Title
Presentation on the South San Francisco Promotores Program. (Katie Donner, Management Analyst I)
label
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council receive a presentation regarding the South San Francisco Promotores Program.
Body
BACKGROUND
The South San Francisco Promotores program was established in February 2022. The program is an initiative of the Racial and Social Equity Commission’s Action Plan. The intention of the program is to expand social service, safety net, and health and mental health care linkages and navigation support for people of color and other historically disenfranchised community members to build trust between community members and the city.
Promotores, or Community Health Workers, are members of the community who are involved in championing health and social services in their own communities. They bridge communities to tangible services, provide support and peer education, and are fully vested in improving the overall health and well-being of their community. Promotores’ work is often described as servicio de corazón - service from the heart.
The Promotores Program has been designed to fit the needs of the South San Francisco community by providing:
• Culturally and linguistically competent system navigation and health education
• Strengthened communication between communities and health and human service agencies
• Outreach and community mobilization
• Capacity building among residents and health and human services
• Cultural mediation
• Health promotion
• Informal counseling
• Public health guidance
• Community-based advocacy
• Participation in research and evaluation
DISCUSSION
The Promotores are now kicking off their third year of work in South San Francisco. Since the inception of the Promotores program, the Promotores have worked with 319 clients, an average of 13 clients per month. This number may sound low, but accounts for a gradual ramp-up period in the first year. In the last six months of 2023, the Promotores served 47% (150) of their total clients ever served. The Promotores Program was originally allocated 1.5 FTE (3 part-time staff) and .50 FTE Management Analyst II managing the Promotores staff and Promotores program. Currently, there are two .5 FTE promotores performing this work, while two positions remain vacant - a .5 FTE promotor and a .50 FTE Management Analyst II.
The primary services that are requested by clients are access to food, employment assistance, health care, housing, legal aid, transportation, and utilities. When the Promotores make contact with a client, the client fills out an intake form and the Promotores have a conversation with the client to get a better grasp of what is going on in the client’s life recently and how the Promotores can help the client. During the intake process, the Promotores typically learn and can identify other needs that the client has and when the Promotores start to work with the client, the original needs that the client came in for may not be their most pressing need, as priorities can change quickly.
The Promotores conduct a lot of outreach in the community by walking the streets of the City and by attending community events. The City’s Economic Advancement Center (EAC) is where the Promotores have met 51% of their clients. Other places that the Promotores have met their clients are local businesses, community events, the Community Learning Center (CLC), Grand Avenue Library, Main Library, phone calls, and schools.
93% (293) of the clients that the Promotores have worked with are primarily Spanish speaking. The Promotores have noted that there is a portion of the City’s Cantonese and/or Mandarin speaking community that needs the help of the Promotores but is not currently being served due to the lack of a Cantonese/Mandarin speaking Promotor on staff.
96% (304) of the clients the Promotores work with are new clients. It is rare (4%) for clients to come back to the Promotores once their case has been closed. Due to the complexity of the work the Promotores do, their work is not simply done in one meeting with the client. The Promotores meet with clients several times before their case is considered “closed”. The multiple meetings is because of the clients typically having several different sources of need and it can be time consuming and mentally and emotionally draining going through the process of working with the various agencies involved in order to get their needs met (health care, food, legal aid, etc.). The Promotores program is popular and successful because it follows a case management style, hence why they are not simple open and shut cases.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with receiving this presentation.
RELATIONSHIP TO STRATEGIC PLAN
The South San Francisco Promotores Program relates to the City’s Strategic Plan under Priority #2: Quality of Life - build and maintain a sustainable city, grounded in racial and social equity anchored by strengthening programs that support active recreation, safe and accessible transportation options, and healthy lifestyles, including wellness and exercise.
CONCLUSION
The Promotores Program continues to prove a successful service for the South San Francisco community. While the Promotores Program was a direct outcome of the Racial and Social Equity Commission’s Action Plan that was enacted during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the need is greater than ever before for the Promotores Program and the demand is there from our community members.
Attachments:
1. Promotores Program Presentation