Lisa Sahulka - JWB program funding strategies
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The JWB Board of Directors meeting summary discusses strategies for navigating reduced funding over the next three years, including: 1) Expanding the Administrative Services Organization and transferring $17.8 million in funds and child care administration to increase efficiency and save $116k annually. 2) Reducing the Suncoast Center allocation by $1 million and completing the ERT program divestment, releasing $750k for reallocation. 3) Partnering with Pinellas County Schools to provide high-quality childcare in schools, maintaining 600 children served while increasing school readiness. 4) Continuing efforts to secure grants, maximize Medicaid revenues, engage corporate partners, and emphasize evidence-based programs.
Lisa Sahulka - JWB program funding strategies
- 1. Board of Directors Meeting April 12, 2012 JWB Program Funding Strategies Item IV.A. Background: Staff is in the process of preparing the budget for fiscal year 12/13, which will come before the Board for adoption in July and will be certified for the Truth in Millage (TRIM) notices, and for adoption of the millage in September. The current ad valorem revenue projections show a continued reduction over the next two years resulting in children’s services being reduced by an additional $3,000,000. Since 2008, program funding has been reduced by $10 million. 56 54 2008 52 50 Millions 48 46 44 42 2012 40 Children's Services The Board anticipated the impact to programs and, in 2008, directed staff to create a program stability fund and to manage the orderly reduction of programs over a multi-year process, verses a sudden precipitous cut which would have resulted in children being abruptly terminated from services. Staff anticipates the need to navigate the budget through three more years of flat ad valorem revenues. The Board has received a vast amount of evidence over the last several meetings which supports the need for a transformation of JWB’s role in delivering services to children. Many other child-serving collaborative partners are considering similar strategies due to reduced revenues, systemic re-design, and most importantly, because the outcomes for children in Pinellas are not good enough. Future systems changes include: Eckerd Community Alternatives, Inc. issuing an RFP for all diversion services, the Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas County, Inc bringing subsidized child care administration in-house, and the Pinellas County Schools (PCS) considering applying for the Head Start
- 2. RFP, as well as delivering quality child care to at-risk infants and toddlers. In addition, the Pinellas County Health and Human Services department is seeking better ways to serve families. Over the past four years, the JWB Board has directed staff to increase efficiency and decrease administrative costs by seeking economies of scale. This has been accomplished through the following strategies: Seeking new sources of revenue and leveraging JWB’s existing investments. Staff has begun the process of expanding the Administrative Services Organization (ASO) to administer funds previously contracted to Coordinated Child Care of Pinellas, Inc. (CCC) and Central Florida Behavioral Health Network. This is in lieu of expanding individual contracts with human service providers. Removing the administrative layer helps reduce costs and improves services while assuring Pinellas taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. Staff anticipates the ASO will be fully managing units of service reimbursements through Memoranda of Agreement for all childcare and wrap-around services through the Family Services Pool (FSP) by September 2012. This will be accomplished via a fund transfer in July, as a part of the budget action. Approximately $17,857,496 or 29% of JWB funds, will be managed through the ASO when implementation is completed. It is anticipated that up to $5M will be transferred to PCMS to administer child care, (FSP), and the NFC’s. The CCEP match requires a non-profit entity make the donation to meet the level one priority. Transferring child care administration to the ASO is projected to yield a savings of $116K per year. The Family Services Pool has been evolving over the last 12 months, which was accomplished by Board actions moving some of the navigation function to 211Tampa Bay Cares, Inc. and streamlining service delivery, using the ASO as the fiscal mechanism for payment. Staff anticipates collaborating with Pinellas County to participate in the Community Help and Electronic Data Application System (CHEDAS) database, as well as implementing biometric scanners for client tracking and accountability. One-e-App, a web-based system designed to screen and enroll applicants in multiple publicly funded programs through a single application, is expected to be operational during the later half of 2012. Facilitating and supporting mergers Reductions are necessary to develop a three-year budget in absence of the program stability fund. The Board directed staff to encourage mergers as a means to achieve cost efficiencies. Over the past two years, Help- A-Child (2010) and Family Service Centers (2009) merged with Suncoast Center, Inc., which has resulted in improved service coordination and reduced costs. Staff recommends reducing the Suncoast Center allocation by $1,000,000, which will assist in further rightsizing the JWB program budget. Staff has discussed this proposed reduction with Suncoast. Eckerd Community Alternatives, Inc. has released an RFP for all diversion services, with an implementation date of July 1, 2012. In 2011, the JWB Board began a gradual planned divestiture of our investment in the Child Welfare Diversion program Emergency Response Team (ERT). It is anticipated that the program termination will be completed in the 3rd quarter of 2012, which provides $750,000 for re-allocation. Building partnerships to leverage JWB’s existing investments Staff has proposed partnering with Pinellas County Schools (PCS) to improve quality child care for very at-risk children in Pinellas County. Presently, JWB supports child care for 712 children in our funded programs offered through such programs as Healthy Families, a child abuse prevention program. There are 13 programs/agencies that utilize these entitled slots in which children typically remain for an average of nine months. The Board has reviewed documentation over the last several months which supports a strategy of providing high quality services, at the market rate, for at-risk children to improve their school readiness and
- 3. school success. Children in subsidized care essentially are less ready to learn than their peers, especially those in specific, high poverty ZIP codes in Pinellas County. There is a need for persistence in ameliorating the impact of poverty on academic success rates. These children need consistently high quality child care and wrap around services throughout their lives rather than episodic services that frequently devolve into more expensive, deeper end services later in life. The school system, St. Petersburg College, and JWB are collaborating on a project to assure high quality child care in below-census or vacant schools that will meet the childcare standards adopted by the Board last May. Staff is preparing a recommendation for the Board in May that would result in the majority of the child care budget being delivered in school system locations. Parents would be issued vouchers for child care services for these sites. Staff is working with the school system to ensure services in the at-risk ZIP codes. See attached maps. It is expected there will be cost sharing between the school system and JWB resulting in improved quality standards. Consequently, it is not yet possible to identify the exact number of children who will be served. Preliminarily staff projects approximately 600 infants and toddlers will need services. Although fewer children will be served, the goal is to increase the number of those in subsidized care who are ready for school. The overall County average for school readiness is 67%; in subsidized care the average is 57%, and the Head Start average is 44%. The anticipated launch of this strategy is August 2012. The number of children served in the Out-of School-Time programs will be maintained through a collaboration between JWB and CCC due to added resources from the 21st Century Community Learning Center grants. Seeking non-ad valorem revenues to enhance services During the past two years, staff has secured grants totaling $737,150.00. In addition, JWB has provided technical assistance to external organizations resulting in $540,000 in grant awards. In that same time period, JWB has received $55,000 in grant evaluation contacts, and will carry forward unspent funds of $346K as one- time expenditures in year two of the Carerra grant. During the past five years, numerous JWB funded agencies have leveraged our allocation as local match for federal grants. We remain focused on bringing resources into Pinellas County that benefit children and families, and JWB has cultivated collaborative partnerships with 211 Tampa Bay Cares, Inc, City of St. Petersburg, Coordinated Child Care, R’Club Child Care, Inc., Seniors in Services, Inc., St. Petersburg College, The Science Center of Pinellas, and United Way of Tampa Bay. The IRS/VITA will be a three-year continuation grant, based on the 2012 performance, to intensify the Wealth Building Coalition’s countywide reach. In addition, staff is assisting Neighborhood Family Centers in identifying and applying for capacity-building grants. The revenue maximization component has shown dramatic increase in Targeted Case Management for Medicaid eligible at-risk youth. The recapture rate has grown from $181,791.21 in FY 09-10 to $333,396 in FY 11-12. JWB receives a 65% share of these funds,with the remainder going to Healthy Families and Personal Enrichment in Mental Health Services, the two current provider agencies. We have also attracted match funding from the City of St. Petersburg ($500k) for out-of-school-time services. Engaging new corporate business partners Last year JWB partnered with All Children’s Hospital to facilitate the Intergovermental Transfer (IGT) for the Medicaid hospital rate which resulted in a $3.5M return and $350K in additional revenues available for in- school health clinics. Bayfront has also expressed interest in partnering next year. Also this year, staff delivered a proposal to the City of St. Petersburg which would authorize JWB to work with Corporations interested in
- 4. City tax abatements for child care funding. The Council approved the application, which has been sent to the Department of Revenue for approval. In essence, a corporation would be offered the opportunity to provide child care to a low-income employee. For every corporate dollar donated, a 50 cent tax credit would be issued, which a JWB and State dollar would match resulting in $3 available for child care in the St. Petersburg enterprise zone. It is possible that JWB could realize a cost savings as a result of this initiative should corporate involvement be significant and funds for the Child Care Executive Pool be limited. The State funds are capped at $15M and traditionally, Miami and Palm Beach have outpaced other areas in delivering match for the pool. Achieve high returns on investments by emphasizing quality over quantity Staff is proposing expanding evidence-based programs. The Incredible Years program has been expanded with Directions for Mental Health, Inc. being added as a provider. The total cost of this initiative is $80K. Incredible Years is a Blueprint model program. The Washington Institute of Public Policy and has calculated the program delivers an ROI of $7.50 for every dollar invested. Last year’s efforts included the training and implementation for two pilot sites at Suncoast Center, Inc. and Personal Enrichment for Mental Health Services. The inaugural cycle (20 weeks) of the parent and child groups concluded in March 2012, and data obtained from the sites is undergoing analysis. Staff is proposing adding an additional team to the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) program during FY 2012/13. NFP is an evidence based blueprint model program which has been calculated to provide an ROI of $3.23 for each dollar invested (Washington State Institute of Public Policy, 2011). The School System and JWB are working together to expand the Children’s Initiative at Melrose Elementary School. FY 12/13 is a planning year for Melrose, to include the Children’s Initiative as a full school project rather than a cohort like Fairmount Park Elementary. Grant funded programs, such as the 21st Century Community Learning Centers After-School program, and the Carerra Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, continue next year. Matching funds are required for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, and sustainability funding for Carerra is proposed for FY 15/16. Budget for Administration Staff is budgeting to absorb the health insurance cost increases within the administrative budget. A “start from scratch” budget approach has been directed for operating budget submissions this year. The ASO budget is expected to be flat next year. The rent cost will be off set by $21,600 due to the addition of 2-1-1 to the building. Reduced costs for technology were realized this year as a result of the partnership with the County on IT costs. We expect an approximately $77K reduction in costs as a result of discontinuing our involvement with the SAMIS collaborative. Preliminarily, the migration to CHEDAS is not expected to incur additional costs, with the exception of fees for support services from Business Technology Services. Staff is projecting a reduction in the overall technology budget, which is projected to be under $200K in FY 12/13. The shared collaboration between the County and JWB for funding the Health and Human Services Coordinating Council is expected to continue, with no increase. County fees for tax administration are projected at just under $1M.