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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 06131996 - D.2 I I T) TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS F&HS-01 Contra FROM: FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE , "' Costa 3. 1;3 c.:. J;� O t DATE: July 8, 1996 '. .�T L iiiri`� I SUBJECT: REPORT ON THE WORK OF THE POLICY FORUM AND ITS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION I RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. DIRECT the County Administrator to return to the Family and Human Services Committee with a Work Plan and strategy for addressing the following: How the County can better inventory the system of family and children's services which are now being provided in order to improve the coordination and; contact among service providers and reduce duplication and overlapping of services. How the County;can better identify family and ;children's services programs that are not working and terminate them ;in order to preserve those resources for programs which have demonstrated the ability to achieve identified, measurable outcomes. How the County can redesign the service delivery system in order to put more emphasis on the needs of the client who is the consumer of the services as well as on the client who is the provider of the resources which finance the services and less of an emphasis on the needs of the professionals who deliver the services. I I I CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD CO ITT APPROVE OTHER I INj SIGNATURE(S): AARK DeSAI 11 ACTION OF BOARD ON APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER August 6, 199�1i I I I I I � I ' ' I I I I I VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X 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. i I ATTESTED August 6, 1996 Contact: County Administrators ePHCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF cc: Sara Hoffman (CAO s Office) SOIRS AND COUNTY INISTR OR Policy Forum Executive Committee (Via Sara Hoffman) ' I I I I I IF&HS-01 2. APPROVE the following priority areas for the Executive Committee of the Policy Forum to work on;in the coming year, as are outlined in the attached report: 4- Alcohol and Drug Use. 4- Parenting 4- After School Programs 4- Communication Fraud Prevention . 3. DIRECT the County Administrator to report further to the Family and Human Services Committee on these subject and the work' of the Executive Committee of the Policy;Forum on September 23, 1996. BACKGROUND: On March 5, 1996, the Board of Supervisors approved a report from our Committee which established a Policy Forum and an Executive Committee for the Policy Forum. At that time, the County Administrator was directed to report regularly to our Committee on issues which should be brought to the attention of the Board of Supervisors. On May 21, 1996, the Board of Supervisors approved a report from our Committee which directed the County Administrator to make a status report to our Committee on the work of the;Policy Forum on July 8, 1996. On July 8, 1996, our Committee met with the County Administrator, Phil Batchelor, and Sara Hoffman, staff to the Executive Committee of the;Policy Forum. Mr. Batchelor outlined the activities of the Executive Committee ofd the Policy Forum at its initial meeting on June 24,;1996, as are reflected in the attached report. The Executive Committee of,the Policy Forum has outlined five priority areas on which it wants to work in the coming year. Our Committee believes that it is important to develop a strong connection among the department heads who are members of the Executive Committee and between the Board of Supervisors and these department heads, through the Family and Human Services Committee. We believes.that it is important for the Board of Supervisors to provide policy direction to the department heads and for them to then work in the direction of implementing that policy direction. We also agree with the Executive Committee that it is important to better coordinate programs among those departments which are providers of services to the families and children in our community. It may, in fact, be necessary' to reconfigure these services in order to better serve the community. One of the outcomes which we agree is important is that one;of the important outcomes is the process by which the departments communicate and coordinate with each other. Our Committee is concerned that we make better use of the resources we have. In order to do this, it is necessary to insure that we are aware of all the services that are being provided and how they interconnect with each other. -We should be prepared to determine realistic, measurable outcomes for 'programs, determine which programs are achieving their outcomes and which are not, and agree to redirect resources away from programs that are not achieving their outcomes to those programs which are. -2- r i I • I i r i . i F&HS-41 We have, therefore, proposed the above recommendations for action by the Board. We will return to the Board following our September 23, 1996 meeting with a further progress report on this most important subject. r I I ' I r r r r I I r r r , r r r jj f I r r I r r r ; r r i I r r I r ; t r r I ' i I I i i i I I � I r -3- I I r r ` r I I • I • OL I • I I I I I � I I I I CONTRA COSTA COUNTY OFFICE OF;THE COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR 651 Pine Street, 10th Floor I Martinez, California 94553 Telephone: 646-1390 DATE: July 2, 1996 TO: Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier Supervisor Jeff;Smith Family and Human Services Committee FROM: Sara Hoffm 4-- Senior Deputy Administrator i SUBJECT: Policy Forum I The Executive Committee of the Policy Forum met on June 24, 199' 6. Expectations for the meeting were to : I I • develop an understanding of shared issues/concerns and programmatic interdependencies regarding children and families; • determine a direction for the coming year for the Policy Forum. ' I All Executive Committee members attended the meeting, including: Paul Allen, Superintendent, Mt. Diablo School District; Phil Batchelor, County Administrator (Chair); John Cullen, Social Service Director; Lois Haight, Juvenile Court;Judge; Richard Martinez, Executive Director, Housing Authority; Art Miner, Executive Director, Private Industry Council ; Ron Stewart, County Superintendent of Schools; Warren Rupf, Sheriff-Coroner; Terry Starr, County Probation Officer; Scott Tandy, Community Services Director; and William Walker, Health Services Director. ; Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier joined the group in the morning and discussed new directions and hopes for the Policy Forum. He also participated in defining;challenges facing children in Contra Costa County. Supervisor Jeff Smith joined the Executive Committee during the lunch hour and spoke on his perspectives on children and family issues. There was general consensus among the members at the meeting that there is a need to work together on family and children's issues, since many individual concerns and programmatic responsibilities are interlinked and there could be synergetic benefits from working together. The Executive Committee also agreed upon priority areas for the ; I I I I I ; ; I I I I I I i i ; coming year. These included: • alcohol and drug use-The well being of children and families is impacted by alcohol and drug use on the part of parents and/or children. The resulf'..ng difficulties appear to be a common thread among most of the agencies. ; • parenting - Parenting skills are not "taught" as part�of a regular school curriculum. Not all people are prepared to be good parents or understand the demands of parenting, either before they decide to have a family or after the fact. The need for parenting skills seemed to be a fundamental core ingredient to family stability. I • afferschool programs-Various school districts have, on a pilot basis, begun after school recreation/tutoring programs to support children whose parents are working and do not have alternate care arrangements. Positive outlets for children during 'after school hours are important for educational success and avoidance of juvenile justice problems and teen pregnancy. • communication - There was a general consensus on the need to better communicate with:the public on several levels: 1) that taxpayers are getting the "money's worth" for County programs; 2) that County government and Schools cannot `;fix" the problems of society by themselves; and 3) that communities and individuals need to be involved and take responsibility for children and families. • fraud prevention Many families are working very hard to make ends meet. There is a perception on the part of some people that others are taking advantage of the system and the system is allowing for it. i The Executive Committee will be discussing work plan items related to each of these five areas of agreement at its next meeting, currently scheduled for August 1, 1996. i cc: Executive Committee ' I i i , I i i i i I i i i i i i i i i i i I i I i 1 I i I i I i i i I I i