Title
Acting as Chief Elected Official, approve and authorize the Executive Director of the Monterey County Workforce Development Board to execute an agreement with the California Workforce Association for consulting services to participate in the California Prison to Employment Initiative, in an amount not to exceed $60,000, for the period retroactive to October 15, 2018 through June 30, 2019
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
Acting as Chief Elected Official, approve and authorize the Executive Director of the Monterey County Workforce Development Board to execute an agreement with the California Workforce Association for consulting services to participate in the California Prison to Employment Initiative, in an amount not to exceed $60,000, for the period retroactive to October 15, 2018 through June 30, 2019
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
As part of the 2018 State budget process, the California Legislature approved, and Governor Brown signed, legislation which established the Prison to Employment Initiative. The 2018 state budget includes $37 million over three budget years to fund workforce development and reentry services for previously incarcerated and justice-involved individuals. “Justice-involved” refers to individuals who are on parole, probation, mandatory supervision, or post-release community supervision and are supervised by, or are under the jurisdiction of, a county or the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The California Workforce Development Board will make Prison to Employment funds available local workforce development boards to support partnership development and to build or scale up existing programs to serve the needs of the reentry population of California’s fourteen regions.
Pursuant to this initiative, the Request for Applications for Phase I, Regional Planning Grants, was released on July 27, 2018 to fund collaborative development of regional partnerships and plans to serve formerly incarcerated and other justice-involved individuals. The Coastal Region Planning Unit, composed of the workforce development boards of Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, received $95,000 to be used over an 18-month period (October 1, 2018 - March 30, 2020) to develop the partnerships that will be an essential component of this three-phase grant program.
The Monterey County Workforce Development Board (WDB) is the fiscal agent of the Coastal Region Planning unit, responsible for contracting on its behalf; in its capacity as fiscal agent, it seeks to utilize the consulting services of Civic Solutions Initiative - Works, LLC (CSI-Works) to participate in the planning stage of the Prison to Employment Initiative. The WDB will procure CSI-Works consulting services through an agreement with the California Workforce Association (CWA).
The California Workforce Association selected CSI-Works to provide consulting services to local workforce development boards pursuant to a competitive bidding process. The California Workforce Development Board has advised that the process used satisfies federal law requirements that WDB vendors be competitively procured. Thus, contracting with the California Workforce Association for CSI-Works’ consulting services ensures the WDB is compliant with federal law and eliminates the need for the WDB to issue its own, independent Request for Proposals for consulting services, an effort which would significantly delay implementation of the Prison to Employment Initiative and possibly jeopardize receipt of grant money. The WDB concluded that this approach will best facilitate the goals of this program.
CSI-Work’s responsibilities will include engaging and convening stakeholders on programs implementing Prison to Employment services; facilitating regional stakeholder meetings on implementation of the Prison to Employment Initiative; developing recommendations for modification of the Coastal Regional Planning Unit’s Regional Plan to incorporate Prison to Employment programs; developing Prison to Employment MOUs and partner agreements with stakeholders at the regional, local, and state level; collecting and analyzing data related to the target Prison to Employment population and to Coastal Region Planning Unit workforce opportunities; developing recommendations for obtaining and utilizing subsequent rounds of Prison to Employment funding from the State; and delivering recommendations for Prison to Employment service delivery models and other funding opportunities.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel reviewed the agreement as to form. On October 10, 2018, the WDB approved the agreement with CWA for CSI-Work consultant services for an amount not to exceed $60,000.
FINANCING:
State Prison to Employment Regional Phase I funding in the amount of $95,000 will be used to fund the recommended $60,000 consultant agreement and is budgeted in Fund 021, Dept. 1050, Unit 8478, Appropriations Unit CAO030. There is no financial impact to the General Fund resulting from approval of this Agreement.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS STRATEGIC INITIATIVES:
Authorizing the Executive Director of the WDB to execute an agreement with the CWA for provision of Prison to Employment consulting services will enable the Coastal Regional Planning Unit to develop the MOUs and signed partnership agreements that must be submitted to the California Workforce Development Board as a condition of receiving additional funding under Phases II and III of the Prison to Employment Initiative.
√ Health & Human Services: Improve health and quality of life through County supported policies, programs, and services, promoting access to equitable opportunities for healthy choices and healthy environments in collaboration with communities.
√ Administration - Promote an organization that practices efficient and effective resource management and is recognized for responsiveness, strong customer orientation, accountability and transparency
Prepared by: Approved by:
________________________ _____________________________
Christopher Donnelly Nicholas E. Chiulos
Executive Director Assistant County Administrative Officer
Workforce Development Board County Administrative Office
(831) 759-6644 (831) 755-5145
ATTACHMENTS:
Agreement with California Workforce Association for Civic Solutions Initiative - Works, LLC consulting services