Meeting Minutes

1. Roll Call
The Commission President called the meeting to order at 5:43 p.m. Commissioners Beijen, Chang, Jones and Woodson were present. Commissioner Wan arrived at 5:44 p.m. and Commissioner Arellano at 5:50 p.m.

2. Public Comments.
No public comments.

3. Review and Approval of the Full Commission Meeting Minutes of November 9, 2010 (ACTION ITEM)

Motion to approve the November 9, 2010 Full Commission Meeting Minutes by COMM Albright, second by COMM Beijen, and approved by the rest of the Commission.

4. Welcoming New Commissioner, Susan Jones (DISCUSSION ONLY)

COMM Woodson introduced and welcomed COMM Jones. COMM Jones said that she is incredibly honored to have the opportunity to be appointed on the Commission. She grew up in the Western Addition neighborhood, matriculated through the public school system, and is extremely passionate about helping the youth in the community. She has seen what the lack of resources can have on a family. Her family has a long standing history with JPD. Her mother used to volunteer and teach drama and her sister was on the Police Commission and they would take the kids to tennis matches.
No public comments.

5. Report to the Commission (DISCUSSION ONLY)

a. Chief’s Report:

· Status Report of Probation Department Operations by Chief Siffermann
Chief Siffermann reviewed the highlights of the report (see supporting document).
Juvenile Hall: When Chief Siffermann arrived in 2005, the population at Juvenile Hall was 106 youths; today the average daily population was 84 youths; overtime was reduced; five of the eight living units are occupied; and reduced incidents of detention based violence. The Assistant Director position is still vacant.
Probation Services: Imported evidence based programs; established JCRT (Juvenile Collaborative Re-entry Team) in collaboration with the Courts, PD and CBO; elevated in-service training events and initiatives; increased participation with SFPD to reduce juvenile crime and violence; incorporated youth and families to present at monthly sessions to better understand the system. The Probation Services Director’s position is still vacant. Two senior supervisors have assumed the responsibilities.
Log Cabin Ranch: Galvanized universal support among the Courts, DA, PD, SFUSD, DPH and Probation; improved living conditions; restructured programming model according to a nationally recognized best practice in youth corrections that requires intense group interaction and vigilant staff facilitation; increased clinical services; incorporated SF Conservation Corps and Urban Sprouts into weekly schedule and curriculum; established aftercare planning and implementation strategies; tripled average daily census of seven in 2005 to 22 currently; and the 2011-2012 budget includes plans to expand resident capacity. The Log Cabin Ranch Director position is still vacant. Assistant Chief Allen Nance has served as the acting director.
Administration has reduced overtime by over $1 million by enforcing sick leave policy; reduced workers comp claims by over $1 million; restructured contractual services by blending violence prevention funds with DCYF and DPH; procured over $1 million in grant funds for detention reform, increased organizational capacity, abated racial and ethnic disparity and improved youth returning to the community from out-of-home placement; Allison Magee and Allen Nance have provided technical assistant to other departments; and improved relations with other City departments, practitioners and CBO’s.
The present state of JPD is vigilant and capable made by the professional commitments of the staff and remains grateful to JPC for it support, particularly over its efforts to preserve and secure funding.
COMM Beijen and COMM Chang commended the JPD staff.
No public comments.

· Welcoming New Finance Director, Catherine McGuire by Allison Magee.
Ms. Magee introduced and welcomed Catherine McGuire. Ms. McGuire expressed that she is very excited to support and promote the mission of the department and has always been very passionate about juvenile issues. She is looking forward to working on these policy issues.

· Summary of Improving Effectiveness of Juvenile Justice Programs published by the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University by Allen Nance
Mr. Nance discussed the evidence-based practices in the report (see supporting document).
One of the highlights discussed was the need for a standardized risk assessment, a tool that guides the practitioners in understanding the needs of the youths and ways intervention should be applied to reduce recidivism. Also discussed was integrating the forward-looking administrative model for corrective intervention by using evidence based practice for reducing recidivism. Some specific tools not yet reviewed at JPD are the standardized program evaluation protocol to identify the strengths in each program; as well as opportunity to improve effectiveness of these programs. This report moves away from punitive deterrence based strategies and discusses ways to intervene in a therapeutic manner so that recidivism can be achieved. Other key points are the challenges in implementing evidence based programs; one of the most significant factors has to do with the fidelity of the implementation. Other challenges discussed come from long-standing cultures that often exist in organizations. The evidence based practices that are current in SF and identified in this report are cognitive behavioral intervention and specifically identified the multi-systemic therapy programs for correctional environments focused on reductions of delinquency. JPD has adopted the youth assessment and screening instrument, discussed in the standardized risk assessment.
COMM Woodson asked if there were any practices that he saw recommended in this report that could be something JPD could focus on going forward. Mr. Nance said that one of the areas has to do with the ability to internally evaluate JPD’s effectiveness in implementing tools, such as the standardized program evaluation protocol. Secondly, external evaluations, which is difficult for probation departments across the nation due to the costs, but it is something that should be looked at in the future to be evaluated independently. Having a multi-disciplined integrated system of care is an important strategy goal so that youth are not over-treated or under-served. This report deals with programmatic assessments; looking at actual programs that have been implemented and evaluate how effective those programs operate.
COMM Chang asked if JPD anticipates the need for capacity building in the internal evaluation process. Mr. Nance said that resources would need to be dedicated to that work and staff training. The data is currently being collected on a case-by-case basis; case files and reports. The way the information is collected is not really efficient and would require an amount of effort to go back and call that data to work to evaluate it. When JCRT was initiated, it was a more thoughtful process, regarding not only identifying evaluation components to report to federal funders, but to evaluation internally. JPD is revamping the information system; recognizing the need to add information elements to the system or look at a new case management system to run reports. COMM Chang strongly recommends the new system.
COMM Beijen also recommended the need for outside expert evaluation. Mr. Nance agreed.
No public comments.

b. Committee Reports

· The Programs Committee is scheduled on January 19^th at JPD.

· No public comments.

6. Future Agenda Items (ACTION ITEM)

Announcements

· New Committee Assignments by Commission President Woodson was postponed until after the JPC President and Vice President elections.

· No public comments.

7. Adjournment (ACTION ITEM)

· The meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.