The Cuyahoga County Health, Human Services, and Aging Committee met on January 18th, 2023 to consider seven different contracts to begin the new legislative term. The contracts involved numerous issues of importance to health and human services in Cuyahoga County. Child and Family Services David Merriman, Director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Health and...
Category: County Budget
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Buy Back the Block: uplifting Black neighborhoods
“Why don’t they care about their neighborhood?” A question quietly whispered while driving down a street with run down houses and boarded up stores. While that question looks at the current issues facing many neighborhoods in our state and nation, it doesn’t get to the root of the issue of how we got here. Who...
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Cuyahoga County Health, Human Services, and Aging Committee Address Multiple Contracts
The Cuyahoga County Health, Human Services, and Aging committee reconvened on September 21, 2022 after a lengthy recess. Because of the break, the county had to hear and consider several contracts, some of which required lengthy presentations and review. The following is a summary of those presentations. Additionally, several of the funding proposals would be...
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Digital inclusion and ARPA: Increase awareness and meet people where they are
Digital inclusion is one of ten advocacy areas the Greater Cleveland American Rescue Plan Coalition’s (GCARP Coalition) focus. On October 26th, the GCARP Coalition hosted a power hour conversation about digital inclusion. This discussion was an opportunity for community members to hear from experts in the technology and digital inclusion space about how they are...
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More reliable 2021 Census estimates have erased progress on Cleveland children’s poverty
The first reliable data on poverty in Cleveland during the COVID-19 pandemic was released last week. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 1-year estimates show that nearly 105,000 people in the City of Cleveland lived in poverty in 2021. Of those, more than 33,500 are children. At 45.5 percent, Cleveland has the highest child poverty rate...
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Cleveland Proposes Spending Plan for $102M in ARPA Funds
Housing, economic recovery, early childhood education, and domestic violence relief were among the top initiatives proposed by the Bibb Administration to Cleveland City Council in a Caucus meeting on August 29. The city now faces some big decisions about how best to deploy these funds. Council President Blaine Griffin emphasized at the beginning of the...
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Honoring our treasured volunteers
Health and social service organizations rely on dedicated volunteers to work side-by-side with their staff to support their services. They work, not for a paycheck, but for the joy and satisfaction of helping others. The time of day or time of year makes no difference; they just want to serve. Volunteers provide meaningful services in...
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Final Federal ARPA Rules Give Cuyahoga County Greater Flexibility in Spending the Funds
Cuyahoga County calculated a revenue loss of $264 million in 2020, according to a presentation by Maher Duessel, the County’s consultant advising on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. Representatives from Maher Deussel presented at County Council’s May 16 Finance and Budgeting Committee meeting and shared that according to their calculations, the total actual revenue...
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HHSA Committee extends homeless service contract with LMM
The Cuyahoga County Council Health, Human Services, and Aging committee met on April 20 and on May 4. Between the two meetings, the committee only had one contract on the agenda. The contract with Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries, would be extended to September 30, 2022 to operate the 365-bed Men’s Emergency Shelter at 2100 Lakeside Avenue,...
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Cuyahoga County Council Member Miller First to Outline Process for Requesting ARPA Funds
Cuyahoga County Council Member Dale Miller, Cuyahoga County Council District 2, spoke at the first public meeting of the Greater Cleveland American Rescue Plan Coalition meeting last week and referenced the process he is using to consider proposals for up to $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding in his district (District 2 comprises...