City of Lawrence

Outside Agency Funding

APPLICATION

 

General Information:  Each year, the City Commission considers requests for the allocation of dollars to a number of agencies that provide services benefiting the Lawrence community.  The decision on funding a request will be made during the City’s annual budgeting process.  The decision will be based upon the availability of funds, the need demonstrated through the agency’s application, the stated objectives of the applicant’s program, past performance by the agency in adhering to funding guidelines (as appropriate), and the ability to measure progress toward the program objectives. 

 

Instructions:  Applications for 2008 funding must be complete and submitted electronically to the City Manager’s Office at cliebst@ci.lawrence.ks.us by the deadline of 5:00 pm on Wednesday May 2nd, 2007.  

 

Questions?  Contact Casey Liebst, Budget Manager at cliebst@ci.lawrence.ks.us or at 785-832-3409.

 


Section I.  Applicant Information

 

Legal Name of Agency:  

Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center

Name of Program for Which Funding is Requested:

WRAP

Primary Contact Person:

David Johnson, CEO

Address:  

200 Maine, Ste A  Lawrence, Ks 66044

Telephone:

843-9192

Fax:

843-0264

Email:

djohnson@bertnash.org

                                        

 


Section 2.  Request Information

 

A.

Amount of funds requested from the City for this program for calendar year 2008:    

$250,000

B.

Will these funds be used for capital outlay (equipment or facilities) in 2008?  If so, please describe:

No 

C.

Will these funds be used to leverage other funds in 2008?  If so, how:

The WRAP program is also funded by Douglas County, $225,000 and Lawrence School District, $350,000 and City Alcohol Funds, $120,000.  These funds are crucial in eliciting funds from USD 497 and from Douglas County to be able to fully fund the WRAP program.  This will allow all parties who are vitally concerned about the well-being of children in our community to come together to fund a program that will help these children become fully functional members of our community.

D.

Did you receive City funding for this program in 2007?  If so, list the amount and source for funding (i.e. General Fund, Alcohol Fund, etc.): Yes

General fund - $250,000

Alcohol fund - $100,000

E.

If you are requesting an increase in funding over 2007, please explain exactly how the additional funds will be used:

We are not requesting an increase of City General Funds

 

 

 


Section 3.  Agency and Program Budget information

 

A.

How many paid full time employees work for your agency?

150

Volunteers?

 

 

 

B.

What percent of your total 2007 budget goes to employee salaries and benefits?

84%

 

 

C.

What percent of your total 2007 budget is used for operating expenses?

16%

 

 

D.

What is the total estimated cost to provide the program in 2008?

1,100,505

 

 

E.

What percent of 2008 program costs are being requested from the City?

34%

 

 

F.

List other anticipated sources of funding and funding amount for this program in 2008:

 

Anticipated Funding Source

Dollar Amount

 

City Alcohol funds

$ 120,000

 

Douglas County

   225,000

 

Lawrence School District

   350,000

 

Bert Nash  & BNC Endowment

     90,905

 

SRS Grant (for WRAP in Baldwin)

     43,600

 

Ks JJA

     21,000

 

 

 

 

TOTAL 2008 PROGRAM BUDGET

$ 1,100,505

 

 


Section 4.  Statement of Problem/Need to Be Addressed By Program

 

A.           Provide a brief statement of the problem or need your agency proposes to address with the requested funding and/or the impact of not funding this program.  The statement should include characteristics of the client population that will be served by this program.  If possible, include statistical data to document this need.

 

The primary problems the WRAP program addresses are the social, emotional, psychological, familial and systems problems that the children in Lawrence face. These problems constitute what are best described as “barriers to learning” that make it difficult for children to be successful in school. When children are not successful in school there is a cascade of further problems that develop and have a significant impact on our community. There are significant costs for our community associated with these problems. For example, problems in childhood and in school have direct links to increased substance abuse, increased involvement in criminal activity, increased likelihood of unplanned pregnancy, failure to graduate high school, reduced capacity as effective employees and increased visits to the emergency room to name a few. It is difficult to specifically calculate the dollar costs to our community as the data to make these calculations are obscure. However, there are statistics about children and adolescents in Kansas and the nation.  www.all4ed.org/states2/kansas/index.html

 

Research indicates that about 75 percent of America’s state prison inmates, almost 59 percent of federal inmates, and 69 percent of jail inmates did not complete high school. Additionally, the number of prison inmates without a high school diploma has increased over time (Harlow, 2003). Increasing the graduation rate and college matriculation of male students by only 5 percent could lead to combined savings and revenue of almost $8 billion each year.

 

The Impact of a Five Percent Increase in Male High School Graduation

Rates on Crime Reduction and Earnings1

Kansas State Annual Crime Related Savings

    $36,327,968

Additional Annual Earnings

+$26,397,581

Total Benefit to State Economy

   $62,725,549

 

 

 

While these statistics are for the state of Kansas as a whole, since Lawrence is one of the leading cities in Kansas, it is easy to extrapolate that a significant portion of the costs and savings demonstrated are incurred by the Lawrence community.

 

Since untreated or under-treated mental health and social problems are the major contributing factor to dropping out, educators cannot impact these statistics or the dropout rate in isolation.  Yet schools do provide a very effective venue to make contact with children and adolescents and address these problems that ripple out into our community.  The WRAP program is an investment that saves the City money and increases its tax base because WRAP provides the “preventive maintenance” that reduces costly problems and increases effective functioning. Most of the children seen in the WRAP program do not access more traditional mental health services and so their problems often go untreated.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B.           How was the need for this program determined?

 

The following community needs assessments provided the most recent data relevant to the prevention and treatment of juvenile offenders in Douglas County:  Seventh Judicial District Comprehensive Strategic Plan (1998); Bert Nash Center Community Needs Assessments; USD 497 Annual Drug-Free Schools Student Survey and USD 497 Student Behavior Records.  The data reported below are taken from those reports:

 

·        Increases in Juvenile Crime. 

 

Douglas County experienced a dramatic increase in the number of adjudicated juvenile offenders during the mid to late 1990’s.  Between 1993 and 1997, juvenile adjudications increased from 321 to 483—a 50% increase.  Records show Juvenile arrests for violent crime increased by 100% over the same period (from 50 in 1993 to 101 arrests in 1997).  Juvenile court filings in Douglas County occurred at an average rate of 361 per year between 1993 and 1997.  In 1998 that rate had increased to 519, an increase of more than 40%.  In 1999 the rate was still unacceptably high at 397.  In 2003, Douglas County arrest rates continued to rise with the arrest rate at 460 for juveniles.

 

·        Community Consensus about Needs.

 

The Bert Nash Center has been an active participant in a community consensus building process for Lawrence and Douglas County as a member of the Douglas County Juvenile Crime Prevention Panel, and the Lawrence Partnership for Children and Youth and development of the Seventh Judicial District Comprehensive Strategic Plan. The core conclusions developed across these groups include earlier detection and intervention for risk factors such as behavior problems; more services that are flexible, accessible and take place in natural settings; and coordination of services across agencies. 

 

·        Youth Drug and Alcohol Use. 

 

In Douglas County, juvenile arrests for drug violations increased over 300% between 1993 and 1997.  In one sample of juvenile offenders in custody in Douglas County, the rate of substance abuse problems was 43%.    In a 1998 survey, 52% of Douglas County youth reported having used alcohol in the previous month and 46% reported using other drugs.    Problems with drugs or alcohol were the focus of treatment or referral in 1539 different contacts by WRAP staff in Lawrence schools from 1997 to 2004.

 

·        Early Conduct Problems. 

 

In the Lawrence High Schools, 7% (or approximately 177 students) received one or more out-of-school suspensions during the 2003-2004 school year.  Violent behavior (violence to staff or students and weapon possession) was the focus of treatment or referral for 1092 different contacts by WRAP staff in Lawrence public schools from 1997 to 2004. 

 

During the 1st semester of the 2006-2007 school year,  there were 4417 instances in which school behavior was listed as the current issue for WRAP student contacts. 

 

·        Low Achievement/Low Commitment to School.  

 

About 10% of the students served by WRAP between 1997 and 2004 (about 879 students) had Individualized Educational Plans, and a similar number were receiving special in-school academic support. 

 

WRAP is in a unique position to address the above issues by combining its selective and indicated prevention efforts, with the universal prevention activities of the school district’s Prevention Specialists (during the school year), and by its ability to provide and follow-up on referrals for treatment and intervention. WRAP workers often serve as liaisons between the school, and community agencies involved in the student’s recovery, keeping all involved up to date on new developments, facilitating cooperative discussion, and coordinating efforts.

 

C.  Why should this problem/need be addressed by the City?

 

      The City should join together with USD 497, Douglas County and Bert Nash CMHC to address the needs of the children in our community because these children and adolescents who have debilitating problems will grow up and participate in our community as either productive members or as members who cause additional costs. The basic well-being of our community alone should indicate why the City would address this problem. However, in addition it makes good economic sense to address these problems before they become even more expensive. Making an investment in our community’s future, rather than paying for increased problems later, decreases both social and economic costs to the City. There is the added benefit for the City that the investment provided for the WRAP program will be joined with money from the District, County and Bert Nash, allowing all partners an economically efficient way to achieve major, mutually beneficial results that cannot be reached through isolated efforts alone.

 

 

 


Section 4.  Description of Program Services

 

A.           Provide a brief description of the service you will provide and explain how it will respond to the need you identified in Section 3.  The description should include how many clients will be served, and should describe as specifically as possible the interaction that will take place between the provider and the user of the service. 

 

The WRAP Program provides Masters level mental health clinicians in all of the schools in Lawrence and at Douglas County Youth Services. These clinicians provide a variety of therapeutic interventions to meet the diverse needs of the children and adolescents in our community. These services include:

·        crisis intervention

·        individual therapeutic interventions with students

·        therapeutic group interaction

·        contact with and consultation to families, as well as resource acquisition

·        assisting school administration and teachers with the development of effective classroom interventions

·        liaison and consultation/coordination with other community agencies

·        Summer programs to assist with transitions and basic skill development.

 

One of the distinct advantages of the WRAP program in responding to the needs identified in this application is that the type, duration and frequency of the intervention utilized to help a student can be adjusted to fit the specific needs of the individuals involved. At the current staffing levels the WRAP program serves an average of 3,000 students per year of the 10,000 students in Lawrence attending public school. 

 

B.           Describe any efforts your agency has made to explore the community to determine if there are any other agencies providing similar types of services.  What efforts have you made to coordination services? 

 

The WRAP program has been providing services in the Lawrence schools for the past 10 years and during that time we have made linkages with and worked extensively in coordination with virtually all of the community agencies that provide services for children and adolescents. This would include all of the services provided by the Bert Nash CMHC, Douglas County Juvenile Detention Center, The Shelter Inc., CASA, District Court, SRS, DCCCA, Community Corrections, Catholic Community Services, Juvenile Intake, Headquarters, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Boys and Girls Club among others. It is one of the significant aspects of WRAP that we do work closely with all the agencies providing services to children and adolescents. One of the most important parts of the WRAP program is the ability to access virtually all of the children in Lawrence in the natural setting of the schools to bring a measure of coordination and cooperation in what could otherwise be fragmented services. The WRAP program made contact with over 3,000 of the 10,000 total students in the Lawrence school system last year.

 

 

Section 5.  Program Objectives

 

Please provide three specific program objectives for 2008.  Objectives should demonstrate the purpose of the program and measure the amount of service delivered or the effectiveness of the services delivered.  A time frame and numerical goal should also be included.  Examples include, “75% of clients receiving job training will retain their job one year after being hired,” “increased fundraising efforts will result in a 15% increase in donations in 2008,” “credit counseling services will be provided to 600 clients in 2008,” “new digital arts program will serve 275 students in 2008” etc.  Applicants will be expected to report their progress toward meeting these objectives in their six month and annual reports to the City. 

 

 

 

 

 Program Objectives

 

 

1.

WRAP will continue to serve approximately 30% of students in all Lawrence Public Schools through, individual, group and collaborative contacts for the 2008 school year.  This will be reported by: 1) Number of students served, 2) Number of students served at each school level, 3) Number and types of groups provided, 4) Numbers and type of collaborative contacts, 5) Number of sessions and time spent with students, 5) Amount of time spent consulting with school staff, 6) other types of data reflecting the amount or type of work completed by WRAP Staff.

 

 

2.

WRAP will offer support to the students and families enrolled in USD 497 at the difficult transitions in life during the 2008 school year.  This will be reported by: 1) Number of students referred for general transition support and 2) Number of students participating in summer and transition groups, and 3) Number of students receiving WRAP support for transition from Juvenile Detention

 

 

3.

a)  WRAP students will maintain or show a decrease in emotional symptoms on the BASC assessment during the 2008 school year.  Decreases in emotional symptoms have been shown to increase academic functioning. WRAP will collect at least 100 pre and post test BASC (Behavior Assessment System for Children) *assessments on participating students.

 

b)  WRAP has shown that students who are participating in WRAP improve over time in the Successful Learner Behaviors (SLB) that are reported on Lawrence elementary report cards.  WRAP intentionally works on goals which can be directly related to those behaviors.  These goals are based on the components of Social Emotional Learning that research links to increased academic success.  WRAP will report the occurrence and frequency of these goals as they relate to elementary student served during the 2008 school year.  Of a sample of the 1300 students served, 60% will show improvement in these SLB ratings.

 

 

Please return completed application electronically to cliebst@ci.lawrence.ks.us by

5:00 pm on Friday, April 20, 2007.

 

Office Use Only

six month report received           ¨ yes  ¨ no

annual report received:              ¨ yes  ¨ no

audit received:                           ¨ yes  ¨ no

tax return received:                    ¨ yes  ¨ no

 


* For more information on the BASC, go to:  http://www.agslearning.com/Group.asp?nGroupInfoID=a30000