# Social Services and Community Development - February 25, 2014 > Auto-transcribed civic record · February 25, 2014 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/3256 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/3256?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2014-02-25 - **Last revised**: July 16, 2026 - **Length**: 2,458 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. Verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Social Services & Community Development Committee met on February 25, 2014, at 11:00 AM under the presiding officer Ford. The committee addressed four agenda items during the session, including approval of the Committee Summary, discussion of childcare assistance reductions, a review of the FY 15 Partner Agency Funding Request process, and consideration of items referred to the committee. The committee took four motions and votes and heard two public comments during the meeting. One item was approved, two items were deferred for further consideration, and one item was presented for informational purposes. ## Attendance The following individuals were present at the meeting on February 25, 2014: * Ford * Akers * Ellinger * Kay * Lawless * Stinnett * Scutchfield * Myers * Beard * Lane No absences or late arrivals were recorded. ## Votes and Decisions The committee took four votes during this meeting, all of which passed. **Approval of Committee Summary** [timestamp: 0:05:05] The committee voted unanimously to approve the summary from the November 19, 2013 meeting. Ellinger moved the motion and Scutchfield seconded it. **Removal of Social Services Needs Assessment** [timestamp: 0:05:05] The committee voted unanimously to remove the Social Services Needs Assessment from the committee agenda. Ellinger moved the motion and Myers seconded it. **Removal of Summer Youth Employment Program** [timestamp: 0:05:05] The committee voted unanimously to remove the Summer Youth Employment Program from the committee agenda. Myers moved the motion and Ellinger seconded it. **Removal of Child Care Assistance Reductions Issue** [timestamp: 0:20:09] The committee voted by voice vote to remove the child care assistance reductions issue from the committee agenda. Myers moved the motion and K seconded it. ## Public Comment Two speakers provided updates during the public comment period. **Joanna Rhodes** [timestamp: 0:11:15] spoke about child care assistance funding and the Child Care Fund. She provided an update on the fund, which operates as a donation-based program supported through vehicle registration and online donations. The fund assists families whose income falls just below the eligibility threshold for child care assistance. Rhodes emphasized the need to increase promotion of the fund in order to support more families in this income range. **Commissioner Beth Mills** [timestamp: 0:14:43] reported on the FY 15 partner agency funding process. She noted that 73 of 76 applications were submitted on time. The total funding request from applicants reached $6.3 million, which represents three times the amount requested in the previous year. Mills also reported that the review process had been expanded and highlighted the role of Amy Baker in monitoring agency performance. ## Appointments Malcolm Ratchford was appointed to the Community Action Council. ## Committee Summary (1-2) The committee approved the summary from the November 19, 2013 meeting. This summary had been previously reviewed and was unanimously adopted by the committee members. [timestamp: 00:05:05] **Key Speakers:** - Ellinger - Scutchfield **Outcome:** The summary was approved. ## Childcare Assistance Reductions The committee discussed recent state-level developments regarding childcare assistance funding [timestamp: 00:05:42]. Key speakers included Joanna Rhodes, Bradley Stevenson, Commissioner Beth Mills, and Myers. **Funding Proposal** Governor Beshear proposed restoring funding to the Child Care Assistance Program, with implementation scheduled to begin in July 2014. **Economic Impact Study** The committee reviewed a draft proposal for an economic impact study to be conducted by Dr. Christopher Bollinger. This study was presented as a means to evaluate the effects of the proposed funding changes. **Supplemental Resources** The committee discussed the Child Care Fund as a potential supplemental resource to support childcare assistance efforts. **Outcome** The issue was ultimately removed from the committee agenda and the discussion was deferred. ## FY 15 Partner Agency Funding Request Review Process Commissioner Beth Mills provided an update on the FY 15 partner agency funding request review process [timestamp: 0:14:43]. **Applications and Funding Requests** The review process received 73 complete applications requesting a total of $6.3 million in funding. **Process Expansion** The review process was expanded to include eight grant sessions to evaluate the applications. **Program Evaluations** Amy Baker was highlighted for her role in conducting on-site program evaluations as part of the review process. **Outcome** This agenda item was presented for informational purposes. ## Items Referred to Committee [timestamp: 00:19:37] The committee discussed the continued referral of workforce investment and training issues. Council Member Myers initially suggested keeping the child care assistance issue in committee for further review. However, Myers later moved to remove the item from committee referral, citing progress being made at the state level on this matter. Following this discussion, the committee agreed to monitor the child care assistance issue and remain prepared to take action if circumstances warrant intervention. Council Member Ford participated in the discussion of these referrals. The outcome on this agenda item was deferred, allowing the committee to maintain oversight while recognizing the ongoing state-level efforts addressing the issue. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed: Approval of the committee summary from the November 19, 2013 meeting - **Motion** — passed: Motion to remove the Social Services Needs Assessment from the committee agenda - **Motion** — passed: Motion to remove the Summer Youth Employment Program from the committee agenda - **Motion** — passed: Motion to remove the child care assistance reductions issue from the committee agenda --- ## Full transcript Music guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo Good morning. Welcome to the Social Services and the Community Development Committee of the Council. Today is February 25th, and we'll go ahead and begin the meeting. committee members we should have a not a very long meeting but definitely a very important one based on the subject matter first item on the agenda is the approval of the committee summary that summary is dated from our last meeting on november 19th 2013 is there a motion to approve motion by council member elliger second by councilman scutchfield any discussion All in favor signify by saying aye. That motion carries. Next item on the agenda is the issue of child care assistance reductions. We discussed this issue in length at our November meeting, and I'll ask Commissioner Mills if she'll come and introduce the subject. There has been some positive activity since our last meeting with Governor Beshear presenting his budget to the members of the General Assembly. And it's very favorable in regards to the restoration of funds for this program. Nonetheless, we still want to study the issue in committee as we started in November. So I'll turn it over to Commissioner Beth Mills. Good morning. Thank you all for continuing to discuss the child care cuts. um chairman ford is correct um the governor did propose that the child care cuts would be reinstated to the original level starting in july of 14 of course the budget has not passed there will be a gap in services because when families start getting recertified it will be on an individual basis so the cuts that are currently present there will be a time before those funds and those child care slots are restored. The charge of this committee was for us to look at how to do an economic impact study in Fayette County. It was also to see, you know, what we could do for funding child care. So instead of, the resolution was great. It was well received at Children's Advocacy Day. I think Council Member Myers took it down. We were the only municipality that spoke out to the state on this issue, which we're very proud of. But we have some ideas to talk to you about some ways that the gap might be funded for this committee to take into account. And so I'm going to turn it over to Joanna Rhodes, the Director of Family Services, and Bradley Stevenson from the Child Care Council. Thank you. It does seem like we're a little more optimistic at this point compared to what we felt in the last meeting in November. I wanted to just give you an update about some of the activities that we've participated in within the department in response to your request for more information on the feasibility of a local economic impact study. We have been directed to someone with the U.K. Gatton College, Dr. Christopher Bollinger, who prepared a draft of a proposal that outlines just the basics of an economic study locally. locally. That is included in your packet. I wanted to make sure that you understand kind of how we got to Dr. Bollinger. Some of you might be familiar with some of the work of James Zilliack. He is also with University of Kentucky. He is their director of UK Center for Poverty Research. He published a technical report in 2008, which was pretty much a review of the literature on child care subsidies, And that supported the link between child care subsidies and increased employment, child care subsidies, and increased economic self-sufficiency for families. He is the one who sent us to Dr. Bollinger, and I mention this report because it is also referenced in Dr. Bollinger's proposal that you have in your packet today. And I should mention, Dr. Bullinger, his title is Director of Center for Business and Economic Research at UK Gatton. Additionally, we looked a little bit further into a study that Bradley Stevenson had mentioned last time that was done in Jefferson County. As you know, Bradley Stevenson is the Executive Director of the Child Care Council. And back in, I believe, 2003, there was an economic impact study related to child care cuts done in Jefferson and Hardin counties. That summary is also included in your packet. Some of the major points of that study that was conducted by the National Economic Development and Law Center included that the child care industry represented over 500 small businesses in the Louisville area. Licensed child care was $119.8 million industry in Jefferson County, and also that 67% of the families at that time in Jefferson County needed child care in order to work or attend school. This is pretty similar to some of the things that we were asking Dr. Bollinger about regarding a local study, and that Jefferson County study did lead to many recommendations for Jefferson County, including the need for quality child care to be included in Louisville's comprehensive plan. So in your packet is a brief overview of five different projects that could be done by UK, and the costs are listed with each. Dr. Bullinger says that he will be happy to come and answer questions or do a presentation at a future meeting should this committee decide to move forward. In addition to some of those activities since November, I did want to talk a little bit about what I have learned about the child care fund. This is a little bit of a separate issue that we mentioned last time as well. Thanks to the Child Care Council, I understand a lot more about this fund. And if you'll remember, this is a fund that is set up for families in Kentucky who fall just shy of meeting eligibility for child care assistance. So it's just another layer of assistance that can be given to families. This fund is funded solely by donations. The fund was established in the late 90s by the founding director of the Family Care Center, Gene Saberwal, and also Don Blevins and a number of other folks in this community in Lexington who were interested in helping families achieve self-sufficiency. I think Bradley Stevenson would probably agree with me. That fund has not been promoted a lot over the years. In some ways, it's been forgotten. But everybody needs to know that this is the fund that you're prompted to donate to when you renew your vehicle registration. So there's a little checkbox where you can indicate how much money you want to put towards this child care fund. So that's the primary way that they get donations for this fund. It supports only a few families, and those families tend to be in Fayette County because, guess what? We do a great job, thanks to our county clerk, of supporting donations to this fund. There is another way, though, also to donate to that fund, and that is through, and that's online. The fund has a website. This is administered by the Child Care Council, by the way. The website is www.childcarefundky.com. And I mention this because I think that if we as a department and you all as a committee decide that we're satisfied with the governor's announcement and the stability of the child care assistance program, At the very least, we could certainly promote this fund, even as individuals, because the dollars that go into this fund truly do support subsidies for families who are working or attending an educational program. And finally, in your packet, we've included just the statute that gives you the language of that fund and the way that it's set up through the vehicle registration process. I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you, Joanna, for your report. committee members are there any questions or comments thank you so much I do want to take this opportunity to thank the advocates I will say that we it would behoove the council to continue to monitor the activity in the general assembly I do think that it was perhaps well received from what I'm understanding amongst folks in the house and in the senate for fiscal year 15 that starts in July. But we will rely on the department to keep us apprised of how that goes. And we thank you for your attention to this matter. Thank you. Thank you. Next on our agenda, we'd ask Commissioner Mills to come and give us an update on the fiscal year 15 partner agency funding process and activity to date, Commissioner? This is going to be very brief because at the next meeting in March, we will come to you with the detailed packet, all the applications, all the rankings, and the recommended funding to the mayor's budget. So I just kind of want to tell you where we are in the process right now pending March. Applications were due on January 15th by 5 p.m., and this group gave us the ability to look at them and say if they were not substantially complete, we could reject them. There were 76 applications, and 73 of them were substantially complete by 5 o'clock. I don't want to mention the agencies that didn't get theirs in on time because it's not public record, but 73 of the 76 applications were received on time. We added the additional week, as this council asked us to do, and we went through them with minor changes. Craig Benz got back to the agencies and said, we still need this in your application. All of them complied. So this year we have 73 applications. Last year we had 35 agencies. This year we have 50 separate agencies who've applied for funding. So this is an increase of 15 agencies. The thing that you may find surprising is that we have a total request for funding this year of $6.3 million. Last year we distributed $2.5 million. So it's three times the ask. So that's going to be a challenge, but I think if you're a grantor, that's pretty common. Federal governments may give out eight grants with hundreds of applicants. So I would say in one way this committee has really done its job because now this is the way grants work. You open it up to everyone, and then you have to be very careful in deciding how you make your decisions. To that end, we've had to add grant reviewers this year. We have eight grant sessions this year. We had two last week, we have three this week, and three next week. Each group will be examining nine to ten applications and interviewing those partner agencies. That process will end on March the 5th. A funding group is in process to members of the mayor's office or the administration. I think CAO Hamilton's agreed to sit in on the funding committee this year. Two members of the council, Chairman Ford intends to sit, and two members of the Social Services Advisory Board. They will look at the rankings, look at funding options, and make a recommendation to the mayor for his budget. One thing that is new this year is this group was very interested in outcomes, and we have hired a new program administrator in social services, Amy Baker. And she has visited every agency at least once before their first two quarters payments, and she is visiting again before the end of the year. And she's discovered some things about the agencies and the programs that they're serving. So if you all would like, if it's the will of this committee, Amy could also come in March and let you know what she found when she visited the agencies in regard to services. This has been a big benefit to us because you hear what groups are doing, but until you get out there and see what you're getting for your money, it's kind of hard to judge. So the detailed report with all the numbers will be here at the March meeting, and if you all would like, Ms. Baker can come as well. So that's where we are. Okay. Are there any questions for Commissioner Mills? Commissioners, thank you. It sounds as if the partner agency process has turned into a year-long process, and you and Craig and your staff are doing a great job. I will sit on behalf of the Council on the Funding Review Committee, and I'll ask members of this committee, I'll try to recruit somebody to join you there. and then in closing I know that Councilmember Myers I think was one of the having been on council 10 years now was one of the leaders who kind of reformed the process of how partner agencies petition the government for funding so we hope that this is going in the direction that you envision at time it actually has and the commissioner and her team have done a fantastic job of doing these reforms and and staying on top of things to make Chair, we spend our money in the best way possible. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Council Member Myers. Council Members, the only the back of your packet are items referred in committee. The only issue that's listed on the back of the page is workforce investment and training, and I kindly ask that we continue to keep that issue in committee. We do know that we've worked really closely with the Bluegrass Ad and its Workforce Investment Board, and we're anticipating the results of the state auditor's review of their program, perhaps before our next meeting. In regards to the issue that's not listed here is the issue of the child care assistance. Is there a desire to keep that in committee, or are we satisfied to the extent to remove it from committee? Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that in light of the developments in Frankfort, maybe we can remove this and then just keep an eye on it, though, and be ready to come back if we need to. Okay. It's been a motion by Council Member Myers. Is there a second? Second. Second by Council Member K to remove. All in favor of removing, signify by saying aye. Aye. That motion carries. we have a pretty long day, Council members, so we won't belabor this meeting. Our next meeting is scheduled for March 18th, which the focus will be partner agency funding. No further business. Is there a motion to adjourn? Seconded. Motion and seconded. We stand adjourned until March 18th. Thank you. Thank you.