Local management board presents Carroll County needs assessment, highlights housing and mental‑health gaps
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Summary
The Carroll County Local Management Board presented a needs assessment to Westminster council showing strengths in graduation and insurance coverage, while flagging childcare affordability, mental‑health wait times, and housing instability. The board said it will prioritize suicide prevention, in‑home counseling expansion and targeted RFPs.
Representatives of the Carroll County Local Management Board briefed the Westminster Mayor and Common Council on a community needs assessment that pairs quantitative data with qualitative input from more than 400 residents and aims to guide a multi‑year community plan.
"Tonight's really just a high level overview, but we love doing this work," said Liz Hammerlin, the board’s newly hired community engagement program coordinator, as she introduced the assessment and invited council members to follow up for more detailed data.
The assessment is organized around four pillars — high‑quality childcare and education; family health; economic stability; and safe, thriving communities — and calls out both strengths (high graduation rates, relatively high insurance coverage) and gaps. Notable challenges include childcare costs and limited public early‑childhood programs, mental‑health service delays and shortages (long waits for in‑home therapy), and housing strain where more than roughly 25% of households earn too much for financial aid but still struggle to afford housing.
Ed, a board representative, said the board will continue the suicide intervention and prevention program and aims to expand family‑preservation and in‑home counseling to reduce current waiting lists. "We're gonna continue our suicide intervention and prevention program because we think that's very important," he said.
Board staff described planned next steps: issuing RFPs for prioritized services, building an online county asset map to connect residents to services, and working with schools and local providers on coordinated outreach. Council members pressed staff on the geographic focus (priority census tracts within Westminster) and suggested creative outreach such as resource fairs tied to family activities to boost participation.
What happens next: The board will release competitive opportunities for service providers and asked council members to provide feedback and to coordinate outreach. Several council members requested follow‑up conversations with staff to discuss program timing and local delivery.
Provenance: Presentation and Q&A recorded from the local management board’s introduction through council questions and staff responses in the meeting transcript.