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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 07271999 - SD3 FHS#2 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS a� r. . � CONTRA 5 COSTA FROM: Family and Human Services Committee b< s°RCOUNTY DATE: July 27, 1999 SUBJECT: Status Report on Service Integration SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION"y ACKNOWLEDGE that the Board of Supervisors established the Service integration Program in '1994 as a way of holistically addressing the needs of low inco rne, high risk families t achieve economic self sufficiency and improve family functioning as well as to expand community capacity to support children and famines. RECOGNIZE that the Service integration Program has made a significant differences improving f e Byes of children and families i Bay Point and Nom Richmond and than this d1erence, has been documented through outcome data. . EXPRESS appreciation to the Service Integration 'beam staff, its collaborative partners and community members whose dedication, hard work and commitment to working together have been responsible for this success. 4. ACCEPT the status report on the Contra Costa County Service Integration Program. CONTMED ON ATTACHMENT, —YES SMATURFE, ` DAM COMEE i C)VE OTHER NINUtL d i smMARK DESAULNIERa , LEi9 X �°�� 3 `. - ASO A E OTS R VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HERESY CERnFY THAT THIS M A X UNAO (ASSENT���� TRUE AND CORRECT COPY F A � G--NOES.--,..s� ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED m.. € u ON iUTOF THE ARD OF SUPERVISORS ON Tie OXTE SHOWN. €oma;S*m Haft,230-1090 ATTESTED_ July 27 , 1999 PHIL SATC4ELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERWSORIOP AND bOYNTY ADMINISTRATOR CAO SES`E1�l : Cw via O �i> � �`� z r FHS#2 BACKGROUNDIREA ONS FOR_ Ta On July 1 , 1999E Nine Goldman, Service Integration Program tanager= reviewed the attached report with the Family and Human Services Committee. Members of the Service Integration Teams as well as the North Richmond Employment Collaborative Project tanager and Bay Point Works Project Manager also commented o various aspects of the Service Integration Program,, Botts° Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier and Supervisor Gayle Uilkema expressed their high degree of satisfaction with the direction of the program as well as the outcome data. Both stated that they felt it was an exemplary program and should be highlighted to the Board of Supervisors in a short discussion item. SuWjisor Gayle Uilkema further had concerns on the linkages between Health Services and Service Integration in the areas of Healthy Families enrollment and increasing the number of children who are immunized by age two, especially those who are undocumented aliens. Questions were raised as to whether County Medi-Cal workers could expand the scope of their duties to include outreach to Healthy Families. Supervisor Uilkema also requested more information on ridership on AC t'ransit's route 376 in North Richmond as well as the new yititves in day care. 2 To. Family and Human Services Committee Supervisor Mark DeSatAnier, Clair Supervisor Gayle B. Uil-kem. a, IMember FROM: Nina Goldman, Program Manager, Service Integration Program E: Status Report an Service Integration XIX: jolt' 12, 1999 . Recommendation ACCEPT PT the attached report on the Contra Geste Cow-ity Service Integration Program. 11. Report Overview In August 1999, the Contra Costa County Service Integration Program will celebrate five yeas of providingco m1, ity-b sed, family-focused services to the neighborhoods of Bay Point and forth Richmond, Underlying the Service Integration* model is tlie belief that we increase the probability that some of the County's most distressed families will achieve economic self-stificiency and improve family functioning s weli as expand the opacity of eco o f.-dliy challenged neighborhoods to support children and families by, 411P locating services in the communities where the most distressed families live; + building upon family and community strengths; partnering with the Nvide range of County and community-based , se es that serve these families; and building trusting and enduaing relationships among se Ace providers and between service providers and participant families. Over the past five years, Service Integration. in Contra Costa has evolves considerablya e strive to continually refine our service delivery model to integrate vvhat,;A�e learn, as well as to serve as a laboratory for testing neva strategies. We believe that at this point in time, Contra Costa Coux,,ty has developed a senAce integration model that has successfdIly demonstrated the ability to support significant changes in the lives of children and families. This report begins with a description of the Contra CostaCounty Service Integration I3rogra. . Organized according to the three goals € f Service lntegratd—on, this report highlights key program activities and outcomes, focusing primarily on developments since our last" report to the a €ily and Hu an SServices Coma-ittee on Time 3, 1995. he final section discusses upcomingchallenges fading the Service Integration n 'ro rark� -- arid. identifies a rr nber 0� responses und ay € r sure that � r�are continually improving our ability to programmaticachieve positive results in the lives of children and families. III, Service Integration co Contra Costa County's Service Integration °lea s (SITearns) utilize three key strategies in moving toward the creation of a seamless system 014 services for Multi-problem, high-risk families. I. Collaboration among public agencies; 2. Public-private partnerships that fuse public sakes with corn unity-based organization and faith community programs; and 3. Engagement of neighborhood residents in service planning and provision. Since August of 1994, the SlTeams have worked with high-risk families living in two of Contra Costa County's most distressed communities, Bay Point and North Richmond. Housed in neighborhood-based Family Service Centers, the STIT-eams are staffed by: Employment Specialists, Medical and. Food Stamps Specialists, Mental: Health Counselors juvenile Probation Officers, Child Welfare Workers, Public Health Nurses, a Substance Abuse Counselor and Healthy Start SchooliTarnfly Resource Specialists. The S cams' approach is rased on the prernise that the challenges facing low-income families ars mt r-mlated. Consequently, the SITeams tale a holistic approach in their work with these families. SlTeam members work with the participant faniffies -asing an integrated case anag ment proc ss, developed specifically for the SITearns. Focusing on. the wl�ol family unit, rather than Just the individual, SITearn staff build upon family strengths to provide services driven by and tailored to each family's unique reeds. Staff and family members together develop a comprehensive plan for addressing issues in a range of interdependent 'life domains, such as child care, child and adullt healtar, transporttation, social supports, school and employment. The S -Teams' unique organizational structure reflects the collaboredveness of this program. The SITeam staff reside vdthir four different County Departments (Co.m=y Administration, Ministration, Health Services, Social. Service and. Probation) and a school district. 1"olicy oversig1 t is provided by the SITea s; Executive Committee, comprised of the Directors of the key agencies that contribute staff and resources to the programs. The day-to-day operations of the 2 Sri eams is charged to the SITeam Program Manager, a cross-agency position that resides in the County Administrator's Office. The Semice Integration program's successes are measured through intensive ng of outcomes. Using o womes, the SlTeams are able to judge ei achievements based €n measurable improvements in the lyres of families and children served. The two SITeams currently serve approximately 900 families. ies. n"a Sure Integration Program Highlights and Outcomes The Sure Integration Program sexes to achieve the folilowing free goals' �w increase fanii1y economic self-sufficiency; 1% improve family functioning; _00 wand community capacity to support i en andlEamilies. Since our last,report.to the Fainly and Hunt Sendices Commitee, we both have defined our core services aid launched several new program components that are beginnirig to show results. '-his section highlights some off"the sure Integration Iron ac's key activities over the past yea' and provides outcome data for calendar year 1998 as well as for 199'9 gear-toa dat �a hpossible, the report provides comparative data frOM prior years, although most data tracking was not initiatednitil 1997. While his section organizes key activities an outcomes by goad., it has become increasingly clear that these goals are closely inter-related. For example, activides that support e economic self-sufficiency of fay'lies also tend to have an impact on family ftinctiordng and visa versa. 3 GOAL ; INCREASE Y ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY at the N.R.Commfnfty 'A, 5 Career Resource Center Career Center s ves over f s 353 res€dents per Month fd .. ...:::i:::.:. C Sharon DeCaWr;North RivhMn.nd's Senior @ pargdpates in Rubicon's Bay PdM s'Bu:€d Yadr Futur a tFasg I `99 attra^1 over h 10 vou�. s The framework, of the Sake integration program's self�sufficiency services predates bot, federal and stat� ae lfare reform legislation. In late 1995, the Sake Integraition Program began focusing €n specific strategies to increase the employability and self-sufficiency o welfare families. Strategies included embracing a more employment-focused approach to working with families for staff members across all of the SITea . disciplines, invoMn community residents in the planning and implementation of employment services and building neighborhood capacitor to provide a wide range of employment support servrices, In early 1997, ear SITearn initiated a series of community--gide planning sessions, resulting in. Che establishment of Bay Point Works and the North I;Uchrriond Employment Collaborative. These two neighborhood employment projects, s pported by the Zellerbach Family Fund and the Contra Costa County Seal Service Department (now E'm- plume t and Hamar: Seices Department), have expanded. the SITea s' partnership base to include a number of other public and non-profit agencies, the faith community and community residents. 4 In the past year, the SI l e s have continued to develop this corer an tymbased approach to providing mployment services with prondslng results. Key acts-vides €ver die past year Mciude: With the support of the Social Service Department, the SITeams brought CaITIVORKs job Clubljob :search workshops into the .day Point and North Richmond communities.... A totes of 73 participants attended. Bay Point's job Club/job Search worlohops between May 1998 and May 19993 71 percent of participants completed the workshops or found ernplo ment while participating. A tom of 43 percent of all participants v ere employed dunng or irnmedlatelyffollowing the workshops. Of the 90 CaMfORKs participants who entered the job Club/job Search workshops in Norte Richmond, 79 percent either completed the workshops or found jobs whine participating. 34 percent of the participants exited Job Club/job Search due to employment.ent. =°er 30 of the workshop participants met the Depart ent of Labor's "hard-to-serve" criteria and are receiving intensive support services, such as peer counseling and/or subsidized work Verlence, through. le Ion Richmond SITea 's partnership with Rubicon Programs, Inc. The location of the workshops in the communities eliminated some of the key barriers to workshop participation, includingtransportation to Antiodh, and dow tnvivRichmond. In addition, theworkshops' familiar settings, Bay point's Ambrose Recreation Center and the North Richmond ?missionary Baptist Church, generated a level of con and enthusiasm evenw-nong previously wary a O participants. The SITeam. employment services staff adopted a family-focused and holistic approach to the job leb/`fob Search curriculum. The workshop leaders er a ed the resources of the multi-disciplir�a Slier staff, in din sessions on health and worm lead by the ST-feam. public health nesse and parenting and work lead by the SITeam child welfare workers, to ensure that the needs of both the workshop participants and their families were met as they transitioned from welfare to work, a s' enhanced Iffie skills classes target those neighborhood residents with the greatest barriers to employment.... In partnership with St. Vincent de haul in Bay Point and Rubicon Programs in Nordh Richmond, the SITea s enrolled approximately 40 CalWORKs and non-Ca1WORKs pa tie pants in i t nslve -orVrl sps aimed at btalding self-esteems€and overcorrang many of the fey psychological barners to employment. ese workshops were funded by brant monies 5 from the Zellerbach Family Fund in Bay Point and by a Department of Labor grant to Rubicon Programs, Inc., in North Richmond. In Bay point 29 residents attended the "Keys to Success" program with org-y one participant not completing the five-weekA;orkshop. 72 percent of the Keys to Success graduates were employed upon graduation. 1n North Richmond, two sessions of an intensive one-week "Life Skills"w elkshp have been offered since early 1999. Most of the North mond residents who completed this workshop did so in preparation for 13-week subsidized work experience positions,whit are designed to better prepare those individuals with little or no work history or unsubsidized jobs. Based on the popularity of this woekslhop series, the NorthRichmond Employment Collaborative staff hope to offer the "Life .his" classes on a regular basis in the Designed and fi4ltp staffed by neighborhood residents, the Bqy Pointand .1 o Richmond Community Career Centers have become local hubs, ro wide range of resources to help unemployed neighborhood residents find work and to help working neighborhood residents to advance their careers.d The Bay point Community Career Center, established in May 1998, received a total of 2,797 Nnsits ding the first months it was open that year. As of December 1998, 492 Bay Port residents had signed up as Careen Center members, allo,,AAng them to regularly use the Center's resources. Career Center usage continues to grow. As of June 8, 1999, the tow number of Career Center members had Increased to 748, -f he Novh Rienrnond Community weer Resource Center,v&dch opened its doors in January 1999, received a total of 1,586 visits doing its first slyoaths of operation. As of June 1999, 251 North Rich-mond residents had signed up as Career Resource Center inernbers. Point Works is targeting, teens as part of a pro-active approach to increasing communis eee a a s In May 1999. in partnership with the Employnient Development Department and Neighborhood Youth Corps, Bay Point.Works hosted the "B ld Your Future Job Fest. 1999", a youth Jobs fair attended by b 10 community teens and 20 local -employers, Three neighborhood teens helped with organizing and planning of the event, Employers were very enthusiastic and complimented both the organization of the event and the Freparedness of the job-seeldng youth, Currently a teams of three Bay Paint Works youth. staff members are 6 conducting follow-up swveys to determine the number of jobs obtained throu he event, unique collaboration spearheaded by the North Richmond SITeam, the North Richmond Emplqyment Collaborative and Rubicon Programs, Inc., vast?y enriched the employment and supportive spices available to the most hard-to- servelVorth richmond residents.... With a combination of grant mormes awarded by the Department of Labor to Rubicon Programs and by Zellerbach FarnAy Fund to the Nom Richmond Employment Collaborative, over 40 Nom Richmond CaINVORKs participants were able to take advantage of a. nurnber of employment-related opportunities in their own neighborhood, including subsidized work p nie�ce, i to sive one—on-one peer suppo � suppo ��e se rices, such as after ���©i re and transportation for their leis. Self cle _QutcomeS More Cal W K� Participants Served the SITeams Are Getting jobs. There continues to be a marked increase in emplorment among Bay point and North Richmond SIT O (formerly AFDC) participants. Fide i sho,45 the groom i the number of CalWORKs participants reporting incomes at the Bay Point Sf `, the Antioch District Soda Service Office and countywide over the past three and one-half years. Between April 1996 and June 1999, the workforce participation rates of Bay point SIT CalWORKs participants leapt by 20.6 percentage points. Over this sarne period of time, the workf6rce participation rates of CaIWORKSparticipants increased by 9.3 percentage points in Antioch and by 9.5 percentage-points countrymde. pike 2 shm—s the growth in to number€f CalAXORKs pam pans reporting maned incomes at the North Richmond SIT, the Richmond District Office and countyMde over the past. year. BetweenApril 1996 and June 1999, the ,workforce participation rates of North Richmoxid increased by 14.6 percentage points. Over this same period of time, the workforce participationrates of Ca)INVORKs partidpants increased by 73 percentage points in Richmond on y 9. percentage points countywide. Between.Janus 1996 and December 1998, 287 AMC/CalWORKs participants served by the Bay Point SIS` and. 115 AMC/ a WORKs participants served by the North Richmond SIT obtained employment. illustrating- that for many participants the road from welfare to self ss idin is characteeized by ",getting a job, losing a job an getting anoti-er jobs, Bay Point SIT and North Richmond SIT participants obtained a tom of 410 7 and 166 jobs raspe=d elly & Ing this three year period sm ars wimrage of 1.4 jobs per participant, In !998 alone, 98 Bay point SIT CaIWORKs participants and 45 North Richmond SIT CaFWORKs participants joined the pad labor force. Result of ". rtl a is Earnings, Welfare .Payments Are Decreasing As a result of employment, welfare payments to working families decreased by an average of $95.77 per month per family (f 9 percent.) in Bair Point and $122.15 per month per family ( 1 percent) in North Richmond during the first six months fol1mving their date of first employment. Resources Provided at the Community Career Centers Are Translating into Concrete Job Opportunitiesfor a goad population, .including 71ose Mo Are on Weare and 7hose Who Are Not. While two Career Centers serve s an im- portant resource to welfare participants, surprisingly they are being utilized most heavily by those not on welfare. Of .65 Bay Point Greer Center members surveyed, II percent identified to sIves as receiving CaIWORKs and 72 percent as not receiving RIo (12 percent did not respok d . I North l non , 26 percent of the 253 Career Center members surveyed reported that they ire gently receiAng CaIWO Ks,while 71 percent reported that dhey were not. (2 percent did not respond). It is possible that soxne of the non-Call/VORKs individuals accessing the Career Cer;ter resources may e avoidingthe need to � on elf e altoegra t is also possible that some CalWORKs participants inay not feel comfortable ldentif ling themselves as welfare recipients ding the intake process, Follow p surveys of Bay point residents (including a. " s and mon- IWORKs) .o have -visited the Career Center indicate tate 40 percent of the 19 Bays Point residents contacted obtained and Maintained employment ent days after utilizing the Community Career Center resources; 44 percent of the 82 residents contact: In 90- y follow up surveys reported that they were working; and 57 percent of the 6 residents contacted in six-month follow up surveys reported that � y-were employed. (Please note that follow up data was not available for the majority of all Career Center members. The Norte Richmond m unl Career Resource Center staff has recewdy bei collecting similar follow up data, which will be available at the time of oux next report to the Family and Human e ees Committee.) 8 GOAL o IMPROVE FAMILY FUNCTIONING Say i:t 17'eam a;d SPIW staf offe�ng tWir SaNices at a co r urlky a€r' x yv � S j .. � � a he Say pd"It 'Noft Yout,Jobs Fa!r :.. ..:. Both lea s continue to practice integrated probation, child weffiare, public health nursing, employment and children's mental health serpice emphasizing earlier interventions andeat client contact... This service model allovIs the Srrearn staff to get involved with families before Situations reach psis levels. Ir, addition, SITearn staff t fly star involved with families longer, providing "informal" sakes to ensure that families safely -make the transition to better functdoniing. `mo intensive contact with o&.er community sake providers (both other SITeam staff and providers prof ng for other neighborhood organizat € ns, such as schools), SlTeam staff are able to keep a cosec eye on the fames they serve to make sure that children are obtaining needed health care sakes, attending school and ars y�vig safely in the-Ar own homes. Over the pest three gears, SITeam staff has received intensive training in working A7 th the Fanuly Assessment Record, the case management tool developed spe f cad' for the Service 9 Integration Program. Formal training was completed in late 1998 and the integrated case management process is now well established, Since completing the forma% training, SITeam erbers have identified three key issues affecting their clients and have requested additional graining in the following areas; (I) parenting of teenagers; (2) working vdtl c schools and ( ) case management se ices to hard-to-serve families. Supported bury a grant from the S.H. Covell Foundation and coordinated by the Greater Bay Area Family Resource Netwodk, SITearn staff will receive training in each of these areas in the second half of this year, 1998, the Service ,integration grogram established a Substance Abuse Coordinator position to address some of the greatest obstaclesfacing thefamilies served..a Funded by a grant ftom the o unity Development Black Grant Program and a matching contribution fto 3 the Community Substance,Abuse Se ces ( SAS) Division of the Contra Costa Heafth Services Department, the Semice Integration Program's Substances abuse Coordinator began accompanying SITeam std on home visits to assist In the assessnnent and referral of pard .pants to appropriate substance abuse services. In addition, the Substance Abuse Coordinator-vvorl-ked intensively,,,�,dth SlTeam sof across all disciplines to teach the how to motivate participants to seep help for their abuse problems. -risk Youth Served b the SITeams Are Staying with Their Families and i drool. During 1998, a monthly average of 81 percent of all youth on probation served by the Nom Richmond SlTeam and 87 percept of all youth on probation served by the Bay Point SITeam were either enrolled in or had completed school. 97 percent of the 167 children served by the Bay Point SIT am clued welfare worker and 87 percent of the 208 children seed her the North Richmond SITeam. child welfare workers in 1998 were successfully maintained in their own homes. Children Improving room- "heir Abilities to Cope with fife's Challenge& 12 Bay Point teenagers currently are enrolled In the YouthEmpowerment = Success ® ) program, co-sponsored by Bay Point Works and Sty Vincent, de Paulo The 10 three-week long YE=S program focuses on how to set health, goals and develop the tools to reach. them. A second session of the YE=S program will baro iv the end of j1dy 1999. In a partnership with the Mt. Diablo Unified School District's Bay point elementary schools and Foster Youth t Services, the S 'ee 's Meats Health Counselor co- facilitated o-fa tated three Anger Management groups in 1998. Prem and post-test assessments were conducted on all of the 25 Fb l year olds who participated in the first t,,vo groups. The Teacher-Child Rating Sees indicated significant behavioral improvements in areas such- as Acting Out, Peer Socia Skills, Learning Skills, Frustration Tolerance and Task Orientation. More SITeam Participants with Substance Abuse Problems Are entering Treatment. 0 percent of all participants referred to the SIT Substance Abuse Coordinator during the first four months of services successfully entered appropriate treatment, Typically it is extremely difficult to convince substance abusers ,-,rho are in denial to seed treatments Under the grant requirements funding this -position, the SIT Substance Abuse Coordinator was expected to enroll 30 percent of all participants referred in treatment. Thus, fine nullfber ®f enrol dents achieved by the SITeam Substance Abuse Coordinator have exceeded expectations. SITeam staff continue trying to motivate the participants w o close not t® go into treatment to pursue the appropriate path Whenever possible, i i GOAL #3: EXRLND COMMUNITY CAPACITY TO SUPPORT CHILDREN AND FAMILIES ay . T � �poet Parents,Fam}l- s , Reside-its s lab prepa6:,g r a 3 Wday bash. FEW x .. Family Sw f COMMUMT- a €des s %�>f a Purvis,NNE ��s� �s�,ed cd for £ €2day cam ode; � hoor € ..:::.;;.:.. urges, s : Perhaps the most critic.-J. component of the Sewice Integration Program's work an Bay Point and North Richmond is to develop and support indigenous talent to maintain lasthng im provements in the two neighborhoods. both day point and worth Richmond, the Service Integration Program i conducting intensive mentoring off° neighborhood residents to sneers that local efforts to improve the well-being of children andilies are drivenfrom within the community and are sustained over the to &te ... 12 Nine community residents gently staff Bay Point Works and the North Richmond Employment Coaborative. The Sake Integration Program has provided substantial training opportunities to community staff in areas ranging from typing and computer skills to employment-related services to group facilitation and inter-personal skills. his process leas revealed a deep reservoir of local talent that is making all the difference in engaging a large population of neighborhood residents in the process of transitioning to work. Costumer surveys collected during sign-up at both the Bay Point and North Richmond Career Centers indicate to that wee a significant mbar of mem"hers referred to the Career Center are CaIWORKs participants, the majority of the naernbership base is recruited from the c�smmi t large. Most members reported that they had been referred by family members and friends, aswell as by their neighbors and fiends who staff the two centers. In addition, in 1998 the James C. Penney Foundation and East Bay Conners amity Foundation supported the Project Manager Mentorship initiative (p I) in North richmond. The P-MMI enabled a North Richmond and resident to be hired as the Assistant Project Manager of the Nom Richmond Employment Collaborative in December 1997 and to receive intensive mentorship and training for one yam, In December 1999, Bay Point Works initiated a similar mritors'I initiative in Bay Point; supported by the lerbaFamily Fund and Greater Bay Area Family resource Network. e North Richmond employment Collaborative continues to partner with A.C Transit to obtain better transportation services for North Richmond In November 1997, as a result of an innovative partnership vditb A.C. Transit, the Nosh Rich,mond Employment Collaborative spearheaded efforts to bring hourly night bus service back to North Richmond, NREC staff have continued working with A.C. Transit staff on an ongoing basis both to expand services and to ensure that bus services continue to meet the needs of'�vor ing North Richmond comrrurdty, NREC staff are currently working with A.C. Transit on re-evaluating the #376 bus route to ensure that it targets the appropriate sups. e Bay Point families, Parents & Residents Associations collaborativeIJ7 supported b Bay Point Works and the Bay Rolm a i Health Center, is helping Bay Point residents organize to affect changes in their community.... The Bay paint FamEes, Parents &residents Association evolved from the Bay point Working Parents Network and the Latino g reents group dravvn together by the similarity of concerns 13 members of both organizations expressed and their desire to affect change. Early in its development the Association identified the following three areas as priorities: (1) youth activities; (2) community safety, and (3) ed cat€orVschoolls. Conducted in English and Spanish and facilitated by a community resident who has then the lead in organizing activities Wittig the parents, the meetings of this group occur monthly and typically include from about 25 to 40 neighborhood residents. To date, meetings have focused on introducing residents to members of the Municipal advisory C6,mcil and other low boards and educating them about their functions and procedures. Some the acdvities the Association has hosted in the past year included an "Old-fashioned Bay point Christmas, „ a holiday party attended by over 200 fomes and.ars Easter-egg hunt-, co-organized with "Healthy Families" a-ndVictory Outreach. Church. The North Richmond Employment Collaborative has supported the establishment of two in-homefamily day care centers in worth Richmond.,.. Lack oflocal clued care resources is a significant barrier to employment for many CaMORKs participants. Stan in the s€ r 0f 1995, e North Ri ch m grad Emplo ent Collaborative began working vAth community residents to obtain the training and start-up funding:seeded,to open in-home child care facilities located right in the neighborhoods vvhere services are most badly needed. The first REC-supported family day me ho-me, located In the center of Nom Richmond, opened its doors In October !998 and has been operating at f-0 capacity (serving ei�t € dre .) ever since. 'The second RE -supported family day care is comp] ettin licensing requirements and should open its doors by the end of this surer. Point Works recent spearheaded a "'Hire Local Campaign" aimed at encouraging local employers to hire community residents to work at their businesses.a s "Hire Locally "" offers co True ty � ployers incentives and support to advertise weir job openings at the Bay Pointornmu ity Career Center. In addition, this initiative aims to networ' with low businesses and familiarize employers vAth the benefits of hiring locally (e. ., fewer transportation mishaps on the -1,vay to work and positive neighborhood perceptions of businesses "gi n back" to the community') and, in particular, hiring Call ss participants (e.g., tax incentives). 14 both Bay.point and North Richmond, the Service Integration grogram is working to engage a broader community of local organizations and agencies i working to improve the lives of children andfamilies ... On March 26, $999, inpartnership with the North Richmond Missionary Baptise Church, the North Richmond Employment Collaborative co-sponsored a Faith-Based Infonnational Sym,posaun, The symposium,Bch waas attended by suer 50 individuals from the Richmond faith comroAmity, focused on the economic and socias impacts of welfare reform and how the faith eor rrunGty can participate in addressing issues of poverty in their co .munities. The ownty/Co�w-ity/ t partnership dre.ope bar the worth Richmond SlTeam, the North Richmond Employment Collaborative and the North. Richmond Missionary Baptist Churg was one of two models showcased as a successful faith-based project. S0*0 De North Richmond family Service Center Community Garden continues to blossom.o 22 fakes gently have garden plots at the Norte Pichmond Family Service Center and are .actively €ultivating food, spices and. flowers, The communilty garden project, which is a partnership between the Service Integration Program anal the Laotian Organ�zl-g , r€a ect �f the Asian Pacific Environmental omental Network, is noir In its third year and has a ,;siting last of approxinnatelly 25 farrdlies. o uniteage -Burin Outcomes .point and North Richmond Residents Are Gaining the Skills and Knowledge gee e to Lead and Sustain Comprehensive Neighborhood-base Employment Systems. in January 1999_ after successfully completing a one-year intensive e tors p program, Ms. ale King-Meredith, a lifelong Norte Richmond resident, assumed the position of project Manager of the Forth Richmond Employment Collaborative. .Bay Point and,,'Vorth Richmond residents Are .heading the Effort to Ensure 7hat the Seridces and Opportunities They meed to Get and KeepFobs Are Located in the Neighborhoods ere ' ey Live. On June 30, 199% the A.C. Transit Board of Directors approved a plan to decrease the headways on Route 76, the North Richmond Night Jobs Shuttle, from one hour to every 30 ntimotes, making night bis services far more useful to neighborhood residents The establishment of -supported in-home family day care homes and NREC- subsidized chili care aide positions at the Shields-Reid Day Care Center expanded North Richmond's child care capacity by as many as 28 slots per day. V. Upcoming Challenges Over the coming year, and undoubtab y, for years to come, the SITea ;s vffl1 be challenged by the core issues associated with sung low-income, high-risk fa lees and communities: * Getting to the Heart of Multi-Problem Fa lies * Addressing the Needs of the 'Working Poor Breaking the Cycle of Inter-generational Poverty a Creating a Self-Sustaining System that Supports Children and Families While these challenges are enormous, they aree not insurmountable. Success will require new approaches, strategies and collaborations; leveraging existing resources and developing new funding souarees; and utilizing our, special stats under1 X41 and. the Boost 4 Kids Program to par er with the State and Federal governments to ensure that rules, regulations and other institutional processes do not serve as impediments to achieving positive results for children and families. Getting to the Heart of inti-Problem Families The Service Integration Program, -was designed specifically to address the needs of those families receiving services from multiple County programs -T the famines who are most deeply entrenched in the public service syste , but typically e not served in the most efficient or effective manner. Over the past fire years, SITeam staff have become far more adept both at worldng adtb. families from a strengths-based perspective and at working with other providers to leverage more resources for fannlies, strean-dine services and e-velop consistent service plans across different programs. The refinement of the SITeam Family assessment Record (FAR) and the Bier development of the integrated SITeam case management process, as well as intensive 16 staff training and coaching, have played critical roles inn, rnoving the Service Integration programs to this point. With the in plementation of-,,vlfare reform, however, new layers of problems are refolding its many of the families served by the SITearns. While a peg do € of the families are moving successfully out of the ,elfa e system, many families are revealing chronic problems in the areas of mental health, long-term drug and alcohol ansa, domestic violence, repeated homelessness and long-term child abuse and negliect. For some families, a parent obtairung employment appears to exacerbate some of the other problems at home -- ,such as teenagers acting out and ending up in the Juvenile justice system. The iter-relationships between so man; of these issues have become increasingly clear to SITeam staff. ' 'he nature of these problems call for a deeper level of intensive case managennent by SITeam stiff and a fay greater integration of services. A critical component of successfully addressing these needs will lie in the i .ple men tion of a SITeam Coordinator position: at each of the SlTea s. These positions, approved by he Board of Supervisors in June 1999, will be filled by masters level professionals who have extensive rience working with hard-to-serve families. The SITeam Coordinators will take the lead in taking the lTean') case managern, ent model to the next level. Addressing the Needs of the Working Poor Despite increased vror f€,ce participation, few alWORmss' participants served by the SlTeams eams earn a luring wage, The average hourly wages of Bay point and North Richmond. SlTearn CallVORKs participants ,ho obtained e ployme t in 1998 were $7.36 and $7.41 respectively. This fide is a little lower than the 1997 average hourly wages of $7.55 in Bay point and $7.43 in Noxi Richmond and higher than the 1996 average hourly mages of $6.74 and $6.68. As illustrated in Fide 3, hourly wages for newly employed CaIWORKs participants served by the tivo SITearns in 1998 typically remained well below the livable wages One third of all participants earned in the inimw-n A ge range, ($6.00 per hour and less). And lust S percent of all participants earned YNages that approach a livable wage ($10.01 1 w 13.50 per hour). (please note: In a forthcoming report, the California Budget Project esti aates the livable Nvage for a Bay Area single parent with two children, one in day care and one school age, to be $21,,62 per hour. 'Me delfi ition of"approaching livable vv-age" in Fide 17 3 assumes the Cal'YVORKs participant is receiving _Medi-Cal, subsidized child care and other supportive services.) Future efforts by the Sake Integration programs to address this chenge.Will include. 'Prroviding more education and outreach to low-income workers reg ,arding the benefits of the Earned Income Tax Credit program; Offering more weer advancement and training opporturdities for low-income workers; ars; and * Wor1rdrig with co u unity residents to idea xtify creative solutions to offset some of the typically high work-related expenses, such as child care cooperatives and carpools. Breaking the Cycle o Generational Poverty Many of the fandl€es served by the SITea s have been involved in the welfare system for generations. The mature of work is completely new to thus and entering thio paid work force has a montimental impact on their entire fatly system. Much of the work of the Sake Integration Program. , and part ar&y of the two neighborhood collaborativ s, focuses on, pro otan g a positive viem7of work and su,p� nz a culture in which work is valued and respected. Truly e in-iinating chronic poverty m. the communities served by t1he Seams will require addressing the deepen issues underlying economic distress and breaking the cycle offf poverty be n g handed down from one generation to the next. For the Senesce Integration Program more sakes geared toted youth. and children and a greater emphasis on 'early intervention and prevention services are the only answers for reversing this trend. We are hopeful that the types of pro-ave sakes that we _acre been able to offer on a. small she to date will garner more fndkng support In thet . Creating a Setf-Sustaining System that Supports Children and Families Eke success of the Service Integration program and all its partner agencies vAH be measured not only by the concrete improvements in the lives of the children and families living in Bay ,Point and North Richm=ond, but also by the network of indigenous supports and services that ma€r s in place a e.positive charges in to lives of the individuals served have men hold. For this reason, community capacity building has emerged as one of the most critical elements of the Service Integration Program. Currently, the Service integration Program craws heavily upon the resources available in theeggsiborhoods. Bay Point Works and the North Richmond Ernpoyment Collaborative staff are comprised pnmarily of neighborhood residents. Neighborhood residents and loci service providers shaped the initial plans for the two neighborhood employment col abora ves and largely deterinine yraton yplem.enta o activities. Bot initiatives have placed a strong emphasis on intensive training and mentorsh p of conununity std as a means of ensuring that residents have the skill base needed to take on positions of real authority in neighborhood projects and organizations. Building a self-sustaining neighborhood system also requires strong and enduring partnerships wa rig collaboration across public agencies and programs, robust p .b csphvate linkages and trusting, flexible relationships between service proVders and neighborhood residents. Over the past fixe years, the Service Integration Program has had the opportunity to participate in the early stags d a p rig such neighborhood systems ire. Bay Point and or Richmond. We book forward to playing a role in the strengthening of these systems in the future. M SITExecutive Oversight Conumittee Bay Point SITV ayr Point Wof-ks Staff North Richmond SITearrVNorth Richmond Emplormient Collaborative Staff 19