Community Services

 "A Safe, Thriving, Inclusive Community"

Mission:
"Community Services partners for the safety, well-being, and stability of children, families, and adults in Olmsted County"

Values:
Accountability, Advocacy, Innovation, Respect

The Silver Creek Corner Project is our partnership with Center City Housing to build a 40 unit residential setting for chronic inebriates. Like others you might ask – why are we part of this?

Center City Housing is a Regional Supportive Housing Development Leader, its San Marco Project in Duluth is highlighted in the video below.

• We began looking for new ways to serve our chronic alcoholic population because our detoxification and CD Treatment budgets were rising rapidly.
  • In particular, our detox budget was approaching $1,000,000 per year and we were searching for alternatives.  
• Those programs were both entitlements so we were asking what we can do to change the outcomes for folks just repeatedly going through the system.
• Along the way research continued to support this direction.
  • For example, the April 2009 edition of the Journal of American Medicine endorses this model as an effective approach to serving chronic alcoholics.
  • The studies done at similar programs across Minnesota typically show an 80-90% decrease in detox visits for clients housed in these settings.
• We also conducted a study of our 58 top detox users and compared it against the cost of this program.
  • Interestingly, the diagram does not really even have all the costs in the current system because we could not track all the uncompensated care costs for people who received services and were not on Medical Assistance. 
  • Additional points are outlined in the Chemical Health Supportive Housing Proposal.

 Funding for Silver Creek Corner

• The facility construction is being paid for through general obligation bonds issued by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA). Communities or agencies compete for these funds by proposing projects that fit with the mission of the MHFA. The MHFA was very supportive of the application for these funds by Center City Housing because of their successful outcomes with similar projects in Duluth and St. Cloud.
• The operations of Silver Creek Corner will be paid for through rent from clients along with Group Residential Housing (GRH) funds. Those are state funds used to pay for vulnerable populations who need 24 hour care and supervision. 
• We did a study of our most likely clients (58 detoxification users) to live in this type of facility and what public funds we were spending on them. We were spending about $2,100 per month on these folks (not including the uncompensated care our hospitals were providing). The state GRH payment is approximately $1,500 per month per client and reflected in the CD Housing Costs Diagram.

Human Services Directors from 12 counties and other leaders in southeastern Minnesota are in the process of developing a clear vision for the future of the publicly funded human services system in our region, and we know that we need to re-think what we’ve been doing.  The combination of real reductions in resources, changes in demographics, increased awareness of best practices, and the strong desire to improve our effectiveness for our clients and our communities leads us to examine how we can add value through:

• Greater collaboration among counties and the State.
• Leveraging technology and existing community partnerships.
• Measuring performance and outcomes.
• Implementing a more consumer-friendly system.

With support from the Bush Foundation, The Public Strategies Group is conducting a series of Design Labs. The methodology involves thinking about what might be, more than an analysis of what is. Designing is more focused on the imagined future and develops ideas that need to be fully formed and implemented. 

"Community Services partners for the safety, well-being and stability of children, families and adults in Olmsted County" 

• We believe in innovation and early intervention through best practices and evidence-based practices that generate consumer results.
• We believe in promoting individual and family strengths and independence to the extent possible.
• We believe in efficient and effective use of public resources.
• We believe that we must listen, respect, value and seek to understand those we serve and those with whom we work.
• We believe in supporting and involving consumers and their families to make informed choices.
• We believe in the professional development of staff.

Paul Fleissner, Director