A nearly $10 million request from a metro-based area agency on aging is among the funding requests that hung in the balance Sunday as Minnesota lawmakers approach the final week of the 2025 legislative session.

Trellis, which is part of a network of community-based organizations across the United States primarily focused on social services for adults over 60 living in their homes, has asked for a one-time $9.9 million investment to get a first-of-its-kind “Community Care Hub” up and running in Minnesota.

It’s a small piece of the massive human services appropriations bill that passed the Senate last week and awaits House approval as of this report.

Mark Cullen, vice president of strategy and business development at Trellis, said their plans for the “Community Care Hub” are aimed at improving quality of life for about a million enrolled in Medicare and another 400,000 on Medicaid in Minnesota, and it was top of mind on Sunday.

“So it’s Mother’s Day, right? So, you know, you think about, who would this help? My mom, before she passed away, would tell me a lot. No one gets through this life without a struggle, and when we struggle, we need to lean on our community,” Cullen said.

By “community,” Cullen was referring to an array of social services and other organizations across the state that provide quality-of-life care for elders and their families.

“We’re talking about things like home-delivered meals, right? Like, Meals on Wheels, chore services, home safety modifications, right? Those grab bars and bathrooms that help prevent slips and falls, and fall prevention programs,” he continued.

Those services exist across the state, but Cullen said connecting with the right organizations can feel like a research project for families.

Trellis hopes to change that with its online network, Juniper.

Picture leaving a life-changing doctor’s appointment, not with a stack of pamphlets, but already connected to social services, Cullen explained, calling the model a kind of ‘one-stop shop’ for health and social services.

“In the same kind of way that, you know, when your doctor says to you, ‘Where would you like that prescription to go?’ And they push a button, and it ends up at wherever your pharmacy is,” Cullen said.

“So we need a system that’s like that for social care services, right?”

If lawmakers approve the requested nearly $10 million upfront investment, Cullen said Trellis expects to save the state millions more in the long run by tracking which services work based on health and quality of life outcomes.

“You don’t waste money on extra services that don’t do any good. That’s really the heart of it,” Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said in support of the funding request.

Abeler and Senate bill sponsor Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, looked to North Carolina as a similar pilot that’s saved taxpayers money.

“It absolutely is worth the investment,” Sen. Hoffman said in an interview ahead of the Senate floor vote on Wednesday. “They came to us, it’s bipartisan support, there are 60 organizations that say, ‘Yeah, let’s do this.'”

“A lot of these organizations and providers are on the ropes,” Sen. Abeler added.

“Hardly any company can stay in business only living on Medicaid rates. And so, if we can find a way to make their work more efficient so they can actually do what they need to do and help somebody else, they can actually continue to serve,” he continued.

“If we don’t do something like this, we’ll actually lose services and individuals may come to harm.”

The House version of the bill sits in conference committee as we head into the final week of the session.