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The mission of
Community Services is to assist the citizens of St. Lucie County
toward self sufficiency in a dignified and cost effective manner.
As the lead agency for the three county Treasure Coast Community
Action Agency, low income citizens were assisted with Community
Services Block Grant funding. Services included rent/mortgage
assistance, emergency car repairs, prescriptions,
utilities/deposits and camp tuition for children. Because of a
shortfall in state funding for the Meals on Wheels program this
year, a partnership was formed with the Council on Aging to
provide meals for our elders.
The Housing
Division administers the State Housing Initiative Partnership
(SHIP) program and expended over $1,000,000 in grant funds to
families for down payment and closing cost assistance to purchase
a home, and through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity
rehabilitated existing homes for low income families. Sixty-three
families were assisted and St. Lucie County property values were
increased by over $3,000,000.
As the Community
Transportation Coordinator, staff worked with Community Transit to
provide public transportation, Medicaid and transportation
disadvantaged trips. On a limited basis, an intercounty transfer
station was established between Martin County and St. Lucie County
for the transportation of Medicaid clients. The Employment
Transportation (ET) program
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| Home
repairs and improvements to this residence were made possible
through the SHIP Program. |
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which provides trips
to get people to and from work during the down hours of our public
transit system continued to expand.
The Social Services
Division distributed Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets,
coordinated the adopt a family program for the holidays, established
a food pantry, participated with a non-profit program to provide
toys for less fortunate children in our county and miscellaneous
assistance to children throughout the entire year. Additional
services provided by this division were: assistance for indigent
burials, administration of a program which provided emergency
medicine needs and managed the state mandated share of county
Medicaid Hospital and Nursing Home funding, as well as, the Health
Care Responsibility Act. Staff serves on state-wide advisory
committees that relate to human services, serves as the county ADA
Coordinator, participates on the Emergency Disaster Team and in the
staffing of the special needs shelters. This division serves as a
First Stop Center for referral services, enabling clients to access
assistance that is not budgeted by this office but is available by
other agencies within our county.
The Grants/Contracts
Division administered the contracts with the various outside
agencies funded by the Board including the St. Lucie County Health
Department, Council on Aging of St. Lucie, Inc., The ARC of St.
Lucie County, New Horizons of the Treasure Coast and Healthy Start.
This division also processed grant applications from numerous
agencies that requested Board funding and administered grants
received from the Federal Transit Administration, the Florida
Transportation Disadvantaged Commission and the Department of
Community Affairs. |
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