We're going to get us a call this meeting to order the housing union services advisory board meeting for August 13 2020 our first Agenda item is public invited to be heard. Do we have any public to be heard? No vice chair. Nobody reached out to participate. Okay. Thank you Next up. We need to approve the minutes from the July 9th and the July 23rd meetings. Do we have any discussion or correction on those minutes? And if not, I will entertain a motion to go ahead and approve this. I'll move to approve the minutes second Okay, it's been moved and seconded any discussion None question is approval of the minutes of the July 9th and 23rd housing and human services advisory boards all those in favor raise your hand Okay, awesome and the opposed Okay, fantastic All right, uh first step Jay, hang on one sec to confirm was that motioned by diana and seconded by gram Yes, okay. I apologize. I was turned this way and I missed the voice. It's all good. It was diana again. Good catch All right next up a review and comment on the 2020 human services needs assessment report and discuss Uh the 2021 agency funding schedule. Karen. Is this you or is this Eleberto All right. Eleberto take it away my friend ice chair and um Board, I'm gonna share my screen here. I have a power point for tonight.  All 158 pages All right All right, so we will move to the move move through this. Um Quickly, but I want to make sure that you all have if you have questions you can stop me Um, I will say up front. This is based on an executive summary that karen and I just got and you will receive Uh as well, but we we just recently got it ourselves and I based this power point On that executive summary document all right So just a little background for those that are new back in so In 2018 the the board decided to align The human services needs assessment with the five-year Com plan that is required by HUD for cbdg funding at that right that time um And so that that happens every five years and in the past We have been doing independent Human service needs assessments apart from the five-year plan. So we decided to leverage The work that was happening And really align these because there's a lot of similarities. There is also a human service need component In the comp plan. It's just not as in depth as what we did. Um, and so we contracted with the same agency doing the comp plan to do a little more in depth Um Uh report for us And as a reminder, there's there's a lot of sources of data in the human service needs assessment Uh back in february march, we were really promoting and I think this board helped promote a resident survey We got over 1100 Uh responses. I will say that's most that's the most that this survey was Boulder county wide and we we longmont received the most um responses of all the others uh participate or the other agencies participating in Um, and they've also looked at other local needs assessment. And of course they look they had um multiple focus groups both stakeholders and those are primarily um non-profit leaders and city staff and of course they did one with the board And also they did several with um residents And finally, I think it's important to note that this uh human services need assessment did take an account in primarily via conversation with the resident focus groups and stakeholder focus groups Uh information about How covet is impacting the needs of our community So I want to make sure that that is um that that is acknowledged. They did take that into account So here i'm going to go through the identified needs Uh, and i'm going to go through them Based on our current priorities our current priorities as you may or may not remember Uh are based on the social determinants of health Uh the six we are using so housing stability health and well-being food nutrition self-sufficiency of resilience education skill building and safety and justice and these also came out of our 2016 Human services needs assessment. I think uh, but they're aligned with the social determinants of health And so when they did the this this human services need assessment They took into account these priorities and and and some of the the data they collected they associated Uh and some of the focus groups they worked on they made sure that these things were brought up Um, so now i'm going to jump into some of their findings. Um I need to hold on. I can't see I need to minimize my video here. Here you go. Um So some of the some of the areas in housing stability what we're seeing, of course, uh, is that housing instability has been amplified Uh by co vid as people have lost their jobs. Um Losing sorts of income. It has become harder. Uh, and you know, there's a growing need for more rent and utilities subsidies For example, we just found out or A few weeks ago, we found out that the our center received a hundred thousand dollars on the energy outreach, Colorado And the city is partnering with the archery to help Folks that are back that have a back pay on the utilities to kind of get them caught up Um, and then another finding was that cost burden households are giving up other basic needs Uh, and they given they give an example in another place. They also talked about, uh cost burden households um Also for forgoing, uh dental and other type of mental mental and physical health care in order to cover A housing cost, which of course is something that we don't want to see and Board you can stop me anytime you have a question about the findings or Karen as well So on the self-sufficiency, um And resilience priority findings and they looked and they said single mothers Unemployed and with children or five adult residents without high school degrees Are twice as likely to live in poverty And covet is likely to just push these families deeper into financial difficulty And this is where I mentioned, uh in order to pay housing costs Uh low income residents are are going without dental care or car repairs or other types of care that they need um And the the covet 19 unemployment spike Will further diminish their ability to Reach self-sufficiency. So in the end and they said that Those folks in Longmont who were already in poverty had an unemployment rate 10 times higher Then residents above the poverty threshold before the pandemic Uh, and I think that we understand the pandemic has really hit uh The type of work that uh, it is in person for example the the food service area um, and and that has caused folks to um Fall deeper into financial, um struggles On the food and nutrition they talk about the the fact that um more than two in five Low and moderate incomes with children um And one in three respondents who are precarious the house Uh are experiencing or reducing going without food in 2019 I can tell you that in what we have learned um During this pandemic and conversations with community food chair They've seen tremendous growth in need as well But one of the one of the the consequences of this pandemic is in the past community food chair and uh Try to do and did I think did a good job of Allowing people to kind of shop through their to their site making it feel very um consumer consumer driven consumer choice uh, but due to Safety concerns Now folks are getting pre-prepared pre-prepared boxes Uh at the art center community food chair just to Make sure that people are safe In the health and well-being area our priority You know, we're seeing an increase in isolation and loneliness. Um All of these these mental health issues Because of the the need to Self quarantine or be a you know Social distance are having a toll or taking a toll and having an issue There's also a perceived lack the mental health services whether Do the lack of hours or or just lack of service And then they said that there's an estimated 3,700 adults that have a serious mental illness in long months On the education and skilled building side their findings were really primarily around The the child care crisis that we're seeing around providers You know providers are finding it difficult to provide the kind of care that is Business um that allows them to maintain their business, right? They can't serve as many It's more expensive to provide PPE um, and so You know, they're they're struggling so we're seeing we're seeing providers closed shop um And that's also putting a strain on programs like head start and c-cap I think what I understand from head start is their their application is doubled uh for this upcoming School year head start year um and This is this is an unknown we don't know exactly what's going to happen But there's definitely going to be issues if schools remain online only or just hybrid and online learning Uh, and who is getting impacted by that, right? Who? And there's a lot of equity issues that we need to consider When when schools go online or are hybrid So those are some of the things that we are seeing in education and skill building In safety and justice um low income households are who are renters or breakersie house um Are more likely to than others to respond to have safety concerns about their neighborhood um, and then during the Focus group they the residents and stakeholders discuss three types of safety and justice needs Uh capacity building for lion's enforcement around engaging with residents with disabilities and mental illness I know that's a conversation that we've added this board Uh concern about the impact of covid shutdowns on child abuse and domestic violence I think and can speak to that And then of course the racial and ethnic tensions stirred by the federal policy decisions and The killing of george floyd in minneapolis and and and we of course this board Has had several several really amazing conversations on this on this issue So those are the ones that we um that are part of our Current priorities. There were some also other findings that they um, they looked at and they identified some gaps that are not Necessarily specific to our current priorities, but we've talked about One of course is is digital inclusion or the digital divide As this world becomes more virtual Again an inequity issue of those that have access not only to internet cable devices But internet and also digital literacy Able to even if they have the internet and the device can they use it? Uh, and then they also talked about case management capacity um, I can you know as As we go through this They talked about families and individuals needing more support as they work through these issues Uh, and how stretched our agencies are I can tell you that Up to now up to recently the art center is pretty stretched. They were they were seeing people about a month out They were scheduling with a month out. They have hired two new resource specialists We'll hope which will hopefully help with that But there's definitely a need for the for for case management capacity, but that's not been a part of our priorities, um, so But they did identify those gaps And they'll talk about some other things to consider for example residents who are immigrants, uh, and the The additional difficulties that they're that they're having to access resources not only due to a lack of language But fear of the public charge Um You know concern about having to share a lot of information with our agencies or our governed local governments so There's a lot of challenges that folks who are uh immigrants and of course residents with disabilities Don't experience the same level of inclusion and they are more isolated during this time And this was even even true before kovat and kovat has just exacerbated that issue And then finally they talk about it that had the difficulty that residents and Stakeholders may have to find information about the program or services that are available in long months And and that's not new. I think that kovat has kovat has Like you know increased that that that challenge There's a lot of resources out there and it's hard to find them And if you haven't if you throw in the digital divide because many of these resources are available online It makes it even more difficult for folks to find So the human service needs assessment also provided some recommendations It's already interrupt elli burton someone. I think that's fine. I can't see if you're going to try to reach again There was someone waiting to get in sorry oh, okay Did we did we take Brian? I'm in Ryan's in. All right fearless leader. All right. Thank you. Brian. I'll get you renamed She survived. Okay. Thank you the refrigerator truck Hey elli burton. This is Shakita. I have a question um As I was reading that That entire long I didn't read the whole 159 pages, but probably 120 But um, they also was we're discussing it was mentioning about our seniors the senior population So I was kind of interested. I didn't see that I see that you know um I didn't see that under that last slide. I was kind of wondering why we didn't I mean, they're isolated as well so um, do we What do we why weren't they on that page? I'll say probably because it wasn't it or either. I didn't see it in the executive summary Uh, because it's more high level and they might uh, so it's more like that's why or I just missed it. So, okay I was just checking because I know Man, so which was very interesting. You know, we want to make sure that we take care of our seniors as well Right, right. That's true So Thank you I'm gonna I might have stayed high loads for example that case management might have included seniors in the summary and I didn't And I didn't I just took the the editing and not the whole the whole thing. So that makes sense Yeah, so yeah Any other questions before we jump into some of their recommendations All right, I'm going to minimize. So I can't see you also just go ahead and speak up because I'm in order for you to see I need to minimize the the video Well, I'm going to keep going So They not only did they provide, you know, these findings and they identified some gaps. They also have some recommendations We're going to go through them as well And those are in the larger document as well So first and foremost, they they they talk about continuing and strengthening the existing programs and services, right? Now what's interesting about this and we can have more conversation, right? So of course, we've been doing the housing stability We've been doing access to child care I mean the the preparing for provider closures is new And so is the might the the reality of school closures and that impact Uh, but also something new is something that we've not done in the past is at least not directly is is proactively support employment in particular because That you know, that typically has been a workforce We have boulder county workforce and that's been kind of where That that kind of lives in that area. So i'm not exactly sure I think this part of our conversation how we how we do this Um, how whether or whether we do this or or accept this recommendation Only because like I said, we do have a robust workforce in boulder county Um, doing a lot of wonderful programs They also emphasize the no wrong door approach to human services intake You know and again kind of we talked about earlier just the difficulty in accessing and navigating services is um It's difficult You know we care and I have had this conversation at the boulder county funder's collaborative And this has been an issue for uh Many many many years Um, and not and not to say that we we shouldn't address it But more to say that this is something that is bigger than long wants um, and Uh, we could try and do our part potentially. I mean it's for the board was discussed But not sure exactly how the human services funding piece would fit into this Um, but we could have a conversation about that Um, and those gaps they identified so they you know the mental health piece They they said here's some suggestions.  It's not we there's nothing here in long month Uh per se and and and and gen Or what I think gen gen did for the the co-CEO did talk about they do have um, You know phone and telemedicine services to help with this. Um, but it's a challenge Right. It's a it's a challenge. So here's some of the some of the recommendations they said, um And I know that that we did find out, um um, that mental health partners did get a grant recently to to uh, create some teams to deal with the co-vid Uh, co-vid impact on mental health. So that's going to be really great and we're looking forward to see what that looks like Karen Phillips and I were on that call Um And then around emergency housing. This is kind of what they said. Sorry, elly back tol. Can you go back? I didn't see all that Okay, sorry. There you go. Um So this local perspicion of 72 hours substance use emergency commitment Substance use involuntary commitment for mental health holds Right Okay, that's what they recommended. Is it we all right? Yeah And then on the on the emergency housing crisis services, they talked about increasing local capacity for emergency overnight domestic violence shelter, um And i'm not sure where a safe shelter is right now And emergency overnight shelter for families who lose their homes Um, I mean they're I'm not sure what the waiting list for FA as we do have a shelter here in long month. Um that FA provides, but It's always had a wait list. So that's a challenge, right? There is a gap and FA and the uh Tele vouchers, but it's a growing challenge as as families start, um You know in this time of crisis losing homes, so That was part of their recommendations Also on the digital inclusion they talked about marketing And I know and I know next site is working on this the long month own brought long month community own broadband service Um, I know next site is working on this and trying to get it out and they want to you know, they recommend making sure that we can you know work with our You know, like older adults like uh security was saying and with our families, uh with limited emergency And I that is happening. Um, and I think it will continue to happen. So some of these recommendations. We're actually working on already um, for example, you know, when they talk about a community, um a digital inclusion strategy I'm not sure that's happening, but we are working on Uh addressing the digital divide. Um, and we want I think that some of this is something that we should look deeper into Then in the case management piece, it really is around how do we build the recommendation is to build capacity But you know by increasing things like peer coaches or community navigators and I and I know hhs has navigators now, um Again, I'm not sure where we fit into this. This is a little bit bigger than long months Uh, and I think hhs is trying to build capacity um, and so It's a good recommendation But does it fit with what we do? I'm not so sure. Um, I mean we can discuss it um But it is something that that I think we all recognize is an issue uh In in our community and and actually the broader in boulder county And I think there are some of those services. They're just kind of There are some through human services some through mental health partners and some through the police department um Yeah So, oh and this does not look really good because I put it in as a picture Before we go to this any any other questions or thoughts on the um On the on the human services needs assessment presentation And then we'll jump into this Not the presentation, but I The more I read I'm just really worried about What's going to happen to our seniors and our families? Um For housing this winter I mean there just isn't anything We kind of piece mail it together, but what happens if we have just Huge amounts of people that have no place to go That worries me Yeah, I agree with and in the um The digital divide for our seniors As well, I mean especially the ones who what happens if they can't afford Their nursing homes or their facilities that they're in What happens what happens to them and then also with the digital divide the reason why i'm thinking about them is because During cove it so many families couldn't even visit them if they were in nursing homes or certain facilities or in the hospital But if they had a device Like uh ipad or something like that then they can actually see their family And besides just talking to them because I can only imagine um What kind of you know what they what was going on in their heads you can't see your family um the same people every day, you know, so Have we even thought about that? You know making sure that our seniors are able to see their families Across the the us because some seniors are here and the kids are elsewhere And just the digital divide is just so huge now. I mean just for me trying to learn how to do all of this At my age You know, I spun out for about six weeks just trying to figure it all out um And it's definitely gotten easier, but it is difficult And for seniors Or people that just like english isn't really their first language That is a huge barrier Yeah, I think I think it is a challenge and I think that I know our senior services are working with that our children youths and families are working with that That is a part of their reality So yeah, I I definitely acknowledge that it is a challenge Um And I also I mean the the other part of it is what what is the role of this of this board and and in particular the human Part of why we we had the the needs assessments I guess I'd just like to know if it's not part of our duties to really Figure out This way to people that could potentially be on the streets Does our city council have any ideas? I don't know. It's kind of like covid in general It's like we're kind of never out in front of it. We're always behind it Well that Oh, yeah, yeah, mr.  There's there's no doubt about that.  Um So I would say, you know, I would say a couple of things You know one, uh Certainly we will share this information with uh, you know with the city council and with other staff members that are involved in Really tracking the impacts of of covid They are you know, we have staff that are tracking the various resources that are available that are coming down through the Fed of the state that could assist our community um So so I would say two things one is it relates to the the The digital divide so we do have uh Next slide on on board And and we're kind of and we're starting so certainly, um, they're Reaching out to the school district around the various Low-cost plans that are you know, available. So so they're offering And and we'll do a follow-up and we'll send out the the flyer to the advisory board members so you can get a list of the Services and the cost for next light, but there are um, so there's there's certainly the the gig internet service But they also are offering um a lower speed for um for a lower cost Don't ask me what it is. Maybe it's like 14 dollars a month or 19 dollars a month So it still is a you know is a good resource Um, but it's more it might be more uh affordable for uh for some of our lower-income families And and so they are also working with the law not community foundation on share the next light Which um, which is offers no cost Internet access to again to to low-income households So there's a variety of resources that we have put together and marketed to the the school district for for kids that are Still going to be virtual learning for a while. The other thing that we are focusing on too As many of you know is that the city of longmont is Um is is now in strong partnership with the longmont housing authority. And so we are bringing in Uh next slide and looking at a a cost for making Internet services available uh at a reduced cost to Um to the uh two low-income seniors that are living in our six housing authority Community so so we are um, we are recognizing. I mean it it's very clear. We're hearing that across the board just as you all have expressed about the impact of Being in shutdown and how that has affected people's lives in terms of learning in terms of connecting And we are trying to respond in In ways that provide more affordability And and also a free internet access That's great to hear May I throw in a a question? Sorry, sorry to interrupt. Um, so if I remember the process correctly when we've gone through this before The needs assessment really helps us determine What the advisory board thinks the priorities are the in terms of community need And how that will reflect on our funding priorities Um, is that do I have that correct in terms of what we're reviewing tonight? Yes, that is correct Okay, thank you. So I I think this conversation about the seniors and the digital divide You know part of what we may walk away with is also just some questions like karen just Did a great job answering Uh, so I'm wondering, you know, just like in terms of okay, well What does this mean for seniors or something like that? Is there an opportunity to go back to The data gathered and ask for clarification on some of these questions that we may have about You know, how does this trend specifically impact seniors or something like that? Hmm I I I don't know right What comes to the top of my mind is would it be easier? Is to take this data and talk to for example our senior services staff and say If they could shed some light on this not necessarily going back to the data gathers root policy Uh, but but have our senior services staff interpret the data I think that that would probably more likely and might get us better analysis So Yeah, that that actually sounds exactly right now that I think about it because They'll have more contextual Kind of information to help us understand is our level of concern about something Equal with theirs or is there additional information that may moderate something for on our side? Yeah, and what I would add Brian is that I mean I I agree with ellie better throw that that probably it's it's going back to some of our providers to help, you know to help Further interpret Some of this data and what we should be doing about it. I think we can also go back to the To the two root policy because those were also some of the questions that they asked in the and the focus groups So here's you know, here's what some of the data says so what do you think we should do about it? So they might have additional information in their notes that they took That didn't make it to the report because the other part was already 150 pages You know, so there could be additional data from Their focus groups that that could help shed a little additional light so we could do both of those things Okay That's great. Thank you. So my question was largely I think process oriented in terms of some of the the Clarity that the group might be seeking further down the line. Thank you I have a question if that's all right ellie better. Yeah, um, you know, I read I read through scan through it And then hearing your report it's sort of you know, man, it's depressing, right? It seems terrible. It's sad What do we do and then I'm trying to tell myself? Well, this is the first maybe second one of these I've seen, right? Um, and so I'm curious from those of you sort of seen these year after year after year What kind of magnitude of concern we should attach to it? Um, is this like Like a typical kind of report and it's it's bleak You know, but it's always bleak or is it like no, this is actually, you know Like what def con level are we at for those of you have more historical? context I think for me and I'll let carry answer. She's seen more of these and I have Um, I've seen several of these I think what you're seeing is the difference in degree Of challenges, right challenges for low to moderate income families have always been there Affordable housing has always been an issue in long months and bolder These are not new But what you're seeing because of co vid Is just how deep The problem is becoming And what you're seeing Is an expansion of who's Being faced with this problem Right. So for for example when I talk to the hour center You know, I think I forget exact percentage But I mean, I think it was like 75 of the people that they've interviewed in the last three months had never Used our center services before right And so what this is I don't They're deeper. They're wider And more people are being affected by them. So that to me is the scary part and I'm not sure. I mean again and again and it might be out of this boards or Karen their eyes is I'm not sure what some of the the the really so deep Long-lasting solutions are right So what happens if we if we don't return to normal for a long time and you know food service industry where many immigrants work Don't come back right Or or child care providers if businesses close and you know, so So that's the scary part to me is just how much broader and deeper and widespread These challenges that we've always had But now we're just amplified to the nth degree because of covid And I would just echo that Elevator said it well You know, this is really actually only the second time that we as a advisory board have Completed our own assessment. So usually in in the past many many years we have We basically have utilized other Assessments, so we have really taken a look at the secondary data that has been Developed by you know other entities and and and really looked at that to help us project it our needs So this is really the second time that we have We have conducted our own needs assessment With primary data collection So but but I think Elevator expressed it well the the impact of of this pandemic and what it has done to people's livelihoods and to the economy and and the question of how We just really can't we're not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of bounce back and And bounce back is is going to be a new reality. So some of these jobs may never come back. So so just the The amount of time and the long duration of recovery that That we are likely to see is is is of concern You know and you know just as we were As we were considering Going back and in addressing some of our housing issues in the affordable housing arena Where we were talking about putting a a sales tax increase on the on the ballot to raise more Revenues to help us with creating more affordable units, you know That's off the table, you know, and and when will we be able to come back and And and look at additional resources to really help us address the housing issues It it it will be some time down the road So it is depressing Graham, you know concerning very Concerning in a in a way that I don't think we have seen For that we have seen Thank you, bill So if there are no other questions or a discussion and we'll have more time for discussion But I'd like to go through what I what I what we drafted as far as a A timeline for our funding process and And it's going to be tight. I'm going to be honest. It's going to be a tight timeline But I think it is Very doable and it is just it'll it'll just require us to to Step up a little bit our commitment and what we're going to do as a board And what we're going to do is staff So I'm going to go through that right now And then we have time for more questions. So you're receiving The human service needs assessment right now Um, you received it and and we'll get you a final copy of final version asap Then I I believe That we may need another meeting before we release the agency application I guess what I should start saying is all these dates are arbitrary I just put I just I just picked them All right, except for tonight's meeting everything else is Up for conversation So I I I think we would need another meeting to finalize the priority or goal areas um Which would then help me update the application and the instructions for the application Well, we really want to get I guess the the 9 11 date Is Well, I did pick it. It is it's around there. We don't want to wait too long Pass that date to get it out to give agencies um A month to do that and then during our october meeting. We would need to finalize our funding matrix uh, to to to more, um For in two areas one to uh, reflect what our goals are and also to reflect the changes in the application and the application evaluation And we would receive those applications sometime in mid october And then we would have those last two or three weeks of october to start the review Or to do our our application review and then we're thinking the first Two weeks, you know, we have that depending on how the board Wants to do the agency hearings more than likely they'll be virtual Which may make it easier. I don't know um And then we would deliberate at our december meeting Uh, and then karen and i and brian would take it to the Um council in their one of their january. I'm not sure if that's a correct. That's a study or I didn't check that. I just know it's a tuesday, but we have to Figure that out And then once the council approves and I would start the agency contract process with nicole Uh on 115 um, and you know, and and and that's actually not too bad timing last year We started nicole knife started sending stuff out at the end of december And you know people didn't get back to us till february or march. So I'm not too concerned about um That january date really where where i'm concerned about is I think the the hard work is really The prior the getting those goal areas finalized The updating of the application and the funding matrix and and really for you all the hard work is You got to review all those applications um And sitting up the hearings So and any thoughts or questions on the timeline? Really quick a liberto just uh, mr. Chair. Can you see the screen? Would it be helpful if I kind of just looked out for questions or stuff for Or I were more a word of caution Yeah, I mean we're talking about 11 days. It would be to get all of those applications turned around And reviewed and and I know we have a lot of new folks On the board this year who haven't been through the process and I've only done it once so it's not like I'm an expert, but I will say 11 days is is we'll be tight. Um, it's gonna be tough and I I just want, you know You know, I I know we have a lot of great people on the board, but I'm not I'm not saying I'm against it I understand that's what the timeline is. I just want to reiterate to somebody who's been through it um, and I know ann and and ryan and Others can can speak to this as well. It's it's a tight timeline And I think everybody being aware of that is as good as the head of the district Yeah, I would just take a moment. I'm sorry to interrupt. I would just take a moment to Um to agree that it's you know, it'll require discipline on our part. However I'm also optimistic that some of the changes we're making to the questions in the application As well as you know matching with our evaluation. I think we'll also make Evaluating the applications more straightforward and possibly a little more intuitive In which case we may see some efficiencies there And right now the primary changes are in the evaluation. We've made it much more intuitive much more aligned With the application Um, so I'm not sure it depending on where the goal I'm not sure if we're going to change the question much because once once we we started looking at at the Combat the evaluation in the application. We realized that the real issue wasn't the application The real issue was the evaluation form. It didn't connect well And so if you're reading it and you're trying to figure out what the question And where you find it so I I completely revamp the evaluation to Really track the application and made the questions the the evaluation piece is much more simple and straightforward That'll be really helpful. Elevator. Thank you for that You know the the the thing that I wonder and and obviously we um We have major holiday season in there in um so it I too am concerned about that That latter part of october is the Is the time that we have to review all those applications that that just doesn't give us a whole lot of time um You know the the other Option that we could consider is we um We give ourselves a little more time to review the applications and You know we hold our funding hearings that first part of december The first couple of weeks in december or that first week into december or whatever and We deliberate in um in our Either in a special meeting in january or our regular meeting in january and take something back to city council and their second meeting in january and um You know and and then might be that we are starting the contracting process the you know the end of You know sending that out the end of january first of february You know we can we can we can certainly In terms of the contracts we can get all the con the boilerplate contracts ready. So what takes the time? Is sorry, I have a bug in my office So what I think really takes the time is putting together the The customized scope of work for the contracts. We send it back to the agencies They had to make sure that that's correct. So there's some back and forth And so I guess it's really How much time do you all need? Realistically to do your best work in reviewing the applications And and the trade-off is we start the contracting process, you know a little bit later So it might be we are hitting that heavy in February end of january and throughout february And caren, i'm correct that there's no I guess you've answered the question already, but there's no you know hard deadline or reason that we would need to have stopped on that january 15th No, no, I think the only thing so because what happens is that Uh that the council allocates the amount of funding that is set aside for agencies So they do that they adopt the budget in um october So uh, so that's all done and and then and then it's really up to us to bring back. All right So here's how we're recommending to allocate those those funds. So I think it's really just about um wanting to Get funding out To the agencies as as quickly as possible But we still had some agencies that we were still negotiating Going back and forth and waiting for contracts to be signed yet in July so um so So yes, so there's I think we want to allow ourselves enough time to do great work and really to Think through this process But not certainly delayed too much A contract for agencies so that we can start issuing the money And and just as a refresher remind me how much time we had last year Was it a month? Was it a full month that we had roughly? For review, I I think we probably had without going back. I mean, I think we probably had a good Three weeks. Yeah, three weeks to a month Okay, so maybe I mean I'll just throw this out there my thought would be if we could extend That application review period By about 10 days um And and I mean that would be my just give about 10 more days for us to get through those applications Um, and just kind of push the rest of the process back. I mean, I know that that runs us into You know right before the christmas holiday for that that deliberation meeting, but And people are in and out of town, but I guess that's The trade-off so I'll I'll throw that out there and I Yeah, I I can do that I can refigure this to give the board more time around the application review And also take into account Thanksgiving Christmas and um Yeah But I guess my question is I still think that you know I still think we'll need a special meeting later this month or early september So really You know, um Finalize those goal areas Uh, Karen and I are going to have a follow-up conversation with roots on some of their outcome Measures and that might help that we you know, we could send out once we get that That might help us deliberate that Um, but we just need to decide You know our Are we keeping what we have and we're just rearranging? Are we adding? Um, are we you know, so yeah, those are kind of my questions to the board You know what we have, you know, we have those six priorities We can always rearrange those priorities You know in the percentages that we have You know, are we adding digital divide or adding something around seniors in particular? So all of those are the questions that I have That we need to figure out together Can I just try meant to say that I think that it would be better to add a special board meeting If we're going to save some time to do other things like review applications I'd rather put in an extra special board meeting now Instead of delaying that process. So I think that makes sense I support the extra board meeting as well And particularly on this needs assessment issue and it's a really big question and I think Having a little fresher on our minds for that discussion So meaning not as much time goes by, you know an entire month I think we will benefit from that as well. And I'm certainly willing to put in the extra time So I had I guess I said 20 say I know Karen's going to be out. So I'd rather do it with Karen here um So I'm good with whatever the group works for for everybody else. I can make it work So so I guess, you know, we we have the So so either we're talking about trying to have a meeting this this following week or Or sometime You know, September First second or or third right, you know before the Labor Day weekend I don't know if people have generally preferences or if you want Nicole to send out a doodle poll A doodle poll would be great Only because I mean I'm as I'm looking at my calendar. I I'm In a grad school program now and student teaching and running around a thousand places. So I'm right I'm uh, yeah, I'm I I would love a doodle poll just a chance to compare often Whatever works for the most people I will endeavor to be at Okay All right, so I think I think Ella bear to them. We will circle uh, you know, I've been um, You know talk to Nicole tomorrow and and throw and put identify some some dates and and get that out tomorrow That's basically what I had unless there's any more questions. Um About the human services that's that's that's the end of my presentation Does anybody else have questions on? The On the priorities and I know you'd mentioned that did we did we cover that okay over time? Okay I think that'll be part of what we we talk about in our special meeting right Gotcha that clears that up for me. Thank you. So ellibato. You can take down your your slides All right, I'm gonna stop sharing and go back. Okay Throw it back to Jake and brian too brian are you taking this uh Jake if if you could still do it that'd be great. I'm I'm close to my computer, but I'm it's still at a disadvantage No worries.  That's right. Thank you so much our next item on our agenda our site visit updates First is lung mount meals on wheels. That is a member woodley who is absent Tonight so after that would be the in-between Board member abbot. Are you able to talk to us a little bit about the in between? Hi, sure First of all, it feels like it has been forever since I actually did this Yes Before coven hit I think it was actually the week um the week It was the day before our last actual in-person meeting that I that I was there meeting with them, so Forgive me a little bit if I'm a little rusty. I do have some notes, but it's uh, you know making sense of my own own notes there The in-between provides um supportive housing in lung mount um And one of the big things um, we spent um a decent amount of amount of time talking about was um, the recent completion of the Micahomes project um, which is the small Sort of permanent affordable housing that's next to the united church of christ off of ninth um here in longmont At the time that we visited they had um done initial addition Sorry initial reviews for occupancy um, but we're having to go back and redo some things around landscaping and drainage around it. Um They were getting ready to have folks move in and they were really really excited about sort of the cross community effort that went into Getting that project up and going Um My sense is that it's one of the first Of its kind in longmont. If not the first um illiterate you might have a little bit more information on that. Um And so along the way they were in some ways, um any pigs for figuring out some of the um processes the the big thing that um tam the executive director um brought up with it um they They aren't um contractors. They aren't builders and yet they were in the position of essentially being Contractors and builders here and having to go through things like permitting He was like, you know Some of this stuff probably makes sense to people who do this and for us it was like I don't know uh And so like at various points they just sort of felt like they were sitting and waiting and didn't know what to do Or they weren't sure how to keep things moving along um And that what was being asked of them from Uh the permitting office They weren't always 100 sure how how to do that and um and so that seemed to me That that was the biggest challenge they identified like they were super excited about mica homes And all that had gone into it and then they were like it's great The city was supporting us, but then we sort of felt like we were in this like limbo place um with permitting and all of that um So um You know a lot of what they so that project has taken up a lot of what they're doing and at the time they were sort of weighing Whether they were going to get another piece of property to do another type of project They were looking at that they had um the executive director had met with some folks To to see about that and he was sort of like I don't know if we want to get into this business But it feels like a big success on top of sort of the the other work that we're doing. Um Most of their work up until this point has really been transitional housing. Um, and so really um having things that are Affordable helping people get off their feet. So they have case workers that work with residents in their facilities to help them get um have a plan for moving on. Um So I think I this I I cannot um decipher from my notes. I think they said the average Stay is about 15 months um for folks there I would anticipate that um and and they always have a waiting list I'm anticipating that that is even bigger Now with covet. Um, and that that average stay is not going to stay if 15 months. Um A lot, you know A lot of what we talked about as well was that, you know, the case workers or their um To help folks access other services if they need them um But also to help them, um I think they described it as sort of like mindset shifting for a lot of folks to think about like what would it take for me to be successful in Obtaining like long-term housing that's affordable.  They just need some time to get their heads On they need some time to feel like the rug isn't going to be pulled out from under them and I think um what I heard really strongly was um Deeply caring about residents and what they they needed to get to move through Well, also recognizing that, you know People can't stay there forever. It's transitional housing and they they're trying to balance that of like What is this person needed? How can we empower them without? um infantilizing or sort of letting them They didn't use this term but like wallow They like not letting folks stagnate there and really using it as a jumping off point And I think they really take that seriously and figuring out what that looks like for each Each person and or each family that's there rather than saying Everyone has to be out within a certain period of time. They customize that they figure it out They help provide a plan and they help that person create the plan. So um Yeah, uh And I guess the last thing I want to mention is that um, they are they are trying to get better at gathering data around um their work they um They do have data. They shared information about like sort of that average stay um, how How much how many folks they move through? um, but they recognize like they don't have a staff member that's dedicated to Um doing data it's sort of like a little bit of a whole bunch of people's jobs to to figure out like what data All their various funders might need all of their you know board members need and so um They they definitely feel like they're hearing that they need to have more data And they they were trying to figure out how to make sure that they get that without you know, sort of being like We have to hire somebody specifically to do data because everybody wants data and everybody wants something slightly different. Um And so that that seems like a little bit of a challenge But also something that they are trying to just sort of take a little bit at a time and improve upon as they can Um rather than feeling like they have to like solve it all at once That's all I have so From my desk got it. I mean on the business side of it. Um You know, um, I was actually part of their Reflight before covid I was invited to a panel To discuss with their board because their board is going through strategic planning And so I was I was there to discuss just kind of what the trends that we're seeing in in long months. Um So I know they're doing that, you know, overall again, most of these agencies are doing pretty well. Um as far as the business end of it Um, you know, they have two Latinos on the board, which is great.  If you institutionalize it in the process, it will help you in it Because they do have a they they have very well laid out process And and it does what typical processes do it talks about that, you know, the different skill sets needed and that's fine That that's all part of of of a board A nomination process you need specific skill sets on a nonprofit board You know, folks that are good with accounting and finance and etc And I said I I told Tim The ed and think about adding a a specific statement around diversity and passivity That'll just help you even though. I know you're committed. I know that people that are on your board. They're committed to it. Um This will just this will just make sure that it becomes Engrained in the work you do So so yeah, and they have a good annual report. Um as well So overall, I I found not not any real issues with with the in-between I think one thing too is that they actually have one spot on their board. Um, Elevator, correct me if I'm wrong that is for a Someone who has utilized their services. So they actually have one person who is um, You know Is utilized their services in the past and so it's head of that board. Um, I believe so Question if I may It's your meeting Brian go for it Mr. Chair I I thought you were going to take us home Jake I thought you're going to take us all the way in I can if you'd like to but I saw you pop back in so it's all No, no, you you take us you take us home. I'm here as a just a participant. Um so What are your thoughts what does staff have thoughts on these questions about you know getting Diverse representation on a board for instance can be challenging or it feels challenging and and I think some of the issues that We're starting to understand is is like the language that we use in the application or The channels through which we send it out or you know, there are various things that um Like I don't I'm not aware That are creating barriers. Is there um Any any thoughts on resources that we can offer to Our partners to help them through some of those questions like even paid resources like how to evaluate An application to make sure that it does it is friendly to everybody So, you know, I know cap is still doing it's pro in fact, they just started their pearl 1o I'm not sure what they're calling it now But I know cap is still doing its work around increasing diversity on boards and commissions Uh, they've been doing that for years. Um, I think but Linda's a new person doing that and and so so they're doing that work No, and weda is doing it through the community foundation doing their work I'm not watching. I'm not sure what all mac is doing. It's other truth, but um But yeah, there are resources out there brian And it's really You know, how do we share those resources? I know cap is getting the word on social media um So yeah, it's it's it's getting people interested and committed like I told like I told tim I think I think the in between is committed and You just got an institution that you got to make it you got to make sure that it is Always there. It's not, you know, it's it's something that you see and you read um Every time you look at the nominating process every time a committee says Well, it's time to look for new board members. It's part of this stuff. Here's what's important to us Yeah, okay. Thank you Any other questions uh from the board on the in-between site was a I have a comment Good, uh, it would sure be great if the city building department could help make it easier for nonprofits to do their work and uh, I'm wondering if We could send them an email to say hey, it'd be great if you could consult with We know a nonprofit is trying to to build a project, you know, like it's it's just yeah, that's my comment I am very happy to report and I um That we you actually uh, the housing human services advice report has utilized or allocated cdbg funds to to To fund what we call a planning facilitator to do exactly what you just talked about graham. Um, and so uh, because if you are a a nonprofit developer um, this is not You know, this is not your your wheelhouse and so Um, so we have I think what happened is the in-between their micro project, uh Uh Was a little ahead of when we brought the planning facilitator on board so We have found that That planning facilitator has been very helpful. They have worked with other small nonprofit developers of affordable housing um to help them Really get through the um, you know that that planning and and permit process so so Yay, I have a solution Because it is daunting it is and uh, and so we we did put that in place, uh, you know a couple of years ago and um It was funded it a couple of years ago And I think we've had that planning facilitator for about a year and we want to continue that um May I ask a question as well? is um I it it sounds like they were um just ahead of that Or they were like far enough in the process that they didn't know it was there for this sort of like ending piece when they had like Some of this final permitting. Um, I don't know if they have actually suspended Like sort of their plans to look for another project. Um, but it might be helpful or useful um And I'm happy to do it. I don't know if it's appropriate or if his staff could do it Is to reach out to tim and let him know like that this was actually something that you know, we brought back up As part of this and that we do have that And what I would say katelyn is is tim is aware of this And um, you know, and you know the in-between received a hundred thousand dollars from A pot of money I don't remember was affordable housing fund and you know, we we basically recommended that and um, so I don't know if that's what you are talking about um but I think they have identified purchase of an existing property that they are um that they are considering versus You know developing from the ground up, but absolutely we will connect them in with Resources that would be available to help them with their next whether it's an acquisition or or a construction project Can't it be possible to have staff just Check in on because I I remember that conversation very well and uh in trg because there was Quite a bit of contention about giving money for a tvd property. So if like 30 The it would be super helpful just for my Yeah, that that's a recent update that we just heard um, you know, so That that's 30 seconds I don't have any more, but I know I I know that Yeah, so we can probably give that update like next Yeah, next month. That would be awesome. That'd be great. Okay. Anything else on the in-between from the board Raise hands. I'm looking for raised hands. I See none. Okay, katelyn and alberto. Thank you very much for that Next up uh board member philips gonna talk to us a little bit about the recovery cafe Karen Do we have Karen you're muted I think Karen's gonna say because I just realized that I don't have anything on the recovery cafe It happened right when the covid thing started and so it was a you know, we had to cancel it and it was before they did any Yeah Of course, you know If karen if you're up to it, we just did the mental health partners and that was a really good one Yeah, we you want to do that one All right, you can do Do we do with the orders? Is that okay to do the mental partners? So that'd be okay to study the the coal. I don't know what kind of records we're keeping on these things, but I think that sounds fine, particularly if it's fresh Fresh is good Karen take take it away on mental health partners So I don't know where to start but um, there's they're involved in so many things. Um They have like 370 employees. I don't know about how all the rest of these things that we fund but They go hand in hand with a lot of different people and there's so many programs. Um They have relief funds. They have partnerships with everybody as far as like longmont goes. Uh, we discussed a little bit about, um They have they have 11 board members and there's one member that's on the as in longmont So that's cool. And then they're planning on getting two more board members But they're going to go and make sure that it's diversity type folks So that they're needing two of those people, but they just you know involve themselves in mental health. Um, They just joined the n double acp and are trying to recruit staff with that kind of thing in mind so, um They have like 20 grants. They're working on I mean, they're they're just really involved everywhere and um, They have a wellness center and uh Sherman wellness center, but like we had said the the uh boulder county Um, it's in boulder and not here in longmont of that 24 hour thing and um I asked them about, uh You know the turnover, how are they working with turnover because that mental health service is a big turnover and They have a committee that's working on that and trying to Figure out employee engagement. So people will stay because I know the big thing with mental health is Clients get someone and then they move on and it's kind of a problem But so they're aware of that they're aware of a lot of things. Um They have a lot of different uh funding sources I asked them about if they're involved with the police department here, but apparently Ellie burtoe told me that uh, they're not involved but another mental health organization is involved with the police And they're trying to work on the homeless But like I said, again, it's more of a boulder thing and we had said, you know They're trying to work with longmont to get a little bit more longmont health Because they realize that people in longmont don't want to go to boulder To deal with things the other thing that the good thing that come out of covet is that they were saying they're doing a lot of online things And that's kind of been working out because a lot of times people have a hard time with transportation So that that's been kind of one of the good things about the covet But it does kind of work because they can do it over the phone and that kind of thing So I thought that was kind of interesting It's a lot of different people I asked them how many programs they hadn't but they it was a lot. They didn't quite Zone in on exactly where that was they're trying to do The co-responder model which i'm not quite sure what that is and oh also there was another wellness center There's one oh at the hub and then there's one wellness center on Sherman avenue south sherman.  So they work with other People but of course they could use as much money as they could because of the fact that it's mental health and Kind of that's what I got to say. How about you ellen burto? so, you know, I'll I'll do the I'll talk a little bit about some other stuff that I've learned recently um, and what we learned from the the Conversation so on the business. I what I found interesting was they actually had a finding in their audit Um around internal control now I've seen quite a bit of audits and uh, and you know internal control issues are typically For small agencies if you're if you're a small nonprofit Yeah, you're always going to get that finding because the reality is you have the amount of staff To institute the kind of internal control procedures that did not get it, right? Um, that's if you're a small agency do an audit more than likely you will find an internal control Finding right you just don't have the money to pay Receivable accounts payable. You just don't don't have that kind of But for an agency that size To receive that finding I found that a little surprising and so we discussed it and Jen talked about, you know, they have addressed it You know, it was a culture issue. It was just Um, it was just how they were set up um And so they instituted more checks and balances, which is great Um, so I I I found that just interesting Uh, you know on the business And usually that side that has the the the the resources that they do on paper. They they they got it all right They got all the correct Uh documentation.  So All the HIPAA rules, etc. So they got they they they check all the boxes What's it? No, it is challenging the work they do. Um, I know that um They just so one thing they mentioned is they got the big grant to create these teams Uh to provide mental health support because of COVID and the isolation that's happening So we're not sure exactly what that's going to look like at this point. They're they're it's a SAMHSA grant and SAMHSA is the substance abuse mental health assault Agency it's a federal grant Uh, so you got this big grant to do that. Uh, they're one of the few in the state You know, they've been dealing with the Medicaid reimbursement piece, right? There was there. I mean, they were threatened to Medicaid was threatening to not reimburse phone. They only telemedicine. And so that was an issue because a lot of their clients don't have Internet internet access and thus they do it by phone Right, uh, and I don't think I don't think they told us where they ended up on that But they were able to what they said is they've really been expanding their services, uh, just because You know, their clients need basic need support. And so they've been providing phones, for example And they've been doing some other things providing food or whatever Uh, employment services stuff that is not necessarily in the wheelhouse But like many agencies they need to provide right now because It's just a need I found out yesterday and I'm pretty excited about this First, um, which are kind of like a navigate mental health navigator more than anything I don't think they're therapists or more like navigators to mental health services And they are now going to be at hope Uh, during during the hope, uh overnight shelter. They're also even going to be at the safe lot So I think that's a that's a good thing. They weren't they they've always been at the Boulder shelter But they've never been to Karen's, you know, they haven't been a whole bunch in long month, but they're trying So I'll give them that much that they're trying, but it's a challenging challenging, uh service area and and Definitely they they recognize that they have a they that they have a lot of work to do I think Jen did a good job of saying that So that's that piece That's great Any questions or thoughts from the board on mental health partners? Uh, mr. Chair Thank you, alberto, uh, i'm curious when you look at something like financial controls does the city of long month have specific standard procedures that You're benchmarking against No, these are so so there's what's it called the fast be the where the gap the yeah, yeah You know, the generally accountable and again, I'm I'm not a cpa. So I'm not I'm not necessarily It's gas be gas be there we go. I'm not necessarily diving deep into the audit and that's not my role Yeah, I see something like a significant finding or significant deficiency or whatever. I I know enough to be dangerous Um, and I know I don't know what somebody sees, you know, the the big thing is if you have a material weakness That's for you. That's where you get really scared or really worried. Um, but a significant deficiency is just hey You're you're lacking here. That's kind of what a cpa told me once this thing You know significant deficiency is is important, but it's not a material weakness So so yeah, we we don't have specific standards, but there are specific standards out there Yeah, okay. Thank you You know, the other thing I wanted to say is they they would turn away no one You know, they're they're always going to find someone Some way to help somebody as long as they can The people the clients can come in and find out about them but they would find A way to help finance and all that kind of thing. So they they don't turn anyone away and I think that was cool That's great. That's great Anything else from the board on mental health partners? don't see Anything, okay. Karen. Thank you so much. That was your first site visit presentation, right? Well, great job Thank you so much for that. We really appreciate it and hopefully we'll be able to catch Madeline at some point in the future with the the meals on those ones, so Okay, moving on to item number six on our agenda tonight a check-in regarding The discussions we had in july and next steps Karen, is this you? kind of So so we just we just uh when we looked at the minutes We reviewed the minutes and one of the things that we said is that we were just going to Bring back and and really have a discussion with poly who Is is not with us this evening. So um So obviously what you did tonight is you adopted the minutes from our special conversation on july 23rd, I believe which has a lot of detail in there about our our conversation um About equity And and so I think we we're going to just check in with poly to see what else that she might need from us I believe that was the that was the recommendation in the in the minute. So I I know that It would have been the the the tuesday after we had our special meeting that um, you know the council member christensen did make a comment in the um at the council meeting and council comments about the housing and human services advisory board's conversation And um and that her recommendation was to continue to bring back the conversation About the law police department and the policies and procedures as it relates to to use of force so I also happened to know that the That the city manager did reach out and have a follow-up conversation with um, you know with poly and Are working on bringing forward that um that information For that discussion with council. I just don't know exactly when that's going to happen okay I I think what might be good here is if I just put it out to the board and see if there's any thoughts that folks have just quick follow-ups um from last month and then You know, I have a thought if no one else does does anyone else have a thought that they don't want to add Or any any follow-ups Mr. Chair go ahead. Thank you So The complication of the issue has not left us despite the The month that we've had since the last meeting And I just wanted to reiterate a little bit of of where I was kind of left which is the You know thinking trying to make sure we really thought through carefully That we're not conflating issues so for instance policing is one issue funding is another issue and how are we Specifically what is our expectation for funding for instance? um, I think and for me at least I feel like many of those There are still questions on the table in terms of How do we as a body represent? The community in a way that reflects These new understandings and this new momentum and those kinds of issues Um, I also I guess part of the reason that I I'm talking about this is because I also think about our needs assessment and I've been having these kinds of conversations on other boards And you know one of the things that we realized for instance is that the issues that have arisen over the last three months We're not represented in our strategic plan So in that case we have a strategic plan that drives what we do. We don't have a A needs assessment, but it makes me think about so we're going back and modifying strategic plans And so all of this is to say I think as we consider our next conversation There may be You know that needs assessment may tie into some of the The energy on the boards in terms of how do we affect change? Sorry, that was a really rambling way to say that but no that That that makes sense. It's a great thought Anyone else have a thought to piggyback off of? Yeah Well, you know in the needs assessment there was you know some comments about from low-income people about the police so it's it's The dressed in there is somewhat I thought It's certainly an important conversation as part of the moment and and I appreciate First of all just another acknowledgement of how proud I was to be a member of this board last month and the conversations that we had I would like to just Maybe ask if we could follow up The staff could follow up the email with Councilmember Christiansen just about anything she might need and just communicate that back to us That would be helpful just in layout of a more in-person conversation in this meeting tonight That'd be the only thing that that I would think because really what that we did at the last meeting If the minutes my recollections are correct just as we say, you know, we want to see have this see this conversation happen and I'll tell her to take the lead so um Does that sound okay to everybody? general, okay Anyone else have anything on this? Hey, I don't see anybody so I will go ahead and Move on if that's okay to any other business that we might have Tonight any business that anyone has to raise? Speak now if I ever hope you peace I've seen none Okay With that Thank you all so much. I will entertain a motion to adjourn Our meeting for tonight if I have it we'll have a motion I move to adjourn the meeting tonight Right a second A second All right Fantastic all in favor. Yeah, okay All right, we are adjourned. Thank you so much. Mr. Chair. This is all you next time. So Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you Hi everyone Thank you Thank you all


Hi, this is Jack Lipton speaking and this is the Critical Minerals Corner and we're going to today speak with Mel Sanderson who had congratulations Mel. She's just become the president of American Rare Earths. Mel, can you tell us, give us a description of what American Rare Earths is up to, what they're doing? Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much, Jack, for being here with me this morning and to investor intel and to Critical Minerals Institute for giving me these opportunities to familiarize the market with American Rare Earths. This Australian-owned company is holding three concessions in the United States, one in Arizona where I happen to be sitting comfortably in Phoenix enjoying our cool winter weather, one in Wyoming and the third in Nevada. Taking those one by one, the first two are what I would call our operational endeavors at the moment being, as we are after all, a junior. We are holding the Nevada property in abeyance for the moment. Why did we select Arizona and Wyoming? Not because they happen to be my states of residence because I'm also a resident of Casper, Wyoming, but because we have discovered that we have two exceptionally large deposits in terms of tonnage that are remarkably similar, in fact, nearly identical in terms of composition. What I mean by this is, they are alphanite-hosted deposits and the La Paz deposit, while lower in grade, is still significant in size. We haven't yet finished all of the drill program there. We will be resuming, in what we call the Southwest quadrant of the La Paz deposit, this October when the cooler temperatures return to Arizona. But what we do know right now is that we have approximately 500 million tons in the ground of relatively low-grade but scandium-rich deposit in La Paz, Arizona. What we have in Halley Creek, Wyoming is by far more exciting. Also, as I said, alphanite-hosted, but much higher grades. We have finished out our most recent drill session and the assay results that are coming in are exceptional. Grades running around two to three percent. We have, in Halley Creek deposit, neodymium, paraciodymium, and these magnet metals are returning at about 27% at the moment in terms of total presence in the assay to drill holes. In Wyoming, we have slightly over 1 billion tons in the ground. We're very excited by the size of the two. Obviously, we're exceptionally excited by the grades we're seeing at Halley Creek. And the friendly nature of the two deposits is going to give us the opportunity to up-blend La Paz and bring greater value to that particular asset. And the other thing that I would say is worth noting is that both of those are also exceptionally low in uranium and thorium. In fact, so low that we already know that we will just be able to process those normally through the tailings facilities and we will not require a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Agency to go into operations. And that's a significant cost-and-time advantage for American rare earths. The final thing I would say that's of interest about our company, Jack, is that due to that low uranium, thorium presence, we were identified by the US government, specifically both the Departments of Defense and Energy, to take part in research streams that the US government is funding to develop cleaner, greener processing and separation technologies for rare earths. So we are working with institutions such as the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, Universities of Pennsylvania, Arizona, Arizona State, Columbia University, there's a few others as well. There's two strands of research that are underway, one of which involves genetically engineered bacteria and the other of which involves enzymes. The purpose of both of these strands of research is to develop the capability to isolate elements within the rich solution and draw those out separately. So for instance, to be able to engineer a bacteria that would find and bind to neodymium in that rich solution and drop out the neodymium into its own separate container and do the same with presiodymium, etc. As a result of this cooperation, American rare earths has also been invited to join and we are a member of the Critical Materials Institute as distinct from our Critical Minerals Institute. The other CMI, Critical Materials, is the US Government Funded Institution and I'm proud to say that American Rare is one of only two mining companies that have been invited to join that organization, the other one being a much larger Australian company by the name of Rio Tinto. So that's us in brief. Your relative proportion of NDPR is very high and I've only seen that proportion occur in monazite and the fact is that there is a form of monazite called neodymium rich monazite spread, which is low in thorium and uranium and high in neodymium, presiodymium. Now, where are you seeing these high grades of the magnet materials, the high proportion? That's in our Wyoming deposit at Hallett Creek and the part specifically that this refers to is Red Mountain. There are two sites in Hallett Creek of principal interest, Red Mountain and Overton Mountain. So what I'm telling you about right now is at Red Mountain. Okay, that's a very interesting area of the United States in which several companies that I know of Muslim private are looking at deposits which are unusual. So it doesn't really surprise me that you that you found this deposit because I know others not in Wyoming but in adjacent states who have found the same thing. So you talked about the, I believe it's the Irva project of DOE, is it not? That's their... It's the Ember project and the other project is called DARPA. I knew who you meant. Okay, that's good. And so those projects with using microbiomes are normally for low-grade recovery from low-grade deposits and involved heap leaching, for example. So you don't have to do any real mining. You have to do some tunneling. And I don't know of any other American company or a company operating in the United States that's doing this right now. So is this... In Wyoming you're going to use traditional methods, I understand that. Okay, but in Arizona you're going to use... You're trying to develop this microbiological approach. It's called bio-mining. Is that correct? Yes, that's correct. Okay, so do you have any timelines for us, Mel? Well, let me just add for an additional point of interest so I know you and many of our listeners will appreciate Jack. We've been having both metallurgical and mineralogical work done by laboratories in Australia on samples from both sites. And again, we have some really nice news that was a little surprising to us, given that it is an alanite deposit. But what the mineralogy is discovering is that the particle definition is fairly loose, which means that we're going to have to do a lot less of the traditional crush and grind in order to be able to get into solution. So we're actually thinking that because of this particular discovery, we will be able to rather quickly move Halle Creek into that same bioprocessing stream with only one additional step versus the processing stream for La Paz. And I think that this is another reason that we are turning out to be the only company that is indeed at the moment in the United States working on this sort of bio mining. Mel, so again, I think you are the first company to be focused on bio mining of rare earths in, as far as I know, North America, maybe the Americas, okay? So this is going to be a challenging road to hoe, obviously, okay? And do you have a timeline for us? How long will it be before you have some bio mining results in Arizona? Well, what I can tell you is that our laboratory partners are saying that in 18 months or so, they're going to have demonstrable bench results that they're going to be presenting in scientific fora around the country. So to me, what that says for American Rare is we need to more or less start thinking now about looking at setting up a pilot processing plant so that once they reach that demonstrable benchmark, we will be ready to help them demonstrate commercial viability at least at the pilot plant level. So given the timelines for, and you know these even much better than I do, for constructing a plant, assuming that we were to start that work next year, we probably could be ready in two to two and a half years with the pilot plant, which I think would dovetail pretty nicely. Have you got the financial resources to carry out such a long-term plan? Absolutely. We're actually very well funded. We have roughly $15 million in the bank right now and on our drill programming for this year because I forgot to mention and shame on me that we're aiming for our JORC resource for Halle Creek at the end of the first quarter this year. So end March, first week of April. We're going to from that stride straight into our scoping study with the objective of trying to get out the PEA either at the end of this year or very early in next year. So those activities we're looking at less than $2 million burn rate. So yeah, we figure that we would be able to support the cost of the pilot plant internally. Okay. Well again, your pioneering technology, which is my belief is that people have to develop technologies for accessing lower grade deposits. These are the great hidden wealth of the world, but in the United States we have quite a few of them. Okay. So the issue, as you know traditionally, miners always look for the highest grade and the biggest concentration because it makes life a lot easier. Okay. But we can't do that now. And so I'm looking forward to following what you're doing because you're literally pioneering something. And although institutional investors don't like to hear about things that aren't legacy, it's time that America takes a hard look at this kind of deposit. So again congratulations and please keep us informed on what's happening because you're literally pioneering a technology. Thanks so much, Jack. And believe you me with the greatest of pleasure, I'm anticipating a whole stream of good news coming out on this front this year. Okay. Well, we hope to see you at the CMI Summit in Toronto to bring us up to date at that point in June. I will 100% be there.  Okay. Thank you.