Safety harnesses instead of a safety net: Alachua County Commission discusses Community Navigators

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the Alachua County Commission’s Special Policy Meeting before their Regular Meeting on January 9, Commissioner Anna Prizzia introduced the idea of Community Navigators. She said she had learned that “Housing Navigator” has a “very specific definition” and that the County has one person in that role. However, she said, she was interested in something “a little broader than just housing, it’s the idea of… impacted people being hired to support going out in the community and helping people navigate through social services and some of the challenges they’re having.” She said that along those lines, she was also interested in expanding the Community Paramedic program and the Community Health Worker Program.

“In my dream world, instead of having a safety net, we would have safety harnesses, and we would be catching people before they fall, and we would be supporting them and helping them navigate, to be resilient and be sustainable in their own lives, long-term.” – Commissioner Anna Prizzia

Prizzia said, “In my dream world, instead of having a safety net, we would have safety harnesses, and we would be catching people before they fall, and we would be supporting them and helping them navigate, to be resilient and be sustainable in their own lives, long-term. And in order to do that, I think we have to stop waiting for people to get into crisis. We have to start identifying those people that are frequent flyers with [Emergency Medical Services] or who are already struggling and be able to reach out to them to see what other needs they have and help them identify the different resources that exist.”

“Proactive versus reactive”

Commissioner Ken Cornell said he liked the idea of being “proactive versus reactive… We can’t provide everything for everybody, but we can certainly… help the public navigate to services.”

Prizzia added that she thought it was important that individuals in those roles “come with lived experience of having been in those communities,… who have had experience being food-insecure or housing-insecure or not wanting to be compliant with their medication because they can’t afford it.”

She said these individuals could “work on the social determinants of health… They’re working on the things that are upstream of somebody’s issues… They’re not meeting their needs for diabetes, that’s because they’re eating junk food because that’s all they can get at the pantry that they’re visiting because they don’t know what other resources are available for nutrition education or nutrition support or whatever… This is the idea of us being a little bit more proactive at identifying people in the community that could use that support and kind of taking the mountain to Muhammad instead of the other way around.”

Prizzia said she didn’t believe a motion was needed because the motion was previously approved, but staff had asked for clarification, so she had brought it to the board.

Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler said she keeps “referring back to our church communities here; those are the ones who should know who their friends and neighbors are who are in need.” She also mentioned several local organizations that “are working with the population that you’re talking about.”

Prizzia said those organizations are “part of the constellation of support services that need to be navigated… As opposed to putting the burden on them to provide that navigation, in my dream world, this would be something the County is offering.” She said this could save money by preventing emergency room visits and arrests. 

“When I was running for office, I had this really utopian pie-in-the-sky idea that–wouldn’t it be great if on every block, in every community, there was a ‘block mama,’… a designated person in each geographic area that is paid and… their job is to keep an eye on their neighbors and… let somebody know when somebody’s having a problem… I think this is moving in that direction.” – Chair Mary Alford

Chair Mary Alford said one of the goals of the Community Weatherization Coalition is to train people within communities “because they become ambassadors of knowledge… and it’s had a great impact on a lot of people… When I was running for office, I had this really utopian pie-in-the-sky idea that–wouldn’t it be great if on every block, in every community, there was a ‘block mama,’… a designated person in each geographic area that is paid and… their job is to keep an eye on their neighbors and… let somebody know when somebody’s having a problem… I think this is moving in that direction… I think it’s a great idea and something that I was hoping that the Community Health Workers would eventually turn into.”

Alford agreed, “This is like the idea for identifying older folks that are aging in place in their homes and identifying them before they fall and break a hip, and going in and providing those services… so that they can age in place and don’t become part of the broken system of housing for older folks.”

“if we can get way more upstream, then we’ve got a bunch of people on safety harnesses connected to a system that supports them, instead of waiting for them to fall in the net and then having to pick them up and fix them and dust them off.”

“If we can get way more upstream, then we’ve got a bunch of people on safety harnesses connected to a system that supports them, instead of waiting for them to fall in the net and then having to pick them up and fix them and dust them off.” – Commissioner Anna Prizzia

After Wheeler asked what could have been done about a specific person she had spoken to, Prizzia responded, “We’re not always going to get ahead of it, it’s not possible, but the idea is, if we can get way more upstream, then we’ve got a bunch of people on safety harnesses connected to a system that supports them, instead of waiting for them to fall in the net and then having to pick them up and fix them and dust them off.”

Wheeler went back to her theme of churches, saying maybe churches could “have somebody maybe in that congregation that would be the lead person for whatever the needs are in that neighborhood or community.”

Alford said, “Some churches do that very well, but there’s many people that aren’t connected to a religious community like that.” Wheeler responded that you can “make it a thing in the community.”

Needs assessment for the 301 Corridor

The second agenda item was a needs assessment for the U.S. Hwy 301 corridor. Alford said she was interested in applying for some grant funding to set up a service center like the one in the SWAG area.

Wheeler said Hawthorne had trouble getting kids to Santa Fe College’s dual enrollment program and that transportation is a problem in general between Hawthorne and Gainesville. 

During public comment, Sherri Krienke, who is from Island Grove and is president of the Hawthorne Area Community Foundation, said she was excited to see the item on the agenda and that she was there to advocate for people living in the unincorporated communities along the 301 Corridor. She said she strongly believed a needs assessment is the place to start to find a “solution that preserves the unique life” in the area. 

Prizzia said Community Navigators and Community Health Workers could be a good first step in gathering information about needs in the community; she said the County could also address “well-paying jobs and training opportunities and support to make sure that people can access those things” and do a better job of communicating what they’re already doing. She added that she hoped they would add funds to the Economic Development budget in the next cycle and that “maybe the first focus for those folks” could be the 301 Corridor.

Prizzia made a motion to ask staff to look into developing a scope of work and a plan for developing a needs assessment for the 301 Corridor and bring that back to the board within three months or during this budget cycle. Cornell seconded the motion. Prizzia added, “.with a focus on attracting grant funding that could help us to address the immediate social services needs for Eastern County, as well as economic development opportunities.”

The motion was approved 4-0, with Commissioner Chuck Chestnut absent.