Support for socially vulnerable segments of the population
The main goal of local policy is to ensure a decent standard of living for socially vulnerable segments of the population.For socially vulnerable groups of the population in the city of Lutsk, there is a subsidies department.
As of 01.01.2004, housing subsidies were granted to 28,345 families; subsidies were accrued in the amount of UAH 104,804 thousand; the average monthly number of families receiving subsidies was 14,878 families; the average subsidy amount was UAH 58.70.
In the subsidies department, constant control is exercised over the targeted use of budget allocations provided for granting subsidies, namely: the validity of assigning subsidies, their compliance with established norms, the characteristics of the residential premises (building), the number of registered residents, and the availability of housing and communal services.
Programs for the assignment and recalculation of subsidies are constantly being improved and changed in accordance with legislation; the database of subsidy recipients is updated monthly with data from the city computing center on changes made in charges for housing and communal services and the number of residents.
People with disabilities, single persons, and the elderly are under the constant supervision of the subsidies department for priority service. Explanations regarding changes in legislation are constantly provided through the media.
As of 01.01.2004, the Juvenile Affairs Service has 575 minors registered (orphans, children deprived of parental care, prone to vagrancy, etc.) and 217 dysfunctional families (parents abuse alcohol or drugs, are mentally ill).
18 raids were conducted, during which 111 minors were identified; 63 of them were placed in a shelter, 44 were returned to their families, and 2 were taken to an infectious disease hospital for examination.
In May, a trip was organized for minors to the juvenile correctional colony in the city of Kovel, where a meeting and discussion was organized with the colony’s inmates.
On June 1, on the occasion of International Children's Day, food packages worth UAH 20 each were provided to 120 children from disadvantaged and low-income families; together with the Association of Women in Agribusiness of the Western Region of Ukraine, humanitarian aid in the form of clothing and bed linen was provided to 215 children from low-income and disadvantaged families, totaling 500 items.
In 2003, the Department for Family and Youth Affairs carried out activities, in particular:
- Club "Don't Lose Hope" sessions for young people with physical disabilities: 6 sessions (195 participants);
- festive morning for creatively gifted children "Creators of the Future", dedicated to the Independence Day of Ukraine - 57 participants;
- sessions of the women's youth club "Create Yourself" - 7 sessions (342 participants);
- work of the "Family Room" for orphans: 6 psychological and pedagogical activities (193 participants);
- Work of the "Impulse" group (with children prone to vagrancy and begging) – 6 sessions (64 people).
Preventive work aimed at a healthy lifestyle for children, adolescents, and youth:
- review of school prevention brigades "Youth for a Healthy Lifestyle" (422 participants);
- performances by the best prevention brigades at the "Avenue of Entertainment" - 2 events;
- trainings, discussions - 34 events (493 people took part in them);
- video lectures - 3 (84 people took part in them);
- work of the "Preventive Rooms" in summer on the basis of library branches No. 2, No. 7, No. 11 and the district library for children with the participation of volunteers from the "Good Hearts" group.
Total number of health-improving and preventive events - 73, number of children involved - 2059 persons;
- visit of the consultative and preventive group to the health camp of secondary school No. 25 and the "Rovesnyk" camp (video lecture "Marijuana is also dangerous"),: legal workshop "Situation". Number of participants - 151 persons.
Work with dysfunctional families
The SSM Center provides care for 50 dysfunctional families in which 110 minor children are being raised. The following were conducted:
- "Hours of Spirituality" - 4 sessions (57 children);
- sports and health-improving outdoor events (with meals) - 3 (94 people took part in them);
- excursions for children from dysfunctional families - 3 (to the Museum of the Volyn Icon, the Museum of the Ukrainian Army and Military Equipment, and Lubart's Castle) - 62 children.
The SSM Center provides support for 18 young people who have returned from correctional facilities.
The SSM Center provides daily psychological-pedagogical and informational consultations and helps solve the problems of young people and children of various social categories. In 2003, such consultations were provided to 564 persons.
Main problems:
- low level of provision of the subsistence minimum when granting assistance to low-income families and families with children;
- insufficient funding for institutions providing social services and assistance.
The opening of the "Helpline" remains a problematic issue for the SSM Center, since (according to the Regulations on this service) a separate telephone number is required for its operation.
In the future (next year), the SSM Center will open a "Family Room", where psychological-pedagogical and preventive work will be carried out with various categories of adolescents and young people (orphans, persons with disabilities, children from dysfunctional families).
The SSM Center is establishing close contact with the "Nadiya" Rehabilitation Center for Children with Special Needs and is training volunteers to work with this category of children.
Main goals in the field of social protection in 2004:
- in accordance with the Presidential Decree "On the Strategy for Overcoming Poverty" of 15.08.2001 No. 637/2001 and in connection with the transfer of pensions to the pension fund, maximum attention should be given to targeted social assistance to low-income families and, above all, to housing subsidies. Given that all types of social assistance are processed on the basis of the methodology for calculating total family income developed for calculating subsidies, and the subsidies department has created the most complete database on incomes and living conditions of families, it is necessary to ensure the development of a program to create a single database of recipients of all types of social assistance based on the databases of the subsidies department and the PADKO program. Provide financing for the above-mentioned work;
- improve the material base of the subsidies department;
- to ensure highly productive work, equip each citizen reception point with modern computer equipment for clear and timely information among the department's specialists who receive citizens;
- in connection with the increase in the number of minors and disadvantaged families registered, provide the service with office equipment;
- create centers of unified social development in the city's microdistricts;
- social support for young people and children from low-income and disadvantaged families;
- holding events for organized recreation of young people;
- develop cooperation with the Lutsk Youth Council;
- support creatively gifted young people with disabilities;
- promote a healthy lifestyle among young people;
- carry out prevention of alcoholism, drug addiction and deviant phenomena among young people;
- organize an active public movement among students;
- create places for organized recreation of young people in the city's microdistricts;
- organize youth discos and other recreational and sports youth events during the summer period;
- promote the involvement of young people in extreme sports (BMX - bicycle cross, street basketball, etc.) as an alternative to the spread of harmful habits;
- establish effective operation of the city youth labor center for the purpose of more effectively solving youth employment problems;
- support the activities of the city center of social services for youth;
- coordinate the work of city youth public organizations and support public youth initiatives.