Explanation
BACKGROUND
In the Fall of 2019, President Pro Tempore Elizabeth Brown, the Mayor’s Office, and the Columbus Women’s Commission were awarded a CityStart grant from Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund) supporting the creation of a Financial Empowerment Roadmap to help women and families achieve financial security.
Since then, the city has partnered with CFE Fund on a variety of programs to support Columbus women’s and families’ financial stability. The CFE Fund awarded Columbus a $150,000 grant for 2022 to plan and launch a Financial Empowerment Center (FEC). Additional funds supporting the Columbus FEC are anticipated for 2023.
In 2021, Columbus issued a Request for Proposals (RFQ019295) for the launch of a Financial Empowerment Center, and received two responsive proposals. An evaluation committee reviewed and scored both proposals and recommended that the Department of Development enter into contract with Jewish Family Service of Columbus (JFS).
JFS hired and trained three financial counselors and planned a launch in collaboration with the Department of Development, President Pro Tempore Elizabeth Brown, and the Columbus Women’s Commission. The Financial Empowerment Center launched in April of 2022 and has grown to supporting over a hundred clients since then, helping Columbus residents pay down thousands of dollars in debt and to set aside even more in savings.
This legislation authorizes the Director of the Department of Development to do a third modification to a non-profit services contract with Jewish Family Service of Columbus to extend the time frame of the existing contract to expire June 30, 2024.
Columbus City Council voted on December 6, 2021 to pass Ordinance Number 3272-2021, which authorized the Director of the Department of Development to enter into a non-profit services contract with Jewish Family Service to plan the launch and of and operate a financial empowerment center in Columbus. Ordinance 3406-2022 was a second modification passed by Columbus City Council on December 12, 2022 that added an additional $240,000 and extended the contract to December 31, 2023. Council passed Ordinance 1917-2023 that added an additional $200,000 to the contract but did not extend the time of the contract beyond December 31, 2023.
Original contract $300,000.00 Ord. 3272-2021 PO318789
Mod 1 $240,000.00 Ord. 3406-2022 PO363653
Mod 2 $200,000.00 Ord. 1917-2023 PO413374
Mod 3 $ 0.00
$740,000.00
Jewish Family Services will continue to act as the Financial Counseling Provider to provide free, professional, one on one financial counseling services to Columbus residents as a municipal service. The funding provided will be used to retain three (3) financial counselors and one (1) program manager employed by Jewish Family Services for the provision of financial counseling services. The funding will also support marketing services and supplies to raise public awareness of the availability of these free financial counseling services. These services cannot be provided by current City employees at this time.
In reference to section 329.09 of the Columbus City Code, the purpose of this modification to extend the duration of the existing agreement is to expend all currently available funds from the original contract. Although this is considered a contract modification, the terms of the original contract remain the same with the exception of additional time to expend funds. This ordinance does not constitute a renewal with a contractor. No additional goods or services are being procured from the contractor in this modification.
Emergency Designation: Emergency action is requested to ensure that Jewish Family Service can continue to provide financial counseling services beyond the current contract expiration of December 31, 2023 to clients without interruption and continue the progress of expanding financial services to the residents of Central Ohio.
FISCAL IMPACT: No additional funding is required for this ordinance.
Title
To authorize the Director of the Department of Development to execute a third modification to a non-profit service contract with Jewish Family Service of Columbus for the continued operation of the Financial Empowerment Center; to authorize the extension of the contract, and the new expiration date of June 30, 2024; and to declare an emergency. ($0.00)
Body
WHEREAS, it is a priority of the City to support efforts that enhance the financial security of residents; and
WHEREAS, the Director of the Department of Development desires to execute a third modification to a contract with Jewish Family Service of Columbus to continue the operation of the Financial Empowerment Center, including the provision of financial counseling services to Columbus residents; and
WHEREAS, financial stability is a social determinant of health and in the interests of both individual Columbus residents and the success of the city as a whole; and
WHEREAS, according to the Urban Institute, 57% of Columbus families are financially insecure with less than $2,000 in savings, higher than the national average; and
WHEREAS, according to that same study, 43% of Columbus residents hold delinquent debt, much higher than the national average of 34%; and
WHEREAS, Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund continues to support the efforts towards financial security in Columbus with staffing and technical guidance for the continued operation of the Financial Empowerment Center; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Development in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Director to execute a third modification with Jewish Family Service to continue to service clients without interruption beyond the current contract expiration of December 31, 2023; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the Director of the Department of Development is hereby authorized to execute a third modification to a non-profit service contract with Jewish Family Service of Columbus to continue the operation of the Columbus Financial Empowerment Center for the purpose of extending the contract to June 30, 2024.
SECTION 2. That this modification is made in accordance with the relevant provisions of the City Code Charter 329 relating to contract modifications.
SECTION 3. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this Ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.