Fiscal Note
This action is budget neutral but will help leverage additional program funds. Dane County Human Services is providing a one-for-one match to the Emergency Shelter Grant funds awarded to the City for the Tellurian program. As a condition of the match, the funds must be administered by Dane County.
Title
Amend Resolution No. 33852 that approved the 2014-15 ETH Application for funding to the Wisconsin Department of Administration, Division of Housing and executing agreements with specific non-profit agencies using the state funds, by including Dane County as the fiscal agent for Tellurian, Inc.'s Employment Coordination Program.
Body
The City of Madison works closely with a group of community-based non-profit agencies that provide services and housing to homeless persons and those at risk of becoming homeless. This cooperation involves city sponsorship and administration of an annual application to the State of Wisconsin for federal and state funds for various projects. The City was awarded $437,305 from the State; CDD will execute contracts with twelve local agencies to provide services.
Tellurian, Inc. is one of the twelve agencies listed in Resolution No. 33852. Tellurian is being awarded $20,000 which it will use to sub-contract with Employment and Training Association (EATA) to provide occupational training and job placement for homeless persons residing in transitional housing programs operated by Tellurian and Porchlight. EATA's initiative will work directly with local employers to develop trainings for residents that lead to employment opportunities. EATA will get buy-in from employers at the beginning to develop specific training for entry level positions, create trainings to introduce homeless persons to those skills and then provide on-site job coaching to ensure positive outcomes. The EATA program also provides an on-site job shadowing component. This will help the participant negotiate any difficulty in making the transition from trainee to employee. Coordination of job training activities specifically targeting homeless persons is a large unmet need in Madison.
Dane County Human Services is able to provide an additional $20,000 to match the City's $20,000 award to Tellurian. According to Amy Mendel Clemons, Division Administrator of Economic Assistance and Work Services, they need to control both the match dollars and ESG dollars as a condition for the match funds being available. The use of the County's match dollars will double the number of people who can receive assistance through the EATA training, job placement and job shadowing program.
CDD will contract with Tellurian, Inc. Tellurian will be responsible for executing an agreement with EATA and monitoring the work to determine if performance outcomes as met. Tellurian will submit a monthly program report to CDD. Dane County will be the fiscal agent for the contract; CDD will transfer the ESG funds to the County which will be responsible for making payment to Tellurian.
Action: WHEREAS, the Common Council has accepted the Community Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in Dane County which includes goals and objectives represented in these activities; and
WHEREAS, the CD Division staff have worked collaboratively with interested Homeless Services Consortium agencies to analyze current unmet needs and jointly develop a list of projects for submission to the State for ETH funds; and
WHEREAS, this is an opportunity to significantly increase the number of persons who are eligible for job training, placement and shadow services by partnering with Dane County Human Services, Tellurian and EATA to make use of matching funds.
Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Common Council amend Resolution No. 33852 to include Dane County as the fiscal agent for Tellurian, Inc.'s Employment Coordination Program.