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Affirm the District Attorney’s acceptance of a California Office of Emergency Services grant for the Underserved/Unserved Victim Advocacy and Outreach Program in the amount of $138,970 for the period of January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021; Approve an Appropriation Transfer Request (ATR) recognizing unanticipated grant revenue of $93,292 and $31,097 in Vital Record Fee revenue and increasing related expenditures in the District Attorney’s FY2020/21 budget in the Victim Witness Unit by $124,389 (4/5 vote required); and Adopt a resolution to amend the List of Numbers in Classifications of positions within the District Attorney’s Office to extend 2.0 FTE Victim Witness Assistant (Limited Term) to December 31, 2021
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No __X_
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No __X_
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The District Attorney (DA) recommends that the Board of Supervisors:
1. Affirm the District Attorney’s acceptance of a California Office of Emergency Services grant for the Underserved/Unserved Victim (UV) Advocacy and Outreach Program in the amount of $138,970 for the period of January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021; and
2. Approve an Appropriation Transfer Request (ATR) recognizing unanticipated grant revenue of $93,292 and $31,097 in Vital Record Fee revenue and increasing related expenditures in the District Attorney’s FY2020/21 budget in the Victim Witness Unit by $124,389 (4/5 vote required); and
3. Adopt a resolution to amend the List of Numbers in Classifications of positions within the District Attorney’s Office to extend 2.0 FTE Victim Witness Assistant (Limited Term) to December 31, 2021.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
The purpose of the UV Program is to provide service delivery to victims of violent crime within unserved/underserved and socially isolated populations. The Program is designed to fund improvements in awareness and knowledge about accessing local services available to crime victims. The District Attorney initially received UV Program funding in June 2016 to launch an outreach and engagement plan to serve the Filipino population in Solano County. The amended grant program also includes an outreach and engagement plan to serve the Hispanic population in Solano County, with a bilingual Victim Witness Assistant assigned to victims in each population. The DA’s Office has continuously received funding under this program since this time.
On August 14, 2020, CalOES notified the DA’s Office of available additional funding in the amount of $138,970, with a match requirement of 25 percent, and also amended the UV Program performance period end date from December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2021.
The DA recommends the Board of Supervisors affirm the acceptance of $138,970 in unanticipated grant revenue and adopt the resolution approving the extension 2.0 FTE Limited Term Victim Witness Assistants through December 31, 2021 in order to maintain the level of service provided to these often socially isolated populations. While the award letter has not been received due to a backlog at CalOES, written verification that Solano County will receive these funds has been received from CalOES.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There will be no financial impact to the County General Fund. The $138,970 in unanticipated grant revenue, along with $31,097 in Vital Record Fee to meet the required 25 percent match funds, will fund the two limited term positions through December 31, 2021, when the Unserved/Underserved Victim Advocacy and Outreach Program (XV) grant expires. It is anticipated that CalOES will post a new, competitive Request for Proposal for the grant program in 2021.
The costs associated with preparing the agenda item are nominal and absorbed by the department’s FY2020/21 Adopted Budget.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board can choose not to affirm the District Attorney’s acceptance of the additional grant funding and not adopt the resolution extending two limited term Victim Witness Assistants through December 31, 2021; however, this is not recommended as the revenue funds the two positions that provide victim witness services and outreach to the unserved and underserved population.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
None.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION