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Share Your Input on the FY 2016-2017 City of Austin Budget!
The City of Austin Budget Office is seeking resident input and feedback on city services and your budget priorities to be used in the budget development process. You can provide your input in the following ways:
- Complete the Dollars & Sense Austin Budget Simulator Survey - This survey allows you to indicate whether you would like the City to increase or decrease funding in 11 different service areas, including Health and Human Services and Housing. At the end of the survey you can provide written comment. The deadline to complete the budget simulator is July 15th, 2016. It is also available in Spanish here.
- Email your comments and input directly to BudgetQA@austintexas.gov.
- We will keep you updated on City meetings and public hearings with opportunities to provide public comment in person.
We encourage you to provide your input on the City budget and share your thoughts about the value of Health and Human Services funding. Please inform your staff and board members about these opportunities to provide input as well. City Council will review all comments and feedback in August as they consider the overall budget.
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Upcoming One Voice Meetings
Membership Meeting
Please note: The Membership Committee, Communications Committee, and Standards of Excellence Committee will not meet in July and will resume meetings in August.
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Members: Complete the Standards Accountability Checklist by June 30th!
The Standards of Excellence Committee recently updated One Voice's Standards Accountability Guide which includes resources, templates and tools for nonprofit excellence and an accountability self-assessment checklist. One Voice members are expected to complete and submit the standards accountability self-assessment checklist to One Voice biennially. One Voice uses the aggregated results of the checklist to identify specific nonprofit needs for strengthening infrastructure and develop trainings, programs, and resources to support nonprofits in meeting accountability standards. All individual agency responses will remain confidential. When you submit your checklist you will be entered into a raffle to receive a $50 gift card from Office Depot!
Help us reach our goal of a 100% completion rate! Thank you to the following organizations for already completing the checklist. If you don't see your name on this list, please complete the survey by the June 30th deadline.
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- AIDS Services of Austin
- Alzheimer's Texas
- The Arc of the Capital Area
- Austin Children's Shelter
- Austin Diaper Bank
- Autism Society
- Boys & Girls Club
- Breast Cancer Resource Center
- Capital Metro
- CareBox Program
- Care Communities
- Caritas
- The Christi Center
- El Buen Samaritano
- Family Eldercare
- iACT
- Literacy Coalition of Central Texas
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- Meals on Wheels Central Texas
- Ronald McDonald House Charities
- SAFE Alliance
- SafePlace
- Samaritan Center
- The Settlement Home
- SIMS Foundation
- Society of St. Vincent de Paul
- Spirit Reins
- Standish Foundation
- Sustainable Food Center
- Texas Association of Charitable Clinics
- Trinity Center
- Upbring
- Volunteer Healthcare Clinic
- YMCA of Austin
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Austin City Council Moves $720 Million Mobility Bond Forward
Last Thursday, Austin City Council voted 8-3 to direct staff to prepare ballot language for a $720 million grab bag of road, sidewalk, bike and transit infrastructure. Council members Ann Kitchen, Ora Houston and Delia Garza opposed the measure. Staff will take the approved resolution and bring back proposed ballot language in August. If approved by voters, the bond will cost the median priced home owner about $5 a month on their property tax bill. One Voice will keep members updated on further decisions and next steps. Click here to learn more.
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City of Austin Seeks to Address Food-Insecurity Issues
 Over the past three months, staff from the City's Office of Sustainability have held 11 stakeholder meetings and met with 33 organizations (including One Voice) and six City departments to develop recommendations for addressing food insecurity issues in Austin. They have issued recommendations that include:
- Increasing funding and resources for community gardens
- Piloting a nutritious food incentive program in targeted ZIP codes
- Launching a nutrition education campaign in collaboration with area organizations
City Council is expected to receive a final preliminary report and cost estimate for recommendations regarding food-access issues by August 2nd for consideration in the 2016-17 budget. To learn more, click here.
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Central Health Plans for Future of Funding Health Care
 Travis County is currently in its fifth year under the 1115 Medicaid Waiver—a program that has allowed Travis County’s Central Health to leverage millions of federal dollars to increase health services and develop new programs. The 1115 Waiver was slated to end in September, however on May 2nd, the waiver was extended for a 15-month period that will maintain funding for the program through December 2017. After that, Central Health hopes there will be another waiver, and would like to work with the state and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service to see if more could be accomplished with the waiver in the future. To learn more about the 1115 Waiver and waiver projects, click here.
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Reframing Human Services Network Tip:
Myth vs. Fact
The National Human Services Assembly has identified a series of communications tips through their research with FrameWorks Institute on reframing the language we use to discuss the human services sector. Below, they explore a communication device that might be undermining our efforts to change common misperceptions about the work we do and those we serve.
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The public comes to the table with a number of myths and misconceptions about human services. Communicators often try to address this challenge by first restating and then dispelling the mistake, but this has the surprising unintended consequence of reinforcing the mistake in the listener’s mind. Existing beliefs are hard to dislodge. In a study done by the CDC using the “myth vs. fact” sheet, the CDC found that not only did people misremember the myths as facts, but they also attributed the source of the incorrect information to the CDC. Reporters often pose statements or questions in the myth/fact format. Those are good opportunities to be consistent with the new frame and avoid restating the myth at all costs. |
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Here’s an example of the myth mistake: A common response to intergenerational poverty is to scale back forms of direct aid to families — welfare, food stamps, etc. — that are frequently labeled as creating dependency. This position flies in opposition to the facts. Research shows that giving aid to a family increases the chances that a child will not continue to live in poverty as an adult. If we want to end intergenerational poverty in America, we should be giving families more aid — not less.
Note that the first sentence is the “myth”: that aid causes dependency. But at this point, we have just repeated the incorrect information and inadvertently reinforced it. Instead try this: Making sure a family has what they need to thrive, including access to healthy food and affordable health care, increases the chances that a child be able to reach his or her full potential.
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