Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/16/2013 05A Quartly Gang Free Initiative ReportITEM TITLE: SUBMITTED BY: CONTACT PERSON /TELEPHONE: SUMMARY EXPLANATION: See attached report. Resolution Contract: Contract Term: Insurance Required? No Funding Source: APPROVED FOR SUBMITTAL: STAFF RECOMMENDATION: °kn BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL YAKIMA, WASHINGTON AGENDA STATEMENT Item No. For Meeting of: April 16, 2013 Quarterly Gang Free Initiative Report Steve Magallan - Magallan Consultancy Steve Magallan - 509 - 543 -3616 Ordinance Other Report (specify) Mail to: Amount: Expiration Date: BOARD /COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: ATTACHMENTS: Click to download ❑ March 2013 Quarterly Gang Free Initiative Report Phone: City Manager Yakima Gang Free Initiative (GFI) Implementation Quarterly Report for the period ending March 31, 2013 Introduction The Yakima GFI initiated implementation of the strategic plan with the execution of partnership agreements with four service providers on December 4, 2012. The partnerships with YPAL, Union Gospel Mission Madison House, Yakima YMCA, and People for People 211 represent five of the seven core service components outlined in the Yakima anti -gang strategy. They include Outreach, Screening & Referral, Academic Support (Tutoring), and Mentoring. Behavioral change interventions and family support services are currently in development. Over the past four months (December 2012 through March 2013) the new partners have been working closely with the GFI Coordinator on three primary implementation objectives: 1) improving services through increased utilization of evidence based programs, 2) improving coordination with GFI Partners and 3) orientation to the Yakima GFI anti -gang model. The Advisory Group continues to serve as the oversight committee for the Yakima GFI and meets bi- monthly. Several changes in membership have occurred in this report period. Two members have resigned their positions and one member of the Executive Committee has resigned to accept a new committee assignment. All three position remain vacant at the time of this report. The dynamic of the Advisory Group meetings has changed significantly following the first meeting of the first quarter (February 7, 2013). This meeting was the first which included representatives from each of the partner agencies. Members of the Advisory Group now have the opportunity to receive first -hand accounts of GFI supported programming and direct questions to representatives. The Advisory Group committees continue to meet monthly. Following the implementation planning from the previous quarter, each committee has identified its priorities for 2013. The priorities guiding committee activities over the next year include: 1) Planning and Development. This committee is preparing to expand the Youth Development Center in to a new neighborhood of Yakima. They will gather data on gang activity and look for a neighborhood with the highest rate and work to develop a list of possible YFDC facility. Final selection of the facility is scheduled to be completed by June 2013. 2) Implementation. This committee is working to complete the Behavioral Support and Family Support Services proposals. 3) Marketing and Community Education. This committee is working with Ryan Messer of Idea Marketing to further refine the GFI brand and develop marketing material. The committee has developed a GFI logo and is finalizing content for the official launch of the Yakima GFI Website. The Coordinator continues to provide routine oversight to the service partners meeting with each on a monthly basis and as needed to address issues and concerns identified by either the Advisory Group or the Partner agency. The Coordinator also hosted a GFI Partner Orientation meeting on February 26th, 2013 that emphasized partner coordination, function and required reporting. Finally, a new committee has been adopted. The Partnership Development Committee will include current GFI partners and will focus on system level issues (i.e., reporting schedules, referral procedures, etc.) to improve the overall functionality of the GFI model. Program Summary GFI Partnershibs YPAL — Outreach, Screening & Referral, Life Skills YMCA — ASPIRE Mentoring UG Madison House — Academic Support (Tutoring) People for People — Gang Free Yakima Connects (211 Call Center) Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health — Multisystemic Therapy (pending approval) In Development — Family Support Services GFI Program Participants 78 Outreach Requests received 44 screenings (WARNS) conducted 34 pending screening GFI Coordination Activities GFI Partner Orientation — February 26, 2013 WARNS Certification Training — March 6, 2013 GFI Development Activities AmeriCorps Governor's & Mayor's Initiative (New Application Pending) Washington State Criminal Street Gang (Continuation Pending) National Community Based Violence Prevention (In Development) Partner Services The following is a detailed report of the activities of each partner agency over the past quarter: People for People 211 Gang Free Yakima Connections People for People has adopted the Washington Assessment of Risks and Needs of Students (WARNS) as the GFI screening tool. Representatives from 211 participated in WARNS certification training along with the other GFI partners utilizing the tool. In addition, 211 will use the "Grip Outreach Request" form to make and track referrals to GFI partner agencies. 211 has created an electronic version of the form that can be easily sent to our partners. Currently the 211 call center is available under the new extended hours of operation from 8am- 6pm daily. Voicemail options are available after hours. The leadership staff at People for People are collaborating with the GFI Coordinator in the development of policies and procedures governing the 211 Gang Free Yakima Connections activities. It is the intent that this document to not only guide local operations but could be used as a How To manual for other communities to replicate. People for People will use existing AIRS accreditation Standards to develop Gang Free Connections policies and procedures. 211 has not received any calls related to the GFI project but this is due to the fact that GFI has not officially announced the resource to the general public. We anticipate that the call volume will increase significantly once the marketing materials are produced and there is media directing the community to contact 2 -1 -1 for more information and assistance. Current staff has been trained in providing service to GFI callers within the current 2 -1 -1 call center structure. Ongoing training will be provided as we formalize our role within the GFI project. 75% of eligible call center staff is certified by AIRS. Certification is a measurement of documented knowledge in the field of I & R reflecting specific competencies and related performance criteria Yakima YMCA ASPIRE GFI Mentorin� The Yakima YMCA's program as part of GFI will be referred to as ASPIRE /GFI. While the onsite mentoring format is different than our traditional ASPIRE mentoring program, we want to keep the ASPIRE identity and co -brand it with the GFI. During the past quarter, our focus has been largely organizational in preparing to implement this program. We've met with school officials to discuss program details, including providing snacks to participants through the school lunch program. We learned this option is available. We will meet this week with Dr. Beraza to discuss potential options for opening a school or both school libraries to coincide with summer mentoring sessions. She is interested in this opportunity. Follow up meetings will be held before the end of the month with school personnel to move forward on student referrals and documentation required for GFI tracking. YMCA staff has networked with the Faith and Family Committee from Safe Yakima Valley and through a local pastors group to aid in mentor recruitment. Announcements have begun for mentors through churches and other Safe Yakima committee avenues. At this time, information is in transit, but there could be as many as twenty volunteers who have expressed interest in participating as mentors. Public service announcements are being developed for release through local media. YMCA ASPI RE staff has developed applications and mentor expectation forms. Those are being distributed to potential volunteers and background checks will be run as those are returned. Orientation and training meeting dates for mentors will be set this week. YMCA staff has participated in GFI training and orientation for community partners. As anticipated, the first phase of this project for the YMCA centers on structuring the program, recruiting volunteers, training mentors and matching them with students. During the second quarter, we anticipate matching mentors and students and launching the after school on -site mentoring sessions. YMCA staff members working on this project are Tom Oliva and Julia Krolikowski from ASPIRE, along with Bob Romero. Assistance has come from Pastor Dave Hanson with Sunrise Outreach who chairs the Safe Yakima Valley Faith and Family Committee. The North Yakima target area for this project matches the target area that Safe Yakima wishes to address due to the high volume of crime in that area. YPAL Outreach and Life Skills In December, YPAL agreed to the terms and conditions as provided in the contract by the City of Yakima to provide positive youth development, outreach, and assessment to targeted youth. In December, in a separate agreement, YPAL agreed to manage the Miller Park Center for GFI services in accordance with the City of Yakima Policies. The project director, Linda Kraft, proceeded to review best practices for outreach workers in communities such as Yakima, and is currently using this information as the project proceeds. Linda Kraft met with city manager, Tony O'Rourke to gain City support in activities that would improve the appearance and over all condition of the Center. We have since met with a color consultant and we are looking to give the inside a fresh look. We will also be planning to paint the outside of the building in conjunction with a youth oriented art project. The City is now providing maintenance services four days a week and YPAL is seeing an improvement in cleanliness and a healthful environment since the extra day has been added. The Board of Directors approved the hiring of Manuel Martinez to be the YPAL – GFI outreach worker. He offers a remarkable life story of coming out of a fragile Yakima family and a youth that dabbled in delinquency to a family man who has reestablished himself in the Yakima area to raise five children and a commitment and passion to help the families in Yakima— especially youth —who are most vulnerable to crime and gang activity. In January, YPAL hired Mr. Martinez, who completed the planning of a fatherhood outreach program to draw in young dads at a time when they are most vulnerable to setting goals and new dream for their future. He also worked with Linda Kraft to develop a strategy for the youth he would be in contact with as a part of the GFI. We call this "Describe Your Dream ". His plan includes case management for helping each youth to develop a vision and dream for their future, and then to help them develop planning steps that will assure they have a roadmap for realizing the dream. In preliminary testing with youth, this was found to help them gear up for the next step of receiving mentoring, coaching, and taking positive classes for their development. In February, Mr. Martinez began shadowing Ms. Wilson who does outreach for the Yakima County Juvenile Court. Her ability to train and reinforce best practices to our new outreach worker has proven to be invaluable, and we are tremendously grateful to her for her hard work, passion and clear thinking. Mr. Martinez has gone with her on home visits, to court meetings, school visits, and one -on -one follow up with youth. An original plan between YPAL and Farm Worker's Clinic Behavioral Health was to involve their case managers (2) in an on -site arrangement where they would be available to screen and work with appropriate youth and families. As YPAL proceeded with planning steps, it became apparent that we should put that arrangement on the back burner so that we would be able to use the developing process that GFI was planning to utilize with Comprehensive Mental Health. YPAL interviewed several communities where life skill programming had been made available to youth in gangs and other juvenile crime issues. As a result a job description was outlined and the task at hand was to find the "right person" to help facilitate the classes, but to also have a flair for how education was presented, someone who had a passion to help Yakima's at risk kids, and a seasoned educator who already showed promising results with kids. With that in mind, YPAL has been please to develop a working relationship with Gloria Gonzales Garcia. She has studied the curriculum that was chosen and has created some additional learning opportunities for the youth. She has also stepped up as YPAL's newest on -site volunteer doing art classes. It is the intention of YPAL to use the art classes with Ms. Garcia in a manner that helps to provide outreach to area schools that have identified the need for safe after school activities. She has successfully already done some interventions with juveniles through her work at Allied Arts and the Juvenile Justice System. Linda Kraft and Manuel Martinez met with Washington Middle School in mid - February to begin sharing the process of the GFI and the GRIP model. Vice Principal Sara Day and School Resource Officer, Claudia Padilla were enthusiastic about how this intensive intervention could help a large number of children who were either in gangs, had family members in gangs, or were just about ready to join one. At a second planning meeting at the end of February, they provided YPAL with 78 names of children they would like to refer into the system as the next couple months approach. Outreach Request Forms are currently being generated for all 78 youth. This will initiative the intake process leading to screening and referral. Mr. Martinez has now been trained in WARNS, a new data base collection instrument that is web based. YPAL has provided a lap top for his use when with children and parents so that they can enter this information at the time of the visit. He has also conducted home visits with Ms. Wilson, and met with other schools to observe, learn and participate in the process. Due to the overwhelming response to YPAL's initial outreach with Washington Middle School (78 students), we have communicated with Magallan Consultancy that being able to reach all of these families in 78 hours is difficult. Mr. Martinez's approach has been to work with Ms. Wilson to prioritize the youth into three groups, with approximately 30 in each group. Although the contract with the city calls for YPAL to provide a three classes (life skills) with 40 youth each, we feel that number is too large to do the individual reaching out that will surely need to occur. Therefore, we are breaking down the number of kids in a class to approximately 25. Our pilot will occur at Washington School, where the youth attend school. We will provide afternoon snacks, and with the School Resource Officer and the Vice Principal, Ms. Garcia will provide 12 classes. Several youth have now started to "drop in" at YPAL as a follow up to tours by Ms. Wilson and Mr. Martinez. One young man has elected to learn more about the discipline of boxing, and two young ladies are planning to participate in "Kids in the Kitchen" with Yakima's Junior League. While these youth development programs are not funded or measured by the GFI work, we consider it a success that coaches and mentors have made the transition necessary to move from a pure model of prevention only to one of intervention. Union Gospel Mission's Madison House GFI Tutoring Within the last week, Madison House (MH) has received its first four students from the GFI referrals. These students arrived with Bridget and were given a tour, registration packets, and were able to meet the staff within the building. They were invited to join the games outside and to stay for the dinner served at 5pm. I spoke with each student in the tutoring center, giving them an idea of what to expect if they were a part of the program. I showed them the sign -in form at the back desk and made it clear that participating students would qualify for the incentive trip every two weeks for their participation in the academic portion of the MH program. We expect this number to grow as reported by Bridget, "I talked with Washington Middle School and LC Middle School just this week and we could have fifty kids for you within the next month." We have a tutor base that we will begin to draw from heavily as the students begin to "trickle" in, as we expect to receive them slowly as opposed to all at once. Staff at MH have decided to move the registration sign -in upstairs to the tutoring room so that the educational center is the first "stop" in a student's participation during the day, reminding them that academics comes before athletics or computer lab use. Heightened security (in a light police presence) has been discussed at recent meetings to make sure that our students feel safe when in the building and on the playground, especially due to the warmer weather and recent shooting (taking place 3/12/13). As the result of a security grant, within the last 5 days, video surveillance cameras were placed on the exterior of the building to ensure safety and dissuade "taggers" from using the grounds as "mark -able territory ". We are hoping that these measures help our "regulars" and even our newer students (from the GFI referrals and others from the community) feel safer. Multisystemic Therapy (PENDING APPROVAL) The Advisory Group will be considering a proposal to provide behavioral health intervention services for GFI participants in the form of Multisystemic Therapy (MST). The proposal will position Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health as the facilitator of the GFI Youth Development Team and provider of MST to up to 10 of the highest risk and gang involved youth. Provided the Advisory Group accepts the proposal it will be forwarded to the City Council for consideration at the April 30th council meeting. GFI Development Activities The following are descriptions of the development activities undertaken over the past four months: Washington Criminal Street Gangs The Yakima GFI is currently receiving funding from the state of Washington CSG program. Continuation funding has been included in the 2013 state budget and we are awaiting information on the continuation process. AmeriCorp s The City of Yakima was invited to submit an application under the AmeriCorps National Governor's & Mayor's Initiative grant program. We were specifically selected based on the work of the GFI and were the only community in the state of Washington invited to participate. If successful at the national competition, the project would provide 20 full time AmeriCorps volunteers to expand GFI services into the other targeted communities along with $250,000 in federal funding to support the initiative. Funding announcements are expected in June. Communitv Based Violence Prevention The federal Community Based Violence Prevention project will be resubmitted in partnership with the Yakima County Juvenile Court. The project is due April 22" d and, if successful, will provide up to $750,000 to the City of Yakima GFI expansion over the next three years. Funding announcements are expected in August. GFI Next Steps Beginning with the 2nd quarter of 2013 and for the remainder of this year the GFI Advisory group will focus on expanding core services into the North Central neighborhood. Additionally, the group will be working to identify additional service partnerships to consider with emphasis on truancy prevention and positive youth development programming. The Coordinator will also focus efforts on the marketing strategy and initiating community wide promotions of the initiative and service components. Finally, the final phases of the initiative will be considered including a comprehensive evaluation protocol to be accompanied by the formalization of the Yakima anti -gang model to support replication in other similar communities.