By: Alison McIntyre, Cook County Public Health and Human Services Director

The Public Health and Human Services department is one of the largest departments in Cook County government.  We have a broad scope of responsibility for the administration of mandated state and federal programs that provide critical support to vulnerable children and adults in our community. Our 34-person staff and contracted providers deliver a wide range of services across three primary departments: economic assistance and health care programs, human services, and public health. Our department budget represents our plan for achieving our mandates and mission of supporting the health, safety, and well-being of Cook County.

County Public Health and Human Services Budget Basics

Minnesota is one of a few states nationwide with a state-supervised, county and tribally administered public health and human services delivery system. Approximately half of our department revenue comes from federal and state grants along with billing and collections for services provided to residents. County tax levy makes up the remaining revenue required to fund our personnel and programming expenses as a department.

In the context of the overall county budget, the PHHS department represents about 15% of total expenses at $4.97 million. Including the revenue generated by our staff and our work to seek competitive grant funding to achieve our mission, the approved levy request for 2023 was just over $2 million, a nearly 2% decrease from the 2022 budget (source: 2023 approved budget and levy).

The PHHS department budget represents a small portion of the overall economic and community health impact of our work administering and assisting residents in accessing health and human services. Most payments are made by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), on behalf of counties, directly to service providers, vendors, or individual service recipients. This state-centralized fiscal activity is not included in our county budget records or reports. The most recent data available is from 2020, in which 79% or $11 million of the total $14 million in human services costs in Cook County were centralized payments sent directly from DHS to individuals, families, and health care and other service providers. For more information on this big picture of county human services fiscal activity, look for the ‘human services cost dashboard’ on the Department of Human Services website at: https://mn.gov/dhs.

Early Learning Support Initiatives

In 2022, the Public Health and Human Services Board directed the department to develop programming and financial support to address our local childcare crisis. In the 2023 department budget, the Board authorized a planned use of up to $360,000 of department fund balance to develop a childcare provider wage enhancement program, hire a childcare coordinator, and partner with the Economic Development Authority on a provider start-up fund. The planned use of fund balance for 2023 for childcare initiatives was reduced to $252,907, following a reconfiguration of the Licensor and Child Care Coordinator role and the receipt of a $30,000 grant from First Children’s Finance. PHHS also partnered with the Economic Development Authority (EDA) to secure a $180,000 competitive grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to further strengthen support for local childcare providers, families, and the economy in Cook County. The 2024 department budget proposal will include a similar request to continue the wage enhancement pilot program into 2024. Visit our website to learn more about initiatives to support early learning in Cook County and Grand Portage: https://cms7.revize.com/revize/cookcountymn/government/departments/public_health_and_human_services/childcare.php.

2023 Legislative Session

The 2023 legislative session concluded with significant new investments in public health and human services including legislation that authorized the creation of a new Department of Children, Youth and Families. The transfer of programming from the Department of Human Services is set to begin on July 1, 2024. The Human Services Omnibus Bill included significant investments in workforce and service rate increases to respond to the statewide human services and health care workforce needs. Also new in the 2023 legislative session was the appropriation of approximately $57.5 million per biennium in new base funding is for local county and tribal health departments for supporting foundational public health responsibilities, public health emergency preparedness and response, and community-based work related to adult-use cannabis legalization (source: AMC 2023 legislative summary).

Public Health Fund

Beginning in 2018, the Cook County Board of Commissioners granted authority to the Public Health and Human Services Advisory Council to review and evaluate applications for county funding for those organizations that serve the Public Health and Human Services department mission. Funds are awarded to community agencies through a competitive annual grantmaking process. To be considered for the Public Health Fund, applicants must align their requests with priority health needs identified through the Community Health Assessment and Health Improvement Plan. For more information on the public health fund, visit the Grants page of the public health and human service website at: https://co.cook.mn.us/government/departments/public_health_and_human_services/public_health/grants.php.

Get Involved

Interested community members are invited to join one of the two citizen councils affiliated with the Public Health and Human Services Department. The Cook County Public Health and Human Services Advisory Council is authorized by law to provide input to the County Board of Commissioners on services, priorities, and budgeting across the Public Health and Human Services Department. The Cook County Local Advisory Council for Children’s and Adult Mental Health is authorized by the Adult and Children's Mental Health Acts in Minnesota statutes and has specific responsibilities to fulfill in advising the County Board on the local mental health system. The Local Mental Health Advisory Council receives input from mental health service providers, identifies community resources for mental health education and prevention, and advises the PHHS department and County Board on unmet needs in community mental health services. Both councils are open to interested community members. Meeting links and agendas are available on the county website or by emailing me directly at [email protected].

Learn more about the Cook County Public Health and Human Services department at the August 15 PHHS Board Meeting at 8:30 a.m. in the Cook County Commissioners Room when we present the 2024 preliminary department budget. The meeting is available to live stream on the Cook County website at www.co.cook.mn.us. You can also visit our website at www.cookcountyphhs.org, contact us via email at [email protected], find us on Facebook @CookCountyPHHS or Instagram @cook_county_phhs to learn more about our work in supporting the health, safety, and wellbeing of Cook County.

County Connections is a column on timely topics and service information from your Cook County government. Cook County – Supporting Community Through Quality Public Service.