(DISCUSSION) Chief Probation Officer’s Report
a. Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative update
G. Bieringer gave a brief update on the work. Evening Reporting Centers have opened, there is one young person attending. They are going forward with their community mapping of the 94124 zip code area, they have created a new workgroup to address language and appropriate cultural access issues. They are looking at the issue of “unaccompanied minors" -- those who are undocumented and without parental supervision. And they are crafting a citywide policy statement on juvenile justice reform (using JDAI principles) for the City to adopt. He mentioned a meeting next Wed. the 31st, where he will provide an analysis of the first year’s use of the new RAI.
Comm Chuck asked about what the Executive Committee of the JDAI was doing, and Bieringer repeated it was working out a city wide policy statement that will be sent to the Bd of Supervisors, to establish JDAI concepts for the City. Comm. Queen commented that he participates on the Executive Committee and when he first saw the statement, he said he was going to work on it, but he added that he thought it should definitely come through the Commission for approval since it is the Commission that is the policy body for the Dept. and the Commission should play a pro-active role in juvenile justice matters in the City. G. Bieringer said that they had a deadline of tomorrow for receiving comments to the statement.
The Chief said they are also making amendments to it so it reflects the W&I code, which is their mandate..
b. Budget update
M Lui reported that he and the Chief met with the Mayor over aspects of the Dept budget. The Mayor increased the amount of OT in the budget. The permanent salaries line is now projected to be in the black and not deficit as was once projected. The controller has released the requisitions for hiring of on-call staff. There are some openings of 8320 counselors in JH, and they are trying to get them filled.
The City has changed contracting procedures so now the Dept can do contracts without bids, up to $10K. All payments to the Dept’s CBO contractors are up to date.
The Chief said that DHR has loaned the Dept a person from MUNI, to do the WC work until the Dept has hired its own 1244. That person will work 2 days a week and stay on for two months even after the hiring. They want to see results by the end of this fiscal year.
c. update on maximizing IVE revenue
The Chief said she learned about new regulations on Title IVe reimbursements. The people who wrote the manual will train them. She will inform them of when that training is in case commissioners are interested in attending.
4. Status of possible elimination of Temp Aid to Needy Families funds
The Chief reported basically the same information she shared in the Finance Comm. meeting of March 22.
SB or AB 2947, (Patreco –sic), is a bill to renew the TANF allocation. She said that the result of losing TANF would be that: “we would have no alternative placements. It would mean that there would be overcrowding in juvenile hall, it would mean that youth could not be diverted when referred to the community, it would mean that recidivism would go up and the crime rate would go up.” She said that everyone needs to lobby Sacramento to keep TANF.
5. Update on California Youth Authority
The Chief reported that this Dept has sent 51 youth to CYA over the past years, 14 committed last year, and 18 the year before that.
Comm. Hale said for the record that looking for alternatives to CYA is the right thing to do.
(public comments)
Michelle Henry (Ellison?), asked if she could get a copy of the letter that the Chief said was written to the Governor, so that they could use it as a model to write their own. The Chief agreed to make this available to the public.
James Bryant, SEIU 790, asked for a copy of the budget that was referred to in M. Lui’s report.
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