Agenda

Return

C. 29

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	Esa Ehmen-Krause, County Probation Officer
Date:	August 1, 2023

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Funding for OJJDP Strategies for Youth Program

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 08/01/2023

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Ken Carlson, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Sarah Shkidt, Chief of Administrative Services (925)313-4195

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: August 1, 2023
Monica Nino, County Administrator

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

ACCEPT funds and APPROVE Fiscal Year 2023-24 Appropriation and Revenue Adjustment No. BDA-23-00225 authorizing new revenue from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the amount of $1,180,000 to the Probation Department for the Supporting Youth in the Community Initiative.

FISCAL IMPACT:

This action will provide revenue to fund the Supporting Youth in the Community Initiative in Contra Costa County. This program is 100% funded by the federal government through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. No County match is required.

BACKGROUND:

The Probation Department is a recipient of a federal Community Project Funding award of $1,180,000 for the launch of The Strategies for Supporting Youth in the Community Initiative - A Collaborative Project with Strategies for Youth to provide evidence-based training sessions on adolescent development to all departments and offices with law enforcement duties in the County.

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

Strategies for Youth (SFY), a Cambridge, MA based organization, offers a trademarked training curriculum and program with a specific focus on effective interaction with youth for law enforcement personnel. The program, based on research in adolescent development and psychology, was designed to supplement standard law enforcement training and increase officers’ understanding of young people. Training sessions highlight the differences between youth and adult cognitions, including that youth cognitions are more likely to be “hot” and that they have the tendency to assert their autonomy. Role-play exercises with youth from local communities allow young people to share their perceptions of officers’ responses and reinforce the differences between youth and adult perceptions and behaviors to social and contextual cues. Training participants are taught skills and techniques to respond to young people in a manner that recognizes but redirects behavior that is typical of a young person as well as strategies to de-escalate emotionally heated or aggressive encounters to minimize violence and ultimately, reduce arrests. In addition, participants are taught to identify compromised youth behavior that might indicate mental health problems, substance use, trauma, or some combination. Lastly, portions of the training focus on factors that commonly affect youth and their behavior, such as neighborhood demographics and cultural messaging. This important aspect of the training program speaks to the potential for mitigating any racial disparities in the arrests of young people.

The Probation Department will partner with SFY to offer a standard 2-day training that includes an assessment to customize the training to meet the needs of the local community as well as a policy review with an eye toward how the language of each policy reflects a trauma-informed, youth development approach. The project will also include a 4-day train the trainer program conducted by a SFY psychologist and patrol officer where local officers learn how to train their peers. This training includes identification and training of local psychologists and community-based youth-serving organizations to provide future trainings and to serve as a resource to the agency as well as coaching to assist in the implementation of 2-day trainings. Given the size of the Probation Department and the Sheriff’s Office, the train the trainer program was deemed to be the most efficient for long term sustainability. The funds for this program will be spent directly on the trainings offered by SFY for all county-wide law enforcement agencies willing to participate. The training costs include SFY’s fees as well as the backfill overtime costs for agencies to sustain operational staffing levels while officers attend the training courses.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

If unapproved the program would not be implemented and appropriations would not be properly allocated.