08-10-1992 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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' ^-!r * •-j r* e'- ■•V - §M, h£-^ ^->- K'i/: .15 '-r' ifcf:^ #-.■ P?*VI>, mm.'r^^: \ '•^*'' *•' ' •'■• ^1 WHHS conducted the firsi-in*the-narion Citizens Jury on a governmental budget. Twenty four citizens representing the adult population of Hennepin County held hearings, toured facilities, and deliberated various aspects of the County’s budget. Their findings were released at a press conference on September 30, 1992. A report called "West Hennepin Citizen Input on Community Service Priorities and Issues for 1993 “ was presented to Hennepin County Community Service Managers. A new aspea of this report was to include the personal stories of west suburban residents who need human services. WHHS was an initiator and key technical advisor for The Minneapolis Foundation’s commissioned study: "Citizen’s Tools: The Search for Flexibility in Hennepin County s Finances." WHHS formed a partnership this year with the Urban Coalition. The partnership is to implement a project called the "Customers Voice ’ which has been funded by the Minneapolis Foundation. The program will explore methods to systematically involve consumers in the evaluation and design of services. The project will experiment with several methods in 1992-93. A survey that collected data on runaway and homeless youth in West Hennepin was developed at WHHS. All 9th and 12th graders in the six V est Hennepin area public school districts participated in the survey. In February, WHHS conducted focus groups involving over 20 laid-off professionals who are age 50 and over. This is a growing segment of the population due to corporate mergers, acquisitions, and down-sizing. WHHS is continuing to meet with members of the focus groups to design innovative ways for them to return to the job market. WHHS released a report on what happens to family reunification efforts when an AFDC parent gets chemical dependency treatment and the children are placed in foster ^e. report is based on a project that WHHS conducted that provided funding to reunite families and was funded by C.A.S.H. The report was released at a community meeting. Rep. Karen Clark agreed to pursue waivers of federal regulations that currently prevent family reunification. WHHS conducted an in-depth study on employment and wage trends in suburban Hennepin from 1978-1988 that revealed that suburban Hennepin is suffering from a "hidden depression" in which the skyrocketing employment growth the suburbs experienced during the 1980 ’s. This trend was offset by a shift toward low-wage industries, resulting in a growing number of working persons seeking assistance from area services to meet their basic needs. The report was featured as a lead article in the Star Tribune newspaper and WCCO Radio. 1 •k^i A. Y .