MEETING DATE: 3/9/2021
DEPARTMENT: PROBATION DEPARTMENT
DEPT HEAD/DIRECTOR: Joseph A. Frontella, Jr.
AGENDA ITEM PREPARER: Lorraine M. Carrasquillo
SBC DEPT FILE NUMBER: 510
SUBJECT:
PROBATION DEPARTMENT - J. FRONTELLA, JR.
Adopt Resolution creating the San Benito County Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council Subcommittee, and appointing members.
SBC FILE NUMBER: 510
RESOLUTION NO: 2021- 19
AGENDA SECTION:
CONSENT AGENDA
BACKGROUND/SUMMARY:
Senate Bill 823 became effective September 30, 2020, closing the Division of Juvenile Justice, establishing the Office of Youth and Community Restoration within the California Health and Human Services Agency, commencing July 1, 2021, and prohibiting further commitment of wards to the Division of Juvenile Justice.
Portions of S.B. 823, codified as California Welfare and Institutions Code Division 2.5, Chapter 1.7 (sections 1990 - 1995), established a Juvenile Justice Realignment Block Grant program to provide county-based custody, care, and supervision of youth who are realigned from the Division of Juvenile Justice or who would have otherwise been eligible for commitment to the division. The bill would appropriate moneys from the General Fund in specified amounts for these purposes, as specified. The bill would specify how those funds would be allocated to counties based on specified criteria.
To be eligible for funding under the Juvenile Justice Realignment Block Grant Program, the County is required to create a subcommittee to the multiagency Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council, pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code Section 1995(a), to develop a plan describing the facilities, programs, placements, services, supervision and reentry strategies that are needed to provide appropriate rehabilitation and supervision services to such realigned youth, including the elements set forth in Section 1995(c).
Section 1995(b) specifies the membership of the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council Subcommittee The subcommittee shall be composed of the chief probation officer, as chair, and one representative each from the district attorney’s office, the public defender’s office, the department of social services, the department of mental health, the county office of education or a school district, and a representative from the court. The subcommittee shall also include no fewer than three community members who shall be defined as individuals who have experience providing community-based youth services, youth justice advocates with expertise and knowledge of the juvenile justice system, or have been directly involved in the juvenile justice system.
The plan described in subdivision (a) shall include all of the following elements:
(1) A description of the realignment target population in the county that is to be supported or served by allocations from the block grant program, including the numbers of youth served, disaggregated by factors including their ages, offense and offense histories, gender, race or ethnicity, and other characteristics, and by the programs, placements, or facilities to which they are referred.
(2) A description of the facilities, programs, placements, services and service providers, supervision, and other responses that will be provided to the target population.
(3) A description of how grant funds will be applied to address each of the following areas of need or development for realigned youth:
(A) Mental health, sex offender treatment, or related behavioral or trauma-based needs.
(B) Support programs or services that promote the healthy adolescent development.
(C) Family engagement in programs.
(D) Reentry, including planning and linkages to support employment, housing, and continuing education.
(E) Evidence-based, promising, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive.
(F) Whether and how the plan will include services or programs for realigned youth that are provided by nongovernmental or community-based providers.
(4) A detailed facility plan indicating which facilities will be used to house or confine realigned youth at varying levels of offense severity and treatment need, and improvements to accommodate long-term commitments. This element of the plan shall also include information on how the facilities will ensure the safety and protection of youth having different ages, genders, special needs, and other relevant characteristics.
(5) A description of how the plan will incentivize or facilitate the retention of realigned youth within the jurisdiction and rehabilitative foundation of the juvenile justice system in lieu of transfers of realigned youth into the adult criminal justice system.
(6) A description of any regional agreements or arrangements to be supported by the block grant allocation pursuant to this chapter.
(7) A description of how data will be collected on the youth served and outcomes for youth served by the block grant program, including a description the outcome measures that will be utilized to measure or determine the results of programs and interventions supported by block grant funds.
The plan will be presented to the Board of Supervisors after it has been developed.
STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS:
BUDGETED:
No