►
Description
Dockets- #0994 - 0997, 0999, 1001 - A hearing on various grants under the American Rescue Plan Act passed through the MA Executive Office of Elder Affairs to be administered by the Age Strong Commission
A
October
14
2021-
and
we
are
here
today
to
host
a
hearing
on
various
grants
under
the
american
rescue
plan
act
that
was
passed
through
the
mass
executive
office
of
elder
affairs
to
be
administered
by
aged
strong
commission
in
boston,
docket,
zero,
nine,
nine
four
message
and
order
authorizing
the
city
to
expend
accept
an
expanded
amount
of
one
million.
Six
hundred
three
thousand
one
hundred
twelve
dollars
in
the
form
of
a
grant
from
the
american
rescue
plan
act.
A
Title
three
b
awarded
by
the
us
department,
health
of
human
services
passed
through
the
mass
executive
office
of
elder
affairs
to
be
administered
by
the
aids
strong
commission.
The
grant
will
fund
supportive
services
for
older
adults
in
boston
from
a
period
of
4-121
through
june
30th
2022
target
0995
message
in
order
authorizing
the
city
of
boston,
to
expand,
accept
and
expend
the
amount
of
1
million
406
331
dollars
in
the
form
of
a
grant
for
the
american
rescue
plan
act.
A
Titled
3c
nutrition
program
awarded
by
the
united
states
department
of
health
and
human
services
passed
through
the
mass
executive
office
of
elder
affairs
to
be
administered
by
age,
strong,
commission.
The
grant
will
fund
nutrition
services
for
older
adults
in
boston
from
a
period
of
april,
1st
2021
to
june
30th
2022.
A
target
0997
message
in
order
authorizing
the
city
of
boston
to
accept
and
expend
the
amount
of
394
133
in
the
form
of
a
grant
for
the
american
rescue
plan
act.
Title
3e
awarded
by
the
us
department,
health
and
human
services
passed
for
the
mass
executive
office
of
held
affairs
to
be
administered
by
the
h,
strong
commission.
A
The
grant
will
fund
family
caregiver
services
for
older
adults
in
boston
from
a
period
of
4121
through
june
30
2022
talk
at
099
message
and
order
authorizing
the
city
of
boston
to
expect
accept
and
expend
the
amount
of
157
522
in
the
form
of
a
grant
to
the
american
rescue
plan
act.
Title
3d
awarded
by
the
united
states
department
of
health
and
human
services
passed
through
the
mass
executive
office
of
elder
affairs
to
be
administered
by
the
eight
strong
commission.
The
grant
will
be
a
fund.
A
target
1001
message
and
order
authorizing
the
city
of
boston
to
expect
accept
and
expend
the
amount
of
140
120
21
in
the
form
of
a
grant
from
the
american
rescue
plan
act.
Titled
3-d
awarded
by
the
us
department
of
human
health
and
human
services
passed
through
the
mass
executive
office
of
elder
affairs
to
be
ministered
by
the
h,
strong
commission.
The
grant
will
fund
preventative
health
services
for
older
adults
in
boston
for
a
period
of
four
121
through
june
30th
2022..
A
These
orders
were
sponsored
by
acting
mayor
kim
janey
were
referred
to
the
boston,
cobra
19
recovery
committee
on
september
22nd
2021.
We
are
holding
this
hearing
in
accordance
with
the
chapter
20
of
acts
of
2021,
modifying
certain
requirements
of
the
open
meeting
law
and
relieving
public
bodies
of
certain
requirements,
including
requirements.
The
public
body
conduct
this
meeting
in
the
public
space
that
is
open
and
physically
accessible
to
the
public.
The
city
council
will
be
conducting
this
hearing.
A
Virtually
this
enables
the
city
council
to
carry
out
its
responsibilities
while
adhering
to
the
public
health,
accommodations
and
ensuring
public
access
to
its
deliberations
through
adequate
alternative
needs.
The
public
may
watch
this
meeting
live
on
xfinity
8,
rcn,
82,
verizon,
964
and
via
live
stream
at
boston.gov
city
dash
city
count,
city
council
dash
tv.
It
will
also
be
rebroadcast
at
a
later
date.
A
Written
comments
may
be
sent
to
the
committee
or
staff
email
and
will
be
made
part
of
the
record
and
available
to
all
counselors
members
of
the
public
wishing
to
testify
virtually
via
video
conference
should
email
the
staff
to
contact
for
a
contact
in
link
in
instructions
to
do
so.
If
you're
looking
to
provide
testimony,
you
may
email,
the
committee
committee
email
is
ccc
dot,
covit19,
boston.gov
or
staff
email
christine
with
the
c
dot.
O'donnell
o
d,
o
n
n
e
l,
l
boston.gov
joining
us
today
on
behalf
of
the
administration,
will
be
commissioned.
A
A
So
there
you
have
it
sorry
to
be
a
little
bit
long-winded,
but
we
got
to
get
that
in
for
everybody.
So,
commissioner,
shea
you
have
the
floor.
If
you
want
to
just
give
opening
remarks
and
then
after
you,
if,
if
francis
thomas
would
like
to
add
as
well
in
and
also
melissa,
so
we'll
do
right
in
a
row.
B
Wonderful,
well,
I
I
think
I
I'll
speak
and
then
francis
and
melissa,
if
there's
things
that
I'm
missing
feel
free
to
jump
in,
but
I
want
to
thank
you,
chairman
flaherty,
and
to
all
the
counselors
that
are
on
here.
It's
always
we
always
enjoy
coming
before
you
and
being
able
to
tell
you
about
the
the
great
things
that
our
team
and
our
partners
are
doing
in
the
city.
B
We
were
really
excited
to
hear
about
these
arpa
funds
and
counselor.
Thank
you
for
reading
through
all
of
the
dockets.
So
this
is
older.
Americans
act
money,
so
these
are
the
funds
that
typically
come
to
us
through
the
older
americans
act,
and
you
heard
all
of
the
different
titles
that
the
counselor
mentioned.
B
So
that's
what
this
is,
and
you
heard
the
counselor
mention
all
of
the
different
all
of
the
different
areas
that
that
the
funding
comes
in.
So
it's
supportive
services
for
older
adults.
It's
nutrition
programs.
It
is
caregiver
funds.
It's
some
administrative
funds
for
us,
it's
health
promotion
and
prevention
from
funds
and
the
long-term
care
ombudsman.
B
The
way
that
we
work
with
these
funds
is
we
keep
some
of
these
funds
in-house
to
help
support
the
team
that
we
have
here.
That
is
doing
a
lot
of
work
with
older
adults,
so
constituent
services,
work
events
and
programs,
volunteer
programs,
all
sorts
of
things
that
we
do
down
here,
but
the
majority
of
these
funds
we
pass
out
to
the
community
in
what
we
call
the
aging
services
network.
B
Our
partners
are
kind
of
our
lifeblood
right
because
they
help
us
reach
communities
that
we're
not
reaching
and-
and
they,
I
guess,
just
help
to
extend
the
network
and
make
sure
that
older
adults
can
enter
the
network
through
any
through
any
point.
In
time,
I'm
not
going
to
go
through
all
of
the
partners,
because
this
is
arpa
funds.
I'm
not
going
to
go
through
all
of
the
partners
that
we
typically
have
with
our
older
americans
act
dollars.
B
What
I
will
say
about
these
funds
and
then
I'm
happy
to
take
any
questions
that
that
anybody
has
some
of
this
money
like
the
nutrition
dollars,
that
you
heard
about
the
long-term
care
ombudsman
dollars
the
caregiver
dollars.
That
money
is
all
passed
through
for
us
and
it
will
be
going
out
to
the
organizations
that
already
run
those
programs
in
boston.
We
are
working
with
them
around
plans
that
they
have.
B
I
am
excited
about
the
plans
that
they
have
for
this
money,
because
I
think
it's
really
going
to
help
those
organizations,
boston,
senior
home
care
and
mspcc
who
work
on
the
caregiver
funds
and
ethos
and
chinese
golden
age
center
who
work
on
the
new,
the
nutrition
dollars.
It's
really
going
to
help
them
to
be
able
to
work
with
us
to
reach
communities
and
people
that
they
haven't
been
reaching
before.
B
The
title
3b
dollars
again,
those
are
our
most
flexible
pot
of
money.
Those
will
be
putting
out
through
an
rfp
we've
identified
some
some
areas
that
I
just
want
to
highlight
as
important
areas
that
we
are
thinking
about,
that
we
think
need
further
investment
and
that
we're
talking
to
communities
about
certainly
mental
health
and
wellness
needs
of
older
adults.
B
Elder
economic
security,
as
I
mentioned,
outreach,
and
especially
outreach
in
multiple
languages,
social
isolation,
digital
equity,
housing
search,
mediation
and
stabilization.
So
so
those
are
some
of
the
things
that
we're
looking
at
funding
with
our
more
flexible
dollars
that
we
have
melissa
or
francis.
Do
you
have
anything
to
add
to
that.
A
B
A
Very
good
commercial,
we're
gonna!
Let
me
just
I
know:
we've
been
joined
by
my
colleagues
in
honor
of
arrival,
julie,
mejia,
council
president
matt
o'malley,
councilor,
ed
flynn
and
council
liz
braden
has
joined
so
in
the
interest
of
time.
Obviously,
a
wave
openings
and
maybe
just
get
into
some
quick
questions
quickly,
so
obviously
how
much
covert
19
relief
funds
has
age
strong
received
to
date.
B
A
B
Yeah,
no,
no
and
francis
do
we
even
have
our
contract
for
these
funds.
Yet
there
I
mean
so
elder
affairs
is
always
a
little
bit
slower
in
getting
us
in
getting
us
things,
but
these
funds.
We
could
back
bill
for
these
funds
counselor,
but
we
have
not
spent
any
of
these
funds
yet
and
we
the
only
way
we
would
have
funds
kind
of
in
our
hands
as
if
we
built
for
them.
A
And
then
can
you
just
briefly
tell
us,
you
know:
where
will
the
funding
be
spent
and
how
will
you
be
able
to
measure
the
impact
of
that
spending?
I
think
one
of
the
things
we
need
to
be
cognizant
of.
Clearly
we
need
to
identify
communities
hardest
hit,
make
sure
that
we're
we're
doing
this
in
a
very
fair
and
in
equitable
and
responsible
manner,
but
I
think
we
really
need
to
also
recognize
we
want
to
be
able
to
sort
of
measure
the
impacts
of
that
particularly
areas
where
we're
trying
to
close
those
gaps.
B
In
addition,
they'll
have
an
opportunity
with
these
funds
to
do
some
extra
things
that
they
don't
typically
get
to
do
like.
I
was
saying
the
outreach.
The
way
that
we
operate
with
these
funds
is
we
when
we
award
dollars,
everybody
has
to
provide
us
with
a
scope
of
a
very
detailed
scope
of
service
and
a
very
detailed
budget.
We
have
to
approve
the
scope
of
service
and
the
budget.
B
A
D
Thank
you.
Thank
you.
So
very
much.
You
know
I'm
excited
to
be
here
and
really
do
appreciate
all
the
hard
work
that
age
strong
does
on
behalf
of
our
most
vulnerable
populations,
which
is
our
elders
and
during
covet.
Our
office
works
closely
alongside
you
all
and
other
organizations
and
businesses
to
help
address
a
lot
of
the
food
and
security
issues
so
really
excited
to
see
that
work
continue
and
to
be
funded.
I
just
have
a
few
questions
on
docket0995,
we'll
we'll
cover
nutritional
services
for
elders
throughout
the
city.
D
I
think
that
the
city,
we
talk
a
lot
about
contracting
and
talk
about
how
we
can
close,
that
the
racial
wealth
gap,
and
I
think
that,
if
there's
ways
for
us
to
partner
with
small
restaurants,
to
help
provide
some
of
these
nutritional
services,
we
can
get
there
and
then
docket0997
will
provide
funding
for
family
caregivers
and
I'm
just
curious
how
we
partner
with
local
nonprofits,
who
work
in
the
home
health
care
when
it
comes
to
best
practices
and
then
for
docket
zero.
One
I
mean.
Excuse
me,
one:
zero,
zero
one.
D
B
Wow,
okay,
so
I
will
take
those
one
at
a
time
and
if
I
miss
something,
please
feel
free
to
to
kind
of
help
me
help
me
stay
focused
here,
so
the
nutrition
funding
counselor.
I
think
you
raise
a
a
really
good
point
so
that
so
the
program
that
we're
funding
is
a
multi-part
program.
So
it's
not
just
the
meals,
so
the
providers
that
we
have
ethos
and
chinese
golden
age
center,
they
do
kind
of
a
whole
scope
of
services
for
those
nutrition
funds.
So
it's
meals
on
wheel,
it's
the
meals
in
the
delivery.
B
It's
the
nutrition
assessments,
nutrition,
counseling
and
nutrition
education,
and
did
I
miss
something?
Melissa,
okay
and
so
so
the
meals,
I
think,
is
the
piece
that
that
you
mentioned,
and
it's
actually
a
piece
that
melissa
and
I
just
had
a
conversation
with
ethos
about
as
well.
So
ethos
goes
out
to
bid
for
meal
providers
and
we
just
had
a
conversation
with
them.
B
What
we
would
like
to
do,
because
the
the
the
standards
for
these
nutrition
meals
can
be
hard
for
some
kitchens
and
some
restaurants
to
meet
there's
a
lot
of
requirements
that
are
not
our
requirements.
At
the
city
of
boston,
they
are
the
requirements
from
the
the
federal
government
and
the
state
for
this
kind
of
meals
on
wheels
program,
and
so
ethos
is
going
to
be
going
out
to
bid.
B
I
think,
in
the
spring,
for
new
meal
providers
and
what
we
talk
to
them
about
is
is
bringing
together
like
a
webinar
ahead
of
time
before
they
go
out
to
bid
where
we
can
get
local
restaurants,
who
are
interested
in
learning
more
about
the
program.
Learning
more
about
like
what
are
the
kitchen
requirements
for
these
programs.
What
are
the
food
requirements
for
these
programs
because
you
have
to
have
like
a
certain?
B
You
can
only
use
like
a
certain
amount
of
salt
and
like
there's
all
these
requirements
around,
that
what
goes
into
the
food
and
also
around
the
kitchen
that
the
food
needs
to
be
cooked
in,
and
so
we
want
to
get
people
together
so
that
they
can
ask
questions
before
before.
Ethos
goes
out
to
bid
for
those
meals.
B
So
best
practices
around
home
health,
so
I
think
that
was
related
to
the
caregiver
program,
so
the
caregiver
program
is
the
family.
Caregiver
program
is
a
again
a
very
specific
older
americans
act
program
that
actually
does
not
include
home
health,
so
it
it's
it's
about.
It's
kind
of
helping
family
caregivers,
navigate
its
assessments,
it's
counseling
for
for
family
caregiver
providers.
B
It's
support
groups
for
family
caregiver
providers,
both
both
people,
caring
for
folks
over
60
and
also
grandparents
over
60
raising
grandchildren.
So
it
has
a
lot
of
different
pieces,
but
it's
not
actually
connected
to
home
health.
There
are
other
programs
that
are
connected
to
home
health,
that
our
asap
partners
are
running
and
we'd,
be
happy
to
to
talk
to
you
about
kind
of
home
health
separate
from
this
hearing,
but
that's
not
actually
a
piece
of
what
this
family
caregiver
program
pays
for
the
health
services.
B
I
think
that's
title
3d
that
you're
talking
about
the
0.991
there's,
so
we
are
given
by
the
federal
government
a
specific
list
of
evidence-based,
healthy
aging
programs
that
we're
allowed
to
pay
for
with
these
funds.
So
some
of
them
are
exercise
programs.
Some
of
them
are
programs
that
tackle
mental
health
and
wellness,
but
it's
a
very
specific
list
of
evidence-based,
healthy
aging
programs.
Some
of
the
ones
that
we
pay
for
are
things
like
chronic
disease
self-management,
the
matter
of
balance
program
which
focuses
on
balance
and
falls.
B
D
B
But
there
are
times
that
we
do
specific
outreach
to
out
to
the
lgbtq
population
for
different
things.
So,
for
example,
we
recently
ran
an
art
program
and
we
specifically
targeted
the
lgbtq
population
for
our
outreach
for
that
program
and
I
think
for
the
healthy
aging
funds.
We
can,
I
I'll
say
the
provider
that
currently
has
the
the
most
funding
through
our
for
that.
The
healthy
aging
funds
for
the
the
health
promotion
and
prevention
programs
is
ethos.
B
Ethos
has
a
kind
of
a
mission
of
working
with
the
lgbtq
population
and
so
and
is,
is
well
known
as
being
a
provider
that
people
feel
comfortable
going
to.
So
they
are
running
these
evidence-based
programs
throughout
the
community
and
they're
recruiting
people
to
be
in
them,
and
I
haven't
seen
their
recruitment
goals.
But
I
I
can
imagine
that
that
they're
targeting
they're,
certainly
targeting
the
lgbtq
population,
but
I
can
make
sure
that
that's
the
case.
Okay,.
D
A
E
E
Thank
commissioner
shea
francis
melissa,
your
entire
team,
you
guys
have
done
such
remarkable
work
during
such
difficult
times
when
the
pandemic
first
hit.
Commission,
I
remember,
being
on
the
phone
with
you.
You
were
at
city
hall.
Your
team
was
out
there
helping
our
seniors.
We,
I
think,
all
of
us
naively
thought
in
march
of
2020
that
maybe
this
would
be
a
month
or
a
six-week
ordeal.
We
never
thought
it
would
be.
E
I
guess
we're
coming
up
now
on
19
or
close
to
20
months,
but
nevertheless
you
never
skipped
a
beat,
and
I'm
just
so
grateful
for
your
leadership
and
your
team
and
I'm
just
incredibly
lucky
to
live
in
this
great
city
and
proud
of
the
great
work
you
and
your
team
have
done.
So
that's
all.
I
want
to
say
mr
chairman
well
done
permission.
Thank.
F
I
also
want
to
thank
them
for
doing
tremendous
work,
especially
during
this
difficult
period
over
the
last
two
years.
So
thank
you
emily
to
melissa
to
to
francis,
and
we
just
want
to
let
the
entire
age
strong
team
know
that
the
residents
of
boston
appreciate
their
work.
They
do
every
day
in
the
in
the
city.
It
doesn't
go
unnoticed.
F
G
Thank
you,
mr
chair,
and
and
thank
you
emily
for
such
a
a
thorough
explanation
of
all
this,
the
funding.
I
really
appreciate
all
the
great
work
and
it
was
lovely
to
see
you
at
in
the
veronica
smith
senior
center
yesterday,
so
I
want
to
zone
in
on
the
elder
economic.
I
know
this
is
sort
of
your
outreach
activity.
Your
elder
economic
security
issues,
one
thing
that
I'm
increasingly
concerned
about
is
predatory,
lending
and
reverse
mortgages
and
unsolicited
offers
for
homes
and
land
that
our
elders
are
receiving.
G
You
know,
sometimes
it
seems
like
a
lot
of
money
and
it
seems
like
a
deal
account.
They
can't
miss
and
very
often
they
find
themselves
in
really
severe
situations,
often
under
possibly
losing
their
homes
or
they
end
up
land,
end
up
selling
a
piece
of
land
or
something
for
well
under
market
value,
and
it's
very
it's
an
abusive,
predatory
situation.
G
I
don't
know
if,
if,
if
you
folks
are
thinking
about
these
issues,
I'm
sure
you
are
and
I'm
sure
I'm
not
the
first
person
to
talk
to
you
about
it.
So
that
was
one
question
and
then
the
other
issue
is
with
regard
to
you
know
this
situation
with
regard
to
hiring
health
care
and
home
care
workers,
and
I
I
I
don't
realize
we're
sort
of
in
this
sort
of
labor
shortage
situation,
so
many
of
our
these
workers
have
been
essential,
frontline
workers
and
they're
frankly
exhausted
at
this
point
of
the
pandemic.
G
B
Thank
you
counselor
and
thank
you,
council,
president
o'malley
and
councillor
flynn
and
councillor
burden
and
everybody
just
you
know.
We
appreciate
all
of
those
things
and
we
will
pass
them
along
to
our
team.
I
think
you've
raced
to
two
really
important
issues,
counselor,
and
I
think
I
think
we
can
we
can
think
about
when
we
think
about
housing
and
we
think
about
our
title
3b
funds.
We.
We
should
also
think
about
what
kind
of
outreach
we
can
do
around
those
three
things:
predatory
lending,
reverse
mortgages
and
unsolicited
land
offers.
B
You
know
older
adults
are
getting
kind
of
barraged
by
a
lot
of
that,
and-
and
I'm
also
wondering
as
as
you
were
talking,
I'm
I'm
wondering
if
we
could
be
kind
of
putting
something
about
it
in
seniority
magazine
as
well
just
to
raise
up
the
issues
and
what
what
people
should
do.
If,
if
they
feel
like
like
something,
maybe
a
scam,
we
just
started
something.
B
I
call
that,
like
we
just
started
like
a
scam
corner,
highlighting
a
scam
every
time
we
do
seniority
magazine,
so
that
might
be
something
we
could
focus
on
with
that.
But
we
should
also
think
about
it,
melissa
as
we
think
about
how
we,
how
we
put
out
these
funds
with
the
health
and
home
care
workers
it.
There
is
a
huge
labor
shortage.
I
actually
just
heard
today
that
they're
having
a
lot
of
trouble
filling
cases
in
brighton,
which
is
maybe
why
you're
talking
about
it.
B
B
I
just
saw
some
new
rates
that
I'm
not
sure
if
they've
been
formally
issued
yet,
but
I
just
saw
some
new
rates
that
are
going
to
help
to
provide
better
wages
for
some
of
those
workers,
but
I
think
it's
a
continued
advocacy
issue.
It's
not
really
something
that
sits
here
at
the
city
right,
it's
an
advocacy
issue
on
both
the
state
and
the
federal
level,
but
these
are
really
a
really
it's
a
really
important
workforce.
It's
primarily
women.
B
It's
primarily
people
of
color,
it's
primarily
people
who
are
lower
income
and
they're,
doing
very
important
work.
That
is
not
valued
the
way
it
needs
to
be,
and
so
I
think
maybe
there'll
be
an
opportunity
in
the
future,
where
we
can
take
a
more
formalized
advocacy
stand
on
that.
I
know:
there's
a
couple
of
bills
in
congress
and
there's
a
lot
of
work
being
done
to
try
to
figure
out.
B
G
A
A
Very
good:
well
that
will
conclude
today's
hearing
with
respect.
I'm
gonna
read
all
the
documents
with
respect
to
docket
zero,
nine,
nine,
four
talking:
zero,
nine,
nine
five
talk
at
zero:
nine:
nine
six
talk
at
zero,
nine,
nine,
seven,
it
zero
nine
nine
nine
conducted
one
zero,
zero
one
and
I
believe
that's
it.