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Receive a presentation on the implementation of the Board of Supervisor’s Community Investment Fund, including presentations from two of the six funded legacy programs: Solano Children’s Alliance and the Senior Coalition
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Published Notice Required? Yes____ No __X_
Public Hearing Required? Yes____ No __X_
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The County Administrator’s Office recommends that the Board of Supervisors receive a presentation on the implementation of the Board of Supervisor’s Community Investment Fund, including presentations from two of the six funded legacy programs: Solano Children’s Alliance and the Senior Coalition.
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 resulted in the creation of a durable framework of desired outcomes with clearly defined indicators to support a process that directs limited county resources via a $2 million Community Investment Fund (CIF).
The Community Investment Fund is a three-pronged approach to funding which includes Legacy Programs, Deep Investments and One-Time Investments. During the approval of the CIF, the Board requested a presentation from each of the six legacy programs funded. Over the course of the next few months, these programs will be coming forward to present to the Board. This presentation includes the first two programs: the Solano Children’s Alliance and the Senior Coalition.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The costs associated with management and implementation of the Community Investment Fund are included in First 5 Solano FY2019/20 budget. The costs associated with preparing this agenda item are nominal and absorbed by the department’s FY2019/20 Adopted Budget.
DISCUSSION:
In September 2018, the County Administrator’s Office recommended, and the Board of Supervisors endorsed, the 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 process was to create a durable framework of desired outcomes with clearly defined indicators and use the findings to:
1. Guide decision-making during the budget process toward priority outcomes
2. Leverage other county resources.
The Human Services Needs Assessment (HSNA) process was conducted by Applied Survey Research, a Bay Area research and evaluation firm, and was guided by a planning team that consisted of two Board of Supervisor members, Department Heads that engage in service delivery as part of their role, and the County Administrator. The planning team reviewed extensive community data, conducted key informant interviews and considered data results from a community survey before recommending that the Board of Supervisors establish a Community Investment Fund to address the top human services needs in Solano County.
The top community needs that were identified in this process were:
Priority Need 1: Mental Health - Increase access to Solano County’s mental health system of care with dual strategies of increasing community understanding of how to access mental health services and increasing provider understanding of how to respond to residents with mental health needs.
Priority Need 2: Affordable Housing - Work with cities to increase the supply of affordable housing under the community goal of “reducing homelessness.”
Priority Need 3: Homelessness - Reduce homelessness with dual strategies strengthening capacity to address homelessness and increasing community and provider understanding of how to connect to available resources.
Priority Needs 4-6: Early Education, Youth Development, Safe and Stable Environments for Children - While mental health, housing, and homelessness rose to the top priorities, early education, youth development, and safe and stable environments for children were also highly ranked in the prioritization.
Community Investment Fund:
In June 2019, the Board of Supervisors approved the recommendation from the planning team to create a Community Investment Fund (CIF). The CIF is a 3-pronged approach which includes:
1. Legacy Programs-3-year commitment to sustain programs funded by the Board to serve a specific population.
2. Deep Programming-3-year commitment to address the top 3 priority needs. Community partners will be selected following the County’s Purchasing Policy, including competitive Request for Proposals process, to implement strategies that were selected as part of an outcomes framework to evaluate progress toward the selected needs over time.
3. One-Time Investments-Smaller annual grants to address the top 6 priority needs. Community partners will be selected by a competitive Request for Proposals process.
During the Board of Supervisors discussion, the Board requested the Legacy Programs present to the Board. The six Legacy Programs are:
1. Children’s Alliance
2. Senior Coalition
3. Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
4. Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
5. Veteran’s Court Case Manager
6. North-Bay Stand Down
This presentation brings forward the first two of the six legacy programs: the Children’s Alliance and the Senior Coalition.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose not to receive the presentation; however, this is not recommended as the CIF was approved by the Board of Supervisors after being developed through a nine-month process with cross sector input to guide the board in decision making and the Board requested this presentation.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
First 5 Solano is administering the CIF on behalf of the County Administrator’s Office. The Children’s Network and Solano County Health & Social Services, Older and Disabled Adult Services, in conjunction with the Senior Coalition contributed significant content to this presentation.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION