The IHSS Consortium was formed in 1985 by a group of non-profit social service agencies that for many years had been serving diverse individuals and groups in San Francisco, especially seniors and disabled clients. They came together to form a new organization seeking “to provide high-quality, culturally-sensitive, appropriate in-home services with intensive supervision to eligible frail seniors and functionally impaired adults, thereby enabling these individuals to continue to live independently in their homes for as long as possible.”

The organizations included Independent Living Resource Center, Self-Help for the Elderly, Mission Neighborhood Centers, Kimochi, Inc., Bayview-Hunters Point Multipurpose Senior Services Center, Catholic Charities, Western Addition Senior Citizen’ s Service Center, and North of Market Senior Services. All of these agencies tended to target specific populations and neighborhoods in San Francisco and offered a wide range of supportive services, such as adult day health programs, employment and training programs, nutrition programs, home visiting programs, information/referral, IHSS registries, housing, and case management.

On July 1, 1991, the Consortium was awarded a Supported Independent Provider (SIP) contract from the San Francisco Department of Social Services (SFDSS). Its purpose was to provide supplemental supervision to IHSS Independent Providers (IPs), higher wages for IPs, and care coordination services for IHSS clients assigned to the seven Consortium member agencies. Approximately 250 clients totaling 16,900 hours per month were referred to the Consortium and were served by 175 trained IPs. Training was provided in four languages. This model preceded the establishment of Public Authorities and included a registry of workers, support for Providers with difficult clients, and care coordination for the most at-risk clients.

The Consortium was awarded a Geriatric Aide Training Demonstration contract by the U.S. Department of Labor. The Consortium’s 21-hour Home Care Basic Training program graduated 180 individuals and placed 150 graduates in IHSS jobs as IPs, as well as referring individuals to advanced jobs and/or specialized training programs. From July 1991 to June 1994, the Consortium recruited and trained over 600 individuals.

The Consortium was awarded a three-year contract by the SFDSS to deliver intensive supervision and 150,000 annual hours of in-home supportive services to elderly and disabled clients. Prior to our award, the entire 750,000 hours of contracted IHSS services was provided solely by a for-profit agency. The contract was extended in June 1997 for an additional year through June 30, 1998. As part of its intensive supervision model under this contract, the Consortium continued to provide linguistically- and culturally-appropriate supervision services, matching Home Care Providers to clients based on linguistic, cultural, and other client needs, as well as accessing other services for clients. The intensive supervision was provided by out-stationed field supervisors at seven subcontracting agencies.

Also in 1994, the Consortium was awarded an ongoing contract by the Commission on the Aging to assist in the development of the agency’s IHSS services.

The Consortium was awarded a new three-year contract with the San Francisco Department of Human Services (DHS) for 375,000 hours per year. The Consortium’s increase in hours meant a corresponding reduction in hours for the other contractor — Addus Health Care. Workers and clients were smoothly transferred from Addus Health Care to the Consortium on August 1, 1998.

In the spring of 1999, the Consortium contracted with the Adult Protective Services (APS) unit of the City’s DHS Adult Services Program to provide emergency IHSS services for APS clients.

In April 2000, the Consortium was invited by the Western Addition/Marina Senior Central to provide 1,545 hours of emergency, short-term IHSS services for clients in their service area. This contract was renewed for a second year and continued through June 2002.

In July 2001, the Consortium was awarded a new three-year contract with the DHS to provide a total of 1,360,000 hours of home care services with intensive supervision: Year 1 — 410,000 hours, Year 2 — 450,000 hours, and Year 3 — 500,000 hours.

The Consortium became the sole contractor with DHS, providing all in-home supportive services for the City & County of San Francisco. Workers and clients were smoothly transferred from Addus Health Care to the Consortium on February 1, 2002.

The Consortium was awarded a new three-year contract with the City & County of San Francisco to provide 730,00 hours of in-home supportive contract services annually.