So again, good morning, everyone.

This is the special Joint Health and Public Protection Committee meeting for Thursday, December 18th.

Can we please start with a roll call?

Supervisor Miley, excuse.

Supervisor Tam, excuse.

Supervisor Marquez.

Present.

I just wanted to make a few announcements.

I know that Supervisor Tam will be joining us shortly, and Supervisor Miley is participating remotely.

However, his address was not listed on the agenda, so he's going to be participating as a community member and will be making his comments under public comments.

So again, good morning and welcome to today's special joint health and public protection committee meeting.

I want to begin today's meeting by first acknowledging the many recent tragic events involving gun violence, both locally in Alameda County, specifically impacts to the Skyline High School and Laney College communities, as well as the mass shootings in Stockton, California, and just this weekend at Brown University and Bondy Beach in Australia.

Let us have a moment of silence to honor the victims, including the heartbreaking loss of Coach John Beam, and all those who have been impacted by their loss.

Please join me in a moment of silence.

Thank you.

Today's discussion is more than a look at data, trends, or program outcomes.

At the heart of violence prevention work are real people, including those whose lives have been lost, families and friends with futures that have been forever changed, and neighborhoods which continue to carry lasting pain and trauma.

That is why our approach must be rooted in prevention, healing, and community partnerships.

I want to acknowledge and thank Supervisor Miley for his decades of leadership around these efforts, both at the county and during his time on the Oakland City Council.

Today's meeting focuses on county's violence prevention strategy and efforts through the lens of public health that address violence in all forms.

We will hear from the Alameda County Public Health Department's Office of Violence Prevention, along with community partners, leading innovative preventative focused work across the county.

Over the past several years, Alameda County has made significant investments in a public health approach to violence prevention, including supporting efforts such as hospital-based intervention, mental health supports, community building, relationship violence prevention, and narrative change in partnership with trusted community-based organizations.

Our conversation is especially important right now, given both the recent harm and loss at the local, national, and even international levels, as well as Alameda County's ongoing commitment to address the systemic drivers of health and safety.

This is a policy choice and one that has been reaffirmed both at the ballot box through the 2020 passage of Alameda County Measure C to maintain and protect the availability and accessibility of our regional pediatric safety net services.

And just last month, our board's unanimous support to allocate $3 million annually for the next three years to strengthen countywide violence prevention efforts through grant funding and intervention programs through our public health department.

Thank you to our health committee members, Chair Miley and Supervisor Tam for advancing this increased investment recommendation to the full board.

As the chair of the Public Protection Committee, I share your belief that advancing the safety and well-being of our residents requires continued investment and prevention, innovation, and cross collaboration with all stakeholders, including those internal and external to the county.

Today's presentations will help us better understand how these programs operate on the ground and contribute to a safer, healthier communities across Alameda County.

Given the number of presenters today, I believe we have 12.

I want to ask the speakers to please keep their remarks focused and concise so we can ensure everyone has time to present and the committee members have time for discussion.

I will take public comment at the end of all the presentations.

With that said, this is all an informational items today on the agenda.

The first presenter is through Alameda County Public Health Department Office of Violence Prevention.

I'd like to welcome Anika Shandra, Interim Agency Director of Alameda County Health, and Kimmy Watkins Tart, Director of Alameda County Public Health Department, and Kristen Clopton, Office of Violence Prevention.

Good morning.

Welcome and thank you for your work.

And I believe we do have a PowerPoint presentation.

Welcome, good morning.

All right, thank you.

Good morning, Supervisor, and thank you for having us here today.

My name is Kimmy Watkins Tart, Public Health Director, and so happy to be able to share the work of the new office.

We'll provide some updates on our work to date data at this time as we have it, as well as our data development agenda.

You can go to the next slide.

We'll also spend a fair amount of time on strategies that are operational now in Alameda County and hear from community partners about their work, and we'll wrap up with next steps.

Next slide.

Preventing violence is a public health issue and a public health concern.

It's also consistent with your board's vision for 2036.

Preventing violence is critical to having a safe and livable community, and also deeply connected to having thriving and resilient populations and a vibrant and prosperous economy.

Next slide.

The public health department has led an engaging process to identify population level priorities for our county through our community health needs assessment process and the development of our community health improvement plan.

These priorities were informed by data across our health system, as well as having conversations with residents and organizational stakeholders.

Promoting peaceful families and communities continued to be uplifted as a key priority across Alameda County.

Next slide.

The Office of Violence Prevention was established in 2023, thanks to the commitment support of your board.

Our priorities for the new office were informed from input from community partners, community members, service providers, and county agencies who were already working in the space.

We wanted to ensure that the new office would be additive to what was already happening in our community.

So much work is already going on and was going on at the time.

And we invited our colleagues to share with us what would be most useful as we plan to launch this new effort.

Having an institutional partner that could foster collaboration, strengthen data analysis across our system, build collective capacity and elevate community voices was called out as an imperative.

And while recognizing that violence affects us all and across the lifespan, there was a consistent desire to emphasize supporting youth and young adults.