The AB 109 Annual Report provides an overview of AB 109-related activities undertaken in Contra Costa County during the fiscal year 2017/18, with a focus on understanding the impact of AB 109-funded County departments, divisions, programs, and contracted service providers. Toward this end, this report describes the volume and type of services provided by all of the County’s AB 109 partners over the course of the year. The FY 2017-18 Annual Report is included with this staff report as Attachment A.
Contra Costa County has responded to AB 109 Public Safety Realignment in a manner that has allowed the County to provide supervision and services to the AB 109 population, while building a collaborative reentry infrastructure to support the reentry population’s successful reintegration into the community. The County has followed best practice models in establishing access to services through the West County Reentry Success Center’s “one-stop” model and the Central & East County Reentry Network’s “no wrong door” approach.
During the 2017/18 Fiscal Year, a number of key changes and investments further refined the County’s approach to AB 109, as well as reentry more generally. These included:
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Comprehensive planning process to update the County’s 5-year Reentry Strategic Plan (2018-2023);
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Development of the County’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Plus (“CoCo LEAD+”) project to divert individuals with behavioral health needs and multiple recent low-level arrests from the justice system into a supportive array of programs including cognitive based teaching, restorative programs, employment and housing assistance;
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Launch of the Stand Together Contra Costa pilot project by the Public Defender's Office to provide no-cost rapid-response support, civil deportation defense legal services and clinics, immigrant rights education and training, and direct-service support for immigrant individuals and families in the County;
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Completion of the Final Report from the Board of Supervisors’ 17-member Racial Justice Task Force (RJTF) identifying racial disparities in the local justice system and providing the BOS with a set of recommendations on how these disparities might be addressed and reduced.
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Development of a state funded “Sustainable Occupational Advancement and Reentry Success” (CoCo SOARS) program to provide employment training for individuals on formal probation and to host three Fair Chance Employer Summits;
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Launch of the Smart Reentry Pilot aiming to serve 100 moderate to high risk transition aged youth (TAY) who are returning to East County after a period of incarceration;
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Establishment of the FAST START automotive training program to provide distance learning opportunities for individuals incarcerated in the County’s local jails and to provide post-release hands-on training at Fast Eddie’s automotive repair shop;
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Launch of the Richmond Workforce Development Board’s 60-hour “Accelerating Careers through Essential Skills” (ACES) Academy to improve participants’ ability to attain and retain gainful employment through vocational training courses; and
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Launch of the Central-East Ceasefire program seeking to reduce firearm violence through a focused deterrence model that uses law enforcement data to direct program resources to individuals at the highest risk of being perpetrators or victims of gun violence.
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