TITLE
Title
ARPA ENABLED FUNDING FOR THE SERVANT CENTER
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SPONSOR
Sponsor
Commissioner Pat Tillman
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BACKGROUND
Background
The Servant Center (TSC) is requesting $500,000 to expand services for disabled veterans experiencing homelessness and to add 22 new Medical Respite beds. The Servant Center purchased a 37,000 square foot former nursing home in July 2024 with support from the VA, Guilford County and the City of Greensboro. All The Servant Center’s current operations will move to the new building, including the following programs.
• Servant House, a 21-bed transitional housing program for disabled veterans who are experiencing homelessness. In addition to group counseling, life skills classes, medical support provided by an RN and CNA-Med Tech, case management and social activities, all the residents’ basic needs are provided.
• Fast Track is a Rapid Re Housing program assisting individuals and families, including many veterans, experiencing homelessness, by providing temporary direct financial assistance to economically disadvantaged persons in order that they may become stably housed through housing, case management and other supportive services.
• The Disability Assistance Program (DAP) assists un- and under-insured clients filing for SSI/SSDI benefits. Veterans applying for benefits through DAP at TSC, are two-times more likely to have their application approved on the first attempt. DAP also sponsors a program called SOAR (SSI/SSDI, Outreach, Access, and Recovery) which specifically assists homeless individuals in applying for SSI/SSDI benefits.
The building is being renovated to provide recreational and programmatic spaces for the Servant House and Medical Respite residents including a game room, large dining area, lounge area, computer lab, barber/beauty shop and meeting/training space for life skills, mental health and substance abuse classes.
Target Population:
(1) Disabled veterans experiencing homelessness who are currently residing in our Servant House program. We serve approximately 52 veterans each year.
(2) The new Medical Respite program will serve individuals who are experiencing homelessness that do not need hospitalization, but who are too ill or frail to recover from illnesses or injuries on the street; or those that need testing and/or treatments that require a safe place to recover. Individuals must be able to take care of their Activities of Daily Living. There will be 22 beds and are estimating we will serve 45-60 individuals each year.
In addition, because each room has its own bathroom, we will be able to serve males and females.
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REQUESTED ACTION
Requested Action
Authorize staff to take any and all necessary actions including, but not to limited to execution of contracts and associated budget or fund-related amendments in the approval of utilizing ARPA enabled funding, to award $500,000 to the Servant Center for the purposes of expanding services for disabled veterans experiencing homelessness.
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