HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 10142003 - C80 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra
� Contra
Costa
FROM: Jahn Cullen, Social Service Director `• ,4° County
Sy'�COLTi'4`C,
DATE: October 8, 2003 IPA
SUBJECT: Child Care Affordability Fund and FACT Committee Membership
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION($)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMFN12ED ACTIONx
Accept report from the Family and Children's Trust Committee (FACT), and direct that the Committee
begin implementation of the recommendations.
FINANCIAL IMPACT-
None.
MPA -ToNone. The Child Care Affordability funds ($250,000) are derived from the Embassy Suites TOT, and
FACT was requested by the Board to make recommendations on the disbursement of these funds.
CH11-1 N'S'IMPACT STATEM NTe
The contracts will support all five of the community outcomes: "Children Ready for and Succeeding in
School" "Children and Youth Healthy and Preparing for Productive Adulthood" "Families that are
Economically Self Sufficient," `Families that are Safe, Stable and Nurturing" and "Communities that
are Safe and Provide a High Quality of Life for Children and Families" by availing families of safe,
stable child care and providing subsidies for this childcare. The goal is the stabilization of the family
unit and the provision of opportunities for individuals to obtain and maintain unsubsidized
employment
BACKGROUND
On October 61", 2003, The Director of Employment and Human Services Department and staff to the
FACT Committee met with the Family and Human Services Committee to present and discuss the
recommendations contained in this report. Several changes were requested by Supervisor Gioia and
these have been incorporated into the report. The Family and Human Services Committee then
approved forwarding the report to the full Board for approval.
m ,N
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SlGNA RE: /
jj�_RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
—.-L--APPROVE OTHER
f'
SIGNATURES qll "
ACTION OF BOR ON �Li{/�`• Fi`E 1 �� APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED, OTHER
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VOTE OF SUPERVISORS f
1 HERESY 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.
ATTESTED ✓` Y `I'
JOHN SWEETEN,CLERK`OFi't'HE BOARD
SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
Contact: Danna Fabella,3-1585 f
cc: EHSD (CONTRACTS UNIT,EB) .,
COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BY DEPUTY
AUDITOR-CONTROLLER '
CONTRACTOR
EMPLOYMENT AND HUMAN SERVICES
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
DATE September 29, 2003
TO Family and Human Services Committee
Supervisor John Gioia
Supervisor Federal Glover
FROM John Cullen, Director, Employment &. Human Services
Mary Kay Miller, FACT Staff
SUBJECT Child Care Affordability Fund and FACT Committee Membership
RECOMMENDATION(S)
The Director of the Employment and Human Services Department recommends
that the Family and Human Services Committee accepts the following plan from
the Family and Children's Trust Committee (FACT) to develop recommendations
for disbursement of the 2004-2005 Child Care Affordability funds.
The Director further recommends that this Committee accept the recommendation
from FACT to restructure the Committees' Membership Categories to reflect the
recent elimination of some county commissions/groups and/or the inability of
those groups to provide members to the FACT Committee, and to provide for
additional specific expertise to carry out FACT's responsibilities.
BACKGROUND
1. Child Care Affordability
In July 2003 the Family and Human Services Committee directed the Family and
Children's Trust Committee to undertake a Request for Qualifications process in
the fall of 2003 that would result in recommendations on the allocation of the
Child Care Affordability funds for FY 2004-2005. The FHS Committee further
requested an update on FACT's progress at this time.
The FACT Committee met in September to develop a timetable and a more
detailed plan for conducting a needs assessment process, developing one or more
child care priorities or service programs to be solicited in the procurement
process, developing the RFQ document and reviewing/rating the resulting
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proposals. Letters have been sent to the current Child Care Affordability
contractors reminding them that their FY03-04 contracts are for one year only and
alerting them to the upcoming RFQ solicitation.
The Child Care Affordability procurement process being recommended is similar
to the one that has been used for many years by FACT for allocation of the
County Children's Trust funds. The process will be guided by several principles.
The process must be totally open, without conflict of interest by any
participating person or group and include broadly-based input from a
variety of individuals.
• The needs assessment process should be sufficiently comprehensive to
determine the priorities for funding most likely to have significant impacts
and/or fill currently identified gaps in services, but not be duplicative of
other recently completed child care needs assessment studies or plans.
The priorities developed should complement and be aligned with other
on-going county efforts related to child care (e.g. First 5 Early Education
Strategy, CalWORK's child care, school-based care, etc.) to create a
balance of child care options in all areas of the county.
• Consideration should be given to the appropriate scale of the programs
to be supported, there is probably insufficient money to entertain any
capital construction of child care facility projects. On the other hand,
allocating small sums of money to a large number of existing child care
centers/programs is unlikely to have any sustainable impact on the overall
child care system in the county.
In addition to reviewing available written child care materials and plans, the
FACT Committee has identified agencies and programs whose staff have
extensive backgrounds in this field and knowledge of the county's current child
care system/issues and can provide significant input and perspectives regarding
allocation of these funds. These groups include the Local Planning Council, the
First 5 Commission, the Employment and Human Services Department,
Community Services Department, the Child Care Council, California School-Age
Consortium. Representatives from these programs (and others as identified) will
be invited to attend and participate in the Child Care Affordability discussions at
the FACT meetings in October and November. At that time, the Committee will
be seeking advice on the most appropriate and effective needs to be targeted with
these funds.
The FACT Committee will schedule a community meeting(s) in
December/January to receive input from child care providers, parents and other
community representatives related to the needs for child care that currently exist in
their neighborhoods/communities. This meeting(s) will be widely advertised to
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elicit as broad a response as possible.
Following the public meeting(s), Committee members will review and analyze the
collected information and develop the draft funding priorities and an outline of the
RFQ for discussion with this Committee. Once approved by FHS in February of
2004, the RFQ will be printed and released following procedures established by
the Contracts Unit of EHSD. This includes individual mailings to known possible
respondents, legal notices in all major newspapers, and distribution to other
interested individuals and agencies/programs. FACT will provide information to
FHS about the agencies, groups and/or individuals who are included in this
marketing.
Each acceptable proposal received in response to the RFQ will be read and scored
by all FACT members using a standardized scoring sheet, and each will be fully
analyzed and ranked at a Rating and Review meeting. The Committee will then
submit their recommendations for successful contractors to the Family and Human
Services Committee for discussion and acceptance with subsequent submittal to
the full Board for approval in May 2004. Resulting contracts will begin July Vt
and will be for one year with the possibility of renewal pending availability of
funds and the provision of quality services. Site-visits by FACT Committee
members and submission of data reflecting outcomes achieved will be the basis of
program monitoring of the contractors.
FACT has refined this procurement process over many years and has found it to be
a comprehensive, equitable and conflict-free approach to the disbursement of
funds. In the past 6 years, there have been no sustained applicant agency protests
of either the procurement process itself or the decisions reached by the Committee,
nor have any of FACT's recommendations not been fully approved by the Board
of Supervisors. The Committee expects this Child Care Affordability process to
have the same successful outcome.
2. Fact Committee Membership
The established Membership Categories for the FACT Committee at this time
include:
1. Up to 10 members from among the following Committees/Advisory
Boards and groups:
➢ United Way of the Bay Area
➢ Human Services Advisory Committee
➢ Juvenile Justice Commission
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➢ Mental Health Commission
➢ Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Board
)O� Children's Coalition
Family and Children's Services Advisory Committee
➢ Child Abuse Systems Review Committee
➢ Child Abuse Prevention Council
➢ A county-wide education committee
➢ A county-wide substance abuse committee
➢ Child Care Task Force
2. One representative from each Supervisorial District
3. Three At-Large members
FACT is requesting changes in the membership categories to reflect the recent
elimination of some committees and advisory boards and/or the inability of these
bodies to provide representatives that meet the stringent conflict-free requirements
of FACT. The Committee is also recommending new seats be added for
Committees/Commissions whose work is closely related to that of FACT, and two
additional At-Large seats to provide needed flexibility in seeking community
residents who are interested in serving on an advisory body and could provide
valuable input to FACT, but whose background/experience doesn't fall precisely
into established categories or seats.
Specifically, the FACT Committee recommends the following changes:
1. Eliminate the seat for United Way, as the United Way of the Bay Area no
longer has significant Contra Costa representation.
2. Eliminate the seat for the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Board, as
that group no longer exists.
3. Eliminate the seat for the Child Abuse System Review Committee as the
Director of the Child Abuse Council, who was the representative from that
Committee, is now required by the State Social Services Department to be
represented on FACT in order for the county to receive state funds. The
Director sits in an advisory capacity as an ex officio member of FACT.
4. Eliminate the seat for the Juvenile Justice Commission as the Commission
has not been able to provide a representative to FACT for some time.
5. Eliminate the Children's Coalition seat as that group has ceased to exist
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6. Replace the Child Care Task Force seat with a seat for the Local Planning
Council.
7. Add a seat representing the First 5 Commission whose mandate is closely
aligned with FACT's responsibilities.
8. Add a seat representing an early childhood education/child development
individual/group.
9. Add a seat representing a Faith Community Group.
9. Add two additional At-Large seats.
10. Retain the five Supervisorial representatives.
In order to maintain the broadest possible representation and still continue to
function effectively and efficiently, FACT recommends that a roster of 15 to 17
members would be an ideal configuration. If the above recommendations are
accepted, the committee will strive to maintain up to seven (7) representatives in
the committee/commission/board category, five (5) members representing the
Supervisorial districts, and five (5) At-Large members. Each of these members
would be required to be conflict-free with respect to the State and Board of
Supervisors' statutes.
FACT would continue to recruit individuals of ethnic, cultural, socio-economic,
educational and geographic diversity that are representative of the overall county
population. At-Large members with education/experience in fields of child abuse
and neglect, child care, out-of-home-placement, homelessness, substance abuse
services, family systems, multi-ethnic services and/or program planning, analysis,
and evaluation will be particularly sought out.
Representatives from the first membership category, County Commissions and
Boards, are selected by the Commissions themselves and are then forwarded to the
Board for approval. Representatives from less formal groups (education, child
development, and substance abuse experts) and the new At-Large applicants will
be forwarded to the 17 Committee for review prior to submission to the full Board
for appointment. Each of the five Supervisors has the option of recruiting
selecting his/her own appointment, or if requested, the FACT Committee will
assist in those efforts. These are automatically forwarded to the Board for
approval.
Several members of FACT whose terms have expired and who wish to be
reappointed were in specific membership seats that would be changed if the above
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recommendations were accepted. These individuals have backgrounds/ experience
in the newly designated commission/committee seats. Because they have been
valuable, contributing members of the Committee, FACT recommends that they
be appointed to these seats following full Board approval of the restructuring.
Each Supervisor whose district has an open seat has been contacted and staff in
these offices is working with staff to FACT to expedite the recruitment/approval
process. Likewise, several qualified candidates for At-Large seats have been
identified and will be applying for membership when the Clerk of the Board has
posted the vacancies. We anticipate that the appointment/reappointment process
can be completed in November.
FACT has put significant time and effort into the development of these
recommendations and hopes the Family and Human Services Committee will
forward them to the full Board for approval.
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