Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Supervisor Carole Groom
Subject: Use of District-Discretionary Measure K Funds - Supervisorial District 2
RECOMMENDATION:
title
Measure K: Adopt a resolution authorizing a one-time grant of district-discretionary Measure K funds, not to exceed $50,000, to Catholic Charities of San Mateo County to hire a part-time Social Worker and facilitate the provision of social services for immigrant youth residents in the County of San Mateo and authorizing the County Manager, or his designee, to execute the grant agreement.
body
BACKGROUND:
Measure K is the half-cent general sales tax initially approved by San Mateo County voters in November 2012 and extended in November 2016 for a total of thirty years. The Board of Supervisors (“Board”) and County staff have conducted study sessions and community outreach efforts to inform priorities for Measure K spending for FY2017-19.
On May 16, 2017, the Board approved the FY 2017-19 Measure K allocation plan in which the County anticipates Measure K receipts of approximately $81.6 million annually. The plan included $7 million in one-time loans or grants during FY 2017-19, divided equally among the five supervisorial districts, for district-discretionary needs and projects. District 2 has submitted a request to use its district-discretionary Measure K funds as shown below and described in the Project Summary section of this memorandum:
|
District/Project |
Amount |
|
District 2 (Supervisor Carole Groom) - Catholic Charities: Hire a Part-Time Social Worker and facilitate the provision of social services for immigrant youth residents for a one-year period of time. |
$50,000 |
This item is consistent with the criteria for district-discretionary Measure K funds approved by the Board in December 2018.
PROJECT SUMMARY:
Since the 1950s, Catholic Charities has been serving the immigrant community in San Mateo County by providing high quality immigration legal services. Though many of its clients are in a vulnerable situation, this is especially true for their immigrant youth clients. As part of its mission, Catholic Charities is dedicated to helping these young individuals not only achieve and maintain legal status, but also become active members of the society they are now part of. Since 2015, Catholic Charities has assisted 75 minors in their legal proceedings. While this legal support has been vital, clients need support in ways that go beyond legal work. Believing that strong social work practices are paramount to ensure that immigrant youth clients are safe and protected, Catholic Charities has developed a program to provide wrap-around services.
Challenges
Immigrant youth face many of the same challenges as both immigrants and youth generally. As immigrants, they have to learn a new language and navigate a new legal system, culture, and customs. As vulnerable youth, they face challenges such as poverty, bullying, mental health issues, and lack awareness of education opportunities and services. However, when all of these issues converge, they create particular challenges for immigrant youth.
Immigrant youth experience numerous challenges in their home countries as well as in their new communities. Once here, they often lack proper support networks or people to care for them in their times of need.
The challenges immigrant youth face make it easier for them to be discriminated against in their work places and schools. As with many immigrants, they carry the grief of leaving what they know and love behind, with the added element that they are still in their formative years, and need support to endure the difficult life circumstances they have faced.
Proposed Solution
As one of the few agencies that serve this client population in the area, Catholic Charities - San Mateo County has responded humanely to the unprecedented arrival of young immigrants in recent years. For over four years, Catholic Charities has been offering free legal immigration services, helping over 75 immigrant youth obtain and maintain legal status. Catholic Charities also protects the rights of vulnerable children by supporting their needs in other ways, including: a mentorship program, cultural outings, movie nights, Thanksgiving potlucks, soccer tournaments, and a yearly Christmas party.
Catholic Charities has also made great strides to provide practical services to these clients. With these Measure K funds, Catholic Charities will hire a part-time social worker for one year. . The part-time social worker will be able to competently manage the provision of social services to the immigrant youth population Catholic Charities serves. This person will develop an attorney-social worker team model to help youth stabilize and improve their lives. The social worker will be able to work with the youth to develop and implement agreed upon techniques to address concrete underlying challenges, emotional and behavioral, that may impede goal-setting and stability. She/he will also assist immigrant youth in accessing services, including attending off-site appointments as needed that pertain to clients' wellbeing.
Total Measure K Request: Not to Exceed $50,000
The release of funds will be contingent on the execution of an agreement providing for the County’s confirmation of the expenditure of funds during FY 2018-19 for the purposes stated herein. The County will disburse the funds to the following organization for the purposes described above:
Diana Otero,
Program Director for Refugee &
Immigrant Services
Catholic Charities San Mateo County
990 Eddy Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: (650) 295-2160
Email: dotero@catholiccharitiessf.org
PERFORMANCE MEASURES:
|
Description |
Target |
|
Catholic Charities - San Mateo County provides part-time social services to the immigrant youth population that Catholic Charities serves for a one-year period of time. |
100% |
County Counsel has reviewed and approved the agreement and resolution as to form.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There are sufficient Measure K funds budgeted in the Non-Departmental Services FY 2018-19 Adopted Budget for this purpose.