In Summer 2021, five Community Work Groups were established around the following five key directions. 

• Community-Led Safety
• Education
• Health & Human Services
• Juvenile Justice
• Workforce Development

Over 45 key partners were convened and more than 90 different meetings were held for community partners to engage in policy discussions around these issue areas. The top three recommendations from each Work Group are listed below. We'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions as we work to align resources. 

 Community-Led Safety Workgroup:

• Scale up funding for data driven, culturally connected and practice informed strategies that allow for hotspot monitoring and crisis response.
• Support the needs of Black and brown young people through programs that have been proven effective at diversion.
• Implement intentional education about community-led safety for impacted youth and their families.

Education Workgroup:

• School districts provide an avenue for the community to engage in the design of programming through a Community Council, Wisdom Council or existing Family Youth Council.
• The county creates and expands programs to recruit, retain, and advance teachers of color.
• Students have curriculum and appropriate resources to bring forth the mental, physical, and emotional wellness of Black and brown young people.

Health and Human Services Workgroup:

• Increase accessibility and availability of low-income and affordable housing.
• Increase accessibility and availability of healthy and culturally relevant foods.
• Increase accessibility, quality and availability of culturally relevant comprehensive health care.

Juvenile Justice Workgroup:

• Pilot no-barrier residential community housing for young people up to age 25 years old
• Provide transparent dashboard with contact point analysis for youth and resource mapping
• Hire and train pipeline BIPOC mental health professionals to provide culturally responsive care to at-risk impacted youth and families

Workforce Development Workgroup:

• Fund livable wage youth/young adult employment initiatives with benefits including transportation.
• Support CBOs that build adaptive skills to gain and retain employment i.e. second chance/returning citizens opportunities.
• Provide technology equipment and digital training  for laptops, smartphones, necessary software, internet/hotspot to find and keep employment

If you'd like to provide feedback on these Community Workgroup Recommendations, please fill out our short survey today! This survey will remain open until the end of August 2022.