Jul 18, 2024 Committee on Persons with Disabilities on 2024-07-18 3:00 PM

This is a story that a friend of mine, a friend of mine, recommended to me. He recommended me a thousand thoughts. I think it's a good thing. It was a super hard development to make. This is a man that went to school. I don't know how he managed to turn this community into a consumer business. There are a handful of minutes. Do we need to take a look? Yes. A motion first. A motion first. And second. All in favor? All in favor. All in favor? All in favor. All in favor? All in favor. Well, good afternoon, everyone. I'm Carlotta Cowan, assistant to the city manager, and I will just be talking with you all today about disability and pragmatism. There we go. That's fine. So why do we celebrate? So July, we celebrate to honor the history and achievements and experiences of those who are in our disability community. So disability pride has been described as accepting and honoring each person's uniqueness and seeing it as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity is what makes people with disabilities who they are. So we want to celebrate and have pride in that. So the reason why we choose July is because it marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act being signed into legislation. And that was July 26 of 1990. So this is year 34 that we are celebrating, as we see on this slide here. Yes. Yep. Since it was signed into legislation. And so this is the landmark legislation, which marks a significant step towards ensuring the rights and freedoms of people with disabilities. And so how do we celebrate? So it originally started as a day, Disability Pride Day in Boston in 1990, and it turned into a parade. It elaborated in Chicago in 2004. And so since then, it's turned into a month. And across the nation, there are different celebrations for Disability Pride Month. A couple things that happened this year in Texas, down in Austin, there was a Disability Pride Month showcase at ArtSparkTexas that was hosted by ArtSparkTexas and Alienated Majesty Books on the 14th. And on the 17th, Austin Library hosted a Zion Night, which is kind of like art, kind of like a newspaper magazine type art focused on disability. And so in here also, I want to point out the flag here. And this is actually the flag as of, hello. Hello, how are you doing? Doing well, how are you? And we've got the people over here too. Can I sit right here? Well, our public seats are right over here. Thank you, sir. So originally, the flag was created in 2019 by Anne McGill, who is a writer with cerebral palsy. And originally, the flag was zigzags. And it was all of these colors that you see here, but it was bright and vibrant. But that particular flag, especially the zigzags, kind of triggered different disabilities, especially seizures or migraine disorders. And so people started to send Anne their feedback anonymously on how she could update the flag to make it more accessible for others. And so in 2021, she came up with this design, and the order of the stripes was changed. So the red and the green are on the ends now. And the color was more, it was toned down a little, I guess we could say, it was toned down. And just to give you an idea of what these colors represent. So the faded black background represents the anger and mourning over the neglect that disabled people have had to fight against. The red represents physical disabilities. The golden yellow represents neurodiversity or intellectual disabilities. The white represents invisible or undiagnosed disabilities. The blue stands for emotional or psychiatric disabilities, including mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression. And the green on the end is for sensible disabilities, including deafness, blindness, lack of smell or taste, and audio processing disorders. So, yes, and we have here today, the mayor, the city is going to do a proclamation to recognize our disability justice month for July 26. Thank you. Yes, that would be great. Thank you. I just want to say how important this event is to me. And I mentioned it Tuesday, we were recognized in the parks department, and they're really good about having some inclusion activities, having the quiet room at events or having, you know, the dances that are toned down, the lights lower, that sort of thing, music lower. And I just, that just kind of struck me, right? You go about your day, and sometimes you forget conveniences and how to make sure as a city we serve everyone well. And that to me has been a great reminder. And just a fantastic reminder for that's normally, and I go to an event at the Civic Center, that quiet room is where my kids are headed first, you know, to color and to, you know, just kind of get away from all the things, right? And so I think it just is important to be aware of everyone's preferences, needs, et cetera, and just kind of make sure we customize that experience, or if we're having everyone together, let's have something for everyone. I saw on your previous agenda about the playground, really excited to see that move forward. I think that's going to be a critical part again of making sure those parents that have kids that have needs that will fit that park have an opportunity to go outside, play, get a break in action. That is, almost every parent deserves a good, you know, whatever, five minutes to 20 minutes or whatever time just to kind of relax and be a kid, right? So, thank you for the work that y'all do above and beyond that, because also, when we're talking about buildings, sidewalks, just making sure we're considerate of all needs. I mean, you've seen it a lot, Joe, that the neighborhoods growing up around you, you know, I'm Bonnie Gray, you know, from your old house is now a utility, but to now where you are and just the growth and so making sure that smart growth and that we're accommodating is just critical. So thank y'all for the work you do and just helping us with recommendations and stuff like that. Thank you, staff, for your time and dedication to making sure we have the most up to date information. So with that, I'm happy to read this proclamation. And it's a proclamation by the mayor of the city of Benton, Texas to all whom these presidents shall come greetings, whereas July 26 2024 is the 34th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, marking the beginning of the modern disability justice and inclusion movement. And whereas we recognize the tireless efforts of disability justice advocates and allies who pursue equal access for all people, regardless of ability status in Texas and abroad. And whereas on July 26 1990, the ADA was signed by the United States President prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including employment, transportation, education, and more. And whereas members of the Denton community, including the Denton committee on persons with disabilities continually championed the cause for disability awareness inclusion, and in an end to discrimination and stigma. And now therefore I, Gerard Hutz, with mayor of the city of Denton, Texas, do hereby declare and proclaim the 26th day of July 2024 as Disability Justice Day in the city of Denton. I've always had a quiet area. I've not noticed it until July 4th. I've never noticed it before. Yes, I don't know when it started, but I know I've had a few trips there with my kiddos. So that's in that little room where they vote. It wouldn't be like at North Lakes Park when there's a soccer tournament going on or anything. It's just at the Civic Center is the quiet room. I've seen yes in those larger like state of those larger city events. That room is what they've used. I'm not sure about like the other events, but I think it's something worth exploring and talking about because it would be, I think it'll be used a lot. And we'll have parks here next, at our next meeting so we can definitely ask them to elaborate on different quiet areas around the parks, parks areas. I've volunteered a lot of the tournaments and it's a big, you know, some children are playing and some aren't, but they're in a chair or are not able to participate and they get very anxious and stuff. But I had not seen it at any tournament Dallas or anywhere that I've been, so I didn't know if Denton was doing it, but you know that may be something that would be beneficial. Not all the time, not at games, but when we have a big tournament of some sort, basketball or whatever, maybe, I don't know. Yeah, I think that's a really good idea. I just wanted to add that Denton has had their own ADA celebrations. We had ADA 29th, which celebrated the 29th anniversary and it was actually sponsored by Mr. Mayor here in 2019. And then we had ADA 30 online in 2020 as well, whenever it was during the pandemic. So just, we've done a couple things too. Okay, can I, can I get my angle picture with you? Is that all right? You're a celebrity. I'd like to get one. Can you sit with me? I got one. I didn't get my last year. One, two, three, we'll do one more this way. One, two, three. Very good. Excellent. Excellent. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Good to see you. Thank you. Yes. Keep up the good work. I always, when I'm going to Portillo's they would raise a wrench, I keep an hour, I drive by your house, check on you. You get that $10 hot dog. Oh yeah, that's good. Thank you very much. Appreciate you. Hey Daniel, good to see you. Thanks. Good to see you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate you. Great suggestion. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great day. Appreciate you. Hi everybody. Okay, so I'm Jenna. I'm with Our Daily Bread. Has anyone not heard of Our Daily Bread yet? Are we kind of familiar maybe? Okay, so a lot of this might be a little bit of a recap. But I'm going to set the stage and then talk a little bit more about how Our Daily Bread manages the disabilities that we see amongst our guests. So the straightforward mission of Our Daily Bread is to feed, shelter, and care for the homeless and at risk in our community while maintaining the dignity of our guests and offering opportunities for a new start. So to set the problem, why do we exist? Why do we need Our Daily Bread in the community? We believe that anyone can fall into homelessness and that one catastrophic event like a natural disaster, sudden job loss, death in a family, disabilities, addiction, the list goes on and on. Those things are enough. I can put someone into homelessness, someone who never has been before, never thought they would be in that position. A recent Supreme Court ruling, City of Grants Pass, Oregon versus Johnson, ruled that cities now have the ability to make arrests and other punishments for people who are sleeping outside. So that really does kind of point to the unhoused community. And that creates a bigger need for us. It's now illegal in a lot of areas for people not to have that safe shelter. And so a low barrier shelter like Our Daily Bread is absolutely necessary. I don't know if you guys saw the point in time or the pit count results for this year, but they've announced that there was a 20% increase amongst homelessness in Denton this year. So it is rising and rapidly. Yes ma'am. I'm there at Our Daily Bread three times a week, at least. But I didn't realize that who is arrested or punished for unhoused, the individual themselves? Right, right. And so shelters are full, meaning grace like rain and salvation arm. Then what other opportunity do they have? Why are they ticketed and how do they expect to pay that? Well, and that was going to be the thing is, not only are they arrested, but they have to pay a ticket, which they don't have the money to pay the ticket, right? Which ends up with this warrant and this sort of thing. Right. There's not a good answer. The answer is more shelters like Our Daily Bread or larger capacity for us is really the best answer. Okay. That's the problem. I was not aware that they would get ticketed, though. But that's not here, though. I think the city of Denton, I know that it's definitely not encouraged, the camping, but it's not as strict as other towns. And I could be, I could be saying that. And the police have discretion of saying they have to move on. Right. I have a whole team of four people or officers, is that correct? Absolutely. The hot team, the homeless officers. That strictly deal in that area, right? So they're very helpful. And they're over at, I'm sure if you've been at Our Daily Bread long enough, you've seen them over there too. Absolutely. We work closely with them. Okay. So our solution. So Our Daily Bread is the only homelessness, the only 24/7 low barrier homelessness care center in the city of Denton, of course, but also Denton County. There's something like this in the county. So we see a lot of people coming from a bunch of different areas. And we saw on the last slide how those three things, they create the need for Our Daily Bread and why we're here. And so our approach is through personalized and self-directed care. We offer opportunities for our guests to start again. And so you'll see in your brochures that these are, these are maybe a year old. And there's already some discrepancies because we grow and we grow and we grow, which is what we're built to do. We see a need and then we're going to adjust our programming to try and meet that need. So three meals a day, day shelter, overnight shelter. We'll hear about all of our wellness support services. We'll hear about our income and employment services and then all of the partner agencies that we have on site to fill any gaps in our services. So the history of Our Daily Bread had the community kitchen that was in the St. Andrew Church. We had the Monsignor King Outreach Center in 2009 that was created off of Woodrow's where they ended up. And then in 2020 we merged. And then thank you to City of Denton. We have our beautiful building that we moved into in 2022 where we're able to offer all of our services under one roof now, which takes away a lot of the barriers for our guests. Our goal was to create a one-stop shop for anyone experiencing homelessness who can come and get the services that you need. Because if you already have a lot on your plate, you're dealing with a lot as a human being, navigating services and finding that help can be really hard. So our community kitchen, we serve about 700 meals a day out of our kitchen. So that's breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every day we don't miss a meal. And this month we served or we will serve, we're like right there on that number, our two millionth meal ever. So we're very excited about that. Shelter services. So we have about 140 each night in our emergency shelter. You'll hear, oh yeah, transitional shelter right after this. So this year we've been able to double our capacity on our transitional shelter. So that's one of our operational updates. We have a really generous donor donate the bunk beds for those rooms. So instead of having two people per room, we now have four people per room. And they still have their own bathrooms. They're able to bring in their own foods and drinks and just have a different level of independence. And it truly is transitional housing, we're transitioning them back into full independence. Yeah, so that's now up to 64 guests. And we still have our offsite transitional housing motel. So you heard me say that we're low barrier. What does that mean? So we're not requiring background checks, we're not requiring sobriety, we're not requiring IDs. Pets can come in. All of these things that just make it, you can walk in our doors and start receiving services. So with all that being said, it's not suitable for children to sleep at our facility. It's 18 and up. But we do have that motel where we can have any children in our families or we can have any at-risk individuals. Okay, so a little bit more about our services. We call it, we can come in and give someone the works. A lot of our guests come in and they don't really have anything. So we start with getting their documentation. So IDs, birth certificates, social security cards, all those things that you can't really make too much movement without. So getting a bank account and finding a job, all of those things kind of start with that ID. Transportation assistance, making sure you can get to your job interviews, your medical appointments, whatever you need to go to. We do have a computer lab on site. So that is used for resume building, job search classes, all kinds of partner agencies come in to do that. But it can also be for recreation. So we try and throw some fun things in there for our guests too. Benefits education and enrollment. So people come in and sign our guests up for SNAP, for Medicaid, Medicare, social security, all of those good things. And then our ready-for-work training program. So this is a long-term program. It's set to be a year minimum. We started it last July, and so it would make sense that we just now have, well, a few months ago, we had our first graduate. And so we're very excited about that. And so for us, what it means to fully graduate, because we've had lots of people come in the program and then be successful and go on. But a graduate is they've completed all three legs of the stool. And so they have completed all of their personal roles that they've set at the beginning of their time with us. They've maintained and they've secured and maintained mainstream, full-time employment, and then they've maintained their own housing as well. And so the city of Denton also helps us with that program. We have many of our guests out at these departments with the city. So we have guests at the landfill, at fleet, facilities, brush. And then the new one is the bulkies to help them pick up the bulky trash. We call them the bulkies. I love that. And that's phase three of the program. We start the program with lots of classroom instruction and then an internship where they get supervised hours of volunteer work around the facility. So it's like mock jobs. You've got to be there on time, got to meet these expectations, all that good stuff. And then they'll finally end up at one of the facility departments with the city of Denton. And then lots of education and enrichment classes from our partner agencies. We talked about job search, individualized case management. So setting those personal goals, working on the housing stability plans with our guests, those kinds of things. We have a mail service so our guests can get their mail at our daily bread. And our newest program is a legal advocacy program that's sponsored by the Texas Bar Foundation. So we were very happy to add that this year. We noticed that there was this trend that a lot of our guests would have maybe offenses on their record that have been holding them back for years and years. Things like maybe tickets that haven't been unpaid or left unpaid. All those kinds of things. And that's going to bar someone from getting into good housing, a good job, things like that. So Judge Tyler Atkinson has a community court program that we help our guests get through. And so he sets a certain amount of volunteer hours or community service hours that our guests can do. And they work together to make sure that we get certain charges expunged from their records so they can move forward. And we've had two graduates so far. I think another important thing is the beauty barbershop that's been added. Oh, is it on there? Yeah. I think that's a great thing. Our salon. We use it for other things too. The building is big but we filled it up quick and we have lots of partner agencies coming in. So we use it for everything. But it is our salon room. We have two haircut chairs in there. So that's really awesome. It makes our guests feel great about themselves. I love that idea because I've worked with groups and served in them. Yeah. And that's one of the things. Getting their ID. You know, somebody who doesn't have their ID. That way they can get into a program. That way they can get into an apartment. They can do those different things. That would make that if they have tickets, they would not want to go and get their ID because then they're afraid that something's going to happen. But if they have legal services, that's fantastic. It's pretty good. It's good stuff. And then our wellness support services. Everything we just talked about was all kind of income and employment based. And so this is wellness based. So mental health initiatives. We added these back in late 2001, I believe is when we started building this program. So you might have heard about this one before. But they offer, we have two licensed clinical social workers on staff. Here's one of them. And they offer individual counseling, group counseling, crisis intervention, and then mental health based management. And so these are our interns, not our current interns, but a good group of interns. And they help facilitate group. And so they get to build their hours for social work, psychology, counseling, whatever, whatever degree they're pursuing will help them get those hours. And so they work with us there. And then mental health case management. So we have this trend where our guests would be in our facility. Maybe they're actively in crisis. And so maybe our social workers or whatever staff is available is trying to deescalate the situation. Maybe it gets to the point where we're like, OK, we do need to call for services to get them in a facility for everyone's safety, for their safety and everyone else's. It gets to that point. OK. So they get taken to a place like Mayhill, like UVH. They're out in a few days. Hopefully they've gotten some treatment and have come out with a new mental health care regimen. However, they're still experiencing mental illness and they're still experiencing homelessness. And now they have this new regimen to follow. So they have to get these prescriptions and make these follow up appointments and get counseling. And all of these things, when they don't even know where the next meal is coming from, it's not likely to happen. And so what the mental health case management program will do is it allows our social workers to talk to those at the facility, wherever they have come from. And hopefully we can work together to coordinate that care, make sure they're making those appointments, getting their prescriptions, all that good stuff. And so we have a wellness center. That's something that was new when we moved into our building. So we love our wellness center. We have a full time care coordinator at our Daily Bread and she helps our guests with all kinds of things. She does their prescription assistance. She helps them find their medical care. And she also brings in a bunch of partner agencies because we don't have any medical staff of our own. But we bring in the professionals and they can treat our guests there on site. So we have nurses from health services in North Texas come three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Our guests always know they're going to be there. And then we have vaccine clinics at least weekly, COVID, flu, whatever's going on at the time. And then other things like eye exams and STD and STI screenings, COVID testing. The list really goes on and on. There's other agencies that come in like WellCare to help them schedule their appointments and things like that. So we're very lucky for that. And then of course we have clothing and hygiene items, first aid supplies, the haircuts, and then showers for anyone. Question. So can anybody who is out, let's say they have an injury, can they come by and have somebody take a look? Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So of course, we're not an emergency facility. If it's anything. Somebody who can like tree auction. No, you need to go. Yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And so, of course, there are things that we'd like to do first. We'd love to have an intake on that guest first as our daily bread. And then they'd be on the list to see the nurses and see that. So it's not for emergencies, but yeah, absolutely. If someone has something that they're kind of concerned about and they don't mind coming to our facility, having a meal, where they wait for the nurses and then they come in and see them. Absolutely. And they don't have to be a guest registered on either side of the facility. We would like we'd prefer definitely to have the guest register with us. Anything. Yeah, we prefer it. We really would. It helps us keep our numbers, be information on the people, all that good stuff. I think your question, Daniel, whether like I can walk in and say, even though I'm not a guest there, is that what I was interpreting what you were asking? Well, one of the things that worried me before was we have somebody who has an injury, right? And who goes and they let's say they get a bandage and there's somebody who's going to go, I don't want to take it off. So now they can get infected. But if they go, they can go and get it checked out. Absolutely. You can get a new bandage on. Even though they're not a resident and our client are there, correct? You would prefer it. Right. Well, I guess it's kind of how are we defining like who's a client of our daily bread? And so we would love to be able to have our case managers meet with that guest and get all their information, tell them all about our services, because I bet that person needs more than just a bandaid. But if they're if they're outright refusing, they just want to see the nurse. We wouldn't deny them that either. You know, we'd like to have it. Yeah, but they can use those services and they go home to their own apartment across the street. Or wherever they have an apartment. So as long as they're registered in the system, they can do a daily thing where they want to eat their meals, that they can have a place to sleep with their cousin in the apartments. Totally fine. Yeah, we actually have a lot of people. You went further than I did on that. I was just looking at one piece. OK, well, I was clear about that. Well, that's a good question, because not like that population of people isn't always included when we think or talk about people who experience homelessness, because they might not be there for the pick count numbers. Maybe they're at their cousin's house right now. But that that group of people are still experiencing homelessness, and we have lots of people come in during the day just for meals, just for services. And then they choose to stay elsewhere. Totally fine. You don't have to be sleeping at our facility to receive any type of treatment. And they can work their clothes. That's another thing that's a big asset there. I think one of the things that amazed me a few years ago, we had a person across the street from where I lived who he owned the house. He was a vet. He owned the house. He had no power. He had no water. Technically, he's homeless. And so but we didn't have served it and we didn't have all the other services that we have today. But I did I did not think of him as homeless, like like the person who's living with her cousin, but they need all these other services. Right. And even just food insecurity as well. Anyone can come in. And so we can have children and families in the facility during the daytime. It's just an overnight. That's restricted. So families with kids still do come in and just have meals during the summer, especially. So I'm sorry. Two more things. What are you working with? I know that First Refuge has medical services. Yeah, they're a good referral for us because I know that I don't know if they're doing it currently, but at one point at least, they definitely did have dental care. So, yeah, we would make referrals to them often. And then as far as shots for kids and things like that, Kiwanis. Are you working with them? Yeah, they mostly volunteer with us and the Kiwanis Club. No, it's the Lions Club that does the eye exams. Well, so the Kiwanis ones have the clinic on Elm Street. Oh, OK. So I might want to work with them. That's the noon Kiwanis. OK, and they they have that. Got it. That's really good. So maybe a reference to go, I'm sure our care coordinator knows she has all those little things in her mind that maybe I'm missing. I have some other questions, but I'm going to wait for this. Whenever you're ready, I'm ready. So this is just a glance at our partner agencies because we really do have our classrooms and our counseling rooms, our salon room filled with people coming in to provide their services all day, every day. So things like SNAP, signing up for a food stamps, MHMR to get because we don't have any prescribing positions at our facility. They'll help us with prescribing any mental health care prescriptions. Health Services of North Texas, of course, has talked about them and the nurses, veteran services. The list goes on and on. We have a veteran navigator who is one of our case managers on staff. He's a veteran himself and he helps make sure that we make the right connections. He's working with the VA, making sure that we know how to help navigate better through this situation since they are eligible for some different benefits. Are some of those on the call to end when needed? Like, is there a schedule? I know a lot of that I've seen, but I don't know. Like somebody that may need occupational therapy. Is there a schedule at the facility that says they'll be there on Tuesdays at six o'clock? Yep. Friday at three. Occupational therapy. So for yoga and Bible study, all the same thing? Yeah. So we have it posted in a few different places. Right when you walk in the front, right across the front desk, there's a big calendar there. Okay. A lot of them have their set schedule and then a lot of them not. So much like haircuts might be because it's people just donating their time. Right. Right. Yeah. Yoga, Bible study, all the good stuff. Okay. So now we'll talk a little bit about how we manage disabilities. So again, let's talk about the problem a little bit. So about 60% of the guests that we serve have some kind of physical or mental disability. We've seen an uptick in the number of hospital discharges that we, people coming in when they're discharged from the hospital. And that includes mental health care facilities. So many people experiencing homelessness have not had access to health care in years before coming to our daily bread. And that really exaggerates chronic conditions due to the lack of our consistent care. So things like not having your inhaler or I haven't been on insulin in X amount of time. Those are the things that we try to prevent from becoming emergencies. And that's kind of our care coordinators overall. How do we not make these things emergencies? And then, of course, disabilities increase barriers to access transportation, access jobs and access housing. So our response. So I've mentioned a lot of this, but just so you can see it in writing, the vaccines. Oh, I miss mammograms and women's wellness exams. So Texas Health has a truck that they come out with the mammogram machine in there, so they're able to do that. And then many women's wellness exams. I mentioned the rest of that. Our mental health initiatives, our whole building is ADA compliant. Of course, we'll make arrangements if someone can't have a top bunk, make sure they have a bottom bunk, make sure we have all that sorted out. Same with meals. I don't have this on the list. But if someone's diabetic and can't have this, OK, what's the better alternative for them? So our chefs are great at working with that. We do trauma informed care trainings as staff really regularly. So that's basically we're functioning with the understanding that a large portion of the people we're working with have some kind of trauma. Trauma or homelessness in and of itself is traumatic. So how can we function in a way that doesn't trigger their trauma? And we know what to do when we see these trauma responses come up. So our care coordinator, again, finding housing placements for our guests. So we are not always a really good permanent or even short term option for people with extreme disabilities. We don't have the level of care that they need. And so she works on that as well as providing mobility devices when we get them donated. So we run off donations for our walkers, wheelchairs, canes, all that stuff, and she'll help fit them. Partnering with Able Disabled is the occupational therapy group that comes from TWU. Resource recovery is addiction recovery and the street outreach team. We talked about them. Domestic violence and sexual assault assistance. We have a really good group of occupational doctoral therapy interns. And they taught us so much about the proper terminology for certain things and what to do when someone's experiencing a certain type of physical disability and how to work with them. So that was amazing. And then, of course, we allow all pets, but emotional support animals and service animals too. So thank you. But before I go, I was looking a little bit more on some recent statistics that we have around disabilities in our daily bread. And so we started, maybe the end of last year, tracking all of these hospital discharges that were coming in. Because we want to know where are they coming from? What are people mostly coming with? All of those various things. And we have some pretty good data on it. What I think is the most impactful and, excuse me, I'm going to read it from my phone. So these are some notes. So when someone gets discharged and they get dropped off at our door, it can be any staff member picking them up. It could be security. It could be one of our guest services members, a case manager. It's not always going to be our care coordinator or one of our mental health professionals that are going to be there at the door to assist them. We want to make sure that we're giving them the information so we know, hey, when they come in in the morning, you're checking on this person, this person, they're busy people. And here are some of the notes that our staff members left in these forms for them to know in the morning. So cannot dress or shower by himself without assistance. Was in a nursing facility and was dropped off at the shelter with hopes that his brother would be picking him up. Possible dementia. We're not equipped to take care of her and we'll be working with the community to help place her. Brought in a statement from his attorney trying to get him a guardian and into a state living facility. And that's just to show the level of care that a lot of the people who are being dropped off our facility need. And we are not medical professionals, but we're doing our best to take care of them as we go. Even our care coordinator, she's not a medical professional. She works with it a lot. But it is a full time job for Renee, our care coordinator and many of our staff to make sure that these people are able to stay in the facility with dignity and with the level of care that we can provide while we're getting them placed somewhere a little bit better. There are times when they can't stay the night. Like last night I had two, three guys at one of those protective blankets because there was no place for them to sleep. And I just wanted to I just live right down the street. I thought I just wanted to spend the night because one was an older man and I just felt so bad because he had nowhere. He was going out to the trees. He had nothing. So I know that there's times where they can't, but there's not an alternative for them at that point, is there? When the shelter is full, we were pulling out the cots and everything last night. So it was it was packed. You know, you just feel so bad when he's like, where's my resources to get into the big city? I don't know what to tell you. Renee was there, but she was swamped. She was busy. And so what we would love to do is continue building our capacity so that we can take more people in. I mean, it's big, but how many people can we have safely in the building with all the staff members to secure the place? Exactly. Exactly. And so once we're able to to build up our staffing a little bit more, we're going to be able to host more people overnight, too. But homelessness is one of those bigger problems. There will never be enough resources, or at least maybe it feels that way from my side sometimes. I'm sorry, you had your hand up. So you mentioned the numbers, but those numbers aren't accurate. Which ones? All numbers for homeless. Oh, absolutely not. I agree. Like the pit count numbers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's never accurate. No, because we can't count. We're not projecting 20 percent above whatever number you have. It's not. No, they can't. They're not using our numbers. No, no, no, I'm just saying that the people who say that whatever you have is right. I'm not saying you can understand that, anybody, because you never know how many it is always more than what you have. So I guess what I'm trying to get at. Absolutely. Absolutely. So their numbers, the numbers from the pit count said it was roughly 500 and some people are homeless and dead every single night, which I think is absolutely true. But like we talked about, we can't account for people sleeping on their friends couch or people deep into the woods or you just can't always. That number is always higher. Yeah, exactly. I wish that more people, there's very few. I think the population that Denton has is probably like maybe five or 10 percent that volunteer there, that they actually go there and see what the needs are. It's very well, I don't know how long you've been there. I've been doing it for four years, but it's very eye opening for the general public to be out there. And I think that I wish more could, you know, I know a lot of churches do and stuff like that, you know, but it's I wish more people could would. I know they could, but if they would just, you know, take some time and go and either take a tour of it or volunteer for a time or two. I took my nieces last night, 12 and 13, a mental individual came in, stripped down to everything, but his underwear right in front of them at the hygiene department and, you know, put it back on and off he went on his way, you know. Well, that was terrifying to them. They had never seen that, you know, or whatever. But, you know, the general public, I think, just doesn't know the variety of population or mental illness or whatever that goes on out there, you know. I wish we could encourage more to volunteers, what I'm thinking, or to at least go out there and see, you know, even if it's just sorting clothes, that's a big necessity, a big need back in the bag. Well, yeah, to her point, that was actually a couple of questions that I had. Do you offer accommodations for, for example, members of our disabled community that wants to volunteer? Oh, yeah. No, yeah. And then you have like volunteer opportunities for younger students and teens, etc. So you got to be 18 or up to volunteer without a parent, would be, or guardians, someone like, yeah, just to do the nature of what we do. We will have groups sometimes come in and do like organizing donations and things like that, groups of teens. Or like school groups, would that be something that we do? We limit younger school groups, for sure. There's tons of things that we ask those groups to do off site, like donation drives and things like that. Gotcha. I'm only answering half your question. Remind me what the other half was. No, that was, well, that was, I mean, I have a couple, I was just letting, I was also going to ask about, with the pets coming in, how do you manage that with allergies? Oh my gosh. So I know that they try and keep at least one of the rooms like pet free. And so placing people in there and then just making it work. Yeah. And the hiking clinic offers Benadryl and all kinds of, or not all kinds, two kinds of allergy medicines that they, that we give out. But that has, that was a problem yesterday. Was it what people sneezed in? No, she just turned, you've probably seen her. I do, I know, yeah. She said she's allergic to animals, but she's been that way since I've been going there. She's just beet red in the face. So I don't know what it is exactly. I thought she was overheating, but she said, no, it's allergies to all these animals. She likes the sun. Yeah, yeah. It looked more like that. But anyway, so I don't know that that solves every problem for allergies or whatever, but that is an opportunity that they have as long as we have the allergy medicine. Yeah, no, that's great. And then you talked about Christmas interventions. Do you have staff members that are like, do they do the CPI training or safety care or what type of training? So our social workers, they do the training for us and then they do their own continuing education training. Various conferences, you know, they go to do those things. That's cool. I was just wondering if that would be fun to work with. I think that's my question. Thank you. It's fun to learn about, but then you're in that situation. I'm not a mental health care professional. I've learned a lot. But then I'm like, okay, what's my five steps? What's the acronym? You know, there's always an acronym of what you're supposed to do and what way, but it's really just working with people. It's figuring out how can I make this person more comfortable right now and help them move forward throughout the day. Because we don't want it to get escalated to the point where someone can't stay in our shelter. We don't want that. We're the end of the line, you know? So we take it pretty seriously. If somebody needed help with their spouse or something passed away, are those opportunities not available? Help to get that taken care of? Funeral arrangements, is that something that our family bread offers, anything like that? No, no, no. We don't have that. We do every year have, I think it was in October last year for sure, part of our child journey every week, the Denton Homeless Coalition hosts a memorial for the homeless because most of the guests that we're serving particularly go without a funeral or memorial service. And so we do them together all year. Thank you so much for everything you guys do. Well, of course, it's our pleasure. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I couldn't have had to be anywhere else. I'm the executive assistant, so I get to do things like this, but then a lot of admin work, payroll, HR, and then volunteers, all the stuff. Wherever I'm needed, I'll go. Thank you guys so much. If you all need anything, Carlotta knows how to get in touch with me, and I'm happy to answer any more questions. Oh yeah, I'll wait till after we're here. Are you sure? Yeah. Okay. Did you want me to stay for the rest of the meeting? I'm happy to. I just want to make sure it was a closed meeting. Do you mind if you send your email? Yeah, absolutely. I have some cards in my purse. Great, thank you. Okay, so just for our staff general update, again, Carlotta Count, assistant to the city manager, and just a couple things. So our inclusive playground is moving right along. Our parks department is applying for grants and getting funding that they need for that. And there is a webpage that is linked, if you all want to stay up to date with the process, with how things are moving, that's linked in the backup. But this also updates to section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. So this act prohibits discrimination on any basis of disabilities in programs and activities funded by the government, so by the Department of Health and Human Services. So the Office for Civil Rights is the entity that enforces that act. And so on May 1st of this year, they finalized a rule that updates, clarifies, and strengthens implementing section 504. So there's a link here in your backup also where you can read the rule in its entirety. But some of the high level critical issues that it addresses include medical care, accessible medical diagnostic equipment, providing services in the most integrated setting appropriate to the person's needs, non-discrimination in child welfare programs, and information and communication technology, including the web and mobile accessibility, which we kind of talked about in one of our previous meetings. And then regarding reports on grievances and requests for accommodations, we, since May, May 1st, we have had two requests for accommodations. And here in your backup, that's the web page that please share if you ever hear of anyone who has a request for accommodation regarding anything city related or within our realm, please share that with them. It comes to us. We communicate with them directly and those requests for accommodations have been resolved. So just want to report that to you all that we've had to. Is it mobility accommodations or? That's included. That's included. Yes, ma'am. What would be some others? So maybe something, an accommodation for a camp, right? So one of the camps that our parks and rec department holds, if there's a child attending that needs some type of accommodation, that's, that's what these two specifically. So, yep, so we just ask you all to continue assisting and making sure the community is aware of the resource that we have with that. Our next meeting is going to be September 19th, right here at 3pm. And the topics that we have so far to discuss and this, this can change depending on availability or if you all think of anything that you want to hear specifically we can add to the agenda. So far we've got the sidewalk and pedestrian updates, the transition plan. You all will meet our new bike and pedestrian coordinator and then our design downtown didn't will have an update on that. And I am hoping that our parks department will be able to join us in September as well. On the sidewalk, is that one going to be, is that just an update for the city overall or is that going to be specifics? So I know we keep asking about Bonnie Bray and universities. I can definitely ask him to specify Bonnie Bray. Let me write that down. It's that, it's that, that section right there by the Albertsons, which is going away. We keep asking about that section. I don't know. I don't know. Supposedly shutting down. Okay, it's going to be a Kroger. That's kind of what the paper led to believe in it. The Kroger from down here and down here. That'd be interesting. Kroger's been there for a while. Yes, some of the Albertsons though actually. Target. Is that actually going to be a Target? Because at first I was looking at it, I was like, is that big enough to have a Target over there? I pulled it, I'm like, okay, I get it. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. It's so good to see you. I missed you the last couple of times I wasn't here in the New York here whenever I was here.