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Receive a presentation on the preliminary results of the Solano County Human Services Needs Assessment
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Published Notice Required? Yes_______ No ___X___
Public Hearing Required? Yes_______ No ___X___
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The County Administrator’s Office, the Board subcommittee, and the Human Services Needs Assessment Planning team recommend that the Board of Supervisors receive a presentation on the preliminary results of the Solano County Human Services Needs Assessment.
SUMMARY:
On behalf of the Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator’s Office initiated a Human Services Needs Assessment (HSNA) to identify the greatest human services needs in the county. This effort will result in creation of a durable framework of desired outcomes with clearly defined indicators, to support a process that is intended to help direct limited county resources, including funds annually identified in the budget as contributions to non-county agencies. The Board established a Board subcommittee of Supervisor Thomson and Supervisor Hannigan and authorized the hiring of a consultant to assist with the data collection and interpretation. A Planning Team of County department representatives who have or utilize data that helps inform human needs assessments was also established.
This presentation brings forward the preliminary results of the data collection portion of this process, with the workgroup having reviewed indicator data on community wellbeing, considered key informant interview results with community leaders, and reviewed community survey data with input from community partners and residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The costs associated with preparing the staff report and the cost for the consultant to conduct the HSNA are included in the County Administrator’s Office FY2018/19 Adopted Budget. The contract was approved for $71,100.
DISCUSSION:
In September 2018, in response to Board statements about a desire to look at outcomes, the County Administrator’s Office recommended, and the Board of Supervisors endorsed, development of a formal process to utilize qualitative and quantitative data to identify the highest needs in the county. The goal of the 3-step Human Services Needs Assessment (HSNA) process is to create a durable framework of desired outcomes with clearly defined indicators. This framework will be tethered to the Board’s four strategic plan areas of Public Safety, Health Outcomes, Agricultural Viability and Technology, with special emphasis on the first two areas. The HSNA findings are intended to help the Board:
1. Guide annual decision-making during the budget process toward priority outcomes.
2. Leverage other county resources.
This HSNA process is being conducted by Applied Survey Research, a Bay Area research and evaluation firm, and is guided by a planning team that consists of two Board of Supervisor members, Department Heads that engage in service delivery as part of their role, and the County Administrator’s Office. At the planning team meetings over the course of the last 6 months, the planning team reviewed extensive community data, crafted a list of questions and reviewed the subsequent results from key informant interviews and considered data results from the community surveys. The planning team then reviewed the summation of this information, weighed in on the prioritized needs, and helped to curate the materials the Board is seeing today.
The HSNA used the data and information gathered from the process described above to quantify 18 domains of community wellbeing using a life course framework (i.e. from children’s wellbeing, through productive and safe residents, to older adults that can live safe, healthy and independent).
The HSNA process identified the top three priority human services needs in Solano County as mental health, housing and homelessness. The HSNA process also revealed the interconnectedness of these prioritized needs, bringing awareness of the importance of interventions that can be integrated; i.e., addressing homelessness should also include a component that addresses mental health.
The next steps for the planning team are to review a summary of local assets and resources that are already in place to address these issues, explore best practices or evidence-based models of service delivery that could meet these prioritized needs, and draft a funding allocation strategy for Board consideration in June.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose not to receive the presentation; however, the presentation offers the opportunity to provide direction on the needs assessment process.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
First 5 Solano is administering the contract with Applied Survey Research on behalf of the County Administrator’s Office. Other Departments with staff participating on the Planning Team include Health and Human Services, Library, Probation, Child Support Services, and Board of Supervisors’ staff.