Welcome All!
To West County’s First-Ever
Reentry Programs and Services Workgroup
Tuesday, July 26, Noon to 1:30 PM
Bermuda Room, Civic Center, Richmond, CA
Hosted by the Office of Neighborhood Safety,
CCISCO, Pacific Institute, and Bay Area Legal Aid
•
•
•
•
•
•
Agenda for Today
12:00-12:15 Introduction & Context: Who’s here and why we’re here
12:15-12:25 Workgroup approach
12:25-12:40 Review of current findings
12:40-1:00
Small group discussion: Two Questions
1:00-1:20
Report out, finding themes
1:20-1:30
•
•
•
•
Next steps, meeting dates and place
Last Tuesday of every month, Noon to 2 PM
Dates: Aug. 30, Sept. 27, Oct. 25, Nov. 29, NOT in Dec., Jan. 31
July & August meetings in Bermuda Room at Civic Center Plaza
Sept, Oct., Nov., & Jan meetings at East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, 11th and
Macdonald
Context For Today’s Meeting:
Who’s Doing What
1.
Contra Costa County
1.
2.
Office of Neighborhood Safety
1.
3.
4.
6.
7.
1.
Developing a Ceasefire anti-violence initiative and employing community policing methods
2.
Working with probation, parole on compliance checks to ensure that returning residents adhere to local & state
laws
Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO)
Developing Richmond Now: A Total Plan for Safety and Opportunity
Pacific Institute’s Safe Return Team
1.
Conducting local research
2.
Advocating for the development of a One Stop Service Center for reentering residents
Bay Area Legal Aid
1.
Received a grant to support the coordination of local efforts related to reentry
2.
Will host the Programs and Services workgroup meetings for the next year
Service Providers (multiple CBOs and public agencies doing direct work)
1.
8.
Developing the city’s strategic plan for reentry: Greater Richmond Community Reintegration Planning Framework
Richmond Police Department
1.
5.
Developed a county-wide strategic plan for reentry
Public agencies and nonprofit community-based organizations
Further The Work
1.
Hired by Bay Area Legal Aid to provide research, project management, and facilitation
Why We’re Here
•
•
•
Turning the Plan into Action
The Richmond Reentry Strategic Plan has developed
an infrastructure plan to improve reentry in our
community.
It defines several functions within this infrastructure:
Three (age-defined) Community Hubs, a Management
Services administrative body, an Information and
Communications committee, and a Programs and Services
committee.
Today’s meeting is to intended to launch the Programs
and Services committee, inviting participation and
beginning the work of developing the group’s goals and
responsibilities.
Knowledge and
Needs:
Workgroupby
toONS,
Advance
Intentional
Efforts
•P&S
Sponsored
hosted
by Bay
Legal,
facilitated by Further The Work,
and in partnership with all of you,
over the next year the P&S Workgroup
will work together to strengthen the
reentry system and improve the reentry
experience
in West Contra Costa County.
Workgroup Structure
“Knowledge and Needs”
•
Year-long process with monthly meetings
•
Goals-focused, task-driven
•
Process-management and project support provided by Bay Legal and
Further The Work (logistics, communications, meeting design and
facilitation; research and analysis as needed), under guidance by
ONS/CCISCO/Pacific Institute
•
Occasional work assignments between meetings and
decisions/learning/next steps at meetings
•
Facilitated and structured: We promise that there will be a purpose and an
outcome to each meeting (learning, presentation, analysis, training,
discussion, decision-making).
What We Know
•
•
•
From 2002-2007, the Urban Institute conducted a national, multi-site
study – the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) –
to examine the pre- and post-release risks and needs of serious and
violent offenders under age 35 exiting incarceration.
The most requested reentry needs were education (94% requested
such services), financial assistance (86%), driver’s license/state ID
(83%), job training (82%), and employment (80%).
In 2011, Pacific Institute’s Safe Return Team conducted a survey of
over 100 people returning here after incarceration. Their findings are
consistent with those of the SVORI study.
Desired Service
Types
1.
Identified by SVORI
Coordination and Supervision, both pre- and post-release, including
needs assessment, case management, treatment/release planning,
and post-release reintegration support and supervision;
2.
Employment, Education and Skills-Building, including structured
education/vocational training, work readiness training, job coaching,
life-skills support, money management, and support for developing
positive relationships, attitudes, and behaviors;
3.
Health Services, including medical, dental, prescriptions, substance
abuse treatment and mental health services;
4.
Transition Services, including legal and benefits assistance,
financial support and emergency assistance, peer support, mentoring,
housing, and transportation
Barriers to Success
Identified by SVORI
•
•
•
Inadequate information and referral, including outdated information,
lack of awareness about available programs, inconsistent reliability of
referral agreements, and poor communication among service
providers regarding individual clients;
Programmatic barriers, including poor program quality and
inadequate program capacity to meet needs in a timely way;
Individual-level factors, such as lack of transportation, inadequate
capacity to manage complex information, inadequate skills in coping
with psychosocial challenges and frustrations, and complicating
underlying factors such as serious mental health and substance
abuse problems.
What Stands in Our Way?
•Two Questions:
1.What single thing, if changed, could improve your experience
related to reentry?
• Examples:
“If I had access to a list of employers who would consider hiring people with
felony convictions.” “If the parole department would really work with my agency to
develop a customized mix of services needed for a given individual.” “If I could be
certain that when I refer a client to another agency, that agency would actually provide
good services.” “If we had an accurate pre-release needs assessment.” “If witnesses
felt more comfortable reporting information to us.”
1.What thing, if available to all of us, might benefit all of us:
• Examples: “If we had ready access to training in best practices.” “If we had some
standard data elements that all service providers agreed to gather.” “If we had a
centralized calendar and communications method.” “If we had access to a real analysis
of the current services and gaps, with recommendations for how to make it better.” “If
funders had a better idea of how to support multiple agencies in one shared project.”
Next Steps
•
•
•
•
If you’d like to participate as on ongoing member of the
Programs and Services workgroup, please sign up
now:
Just text the word reentry to 22828.
Bay Legal and Further The Work will review today’s
outcomes and produce a report to help identify common
areas of interest, priorities, and training opportunities.
Working with the strategic planning group, Bay Legal
and Further The Work will develop materials and an
agenda for the August 30 meeting.
We hope you’ll join us!
Meeting Dates
•How Often: Last Tuesday of every month
•What Time: Noon to 1:30 PM; bring your own lunch
•Dates & Places:
•August 30: Bermuda Room, Civic Center Plaza, Richmond
•Sept. 27: East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, 11th and Macdonald
•October 25: East Bay Center for the Performing Arts
•November 29: East Bay Center for the Performing Arts
•No meeting in December
•January 31: East Bay Center for the Performing Arts
•To sign up on the P&S list, just text the word reentry to 22828
•To download these slides, go to FurtherTheWork.com/publications.html