 Yeah, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. Can you just say, do it on the short end or something else? Yeah, so do it. But when you're looking at it and you look at it that way, it works. Do it where it's at. Yeah, so it works. I got to a point that I might not have here. I don't know. What are you doing here? No, he's doing, um, something like that. Oh, man. Do we have a mark script? Yeah, it doesn't have a mark script. Okay, I'll just mark it. No, no, that's fine. I actually don't need this one. Here, I'll give you the rest of the manual. I'll just put it together from the screen and the clip. I put it somewhere. Okay. What's the same for me before I actually started writing to Bill? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Good afternoon. Would everyone please be seated? Thank you so we can get started. Appreciate it. Council Member Trevino. Council Member Warwick. Council Member Villagran is attending the National Association of Latino Elected Officials and will not be here. Council Member Saldana. Council Member Gonzalez is in the hospital. She was admitted earlier today. And she, I was told she may be here if they release her. Council Member Lopez. Council Member Medina. Council Member Nuremberg. Council Member Crier. Council Member Gallagher. And Mayor Taylor. Mayor, we do have a quorum. Okay, wonderful. Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to our San Antonio City Council B session. We're thrilled to be here at Haven for Hope today. Thank you so much to our hosts here at Haven for Hope. When I walked in, Jed Mavius and I were just reflecting on being at meetings. Actually not here because when he and I were on the board here didn't exist yet. But he and I and Patty Radle and Mr. Griehe were in on the envisioning for where we are today. So it certainly is gratifying to see it all come to reality. Looking forward to learning about everything that happens here at this campus. And having a robust discussion about how we as a community can better address the challenges of homelessness and related issues here within our community. So let's go ahead and get started. I'll turn things over to our City Manager to introduce the presentation. Thank you Mayor and Council Members. Thank you Haven for Hope for hosting us here this afternoon. We don't usually do off-campus meetings but we're happy to be here this afternoon. So just by way of introduction our Department of Human Services led by Melody Woosley and Haven for Hope and Mark Carmona, our Director here are going to provide a briefing on the City's ongoing homeless initiatives and the Haven for Hope campus including some key milestones on the development and evolution of the services that are unique needs to the homeless population. And just as a reminder to the Council our 2015 adopted budget does include 6.8 million to Haven for Hope and the partner organizations that support homeless initiatives. And I see Eric Cooper sitting in the front row with the food bank. So we have a substantial financial operating support to Haven for Hope. Just as background in 2005 the conditions for homelessness in San Antonio and the community's approach were very different than they are today. I think back to that very first meeting we had in 2006 when Mayor Hardburger convened a group of advocates for homelessness and asked Bill Grehe and Patty Radle to co-chair a task force back at that time. And of course the SAM shelter and the City's Dwyer shelter and single room occupancy facility provided shelter for an estimated 350 residents. Back then less than 25% of Haven's capacity today and with very limited services and help to transition residents to permanent housing and to help them get into positions where they could support themselves and healthy conditions for living facilities because everything was quite inadequate at the time. In 2005 the Council approved a plan for the task force on hunger and hopelessness and included recommendations to close the two city-owned shelters in the downtown area and create a comprehensive service campus. And by the fall of 2006 Council had approved the homeless campus conceptual plan and a separate non-profit Haven for Hope Bear County was created to fundraise, construct and manage the campus and we'll hear from Bill Grehe this afternoon because he has led that private sector effort. And I can recall when we traveled to a number of cities to view their campuses and explore the possibilities of public-private partnerships on how to better minister and handle and deal with the challenges of homelessness in San Antonio. And it was quite a team effort and we've come so far in great news and wonderful stories to tell about the success rate. So with that I think I turn it over to Melody Woosley first or as Bill Grehe is speaking first. Bill Grehe the Chair of the Haven for Hope Board is here and he's going to speak first. Bill. Thank you Cheryl. Well first of all welcome to Haven for Hope Campus. Let me tell you how proud we are of the work that we are doing helping the homeless. You know I know most of you have been on campus a number of times but a lot has grown and evolved over that period of time. We're celebrating our five-year anniversary so we thought this would be a good time to bring everybody up to date and what's happening at Haven. First of all thank the city and thank all of you for not only your financial support but for the staff support they gave us at Haven for Hope. Without that Haven for Hope would not be a reality today. Let me give you a brief, Cheryl mentioned it. Let me give you a brief overview on how Haven for Hope began. I stepped down as CEO at the end of 05 with Valero and at that time I wanted to spend all my time giving back to the community and I wanted to do that financially and giving of my time financially was easy. I had a lot of Valero stock. I'd never sold it so I set up a foundation. The other thing I wanted to do was do something in the community that wasn't being done and I really didn't know what that would be. I saw a program at the end of 05 on television about the homeless problem we have in San Antonio and for the first time I saw a face of the homeless person, you know, the families, the veterans, people that had drug and alcohol, substance abuse, mental health, people that weren't making enough money to live independently. The other thing that I saw in watching this program was that we were feeding and clothing and in some cases sheltering but we really were not addressing the root cause of why are these people homeless and we weren't transforming their lives so that they could lead an independent life. So I spoke to Mayor Harberger about this program and I said, we're failing here in San Antonio, the homeless. All we're doing is recycling. They go to jail, they come out of jail, they go to jail, they come out of jail. Same thing with the emergency room. They get sick, they go to the emergency room, they get released later on back in the emergency room and we're not helping anybody. And he said, well what do you think we should do? And I said, well we really need to address the root cause transformation and I think what we need is a campus where all the services are provided on one campus and it all ought to be based on transformation. He said, well what I'd like for you to do is come up with a plan and I'll have the city staff work with you and I will appoint a council and on that council Patty Radle was the co-chair of the council and we also had the mayor and they actually later on served as the first board members of Haven for Hope and Patty is still on the board. We visited a lot of cities and found out best practices which we adopted but nobody had really what we wanted to have at Haven for Hope. We could not have done any of this. I knew very little about the homeless and Melanie and the city staff. We spent one year working full-time and no Cheryl was upset because we had all of our staff working with us. I had New Star staff working for me. Luckily I was retired but we spent almost full-time a year and a half coming up with this plan and the plan we came up with is a little bit different than what I had visualized. I had visualized all transformation but we really came up with two campuses. We came up with one campus for the courtyard and these homeless people that were not ready for transformation but it was a safe place for them to be and then the transformation and we presented it to the mayor and the council went along with the plan that we had. You can see what this site looked like before Haven for Hope and we're sitting on that site right here. We were fortunate that this site included a lot of abandoned buildings and we were able to renovate those buildings. In fact, this building here was one of those buildings and we saved a lot of money in the construction cost. The city also agreed that they would purchase the land and the location was really critical. The 22 acres that they bought for $15 million was the perfect location. It's two and a half miles from downtown. It's near the jail, the county hospital and the GI forum. What you see in this next picture is what our campus looks like today. Typically we have about 800 residents in the transformational campus. 247 family members, 158 children, 400 single men, 165 single women. I talked about the courtyard. The courtyard is a safe sleeping area for those unable and willing to go into transformation. There's medical, psychiatric care, showers, hot meals, washers, dryers, access to clothing. We have outreach workers that work with them, support specialists, trying to get them interested in transformation. The overnight we've had about a 593 average for the last several months and during the daytime 767. We're also excited about a lot of changes that we have planned for Prospect Courtyard that Mark will be talking about later on. This is an overview of Haven for Hope and again we have services needed for the campus, medical, dental, vision, childcare. Incidentally, all those services are outside the gate for Haven for Hope and the reason is these services are available to the neighboring community to utilize. We have a chapel, a kennel, job training, counseling, life skills, legal assistance. We have a detox for alcohol, drugs and then we have a wellness program for mental health. Whenever I walk through the campus and I spend a lot of time walking through the campus, invariably people stop us and they say, you saved my life and we have. The success we've had is better than I even anticipated. We've moved 2200 from the transformational campus. These are ones that have gone through the program, graduated and living an independent life. Many of these have been on the streets for decades. In fact, when they graduate, we have a graduation ceremony, it's the first time that they've seen family members since they've been homeless. We also have more than 4,000 that moved off the streets into prospects courtyard, higher levels of care like sober living homes, supportive housing, shuttle plus care. We've had over 35,000 treated restoration center, which was built from a $6.7 million contribution that we got from the state. I see the chief police is here. This really better utilizes San Antonio Police Department's time. What they do with the homeless, they just drop them off at the restoration center. At the restoration, we not only have a detox services, but we also have medics to handle any kind of minor injuries that they might have. We feel like we have saved $50 million in documented cost avoidance in the first five years. That includes the jail, emergency room and court costs. The best part is we're stopping the cycle by encouraging participation in the house recovery program and the in-house program. We have provided over 40,000 medical vision dental care services during a one-year period of time. What's interesting, we thought this was pretty primarily for Haven for Hope residents, but two-thirds of those services are to the neighboring community. The jail residivism rate is one-fourth, the county average is 80%, ours is 24%. When we started Haven for Hope, the jails were full and they were talking about building new jails. Today we have approximately 1,000 open beds, so we're stopping the cycle. We're also proud of our safety record. If you look at a two-year period of time coming in and out of Haven for Hope on a daily basis, we've had a million and a half people that have come in and out. That's a large number of folks coming in and out of the campus every day. We have never had a life-threatening incident on campus in our five years of operation. I think the best way to understand what we're doing in Haven for Hope is to hear from one of our former members. I'd like you to introduce you to Valerie Salas, who is our featured speaker at our New Hope Golf Tournament. Incidentally, our golf tournament is something that New Stars started eight years ago to support Haven for Hope. We have a graduate every year that speaks to the group. We had a thousand guests and her story was absolutely amazing and allowed us to raise over $4 million for Haven for Hope. So I know you'll be amazed at Valerie's story. Where's Valerie? There she is. Hi, my name is Valerie. I am a recovering alcoholic and addict and by God's grace and this beautiful campus that you are on, I've been sober since October 23rd of 2013 and for that I am truly grateful. I would just definitely like to start off by thanking the Mayor, Mayor Taylor and the City Council for all of your support and what you've done to make Haven for Hope possible and the place that saved my life. I don't want to take too much of your time, but just to kind of give you an idea of the timeline of wreckage of my past and what brought me to the gates of Haven for Hope. I grew up in a household that was very hot and cold. My father was an alcoholic and my mother was emotionally unavailable. So I grew up on a spirit of fear and resentment and my father died when I was 14 and that was very unexpected and when that happened I just kind of went into this really dark life of using drugs and alcohol. I immediately dropped out of school when that happened. My father died, he was my protector and abuser so I was just really confused and lost at a very early age. I also was driven off the spirit of rebelliousness and just anger and when I dropped out of high school I started abusive relationships, domestic violence situations and from my drug and alcohol abuse, multiple hospitalizations due to overdoses, some intentional as far as suicide attempts and I was just always kind of given the solution of the emergency room kind of sent to the psych ward given some kind of anti-depressant anxiety tranquilizer or something kind of sent on my way. It was never addressed that I might have an alcohol or a drug problem. As far as the domestic violence situations about, I had boys at a very early age to my early 20s because of the situations that I would put them in, it led to the neglect of my children, multiple CPS cases due to my choices as a mother and I also had a pretty heavy domestic violence situation that happened about four years ago. My boyfriend and I got in an argument and in the midst of that he ended up killing himself, someone else in the act and I played a part in that so it was just a really dark series of just ugly events that I kept kind of setting the ball rolling on. After that situation happened I went into further addiction when I was introduced to methamphetamines and I started dating a drug dealer who dealt meth and staying in their dope house. It didn't take long for me to be hospitalized again over and over again for overdose, more suicide attempts and so I just came to a place where I actually ended up getting in a hostage situation with my drug dealer and so the police ended up getting me out of there and I came to a place where I was just done with my addiction, I just didn't want to use again, I was homeless, I had been seeing a spiritual counselor who at that time led me to Haven for Hope and that's how I ended up at the gates of Haven for Hope and I had just been released from the state hospital as well from being declared mentally unstable just from the really dark wreckage of my past and that's kind of how I showed up to Haven for Hope, still a slave of drug and alcohol addiction, homeless, I didn't want to use again, I didn't know where to go, I didn't want to go back to the dope house definitely and I admitted myself into the IHRP program which is the in-house recovery program here at Haven and I was introduced to staff members, my intake process was very vital for me because for the first time one of the staff members that did my intake process, the vital thing for me was that this person was actually recovering themselves, they had sobriety, they had experienced what I had experienced and that was the difference for me from all of the psych wards that I had been through, the hospitalizations, I had actually made that contact with someone who actually has been through what I've been through and that made me feel very safe and very hopeful, it ignited hope in me. Here at Haven I was given every resource that I needed to be successful to grow, everything from medical attention and my body was pretty badly abused from medical attention to counseling for a gang rape that I had experienced and counseling to learning coping skills and everything, I mean just every kind of resource that I needed was given to me here on this campus and also I was in the care of people who understood what I had experienced and were very well experienced with the remedy of what I needed to be successful and after where I'm at today I actually have my kids now and I'm in very close relationship with them. I work in a multi-million dollar law firm who is very supportive of Haven for Hope and anything that I do as far as trying to raise money and give back. I'm very involved with the home group as far as recovery. I'm very involved in the recovery world and also with the home church that this past service on Sunday they shared my testimony with all of the services and just kind of showing the transformation of what Haven for Hope has done for me which was really cool because it really puts Haven's name out there for anyone who needs their assistance. Another resource that Haven gave me and they're very encouraging about is to get me to go back to school so I am in the process of getting my GED again with higher intentions of furthering my education in the fundraising world. So that's kind of my story in a nutshell. This transformation that Haven for Hope offers is very, very real and the light of my life today is working with those women in the dorm. I was just here last night. This is what I spend my days doing. I come down here, I work with the girls in the dorm. I help them get through the process of their steps to recover. I have another one going into the same program that I was in today that I picked up from detox the other day that you can take into recovery. So these are the really cool blessed opportunities that I get to be a part of today all because of this campus. Again, thank you so much for your time. Well, I told you it was an amazing story. She's going to be around after the presentations if you all have any questions at all. You know what's really interesting is we have so many graduates like Valerie that come back on campus to mentor the people, the residents that we have which is really great. Let me quickly talk to you about the funding for Haven for Hope This is the total cost of $100.5 million. I told you earlier that there were a lot of buildings here that we renovated that we were able to save money. The only new buildings that we built were the dorms for the men family and women in the chapel. Everything else, our old buildings that were renovated. $61 million was raised from the private sector. What's interesting about that is that was right after 08. When we started Haven for Hope, everybody said, number one, you're not going to be able to raise money and number two, you're not going to be successful if you raise the money. We've proven them wrong on both accounts. Our operational budget is $15.5 million. Again, we've worked really hard to get a wide variety of funding sources. We get it from individuals, donators, foundations, corporations, United Way, the city, county, and state. This is truly a public-private partnership that we have. The city contributes 19% of our operating budget and also supports many of our partners on campus, like CHCS, YMCA, the food bank. Incidentally, I talked about Newstar in the new golf tournament. The eight tournaments that we've had, they've raised $27 million for Haven for Hope. Every year, we're raising at least $3 million. Again, I want to thank all of your support without the help of the city. Mayor Harberger was absolutely great. Nelson-Woof also got involved in the county, pledged their support. It's been a great, great partnership, so thank you again. Mayor, the next speaker is Melody Woosley, our director of human services. She's going to discuss the city's participation in Haven for Hope, and then Mark Carmona, the director of Haven for Hope, is going to give a short presentation. Melody. Thank you, Cheryl. Thank you, Mr. Griehe, and thank you, Valerie. Just real quick before Mark gets into more detail about the campus and the services that are provided here, I wanted to provide an overview of homelessness in San Antonio and also an update on the city's investments in homeless initiatives. And so annually, the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless Sara, which is our local continuum of care, conducts a point-in-time count, which is a one-night snapshot of a homeless population in San Antonio. We began conducting separate downtown annual point-in-time counts in 2010 before Haven opened in order to really track the impact of the campus on the downtown area. And in 2010, 733 people were sleeping on the streets in the parks and under the bridges of the downtown area. By January 29th of this year, that number was at 175. Now, that number did go up a little bit this year, and we believe that that's primarily because the weather was much warmer this year than it was last year, but also because we had a really strong presence from the San Antonio Police Department helping with the count. And the teams were able to go into areas that they might not have gone into alone. They were also able to go into areas they might not have even known about because of the police support. And as an example, here on the screen, you see Travis Park looks very different than it did a few years ago, and it is now safe and clean for community and evening events. So the total point-in-time count this year in January was 2,871. And of those, 1,158 were unsheltered. But just to clarify, of the unsheltered, 608 of those were actually counted on the streets and in encampments out in the community of around Bear County. But 550 of those were in the courtyard at Haven for Hope. And so although they were in a safe sleeping environment, the HUD does classify anyone who is in an unsheltered or without a roof as unsheltered. And so the number really that was on the streets outside of the campus was 608. Point-in-time also provides us with a lot of information on the demographics and the barriers that are keeping people from becoming self-sufficient and housed. That includes mental illness, disabilities, addiction, a substance abuse, and traumas that they experience in their life. So often these people become homeless because they have separated or been severed from government institutions. They age out of foster care. They are released from jail, or they transition out of the military into homelessness. And so 10% of the homeless right now in San Antonio are veterans. And another 10% are families with children. And just to emphasize, those families and children are in shelters. They're not on the streets, but they are without connections often. And so as a result of these challenges, the community ends up relying on high-cost services in order to treat the homeless or address their needs and their behaviors. In addition to the high human toll that really the homelessness takes on an individual, the costs to the public are significant, and the staggering fiscal cost to taxpayers has been studied many times across the country. A study released last month on the public costs of homelessness in Santa Clara, which is also the city of San Jose, found that the average cost for a person who is chronically or persistently homeless per year is $83,000. This includes medical systems, the justice system, and social services. So everything from EMS to hospitalization and emergency room visits. A similar study in Florida identified the cost at $31,000 per person, and the U.S. Council on Homelessness puts the national average at about $40,000 per person. In each case, the cost to either provide permanent housing or to provide shelter, as in with Haven with a significant degree of social services and supportive services, is at least $20,000 less than the public cost of homelessness. And these studies really do not include a number of the costs that we see that the communities and businesses incur from everything from cleaning up and disposing of trash accumulation and securing property. Ideally, we would house every homeless person and family. But even if the funding were available to support the housing costs, we don't have enough affordable housing units or enough permanent units with supportive services. And so to this end, the community has a homeless community, a homeless continuum of care that serves the multiple and very unique needs of each homeless person. The highest priority, of course, is to prevent homelessness and to rapidly rehouse families or individuals once they become homeless. When those options are not available or they fail, then we go to our shelter system. It starts everything from, say, sleeping in the courtyard of Haven for Hope to emergency shelter, use shelters that we have for unique populations at Roy Moss and Seton Home, as well as transitional shelter at SAM or the American GI Forum. Sarah and this network of agencies continues to try to identify additional options for permanent housing and work with both of our housing authorities, the San Antonio Housing Authority and the Bear County Housing Authority, to set aside veterans' assistance and Section 8 vouchers for the homeless. The city makes significant investments in homelessness annually and especially at Haven for Hope. The city owns the land at Haven for Hope and is entered into a 60-year ground lease and operating agreement to allow Haven for Hope to construct and open the buildings, own the buildings, as well as operate the campus and manage the facility. Since 2007, the city has invested almost $58 million in the campus, including $19.8 million from capital resources and $38 million in operation funding to Haven for Hope and three campus partners. $6.8 million goes to, for the operating budget, goes to Haven for Hope, the food bank, the Center for Healthcare Services and Family Violence Prevention Services. An additional $2.5 million for a total of $9.3 million in homeless investment is invested in other partners that are not on the campus but are serving the community. It includes services like rapid rehousing, emergency shelter to specific and unique populations, as well as funding to the Department of Human Services to provide homeless prevention, managing our investments and also to coordinate efforts. And so the city's role. So DHS coordinates homeless policy and initiatives including the effort to inveterate homelessness and to date since January we have housed along with our partners 163 homeless veterans. We are reviewing homeless feeding policies and best practices in Texas and across the country and we will hold discussions with homeless feeding organizations in July to come up and develop policy recommendations to bring back to City Council for review. We also managed to monitor the city's homeless investments, agreements and contracts. Since the beginning we worked very closely with Haven for Hope to make adjustments to the campus when needed and partner with them to improve the facility and services. We worked together to improve the environment and prospects courtyard to create a unit to address the severe mental health issues that were identified in the courtyard and also to more recently we worked with Thrive to create a safe and dignified place for LGBT youth to just stay on campus. But addressing homelessness has really been a multi-department effort for the city. Animal Care Services partners with Haven for Hope to provide services to keep animal, to keep the pets of the homeless healthy and cared for. The library department you may have seen as you came in. The library clean that's on the wall they provide the access to that service as well as additional services to the guests at Haven for Hope. They also really do serve as a functionally serve as a downtown homeless provider at the Central Library. The City Manager's Office, TCI, Code Compliance, Metro Health Department, they have all been supportive of this project and provided a great deal of technical assistance in helping the campus function and improve the facility. Even the City Auditor's Office has reviewed the campus and reviewed the HMIS system, provided a great deal of helpful information to move that system forward. But the fire department and especially the San Antonio Police Department have made significant contributions. They work with Haven for Hope and the homeless extensively both in serving the homeless but also in helping ensure that the impact of homelessness on neighborhoods and businesses is minimized. And so I wanted to introduce Chief Trevino who will talk a little bit more about the City of San Antonio and the Police Department's role. Thank you, Melody. But first and foremost, I really want to comment about the great partnership that we have with Haven for Hope, Mark Carmona, and I don't think he's in here, but Ron Brown is really dedicated to outreach to our homeless community. And so he's done some great work within our homeless community, but he's a great resource to us from the police perspective. And so I just wanted to thank y'all very much. And really homelessness is not a problem that cannot be arrested away and should not be arrested away. And so what we need to do is we need to provide options. And the Haven for Hope is that option for us here in the local area in our engagement with law enforcement. And that's why it was important for us to participate in the point in time count because if we're trying to figure out what's the best way to address the resources we have, we really kind of need to get our hands around the issue of just really how many people are we looking at within our community that are homeless and what are the resources that need to be devoted to that. And so that's why this year we kind of went in a little bit different route and assisted with a point in time count because it's not really a DHS problem, a law enforcement problem, it's a community problem, and so we all need to work towards finding solutions. And so one of the most important functions that the Haven for Hope provides is about tying resources to the folks within our community that have those biggest needs. And so that is one of the good things that we appreciate from the law enforcement perspective that when we find somebody out on the streets or roadways that we have a location to bring them to if they like, and we can try to get them on that path to live a normal, healthy life. But the great thing is with the Haven for Hope, really our options prior to Haven for Hope were really limited. And so what we do here with the community around Haven for Hope is we, of course, just like we do any community, we continually assess the crime and issues that are going on within any community. And what we have done on occasion, we have changed some of our tactics, we've seen some of our uniform patrol, they are more suppressive, but what we've done on occasion is we've brought in plain clothes officers at different points in times to address some of the different issues from different perspectives. And so that's something that we're going to continue to do with in coordination with the Haven for Hope. And then one of the key things that I think is important that I think everybody realize, especially when we're talking city council, city government, is that public safety really fosters economic development. And I think that we're seeing some of the positive outcomes of that because we've got the multimodal that's going to be opening up real soon. And we see some of the residential housing that's developing just up the road from here. So I think those are all positive signs as what's happening in and around the community. And I just, I'm just glad that from a law enforcement perspective that we're a part of that in coordination with the Haven for Hope. So thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor, Council. My name is Mark Garamona. I'm the president and CEO of Haven for Hope. And on behalf of our members, our guests and our staff, I want to welcome you to our campus. I want to talk a little bit today about how we're growing and evolving here at Haven for Hope. I think one of the greatest strengths that we have is that we are a learning organization. And we utilize data both quantitatively and qualitatively to ask the question, are we hitting the mark as it relates to addressing root cause and achieving transformation? So we've learned a lot over the years. When we first opened the campus, we didn't realize the impact of mental health and of addiction that would have on the members or co-occurring, meaning that both someone walks in the door with both a mental illness and an addiction issue. So we developed programs in partnership with some of our on-campus partners, like the in-house recovery program that looks at drug and alcohol addiction. Valerie talked about that program earlier. It really is a 90-day structured program that works closely with both men and women. They receive treatment services at the restoration center and then housing and then continued program here at Haven for Hope. Another innovation for us was the in-house wellness program. When we opened the courtyard and as we started to learn more about the courtyard, who's in the courtyard and what are the issues they're dealing with, we found a real need for mental health services and for medical services. So along with the city, the county and some private funding we were able to secure. We opened the in-house wellness program, which has a dorm for men and for women. That's a growing program that addresses mental illness. It helps to stabilize folks and stabilize their mental illness to where they're at a point where they can begin to contemplate employment and housing and the types of supports they're going to need and the plan they have for the future. One of the latest learnings for us is the impact of trauma on the people that are coming to campus. At times, in different cases, we thought it was mental illness or we thought it was addiction that was the issue. When we weren't finding that we were getting to the root cause, we found that it was really trauma. So maybe an abuse that happened earlier in their life or in their family's life or in their parents' life that they witnessed as a child now as an adult that really was the root cause that was impacting that. So when we learned that, we realized we had a lot to learn. So we reached out to one of our partners, Clarity Child Guidance Center, which developed a curriculum for the whole campus, for our staff and for our partners to go through so that we could become a trauma-informed campus. And that helps us as we begin to interact with people and relate with folks in helping them as they work through their person-centered plan. We recently have launched a jail outreach program. There are a number of homeless folks that are sitting in jail today simply by the fact that they're homeless or many of them are misdemeanors. We believe that's the wrong place for them to be. We think Haven for Hope is the right setting for them to be in. So with the county and with the University Health Systems assistance, we are reaching out and we have a peer support specialist, someone with shared experience, who goes into the jail who assesses based on an assessment tool that we use to see if someone is a good candidate for campus. In just one period alone when we're doing assessment, we identified over 80 individuals that were currently in jail that were good candidates for Haven for Hope. Now that we've launched that program, we're starting to identify those folks, bring them through the registration and the court system, both the county courts and the district courts, and get them onto campus. And so our goal is, and we've got 30 beds that are available for them, and so we expect some great success with this program based on the needs of the folks, a lot, many of them with mental health issues. I think one of the greatest innovations that we've had on campus is the introduction of peer support specialists. As I mentioned earlier, these are people with shared experience, people that have experienced homelessness, that have experienced mental illness, have experienced addiction issues, and even trauma. They've come through our program or they've come through other programs. They've transformed and entered into the community, usually lived on their own for about one or two years, and then they come back and they work on the Haven campus. We have about 18 now that work for Haven for Hope, and we have a number that work for campus partners as well. These folks have much more credibility than I would ever have in trying to reach somebody who's experiencing homelessness because they've lived it, they've experienced it, so the credibility they have allows them to get to the intervention a lot faster. And so we have them working in all aspects of the operation from intake to direct services, some on facility staff across the board, and they've been a great, great resource and tool for us on campus. With private funding, another innovation is the introduction of the courtyard sick bay and day sleeping area. I mentioned earlier that we found that there were many medical issues, especially with folks 60 and over in the courtyard that couldn't afford hospital care, were on the streets, away from the opening as we were in our first year. And so we were able to get some funding from the Kronkowski Foundation and open up the sick bay. And we have a number of folks that are in the courtyard that work at night and need to sleep during the day. When you tour the courtyard today, you'll see that it's an open, kind of active area. So we needed a place for them to actually get some rest so they can go to work at night time. And so the sick bay and the day sleeping area does provide for that. Some community innovations that we put in place. And then when I first got here, we had a town hall meeting with a number of neighbors in the neighborhood that weren't really sure what Haven for Hope was about and had some concerns about safety. And we were able to address those issues. But what came out of that, I think one of the greatest things that came out of that was the ambassadors program. These are members and guests on our campus that go out and give back to the community. They have worked on the House of Neighborly Service and did a total makeover on that facility which saved them thousands of dollars. They built a number of habitat homes in the community. They worked on a mural in the east side. They built ramps for food pantries. They've done a number of different projects. And a number of these folks are coming out of the IHRP program, both men and women. And when you ask them about the program and thanking them for doing it, they turn around and say, no, we thank you because so much has been given to us. And so we feel really good about this as a way, as their own transformation while they're here on campus, a way to give back to the part of this community once they leave campus. We established a fourth year residency program with the Health Science Center that is out at Christian Dental Clinic. Dental students in their fourth year are passing through and working on the folks that are coming both from the campus and the community. I think it's really increased the interest in community dentistry as I've talked to some of the faculty which has been a big need. Melanie mentioned earlier the Thrive program. We learned through the city and working with Travis Park Church and the Health Science Center that there were a number of LGBT folks, 18 to 24, 25, that were homeless on the streets with really no place to go. Thrive is an organization that's dedicated to working with that population. We reached out to them. And within two weeks, we had a space dedicated on campus. They're now on campus. They're providing, they're getting services through Thrive as well as receiving services, job training services, counseling services, educational services on the Haven campus. That's a good partnership. Some social enterprise innovations. We recently, well actually about a year and a half ago, we purchased the 1231 West Martin facility. It is right adjacent to the entrance of the courtyard. And we have, the first phase of that facility is just about completed which ties into our next social innovation which is going to be opening of a call center. We have partnered with a local company called CSG. I believe last year, they were the fastest growing business in San Antonio. They're a call center that has a number of federal contracts. They established a site at Haven for Hope. They hire our members. They pay $10 an hour with full benefits. And we've had, we have a team of six right now that's in place. All of those six have already gone through the transformational program, have moved out into community, but they still choose to work here at the CSG location on campus. Once we are completed with phase one, we'll have the ability to hire 100 members from the campus to work in this operation. So CSG will have its site there. There will be a number of contracts. Nationwide was a new contract that came on board, Farmers Insurance, the VA. So these are large contracts. And what I like about this program is that it introduces work again to people and the idea of work. And so for our starting group of six, you know, we started off maybe 10 hours a week and it grew to 25 and it grew to 40. But it taught people you have to get up. You have to be at work on time. You have to work while you're there. And they really formed as a team, which is good because that's the foundational group that'll start our new enterprise in the new facility. So we're very excited about this, this innovation and the fact that it can also bring some additional revenue back into Haven that we can push into the mission. In the West Martin facility, we do have some plans that I did want to talk about. I'll get to that in a moment. Let me go back one. We plan to identify a space. One of the things that we've learned, probably in the last year, there's a number of married couples that have approaches that don't have children. And our current policy on campus is when you come and you're not with children, we're saving those spots for family dorms. And so usually the man is in the men's dorm, the women's in the women's dorm. So we have married couples that have just not come on to the Haven campus for that reason. What we'll do in phase two with the Martin building is we'll create space for married couples without children so they can access Haven for Hope and all the services that are here. I know Mr. Griehe's ran into a lot of folks. We've ran into a lot of folks that want to come on to campus and so we'll outreach to those folks and bring them in. We also recognize there's a number of people in the courtyard that are highly motivated. They're volunteering their time right now and they're ready to begin that move for transformation. We'd like to create a step-up facility for those folks in the Martin facility as well that moves them off the courtyard campus into this facility before they either move on to the transformational campus or successfully move into housing in the community. We think it's a way to help identify a group or a population within the courtyard, get them into the proper intervention. Maybe it lessens the amount that's in there so we can target our interventions that are there in a more effective way. It's another way that we are working towards better identifying the needs in the courtyard and providing interventions. I think maybe not known by a lot of people was the fact that Haven provides a lot of homeless prevention services. When we opened, we really didn't do a lot of that because we had partners that we referred to because our focus was really on the transformational part. So when we opened, we were intaking about 300 folks a month that made sense because we were opening the campus and we were filling the dorms. Today, we average over 2,100 people at intake. The majority of those folks are seeking prevention services. So it's housing referrals to the south, to Sam Ministries, the women's shelter, the Salvation Army, GI forms, seat and home and another. Also it's financial assistance and the financial assistance is really trying to prevent those folks that have a home of having to leave that home. So it could be paying off a SAWS bill or a CPS bill or providing some assistance that will allow them to stay in their home. It could be move out expenses. It could be hotel emergency stays. They really are motivated and they're about to get a job. They don't really need to be on the campus. They need to be back with their family so we can help do that. And we can provide rent and even pay arrears and we've done that with certain situations. This is one area that Mr. Griehe has put a lot of his money. He's put $23 million of his own money into the Haven for Hope campus, not only for Haven but for his partners. And in a lot of ways, a lot of these partners, these housing referral partners and other agencies on campus have received that support to allow a lot of these prevention services to happen in the community. So I really think a lot of what's going on here is that it was built as a campus, as a central location for people to come to and people are doing that. It's not surprising to me that these, the number has grown and we hope as the continuum considers centralized intake and those pieces that they'll consider Haven for Hope as the central location to be able to carry some of those things out. We were able to work and successfully, working with Speaker Strauss and his staff, which really took the time to understand and work in the issue of mental health. We were successfully able to advocate for improved mental health funding this last session over $147 million throughout the state of Texas. So as you can see from that number, $37 million of that is going to go towards equity. There's been a huge equity issue in Bear County. We've been on the lower end of per capita funding and mental health funding for a number of years. And we hope now that they have changed the formula looking at population and growth, that we think that Bear County will be able to get even more mental health services. We think this is particularly important for the courtyard. We know that there are a number of folks that are significantly mentally on the courtyard and could really benefit from established facilities that are trained and equipped and staff to be able to deal with this. And so we think the equity issue can help address that. There is almost $10 million in line for those communities across the state that have a waiting list. Bear County really doesn't have a lot of that because we've always chosen to care for folks as much as we could as opposed to putting people in crisis on a waiting list. There's $50 million that are going to be available for additional inpatient community beds, namely state hospital beds. We hope, and we would hope the city would push for this, that those be civil beds and not forensic beds. There's a number of the civil beds that are taken up right now by folks that are coming out of the criminal justice system, but you have a lot of people, namely a number that are on the courtyard itself that could use a civil bed in the state hospital and that kind of a treatment. There'll be 31 millions for alternatives to that type of treatment. The Center for Healthcare Services provides a lot of those services in the community. We'd like to see that expanded. And finally, there's going to be $20 million that are going to be invested in a veterans community. I want to recognize some of the partners that are here with us today that help us do our work every day. Eric Cooper's here with the Food Bank. I know the Center for Healthcare Services Prevention Services, Martha Palais. So just recognizing them, it really does take the 36 campus partners that are with us on site to make a difference every day in and out at Haven for Hope. Finally, I just want to tell you some about some new initiatives. Back to the courtyard, we recognize that there is a need for integrated healthcare. We have another mention to you that are walking in the door for behavioral health issues or medical issues. By building this new integrated care clinic, it puts the behavioral health and the medical right next to each other. So there's no wrong door for the person to walk into. So if they're walking in for a medical issue, they're going to get a behavioral health screen. If they're walking for a behavioral health issue, they'll get a medical screen. We think this is a much more efficient way and we think we'll be able to serve more in the courtyard. If we have time for a tour, you'll see the clinic. We're also exploring another social enterprise with the largest franchise operator Subways in San Antonio in developing a Subway franchise near the campus that would employ our members again and also generate some income that could come back into campus. And then finally, we're working again with the dental school and the San Antonio Christian Dental Clinic and working with Councilwoman Gonzalez's staff on creating an on-site pediatric dental clinic not only for our campus but for children in the surrounding neighborhood. We think this is going to meet a lot because oral health education is going to be a big part of that, making sure that parents are really aware of what oral health is, how are they teaching oral health in the homes and for the kids themselves. We're going to try to time this at the same time as going back to school so it can be one of those things that's on the checklist. Again, thank you for being at Haven for Hope today and we're available for any questions you have. Thank you so much everyone for the information and we appreciate it. I had just one question and it may have been mentioned but I just didn't catch it. Maybe Mark, you can answer on what's the, is there an average length of time that a person spends on the campus before they're able to move to housing off the campus? Good question, Mayor. That time now is averaging between six and nine months. When we first opened, as you remember, the thinking was at the time but the more that we started to assess needs and have people work on their own plans we saw the length of stay starting to lessen and so the average, it's a shorter length of time, Mayor, for singles and a little bit longer length of time for families. Okay, thank you very much. We'll go to council members who have questions. We'd like to try to be concise so that we will have time for the tour. So if you just keep that in mind and we'll start with Councilman Cryer. Thank you Mayor and thank you for the presentation. I remember when Mayor Hardberger set up this task for us that Bill Yu and former councilwoman Radle and Cheryl Yu all went to several places around the country to look at how other people were doing this and came back with this model and I came out here more than once when this facility first opened Mark, are you still for a long time you were getting cities from all over the country and around the world coming out here to see the San Antonio model how extensive has that been and are you still getting folks coming out to see the San Antonio model? We are Councilman to date we've had 199 cities and 43 states, three countries come to visit Haven for Hope and the model itself. Two sessions ago the legislature looked at Haven for Hope as a national model and it appropriated 25 million towards the healthy community collaborative based on the Haven for Hope model. I mean that is really an endorsement of this my colleague Councilman Lopez knows that at Toyota they say go and see if you're going to learn how to do it right and you're certainly having people from all over the country and the world going and seeing you I number one wanted to thank Councilman Radle who I've known for a long time and I've got to tell you a little story about Councilman Radle the first time I met her I was still running the chamber and I think Charlie and I wanted to have lunch with you about something that was pending and she said I will have lunch with you but you have to come to my district and I will not see you at City Hall and you will have lunch at a restaurant in my district and what sticks in my memory today Patty is we went to this tiny little hole in the wall restaurant so here's Charlie Cheever and I looking dressed like we worked for the FBI or that we run the biggest bank in town and we sit down at this tiny little rickety table in the middle of the restaurant and Patty turns to us and says could we all hold hands and I'll say the blessing which you always do so she gave a blessing in the middle of the restaurant so Bill you had a good partner who has been mayor and I wanted to say this as a woman of faith Patty has really kind of lived the life that she talks about so I appreciate that very much this would not have happened but for Bill Rehe I know that when he ran Valero it was the example of what corporate citizenship is all about we would not have an Alamo Dome but for Bill and his tireless efforts to pass that campaign we would not have an AT&T center but for his rallying the business community I've been working with Councilman Nuremberg on the medical foundation the new medical school in Austin has had two 50 million dollar gifts so far the largest gift that the UT Health Science Center has ever had is 20 million dollars from Bill Rehe not to mention the 20 plus that he's put into this place the last thing I would say mayor is the building the chamber of commerce in was built in 1968 for hemisphere and was leased from the city on the condition that the chamber would build and furnish the building and give it to the city to use as the visitor center for hemisphere and for the convention visitors when that was all over with they could have it for the chamber so along comes me in 1987 and the building is in bad shape furnishers never been changed carpets never been changed and we go to the city and say would you renew our lease and the city says fine we will do that led by Cliff Morton and Mayor Cisneros and the city said can you renovate the building and keep it that way and we went to our construction company and they said great you're going to have to move out of this building for nine months we can't do this work while you're there so I had to find somewhere to move the chamber and I went to Bill Rehe and said we've got to go somewhere and Bill had a floor in the then Valero building and he said Joe just bring the chamber here and we moved into the Valero building for almost a year so I am the only person in this room who can say Bill I was homeless and you took me in and I never thought I'd get rid of him anyhow Mayor this this program is a it is not an expense for the city it is an investment for the city in my view it's an investment in our future it's an investment in our people it's a living testament and Antonio does not give up on its own I could not be more supportive of the haven and the programs that it does and I thank you for your leadership Mayor and your concern for the homeless throughout your time here thank you Mayor thank you Councilman Crier Councilman Saldana thank you Mayor and thank you Councilman Crier for that context you know Councilman Crier was office-less for several years and we brought him to the fourth floor joining us here on the Council but let me first start off by thanking Mr. Griehe for his input and his work here and Valerie for her testimony her powerful testimony about what works when things are working and to of course former Councilwoman Patty Radle for her strong vision in helping to craft the blueprint that has turned into the dream of a day with Haven for Hope and that's a great story Councilman Crier and one that I'm certain many people can tell about Patty Radle so thank you Patty for your leadership I want to ask Mark just a few questions I had a quick comment to speak to something that Councilman Crier brought up which is that traveling around the countries learning from lessons out there a few days ago I got a call from a friend who said hey I heard you've got new jobs in New York and it's always great to hear about other folks in other parts of the city talking about things happening in San Antonio and when I was away in college I remember opening up the San Francisco daily paper and they talked about this innovative new partnership between the private and public sector to try to open up at that point I didn't know if Haven for Hope had a name but it was a comprehensive center campus that would exist and it's always great to see other cities coming and looking at the work that we're doing here but the great thing about what's happening is that you all are constantly learning and improving from the services that you are providing every day because you're learning from the customers in a sense whether it's because there are married couples who don't come here for one reason or another and I have to say that the Thrive Center is something that really is exciting and speaks to that adaptability and that constant learning that is happening here at Haven so I remember taking a tour several months ago and they talked about Prospects Courtyard and this is one that I think you all have done a lot of learning and I'm not sure if it was part of the initial idea or the dream of what was happening here at Haven but I've heard a lot of folks some homeless who said that but for Prospects Courtyard they wouldn't come here that there is this sense of they don't want to go all the way in for a number of reasons but is that something that now you feel like you all have perfected the Prospects Courtyard concept, is that something that still needs tinkering because I know that it's become really useful? I think it's work that's still in progress. I think we have learned a tremendous amount that's resulted in in-house recovery that's altered you know programs for mental illness, for medical issues comprehensive behavioral health care a number of kinds of news you know the purchase of the West Martin facility and what it's going to provide some of the changes that we have on the horizon for the Courtyard really is trying to bring more of the services so where the behavioral health clinic was before I'll become a welcome center so anyone walking into the Courtyard and I've even asked staff why don't we just put a sign that says get help here so people just know exactly where to go to and we'll have more of the outreach workers and more of the peer support specialists but other non-profits that have resources that are available often times when people walk into the Courtyard they have no idea where to start and I think a place where someone with peers, someone with shared experience or folks that know that can welcome them and transition them into the Courtyard what's available engage them in the idea transformation I think it's important so I think that's going to import a new innovation and resource that's going to be important Councilman for that. I think also what's in progress is that we continue to learn the profile of the Courtyard so those that are on addiction with addiction issues those that are mentally ill those that are coming out of jail those that have gang affiliations whatever the case may be so that we can provide more of a customized intervention for them that's where we learned there was many many people that were in the Courtyard that were ready and motivated and so that's why the second phase in Martin Street is going to have space for folks you don't want to lose that motivation you don't want to lose that momentum that people are feeling once they get off the street and they feel like they're going somewhere this location will be that next step for them that could bring them on to campus or could push them out into community wherever they choose to go but I think those are two important things related to the Courtyard that's always in progress I think our campus will always be in progress because if we become I don't think we can ever say we perfect anything because we work with a dynamic population and if we become static we'll fail and so we always have to be pushing ourselves and our board does that on a regular basis to ask where's transformation where's root cause how are we moving the needle and those are the questions that really push and motivate us and so I hope we're always in pursuit of excellence and perfection but you know always asking questions and learning. Thank you Mark that's helpful I have a question now for you that might be for you and speaking on behalf of your board now how is it that the city can help you all we know that there are funding and maybe I'll ask that with the frame of the most recent news that we've heard about which is with respect to security around the perimeter are there ways in which we can be partners because you all are the experts you all deal with the customers deal with the folks who come in and out how can we help you all in that respect? Well I think first I just want to acknowledge and recognize that we have a great opportunity across many departments starting with the manager's office all the way through PD through EMS because we work with people every day and so the partnerships are there I think we need to continue to do that because that you can't count the times that that really has made a had an impact or made a difference I think you know we believe that the storefront is probably not a good idea we would not endorse something like that that may have been a thought but the more that we've learned over time we think that that would actually be a deterrent for people coming we think continued cooperation and collaboration about increased presence presence is a big deterrent I think around the Haven Campus and in the neighborhood and I think if there's that that makes a big big difference but the city has just you know been a huge partner not only in the funding ways but we talked about technical assistance before you know we meet with the city on a regular basis I have a meeting with city staff on a monthly basis and we're constantly looking and pushing those things make a big difference and need to happen I think the presence would be a big thing and I think just continuing the partnership councilman great well please let us know Mark if there are any opportunities in which that monthly meeting is not enough but that's helpful feedback for us and those are my only questions Mayor and I'm so glad to see a real cohesion of public and private partnership working together on something that could happen with just one half of either the public on the tone or just the private on its own so thank you so much I appreciate the folks of the board and the members of the leaders who are making this happen every day thank you mayor thank you councilman councilman thank you mayor I too want to thank Mr. Grieff for all this hard work and success of the Haven for Hope and I want to reiterate Mr. Carmona's statement about how the Haven for Hope is essentially a learning organization I want to thank you for your hard work I'd also like to thank Ms. Rattle for all her hard work on this program as one of the newest members on council one of the very first things I did was try to immerse myself on what my district was experiencing what some of the items were around my district not just in my district I would like to publicly thank the San Antonio police department specifically chief that I did was contact him and tell him I wanted to do a ride-along I didn't want to just do any ride-along I wanted to do one at night what shift is that t-shift so it was 5 30 to 3 a.m. and Carlos Ortiz was the officer that night and it was just amazing how much you learn from a police officer who knows his area you really truly understood a lot of the issues and what I found really insightful and inspirational was that it's going through the experience as you mentioned some of these people who actually go through this experience and you're utilizing some of these people to help the program as well we should really rely on our police officers somewhat and understanding what some of their experiences are in how we're coping with the situation how the program is working Officer Ortiz had a lot of insight and I certainly appreciate his tour I have a question for Chief Trevinho regarding that maybe you can speak to what the police force does for some of the sensitivity training they do for coping with the homelessness issue and how it's impacted the area around Haven for Hope I'm glad you asked that question Councilman because that's something that we're constantly working on with our officers as a matter of fact I'm personally teaching a concept called justice-based policing at in-service training and in-service training is important because it touches every single active officer on the police department and the foundation of the message no matter where they're at in their life and a lot of times you have people that are in bad situations but that doesn't necessarily make them bad people and so one of the things that we talk about with our officers is that there's a huge difference between perception and reality and so the perception of who we are as an organization may be formed by maybe the leadership of the organization but people's reality of our organization and that member of the community and so that's something that we're really focusing on and getting officers to understand that they need to treat all members of our community with dignity and respect because that's what's going to make a difference I don't want to commend you for that because I saw it firsthand and I think that this is something that is really impacting the success of this program we want to make sure that we're all in it together and I certainly can appreciate that Thank you Chief You know the second thing Mr. Cormont I want to also thank you for cooperating and taking in the Thrive Center it was a big issue early on as I stepped into the seats and really really proud that Haven for Hope offered the Thrive Center really would turn out to be a much better situation the operation was going to only exist there less than half the time of the week in a very kind of constrained situation I think that you really did a lot including Melody Woolsey to make that a very successful program I want to publicly thank you as well I think that's really impressive work I also want to thank you for all that you do here I myself as some of you may have already known about a month ago I did spend the night at Prospects Courtyard and I wanted to get that real-world experience I wanted to get a better understanding I had my friend Gavin Rogers who recently did our prayer before council tell me one time he said you know there is a real difference between feeding the homeless and having dinner with them and so he convinced me that I should come out and have dinner then we walked around the area he showed me everything that he knew about the situation in the area we did spend the night at Prospects Courtyard and you know want to say that what I found truly amazing about that night was how I think the perception that it's it's this potentially dangerous spot to be in dangerous courtyard was quite the opposite it was actually a very peaceful night the minute the pads were given out for people to lay on everybody really just wanted the most essential simple thing that Prospects Courtyard could give them and that was this sense of security just a good night's rest and I was really taken by how about people quietly fell asleep and I found myself spending a night in this courtyard that was as peaceful as anywhere you could fall asleep it was truly an amazing experience it made me think about every single one of them and you can see what I would call sort of the daily battle wounds that they may have gone through because they just really needed this rest they really needed to rest they must have gone through a diverse set of situations everybody had their own problems as I mentioned to you I noticed one gentleman who had what they called trench foot because his feet are always wet and it was just he had some bad situations other people were ill prepared for their situation others were very well prepared but it was just truly amazing to see that to see that Prospects Courtyard is working is doing something simple now is it solving everything? No I don't think it can but you know I want to say that I think what's really important is that at least that night 600 people were safe, had a good night's rest and it's all it's credit to speak his vision and you know just want to thank you for that and want to thank you for allowing me to have that experience I think we need to engage some of these situations more and really truly experience it and I think that being here today is really one of those great examples I think we should as a council make it a point to try to focus on campus a little more regularly to truly help the program transform itself one of the things I learned was that it's and of course in the middle of the night you have these incredible discussions with your friends it's quiet, it's dark and it's I don't know you get this epiphany about how sometimes it's not just changing others it's changing yourself changing your perception of the issue that you can do to approach the situation a little differently than what you think is appropriate not everybody is going to be able to accept the world the way we do and we have to be very open to that and be receptive to their needs I will say a couple things that I do want to bring up that I do think are important I noticed in the courtyard while we do have there is this great place for them to sleep I would like I mentioned I did see some people with issues with their feet very simple issues and would like to ask you if there's any what the program is doing or what they're learning about starting some ways to address that so they don't become medical issues they're just hygiene issues can there be something in place to help something like that not become a medical issue well in addition to the medical clinic that's in the courtyard we have also EMTs that are there they work up until about 10 o'clock at night and they're addressing many of the issues so that we don't have to call EMS out for minor types of medical issues that they can treat as EMTs so they are treating a lot of these issues when they become aware of someone in this kind of situation and they can provide the medical care we provide it and then the medical clinic that's there in the courtyard serves as their medical facility or their gatekeeper if it requires for them to be in the sick bay then they're in the sick bay we also have the restoration center across the street which Mr. Greer had mentioned earlier is providing minor medical care as well so if there's a certain aspect of the EMT that facility is 24-7 as well so we're trying to address many of these issues that are minor maybe fairly simple that doesn't require a hospital stay doesn't require but more importantly it addresses the issue with the person right away one of the things that we're working on right now is how do we better transition people as they come on to the courtyard and so I think some of that can give us as we do our assessment Councilman gives us a better idea of the assessment that includes some medical looking so that we can try to address some of those things earlier than later well and I can certainly appreciate what you're trying to do and the fact that like you mentioned before you're really a learning organization and it's going to take that as I mentioned before you had just in this one courtyard 600 diverse issues with every one of them and I know I've been working with Melody Woolsey to potentially look for opportunities to take steps forward and I think that's what Haven for Hope is really doing I think the most important thing we can do is take a step in the right direction and I think what we're doing here today is really paying attention to all of this and bringing awareness to the situation and I just want to applaud everybody for this and know that I'll be working hard to continue trying to understand the experience and see what I can do on our end to help support and grow and learn the situation thank you Mayor okay thank you Councilman Warwick thank you Mayor and thank you Mark and Melody and Bill for all the hard work that you do it's a great thing that you're doing here at the Haven and this brings me to mind of what we saw in Phoenix when we went and did our trip to see about the veteran housing options have we done any progress in moving anything forward on similar types of housing I guess in other parts of the city for veterans or other people with homelessness I know we are but I think Melody can address more the initiative around ending veterans homelessness she can give me more of an update on that we are currently working there are a couple of projects in the community that are currently looking at adding affordable housing for veterans and permanent supportive housing I think most of you know that that's member Nuremberg's office panel luncheon on June the 2nd to discuss some of those issues and part of that was really encouraging the business community and other providers in the community to join the effort and so we have followed up by sending out a survey to really get some firm hard commitments from business people and developers and apartment property managers to commit to providing those kind of housing units so there is some activity around that area and I can get you a little more information on the projects and the names of the developers that are interested in working on that and this would be new construction one is a renovation of the Baptist hospital on the south side that's one of the projects that's being explored and then one at the pecan valley I believe so both in the same area so is there any significant research being done in these populations here in town our homeless population here similar to what I've talked about in Santa Clara and the other communities we haven't done that here now I think there's some research efforts that Haven for Hope might be participating in but I don't know I mean we're constantly looking I mean our research is more councilman geared towards the campus and the profile on the campus kind of cost analysis now we have as Mr. Green mentioned earlier we do have cost avoidance numbers and metrics on impact on cost avoidance for public systems but as it relates to the cost for homeless per person not yet so what are the rules to I guess enter into the prospect's courtyard and be a part of that community you have to experience homelessness the only thing that we ask is that you not bring drugs and alcohol or weapons into the courtyard and you don't go to the local pie what we instantly try to do is engage you to get over to the restoration center into treatment but we won't turn away anyone because of that issue we just ask you not to bring it into the courtyard so it's very low criteria to get into the courtyard itself so what would you estimate would be the reason for the 600 people that are still living out unsheltered in the streets so you have people with mental health issues you have people with substance abuse issues inside the shelter so well not necessarily being sheltered but in the courtyard so why do they still stay out in our city or around different areas you mean the folks that aren't in the courtyard at all correct there's a myriad of issues I think it could be significant mental illness these are usually chronic homeless folks that have been transitioning from city to city for a while and believe me councilman we are engaging these folks every day our outreach folks that's led by Ron Brown have been working with people for six or seven years and sometimes it takes two years to convince someone to stop the life that they're living on the street or in their bridge or in the encampment to try Haven for Hope because they've lived this life for a long time we try, especially with those that have experience significant or acute mental illness to try to seek treatment because they maybe are off medication or off treatment and they found themselves wandering the streets and so the crisis care center which is through the center for health care services often can intervene and then I think the more that the courtyard can become a viable option for people I think we'll see more people coming into the courtyard but it's a large number that's in there today we won't turn folks away is there recidivism from the courtyard do people come in from the streets use the courtyard for a significant amount of time then go back to the streets for whatever reason we have some, yeah we have some for whatever the reason may be or they've reconnected with family and they've left or they've moved on from San Antonio to another city there may be folks that have left for a few months but we have a lot of people that come back and they'll come back into the courtyard and they'll tell us we tried it out again on our own, we know here we can eat we can get a shower, we have a safe place to sleep so we're going to try this again because we're trying to engage people while they're in there and Mr. Green mentioned this earlier not everyone's yet ready for transformation but we'll engage you while you're in the courtyard and some time folks still want to hear that what kind of percentage are you thinking or do you know? we don't know, we know that the recidivism as it relates to people going back to jail in the courtyard is 32% as compared to the county at 80% but I don't have a recidivism number for you today of people that are coming in and out I can get that to you and then is there any tracking for the people that are in and out or going to different cities, is there a network of organizations like yours and other cities where you can say this person was here no, not that I'm aware there is a network that's here internally through our homeless management information system, so we're able to track folks if they leave the courtyard and they show up somewhere else, we're able to see where they're showing up, whether it be at Christian Assistance Ministry or the SAM SAM Ministries or Salvation Army it will show up in the system where they are located and the kind of intervention they're getting so that when they get back on the courtyard we have a better idea of maybe where they went so maybe they left us and they went to stay at Salvation Army for a few months so I hear good things with the subway program and CSG, what educational or job training are other opportunities do we have? quite a bit, we have relationships with Alamo Colleges and so we have job, we have employment readiness department within Haven for Hope and so we have job coaches we have folks that are teaching soft skills, employment, resume writing, those different types of things but the agreement that we have with Alamo Colleges is to get folks into a higher level of training and certification so there's computer technician certification there's oil filled certification, there's different types that folks can go through these are three month programs, six month programs and then we have employment I mean we have relationships with now 55 employers in the city that will take a look at the resume and the applications of our members that are coming to them through the employment readiness program so there's starting employment like CSG there's people that come on the campus that are ready to get into full employment we have those opportunities or if people want to increase their training skills before they go back out there's opportunities for that so this leads to my next question are there any people that you serve have criminal backgrounds and how does that impact their recovery and getting them a job we have a significant number of folks that do but that was one of the that's how we outreach to the employer is to let some of the folks coming through are going to have criminal backgrounds and this is how we're providing support once they leave Haven for Hope we stay with them for a year and so we're a support system for them the employers like that but they're willing to take a risk on someone because they've come through Haven for Hope even though they have a criminal background and then let's see finally two more questions are there any restrictions on the funds that the city provides for you as far as well I'm trying to I mean there's I mean it's designated funding for you know a security staff for case management staff for resources so yes I mean it's restricted to cover the services that they're paying for and then we're monitoring on a monthly basis to make sure that and there's metrics in a scorecard that's developed that we and that we have to meet a CSR that's submitted to the city every month so it's regulated and it's very specific and it's evaluated on a regular basis would it be beneficial if they were unrestricted funds coming from the nonprofit sector I know restricted versus unrestricted well it's a huge different council but sure but I mean I think what I like about the way with the relationship now is that the city funding is going towards a directed operation so that we know with the contract if we're meeting our metrics that our security is covered that we can provide life safety officers so I like that fact I like that it's restricted in that sense it's restricted in the sense that it's for the Haven for Hope campus but when Haven for Hope has changes they want to make or the other providers as well as Center for Health Care Services or Food Bank they want to make changes to their budget we work with them to do that and so it's not so restrictive that they can't come to us and say we have a little bit of savings in this area maybe we've had some salary turnover and we'd like to use it for this we work with them quite often to do that we see it as a funding partnership do we know how many of the homeless people that are in the community outside of Haven use the services in Haven I'd have to look at HMIS to see what that number is but we have people that are coming into the courtyard in particular that are using services to get a meal to get a shower maybe to get a behavioral health service that don't end up sleeping in the courtyard at night I mean you can see that when you look at the number of people that are coming into the day and the number of people sleep at night there's a difference of about it you know 75 to 100 so we know there are some folks that are coming in for the services themselves which is fine because while they're there again we're trying to engage people because you have to meet people where they are and sometimes you'll just have one opportunity with folks and then finally how are you guys coordinating with other nonprofit organizations in the community like the Salvation Army or Catholic Charity or Catholic Worker House those two in my community aren't necessarily on this the same mission and serve the same populations well they serve as what we call offsite referral partners and so in addition to the 36 that are on site councilmen we have another 42 plus or more than that that are offsite community partners Catholic Worker House Catholic Charities, Salvation Army as referral places and so we're almost in daily contact with the Salvation Army because they have facilities they have locations and so for example if our family dorm is close to capacity and a family shows up then we can work with them and vice versa and so we work back and forth so intake is where we work with a lot of folks and then as people are moving into community is where a lot of times we're working with our other referral partners to provide supportive services in addition to what Haven can do it takes that councilmen if people are going to have long term success three year five year out success so further consolidation services into this area of town wouldn't be necessary to move things forward or would that be beneficial? I don't know that it would be beneficial I mean I think partners are here turning over on a not on a regular basis but on occasion based on where the model is and what the need is sometimes partners will come and say we really feel like our mission will be better served offsite or we have new partners that come on like Adult Protective Services that say we really want to work with you on site and we can meet you on the clientele and we can meet them so it just depends on where we are in our development but I think the number that we have here is a good number and then as we continue to work community that would be in a different location but that would be out in the community where they're living Thank you for your work and thank you You're welcome Thank you councilman Lopez Thank you mayor I got a message from I think they're taking care of her personal issues and business in the hospitals she did write a note and wanted me to convey to Mr. Green her thanks an appreciation for the hard work that you've done not only for this organization but we're working with her in so many other areas and I wanted to extend her her personal thanks and I'll join her in that I know that you've done a lot of work in this community forever and ever and ever not to do that old so we won't go there but we have a standing thing here at council that we're very sensitive about things to talk about someone being around for a long long time there's three of us that resemble that very much but indeed a very serious note the hard work that you've done in our community you know it's couched on passion and it's greatly appreciated and recognized her so thank you very much I did also have another question just real quickly for Mark I noticed on one of the slides you talk about you know families with children how do you deal with the educational component of it getting the kids reintroduced into school kind of gauging where they should be oftentimes their age is not indicative of what their learning abilities are so how do you work with that Councilman we have really excellent relationships with the school districts one of the things I appreciate about them is the sensitivity they have for the kids that are on campus so during the school year you'll see school buses rolling through here very early in the morning because Haven for Hope is the first stop that the children that they pick up and then the kids that are coming that live here are the last stop so that other kids are not you know there's a sensitivity aspect which is what we appreciate we're working with them on a regular basis to help identify where kids are academically we have a number of tutors and volunteers that are on campus that are providing those services we have an educational lab here on campus that's outfitted with computer systems we are working with AT&T on a project right now that I think would really look at increasing academic performance so we're very focused on that in addition adults that are here on campus that do not have their GED can take those classes while they're here at Haven for Hope and then through the SAISD they come and provide the testing so we've had a high number of people that have gone through Haven for Hope completed their GED and able to take that back out in community and other workforce we're focused on that especially with the kids that are on campus I'm proud to say that all the kids that are here on campus are in the early childhood program that's run by the YMCA or they're in school and many of them are at level of where they should be and I attribute a lot of that to being in a stable environment that housing in a stable environment that's safe and that they're not having to deal with issues over and over again as you know councilman it's a big issue for learning and I think that's translated into academic success you're absolutely right recognizing that if it's a mother and father with a child that has recognized their position in life and they've come here obviously their individuals are looking for a way to improve their life so do you work closely I guess there's probably also a very high mobility rate in those families that ultimately move out of this area simply because they go and find housing are you working closely you are talking a little bit about how you're working with the school district to create a individual education plan for each child that they can then take it to whether it's north side, northeast Harlanddales or even some other city within the area where they might be able to pick up right where they left off and not have to take that reassessment cycle that oftentimes just takes away from their educational process well the fact that they're at Haven for Hope or the fact that they're experiencing homelessness is that they've fallen under the McKinney-Vento Act which requires the child to be wherever school district they're in the school district has responsibility to continue their education and funding would come with that thing so the continuity is there for the child good well thank you very much again thank you for the hard work it's an ongoing process that we always hope that there's a day when we'll all be out of work and I'm sure you would love to be in that position not likely but knowing that there's people out there working towards that is reassuring to the rest of the community to keep up the good work and thank you for your commitment thank you councillor councillor Nirenberg thank you mayor and I'll do my very best to be brief but I want to start by just thanking the Haven for Hope team new star, Patty all the original and current board members at some point in the last 10 years this community decided that it was a better return on investment to spend money on transformational care and education than it was to build a new jail and I think that's a monumental moment for San Antonio and it has resulted in Haven for Hope so congratulations for that I had a really interesting conversation during lunch I think one of the best things that we've done in the last three years that I've been here with regard to Melody and the department in your budget is to cordon off Haven for Hope so we are basically funding Haven for Hope as what it is, which is an essential service in our city and I think what that has helped us to recognize is that there is a continuum of care continuum of issues that we are trying to address and so what I wanted to draw attention to was slide I think it was slide it's page 5 top slide but basically I think the next step for us and I'd love to get to your feedback Mark the next step with regard to delegate agencies and the limited resources that we have Melody, you and I have talked about this before but to really focus in on what are the other elements what are those orbiting issues around the ecosystem of homelessness in San Antonio that we need to directly address probably in a more comprehensive way I'm really glad to see that the county is back on the pie with I guess it's jail diversion money for their jail diversion program that's the one million dollars from the county that's a critical piece and I hope that they're in it for a long haul I understand it's pilot funding but we need to make sure that that continues to be addressed in a comprehensive way together as a city and a county but what I wanted to ask you Mark is we've talked about domestic violence we've talked about mental health we've talked about some other issues around human services issues around the homelessness issue what are some of the high points that we need to be looking at as we look to get into a budget season get into several budget seasons what are those high points that we need to be more comprehensively addressing with limited human services dollars that are outside of the Haven for Hope fence in the budget I would say councilman clearly affordable housing and housing vouchers you know one of the things that we're constantly working at is someone works really hard goes through the six to nine months has really achieved transformation and is ready to go out into community and there's not a deep inventory of affordable housing that's available for folks to get started in communities where they choose to live and I think that's an area that we really it's orbiting around this issue but it definitely has an impact I think access to vouchers for people to be able to get started to get a leg up we find is another valuable piece we have an agreement now with the housing authority for 400 vouchers and those are all utilized with the small turnover but I think that's another area somehow federally we're able to get some more vouchers down into the community to be able to utilize this but I would say that's a big, big issue that impacts us on a regular that was one of the reasons that Bill and the Board implemented phase two for Haven which was the terraces at Haven for Hope so there could be access to housing but we're leased up close to 95% in that facility so that's one big area councilman that I think there needs to be and I know that San Antonio tomorrow that's one of the committees that's really looking at this and I hope affordable housing is one of those elements that's a part of that plan I appreciate you making that comment that's really the only question I had the mayor has challenged us to be thinking about systems changing systems and so I think it's very appropriate for us to be talking here at Haven for Hope about not just I say tomorrow but how we can more comprehensive look at the system of funding that we have to a better address where we can better achieve outcomes for Haven for Hope but also for homelessness in general our point in time counts are still in my opinion a bit obscure because they're volatile but until we can start seeing results that are consistent on the point in time counts as they relate to the funding that we do and the rest of the pie for the city I think we still have some work to do with the system so Mayor thank you Mark and I do want to say I don't miss an opportunity to laud Ron Brown Ron Brown is the prospect coordinator if you've never met him before all you have to do is hear him from the other side of the room you can feel his voice shake the room I think he's he's for me the face of Haven for Hope and I think he's an angel in our community and as much we can do to talk about what Ron Brown does not just for Haven but for our city of San Antonio and whatever opportunities we have to sing the praises of Ron and people like him I think we should try to seize the opportunity Mark thank you very much to your team thank you Mayor okay thank you Councilman Nirenberg Councilman Medina thank you so much Mayor and I'll be brief hopefully we still get an opportunity to tour the facility but I do want to say that it's great to be back here back when I was first elected maybe right around 2011 and I'll never forget walking through the courtyard and it was about dinner time and I said hello to a a woman that was there getting ready to she was standing in line for her meal and I said hi how are you she told me she was too blessed to be stressed and I'll never forget that because I think it's a testament to the work the wonderful work that y'all do here I am just so thrilled that we have a facility like this the model that is here in San Antonio that so many other folks across the country and now across the world have seen and again I think it's a testament to the vision that folks had before and certainly a testament to the leadership and vision and the dedication and caring that is Mr. Bill Grehe so Mr. Grehe thank you so much for your dedication to this facility I have a quick questions and I'm so glad that Councilman Lopez touched on it and that was the children that are here do those children and I don't know maybe if I didn't hear this correctly but the children that are here do they have access to pre-K for SA if they are do they go to the same qualification they do so there's no preference or anything for pre-K for SA but they have access to them wonderful that's good to hear because I think that is so important we talked in touch about education and making sure that they are in a stable environment but that they have access to great education at all levels of learning for them and then secondly I did have the opportunity to visit with some of my colleagues when we went to Phoenix and see the model over there we can minimize that here and really get to the goal of hopefully zero homelessness to our veterans but in the federal funding slide that showed is any of that funding from the VA or is that just across the board the federal government is the VA helping Haven for Hope we currently receive no VA funding the federal funding that we do receive is from HUD and that's to operate the homeless management information system okay that's good to know certainly it's I think it'd be incumbent upon us to continue to work with our leaders at the federal level to continue to bring the light, everything that's being done here and with the whole push to end veterans homelessness it's going to certainly take resources and we certainly want to engage the VA as well and Councilman we would agree with that we have about 11 to 12% of our transformational campus there's a higher percentage in the courtyard although we work with the VA there were any assistance at the federal level to provide services to veterans would be welcome on campus because we're providing those transformational services to them while they're here regardless of their discharge status well you know the GI form is one of our partners they do receive a per diem per person that they serve we don't here at Haven for Hope and so you know really the resources that we're providing for veterans on campus is the dollars that we're raising or the dollars that are coming in from funding partners to serve that population well great well thank you so much again for your leadership Mark and we appreciate and Cheryl for all your work and really the entire city staff and everyone that works in as a part of Haven for Hope we're a better city for it thank you thank you Mayor thank you Councilman Gallagher thank you Mayor I'll wrap it up by just saying I think this was a great idea to have us come visit here I really think it's very important I think that we should have a spotlight on such a wonderful facility and I want to echo Councilman Medina's concerns about veterans and I think that that's very important that VA needs to step up to the plate and help out too so I think I'll do my part as well to try to get the attention at the Washington level that this is the sort of event that they really need to participate in thank you okay all right thank you well that's all the questions and comments thank you so much again for the presentation thank you Mr. Griehe for your leadership here and also Mark as well so we still have some time for a brief tour so I'm going to ask if everyone else in the room would let the council members get right to the door so we can take the tour of about maybe 15 to 20 minutes and then we'll be going back to City Hall for our executive session okay all right thank you mayor if I could add I think there's an IGR meeting then after executive session and we have a CDBG community development block grant public hearing at 6 o'clock also tonight thank you