SUBJECT: A First Amendment to a professional services agreement between City of Houston and Alliance for Multicultural Community Services d/b/a The Alliance for financial counseling services for the Mayor's Office of Complete Communities
RECOMMENDATION: City Council approve and authorize a First Amendment to a professional services agreement between City of Houston and Alliance for Multicultural Community Services d/b/a The Alliance for financial counseling services for the Mayor's Office of Complete Communities.
SPECIFIC EXPLANATION:
In November of 2019, the Houston City Council approved two ordinances to implement the Financial Empowerment Centers (FEC) program in the Complete Communities of Acres Home and Magnolia Park-Manchester. The FEC delivers professional, one-on-one financial counseling as a free city service and offers cities a tangible strategy to help those most in need of critical one-on-one assistance and to build community financial stability. The implementation grant from the Cities of Financial Empowerment used to implement the FEC required the identification of a financial counseling provider at the time of submittal. The Planning Department chose to partner with The Alliance as the non-profit provider. The City is accepted the implementation grant from CFE through the auspices of the Greater Houston Community Foundation (GHCF). Under the City’s agreement with The Alliance, GHCF on behalf of the City will pay The Alliance for the financial counseling services provided under this agreement.
The Alliance for Multicultural Community Services manages the day-to-day operations of the program. The Alliance is responsible for case management and the provision of financial counseling services by building client-counselor relationships, conducting the financial health assessment to get a detailed financial picture, setting goals, developing a budget, and making referrals if needed.
The first amendment will extend the contract term through April 30, 2022. In consideration of this contract term, The Alliance will continue to perform the financial counseling services under the terms and conditions of the original agreement for payment by GHCF. The Mayor’s Office of Complete Communities will work with the Strategic Procurement Division to begin the procurement for a new contract for professional financial counseling services for the FEC with a Request for Proposal (RFP) as soon as we can.
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Shannon Buggs, Director, Mayor’s Office of Complete Communities