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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 11281995 - D1 � I To: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS F&HS-02 - �,,�. o� Contra FROM: FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE .'�J �►~ ''' Costa � . County T DATE: November 13, 1995 _ y f�Sri cuii+ c SUBJECT: STATUS REPORT ON COORDINATING POLICY ADVICE TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS IN THE AREA OF FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S SERVICES SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. DIRECT the County Administrator to circulate the attached report to all affected departments, advisory bodies and the Policy Academy, requesting their input, comments and recommendations. 2. DIRECT the County Administrator's staff to meet with the Policy Academy to review the attached report with its members and seek their input and comments. 3. DIRECT the County Administrator to make whatever revisions he deems appropriate to the attached document and return a revised draft of the document, along with all comments which have been received, to the 1996 Family and Human Services Committee during the month of January, 1996. 4. DIRECT staff in the Community Development Department to undertake a review of applications for the public service portion of the Community Development Block Grant and make recommendations for the allocation of this portion of the funds. 5. AUTHORIZE the 1996 Family and Human Services Committee to serve as the hearing and appeals body for applicants for funds from the public service portion of the Community Development Block Grant. 6. REMOVE these subjects as a referrals to the 1995 Family and Human Services Committee and instead REFER them to the 1996 Family and Human Services Committee. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COIT APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURES ACTION OF BOARD ON APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER November , 1995 VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN, c ATTESTED ^'+t��A Contact: PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF CC: SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR See Page 4 BY DEPUTY F&HS-02 ' ' BACKGROUND: On August 1, 1995, the Board of Supervisors approved a report from our Committee which included the following recommendations: 1. DIRECT the following Department Heads to meet with the Family and Human Services Committee and members of the Policy Academy on a quarterly basis, beginning on September 25,1995,in an effort to develop and maintain closer coordination among County Departments, the Family and Human Services Committee, the Policy Academy and the advisory boards, committees and commissions in the family and children's services area: The County Administrator The Social Service Director The Health Services Director The Community Services Director The County Probation Officer Invite the County Superintendent of Schools or his designee to attend these meetings. 2. AUTHORIZE the Family and Human Services Committee to plan a Workshop with the above Department Heads,members of the Policy Academy and members of the advisory boards,committees and commissions in the family and children's services area in an effort to identify ways in which the Board of Supervisors can: ❑ Make more effective use of the citizen's input which is available in the membership of the Policy Academy and the various advisory boards, committees and commissions; ❑ Identify areas in which advisory bodies overlap each other's areas of responsibility; ❑ Identify areas in which advisory bodies compete inappropriately with each other; and ❑ Identify ways in which the policy advice being provided to the Board of Supervisors in the area of family and children's services can be consolidated and streamlined. 3. AUTHORIZE the Family and Human Services Committee to discuss with the members of the Policy Academy,the affected Department Heads and the affected advisory boards, committees and commissions how reporting requirements for private non-profit agencies providing services on behalf of the Board of Supervisors can be streamlined or made more unified and consistent, based on the following guidelines: ❑ Elected officials need to decide funding priorities among all of the competing interests. ❑ Community representatives (including members of advisory bodies) can perform a valuable service by helping to decide which agencies should receive funds in support of those priorities through the use of experienced readers of Requests For Proposals. ❑ The responsibility to provide oversight and monitoring of agencies which are providing family and children's services on behalf of the County should be the responsibility of County staff, not members of advisory boards. 4. AUTHORIZE the Family and Human Services Committee to discuss with the members of the Policy Academy,the affected Department Heads and the affected advisory boards,committees and commissions the implications of setting as goals for the Policy Academy: ❑ Responsibility to design a policy blueprint for family and children's needs in Contra Costa County and how to fill them. ❑ Recommending funding priorities for family and children's services in Contra Costa County. ❑ Coordinating departmental and advisory committee input on family and children's services to the Board of Supervisors. 5. AUTHORIZE the Family and Human Services Committee to discuss with the members of the Policy Academy,the affected Department Heads and the affected advisory boards,committees and commissions the implications of having advisory boards,committees and commissions in the family and children's services area coordinate their policy input to the Board of Supervisors through the Policy Academy, possibly by having the Chair or another designated member from each identified advisory group attend meetings of the Policy Academy. 6. AUTHORIZE the Family and Human Services Committee to discuss with the members of the Policy Academy,the affected Department Heads and the affected advisory boards,committees and commissions the feasibility of designating a body to prepare a comprehensive annual Family and Children's Services Work Plan,along with an organizational matrix which identifies -2- F&HS-02 ' at least the major programs operated or funded by the County and how they interrelate with each other. The September 25, 1995 meeting was canceled because of Rosh Hashanah and was rescheduled for November 13, 1995. On November 13, 1995, our Committee met with representatives from the Policy Academy; the Child Care Task Force; the Family and Children's Trust Committee (FACT); the Family and Children's Services Advisory Committee (FACSAC); the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Advisory Board, the Human Services Advisory Commission, the Juvenile Justice/Delinquency Prevention Commissions; and the Juvenile Systems Planning Advisory Committee. In addition, we were joined by the County Administrator, the Social Service Director, the County Probation Officer and staff from the Health Services, Social Service and Community Services Departments. The County Administrator presented the attached report and reviewed it in some detail with our Committee and the audience. This paper is staff's effort to respond to the directions provided by the Board of Supervisors on August 1, 1995. As it notes, the report is an effort to assist in coordinating the policy advice which our Committee and the Board of Supervisors receive in the area of family and children's services. The report recommends the formation of a Family and Children's Services Policy Council, replacing the Youth Services Board and the Expanded Youth Services Board. The Policy Council would include the involved County departments, the education community, the family and children's services advisory boards, the policy academy, contract agencies and consumers of the services we provide. The Policy Council would be the primary vehicle through which policy advice in the area of family and children's services would be debated, through which interdepartmental issues having to do with family and children's services would be coordinated and discussed, and to which advisory boards and contract agencies could took as a forum to discuss and reach agreement on issues they want to bring to the attention of the County. The Policy Council would report regularly to our Committee and thus to the Board of Supervisors. Among the comments which were made by those present were the following: ♦ The Superintendent of Schools should be the designated education representative. ♦ The Superintendent of Schools should not be the only designated education representative. ♦ A representative of the Housing Authority should be added to the Policy Council. ♦ A representative of local law enforcement should be added to the Policy Council. ♦ One or more members of the Board of Supervisors should be added to the Policy Council. ♦ Actual recipients of services should be added to the youth representatives. ♦ It may be difficult to get all of the non-profit agencies together to select a representative for the Policy Academy. ♦ "Customers" need to be added to the Policy Council. ♦ Cities are a stakeholder in this process and should be represented on the Policy Council. ♦ We need to acknowledge the value of the Policy Academy, recognize that it is part of the reason we have received foundation grants recently and maintain the integrity of their process and maintain the five strategies on which they are working. ♦ Agree we need to restructure the Policy Academy. -3- F&HS-02 ♦ We need to have the Department Heads involved. We need better collaboration and coordination. In view of the size of the group that was present and the variety of comments which were made, we asked the County Administrator and Department Heads to go back, evaluate each of these comments, seek additional comments and input from the Policy Academy and the affected advisory bodies and return to the 1996 Family and Human Services Committee in January, 1996 with a revised draft of this paper. We are particularly interested in seeing how the Policy Academy is intended to interact with the Policy Council and how the advisory bodies and operational sub-committees are going to interact with the Policy Council and each other. In regard to the human services portion of the Community Development Block Grant, we do not have a suitable body to review and recommend allocations of funds for the 1996 program year. It had been hoped that such a body might come out of these discussions with the family and children's services advisory bodies. However, it is necessary to go ahead and start the review process of that portion of the CDBG funds which are reserved for human services. Therefore, we are recommending that staff undertake this review and make preliminary decisions regarding allocating the funds. The 1996 Family and Human Services Committee can then serve as the hearing and appeal body before final allocation recommendations are made to the Board of Supervisors. cc: County Administrator Health Services Director Social Service Director Community Services Director County Probation Officer Community Development Director Executive Director, Private Industry Council Superintendent of Schools (Via CAO) Danna Fabella, Assistant County Welfare Director Sara Hoffman, Senior Deputy County Administrator Mary Foran, Director, Office for Service Integration, HSD Wilda Davisson, Manager, Child Development Programs, CSD Belinda Smith, Planner, CDD Members of the Policy Academy (Via CAO) Members of various advisory bodies (Via CAO) -4-