Appendix 15

Human Services

Local governments provide a range of human service programs. Some of these programs are designed as a direct result of local demand and concern, public safety issues, private health matters, and social concerns that individual citizens are ill-equipped to address on their own – for example, alcoholism. Still other human service programs, such as food stamps and other benefits, and the elimination of architectural barriers to the physically disabled, have been instituted in response to state and federal mandates. As a result, local governments have the responsibility for their implementation and administration but little or no authority for program design.

Human services program areas include:

1. Youth
2. Seniors
3. Housing
4. Transportation
5. Employment
6. Mental health
7. Disabilities
8. Health
9. Poverty

Many of these programs receive considerable funding from federal and state sources. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) provides more than $16 billion a year to address poverty issues. These and similar programs are mandated by the federal and state governments and are administered at the local level by the Department of Social Services. Mental health services are provided under the umbrella of regional Community Service Boards. One of the more expensive programs per individual served is the Community Services Act (http://www.csa.virginia.gov/) for high-risk youth.