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Accept the Solano Partnership Against Violence Advisory Board’s FY2020 - 2022 Strategic Plan
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The department recommends the Board accept the Solano Partnership Against Violence Advisory Board’s FY2020 - 2022 Strategic Plan.
SUMMARY:
The Solano Partnership Against Violence (SPAV) serves as an advisory board to the County Board of Supervisors and makes recommendations to the Board regarding policies, legislation, and funding related to family violence issues. They promote awareness and encourage collaboration towards a systematic approach to ending family violence in Solano County. In order to support these efforts, SPAV has developed a new Strategic Plan for FY2020-2022 to improve local prevention and intervention efforts on all issues of family and interpersonal violence in Solano County.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no General Fund impact associated with acceptance of the SPAV FY2020 - 2022 Strategic Plan. However, the Office of Family Violence Prevention (OFVP), administered by the District Attorney’s Office, received 86.0% or $673,731 of its funding for FY2019/20 from the General Fund. Because OFVP provides the staffing to SPAV as written in the SPAV By Laws, any costs associated with preparing the agenda item and said staff support is indirectly absorbed through the General Fund. The costs associated with preparing the agenda item are nominal and absorbed by the department’s FY2019/20 Adopted Budget.
DISCUSSION:
SPAV was created in 1991 as a group of concerned professionals who convened monthly brown bag lunch meetings to discuss improving service delivery by public and private agencies to those affected by domestic violence. In 1995, it became the County’s domestic violence task force planning body and was designated an independent entity operating as a Countywide task force on family and domestic violence by the Board of Supervisors in 1996. It was further designated as the Solano County Domestic Violence Prevention Council by the Board in August 1999, becoming eligible for County staff assistance, and thus began its relationship with the District Attorney’s OFVP. In August 2007, SPAV underwent a significant change in its membership, and this group established SPAV’s first Strategic Plan, which was presented to the Board in June 2008.
The Strategic Plan was revised in June 2014, and has served SPAV for many years; however, it is now in need of current revisions to better meet the current needs of Solano County.
To assist SPAV members in developing a new plan, they began by hosting a community roundtable forum on September 18, 2018, with keynote speakers (now) Board Chairwoman Erin Hannigan and District Attorney Krishna Abrams. This was a successful and collaborative effort to gather information from county agencies, organizations and residents in developing strategies and objectives to include: reducing systems access barriers to victims of family violence; addressing family intervention and prevention by using an evidence-based best-practice approach; advocate and ensure that adequate “Safe Housing” options are accessible to survivors of family violence; provide quality assurance using a universal satisfaction survey; and leveraging county resources by identifying, coordinating and connecting public and private sector resource opportunities.
From this Roundtable, SPAV established an Action Plan that was presented to and received by the Board of Supervisors on May 7th, 2019. The Action Plan was a tool to assist SPAV in developing its new Strategic Plan, which they committed to present to the Board in 2020.
SPAV’s Executive Committee consisting of Chair Jenalee Dawson, Vice Chair Sandra Lee, and Secretary/Treasurer Tiffani Thomas led the development of the Strategic Plan, using the Action Plan as a basis, as well as input provided at the previous year’s SPAV meetings. Through in-person meetings and email correspondence, the Executive committee established a working draft that was presented to the entire SPAV membership in October 2019. After receiving feedback and making revisions, the final Plan was approved by the full SPAV Board in January 2020.
SPAV’s Strategic Priorities for FY2020-2022 are: 1) Develop knowledge and awareness; 2) Reduce systems access barriers for victims of interpersonal violence who encounter cultural, language, and other obstacles to securing support services; 3) Build on the foundations; and 4) Coordinate whole community response. Through these priorities, SPAV strives to achieve the following goals: 1) Strengthen engagement across community sectors to develop knowledge and awareness of what interpersonal violence is and how it can be prevented; 2) To have a more in-depth understanding of all agency role and responsibilities, interagency communication/coordination procedures, referral criteria, etc. to help identify options for translation services, cultural diversity training and other strategies to improve responsiveness to underserved populations in Solano County; 3) To develop a solid knowledge base and take an active role in the informed recommendations of support for the establishment of prevention activities and programs across the county, including support of current legislative and funding opportunities in the prevention and intervention of violence; and 4) Promote interagency Federal, State, and local coordination, including Tribes, faith-based, and community organizations, to facilitate families’ access to services and help them navigate systems of care across the full spectrum of family needs, including housing, education and training, healthcare, child care, social services, and economic supports.
A sub-committee will be established to regularly assess progress on the four priorities and present its findings to the SPAV Board. If a priority is in danger of not being met, strategies will be identified to correct course. The overall Plan will be reviewed and revised biannually to ensure continuous alignment with the Mission and Vision, and that it is achievable within available resources.
SPAV requests that the Board accept its FY2020 - 2022 Strategic Plan for the purpose of guiding members of the partnership and their vision for improving local efforts to address issues involving family and interpersonal violence.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose not to accept the Strategic Plan; however, this alternative is not recommended as the Board has designated SPAV as its advisory body on family and interpersonal violence issues and the Plan will assist SPAV in making sound, evidence-based recommendations.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The OFVP, Solano Family Justice Center (also administered by the District Attorney’s Office), and many other agencies, organizations and non-profits in Solano County attend SPAV Advisory Board Meetings for the purpose of contributing valuable input on behalf of family and interpersonal violence issues in Solano County, and this input was used in development of SPAV’s 2020-2022 Strategic Plan.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION