'Portfolio of solutions' to Topeka's homelessness problems anticipated from new contract
If Topeka city officials don't like the results they're getting from a consulting contract approved late Tuesday, they'll be able to cancel it partway through.
Topeka's mayor and city council made that part of the arrangement after voicing concern late Tuesday as they took up the proposed agreement arranging for Evanston, Ill.-based Sylver Consulting LLC to help the Topeka community better deal with homelessness.
Councilman Tony Emerson said it was important that the partnership, if approved, "actually make an impact" instead of providing "another study to sit on a shelf."
Councilwoman Hannah Naeger said she'd been encouraged not to vote in favor of "another study," and asked city manager Stephen Wade if she was correct in her assumption that Sylver Consulting would not be doing "a study."
That was correct, Wade replied.
Sylver Consulting will recommend specific actions, he said.
More:Topeka conducts annual homeless count, but the work doesn't stop there
Here's the amendments that were made
The mayor and council subsequently voted 8-2 to approve a revised version of the proposed contract. Council members Sylvia Ortiz and Brett Kell dissented.
The contract, as approved, included two revisions suggested Tuesday evening by Councilman Neil Dobler, which Wade said would be arranged.
One allows for the city to cancel the contract partway through, if it wishes.
The other amends a part of the contract that called for the city to make a lump sum payment to cover its $76,080 cost, including $64,260 for teaching and coaching support, $6,750 for administrative and project fees and $5,070 for other project expenses, including travel costs for site visits and lunch catering for onsite meetings.
That was amended Tuesday to arrange for the city, instead of paying Sylver Consulting a lump sum of $64,260 for teaching and coaching, to pay it on an hourly basis up to a maximum of that amount.
More:Homeless people in Topeka are increasingly unsheltered, annual point-in-time count shows
What will Topeka get?
Local leaders are already familiar with Brianna Sylver, president of Sylver Consulting, because she's working with them on a separate project, at no cost to the city, involving the Path to Innovation methodology, Wade said.
That methodology is taught as part of the innovation track of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.
Topeka city leaders have taken part since 2018 in that initiative, founded by billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg.
Sylver is currently coaching a core team of local leaders here as they seek to use the Path to Innovation curriculum to unlock new economic development opportunities for Topeka, according to a document in the agenda packet for Tuesday's meeting.
The city needs this same support to make traction on addressing homelessness, that document said.
More:Topeka leaders say the local homeless situation is spiraling. Here's how $76K may help.
'A portfolio of solutions'
The process is to last from February through September of this year, the document said.
It added, "At the conclusion of the work scope, the city of Topeka will have identified a portfolio of solutions for addressing the challenge of homelessness in the Topeka community; prototyped and tested two of those solutions with members of their community; and developed an impact measurement and next step implementation plan for two solutions of the team's portfolio of ideas."
In a letter to Wade that was part of the agenda packet for Tuesday's meeting, Sylver said she has personally coached 19 municipal teams taking part in various Bloomberg programs, including applying the Path to Innovation curriculum to address the needs of unsheltered populations in Reno, Nevada, and Paterson, N.J.
Wade noted Tuesday evening that assistance Sylver provided regarding homelessness in Paterson, N.J., resulted in that city's becoming one of 15 winners out of more than 500 initial municipal applicants of $1 million in Bloomberg's 2021-22 Global Mayor's Challenge, which supports and spreads cities' most promising ideas.
Wade said while it wasn't yet clear what Tuesday's contract approval would mean for Topeka, his assumption was that that Sylver Consulting would call for this community to take "multi-pronged approaches" to homelessness here.
Dobler said he considered important that Sylver work in cooperation with Barry Feaker, longtime former director of the Topeka Rescue Mission, and Topeka's Valeo Behavioral Health Care.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: City of Topeka to hire consultant to help it better deal with homelessness
