BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS HYBRID IN-PERSON AND ONLINE MEETINGS DURING COVID-19 RESPONSE
In effort to ensure the health of our visitors and employees, Seminole County Government has closed public-facing buildings. Our Community Services team will continue to provide financial assistance services via web application and all other services via phone as possible. Please call 407-665-2300 or visit the Community Services Website. If you have documents to drop off please email them directly to your Case Manager, Project Manager, Veteran’s Service Officer, or Program Coordinator or if you are applying for financial assistance please email them to CA_docs@seminolecountyfl.gov. If you need to drop off original documents, please do so in the drop box and we will mail your originals back to you. Thank you.
The Community Assistance Division assists residents of Seminole County with services that provide stability within the community. This Division consists of two sections: The Veterans' Services Program and the Housing & Financial Assistance Program.
The Board of County Commissioners (BCC) allocates general revenue funds to the Community Services Department for Veteran Services. The Veteran Services program provides quality supportive services, information and advocacy to enhance the health and economic well-being of veterans, their families and survivors residing in Seminole County. The Community Assistance Division has Veteran Services Officers located in their office to assist veterans' and their families with benefit claims, transportation, employment, education, property tax exemption, and burial.
Community Service Agency Partnership Program (CSA) The mission of the CSA Partnership program is to improve the quality of life for Seminole County residents by collaborating with community based organizations through a funding initiative to meet the human services needs within the County. The CSA Partnership Grant program was initiated by the Board of County Commissioners to address human service needs in Seminole County. Seminole County has an extensive history of partnerships with local non-profit agencies to benefit and improve the quality of life for residents. It is deemed to be in the best interest of the citizens of Seminole County that funds be made available to establish partnerships with non-profit agencies who serve the community’s social interests and needs. Therefore, it is the intent of this program to assist agencies that provide essential and supportive services such as food, clothing, shelter, health care, child care, education and transportation for those in need within the County.
Water and Sewer Utility Assistance – The Good Neighbor Fund is a program offered by Seminole County Environmental Services Department. The Water and Sewer Division receives donated funds from County residents for this program. The donated funds are available to unincorporated Seminole County households experiencing a financial hardship and need assistance with paying their water & sewer bill. Referrals are received from the Department of Environmental Services, Water and Sewer Division. Orientation-Application
Seminole Action Board Presentation
The Seminole County Stakeholders meetings will be held at Seminole State College, Heathrow Campus, 1055 AAA Drive, Room 138A, Heathrow FL, 32746. The meetings will begin at 9:00am.
Friday, August 24, 2018
Thursday, September 6, 2018
The county provides funding to non-profits who provide various types of services to address a multitude of unmet needs within our community that may not otherwise be addressed. The county provides this funding out of a longstanding commitment to improve the quality of life of its residents.
Are You Looking for Help from Local Charities and Non-profit Groups? To find community assistance groups in Seminole County, please utilize the free 2-1-1 service.
The East Altamonte Branch is a Supportive Service which will provide after school and summer programs to at-risk youth. The core areas emphasized by this program will be Character and Leadership Development, Education and Career Development, Health and Life Skills, the Arts and Sports, Fitness, and Recreation.
The Emergency Intervention and Assessment Center is an Essential Life Service that provides emergency shelter to abused, neglected, abandoned, runaway, and delinquent children between the ages of 10-18 years old. In addition to shelter every child is provided a clean, warm bed, wholesome nutritious meals, clothing, personal hygiene products and other basic items needed for daily survival as well as being evaluated by trained staff within 24 hours of their arrival to determine their specific needs. Boys Town Family Home Program provides care for youth ages 10 to 18 who can’t live at home and whose special needs require more intensive care. Children living in family-style homes and receive treatment and care from specially trained married couples called Family-Teachers. Boys Town In-Home Family Services help at risk families in the community by preventing children from being placed outside of their home, or reunifying them with their family if outside placement is necessary. At this fastest-growing continuum level, trained Family Consultants deliver services to families in their homes and provide support 24/7. Boys Town Common Sense Parenting® offers training for parents who want to build on their existing skills or learn new ways of dealing with their children’s difficult behaviors. CSP adapts Boys Town’s proven child-care methods for troubled children to meet the needs of just about any family. A six-session workshop (12 hours total) allows parents to learn, practice and demonstrate new parenting skills. The Behavioral Health Clinic offers a wide range of outpatient services for children of all ages who are experiencing behavioral, emotional, academic, or substance use concerns. The Clinic serves youth of all ages, from infancy to 19, and offers families a wide range of specialized services.
The Pathways to Care Program is an Essential Life Service that provides shelter and recuperative care to homeless individuals who are discharged from hospitals, emergency rooms, and other medical agencies. In addition each client is offered mental health counseling and case management and encouraged to complete a social recovery plan which addresses the root causes of their homelessness.
Food and other non-cash assistance is provided to families, individuals and homeless persons Monday through Friday, 9am to noon. Clients are required to bring in documentation each time they visit. (If you need help with food, please visit the Get Help page at (http://thesharingcenter.org/get-helpayudar/3066832) to plan your visit with us.) People in need of food will first meet with a case manager for a comprehensive review of their needs. Each family receives two bags of hand-selected, customized, nutritionally balanced food for each member of the family. A homeless individual will be given enough food to last 2-3 days, or as much as they can carry and store. Clients may request "regular" food assistance up to 5 times per year (a minimum of 30 days in between requests), and may also receive special holiday food at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The 2-1-1 Information and Referral helpline is a Supportive Service that will service Seminole County along with the Tri-County area by connecting callers facing foreclosure, eviction, hunger, health care resources and other emergencies with appropriate resources to stabilize their families. In additional to assisting callers with resources, 2-1-1 is also trained to provide crisis and suicide intervention services.
The Early Intervention Services Program is a Supportive Service serving infants and children of Seminole County who are blind and visually impaired and who often have additional disabilities. Each child is paired with a Mentor who develops a Plan of Service with the family that identifies goals for the child and helps the child reach these goals until they are ready to transition into Kindergarten.
The Village Transitional Housing Program is an Essential Life Service that provides a housing option for former Seminole County foster youth who turn 18 and “age out” of the foster care system. The Village assists them is accomplishing their employment and educational goals, while teaching them independent living skills and providing a range of essential services such as behavioral health services and accessing medical services.
The Family Stabilization Program (FSP) is a Supportive Service which entails a six-month intensive case management program that provides an array of wraparound services to stabilize Seminole County families before they descend into homelessness. The FSP addresses money management skills, effective family functions, emotional and mental health coping skills, employability or job security, and improving or maintaining housing.
Kids House is an Essential Life Service that provides critical services to abused children and their families in Seminole County. These services provided include crisis intervention consisting of face to face intensive crisis counseling, child advocacy during the judicial process, and risk reduction services which consist of emergency assistance with emergency funds and/or referrals for the victim and non-offending family members in need.
The Meals on Wheels program is an Essential Life Service that provides the elderly of Seminole County with home-delivered meals and medical/shopping transportation. Two home-delivered meals are provided daily to home bound seniors who cannot prepare a nutritious meal for themselves. The transportation services assist those seniors who cannot afford private fare and are not capable of walking to a bus stop or getting on and off a bus by themselves.
SafeHouse is an Essential Life Service that provides 24-hour emergency shelter to Seminole County victims of domestic violence and their children who are in imminent danger and are seeking safety. Residents receive food, clothing, safe shelter, safety planning sessions, individual crisis counseling, support groups, case management (including individual need assessment, development of service plans, written safety plans and the coordination of appropriate services and follow-up), referrals to community resources, child assessments, children’s healing programs, transitional housing and personal advocacy.
Seminole County Victims’ Rights Coalition (Y.A.N.A) – The “You Are Never Alone” or Y.A.N.A. Project is a Supportive Service that offers supervised visitations which consist of on-site visitations with a trained supervisor who is present with the children at all times, safe monitored exchanges which are on-site supervised exchange of child(ren) between custodial and non-custodial parties, and parenting classes. These services provide a safe space for children to visit with the non-custodial parent, help keep children and adult victims of domestic violence safe during exchanges and visitation, and provide access to meaningful referrals.
The Early Learning Coalition of Seminole is an Essential Life Service that provides assistance to low/moderate income working families with the cost of child care in settings that build the foundation children need to enter school ready to learn. This program reduces out-of-pocket childcare costs for struggling Seminole County families with children birth to 12 years and gives their children access to reliable care in quality learning environments.
The Midway Safe Harbor program is a Supportive Service providing community-based learning and enrichment opportunities for students within the northeast sector of Sanford. This program presents opportunities for remedial education and academic enrichment in reading, math and science, physical education and recreation, dropout prevention and character education, and adult family member educational support.
Community Care for the Elderly (CCE) provides community-based services that meet Supportive Service needs and are organized in a continuum of care to assist seniors to live in the least restrictive environment suitable to their health conditions and abilities. Support is provided to Seminole County elderly clients as needed and can include case management, case aide, homemaker, personal care, adult day care, home delivered meals, respite, companionship, emergency response, medical supplies, and nutritional counseling.
Special Olympics Seminole County is a Supportive Service that provides free year-round sports training and competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for individuals with intellectual disabilities who wish to participate, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in the sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympic athletes and the community. They will provide at no charge uniforms, equipment, transportation and lodging which is all needed to ensure that individuals with intellectual disabilities residing in Seminole County can participate safely in program activities and develop as individuals in the community.
These funds are designated to the division for services mandated by Florida statue or federal regulations to help cover the costs of services primarily needed by indigent families who have no other means of paying. Funding designated for these projects are another example of the County’s efforts to care for their residents which ultimately enhances communities within Seminole County.
The CSBG Advisory Board meets every other month, on the third Tuesday of the month, in the large conference room located at the Division of Community Assistance office in the Reflections Plaza, at 534 W. Lake Mary Boulevard, Sanford, FL, 32773-7400. These meetings begin at 4:00pm. For more information, call 407-665-2300.
2020/2021 Meeting Dates: