AgdaPkt 2012-07-09 - Laserfiche WebLink

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6.1.K. - Page 1 RE PO RT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the Cit Mana er July 9, 2012 SUBJECT Memorandum of Understanding between Redwood City and LIBRE (Linking Immigrants to Benefits Resources and Education) - a Collaborative led by Redwood City 2020 and Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County RECOMMENDATION Approve and authorize the City Manager to execute the Memorandum of Understanding between the City and LIBRE. BACKGROUND Since June 2010, the City of Redwood City, through the Fair Oaks Community Center has been partnering with LIBRE, an initiative that recognizes that the immigrant community faces cultural and structural barriers that prevent them from accessing safety net benefits and services and proposes to increase immigrant's access to critical safety net services and link immigrants with appropriate community and legal agencies through education, outreach, support services, and legal assistance. In October 2011, the City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding between Redwood City and LIBRE whereby Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County as lead agency for the LIBRE project contracted the services of the City through the Fair Oaks Community Center Information and Referral Program to provide outreach, application assistance, and advocacy on behalf of primarily immigrant and low-income individuals and families in our communities. With the funding made available through the contract, the Fair Oaks Community Center was able to place a Public Allies/Americorp intern to serve as Benefits Navigator for the Information and Referral Program from September 2011 to June 2012, thus offering significant assistance to immigrant and non-immigrant community members in securing public benefits that will prevent many in our community from becoming homeless. ANALYSIS The new Memorandum of Understanding would renew this partnership — providing a total of $18,000 to the City for a period of twelve months to continue to provide the services referenced above. Funding from this contract will make it possible to place another Public Allies/Americorp intern to serve as Benefits Navigator through June 2013 as well as provide funding towards the extension of our current Benefits Navigator through the end of July.