Title
Chief Administrative Office and Probation Department recommending the Board direct the Chief Administrative Office and Probation Department to sign a joint letter of intent to participate in the California Forward's Partnership for Community Excellence project titled: Achieving Better System Outcomes through Data Driven Practices and Decision Making.
Body
Background
California Forward (CA FWD) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose mission is "to work with Californians to help create a 'smart' government - one that's small enough to listen, big enough to tackle real problems, smart enough to spend our money wisely in good times and bad, and honest enough to be held accountable for results." The Partnership for Community Excellence (CA FWD Partnership) is an initiative of CA FWD with the mission of "providing information and assistance to enable county officials and local criminal justice agencies to build the capacity, culture, infrastructure and integrated systems necessary to successfully implement Realignment and improve public safety outcomes."
The Director of the CA FWD Partnership contacted El Dorado County to determine if we would be interested in participating in a three-year effort to identify ways the County can improve offender rehabilitation services and expand alternatives to incarceration based upon data that is evaluated regularly. The data-driven process is guided by a model called the 'Seven Elements of System Change'. CA FWD intends to use this model as a framework for guiding the County through the process of engaging stakeholders, developing or clarifying the vision and outcomes desired, exploring challenges and opportunities, examining system data, designing and testing solutions, and exploring innovations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the justice system and achieving better outcomes. A description of the effort is attached to this report. El Dorado County is viewed as an innovative small county with public safety departments that work cooperatively and continuously strive to provide positive outcomes for the residents of the county and as such, a good candidate for inclusion in this initiative.
County public safety partners met with the CA FWD Partnership on July 14, 2014 to discuss the potential for involvement in the initiative and issues they hope to address. Partnership staff was impressed by the enthusiasm and openness of the meeting participants and believe partnering with El Dorado County on identifying opportunities to implement system change in public safety would be a productive endeavor. CA FWD has obtained grant funding to cover their costs during the project period. CA FWD asks that the County designate an Executive Steering Committee and lead agency for the effort, but otherwise no additional costs to El Dorado County are anticipated. The CAO and Probation Department have agreed to serve jointly as lead agency and will utilize analyst staff funded through AB 109 funds to coordinate with CA FWD as needed.
Reason for Recommendation
The CA FWD Partnership has requested that the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors direct the Chief Administrative Office and Probation Department to sign a joint letter of intent to participate in the CA FWD Partnership's project titled: Achieving Better System Outcomes through Data Driven Practices and Decision Making. This will demonstrate El Dorado County's commitment to the partnership and allow the partners to move forward with the initiative. Chief Administrative Officer Terri Daly and Chief of Probation Brian Richart have drafted the joint letter confirming El Dorado County's interest in the partnership, attached to this report, that will be sent to CA FWD should the Board approve participation.
Contact
Terri Daly, x5530
Brian Richart, x5958
Concurrences
Chief Administrative Office
Probation Department