On February 13, 2018, the Board of Supervisors referred to the Public Protection Committee a review of the production of the County's Multi-Agency Juvenile Justice Plan. The plan is due to the state on May 1 of each year, as a condition of Contra Costa’s annual funding through the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) and Youthful Offender Block Grant (YOBG). For Contra Costa County, this amounts to over $8 million in annual funding specifically for juvenile justice activities.
In 2018, the Public Protection Committee accepted an introductory report on the County's Multi-Agency Juvenile Justice Plan endorsed by the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council and a summary of the Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC), the Delinquency Prevention Commission (DPC) and the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC).
During its October 2018 meeting, the Public Protection Committee noted that the County had two advisory bodies that were charged with similar duties, specifically, the Delinquency Prevention Commission and the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC), and directed staff to return to the Board of Supervisors (BOS) to combine the functions of the DPC and the JJCC. Also during this meeting, the Public Protection Committee reviewed the composition of the JJCC and recommended to the BOS that the newly consolidated JJCC consist of the following members:
- Chief Probation Officer,
- District Attorney's Office representative,
- Public Defender's Office representative,
- Sheriff's Office representative,
- Board of Supervisors representative,
- Employment and Human Services Department representative,
- Behavior Health representative,
- County Alcohol and Drugs representative,
- City Police Department Representative,
- County Office of Education or a school district representative,
- County Public Health representative, and
- Eight community-based seats, including a minimum of two representing youth-serving community-based organizations and two youth-aged community representatives (14-21 years old).
On December 4, 2018, the Board of Supervisors introduced Ordinance 2018-30 to dissolve the Delinquency Prevention Commission, adopted Resolution 2018/597 to add seats and duties to Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council, and terminated the referral to the Public Protection Committee on this topic. On December 18, 2018, Ordinance 2018-30 was adopted.
Resolution 2018/597 established that the eight community-based seats: should reflect the geographic, ethnic, and racial diversity of the County and should include youth or those providing restorative justice, faith-based, or mentoring services, to justice, homeless, or foster involved youth.
On March 11, 2019, the Public Protection Committee accepted a report on the County's Multi-Agency Juvenile Justice Plan and provided direction on the recruitment process for the public member seats on the JJCC. These vacant seats include four (4) At-Large Community Representatives and two (2) At-Large Youth Representatives.
On June 3, 2019 the Public Protection Committee (PPC) conducted interviews and considered 21 applicants for the six (6) vacant seats for community-based representatives on the JJCC. After recommending six (6) individuals be appointed to the JJCC by the BOS, these individuals were appointed by the BOS during its June 18, 2019 meeting.
On September 30, 2019, the PPC considered nine (9) applicants and recommended two (2) individuals to be appointed to the JJCC as representatives of community-based organizations (CBO) by the Board of Supervisors. On October 8, 2019, the Board of Supervisors appointed the two (2) individuals to the JJCC as recommended by the Public Protection Committee.
After Rebecca Oriol, a community-based organization representative, resigned from the JJCC on January 14, 2020, and Claire Landes, another community-based organization representative, resigned from the JJCC on July 24, 2020, the Public Protection Committee approved a 9-week recruitment period to fill these two (2) vacant CBO seats during its July 27, 2020, meeting.
A list of current JJCC members can be found in Attachment A. |