Richland County approves renewals for youth and family services contracts including NAMI and Camp New Hope

The Richland County Board of Commissioners approved four contract renewals recommended by the finance committee for the Richland County Youth and Family Council.

Toby Borders of Jobs and Family Services explained the packages, saying the PASS parent-advocate support system run through NAMI helps families and youth access physical and mental-health resources. "This is the PASS program...it just helps the families, and the youth get, meet their basic needs for physical and mental health," Borders said. The board recorded approval of a NAMI contract for $15,000. Borders also described a separate NAMI prenatal and postpartum support contract to help parents diagnosed with postpartum depression; the transcript shows a dollar figure for that item as $20,797.40. The transcript contains a garbled number for an additional line item that could not be confirmed and is not reported here.

The board also approved a $9,000 renewal with Casey Community Action for Capable Youth to support student wellness and suicide-prevention efforts, and a $25,000 contract with Camp New Hope to provide respite care and camperships for youth. A commissioner moved approval of the bundle of contracts and the motion carried on recorded voice votes.

The approvals keep funding for local mental-health, maternal-health and youth-respite services in place; no ordinance or statute was cited during this discussion. The items were presented as renewals of existing agreements rather than new programs. The board did not provide additional implementation timelines during the meeting.