Chair Lee on clubhouse funding and smaller clubhouse reprocurement

Okay, moving quickly to the clubhouses, which is a topic that is very near and dear to me.

So when we saw that there was a $4 million baseline in the FY27, I was like, yes, it includes the smaller clubhouses.

And then I realized, no, that's not what it's for.

But it's to address a stimulus funding cliff for existing DOHMH-funded clubhouses.

And so what's the total budget for the DOHMH-funded clubhouses for FY27?

So thank you for that question, Chair.

I have to say I agree with you in terms of how miraculous these programs are.

I visited my first clubhouse just a couple weeks ago.

I was at Phoenix House.

And the idea that individuals there are getting care and support, but also dignity by being a member of the clubhouse.

Being involved in the daily work of taking care of the clubhouse is just a beautiful experience.

So let me hand it over to Dr.

Petit to talk a little bit more about the model.

Yeah, again, thank you, Commissioner and Chair Lee.

So clubhouses are truly an incredible.

system of care that exists within our city.

They are member-led.

They're really about creating community.

They've been a mainstay for the last 50-plus years, really being able to offer employment, education, socialization, and just a sense of purpose and belonging.

We had not looked at this portfolio for over 30 years.

So in 2024, we really underwent a serious consideration, got a lot of input from the community and from stakeholders to re-procure the whole portfolio.

So now we have 13 clubhouses.

Membership has been growing, which is what we wanted.

We really want to expand the capacity, and it's growing month over month, and there still is capacity.

So this is one of these programs that we have where there is room to continue to grow.

So we certainly encourage any of you, no constituents that need these types of services, to send them our way.

We really want to continue to increase capacity.

So again, it's an incredibly effective model.

It's part of this continuum.

It serves, obviously, a particular population.

We're looking at continued expansion.

The state office of OASAS is looking at procuring for youth clubhouses.

We support one of the...

The LGBT Center's Youth Clubhouse that serves youth, which is really important, ages 13 to 22, and we provide a lot of technical assistance and support to them.

So there's definitely an expansion that's underway.

Sorry, so what's the total budget amount for FY27?

Let me hand it to Aaron on that.

Sure.

Yeah, it's $30.7 million.

And starting in FY20.

Okay, so around the same.

And I will say, and my next question is around the reprocurement to include some of the smaller clubhouses that was funded by the city council because we put extra funding for that in.

And at the time when the concept paper for the new RFP was out, there were a lot of us, including myself, that spoke to the former commissioner about the fact that

a lot of these smaller clubhouses, and I know I'm preaching to the choir, you know, even if they're smaller, like a lot of times people have been going there 15, 20 years, it's a family, it's their support network, their system.

And so to disrupt that and say, hey, now you have to go here and this one's not going to be open, that's why I think on the council side, we felt very strongly we want to support with our funding to make them whole.

But, you know, and ideas like, you know,

hub and spoke model or subcontracting or allowing them to exist and then maybe be part of the larger clubhouse organizations and maybe include those numbers in there.

So there were a lot of suggestions we had made, I think, at the time.

And so just wanting to know if there is a consideration to do the reprocurement for the smaller ones.

Yeah, I can start this off.

As you referenced, I wasn't here when those conversations were happening.

I absolutely am committed to exploring this and figuring out if there are ways to do this in coordination with you and with city councilors across.

City Hall to make sure we get this right.

And will you be able to pick up the funding?

That's the thing.

That's probably a question for you.

I mean, I think we're always in conversations with our partners at City Hall and OMB.

Okay, we gotta advocate to do, well, I mean, obviously we'll do our part, and then I know Councilmember Brewer is very passionate about this as well, so we'll continue to advocate on our part.