Housing, Community Development and Equity Committee

Welcome to the Committee of Housing, Community Development, and Equity. This is your chair speaking, City Council at Large, Kristen Strezo. Today is Wednesday, January 28th. 2026. It is 6.01 p.m. We are in City Hall and we also are hybrid virtually. And with that, I'm going to call this meeting to order.

This is roll call. Councilor Sait? Councilor Link?

Present.

Councilor Strezo? Present. With two councillors present, we have quorum.

Now pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Act of 2025, this meeting of the City Council Committee will be conducted via remote participation. We will post an audio recording, audio-video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of these proceedings. as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. With that, Our first agenda item is approval of the committee minutes of the Equity, Gender, Seniors, Families, and Vulnerable Populations Committee from May 27, 2025. Can we just do a quick roll call on that?

Mm-hmm.

Approval.

And for approval of agenda item one, Councilor Link? Yes. Councilor Strezo? Yes. Those are approved.

I'm going to just take in the second item for the amendment, Amy, because we have now rumbled them together and Consolidating. So super. We also take agenda item two up for approval. The minutes of the Housing and Community Development Committee of November 18th, 2025.

And for approve of agenda item two, Councilor Link?

Yes.

Councilor Schoesow?

Yes. Those are approved. And I can see that Councilor Sait is now in the room at 6. So, it's January, it's cold, and I really want to thank you very much for being here tonight. We're going to take this next agenda item, item 3, resolution 260058. For discussion, this is a... Resolution by Councilor McLaughlin that the administration collaborate with East Somerville Main Streets and the Ward 1 City Councilor to promote Out in East to support East Somerville human-rent home businesses. I did reach out to Constable McLaughlin. He is aware that this agenda item is happening and always happy to have him speak on it or throw in his thoughts.

Further reflection on this and keep that from open so that'd be future time. Right now it's just us and our committee so here to speak on this item well I guess first um I mean, I don't know what's in Councilman Loughlin's head, so I won't speak for him, but I am also a Ward 1 resident, and I'll just talk very briefly about why I think that this is an important conversation to have. As we know, Ward 1 is where a lot of our immigrant home businesses are. And also, Somerville has endured a lot in the past couple of years. And especially... With a lot of domestic terrorism happening, people, residents not feeling safe. We know that business is down. We know that people don't feel safe to sometimes even do something as basic as walk.

Their kids to school. It's a really sickening time to be enduring. I know there's been a lot of active staff to respond to that. I think the dialogue and conversation and check-ins are important. And I did ask some of the main streets Executive Director to be here today and I just would like to have her speak before we have I mean I'm grateful very much for every moment of development for being here tonight and Very much thank you for coming and thank you for sharing your thoughts and for the dialogue. With that, please identify yourself, and if you don't mind, tell us what you're seeing here.

Yes, excuse me, I am working through a cold, so. But Lindsay Allen, I'm the executive director at Somerville Main Streets. As Councilor Strezo mentioned, the past... Year has been very difficult for the neighborhood. We, particularly the last six months, has been very, very hard. We... have started initiatives like Meet Out at East. We definitely see a consistent turnout on Wednesday nights. We're appreciative to the city for would be helping us promote it. But when you look at the numbers of what is happening right now, it is alarming on many levels.

We, since July, have had five immigrant-owned businesses close. For context, during COVID, during the first three years of COVID, we had three businesses close. We, during our December financial health survey, heard from businesses 60% of them have seen declined revenue in the past 12 months. We had several businesses note that they were at risk of displacement in that survey. For the revenue, we have businesses Reporting COVID-like revenue, so numbers as low as COVID, but importantly, without the... The funding that came along with that.

So without funding from the federal government, the state and the city. So this is really a cross-sector as well. Our restaurant heaven is Somerville, but it's not just restaurants. Our barbershops are struggling. Our Specialty stores are struggling as well. So we just two weeks ago saw our largest anchor restaurant close. and it is an alarming trend and it is difficult to see and I'm hopeful that there's support that we can Thank you.

I'm really going to

Can we please put the members on the screen instead of the

the agenda it's super and all we have that but it's kind of the this is broadcast live to watching so I'll on that cue I'll go to the agenda we're on but yes what's on this screen is to the public so

Right, okay, yeah, got that. Talk later about it. Oh, so secondary. I forgot to ask where hospitality um okay that's what you're reporting is really troubling and then um Also, when I think of that, And may I say the restaurant? I remember last year we talked about La Brassa and how just a couple months ago they were reaching out about that as well. I remember this. So with that, with this feedback, would love to have just a dialogue on this and hear more from economic development and your thoughts. And please introduce yourself.

and I well but just for the record and thank you again for being here this is where I love our conversations to just talk about what we're looking at it's January now Thank you.

Welcome. Sure. So I can kick things off. So for the record and for those at home, I'm Rachel McCormick, Director of Economic Development for the City. I'm here with Deputy Director Dana Westwood, and our Senior Planner for Women in Organic Businesses, Adriana Fernandez. So I wanted to just give a little context to what we've been up to for the last couple of months, specifically around EDA boundaries. In the Thanksgiving, around Thanksgiving is when we kick things off, where we had a confluence of several things happening where Idanani's promotion was starting to kick off. Davis Square merchants were coming to us and saying, hey, we've got to turn the narrative around here in Davis Square around getting books to come on going to local businesses. We had all of our holiday events in all the different squares coming up.

And so we worked with the communications office to really spin that up into a broader campaign where we revitalized the loyal to local campaign that we've had in various other times in the past. and what that has allowed us to do is really take various opportunities and turn it into a citywide project. So that has been running now, we had a big push in December, Working on some things more for January, like I would say Neal Wilson in his first three days had multiple events focused on loyalty and local messaging. So he did a big push on what's going on, just saying, hey, stay loyal to your local businesses. He did a push with that. And he also did a specific walk We're trying to really utilize social media channels. We had some challenges in the month of December.

A lot of what we had planned for interactive campaigns. We ran into some technical issues with Instagram, and so we actually migrated venues for those activities to Reddit. Somerville is a very active Reddit community, and so we shifted the communications and we shifted our focus to Reddit. And what they're doing with those campaigns is to say, you know, tell us your favorite place to go out. Tell us your closest restaurant. They're really trying to drive people to crowdsource their sharing of where they're going and what they're doing to support developers. Part of that campaign also was a whole series of ways you can support your local businesses without spending any money for those within your community that visit from the option right now of how do you, you know, Share feedback positively. Share negative feedback privately. Some of those messagings, again,

We also did a little bit of a pivot on a casino mitigation grant that we had, feedback specifically that already stood on these streets. So we had gotten a casino mitigation grant to do a bus app campaign that was focused on women loyal to the pool. Businesses, we've been planning to use existing ads from our It Takes All Shades to Make a Square campaign, recognizing that the square didn't quite resonate with every district. It can be someone close to a district that doesn't necessarily need it. and we did a little bit of pivot and so we also then also used that as an opportunity to amplify a lot of local message so it's the same as that you see on the buses as you will see on sandwich ports around town the lawn signs the blue light stations It's really a full blast across the whole community. A limitation that we have, though, as a city government, right, that we can do sub-campaigns to that. We can't, but it has to be in the framing of the whole citywide.

So that's one of the limitations that our communications office had, and so the Willow logo has allowed them to do a lot of information, at least on their campaigns that they have used, so they can think that it's a lot of things they can think about. And the idea is that we're using the larger little local campaign for December, January, and February throughout the winter so it has a really good review of stuff yet.

We'll talk about the calendar. Yeah, we'll work on this calendar and making sure that we put all the districts that were promoting something. So Wednesday was Mr. Patrick's release. We wish we could do more, but I think we didn't. unless we change the rules um we are not supposed to promote like individual but we thought about like in February coming up another calendar and I just need to give Blasey and the staff, a compliment for everything they do for the seminar. We talk very frequently, right, to make sure if they need any help. And I wish they could have Like, you know, maybe a working full-time position because she's doing her best and we also are providing help, but I can't tell how hard it is for them to cover all those persons that we need.

special attention when we were working on the funding we we were making sure that we were helping the business to apply not just to promote their funding but sit with them and I know that They did it beautifully. And also, you know, they gave them something. But if we could do more than we've been doing, we would. We really appreciate all the Indian community over here. And also, One trip. Be somewhere that makes you feel good.

And so I'd say to very much Speria and Ms. Little, because we have another month to go, so there is a lot of opportunity to work with their communications office and continue to look at new ways of engaging and again we have just really watched this spread it Hello, first to kind of get people engaging. We're hoping to follow up with them again and see where Instagram is. There was a technical situation that we may be feeling. I'm not entirely sure, though. I love it.

And I wanted to say, before I open the floor to our counselors, I wanted to thank you very much for the loyal to local campaign. I love as well that it's not just siloed on the screen. You are out there with yard signs, very present. It's the ever so real resident is catching on. I hear about it and I very much wanted to thank you for that and your work to be very, your intention, but that you're the intention of really Getting in Somerville's face about it is very clear. And the yard signs, the sandwich boards, the off the beaten pathway, that covering all bases. I want to thank you for that. So, pretty much.

Councilors on the interwebs, do you like, oh, hey, Councilor Sait, brought to you from Ward 5. How's it going?

Thank you. Hello, everyone. Through you, Chair Strezo, I would like to thank city staff for all you've been doing to help the businesses, especially in East Somerville. It is a tough time in World 5 also. I'm hearing from immigrant owned businesses about how tough it is. So anything we can do right now is helpful. And also thank you to the ward councillor who's not here tonight with us for this initiative. Yeah, I'm trying to encourage even my ward people to order from Ward 1 immigrant-owned businesses and go out. Also on Wednesday for delicious food. Yeah, it's just like...

That's how a lot of people get to travel and try different foods in our city. And also thank you for the representative. I'm sorry with like the hybrid, they didn't write down the name representing the neighborhood. Yeah, Cherry, if you could help with that.

Are you referring to Lindsay?

Yeah, Lindsay. Yes, Lindsay. Thank you, Lindsay, for... Coming today to this committee and giving us a full picture. I think we've been hearing about the businesses struggling, but I think it's important to have this conversation. and yeah like just learning that five businesses we've lost five businesses I think is is quite alarming um so let's all as a community work so that um We don't have other businesses that, so we don't, we lose more businesses, whether it's in World One or other awards. So yeah, thank you for coming here tonight.

Thank you, counselor. Nick.

Hi, yeah, so Thanks to everyone. This is really important and I'm really glad that we are talking about it. I understand that the so there's you know an issue of maybe like you can't like focus on one square specifically is there um are there avenues for um maybe focus like uh I was just thinking about what Councilor Sait was saying. Is there the potential for like a campaign of immigrant-owned businesses, for example, where we could sign additional spotlights? And it wouldn't be specific necessarily to Ward 1, but could... but also would include Ward 1 so you know is there any opportunities like that that we can potentially have?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For immigrant business, we were afraid of making a different topic. Because, you know, especially next week, you know, that we heard from the state that the ice presence would be intensified. Absolutely, yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Understood. Thank you. Thank you.

A lot of people don't feel safe and certainly don't want to be highlighted in that way.

Yeah.

and Deputy Director.

Sure. Thank you, Madam Chair. Another consideration that we think about The support we want to give to all the business districts. Of course, obviously, we summarize the topic of the conversation tonight. Something around messaging that I think we want to be mindful of that we've heard from some of the businesses we've talked to. They appreciate the idea of promoting the districts, but this idea of what a court held, they want us to be mindful of not positioning them as being These are my words now. Needy or incapable, as we're trying to be mindful in our language around supporting the districts to say support, enjoy, enliven, To give a positive connotation so that we're treating these positives like the wonderful entities that they are and not in a less positive way. So I want to name that as a thing we're also being mindful of.

Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Drew. I'm sorry, I interrupted you. Thank you, Dr. Drew, your director. I never would have considered that. I mean, yeah, for bringing that up.

Please continue.

And then the last thing I would mention is... For context, because you offered it also, I'm not sure, the business that you mentioned that has closed, we've made some outreach to that. But it's really important to us to... Not to the business owner, to the problem.

We've had a moment of the folks since yesterday when we were able to reach the property owner just to get a sense of what they are. I know there's been a lot of conversation with the owner as well with business. They had a fantastic one on Wednesday. We are limited. We do not have any resources at the moment. There are no grants that allow us to do business support right now. So there's We have multiple businesses that close. January is typically the month that you see business closures happen. So it's not surprising that we see closures happening across the city. We've got a few, the other, like, I.I. Jones, they closed in the December and Zoom. um there's lots but there's definitely there is the typical not because you either make your mergers in December or you go so it's um

This is the year, this time of year, we have these stories and it is tricky for UNRWA because we don't have the resources that we all would love to be able to offer to lots of money to sustain.

If I may, Director? It's with the no grants to do direct business support. And I know that a lot of that was gone from when we had it. Is there, are there grants that exist out there in currently or was that kind of a one time thing? Is that ever, or how can we, how can we Or was that just an anomaly of a Lippenton?

I think a lot of it was COVID-specific. I think we've seen a lot of that being really COVID-specific era of supporting that business of like, Sustainability was really a COVID-era thing. There are, in the mainstream society, able to access more grants than that leads in a lot of ways, but there are grants around technical assistance, there are grants for support. I think that'll just leave us also drunk I'm wondering if you do an NE class

City discussions. I know Cambridge has a pretty robust grant system. And even pre-builder, which is pretty to me in this position, but I know there was the storefronts movement initiative at the city So I'm wondering, I guess twofold. One, in terms of cross-city, we talked to Cambridge, talked to other municipalities about their grant programs, and also how they and I'm working through what's happening specifically in Pringle.

We definitely are in conversation with the University of Boston and our community branch colleagues. We have some of the greater Boston area economic development departments. The challenge really is that CEDD, the community development block grants, is the source that most programs utilize. for their business grant programs. That's what Cambridge is. It is very difficult to implement on a business specific basis. It's possible, the storefront program had pre-COVID did work, but it didn't reach very many businesses. It is also the money source that we use to, we use that money source right now to supplement more living experience programs. So it's, I think we have to look at what the, the team, there's a, you know, a whole

Infrastructure are making the decision of how the funding for CEG funds is allocated, and what the opportunity there is, maybe shift some of that towards non-fittance programs. That's not a decision that we're making, it's a decision that the team is taking. I think there's a whole committee that's supporting those decisions.

Thank you.

And do you talk to the other principalities about their responses?

In a variety of ways.

Yes, especially because even CDBGF has formed, they, you know, supposed to have undocumented business owners, so lots of restrictions recently with federal funding.

Are there other municipalities that are similar to ours? Are they reporting the same devastation? I imagine so, but... Do you have any impressions that you're able to share? It seems pretty consistent.

Nationality, it has seemed fairly consistent. They're certainly their districts where it's more concentrated than others. And I think that's me. Just so you know. A business that's specifically chartering in it. Their other clientele is a specific group they may not know or that may be a group they may not know. We are seeing it. Some of those

Do you have any other um thoughts or um looks like no uh so with that um close this item and we are always happy for the dialogue you know in a future time but I very much appreciate the conversation and I also want to say that I appreciate the The insight that you're hearing from me, but also thoughts that, like how else to support the business community, like you mentioned, by leading positive reviews or maybe not just blasting a business because of one bad rule or whatnot. Finding more constructive ways.

and I definitely would love to hear more thoughts on that in future conversations because I think that Somerville residents would really like to hear that too and that's the first time I'm hearing that and I definitely want to hear more so I can Oh, Sherry, I'm so glad to be here. You can't see on the screen, but there's a little calendar. Where do you get these calendars? Where can we get this information? Do you have them?

All the letters were written like this, right? But still important to spread the word and let them know.

Absolutely. Can you, I haven't seen these, and maybe I just broadcast it, which Thank you very much and I hope we have a great thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So great. Good news. Item four. I just received a text that Dr. Carroll's here. So we can talk a little bit about this item. So order number 26003. This is my item, and I'll go a little bit into the rationale why it's here tonight. They have the Director of Health and Human Services discuss the findings from the recent U.S.

Surgeon General Advisory on Mental Health and Well-Being of Parents and its recommendations to better support parents and caregivers. So this item The attachment of this is not on my screen. No, I'm just poking the screen. But the attached document inside, please. So this was originally brought forward, I believe, by Councilor Fernanda Neufeld, and we talked to... In this document, is there any way to... Yeah, there's no attaching on the item. Oh, really? This carried over from last cycle, I can see.

Yeah, I'm not seeing either 26083 or 250118, but I do recall this. Yeah, I remember that.

It was pretty decent graphics too. Technical difficulties, it's not attached to the second, but we'll fix that at a later time. The point of it, of this order, is really recognizing that parents are really struggling right now. Guardians are really struggling and Here in Somerville, we take things hyperlocal, and I love that about us. And we really try to do things that aren't done in different places. This order is here before us tonight, and I really was planning on just keeping it in committee because I know that Dr. Farrell was in church. She was willing to speak on it. or just to have a deeper conversation. So I wanted to respect your timing, wait until she was able to, but it looks like she's here tonight, which is super.

But the point of it is like, when we talk about all the diverse groups that we can We've been focusing our resources on and helping to just Stabilize and tread the water instead of sink below the water's surface. Parents and families and caregivers are definitely top of the list and I'm sure you've all heard it too. and we can't gaslight the situation that a lot of families are just enduring from after school care or lack of it to preschool care or lack of it to resources to how inflation has affected the price of diapers and formula or any of those basic necessities and how families are really screwed over in a lot of these ways. So I want the dialogue. I want the conversation.

So we'll get that attachment later. But as for now, Director Carroll is here tonight. And thank you so much, Director, for being here on the Interwebs. Thank you very much. Good evening.

Yeah. Can you hear me? See me?

Hi.

So good evening, members of the committee and through the chair. Thank you for having me. I'm Karen Carroll, the Director of Health and Human Services. I am happy to be here tonight to talk about this report and this recommendation that was brought forward by Councillor Strezo. To have a look at this report from the Surgeon General, the findings and the recommendations, and then to take a minute and reflect on how our work in HHS is Addressing some of the findings and maybe where some of the gaps are. So thank you first for the opportunity. So I'm going to just do a quick overview and then I have some specifics under the recommendations that I will share. This is by no means a comprehensive look at all of the city's programs, both within the city, Within HHS and within our partner agencies, there is a lot going on.

So I don't want to feel like I've omitted anyone or any particular program, but I'm going to just talk high level and give some examples. The findings of the U.S. Surgeon General Advisory on Mental Health and Well-being of Parents and Caregivers are significant. And as the Chair, Councillor Strezo, just mentioned, the report, again, reiterates that parents are experiencing very, very high levels of stress. It also points out that there is a disproportionate you know as in so many health issues we have these disproportionate effects so we have certain groups of parents and caregivers who are experiencing mental health issues and stress at an even higher level than the rest of the community. And again, it's based on these social determinants

These are families that are experiencing violence within community or within their home. They're families experiencing poverty, racism, discrimination. Again, all of these core underlying structural societal issues that play a big role in disproportionately affecting some of our families more than others. The report talks about the need for strong parenting that leads to healthy children which also in turn leads to healthy communities and I think this is something that we really try to understand and remember in our work that when we are meeting with a veteran or a senior we are also meeting with the needs of their family and their community and what's going on for them Recognizing that if our parents are healthy, our children are healthy, then our societies are healthy and operating.

HHS again tries to keep this whole person view in mind when we see folks at the NX for case management and SNAP enrollment or fuel assistance We also have fidgets for kids and toys, an area for the children who are often there with their parents to feel safe and comfortable and play. And that allows the parents to feel comfortable and relax and relax. Converse with our staff and get their needs met. Again, we know that simple and small things like basic needs, diapers, period products, wipes, Again, as Councilor Strezo mentioned, these things have a huge impact on the mental health and well-being of the family. There are many studies around

Postnatal depression linked to dirty diapers and that if a parent does not feel like they are able to care for their child and provide these basic needs. Are you talking to me? Sorry. Did you lose me?

Yeah, I'm trying to get you the... Trying to get the... Okay, great. Give me one second. Sure, sure. Here we go. I don't want hold that thought write it down please yep yep I got it I got my notes thanks but one second okay I'm sending this out and then hopefully we can send it to the um the committee There it is. Yeah, okay, this is the, it's Parents Under Pressure. Okay. Thank you so much for putting it on the screen. This is 2020-2024. which let's call it what it is seems like a world away this was done under the Biden administration which is sad that

it feels so distant now even in just a short span of time um and i refuse to let This hard work and the data and research and importance of this go under the radar just by because of indiscriminatory approach to Dismissing the needs of infants and children at a federal level. There I said it. Okay. Sorry, Director. Please, please, please continue. And forgive my interruption. I wanted to have this to accompany what you were saying.

Yeah, that's great. Thank you and no problem. So, yes, as you can see, the report is up. So I was just talking about how we try very hard to address the basic needs of the family members. as when they come into our programs or throughout the city and even things like period free period products and Basic supplies, diapers and wipes can profoundly affect the well-being and the mental health of a parent as well as a child. and have lasting effects postnatal depression can have lasting effects to a family for many many years so we know these things and we try to always recognize the full story of what's at play here

Things like the HOPE framework, which again, we could spend a whole evening on that and maybe sometime one of our staff can come back and talk about the work that we're doing in HHS and throughout the city with the HOPE framework. This is a framework that is a positive framework. Approach to protective factors with youth. So traditionally, we've told youth what they shouldn't do, what's dangerous. and why and we find that it's actually more powerful to build up the strengths of youth and it can even counteract some of the adverse things adverse experiences Childhood experiences that that child might have had in their life. So this is a framework that we're adopting as an HHS department and we're now slowly beginning to roll it out with our colleagues in the city and other agencies. will be running a training in the spring. It's a very exciting program to me.

I have seen Dr. Segi, who is the sort of Main researcher and founder. And it's, again, a positive approach to a family instead of seeing the youth or the and you know addressing it in that sense we're we're working with parents and family and caregivers and teachers to find the strengths and build on those and go from there So I think these are all ways in which we are embracing that finding that strong parenting, strong families make strong children, which makes strong communities. The report also mentioned a number of core recommendations. One is in the sort of policy systems realm and we'll go through a number of those.

One is to promote and increase programs and support and financial support to programs for parents and families. So you're going to hear about some of those programs. I just want to highlight how our participatory budgeting process last year kind of led us also community driven to support some of these family programs like food access, out of school time programming, These were really big things that the community said to us they want and they voted for it. So we are able to use those funds also to support that programming. Maternal leave, you know, we know this is really important for families, social infrastructure and economic and social barriers to mental health. So I'll go through some of the policy and systems things that we have worked on in HHS. Again, this is not a comprehensive list.

Somerville Partnership for Young Children, the formalized early childhood mixed delivery system funded by the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative Grant and co-led by Summer Promise and SPS Early Education. and Care Department and SFLC is working towards increasing access to child care in various ways, including tuition assistance, Affordability Planning with centers and a multi-tiered system of supports. Again we had our a lot of ARPA funding that as you all know went into Early Childhood Education and Tuition and then those dollars ended but we were fortunate enough to receive this grant to allow us to continue some of that work and those programs. Summer Promise also leads the out-of-school time steering committee designed to increase access to care for school-aged children.

This work builds upon the many years of work that went into building out the robust early childhood system. and has already led to quantifiable results for families. Summer Promise works with an early childhood social worker to provide mental health supports and childcare to childcare centers and families. The William James Interface Referral Service is available to help match families with mental health supports to meet their needs. And the Somerville Hub is designed as a single point of entry for families seeking a multitude of services. In addition, some of the other policy work throughout HHS has been a real push to actually enrolling people in benefit to provide Permanent sustainable access to all health care but also to mental health access. We find that if we can connect people to a medical home

to insurance, then they are able to begin to receive the services they need versus putting band-aids, offering clinics, those kinds of things. So we're really excited about the amount of enrollment efforts that The department has taken on in the last two years and our ability to do MassHealth enrollments and SNAP enrollments at farmers markets, at engagement centers, at drop-in Places in the community. So this is really important and from a policy point of view, this is the most sustainable option for ensuring people have access to medical care that they need, including mental health. Care. Now, I will say that even with insurance, it is difficult to find providers. There are waitlists and we struggle with that as well. But the first step is getting people connected and getting them insured. so that they can begin to access the system.

We of course, every year at budget time, we plan, we review our data, and we always seem to need additional services to support our families, our case management, our food access, all of those things. We integrate mental health care and access into our programs. So when we, for example, the warming center that runs in the extreme cold months of the winter for the unhoused That is written into the scope of the service that there will be additional mental health support and resources available on site. and we partner with other agencies in the community to try to integrate those services however we can. We also use our marijuana funds and resources that we have. We get creative around ways in which those funds are allowable and can be used to support youth and mental health for youth.

So we've added 0.5 of a counselor to an already existing part-time role in the schools this year using those funds. And again, our Council on Aging, as they are Dealing with parents or grandparents who are raising children caregivers we offer social work and support and caregiver support groups to those folks so it's something again that policy work we're thinking through and building into all of our efforts and work and those are again just to highlight a few under the recommendation around communities and schools Recommending that we develop community programs fostering social connection and provide schools with resources to support families. There is an entire branch of the Somerville Public Schools Somerville Family Learning Collaborative designated to support families in the schools through various efforts and initiatives.

I also can say that we have our school colleagues attend our weekly huddle which is often aimed at sort of immediate needs for unhoused or New Arrivals, other vulnerable members of the community. But they are there as a partner. They have access to all of the resources of the city and let us know what they need, what they're doing. and how we can work together to support the families that they are working with who are some of our most vulnerable families and young people. The other recommendations around workplaces and cultural shift, I'm not going to get into those as much because that's not really as much of an area of focus for HHS, but under individual and family engagement. Again, encouraging open communication to seek help and building stronger support networks for parents.

We have hosted some Let's Talk workshop series and we're piloting it in new locations. including the Mystic Learning Center with plans to offer it to the broader community. These workshops provide parents, caregivers with skills to talk to youth about mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Online Safety. The goal for these workshops is to be a springboard for ongoing parent support groups that will be run by the HHS clinical social work team and case management team. We're looking to provide a regularly scheduled parent drop-in information session where parents can get information on mental health services and how to navigate referrals. The Summer Baby Universal Home Program is available to all residents who have a new baby in the city. We are able to do outreach through the state birth records and also rely on referrals from partner agencies.

This initial visit is designed to welcome new parents to Somerville and create a sense of community through follow-up, outreach, events, referrals To other childhood programs, playgroups, etc. And also to be a link or a contact if there are postpartum or other issues upon the arrival of a new child in a home. So again, really, really critical times for families those first few days and weeks. and our Summer Baby Home Visiting Program is able to offer family support in that time. Again, coming back to basic needs for individuals that we have recently installed, many of you know, two public health vending machines with free basic needs supplies in them. and many of those are aimed at families and young people.

We offer diapers, wipes, period products, birth control and these dispensers as well as period product dispensers are available throughout the city for free. So these are just a few of the highlights that I wanted to raise. But as I said in the beginning, this is an opportunity to review. these recommendations and findings and we know the need is enormous from our families and we know that we can be doing more so it's a question of how do we Leverage resources and partnerships with our other community agencies and how do we support these families who are in incredible need. So I will stop for the moment. I am not an expert on all of these programs. Many of them are run by staff within HHS.

who are more than happy to come talk with you more or provide additional information but also appreciated the opportunity to highlight some of the efforts that they are making.

Thank you, Director. Yes, agreed. I'm grateful to hear about the work that's being done and in the broader community and I'm grateful that we have a chance to talk about it and get it out there in the public because A lot of the work is sometimes quiet and behind the scenes. We don't really get to see on the ground until maybe here or there happens. So thank you very much for highlighting that, Director. and I very much wanted to commend you and thank you so much for those vending machines and taking period property into account in those vending machines and diapers as well and wipes and emergency contraception. I am so grateful that that was included. I cannot say that enough because it is extraordinarily important, valuable, and frequently dismissed.

and yeah I agree that that I hope that this is an ongoing dialogue and conversation on this and how To modernize as well. And I'm very much in the Councilor Strezo glossary. And bringing this forward, I want to make, I definitely want to Deferentiate that, yes, addressing our unhoused population and those in poverty and families in poverty is vitally important. I'm also talking about the average regular Somerville resident population. who may drive a Subaru or may bike their kids to school every day. The average Somerville resident and family. is extraordinarily suffering as well. And those are also the points that I'm trying to highlight as well by bringing this conversation. Gordon, your work on the unhoused has been fantastic

Thank you so much for joining us. I in general just for the entire committee some of the points that I wanted to bring forward For the record on this, this has nothing to do with you, director. I'm just talking. I'm like, meaning like, I'm not like, this is not like, what do you think about this HHS? That's not what I mean. I'm just bringing this up for the general public to get this to think about when we talk about paternal mental health, even paternal mental health. We know that paternal mental health has been understudied.

Research from this study says that, or from this document, and this of course was 2024, so I'd like to guess that maybe it has increased, but you know, that's a secret. Perinatal depression occurs in 8-14% of men between the first trimester of a partner's pregnancy and the end of the first year of postpartum. Further concern is Perinatal anxiety may occur in approximately 18% of men. And we don't really talk about that. And I remember when I first read this study, On that same page, when we talked about maternal mental health, the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths is mental health conditions. 22%, including from suicides. Overdose poisoning related to substance use disorders.

Another critical period for maternal mental health is a child's early years, and we know that there's a lot of silent struggling. And then the document was talking about loneliness and the epidemic of loneliness. And of course, we've seen this in the broad spectrum of not just parents, but across generations. many Somerville residents but parents themselves when we talk about the statistics brought forward in this study the fact that Nearly 48% of parents report that most days their stress is completely overwhelming compared to 26% of non-parents. Every single day is overwhelming. 33% of parents report high stress compared to 20% of adults. And we know that impacts the children.

and then the symptom of loneliness and how like say for instance this dark cold January night how that coupled with the concept of every single day It becomes one more completely overwhelming day how our constituents in the city are feeling that. And so my hope is that and then when we talk about my hope is that we really get creative and think outside the box on how we are supporting families and parents and all caregivers in Somerville in my hope and then I'll open the floor to colleagues. My hope is that we're talking about how we can help eliminate that loneliness or how sometimes with some of, I've heard from some of our residents of color that

They feel very unsafe talking to social workers because social workers are the ones that take your kids away. So there's that reality too. So if you're a parent that's just struggling, And social workers are there to talk to you about your feelings. And social workers are the ones that take your kids away. Then what? So, um... It's a long, extensive conversation, but with that, I'm happy to open the floor. And colleagues, do you have any questions, thoughts, impressions, et cetera, constantly?

Yes. Carol, first of all, thank you for coming and speaking so early to the chair. I had a couple of questions and I guess my first is we talked a lot about the different services that are being offered to parents and it occurs to me that a lot of these especially are some of these safety net things are things like Head Start or programs that are maybe receiving like SAMHSA funding which for about I guess it was maybe two weeks ago it all kind of went away for a day there was so I'm curious you know like do we have any um

contingencies set up for like you know how to keep these programs alive if um if the worst happens uh director

Through the chair, it's a complicated question. I think we are always trying to plan and anticipate. And I think the schools are in the same position as well. Very concerned about funding that will be coming through and whether it will be reduced and by how much. Most of these programs would be too large, certainly for HHS to pick up within our budget. We are very creative when it comes to Looking at alternative funds, grants, that kind of thing that might be able to support, again, this CPPI grant. I mentioned the full name earlier, but it's replaced some of the ARPA grants.

Thank you so much for joining us. put in a grant application and were successful there. So that was over a million dollars that was received earlier in the fall. So that's great. We can't always be as responsive as that. It's a huge drain. And there aren't as many grants and things. It's a complicated question. I appreciate the question. It's something we are always grappling with. Is this program sustainable? How can we make our efforts sustainable? So again, it comes back to some of the benefits, enrollment, making sure people have SNAP benefits, have MassHealth because those

Thank you for joining us. you know yes and no and and we I suppose we would come to when we learn of cuts or major impacts we would be speaking with the administration the council um and there could be opportunity to look at emergency funds if there were any available but again some of these programs are so massive that will be really challenging but thank you for the question and it's definitely one that's always on our minds.

yeah um yeah to the chair uh thank you for your for your answer um for the work i know that like you know especially you know when we talk about all the different stresses daycare for example I think in this region specifically is maybe the most expensive in the U.S. so like these programs are just like so so so essential so yeah I appreciate that thank you very much

Okay. Thank you. And I want to Clarify, because I am not saying that social workers are the ones that take kids away, but I'm trying to emphasize as well is the skepticism and the nervousness. that sometimes residents of color have told me that they feel don't feel safe talking all this about to social workers or that and so a lot of social workers do great jobs and they know they're very devoted and they know they work hard so I'm trying to say that I want to clarify that But there is an absolute, there are numerous statistics that say that those things of color are, that they are, when it comes to Childcare and stuff like that they are not seen always in the same light and and that uh we have to just prove that that they don't that they It doesn't, that, that, that, the service doesn't always help the way it should.

Let's take that back. And that there is a skepticism in Hadith that racial bias absolutely exists and it's not okay. So with that, Director Sait, go ahead. You have the next questions.

Through the chair, thank you, director, for being with us tonight and for highlighting all the efforts to support families. whether HHS or other city departments. Yeah, I think it's important to... yeah just take a moment and also talk you know to discuss what we're doing and um it is just taking a moment here to recognize that it is um Yeah, these are difficult times, especially for families, you know, where they have little ones making sure they're fed, you know, they go to daycare and they have everything they need. I think what I will say is... You know, Councilor is grateful we're in Somerville and we are trying to, you know, work on whether it's rent stabilization. When I think about family, what they need, they need rent that they can afford.

were fighting for rent stabilization. We need, they need, you know, we are here, we are a union city. We support unions when they're fighting for fair contracts, better benefits. That's important because that's what addresses... You know, we know many women immigrants and people of color are not paid fairly. So when a union is, you know, Negotiating a Better Contract addresses that aspect, the financial aspect. There's also, for benefits, same thing. whether it's paid parental leave or having access to health care and yeah if a parent needs to take time off

to focus on their mental health they can do that as well not worry about not being paid so Yeah, just trying to think about what we're doing as a city. These are all obviously, you know, fights that take years, you know, to, you know, to like be able to accomplish, you know. and right now we know that in the schools the after-school programming is really important making sure that every family who needs that to access that program gets in that puts the stress on the families so yeah I hope we can continue to work on these things at the local level at the state level

and let us know as a council what we can do especially when as you mentioned some of these grants go away and how we can find a way to the funds to so that those programs continue to exist.

Thank you, Councilor Sait. Councilor Link, did you...

Yeah, yes, thank you. Thank you, Chair. So just a clarifying question for my own edification here through the chair to Director Carroll. Does Does Health and Human Services actually touch anything with the out-of-school time? It does.

Through the chair, yeah, we have an out-of-school time coordinator position within our Summer Promise program. And that role also heads up the out-of-school time program. Committee, Steering Committee, I think it's called, in conjunction with the schools. So yes, we have a constant liaison there trying to figure out where the gaps are. and how to best fill those and as I mentioned you know we had those additional participatory budgeting dollars that were allocated to out of school time so that position has been very busy this year. But in a good way.

Okay, wonderful.

Thank you. Chair, please, please, please address through the chair. Thank you. Yeah, Councilor Link, did you want to continue?

No, no, just back to the chair. Thank you.

Sure. Okay. With that, thank you very much for the conversation. Any additional thoughts or anything? Thank you so much for showing up tonight and for your insight and your work on this. Yes, I'm hoping that we can keep the dialogue going on this. 2024, we'll have some more updates hopefully soon. I'm assuming that it might be state level for... even citywide because I'm not sure what federal statistics would look like these days. So I'll leave with two positive notes about living in Massachusetts, which is a little more, Local, that gives me hope because I think a little positivity is always helpful.

Let's say, for instance, that the fair share tax allows free breakfast and lunch for every fifth filed in school, child, family, and the community. In the schools and I think that helps and then also we have free college for anyone who has not received it. So those little touch points hopefully help families, caregivers. parents, et cetera, for a better quality of life. And that I think is a little positive touch point. Sometimes feeling like some really dark times. With that, I'd love to keep this in committee. Thank you very much. And thanks again, Director, for having the conversation and the update. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Good night. Always. Same with that. We have one agenda item. Actually, curses, curses. I was going to ask the administration if there were any thoughts about that.

Curses, curses. So we're done with that. I already... Yeah, I know. But we'd love to hear your thoughts on... Administration, Jesse Lewis, representing the committee. I kept it in committee, but can we stop here for a second? Yeah, good. I totally forgot. You're like a fly on the wall today. It's great to have you. In his debut appearance, and we released our director of health and human services, which is probably everybody told again, and very well, because I signaled that that's where we were going. That's on me. But just here we are in month one. I'd love to hear as the main conversations or just give us something uplifting.

Thank you. Good evening for the record. My name is Justin Moose. I'm the Publicly, currently legislatively, Radassi is unable to attend this meeting as she is at conference in B. So in regards, she will be reviewing this recording. others meeting at a later date and follow-up meeting outstanding special items not about just this but also about two other items Our questions have come up. Regarding item 26-D of 049, unfortunately, the industry has not had enough time to prepare a response. But we will work on pairing and response in this committee meeting and look forward to this being a discussion item at that time.

So that is on order 260049. I'm just going to quickly feedback that the director of housing and Housing report to the council how many new housing units have been approved for development year by year since adoption of Summer Vision 2040 and of those numbers, how many permanent, affordable, and how the department defines affordability. So yes, happy to keep that in committee and talk about it at a later time. And yes. So no discussion on that. Keep in committee. We ran out of agenda items. Whatever shall we do. So with that, I think could be crowded on committee items and we should just move to end our discussion at the end of the meeting.

Okay. And on adjournment, Councillor Sait? Yes. Councillor Link? Yes. We are adjourned. Thank you.

Thank you.