Community Action Council prioritizes fall-prevention ramps and YANA outreach with discretionary funds

Council members recommended using the council's limited discretionary funds mostly for fall-prevention home modifications and some funding for the YANA outreach program.

A committee member said fall-prevention funding that previously existed is gone and urged the council to prioritize ramps, grab bars and other measures to help residents age in place. "We're hoping to use some of the discretionary [funds] to help with fall prevention, like ramps and grab bars, to help people age in place safely," the committee member said.

Members acknowledged the discretionary allocation is not large and said the council will likely expend most of it on fall-prevention adaptations for individual homes. The committee also recommended allocating a smaller share to marketing the county's YANA (You Are Not Alone) daily-check-in program to improve uptake and volunteer recruitment.

Community services staff described YANA operations and the volunteers who currently manage weekday and weekend coverage; staff said some sheriff'volunteer and community volunteers handle the calls and that remote call-forwarding is used for coverage. Staff noted a specific Saturday morning slot (roughly 9:30 to 10 a.m.) remains critical and that outreach funding could help recruit volunteers.

The council discussed forming a tangible list of candidate projects and tasking named members to follow up so discretionary awards can be tracked and implemented. No specific dollar amounts were provided in the meeting record; members said funding totals and precise allocations will be handled through staff recommendations and follow-up work.

The recommendation emerged from an ad hoc committee report and will be carried forward for staff to implement and document in follow-up materials to the council.