Human Services Programs of Carroll County Inc.

“The 990 is reviewed and approved by the board before filing with the irs.”

“Conflict of interest issues are dealt with on a board level via self-declaration of conflicts. Abstentions from votes are documented in the organization's minutes.”

“The executive committee considers the executive director's salary separate from all other staff and submits a recommendation to the board. The recommendation is based on the executive committee members' experiences in the industry, and the committee will also request hr to perform a comparability study from time to time (not necessarily annually). Salary decisions made at the board level are communicated via memo directly to the accounting specialist and human resources manager. Board members are also involved in the board approval of annual budgets.”

“The organization makes its governing bylaws, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available upon request in its main office at 10 distillery drive, westminster, md. The organization's financial statements are also available on the organization's website.”

“Hsp operates the shelter and housing program with the housing first approach. Programming serves the most in need first, providing open- access, low barrier services. Hsp believes homelessness should be prevented. If it cannot be prevented, homelessness should be brief. Shelter and housing services strive to help participants increase their income, secure permanent housing, and provide necessary community supports and linkages to prevent and end homelessness. During this year, shelter and housing services expanded to meet the needs of our community during the covid 19 pandemic. Services remained open, operable, and accessible. Shelter services provide overnight support and case management services to homeless individuals and families. Shelter staff connect homeless participants to housing opportunities - regardless of what might be going on in their life. Shelter services case managers focus on stabilizing participants, connecting them with basic needs and community resources, increasing their income, and rapidly securing permanent housing. Hsp manages 3 of carroll county's homeless shelters. Shelter services operate 24 hours, seven days a week, to ensure participants are safe and stable. In addition to stability and support services, shelters also provide food, laundry facilities, telephone, and mail assistance. During this program year hsp reorganized our shelter services to expand services, increase safety, and provide year-round access to immediate shelter beds. Men's, women's, and safe haven shelters were consolidated into one location, maintaining the same bed capacity. Our cold weather shelter became our night-by-night shelter, to provide open-access additional shelter beds, year-round, not just during the coldest months. This allowed hsp to increase staff capacity as well as case management services to our most vulnerable community members. In addition, in response to covid-19, hsp opened and operated a temporary overnight shelter and day center to ensure social distancing. In fiscal year 2021: . Family shelter served 69 total participants; 29 adults and 40 children, 44% exited to permanent housing . Adult only shelter served 119 total participants: 79 men and 40 women, 56% exited to permanent housing .night-by-night shelter served 89 participants, 5% exited to permanent housing, 37% transitioned into adult shelter . Temporary covid-19 shelter, operating from november 3rd to march 31st, served 100 participants, 8% exited to permanent housing, 36% transitioned into permanent hsp shelters . The temporary shelter opened has also served as a day center for our street homeless, providing access to meals, showers, laundry, and case management services, 166 participants served . Services provided safe, stable on-going support for 271 unique participants, 224 households . 14% of shelter participants increased their income . 71% utilization rate with an avereage length of stay of 45 days . 104 our of 153 (68%) participants engaged in case management services at the cv temp and night-by-night shelters, which served the hardest to engage homeless population housing services work to prevent homelessness wherever possible. Housing services seamlessly blend services for those experiencing homelessness to those at risk of becoming homeless. Hsp conducts shelter and housing eligibility screenings 5 days a week via walk-in hours, over the phone, an throughout the community. As participants complete the assessment, they are referred to appropriate housing resources. If a participant meets the federal definition of homeless, they then are referred to coordinated entry. Coordinated entry completes a needs assessment, to objectively assess the participant's vulnerablity or need. Participants are then referred to shelter services, permanent supportive housing for persons with disabilities (pshpwd), or rapid re-housing program. Pspwd provides housing and case management services to chronically homeless, hsp maintains 21 rental units for part”

“Family support: the carroll county family center provides services to expectant parents, and parents with their children under four years of age. A priority is to ensure that children are healthy - physically, developmentally and emotionally. This is accomplished through a variety of services, including immunization checks, developmental screenings, and parent/child activities. The family center supports parents through programs designed to increase self-sufficiency and nurturing parenting skills. Our adult education partner, carroll community college, provides ged preparation and esl classes for our enrolled parents. The center provides parent education programs, using research-based curricula that includes: the nurturing parent program; the chicago parenting program; and parents as teachers. Other center-based services include case management; health presentations, parent leadership, job readiness and peer support activities. The family center also includes a home visiting program. The home visitor provides parent education, case management, and parent/child activities to the families enrolled in that program. Due to the coronavirus pandemic in fy2021, all services were provided remotely using a variety of strategies, including on-line classes, zoom meetings, posts to our closed group on social media, text messages, and phone calls. When possible, events were held outdoors. The staff also prepared and delivered weekly drop-offs to the families. These deliveries included the materials and worksheets needed by the families to take part in the activities described above. In fy 2021, 40 families (85 people) participated in center-based activities and 19 families (44 people) participated in home-based services. A total of 7,114 participation visits were logged by center-based families, and 1,545 participation visits by home-visit families. This was a very productive year, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. Child & adult care food program: the child & adult care food program (cacfp) is a program of the united states department of agriculture (usda) and allows enrolled family childcare providers to be reimbursed for the healthy meals and snacks they serve to the children in their programs. Fy2021 marked the last year hsp sponsored this program. It ended in september 2020 and the agency transitioned its enrolled providers to other sponsor agencies. Thirty-two (32) licensed family childcare providers participated in the cacfp in july, august and september of 2020, providing meals and snacks for over 235 children. The providers received 24,905 in reimbursements, and a total of 25,376 meals and snacks were served during this time.”

“Economic mobility programming provides integrated employment and training, financial education, and long-term case management services to help people believe in themselves and their future. Economic mobility programming encompasses opportunity works, financial education services, and our volunteer income tax preparation (vita) site. Opportunity works maintained its commitment to providing quality, in-person services throughout the covid 19 pandemic, offering a unique blend of hands-on job training, job readiness assistance, and long-term case management support services to help participants re-enter the workforce and become thriving community members. Opportunity works enrolls participants with significant barriers to employment, including criminal background, mental health disorder, and substance abuse history. Opportunity works focuses on providing community-based re-entry services. In fy21 opportunity works served 88 individuals: 94% had a significant barrier to employment; 98% did not commit a crime during the program year; 47% mastered 5 or more job skills; 50% resolved two barriers to employment; 52% secured employment, with 94% maintaining employment for 180 days or more. Opportunity works utilizes job training platforms to teach participants hands-on skills: .second chances, carroll county's only free store, served 576 households. Store operations were limited throughout the year due to the pandemic, but emergency needs were filled by staff and participants via appointment or outdoor pickup. .the community garden is a 7,800 square foot produce and herb garden, centrally located in downtown westminster. In fy 21, 750 pounds of produce fed over 200 people through second chances, shelter, soup kitchens, and food banks throughout the community. Financial education services help participants with budgeting, access to fair banking services, and developing solid financial habits. Services offered include monthly financial education workshops, financial consultation as well as one-on-one financial coaching for up to one year. We saw a large spike in enrollment after transitioning financial education workshops to an online format, following covid protocols, making it available to a wide range of participants. For those unable to access computers or internet in their home they were still able to utilize opportunity works to attend the workshops. We served 109 participants who attended 40 scheduled financial education workshops. 105 participated in ongoing financial coaching services: 65% increased their financial well- being; 35% maintained a budget for 90 days; 40% achieved a financial goal, purchased an asset, paid down debt, or created savings. Our vita site prepares free tax returns for low to moderate income households, vita is an irs sponsored program. The vita site promotes taxpayer education, accessing vital tax credits, as well as saving your refund. Services this year were provided via -drop-off' method, allowing for an in-person interview, separate preparation, then follow up phone calls to complete the return. Taxpayers saw an average refund of 1,809 with a total of 977,191 going back into the community in the form of federal and state refunds. Vita prepared a total of 1,099 tax returns between january and june of this year.”