To: Board of Supervisors
From: County Administrative Office
Agenda Section: Consent
SUBJECT:
title
California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) Prison to Employment Implementation Funds, Fiscal Year 2019-20 Supplemental Budget (4/5 Vote Required)
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Approve the following supplemental budget for Fiscal Year 2019-20 in Fund 1120, Budget Unit 287 (4/5th vote required);
Revenue: 1120287514060 State Revenue-Workforce $584,569
Expense: 11202873017 Professional Services $584,569
2. Direct the Auditor-Controller to appropriate $584,569 to Budget Unit 287 (4/5 vote required);
3. Approve and authorize the Chair of the Board of Supervisors to sign two copies of the Professional Services Agreement between the County of Humboldt and Westside Community Improvement Association relating to CWDB grant funds (Attachment 2);
4. Approve the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between two County of Humboldt agencies, the County Administrative Office Economic Development Division and the Department of Health and Human Services, Social Services Branch (Attachment 3); and
5. Direct the Clerk of the Board to return all executed copies of the attached agreements to the Executive Director of the Humboldt County Workforce Development Board.
Body
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Prison to Employment Implementation grant funds from the California Workforce Development Board
DISCUSSION:
California releases approximately 36,000 people from state prisons each year, a portion of whom have received in-prison job-training rehabilitative services such as Career Technical Education (CTE) or have participated in programs operated by the California Prison Industry Authority (CalPIA). Concurrently, California manages federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funds through its State Workforce Plan developed by the California Workforce Development Board (State Board) and implemented by Local Workforce Development Boards (Local Boards) across the state.
While there is some, often informal, coordination between these two systems there is no formal, sustained, and systemic, relationship between them. Some reentry and workforce programs have been created to target certain subpopulations of the state’s supervised population, as discussed below, and while these programs have provided good data and lessons learned, an ongoing marriage of the two systems is needed to better integrate services operating in isolation, and to fill gaps and provide holistic and long-term outcomes to reduce recidivism.
As part of Governor Brown’s efforts to improve California’s criminal and juvenile justice systems and reduce recidivism through increased rehabilitation, the State Board, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), California Prison Industry (CalPIA), and California Workforce Association (CWA) have finalized a partnership agreement which is included in amendments to the California WIOA Unified Strategic Workforce Development Plan 2016-2020.
The partnership agreement will better link education, job training, and work experience in prison to post-release jobs by fostering a system of coordinated service delivery to a population that faces a variety of barriers. It serves as a blueprint for building local and regional partnerships to improve labor market outcomes and reduce recidivism. Policy strategies outlined in this agreement include:
1.Sector Strategies
2.Career Pathways
3.Organizing Regionally
4.Earn and Learn
5.Supportive Services
6.Integrated Service Delivery and Braided Resources
7.Building Cross-System Data Capacity
The partnership agreement will inform policies specific to California’s 14 Labor Regions, 45 Local Workforce Development Boards, and 200 contracted America’s Job Centers of California (AJCCs), and how they serve the state’s formerly incarcerated and justice-involved population.
The Corrections Workforce Partnership Agreement is intended to strengthen linkages between the state workforce and corrections systems in order to improve the process by which the formerly incarcerated and justice-involved individuals reenter society and the labor force. The Prison to Employment Initiative was a grant program that was included in the Governor’s 2018 Budget proposal and includes $37 million over three budget years to operationalize integration of workforce and reentry services in the state’s 14 labor regions. The goal is to improve labor market outcomes by creating a systemic and ongoing partnership between rehabilitative programs within CDCR and the state workforce system by bringing CDCR under the policy umbrella of the State Workforce Plan.
The Humboldt County Workforce Development Board was awarded a $584,569 grant from the California Workforce Development Board as part of the Corrections Workforce Partnership to implement the policy strategies identified above. Direct program implementation will occur through subcontractors of these grant funds. The subcontracts with partner agencies are listed below:
Professional Services Agreement with Westside Community Improvement Association (WCIA)
This agreement with WCIA will provide Case Navigators for formally incarcerated individuals to assist them with connecting to local community resources. This will help participants obtain long-term stabilization by assisting them in securing housing, employment and financial literacy training. These services align with the California Strategic Workforce Development Plan policy strategies for organizing regionally, integrated service delivery and braided resources, and successful sector strategies.
Memorandum of Understanding between County Administrative Office Economic Development Division and the Department of Health and Human Services, Social Services Branch
This agreement is between two County of Humboldt agencies, the County Administrative Office -Economic Development Division (CAO-EDD) and the Department of Health and Human Services-Social Services Branch (DHHS-SSB). The Employment Training Division (ETD) of the DHHS-SSB will provide case management services for Prison to Employment (P2E) participants. Case management will include intake, assessments, and data tracking through the CalJOBS.gov system. ETD will also provide job readiness resources to P2E participants to assist them with their job search. Additionally, ETD will engage with Humboldt County employers for potential job site development for participants of the P2E program. ETD caseworkers will also monitor work experience (WEX) placements and on-the-job training (OJT). These activities will coordinate a relationship between Humboldt County’s re-entry and workforce systems. This integration will be beneficial for participants and the broader community. The goal is to reduce recidivism within Humboldt County and increase rehabilitative services offered.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The requested supplemental budget will increase the Economic Development-Workforce Development funds by $584,569. $58,457 of these funds are allocated towards administrative costs to provide program oversight and data reporting to the CWDB. Of the administrative funds, $49,261 is for staff salary and benefits, $4,000 is for grant convening travel and $5,196 is for operating expenses such as rent, consumable supplies and utilities. $16,000 will be used to contract College of the Redwoods to provide mindfulness curriculum for staff and participants. $73,568 will secure services from Westside Community Improvement Association for holistic navigation services and financial literacy courses for participants. $436,544 will be allocated to Department of Health and Human Services, Employment and Training Division (DHHS-ETD) for providing intake, assessments, case management, job-readiness training, employer engagement and supportive services for clients.
STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK:
This action supports your Board’s Strategic Framework by supporting self reliance of citizens and providing community-appropriate levels of service
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
Westside Community Improvement Association
College of the Redwoods
Department of Health and Human Services- Employment Training Division
ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
The Board could choose not to approve this agenda item. This alternative is not recommended as the activities conducted under these funds support the regional plan set forth by the Humboldt County Workforce Development Board. Furthermore, these funds bring much needed services to justice-involved individuals who can benefit from the work readiness programs.
ATTACHMENTS:
Supplemental Budget Request
Westside Community Improvement Association Professional Services Agreement
Prison to Employment Memorandum of Understanding between DHHS-ETD and CAO-EcDev
PREVIOUS ACTION/REFERRAL:
Board Order No.: N/A
Meeting of: N/A
File No.: N/A