The Independence City Council unanimously voted to give $100,000 of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, known more commonly as COVID-19 emergency funds, to California-based nonprofit Holly Hill at their regular meeting on May 1.
The decision followed a presentation from Holly Hill’s CEO James Sherry, who requested the funds to aid in the reopening of the organization’s residential program for girls aged 11 to 17.
Independence was the first stop on Sherry’s attempts to raise funds in the region. He said that he planned on approaching Covington, Alexandria and other nearby cities in the near future.
“About 10% of the people that we have supported over the last number of years are from [Independence],” Sherry said. He added that Holly Hill served more people from Independence than any other city in the region, including Covington.
Holly Hill’s residential program focuses on adolescent girls who have become wards of the state, particularly those who are victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Sherry told stories about two of the residents in the program.
“One of the children we support was sold for $40 of drugs when she was a small child,” Sherry said. “Another example–one of the children in our care over the last couple of years was restrained when she was trafficked by her mother.”
The residents themselves were not present at the meeting.
Holly Hill offers mental health care as well as case management services. Like many agencies, Holly Hill had to shutter some of its programs during the COVID-19 lockdowns. It lost many of its mental health professionals, drastically reducing its capacity of care.
In spite of this contraction, “demand didn’t go down,” Sherry said.
He also spoke of the nationwide and statewide crisis in youth mental health.
“There is an exploding youth mental health crisis in this area, in this state and in this country,” Sherry said. “It was growing before the pandemic, but the pandemic has just as likely has been a catalyst to that.”
“Basically, the kids we serve now used to be in a hospital setting,” he added. “But the size of the system has shrunk, but the demand for services has grown.”
Sherry’s presentation also cited dwindling numbers of qualified mental health providers, which has exasperated the problem.
Thankfully, he said, Holly Hill already has a facility to house its clients, but the organization needed money to help bring its program back up to capacity, hire qualified staff and make other infrastructural improvements. Sherry’s goal was to increase Holly Hill’s capacity by 200% to 300%, and to that end, he requested $100,000 from the city.
Although the council eventually voted to grant the request, some members hesitated.
Holly Hill’s request was presaged by another gift from the city to Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky, worth $150,000 in federal COVID emergency funds. This new gift would draw from the same pool of money, reserved for relief efforts after COVID-19 lockdowns.
Much of the money was initially committed to different projects throughout Independence. Mayor Chris Reinersman, who also gave an update on the city budget at the meeting, said that Independence would have about $1.4 million in COVID-19 emergency funds at the end of the fiscal year if they issued the funds.
Councilmember Carol Franzen and Councilmember Greg Waite said that although they weren’t opposed to issuing the funds, Holly Hill should be the last organization to receive such a gift. As an alternative, Franzen offered to help Holly Hill with fundraising events in the future.
Council Member Chris Vogelpohl, whose wife is a pediatric nurse, commented on the increased mental health problems among children.
“It’s only gotten worse,” he said.
Ultimately, the council members were convinced and unanimously voted to issue the funds to Holly Hill. Mayor Reinersman said city staff would meet with Holly Hill to discuss details in the future.
The next Independence City Council meeting will take place on June 5 at 7:00 p.m. at the Independence City Building.
To learn more about Holly Hill’s services, visit their website. If you would like to make a donation to Holly Hill, visit their support page.
To report a suspected case of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
