Top 5 things to know from the Washoe County Board of Commissioners meeting

County Commissioners accept more than $800,000 in grants to feed seniors.

Reno, Nevada. Oct. 11, 2016. The following report highlights several important agenda items from the Washoe County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. Videos of County Commission meetings are replayed regularly on WCTV (Charter Ch. 193). You may also watch videos on-demand online.

1. County Commissioners accept grants to serve seniors nutritious meals. The Board of Washoe County Commissioners accepted more than $800,000 in grants from the Nevada Aging and Disability Services Division for two Older Americans Act Title III programs. County Commissioners accepted a $585,786 grant for the Home Delivered Meals program and $283,360 for the Congregate Meals program.

In addition, County Commissioners approved a $1,635 supplemental grant award from the Nevada Aging and Disability Services Division for the Nutrition Services Incentive Program.

“These grants provide the resources required to make sure we continue to provide Washoe County seniors healthy, nutritious meals at our senior centers as well as deliver them through our Meals on Wheels Program right to their homes if need be,” Washoe County Social Services Director Amber Howell said.

Seniors Services teams up with Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada to offer more than 1,100 seniors free, nutritious meals every day. Many of those meals are delivered to seniors at home through the Meals on Wheels program.

Learn more about services Washoe County offers seniors.

2. County Commissioners approve $400,000 agreement with the Children’s Cabinet. County Commissioners approved a $400,000 sole source professional services agreement with The Children’s Cabinet. Funding for the agreement is paid for by a grant from the Federal Administration for Children and Families for the Permanency Innovations Initiative program. The program’s goal is to prevent long-term foster care and provide case management services.

“We are always eager and excited to partner with The Children’s Cabinet because we believe in the great work they do in our community,” Commission Chair Kitty Jung (Dist. 3) said. “We believe this agreement will go a long way in helping hundreds of children.”

Since its inception in 1985, The Children’s Cabinet has been keeping children safe and families intact by offering services and resources that address unmet needs through a unique and effective cooperative effort between the private sector and public agencies in Nevada. The Children’s Cabinet offers more than 30 programs for children from birth to 24 years old in addition to shelter, food, crisis intervention, tutoring and job training. Learn more about The Children’s Cabinet online.

3. County Commissioners accept a sub-grant to help improve child abuse and neglect hotline. County Commissioners accepted a $35,000 Child Abuse and Neglect sub-grant from the State of Nevada’s Division of Child and Family Services. The grant will assist in paying for staff and the improvement of the child abuse and neglect hotline. The current call system is being converted into a centralized hotline that will be operated through a computerized system.

The new system will be more efficient and will allow for improved call management which will be a positive impact to the community when reporting concerns of child abuse and neglect. The new hotline will improve intake screeners’ ability to get information from callers and speed up the process of preparing reports by sending those reports timely for assessment and investigation.

“The intake call is one of the most important functions of the child abuse and neglect investigation because critical information is gathered regarding possible victimization of children,” said Howell, Washoe County Social Services Director. “We are very excited about improving this important function.”

4. Commissioners support education for foster youth by accepting new sub-grant. County Commissioners accepted a Court Improvement Program $10,000 sub-grant from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Family Services. The money will pay for a review of the Washoe County Social Services College and Career Readiness Project. The Project provides educational case management and mentoring for transition-age foster youth and evaluated the effectiveness of intervention.

Education success is a key priority of the Social Services Staff.  Studies show that young adults who have a positive high school experience are more likely to succeed in both a career and college. Educational outcomes for youth aging out of foster care are poor; less than 50 percent of youth aging out of foster care graduate high school within four years. To help improve that statistic, Social Services teamed with the Walter S. Johnson Foundation to target youth in the Independent Living Program to provide individualized career and education support services through the College and Career Readiness Project. 

5. Presentation of EDAWN’s Economic Development Strategic Plan. The President and CEO of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) Mike Kazmierski updated the Board of EDAWN’s accomplishments and presented the Board with EDAWN’s plan to attract more companies to western Nevada.

Kazmierski said since the addition of Tesla, the state’s economic recovery has accelerated and the region’s brand has change, putting the region on the radar for more jobs in manufacturing, business, entrepreneurs, and investors.

Since 2012, 124 companies have located in western Nevada and nearly 81 percent of companies moving to the region decided to call Washoe County home. The following is a list of types of companies that relocated to western Nevada in the Fiscal Year 2015.

• 44% manufacturing
• 30% distribution
• 17% back office service
• 9% data center

He said job growth will only become more evident in the years ahead as EDAWN continues to work with startup and relocating businesses.

“The growth in this region will continue well into the future, thanks in part to the Washoe County Commission’s support,” Kazmierski said. “Thank you for working with us to make this area an attractive place for business.”

EDAWN is focused on job growth with the goal to create 3,200 more jobs in western Nevada by 2017.

“Mr. Kazmierski, thank you for all your hard work.” Commissioner Vaughn Hartung (Dist. 4) said. “You have a great team and you have assembled some forward thinkers and I think they can compete with any economic development group in the nation. Well done.”

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