: Councilman Bob Ghosio, Jr. This hearing was opened at 8:08 PM JUSTICE EVANS: In April, 2017 the Town of Southold expects to receive approximately $30,000.00 in Federal Community Development Block Grant Funds. These funds may be used, and have been previously used for a variety of projects to be selected by local officials. Eligible activities include: Acquisition and demolition of blighted property Housing rehabilitation Elimination of physical barriers for the handicapped Public facilities and improvements Street Reconstruction Code Enforcement Public Water projects Economic Development Public Services (total allotment limited to 15%) Town Residents are invited to attend this public hearing on Tuesday, October 18, 2016 7:32 PM at the Southold Town Hall, 53095 Main Road, Southold,New York, to express citizen views on local housing community development needs to be met with these funds. I have an affidavit that it was posted on the Town Clerk's bulletin board and an affidavit of publication in the Suffolk Times. That's it. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: I would ask anybody that would like to address the Town Board on this particular hearing to please feel free. Yes,please? 2017 Community Development Block grant Public Hearing October 18, 2016 page 2 LINDA RULAND: My name is Linda Ruland and I live in Mattituck but tonight I am here representing CAST, Community Action Southold Town which is located in Greenport. To Supervisor Russell and members of the Town Board, thank you for the opportunity to attend this meeting tonight and to share CAST's mission with you. CAST is a community based, not for profit organization that was founded in 1965 to help low income residents meet their basic needs in the areas of nutrition, employment, energy, health, housing and education. "It is the mission of CAST to promote self-sufficiency and provide a safety net for Southold Town residents in need." Having just celebrated our 50th anniversary of `Neighbors helping Neighbors' last year, we have come to realize that sadly, not much has changed over the last 50 years. There are still hurting people unable to put food on their table, clothe themselves or learn English as a second language or to gain adequate computer training to enable them to find meaningful employment. For the past several years, the Town of Southold has given CAST money from the Community Block Grant to help purchase food items for our neighbors in need. Since January 2016, 3,808 clients have walked through the doors of CAST asking for food for their families. That's 423 hungry people a month, right here in this beautiful Town of Southold. Along with that, CAST has been able to help 737 families provide breakfast and lunch food items for children who qualify for free or reduced meals at school during the school breaks. Your generosity toward these families of poverty has helped to ease the strife they experience on a daily basis as they struggle to provide for their families. We are asking you to consider CAST again, for monies from the Community Block Grant in 2016. Thank you so very much for all you do for the Town of Southold. Thank you for all you do for CAST, as well. Thank you. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: Thank you. SARAH BENJAMIN: Hi, my name is Sarah Benjamin, I am also from CAST and I live in Greenport. I am adding an addendum for an additional program that we have at CAST, called the North Fork Parent Child Home Program and I would like to take just a minute to tell you a little bit about that that you might consider helping us for this program because the funding for this program is raised in addition to the CAST budget. As Linda told you, the mission of CAST providing a safety net for Southold Town residents in need and to promote self-sufficiency. We believe that education leads to self-sufficiency and science has taught us that what happens early in child's life, before they get to school, is a very crucial time for when their brain is developing and what happens in these early years actually sets the stage for their ability to do well in school and later in life. Education changes lives and what happens early in a child's life lasts forever. That's why in 2013 CAST began the Parent Child Home Program which is a model that has been in the nation for over 50 years and has extensive r6search on its outcomes. We started the program in 2013 and we are going on our 4th year now. We have touched over 100 families so far, low income families. The program is an early literacy parent support program, we go into the homes from Laurel to Orient. The families are signed up, about 40 families a year and they have the same home visitor. They can stay for two years. We give the parents new books and toys and encourage them to teach their children because those early years are very important. Language is important. The program has proven outcomes from the National Center Parent Child Home Program that children who enter, have this program for two years enter school ready to learn as their more advantage peers and they graduate high school at an 84.1 percent rate which is higher than low-income families children. It really makes a difference in their lives. So we are helping these young families so they can get ready, they are entering school speaking 2017 Community Development Block Grant Public Hearing October 18, 2016 page 3 English which is a big help for schools on the north fork. Linda and I have been in education on the north fork for decades. Currently there are thousands of pre-school children on the north fork. It's kind of an exploding population and many of them are affected by poverty. For families of poverty on the north fork which last year had about 55 places. I don't know how many they had this year. might be a little more. But that, and one pre-school class in Greenport. All the other pre-schools are for tuition only or if they are lottery then you have the chance of the draw with any person, whether you can get your child into that class. But most of all the programs are for pay. But this program, North Fork Parent Child Program, is one of the only things that is for families of poverty. We go to them, we find them hidden in farm fields, behind businesses, down creeks in the backs of quiet streets. Families that are struggling and have young children and we connect them to CAST, there are people that I have met that live on Wiggins Street in Greenport that do not know that CAST is on Main Street. So it's good to be able to go out into the community. As I said, we raise the money from other sources for this program and we would appreciate anything that you might do as well for Parent Child Program. I just want to add in a recent publication from Harvard University Center on the Developing Child, entitled Supportive Relationships and Active Skill Building Strengthen the Foundations of Resilience, they said decades of research on child development suggest that the programs that facilitate positive and stable adult-child relationships, both in the home and the non-parental settings in which young children spend significant amounts of time, are likely to reduce the intergenerational transmission of economic dependence and social disadvantage. That's why we are doing this. Thank you. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: Thank you. MARYANN GENSLER: Good evening, my name is Maryann Gensler and I live in Southold. I am privileged to be the Director for Maureen's Haven Homeless Outreach. Thank you for the opportunity to address you this evening to request funding in order to support our life-saving work. Maureen's Haven provides safe, warm temporary shelter to homeless individuals from November 1 through April 1 by utilizing over 23 houses of worship located throughout the twin forks. Members of 17 congregations and community organizations offer additional support and help comprise the over 1500 dedicated and selfless volunteers that provide an estimated 20,000 hours of community service to our guests. Maureen's Haven is responsible for screening and transporting homeless guests to the host facilities each evening. In October 2011, we opened a day center in order to provide services focused on building self-sufficiency and provide respite during the day for those in need. All are welcome at the Day Center, clothing food and case management services are available. We also partner with other agencies to provide mental health and substance abuse treatment. Some of our host congregations even offer free medical care. Last winter, we served 358 individuals over 113 nights. Our average number of guests per evening was 49 with a high of 57. Overall, 5,463 beds were made for the season. Of that total, 82% were male and 18% female. At least half of our guests are temporarily or `first-time' homeless. Generally, they are the working poor who have suffered setbacks like job loss, illness and loss of transportation or divorce. The other 50% of our guests are chronically homeless. They often face one or more serious issues, including mental illness, addiction and cognitive or developmental disabilities (According to the Housing and Urban Development 2014 Point-in Time report, 34% of the total homeless population is under 24, tragically, our most recent statistics bear this out.) An alarming new trend for us has been an influx of young people. Since 2017 Community Development Block Grant Public Hearing October 18, 2016 page 4 January, on any given night 42% of our guests have been under the age of 25, of those, 50% have been under the age of 21. These young people bring with them unique challenges and risks. Many are runaways, or former foster children who have aged out of state services or they have been victims of abuse or homophobia at home. Well known throughout the communities as a safe haven, we are often the first point of entry for the newly homeless. We believe that our reputation for compassion and inclusiveness is what has attracted so many young people to seek solace and shelter from us. Through Maureen's Haven, our homeless guests can access programs that meet their immediate needs, support them through transitional periods and lead them back towards self-sufficiency and long term success. We assist homeless adults to acquire supportive housing through Suffolk County's Single Point of Access. We help our guests with securing entitlements and advocate for them tirelessly. While we continue this essential work, we hope to meet the unique challenges that the influx of young people has presented us with. We need to gather our resources in order to determine precisely how best to serve the young people who have presented themselves before us. We feel a deep sense of urgency in front of them, since we are well aware of the perils of the path that they are on. We hope to continue to strengthen relationships, build trust, properly asses and adequately address the myriad of needs of both our homeless youth population and our older guests. The impact of our work can best be told through the stories of the people who come to us for assistance: Richard, age 34, grew up in Mattituck. He suffered undiagnosed schizophrenia for almost 12 years. His parents divorced when he was a teenager and his mother sent him to live with his abusive father when he was 17. When he began to show symptoms of schizophrenia, his father abandoned him and he has been homeless ever since. He heard about Maureen's Haven from a friend that he met on the street. He worked with our staff and has been getting treatment for his illness at a nearby clinic. He has come for food and respite for almost a year now and is warmly embraced by the Maureen's Haven family. He is currently utilizing our emergency shelter but soon will be placed in supportive housing. He is excited and happy to begin his new life and is full of hope for the future. Sam is 20 years old and has high functioning autism. His parents divorced when he was 10. He was raised by his mother who moved out of the area when Sam attended college out of state. As a result of his disorder, the stress and anxiety eventually became too much for him to manage and he quickly dropped out. He lost his housing, his friends, and his self-worth. He returned to eastern Long Island where his father, step-mother and younger siblings reside with the hope of living with them. With no resources and no adequate supports for his disability, he became depressed, anxious and disruptive. He dabbled in substance abuse and alcohol. Soon after, he was told to leave because his family could no longer tolerate his behavior. He came to Maureen's Haven seeking shelter, solace and support. After staying with us for a week, our case worker was able to secure SNAP benefits for him and apply for SSI and Medicaid on his behalf. After requesting his records from his former school district, she was able to get him an appointment with ACCESNR. Soon after, his demeanor and attitude had changed. We arranged for a meeting with his stepmother, she agreed to allow him back into their home because she witnessed him working towards something. He told us recently, `You guys understand me and you are the only ones who took the time to really help me.' There are many more people like Richard and Sam that we hope to help but we need the assistance of Southold Town and others to support our life saving work. In an effort to provide services to the homeless in Southold Town, we have partnered and collaborated with the faith community to provide overnight shelter and other supportive services. Participating congregations include The First Presbyterian Church of Southold, St. Patrick's RC Church, St. Peter's Lutheran Church in 2017 Community Development Block Grant Public Hearing October 18, 2016 page 5 Greenport, Sacred Heart Church in Cutchogue and Our Lady of Good Counsel in Mattituck. The congregants of the Southold Universalist Church along with members of the Southold Rotary participate by utilizing St. Peter's as an overnight host site while providing meals and companionship to our guests. We are very appreciative of the past support we have received from the Town of Southold and respectfully request funding once again in support of our program. We ask the Town Board to consider an allocation of $5,000 to assist in the cost of screening and transporting our guests to the host facilities throughout the season, ongoing operations of our day center and to offset the salaries of the program staff. Thank you for your consideration of this request. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: Thank you. Would anyone else like to address the Town Board. BENJA SCHWARTZ: I just have a question on the notice for this hearing, on the Southold town website. It says that Southold Town expects to receive $30,000 from the federal government in 2017, it says eligible activities la da da da da da da, last one, public services, there's not that says total allotment limited to 15%. What is the category public services refer to in this case? SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: I will defer to Denis Noncarrow. DENIS NONCARROW: Basically the 15% is CAST and Maureen's Haven as such. But due to the fact that they have lowered our amount that we get each year, they said that they are going to take into consideration adjusting that. But HUD's amount was always 15%. So the rest of it for things such as fixing up the walkway and handicap access. That type of thing. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: Capital improvements and residential.... MR.NONCARROW: Residential repairs, such as North Fork Housing Alliance. MR. SCHWARTZ: Okay, because I didn't want to say anything to take away from this... MR.NONCARROW: No, no. MR. SCHWARTZ: From these very important causes. So there will be other money available for other purposes in addition to these... MR. NONCARROW: No, it's still the $30,000 but they will possibly adjust it above the 15% for those. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: They will adjust the ratio, not the actual dollars. MR. NONCARROW: Right. MR. SCHWARTZ: Well, I am glad the Southold Town Hall is getting some kind of sidewalk with the access for handicap but if there are any funds left over, maybe you will consider at least identifying locations where sidewalks are in town. Things like that benefit everybody. Whether 2017 Community Development Block Grant Public Hearing October 18, 2016 page 6 you are wealthy or not, especially if you are not. It's very safe and convenient to have sidewalks. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: Good point, Benja. Would anyone else like to address the Town Board on this? (No response) This hearing was closed at 8:27 PM Elizeeth A.Neville Southold Town Clerk