With the passage of SB 1020 in 2012, the County was required to create a Local Innovation Subaccount intended to promote local innovation and county decision making. Revenue deposited in this “Local Innovation Fund” must be used to support local needs, and the law provides the Board of Supervisors with the authority to fund any activity that is otherwise allowable for any of the underlying accounts that fund the innovation subaccount. Beginning with fiscal year 2015-16, any revenue deposited in the Local Innovation Fund each year will come from transferring 10% of the revenue received from the State in the form of growth allocations for the 1) Community Corrections, 2) Trial Court Security, 3) District Attorney and Public Defender, and 4) Juvenile Justice Subaccounts (these are the four source accounts for the Local Innovation Fund).
Based on an RFP process and recommendations from this Committee in December 2017, the Board of Supervisors awarded contracts for innovative reentry programs to Fast Eddie’s Auto Tech Training for $75,000 and to the Richmond Workforce Development Board for $175,000. Subsequently, after an RFQ process, Jeweld Legacy Group was similarly awarded a $75,000 contract in May 2018 for Capacity Building Services.
In March 2019 this Committee considered this item and directed staff to increase Fast Eddie’s contract by $37,500 so that services could be provided through the end of 2019, and also increase the award to Jeweld Legacy Group by $50,000 so that micro grants could be provided to the agencies participating in the Capacity Building Program. With these changes the programs from Richmond Workforce Board and Fast Eddie’s were set to conclude on December 31, 2019, and the Capacity Building Program led by Jeweld Legacy would be completed by June 30, 2020.
During this Committee’s March 2019 meeting, it also directed staff to develop a procurement process to identify new programs to award with innovation funds. The County Administrator’s Office of Reentry and Justice (ORJ) subsequently utilized the same process used previously where initial advice was taken from the Community Advisory Board of the Community Corrections Partnership (CAB), and then this advice informed direction from the Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) on how ORJ would procure providers for new innovative reentry programs.
Advice was requested from the CAB in June 2019 and in September 2019 CAB provided the following advice to CCP on the use of the County’s Local Innovation Fund:
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An RFP process be conducted for three $150,000 awards with one award each provided to:
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A program for young people up to age 25,
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An innovative employment program, and
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A program for at-risk or underserved populations.
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Remaining money be used to shared learning events with one related to fund two day long symposiums with one related to successful reentry for young people up to age 25, and a second focused on characteristics of effective reentry and diversion programming.
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As RFP #1909-365 for Local Innovation Fund Projects was released on October 15, 2019, with a maximum award of $300,000, the County became aware that revenue to be received in FY 19-20 from the state for the Local Innovation Fund was only going to be $160,960 when it was originally projected to be $289,054. This reduction meant there would be a balance of $350,185 in the Local Innovation Fund for the current fiscal year. Because this would only leave about $50,000 to support ongoing programs, Fast Eddie's is the only ongoing program that could reasonably be supported for this amount. Thus, the ORJ has begun the process of increasing Fast Eddie’s contract by $50,000 and extending it to December 31, 2020. Finally, because there is approximately $18,000 left in the agreement with Jeweld Legacy Group for capacity building, the ORJ has also begun negotiations with this organization to extend this contract to December 31, 2020, and redirect the use of these funds for the production of the two shared learning events for 2020 that were endorsed by the CCP.
RFP #1909-365
Responses to the RFP were submitted to the ORJ on November 14, 2019, and considered by a review panel the following week. The panel included a member of the CAB and various County staff that work with the reentry population and are familiar with programs that provide services to this population. The panel’s work was facilitated by Donté Blue, Deputy Director, Office of Reentry and Justice, and was comprised of the following representatives:
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Henrissa Bassey, Community Advisory Board on Public Safety Realignment Member
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Michael V. Fischer, CORE Program Manager, Health, Housing & Homeless Division
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Mark Goodwin, Chief of Staff, Office of Supervisor Diane Burgis
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Marina Kisseleva-Cercone, Probation Supervisor
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Christopher Pedraza, Program Manager, Alcohol and Other Drug Services
The panel considered all six responses that were timely received by the ORJ. After reviewing each proposal, those with the three lowest scores were dropped from further consideration and the remaining responders were invited to an interview by the panel.
The scores for the responses that were not invited to an interview were:
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Responder |
Program Type |
Amount Requested |
Score |
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All Hands on Deck |
Housing for Transition Age Youth |
$300,000 |
62 |
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Leaders in Community Alternatives |
Cognitive Based Intervention for Transition Age Youth |
$298,856 |
71 |
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Lao Family Community Development |
Employment training and support for Transition Age Youth |
$299,999 |
71.5 |
Below are final scores and a synopsis of the programs proposed by the agencies that interview with the review panel.
Community and Youth Outreach (requested $265,551)
Score: 79 points
Community and Youth Outreach (CYO) proposed an expansion of the County’s current Ceasefire program to reduce gun violence in East County. Currently, AB 109 revenue is used to fund a single coordinator for this program and this proposal sought to augment that investment with direct services to Ceasefire participants. This program would replicate services the agency is current providing in the City of Oakland. Specifically, this would enroll up to 80 participants in services lasting 6 – 12 months where they would be provided with peer-led Intensive Adult Life Coaching and cognitive behavioral services through CYO’s Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise facilitated groups. The program would focus on providing services to young people ages 18 – 25 who have been assessed as high risk by the Probation Department’s risk assessment tool or who exhibit at least three of the following: four or more prior arrests, prior arrest for gun violence, active member of a gang, previously shot, has a close friend of family member who has been shot in the past year. While participating in the program, participants would be provided cash incentives for achieving various benchmarks that could amount to as much as $200 in a month.
Shelter Inc. (requested $300,000)
Score: 83 points
The Bright Futures program by Shelter Inc. sought to provide up to 30 incarcerated young people between the ages of 18 – 25 with reentry planning prior to their release from custody and case management with career coaching upon the person’s release from custody. The program would work with young people during their final month of incarceration in a local jail or juvenile detention facility, and for up to a year after the person’s release from custody. Case management would look to connect the person to needed services with particular attention paid to helping the person meet their transportation needs. The program would have a “flex fund” available for each client that would allow creative remedies to be fashioned for the unique needs and challenges faced by those in the program. Bright Futures would leverage existing employment providers for needed training, and its own internal program for housing resources the population might require.
Rubicon Programs (requested $120,000)
Score: 87.5 points
The Evening Connections Program would extend operating hours for the Reentry Success Center (RSC) in Richmond by providing evening hours from 5:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. each weekday with interest in also opening for a half day on Saturdays. This program is intended to provide services to populations in need of evening services because they are unavailable during the day or released from custody outside of regular business hours and at an increased risk of returning to custody if not quickly engaged in needed supportive services. As part of the evening connections program, individuals would be transported to the RSC directly from custody, even if they will ultimately be returning to the east or central region of the County. The activities to be provided at the center during these extended hours would vary night to night and include support groups, employment readiness support, reentry coaching, triage of needs and referrals to services, and prosocial recreational activities.
Panel Recommendation
After conducting interviews, the panel determined that the program proposed by Rubicon would be the best use of the Local Innovation Fund. To ensure that weekend hours and other program enhancements could occur the panel recommends that $150,000 be awarded to Rubicon Programs for FY 2020-21 to provide its Evening Connections Program at the Reentry Success Center in West County.
Because the other requests were so much more than the remaining $150,000, the panel didn’t feel it could recommend funding any of the remaining program while still maintaining the character of what was proposed. The panel also recognized that while need for services is steadily increasing in East County, and in some cases already exceeds that of West County, there are generally substantially less services available to the residents of East County. For these reasons, and because they believed the value of what was proposed by Rubicon Programs should also directly benefit East County residents, the panel also recommended funding the remaining $150,000 to Rubicon Programs for FY 2020-21 with the contingency that this additional funding be used to provide an Evening Connections Program in an East County location. If Rubicon is unable or unwilling to provide these services in East County, then the panel would not have a recommendation for the remaining $150,000.
It should be noted that during its deliberations the panel was made aware that Rubicon Programs was currently funded for a similar program at the RSC through the Probation Department. They were also made aware that it was the belief of the ORJ that it was very likely Probation would continue to support this program for FY 2020-21, although no decision on this had been made because the County had not yet awarded the FY 2020-21 contract for the RSC. Prior to this Committee’s meeting on December 2, staff plans to discuss the availability of this funding from Probation to support this program during FY 2020-21, so this information can inform the Committee’s decision on this item.
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