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* Human Services Program Overview and Process Review Underway.
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Staff:
Department:
Loryn Clark, Executive Director
Housing and Community
Sarah Vinas, Assistant Director
Jackie Thompson, Human Services Coordinator
Overview: The purpose of this report is to provide the Council with an overview of the existing Human Services Program funding process and to propose modifications to the process.
Recommendation(s):
That the Council receive this report.
Background
* In 1981 the Council established the Human Services Program1 to provide grants to local nonprofit organizations that address the community's human service needs.
* The Town of Chapel Hill's Human Services funding process is coordinated with that of the Town of Carrboro and Orange County. The three governments use the same application and have synchronized their submission deadlines. Each elected board makes funding decisions independently.
* The Human Services Advisory Board reviews applications and makes recommendations to the Town Council annually for funding.
* The charge of the Advisory Board is to: assess human service needs of Chapel Hill residents, identify service gaps and ways to fill them, and advise the Town Council on funding needs at the beginning of the budget cycle.
* Additional details about the current Human Services Program process is attached.
Key Issues
* There is ongoing interest from the Town Council to refine and further streamline the Human Service funding process and for programs funded to be more results oriented.
* The Human Services Program currently funds dozens of agencies at varied amounts who work on a broad range of issues. There may be opportunities to deepen the impact by redesigning the program to focus on specific outcomes and results on specific community issues.
* Our priority areas are also broad - safety net services, education, and health- and it could be helpful to include specific goals or outcome measures.
* We believe continuing to...
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