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Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque (Project HOPE) Contract AmendmentDubuque THE CITY OF Aa-AmmedcaCitlt DUB E Masterpiece on the Mississippi 2007 TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT: Amendment to Agreement with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque for services relating to Project H.O.P.E. DATE: December 9, 2008 Economic Development Director Dave Heiar recommends City Council approval of an amendment to the contract for services with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque for services relating to Project H.O.P.E. which extends the termination date until June 30, 2008, and modifies the scope of work. In July the City Council approved a six month contract of services with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque to provide additional staff for this initiative. The contract of services was funded by the savings realized in the Economic Development Department when the secretary went part time to pursue her college degree on a full- time basis. The current monthly contract for $2,300 expires January 31, 2009. This extension would use this funding source. I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council approval. Michael C. Van Milligen MCVM/jh Attachment cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager David J. Heiar, Economic Development Director TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager FROM: David J. Heiar, Economic Development Director SUBJECT: Amendment to Agreement with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque for services relating to Project H.O.P.E. DATE: December 8, 2008 INTRODUCTION This memorandum presents for City Council approval of an amendment to a contract of services with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque for services relating to Project H.O.P.E. (Helping Our People Excel), an initiative of the City of Dubuque. BACKGROUND Project HOPE is intended to convene area workforce development agencies, City staff and educational institutions, in a challenge to respond to the needs of the unemployed and/or under-employed. The community has begun a discussion on how to reach these residents, who are traditionally cut off from opportunities for advancement, due to social, cultural or educational barriers. Another objective of Project HOPE is to establish inter- agency programs specifically designed to provide opportunities to these citizens, and to find ways of over-coming barriers to their participation in the job market. In July, the Council approved a 6 month contract of services with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque to provide additional staff for this initiative. The contract of services was funded by the savings realized in our department when secretary, Julie Ehlinger went part time to pursue her college degree on a full-time basis. The current monthly contract for $2,300 expires January 31, 2009. Attached is the most current Project HOPE update,provided by Tara Nelson of the Foundation. As you can see, Ms. Nelson has assisted this initiative on many fronts, and has really helped move many of our efforts forward. RECOMMENDATION Based on the results, I am recommending that we extend our current contract thru the end of this fiscal year (June 30, 2008) at an estimated cost of $13,800 which would be funded by the savings of $33,479 realized in Economic Development when the full-time secretary became part-time. I have included a budget improvement package to fund this initiative in fiscal year 2009-10. ACTION STEP recommend that the City Council approve an amendment to the contract of services with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque to assist in achieving the Project HOPE objectives. The amendment would modify Section 6 of the agreement extending the termination date until June 30, 2008 and modify the scope of work as attached to this memo. Attachments F:\USERS\DHeiar\Project Hope\Contract for Services Council Memo.doc FIRST AMEN®MENT Whereas, a Consulting Agreement ("Agreement"), dated August 4t", 2008, was entered into by and between the City of Dubuque, a municipal corporation of the State of Iowa (City), and Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, an Iowa Non- profit Corporation with offices at 700 Locust Street, Suite 195, Dubuque, Iowa 52001 (Foundation); and Whereas, City and Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque now desire to amend the Service Agreement as set forth herein. Now, therefore, the parties agree that the Service Agreement is amended as follows: 1. Section 6 is amended to read as follows: 6. TIME OF PERFORMANCE. This Agreement shall commence on the 1St day of February, 2009, and shall terminate on June 30, 2009. Date: December 15, 2008 F:\USERS\DHeiar\Amendment to Agreement.doc Attachment A -Scope of Work revised 11/08 Working with the Target Population 1. Outreach to target population (Questionnaires) 2. Work with providers to obtain questionnaire information from representatives of the Target population. 3. Track and Compile feedback 4. Work with the Washington Neighborhood Consultant citizens group (CCC) and City staff to collect neighborhood feedback and ideas. 5. Work with the MCFC to work with the Citizen Advisory Board to collect information about needs and plans. Working with Providers 6. Follow-up calls to those who were unable to attend June 3 meeting to collect assets and contact info -possibly in collaboration with Loras students. 7. Determine how to use feedback from questionnaires, CCC, MCFC Citizen Advisory Group and June 3 asset mapping and Distribute. 8. Identify gaps and Develop ideas for and facilitate future programming/resources/collaboration. 9. Facilitate meetings among service providers to encourage collaborations and similar processes (utilizing suggestions from Asset Mapping) Work collaboratively with the Getting Ahead Program staff, Iowa Workforce Development, City staff, Greater Dubuque Development Corp., the Chamber of Commerce, and the Human Rights AmeriCorps*VISTA to define specific goals and actions steps for the future, along with a succession plan to ensure sustained efforts. 10. Draft a potential uniform first page of application forms. 11. Establish annual cross-trainings for service providers. 12. Assist in the expansion of EITC outreach. Working with Higher Education Institutes/Businesses/IWD 13. Explores ways to partner with manufacturing companies and school district to meet their staffing needs. 14. Assist IWD/NICC in their search for funding for the Ex-Offender program. 15.Actively participant in the Chamber's Workforce Initiative Data/Research 16. Explore YouthBuild for the Dubuque community and assist with the grant application. 17. Work with Project Concern and others to update/create comprehensive, interactive online Resource Guide. 18. Manage reports, emails, meetings, etc. 19. Research any programs/funding opportunities related to Project HOPE, Every Child Every Promise, HEART Program, Poverty Reduction. 20. Compiles reports, data, etc. 21. Meet bi-monthly with City of Dubuque Economic Development staff to provide update and share information. 22.Other duties as assigned. F:\USERS\DHeiar\Project Hope\Nov Scope of Work 11-21- 08.doc n~ Project HOPE Progress Report October 2008 Submitted by Tara Nelson The information in this report outlines the efforts and progress of the Ciry's Project HOPE initiative. Efforts and progress are organized into categories based on the focus a~°ea. Alternative Education New: We inet with representatives from YouthBuild who were visiting Dubuque to talk about Project HOPE and our vision for the future. Project HOPE will continue to work in collaboration with the YouthBuild group as we prepare the YouthBuild grant application. I attended the Dubuque Area Labor Management Council Luncheon on behalf of Project HOPE. The presenter represented the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council and spoke about the Austin Polytechnical Academy in Chicago. He discussed staffing needs of manufacturing companies in Chicago and the US and gave ideas on ways to get youth on the track of school to work. Chicago has incorporated a manufacturing career plan curriculum in Coolc County's public schools. There were a few attendees interested in visiting the school and exploring ways we can offer a similar program/education track in Dubuque. I will stay connected to find out if their interests go anywhere. History: We attended the America's Promise 100 Best Communities conference in DC during September hoping to discover new programs and options for assisting our school district in meeting the needs of our children. Communities In Schools is the nation's largest dropout prevention organization. We were able to attend a breakout session to learn more about this program and will follow-up with them to learn about the possibility of partnering in the future to bring Commnunities In Schools to our community. Upon returning to Dubuque and debriefing with Nancy Van Milligen, we learned that she has had past contact with a representative from Communities In Schools in Waterloo and would support and encourage us in pursuing this option for Dubuque. Identifying new alternative education opportunities is one component of Project HOPE. We have been researching best practice alternative education programs and their success level in other communities. The YouthBuild programs is a youth and community development program that simultaneously addresses core issues facing low-income communities: housing, education, employment, crime prevention, and leadership development. The program's goal is to connect with low-income youth between the ages of 16-24 and work with them to earn their GED or high school diploma, to learn job skills and to serve their communities by building affordable housing and transform their own lives and roles in society. Various members of the Dubuque coininunity are joining together to explore the funding to make this program a reality in Dubuque. 1 Asset Mapping/Steering Committee New: On October 16t~' the Project HOPE Steering Committee met to discuss the past few months and determine an action plan and priorities for the future. The group expressed interests in collecting information from the target population through questionnaires. The group provided questions and I put together a brief questionnaire. Each member of the Steering Committee agreed to try to collect 15 questionnaires for the next meeting. In addition, the questionnaires were einailed and dropped off at local non-profits, shelters, etc to collect questionnaires from at least 75 members of the target population. History: On September 19C~', Project HOPE along with other community partners hosted the First Annual Cross Training: Learning Together. We have over 125 individuals attend from service providers to foster parents. This cross training was an outcome of the Project HOPE asset mapping that took place in June. The service providers requested snore trainings and opportunities to learn about other organizations. The cross-training was able to meet both of those needs and will continue to meet that need for years to come. The evaluations from the training were overwhelming positive with a score of 3.9/4 of participants agreed they would recommend this training to others. Project HOPE held an Asset Mapping Day on June 3'~d to gain a good understanding of the needs of the community. Over 100 representatives attended from numerous service providers. The group spent the day identifying community resources, gaps and opportunities for collaboration. We had 6 facilitators directing the small groups during the Asset Mapping. After the day was over, all the notes from the day were typed up. The notes (included) were then einailed and mailed out to the participants with afollow-up letter. Business Engagement New: At the Project HOPE Steering Committee Meeting, Wendy Mihin-Herold from IWD reported they are in the process of interviewing potential candidates for the business engagement position in Dubuque. Once he/she is hired they will be spending their time selling the Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) and getting business buy-in to CRC, Project HOPE and the Dubuque community's other employment initiatives. History: Another component of Project HOPE is engaging the businesses in this initiative. To begin this process, Project HOPE has organized a few meeting with Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, Iowa Workforce Development, the Chamber of Commerce and other leaders in the business industry. The goal is to develop and outline a collaborative plan to engage employers in Project HOPE. We need to gain a good understanding of current and future staffing needs of local employers. Once there is a good understanding of the einployinent needs, we can development or expand training programs to meet those needs. Overall, I ain serving as a catalyst and driving force in the business engagement process by maintaining constant communication with those implanting this component of Project HOPE. Additionally, I attended a legislative round table at the Chamber to gain knowledge of employment and training issues. Citizen Engagement New: We have been working to re-engage citizens in the development, planning and fundraising for the Multicultural Family Center. In October we invited past members of the MFC advisory board and new ineinbers who have been active at the center to come together to talk about the future of the center, the move and programming. The meeting was well attended and there will be a follow-up meeting in December as planning moves forward from the City's side. 2 I served on a Loras College panel, on behalf of Project HOPE, to discuss issues of poverty that are facing our community. It would be great to see some college-aged citizens involved in the Project HOPE initiatives. Many of the audience members were interested in getting involved through the MFC and the Presentation Lantern Center. History: We met with Marcia Sola in September to discuss the needs of Dubuque's Hispanic community and ways to engage them in the Multicultural Family Center and Project HOPE. Marcia helped identify some leadership who have been invited to attend a meeting in October to discuss the future of the Multicultural Family Center. Project HOPE will not be successful without citizen engagement and feedback. We have been out in the neighborhood working to re-establishing past relationships and attempting to develop new relationships with the target population of Project HOPE. Along with the City's AineriCorps VISTA, Nick Stuber, I passed out over 100 flyers (attached) for IWD's upcoming career fair preparation workshop. This included door to door outreach. This is the first of many efforts of this nature to become a familiar face in the neighborhood and establish relationships and trust. Project HOPE is also working with Operation New View and IWD to expanded Dubuque's current outreach and education on Earned Income Tax Credit to ensure that everyone who is eligible for EITC reserves their refund. We are hoping to expand the VITA sites this year to reach more families. Employment Programs New: Engaging the business is on hold to soiree degree until IWD hires staff to tackle this project. However, the Getting Ahead program is moving forward and has started their second round of classes. In October we held a meeting with Project HOPE and the Getting Ahead staff to talk about what went well and what was challenging with the first class and how we can join together to make the second groups of classes better. We discussed defining specific goals and outcomes for the participants. The discussion included conversations about follow-up and support services. Project HOPE will continue to work with the Getting Ahead Program to help ensure its long-term sustainability and success of the participants. History: In September, a representatives from Project HOPE and Every Child ~ Every Promise visited the Manchester Bidwell Corporation in Pittsburgh. We were able to tour the facilities and learn about their programming and funding. They shared their history, their current programs and their plan for expanding in the future. Although the magnitude of their program inay not be realistic for Dubuque, the concept behind the Center could be possible through the Multicultural Family Center and the Warehouse District (The Brick Oven). We will continue to explore these possibilities as Project HOPE moves forward. We are continuing to work with IWD on the development of the Ex-Offender Employment Program. NICC has developed a curriculum for this program and we are currently working together to explore funding options. Expanding current and developing new employment programs is another component of Project HOPE. Currently, Project HOPE is working with IWD to develop a new einplo}nnent program for ex-offenders. This program will teach life skills, soft skills, interview skills, job skills and more. The goal of the program is assist ex-offenders in securing stable, well-paying employment to preventing them from re-offending in the future. I am assisting by searching for a funding source for this program. Grant Writing New: We are currently looking into potential funding opportunities through the Allstate Foundation, Ben and Jerry's Foundation and the Hitachi Foundation for programs that fall under the scope of Project HOPE's goals. History: Project HOPE inet with soiree City staff to discuss the possibility of seeking funding through Living Cities, which is a philanthropic partnership established to bring opportunities and the power of inainstreain markets to under-resources neighborhoods that are typically left behind. The City is going to look into this possible funding source further and determine if it is a good fit for Dubuque. The Community Foundation is hosting a group that meets weekly to research grant opportunities to fund the various components of Project HOPE. During the last week of September, the Community Foundation submitted a grant requesting $95,000 for at-risk youth programming and financial literacy training. 1 wrote a grant on behalf of Project HOPE to the Women's Giving Circle to host community round tables. The goal of the round tables was to bring together the target group of Project HOPE to discuss the resources, gaps and needs for improvement from their perspective. We basically wanted to discuss what they saw as barriers to stable employment. Sadly, we did not receiving funding to hold these round tables. Nick and I are exploring alternative ways to collect this information. However, the Community Foundation's Women's Giving Circle did grant $5,000 towards the participant's stipend for Getting Ahead. Multicultural Family Center New: On behalf of Project HOPE, I continue to meeting weekly at the MFC to discuss funding, programming, neighborhood engagement, center layout, etc for the new Center. As mentioned earlier we are working to re-engage an active Advisory Committee of citizens for the Center. History: Project HOPE is working with staff at the MFC to reestablish the Citizen's Advisory Board for the Center. We met regularly during September to determine who should be invited to participate, what we will be discussing at the meeting and when and where to hold the first meeting. We also met to create a Computer Give Away Program in the Washington Neighborhood through a collaborative agreement with the City of Dubuque and the Washington Neighborhood Association. The City has agreed to donate their used computers on an annual basis as the City replaces their older computers. The Multicultural Family Center will then create an application process for distributing the computer with priority given to youth in middle school and high school who need computers to complete their homework. Individuals will be able to apply for a computer at the MFC or through the WNA. The MFC is also working to provide training to individuals and families receiving computers. They will offer an "orientation/training" on how to utilize, maintain and care for the computer. Follow-up sessions will be offer providing technical support for any problems people maybe experiencing with their computers. During our meetings we also discuss possible funding and prograinining options for the new location. 4 On behalf of Project HOPE, I have begun working with Beverly Berna and Nick Stuber to explore possible funding sources and programming ideas for the new Multicultural Family Center. Part of this is re-engaging the members of the old advisory board who develop the original concept of the MCFC. We are currently brainstorming programming, building layout, fundraising, and outreach ideas. The major needs at this point are community support and involvement and fundraising. I have also been working to build relationships with service providers and encouraging their participation in the new MCFC. The goal is to have service providers use the MCFC to provide outreach and services to populations they may not otherwise reach. We have begun compiling a list of organizations interested in providing on-site services at the MCFC. Research New: I attended a 2 day conference in Des Moines called Ready by 21. Attendees came from across the Nation and shared various resources, approaches and challenges. The conference provided us with a variety of tools to determine where our community allocates its resources and which services/programs are successful and which could be improved/expanded. I was able to share the knowledge I gained with Nancy Van Milligen to use on the Community Foundation's projects/programs and Mae Hingtgen from Every Child ~ Every Promise who plans to use soiree of the resources in her Youth Master Plan session in November. There is potential to use the resources and tools for Project HOPE in the future, potentially with the Chamber's Workforce Initiative group. History: We have continued researching current programs in the community that provide services to our target population. In September, we lnet with Dave Leary from Promise Jobs and Workforce Investment Act at ECIA. He was able to explain the funding, program requirements and general operations of these two programs. He also shared statistics on the outcomes of these two programs. A huge part of Project HOPE is research. This includes researching current programs located in and grant funds allocated to agencies in Dubuque. I have been working to develop a spreadsheet of current einplo}nnent programs available and deternining whether or not the programs exist in Dubuque and if not, whether or not we are eligible. This document is included with this report. We have also been reading about the Manchester Bidwell Corporation as an example of a successful adult einployinent/training program and youth programs. I will be making a trip to the campus later this month and meeting with replications to learn about the possibility of offering something similar here in the Dubuque commmunity. Also included in this report is a list of Project HOPE programs that already exist in Dubuque. The list includes the name of the program and who is providing the program/service. The third document included is a list of services/programs that other successful communities have created in order to provide successful employment programs. We are exploring which services we are already providing and which agency or agencies provide the services. All of this research is to help understand which employment resources exist which will help direct future programming/servi ces. 5 Service Provider Engagement History: The Cross Training on September 19t1i was a great opportunity to bring the service providers together for feedback on future training needs and to assess the value of the cross training. We will be using the evaluation feedback to help direct future interactions and trainings with the service providers. In addition to engaging business and citizens, service providers must also be engaged in Project HOPE. The service providers expressed a need for more opportunities for trainings and communication. After the Asset Mapping, I was able to attend across-training in Cedar Rapids. When I returned to Dubuque, I began planning across-training in Dubuque to meet the need expressed by the service providers. In collaboration with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, Community Partnership for Protecting Children, Every Childs Every Promise, NICC, and Shared Youth Vision, Project HOPE will be hosting the first annual cross-training entitle Learning Together: How Poverty and Diversity Effect Our Community. This cross-training will be held amiually and will offer service providers training and an opportunity to communicate with one another about their services and programs. This year the training will highlight 3 organizations: Community Circle of Care, Crescent Community Health Center and Every Child Every Promise. During the Asset Mapping Day, service providers also expressed the need for a more comprehensive and accessible resource guide. I have since met with Jenny Manders from Project Concern to discuss possible ways to collaborate to improve the guide and offer the resource online. Jenny reported that Project Concern's 211 services will be upgrading in Oct to improve their service. The entire resource guide and then some will be available online. Once this service is available online, Project HOPE will play a role in marketing the website and getting the news out to the service providers. Youth Employment/Education Opportunities New: We continue to be a partner is in Chamber's Workforce Initiative to explore ways to collaborate as a community to ensure snore youth are successful in either work or higher education after they graduate from high school. As mentioned previously, Project HOPE is exploring the YouthBuild program as a potential youth education opportunity. History: As already reported, we visited the Manchester Bidwell Corporation to explore potential youth prograimning and education opportunities. We will be following up on the information they provided us and exploring ways to implement their program structure into our community. The America's Promise Alliance 100 Best Communities conference in DC provided us with many programming ideas and best practice examples from other communities. Every Child ~ Every Promise and Project HOPE will be working together to determine if any of those programs are feasible in Dubuque and the steps needed to begin the process. The Brick Oven is interested in offering pottery and other art classes to at-risk and low-income youth at a reduced cost. Project HOPE is helping to coordinate these programs by identifying youth to participate in the classes. Project HOPE is also working with Opportunity Passport, a financial literacy training class for youth in foster care. We feel this is a very beneficial training for our youth and is being offered through Shared Youth Visions at the Coininunity Foundation. Another vital component of Project HOPE is the development of youth employment and education opportunities. The Multicultural Family Center offered a summer youth employment program over this past summer called Future Talk. I was able to supervise the youth on some of 6 the early weeks of this program and participate in the educational/employment activities. This was a great program for the youth, which included a volunteer requirement. Project HOPE will work to find future funding for this program, which cost around $550/youth to operate. Washington Neighborhood New: I attended a meeting regarding the Washington Neighborhood with City staff, on behalf of Project HOPE, to explore ways we can keep citizens involved in the Washington Neighborhood Consultant and snake the next meeting be more productive and engaging. I have made follow-up phone calls to ensure that those who attended the first meeting plan to attend the next one in November and have allowed people to vent their frustrations about the first meeting. We are very hopeful the next meeting will be more successful! History: Project HOPE is making an effort to build relationships within the Washington neighborhood. We have attended their Neighborhood Association Meeting and their neighborhood block festival. Project HOPE continues to be involved with the Washington neighborhood consultant's efforts. We will continue to provide outreach to the neighborhood for the consultant's events. We have been having conversations with a couple non-profits about providing more programming for youth in the downtown/Washington neighborhood area. Youth are in need of fun, safe activities in their neighborhoods. These activities might be offered through the MFC or through a collaboration of various non-profits. Project HOPE will continue to facilitate that conversation and provide support to move the concept forward. The revitalization of the Washington Neighborhood cannot be overlooked by Project HOPE. This is really a joint effort because many of the individuals who can and. will benefit from Project HOPE live within the Washington Neighborhood. I will be working closely with Housing and the Consultants as the Washington Neighborhood progresses. I made many outreach calls to engage residents, business owners, organizations, and leaders within the Washington Neighborhood to attend the consultant focus groups and Citizens Coordinating Coininittee meeting. I also participated in these events herself providing her own insight into the current situation and needs of the neighborhood. My notes from the Citizens Coordinating Coininittee are included in this report. Miscellaneous New: Thanks to recent funding received from GDDC, the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque was able to hire Alyssa Hauser as an AineriCorps Promise Fellow to assist with Project HOPE activities. She will work hand and hand with me to complete to Scope of Service outlined in the contract. She will begin her AmeriCorps position in November and complete her teen in June 09. Additionally, the Community Foundation is exploring ways to increase Earned Income Tax Credit outreach in the Dubuque in collaboration with Project HOPE and other community members. I participated in a conference all in early September to learn about grant funding opportunities through the IRS to expand VITA sites and outreach nation-wide. Through follow- up conversations with ISED in Des Moines, we are exploring how Dubuque can capitalize on these dollars. Additionally, IWD has joined in as a partner with the IRS aiid Iowa State Extension office to see how they can contribute to this project. We will continue to work together to expand this resource in Dubuque. 7 History: Aside from all the areas listed above I have been participating in the Barnabus Uplift meetings on Mission Health on behalf of Project HOPE. I helped handout over 50 flyers for the program and continue to encourage those who may be eligible to apply. I also presented to the Congressional staff on Project HOPE during their visit to Dubuque and I am staying in touch with the Congressional staff for future support letter needs.