A $250,000 grant from the Hillman Foundation will pay for reorganization of Westmoreland County’s human services department.

Commissioners accepted the grant that will pay for the hiring of three administrators and further an effort to integrate multiple programs into a consolidated department for social services, including the children’s bureau, behavioral health, veterans affairs, the drug overdose task force and agency on aging programs.

“This is an additional push to get all five human service departments under one roof,” Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher said. “Anything we can do for human services is a positive, and when another entity is funding it is a double positive.”

The two-year grant program is expected to pay 2023 salaries of a human resources coordinator, fiscal director and project manger assigned to the human services department.

The jobs were created in March as part of a departmental reorganization that started last year with the hiring of human services Director Rob Hamilton.

Hamilton was chosen last summer to oversee consolidation of the social service programs that for decades operated as individual departments.

“Without this (grant) money, we wouldn’t be able to begin the integration process,” Hamilton said. “We’re bringing all departments together to improve the process and ensure there is a seamless service.”

Human services is expected to account for more than 35% of Westmoreland’s $420 million budget in 2023.

Program integration is expected to improve services and coordinate programs offered through the government and those provided by more than 100 private and nonprofit agencies that operate in the county, officials said.

“There may be job changes, but no one is losing their job. This is more about streamlining workflow,” Hamilton said.

The county paid for the initial creation of the human services department with a $250,000 grant in 2021 from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. That money was used in part to pay for Hamilton’s salary.

Officials said the county will continue to seek grant funds to pay administration costs for human services.

“Or we’ll use realized savings (from program integration) to fund these things,” Commissioner Doug Chew said.

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