I'd like to call to order this meeting of the first five Sacramento Commission for Monday, February 3rd, 2025.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll and step to the roll.

Yes, sir.

Chair sir, now.

Here.

Commissioner Wesley.

Here.

Commissioner Fernandez Garcia.

Here.

Commissioner Gordon.

Here.

Commissioner Castilla.

Not here today.

Commissioner Cotari.

Here.

Commissioner Moke.

Here.

Commissioner Kennedy.

No.

Commissioner Hassett.

Here.

Commissioner Williams.

Here.

Commissioner Evans.

Here.

Commissioner Gross.

Here.

Commissioner Lloyd.

Here.

And Commissioner Kravitz-Worz.

Here.

Thank you.

We have Choram.

Great.

Thank you.

Will you please rise and join Commissioner Moke in our pledge.

You bet.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, please read our statement.

This meeting of the first five Sacramento Commission is live and recorded with close

captioning.

It is cable cast and Metro cable channel 14, the local government affairs channel and

the Comcast and the Rick TV universe cable systems.

It is also live stream at Metro14live.saccounty.gov.

Today's meeting replaced Thursday, February 6th at 1 p.m., and Metro cable channel 14.

One posted the recording of this meeting can be viewed on the man at youtube.com slash

Metro cable 14.

Thank you.

Again, welcome everyone to our second meeting of the year.

And certainly again, want to remind folks that have joined us here in chambers that if you

wish to address the commission, you are certainly welcome to do so.

We just ask that you complete a speaker slip.

And please mind the fact that we do have a speaking limit of three minutes per speaker

in place so that everyone who wishes to address the commission has that opportunity to do

so.

With that, and before we get to our consent items, I believe Commissioner Nicole Cravitz

works.

Is this not your first meeting?

So I want to welcome you on behalf of the commission and look forward to working alongside

you.

Very good.

All right.

Our first item, please.

Item number one, approval of November 4th, 2024 draft action summary.

All right.

Does any commissioner wish to comment on or suggest changes to the draft action summary

if not?

And if there are no public speakers assigned to speak on this, I'd entertain a motion.

Chair, we'll move as their second.

I'll second.

Okay.

It's been moving second.

Roll call vote, please.

Chair, sir.

Now.

Aye.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez Garcia.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Gros.

Aye.

Commissioner Cotari.

Aye.

And Commissioner Moke.

Aye.

Thank you, motion passes.

Very good.

Thank you.

Next item, please.

Item number two, appoint commissioners to standing committees.

Melissa Lloyd to SOS committee and Nicole Cravitz works to evaluation committee.

All right.

Any discussion on these nominations?

I think they'll serve very well in these capacities and I appreciate both Melissa and Nicole

stepping forward to serve.

So without it, entertain a motion.

Move to, can we do both at the same time?

Yes.

Move to a point both to their respective committees.

Okay.

There's a motion.

I can second.

There's a second.

Any public speakers, Madam Clerk?

No, sir.

Okay.

Very good.

All right.

Roll call vote, please.

Chair, sir.

Aye.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez Egercia.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Gross.

Aye.

Commissioner Cotari.

Aye.

And Commissioner Moke.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion passes.

Very good.

Thank you and congratulations.

Okay.

We're on to separate matters and the first item under separate matters is the public's opportunity

to address this commission on any item that is not on our published agenda.

Madam Clerk, do we have anyone in the Senate to speak on off of agenda matters?

No, sir.

Very good.

Then we'll go on to the next item, please.

Item number four, executive director's report.

Great.

Thank you.

Good afternoon commissioners.

We may have given short shrift to Commissioner Lloyd.

It's also her first meeting.

Welcome.

I wanted to start off the executive director's report by asking one of our colleagues to come

up to the podium and meet me as Stephanie Begler.

I have to take my notes for tonight.

Q, the Miss America music, right?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for waiting.

Thank you.

Oh goodness.

You're very welcome.

After 26 years, 26 years at the Chaudhary's Prevention Council, Stephanie Begler is retiring

as deputy director.

I know it's shocking.

We are still reeling.

I think we can probably count on one hand the number of times that Stephanie has not been

sitting in the audience in those 26 years.

I jokingly say that I've spent more time with Stephanie in meetings and on the phone than

I have with the majority of my staff, just because of the work and how closely we work together.

When I first started, Stephanie and I went out and to lunch, I think we'll see that.

That's where they started my education.

And she's been working on me ever since that first lunch meeting, just really schooling

me in prevention work and in the work of, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm,

just the greater work of child abuse prevention in the county and I appreciate you so much.

You've made all the difference.

Likewise.

And I can't not say something about Safe Sleep Baby, which would never exist the way it does

without Stephanie's leadership.

Really understanding from the get go that those most impacted by those deaths had to be

at the table to craft the solution and inviting them and building a whole program around

their messaging.

So just thank you so much.

You deserve this retirement.

I hope you start taking it soon.

Okay.

We have just some flowers and a smelk for you.

I'm pleased.

Oh, my, you words.

Oh, my probably will.

I know your boss might want to say.

Oh, good.

Oh, here.

This is kind of dangerous giving me the mic like this on many fronts, but I have had

the honor for three or almost what, since 19, whatever it is, too many years, over three

decades to come to work and do what I love doing.

And retirement when you have that opportunity is bittersweet.

However, you take with you so many memories.

And I won't take you through 35 years of my career, but maybe highlight just a little.

I was part of teams and funders that launched Sacramento Casa.

I was part of team and funders that launched the crisis nursery long before Sheila was at

the cap center because they would be within the cap center if she were there then.

And now, I was contracting with child protective services to do an independent evaluation of

a very friendly named program called the Title IV B program.

Now to this day, I wonder why any parent would want to come and take services from the

Title IV B program and all do respect Melissa, manage child protective services.

I then had the opportunity to be part of the team on the ground to create birth and

beyond.

And we took all the lessons learned from Title IV B and wove them into birth and beyond

to the program that has the success that it has had today.

And Sheila and I were at the cap center when first five was just launching and fingers crossed

in a lot of prayers that were thankfully answered.

That the commission would understand that school readiness starts before and it doesn't

have as much to do with academics as it does to make certain that the health and the

well-being of a child makes them ready to learn and makes them ready to engage and thrive

in school.

And I stand here 26 years later, 25 years later with a heartfelt gratitude for this commission

and the commissioners before you that understood that importance and the fact that you have

sustained and grown programs that collectively prepare a child for school.

We don't do this work alone.

And one of the things that I thrived on and I will miss is partnering with wonderful

county leaders like Julie, her incredible team, the retired Michelle Kayeha and Jim Hunt

before her and other leaders before her.

You know, having that guidance and having that, I'll use this word, insistence from those

that are decision makers in moving the work of child abuse prevention has put this county

so far ahead of other counties.

I mean, when you think about it, we really began to be serious about child abuse prevention

back in 1998.

So and yes, you are right, Julie, safe sleep, baby, is near and dear to my heart.

So thank you so much.

And not only do we do this work alone because we have wonderful partners, but we also have

a wonderful staff.

And the future of the child abuse prevention center is brighter than it is today thanks

to the leadership of Jane and Camille, my replacement and Tally, who is the birth and

beyond guru and others such as Renee, who is marshalling safe sleep, baby and Cindy,

who makes certain that our AmeriCorps members and staff at birth and beyond have the skills

that they need to go ahead and serve parents that were honored to serve.

And commission or words, I cannot tell you how important your father was to all of

this work and to so many of our successes today.

He was a treasured friend of mine.

We were colleagues.

Every time I was going to call him, I made sure I kept an hour open on my calendar because

I knew that that's what it would take for him and I to really talk and come to some

decisions about how we collectively can strengthen families and protect children.

So I leave you all with a heartfelt with gratitude upon measuring Julie.

It's just been an absolute treasure working with you.

You all know the fabulous leader that she is.

And Michelle's words of let's take care of the little ones will stay with me until

I'm in my coffin.

I think.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Don't go anywhere.

Commissioner Moe.

Yes.

I text a picture of you standing there to your one of your sons.

So he would know what a proud moment you were having in real time.

Thank you.

You know, it's hard to describe what one person could possibly mean to the fabric of a

community.

And what you have done in Sacramento and for so many people that don't even know your

name is remarkable.

You have and you've been doing it for a long time.

As you said, luckily I didn't have to say that.

You started way long ago when before prevention was a was even a topic was a word that we

even said, title 4b you referenced.

I don't know if in your independent evaluation if there was one particular home visitor that

was good or bad.

If it was good, it was me if it was bad, it was not me because I was a home visitor in

that program.

And as part of title 4b and I got to see what you then created with people around this

community in building birth and beyond the family support collaborative and everything

that has come about since then.

You are truly and have been a champion for children, the things that you have put yourself

in the middle of.

The things that a lot of people don't want to know and see.

Your work on child death review team, your work with Dr. Wertz with your dad over decades

have made people's lives better.

Like a lot of times people say, we're not saving lives here.

This isn't saving lives.

You've literally been saving people's lives.

And I don't even know of bouquet of flowers and a couple of moments here but what this community

needs to do to repay you, I can't even fathom.

I am so lucky to have worked for you, to have known you for as long as I have.

And I do truly hope you get to take some time to because you have been in it for everybody

else but yourself for a really long time.

So love you so much and good luck.

Thank you.

Any others?

Sorry.

She's like, why did I join this?

What is going on?

She says.

You'll be passing the Kleenex to several times during your tenure.

Well, she's the cryer.

She cries at it.

Thank you so much.

I just want to add, Stephanie, that I've known you now 15 years.

I think Julie said it best or made reference to it, I think appropriately so that you've

been a terrific educator for so many of us.

And I can remember as a freshman supervisor and as a man with no children of his own,

kind of understanding at times it was drinking from a fire hose but understanding just the

importance and the opportunity that then was before me as just 20% of the board of supervisors

or as an equal here up on the commission, the good that we could do and how to think

carefully about resource allocation and certainly paying very, very close attention to outcomes.

That'll stay with me forever.

So I just want to add to what Commissioner Moke and what Julie have already offered in terms

of just touching a small part of your long and well-respected legacy here in Sacramento

County.

And please never forget that your success as Commissioner Moke put it is measured and

saved lives.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

All right.

There's a little more to the executive director's report.

I'll jump back in there.

I wanted to have to reference Commissioner Warts again because one of the things that I wanted

to share was that we have the plaque up in our conference room now that really honors

Commissioner Warts proudly displayed there for each of our first meetings of the year.

We've been just reading that plaque allowed for everybody in the committee, in the committees

and in the room to here and to keep his spirit alive.

He did a lot of work in those board of walls.

Let me tell you.

I have a staffing update.

Some of you know, some of you might not know that Latina retired over the holidays,

which I'm still recovering.

But she followed her heart and she is in Texas now, believe it or not.

During her eight years with the commission, she shared her many talents with us as far

as working on our sustainability, our racial equity work, our systems change work.

Her parting gift to us was the ability to do some restructuring of the programmatic side

of first five.

We had always had some growth and like a ladder for people to move up on the administrative

side.

We took her position, that program planner position and we used that opening to create a human

services program manager position.

And then we, and which I'm very pleased to say, we are moving Alejandra Labrato into

that program manager and she will serve as deputy director of first five Sacramento.

So.

And then we took Alejandra's position and we downgraded it to be a human services program

specialist position.

So more of an entry level position.

It's pretty much cost neutral but really creates a growth and opportunity and secession

planning ladder on that side.

So very excited about that.

We are also filling an ASO one position, our ASO one, Shang Yang promoted to the coroner's

office as a ASO two.

So with Latinas departure, we've sort of rearranged some of the work duties but I'm also really

pleased to announce that Lindsay Duncan has transitioned to our team's racial equity

lead.

She'll do all of that programming, our external work, our internal work, our contracts for

participatory grant making and then ultimately those contracts going out to community, the

$4 million.

So lots of change.

She's also going to serve on the county's Gare committee which is government alliance

on racial equity and the county's health and racial equity work group.

So lots of stuff happening there and she brought some gifts for you guys to share.

And if you wanted to say anything about these, we thought we would pass them around

just so you can check them out.

I can say, okay, these are in partnership with Commissioner Wesley.

Our commission has purchased these to distribute to our agencies that are working with Black

and African American families.

We do have a recruitment and retention issue kind of across the board we've been working

on and these are the Black family culture kits and each kit focuses on a different piece.

There's four of them and the two that you're going to that we're sharing today would

just be just delivered passed out all of our big crock pots with Black-eyed peas for

the new year and everybody got these amazing big crock pots with all the goods and stuff

and books and everything.

Lindsay has the skincare one.

There's a skincare and a hair care.

They're gendered.

We brought you I think the boy version of the skincare, the girl version of the hair care.

But so families, if by participating in our programming at birth and beyond at Christ's

nurseries, I can't remember where else but they will they have the opportunity to earn

four kits over the course of the year.

Each kit has some really cool stuff and books in it.

I thought we would share those with you.

Thank you Commissioner Wesley for making the connect.

It's all part of the Black ECE.

Okay, yes, okay close enough.

You got it.

Okay.

Also wanted to just draw your attention that to the 2025 policy priorities, those are in

your packet.

We did not change the priorities.

We brought them to the SOS committee and said these are still really keep things for

us to be working on, especially in this time where advocacy is going to be very important.

Moving into our new federal administration and looking at those changes that are coming

down the pipeline every day it feels like.

Yeah, so we will be retaining those.

I wanted to share a little bit about our SAC family connect summit.

We hosted our first one since launching SAC family connect in 2020.

We had our first in-person gathering.

Our theme was breaking down silos to better serve families.

We had 140 attendees representing our county departments, community-based organizations,

community members.

Commissioner Surnot was there to kick us off.

He gave the welcome and really set the tone of the day and

Commissioner Wesley closed us down at the end of the day with some really inspiring words.

And we have a very short video to show that captures that day.

If you could please play that.

Thank you.

Great.

It was wonderful.

We had 45 people on the wait list who could not get in that day.

So we will be going bigger for the next one.

So just thank you.

It was wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So thank you.

Thank you.

I have a question for you back at our August meeting.

Commissioner Surnot raised a question around collecting multi-racial data.

Our proximity database system was not allowing that to happen.

It's something that Ber Moshe and Beyond had been collecting but had no way of actually putting it in.

To our system, we called proximity after that.

They're their principle and talked to Michael Coagus.

First, our answer was no.

It was too big of a change.

It wouldn't be able to happen.

But then I guess there was enough pushback from others that, and some other commissioners,

other commissions saw the value in collecting multi-racial data.

And so we got a callback saying yes, we're going to change our system to allow that.

So we're really happy about that.

We won't have that data for the rest of 2024-25, but we may in fact get it for your next,

by the time your next annual report rolls around so that could be wonderful.

And one last thing that seems like forever ago, but also in November,

we had our regional 25th anniversary power building summit.

And we had at 10, first five commissions coming together to network and share local resources.

And that commissioners, or commissioners, Serna, also on a panel again, talking about City County,

a county partnership with first five and other departments around sustainability of programs like Berth and Beyond and others.

And Commissioner Broke, Moke brought tons of energy as our MC.

It was pretty cool, and I also have a very short video to show.

It was oddly like a Kings game.

It ended like a Kings game started.

Okay.

Yeah.

We had such a great turnout.

I saw a lot of you in there.

Thank you.

I think you should just briefly tell the story about the food service.

The food service being from a family.

We had some great Mexican food buffet style.

And as we were lining up to get our food, it turned out that the company, the restaurant catering company,

had actually been a first five family in Placer County.

And the services, a whole litany of services when they were really struggling and finding a tough, tough to make ends meet.

They were met by various members of the first five service team that got them what they needed when they needed it.

And then, yeah, fast forward business owners catering the lunch for the very entity that they were served by.

Super cool.

It gave me chills.

It was really cool.

Lots of good stuff happening out there.

Thank you. That does conclude my report.

Thank you, Julie.

I'm a guest and it's a similar request to one that was made during our last port of supervisors meeting in Shavan.

Perhaps others might remember.

But given the disposition of the current administration as it relates to federal funding and resources.

I would think it prudent to have a designated agenda future agenda item.

But a couple meetings out that give us some idea of where we are vulnerable, if at all.

But I think it's wise to kind of err that, bet that let the public know it at the same time that commissioners know where some of our potential vulnerabilities lie.

And, you know, in the event that we likely need to play some defense for the next four years.

I think it's incumbent upon us to understand that and I'm fairly methodical way.

Excellent. Definitely well.

Great. Any other questions or comments from commissioners on the exact director's report?

Seeing none.

Mental clear to everyone's time to speak.

I know, sir.

All right. We're on to the next item.

Item number five, advisory committee update.

Number eight, 2024.

Appoint Robin Blanks' gesture to the oral health seat.

Great. So this is our only appointment for this month.

Robbins is a member of the Medi-Cal Dental Advisory Committee and has been a long-term, long-time supporter of the two health.

Very well-known quantity.

Yes. I don't have a few here today.

But, so we're asking for that.

And we also have Javed Aman is in the audience to give an update on what we did at our last meeting.

Okay.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Commissioner Sona and commissioners.

My name is Joel Ahmad.

I'm a PILT alumni and I'm a member of the advisory committee member for representing the community,

especially immigrant populations in the segment area.

We had a meeting of commissioner and whether you on November 8 and out of the meeting, we had a following achievements.

Number one, our meeting started with commissioner meet and greet with Lawanda Wesley.

She shared about her career in policy, advocacy, her passion for early care and education in her role as a commissioner in co-chair for SOS committee.

It was a great conversation and members were eager, particularly I, to learn more about policy and advocacy.

Thank you, commissioner Welsie.

And thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise with all of us in that regard.

Number two, the committee approved junior goris as chair and Jennifer Muhammad as co-chair.

Number three, there were other items of discussions, especially 2022 long-range agenda for our advisory committee members.

Members, brainstorm topics for discussions program in community data presentations and playing.

How can we all participate in and play active rule in our commission's meeting?

Our next meeting for the advisory committee member will be February 14th.

And that concludes the advisory committee member. Thank you so much.

Thank you for the report. Any questions?

Sorry.

Okay, we do have an appointment for our last strike.

Okay, so I will make the motion to appoint Robin Blanks, a guest to the oral health seat.

Second.

Okay, it's been moved in second. Do we have anyone sign up to speak on this?

No, sir.

Okay, we'll call vote please.

Chair sir, now.

Aye.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandes Egercia.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Katari.

Aye.

Commissioner Gross.

Aye.

And Commissioner Moek.

Aye.

Thank you, motion passes.

Okay, thank you.

Next item please.

Item number six, evaluation committee update November 18th, 2024, and January 20th, 2025.

The evaluation committee met on November 18th and received a copy of the first five California annual report, which you'll receive later during this meeting.

The evaluation committee also received and provided input on a special study focusing on the Sacramento Children's Home Crisis Nursery.

That report can be found on the first five Sacramento website.

And lastly, Stephanie McLean-Werbray with Touchstone Leadership Group provided a presentation on participatory grantmaking evaluation.

Our January meeting was rescheduled from last week to February 7th this Friday due to lack of a quorum for last week.

Thank you, Commissioner Gordon.

Any questions on the update?

No, see any? Anyone time to speak on this? Mental clerk?

No, sir.

Okay, thank you again and on to next item please.

Item number seven, financial planning committee update January 23rd, 2025.

Hello, everyone.

The Financial Planning Committee met on January 23rd and established a quorum.

Staff updated us about some staffing vacancies.

They're currently working on filling the vacant ASO one position that we heard about earlier.

And restructuring the first five programmatic team in order to create a succession planning so they can offer an advancement ladder to the admin team.

Two program planner positions will be reclassified as a human services program manager and a human services program specialist.

And that will result in a savings of roughly $14,000.

Staff also reported good news for the first five's PLTI program.

We're happy to report that the Department of Child, Family and Adult Services is funding an additional cohort for fiscal year 2425.

And this is item number 11 on today's agenda.

The fiscal year 2023 24 audit was issued on October 31st and reviewed by the committee.

There were no findings. And so the committee voted to approve the audit, which is on today's agenda for public hearing and approval by the commission.

And lastly, the commission financial statements for the second quarter were reviewed in line with budget expectations.

And this concludes my report.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Has it any questions for our Vice Chair?

Okay, seeing none. I don't encourage to wait until one sign up to become this matter.

No, sir.

All right. Thanks again. And next item, please.

Item number eight, systems optimization and sustainability committee update December 18th, 2024.

Good afternoon. So the SOS committee met on December 18th.

Is that long ago?

Yes.

Okay.

So much has happened.

Yes. The committee reviewed and approved the 2025 policy priorities, which are in, is in our packet.

And we'll continue to focus on key umbrella areas while trying our best to take into consideration as Chair Surnow is mentioning projected cuts at the federal level.

We received an overview of the upcoming strategic planning process and an update as well on the participatory grant making process from the two community assemblies that we had.

And both of those items will be discussed on today's agenda. It looks like items 12 and 13.

Commissioner Katari is stepping down from the SOS and we are, we know that as ecumenical as we all are and collaborative that she'll still be around to give us guidance on building capacity for community organizations.

And we are delighted to welcome our new commissioner Melissa Lloyd to the SOS committee. She'll continue our collaboration with the county's department of child and family and adult services.

Our next meeting is February the 19th.

And this concludes the SOS committee report.

Thank you. Any questions?

Seeing none. Madam Clerk, anyone sign up to speak from this matter?

No, sir.

All right. Next item, please.

Item number nine, public hearing, review and adapt the first five Sacramento fiscal year, 2020, 324 financial audit.

Good afternoon commissioners. The fiscal year 2324 audit was issued on October 31, 2024 and was submitted to the state and first five California on the same date.

It was completed by the auditing firm, Macias, Genie, and O'Connell LOP, better known as MGO.

And today we have Russell Robertson, a sure and structure MGO who will provide a brief summary of the report.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Chair, sir, on the board.

Yes, as Chris is alluded to, my name is Russell Robertson with MGO.

And thank you for letting me share the results of the fiscal year, 2324 audit first five.

I will go ahead and start with the first report. This is a report to the commissioners.

This really gives you a good guideline of our scope of the audit.

What year we looked at, obviously, was fiscal year 24.

And it goes over some areas that we focus in on and describes any issues that may have popped up during the year or any information that we feel is more important to share with you.

So if I would, going through this report, starting with page 20, we indicate in this report, if there's any new accounting principles or policies that were adopted by first five during the year, and there were none.

So it was pretty straightforward, pretty consistent for my share.

No major changes.

On page 21, we do reference an audit adjustment that we did have. It wasn't a material audit adjustment.

It was mainly a reclassification of a revenue type. So we moved it from one bucket to another.

So it was just to make the classification presentation more consistent with prior year.

There were no consultations with other accountants. We didn't have any difficulties with management and no significant difficulties encountered during our performing the audit.

And then on page 22, we do issue and we make reference to in the bottom of page 22, we do have a report on internal control and compliance matters.

And I'll share some information when we get through that to that particular report.

With one last item in this report, we describe potential accounting centers that are coming up that may affect the commission.

The only one that I foresee that may cause a little more work during next year is on page 24. It's the top one.

It's the GASB statement number 101.

What's really what that is is you have to disclose compensated absences differently and you have to in your notes and how you report it on your financial statements.

So we'll work with the commission on how to handle that.

As you'll see in the report, they and with the assistance of the county Sacramento, the reports are pretty straightforward, very organized.

When we appreciate that as auditors, so we have no fear that this standard is going to be any difficulty for them to minister next year.

So going into the next report starting on page 26 and the meat and potatoes of our results is in this report is our audit opinion on the financial statements.

On page 28, we start out with it and our opinion we provided a unmodified opinion for fiscal year 2324.

Really what that is is assurance by us that the financial statements are prepared not materially mistreated. Everything is great.

So that's a good thing, a good thing to get on an audit.

So going through this report, we also mentioned the interim control report that I will get to later.

And then we also do another report. So there's three reports in here.

The internal report, the interim control and compliance of other matters report and then also the compliance that the commission as you know, have to adhere to during the year.

I can go through the whole report, but there is a section in here that I think is very important.

And I'll just mention it is the first starting on page.

Let's see page 33 is the management discussion and analysis section of the report.

I think of anything else that be one area that I would particularly read if I was on the board that really describes what happened during the year.

Any initiatives, major initiatives that occurred, any significant changes.

So that really gives you a nice summary of exactly what happened during the year.

Again, going to the end of this section here, starting on page 70 is our internal control over financial reporting and on compliance and other matters.

I just want to share that in the course of our audit, we don't particularly give an opinion over all the internal controls that are in place.

But we do review those to make sure that when we design our audit procedures that they are working.

And if we do encounter something that popped up that was a problem or finding, we would indicate in this section there were none for fiscal year 2324.

So again, a clean audit in our respect.

The last report that I'll speak on is the independent honors report on state compliance over Proposition 10.

There's a lot of compliance requirements that are followed and on page 73, we illustrate this section of what we selected the test of transactions that we looked at.

And at the bottom you can see what we went through and we went through the whole guidance.

So no findings, no issues.

So overall, very clean.

I want to thank Kristen, her team and the county finance team as well.

This made it very easy.

Got it for us and want to thank you again for letting me share the results. Any questions?

Thank you. Any questions?

I have one question. I'm not if you're able to answer it. Maybe Julie can or Kristen.

How unique are we in terms of having repeatedly clean audit reports?

If you looked at other first five commissions across the state, are there some that I've had their challenges?

Yeah, I think. Yeah, it depends on resources. I think there is a commitment in this county to make this really very transparent, very organized.

And I have seen issues in other commissions. So yeah, again, it's just very, it's a pleasure just working with the team.

Because we know that we're going to get through it pretty easily.

Great. Thank you.

All right. Do we have, while let me open the public hearing?

Is there any member of the public that would like to address the commission on this matter?

Seeing no one coming forward, we don't have any speakers.

I'll close the public hearing and bring it back before us. It says no vote on my sheet, but we have to adopt.

So we go back and forth with this all the time. We should just vote.

Here's the rule of thumb. If the verb to adopt is implied or explicit, we're voting.

So we need to adopt the report. Is there a motion?

The chair will move. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Okay, it's been in second. We'll have a vote, please.

Chair Surnin.

Aye.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez Garcia.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Gross.

Aye.

Commissioner Cotari.

Aye.

And Commissioner Milk.

Aye.

Thank you. Motion passes.

All right. Very good. Thank you.

Next item, please.

Item number 10. Public hearing. Review and adapt to first five Sacramento fiscal year, 2020-324, annual report.

Carmen Garcia Gomez is right behind me and is going to take this one.

Good afternoon, commissioners.

This public hearing fulfills the requirement of the Children Families Act of 1998, where we need to file a annual report first five California every year by November 1st.

We did submit a report on October 31st of last year.

Today, I'm going to walk you through the report.

And this is the one report that I do every year, which is just numbers. How many we served and how much money we spent, what we have left over.

So this report was completed in collaboration with our evaluation consultant applied survey research and per semeni.

And thank you to all of our contractors that enter data into per semeni to allow us to do this report on an annual basis.

You have attachments one, two, and three, which are the AR-1, which is the revenue and expenditure summary.

The AR-2 is the Sacramento demographic worksheet and the AR-3 is the evaluation summary and highlights.

During fiscal year 2324, the total expenditures were 21.3 million, which was an increase of 10% from the previous year.

The fiscal year ended with a fund balance of $18.5 million. Within that same time period, we served over 21,000 parents, children, and providers.

The numbers stayed pretty much similar to the previous year.

You see there that I have provided two tables with ethnicity of children and parents and the primary language is spoken of the home and the clients.

The other top.

Yes.

Do you have a page number four?

Page 76.

Thank you.

Thank you, Julie.

Other top ethnicities that we provided services to during fiscal year 2324 included Afghan, Arab, Malang, Alaska Native, American, Indian, Pakistani, Russian, and Ukrainian.

Section 3 of the report is your Sacramento County evaluation summary and highlights.

This year we highlighted the crisis nursery special study that Dave Gordon referenced to.

You can read the highlights there.

The county highlight that we submitted to first five California was on the program, the refugee family support program, which was directly funded by first five California.

And we ended that program last year in, I want to say it was January of 2024.

I wanted to do a really nice highlight to demonstrate the success of that program, which was very successful here in Sacramento County.

The staff recommends that the commission conduct a public hearing and adopt the fiscal year 2324 first five Sacramento commission annual report.

And that concludes my report.

Thank you, Carmen. Any questions for Carmen?

Well, open the public hearing. Is there any member of the public that would like to address the commission on this matter?

Seeing no one coming forward, the mental group we have no speaker slips.

Close the public hearing. Bring it back to the commission for adoption.

I'll make a motion.

I'll second.

Okay, it's been moved in second. Roll call please.

Chair Serena.

Hi.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner for now this EGARCIA.

Hi.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Gross.

Aye.

Commissioner Katari.

Aye.

Commissioner Moeke.

Aye.

Thank you, motion passes.

Thank you.

Thanks again, Carmen.

Next round please.

Item number 11.

Approval of revenue agreement with the Department of Child, Family and Adult Services in the amount of $80,000 and amendment to Sacramento Children's Home Contract in the amount of $72,000 to implement parent leadership training institute.

Okay.

As a note, there will be six voting members for this one.

Right.

Because we have some recusals from DCFAS.

You're recusing.

Yeah.

Sorry.

Okay.

Soon to be Deputy Director Alejandra Labrato will take this one on.

Great.

Thank you, Julie.

Good afternoon commissioners.

As you know, we are partnering with the Sacramento Children's Home to offer three parent leadership training institutes or PLTI cohorts for the strategic plan.

That is one cohort a year.

Our Spanish cohort began January 4th already with 25 participants.

And now we have the wonderful opportunity thanks to DCFAS to offer an English cohort this fiscal year as well.

This additional funding of $80,000 will allow us to continue building on the momentum from last year of holding two cohorts in English and Spanish.

That was thanks to public health.

So we are recommending authorizing the executive director to enter into a revenue agreement with DCFAS in the amount of $80,000 and to amend the expended chair agreement with the Sacramento Children's Home in the amount of $72,000.

The remaining $8,000 will remain in house for oversight of the program.

And this investment will result in a potential 25 new parent leaders for 2025.

Great.

Thank you, Alejandra.

Any questions for staff?

Okay.

Any members of the public in the center speak?

Okay.

So I would entertain a motion.

I'll move approval.

The mood is your second.

Second.

There's a motion.

The second, please vote.

Sure, sorry now.

Aye.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez-Igor Siam.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Gross.

Aye.

And Commissioner Moke.

Aye.

Thank you, motion passes.

Very good. Thank you.

Next item.

We can bring back our friend.

Hopefully they can hear us.

Security.

There was a time that one time we left people back there for like an hour.

We had gone on to like three other items.

I think it was before the speakers were like wired back there.

You guys can hear us back there now?

You can't.

Okay, great.

So yeah, we, uh, speakers are on the bathroom.

They're on the bathroom.

So yes, I'm just glad to see that we've got our game and bring you right back.

So welcome.

Yeah.

Item number 12, discussion item, update on 2020.

2017 strategic planning process.

Great.

And for this one, we have Lindsay Duncan, who in addition to all of them,

who in addition to all of our new tasks is also leading our strategic planning work for 2027.

But she can't figure out how to turn on a microphone.

Good afternoon, chair, Sarah, and commissioners.

Although we are barely a half a year into the 2024 27 strategic plan,

the commission is already time to begin thinking about the next round of strategic planning,

feels like I was just up here for that.

Oh, thank you.

So last time around, I thought I'd rewind the tape for you.

So you could remember where we're coming from.

The commission used a whole group process that included discussions at commission meetings

half-day retreats.

And the goal was to build off of the resolution

on racial equity and social justice

that recognized racism as the root cause

of health, early learning, and family resilience disparities.

And so we centered racial equity in the new strategic plan.

The planning started with community feedback,

with focus groups of community members,

which included focus groups of parents,

of line staff at family service organizations,

and then one of people in leadership positions

throughout Sacramento County.

So the information from these focus groups

was used to develop a survey that we pushed out to community.

It was available in four languages, you might recall.

It was ultimately completed by over 850 parents

and caregivers, which we were very proud about.

Those of you who were on the commission

at that time received an analysis of the results

of all this along with the community trend analysis

that our evaluation partners at ASR completed for us.

And commissioners used all of this information

and really deep discussion to set long range priorities

through 2034 using a consensus building decision-making model.

And this is what you came up with.

The updated mission statement reads,

in partnership with parents, caregivers, and their communities,

we seek to advance equitable, inclusive,

and culturally responsive prevention

and early intervention policies, systems, and practices

that eliminate racial inequities, promote health and development,

and improve the lives of children prenatal through age five

and their families.

Still working on the elevator speech.

So you see here the conceptual framework

that illustrates the strategic plan.

Children and families are at the center of the framework

informing and touched by everything that first five does.

So the five priorities in circle that center,

they're interlocking as an illustration

of their interdependence with one another.

So you have racial equity, health and well-being,

quality childcare, parent partnership, and systems improvement.

And then around the outside are first five core functions

to invest, to advocate, to convene,

to collaborate, and to build capacity.

So given that the commission set priorities through 2034

and given that our new funding is just now rolling out,

as you know, staff is proposing that we maintain

the current vision, mission, and priorities,

and that we maintain the nine outcomes

under those five priorities and the 14 goals

under those outcomes.

We've only just begun the work.

And in many cases, as with the Participatory Grant Making

Program, we haven't even identified allocations yet

for that more than $4 million.

Better part of that initiative.

So we propose shifting the 2024-27 strategic plan

to a 2024-34 strategic plan, because that's

what the priorities we're set for.

And looking at it as an overarching plan that's

made up of discrete funding periods,

the first of which is 2024-27.

So we'll move a specific fiscal information

about each funding period into an addendum

that's called a spending plan.

And then we'll continue to create an implementation plan

that lays out specific allocations to specific strategies

for each funding period stretching to 2034.

The commission-wisely allocated funding

for creating ongoing opportunities for community feedback,

as well as building community feedback

into every direct service contract.

So we'll include all of that in the addendum each time

at the end of each funding period.

And we'll also update the Child and Family Trend data

about Sacramento County.

Can I ask a quick question about that?

Just to hear it.

The Child and Family Trend data is what cadence does that?

Are we receiving that in?

Is it timely enough where we can incorporate it into?

Yeah.

I always thought the lag was too big.

Yeah, there is always a lag with that, right?

And particularly with the Child Death Review Team

information, we're all familiar with that lag.

And so those are community indicators, right?

So they're community-wide.

And some of them are updated more regularly than others.

But it's the same information in the same timeline

that the commission has always operated under.

I would say it is the best available.

OK.

Yeah.

Does that answer your question?

Yeah.

Cadence-wise, we would, every time we go into strategic planning

period, now kind of what we're calling an implementation

planning period, we would update that data.

So it has been every three to five years,

depending on how long the commissioners say,

this is the next strategic plan or implementation plan

period.

Because we haven't decided, you all haven't decided yet.

Will the next one be three years?

Will it be four years?

We would update with whatever is the most current right

before you all go into making decisions

about strategies and funding.

Yeah, this, I mean, if I remember back,

it came, it particularly came up during and around COVID, right?

When we were like responding or trying to respond to things

that didn't make sense based upon where

now the world was.

And so just so long as we are adhering to using

as much data and resources that are out there to make good

decisions and not relying on things that are out of,

you know, just past their prime in terms of what we need to

use them for.

That's all.

Yeah, and I think that's where community voice comes in as well.

I appreciate it.

They can, they can connect to that.

Absolutely.

So I have a question before you proceed.

Just looking ahead in the slide deck.

Are we still engaging result areas the way we have in the past

when we're developing our strategic plans?

Or are we doing something different?

So those five interlocking circles are the priorities.

And everything is organized under those priorities.

So previously we had a, we called it the higher archie.

Well, we had a table.

Yeah, we had.

And we moved away from a higher archie

and toward that more circular picture.

But yes, it is still organized according to result areas

when we get into the annual report.

And so I want to understand this.

So besides just kind of the graphical conceptual way

of looking at it perhaps a little differently,

is there a substantive difference in how we will consult

the strategic plan?

That's its entire purpose is we consulted

based on resource availability and our mission, general mission,

as a first five commission to implement and appropriate.

So what, if anything, would be different relative

to the fact that you're graphically showing it slightly,

you know, in maybe in a more general sense?

It's going to continue to, did you want to say something to that?

You can start.

OK.

It will continue.

I mean, the way that the first five statute is written

is that we can only fund what is in our strategic plan.

So it continues to be that overarching guide of what it is

that we can put our money toward.

And it is always the thing that we go to to guide those allocations.

Does the table still somewhere?

The table still used?

I mean, the hierarchy, it doesn't.

I don't understand the hierarchy part.

Yeah.

Is that code for priority?

Yeah, we used to have it.

It would be broken up by priorities.

So we had like three overarching priorities.

And each one had a goal.

And then each goal had a result area.

It was kind of like we called it the hierarchy,

just because it kind of like drilled down.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think I know what will help.

I actually, if I could just talk you through this slide,

I do have MetroCable has queued up what the strategic plan looks like right now

with the goals and the outcomes.

And I think that will help.

So is it all right if I just finish this slide?

And then we can go.

OK.

Mr. Wilson.

OK.

So the work this time around is going

to be assessing any changes as you're referring to.

And revisiting the percentage waiting of each priority

and deciding what strategies make sense

given those priorities and our declining revenue stream.

So we anticipate needing to make cuts of about 25%

in the next funding period.

So in thinking about what the support was needed for this way forward,

staff felt that a short-term strategic planning consultant

would deliver what we needed.

So we created a request for quotes with these five deliverables

that you see here.

Thought partnership for staff, a presentation to the commission,

helping to plan the community input process,

although our contract with lead for tomorrow

will actually carry out that community input process,

creating a timeline for the commission's decision making,

and then identifying tools and processes.

And this is really the meat of it for decision making

so that we can guide the commission in making decisions.

And we received five quotes, one of which

was an outlier in terms of amounts.

And so we conducted interviews with the other four.

And we selected a consultant in Lindsay Bellos

of heart of strategy for up to $18,000 worth of consultation.

She named Equity Centered as a key descriptor of her approach.

And she's consulted with the several other first fives

and with the first five association

and seemed like the best fit for us.

OK, so MetroCable, if you could bring up the other...

We're going to try this ourselves.

Let's see how good we can be.

The magic of stuff.

This one, I think.

OK, hold on.

We're getting there.

We're getting there.

Why is this not working?

Is this it?

Oh, wait, you can't see it.

Yes.

OK, got it.

Can you click?

Yes.

Yay, perfect.

It's a lot of words in it.

OK.

So this...

You can see this starts with the priority racial equity.

And it's got the two outcomes that you guys named for that

and then the goals underneath it.

So racial equity, diversity, inclusion,

and cultural responsiveness is strong across all priority areas.

And first five Sacramento has invested

in underserved communities.

So there are your goals.

Implement a Ready Plus CR plan,

build capacity of non-traditional partners

and smaller community-based organizations,

which is what's going to happen through the Participant

Grant Making Program, and fund new and non-traditional partners

to effectively address community-led plans

to support young children and families.

And so I don't think I need to go through all of them,

but here they are in that more organized fashion.

What does that make sense to you?

It does.

I just wanted to understand where we were leaving

kind of the former structure.

That's all.

But it sounds like we just kind of remolded it.

I don't know.

We're sort of taking the strategic plan

that we changed usually quite a bit.

Each of the three years, and we're going to say,

this is an evergreen document, the strategic plan,

that 30,000 foot-level document that talks about our five

priority areas, our outcomes and goals,

that's going to stay the same.

And where you're really going to see the difference,

what commissioners are really going to work on around the percentage

to each of those priority areas for funding

and any new strategies that we think we should implement

in order to reach the goals and our outcomes.

That's the type of work that we'll do.

It's still kind of the same work, but we're going to say

we're going to do it in an implementation plan

and keep this larger document across all 10 years.

Because that was the visioning that you all did

was a 10-year vision when you did it.

He just said it was a three-year plan.

But when staff sat down to look at it,

he said, we really can't blow up this plan.

We haven't even really started to implement

and it's so different than what our plans used to look like.

So it didn't make sense to come back and say,

let's look at rebooting the whole thing.

We are recommending we keep the framework

of the strategic plan for the 10 years

and sort of just look at the deeper dive

of money and strategy and timeline.

And that still stays a 72-month exercise, right?

It is a long exercise, but it might be a little bit shortened

by the fact that we're not reinventing

the whole big document at the top

that we're just making at Evergreen

and we're really focusing in on the other.

So what can we expect of anything

that will be different in terms of budgeting?

That 25% reduction is what we're looking at right now.

So and we know, and this is why you can't make those decisions

yet, right?

Is because we haven't launched,

we haven't even launched the ready fund out the door yet.

Which is why your strategic planning is going to be pushed

a little bit later and why we're coming to you

to kind of say, this is what we're recommending

is we keep this big thing so we don't have to start

reworking it already.

And later we're going to come back to you and say,

this is how much money we have for the next plan.

We need you to determine the years of the plan

or the years of that implementation plan.

Here's how much money we have.

So this is what the spending plan would look like

and then ask you all to prioritize.

So we're not, we shouldn't put blinders on thinking

that we have to function operate in the same kind

of three year running cycle.

Staff are starting first this time.

We're going to get the jump on it

with our strategic planning partner,

our consultant to really help us figure out the timeline

for you all so that you're not rushed at the end,

but that we have as much time as possible

to see what's happened with the current strategic plan

before we're asking you all,

before we're coming to you with recommendations

to make changes to it.

All right, fair enough.

Commissioner Westley, you still?

Yeah, I think you answered a lot of questions.

It feels like what we have built in

is that we have a strong solid framework,

so that will always stay in place.

And so the priorities are there,

but what gives us leeway is thinking in mind

with the 25% cut, not knowing such as time

times as this, not knowing where things could go.

We might want to prioritize one particular area

in terms of a weighted.

And we will know what that would look like

in terms of community driven input.

We will know what that looks like in terms of

with some consultancy, the staff, of course,

us as commissioners, but we will take all that into consideration

and have that leeway, but we do the continuity

and the consistency is the framework.

These are our five priority areas.

This is what we would have metrics around and outcomes around,

but we will decide with all the community input,

consultancy commissioners, we will then look at

what we put weight behind, and then therefore,

with the addendum look at financial inputs

and then implementation.

Is that right?

That's exactly it, articulately said.

Yes.

Place your asset.

I really like this.

I mean, having served on that committee forever

and watching the little rectangles go away every year

because we were losing money and having kind of this

pathetic thin layer of strategies never felt good.

It also didn't reflect the fact that in some years

we might be prioritizing more funding for one area

because we found funding.

I like that there's an equality to all five of the circles

and it recognizes their interconnectedness

and that we're not reinventing this every year.

I mean, we have a strategic planet,

we have that has five pillars.

And I'm like, I don't want to redo the pillars every year.

It's just what's underneath them

and lifting them up is going to look different

every three years or so.

So I really like it and I feel like it's really easy

to understand.

Thank you.

Yeah, my question is not should be interpreted

as condemning this new approach or criticizing it.

It's the fact that the past approach has been around

since the beginning.

So it is a departure.

And I just think it's worth understanding exactly

why we're changing and how we're changing.

So you don't get confused and you don't spend

a lot of time having to one on one explain things to us.

Perfect.

And that is what we're here to do too.

So thank you for asking the questions

and getting the clarification.

It helps us present it better too

because we have to take it out to community

and the questions here and the way it stated here

really is helpful to us to take it out.

So thank you.

Speaking of present, do you have more slides in the deck?

That's it.

All right, very good.

Okay.

Let's see.

This is a discussion item.

Any other comments, questions from commissioners?

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, do we have anyone to speak?

No, sir.

Okay, next item, please.

Item number 13, presentation,

update on participatory grant making

and CBO partnership initiative.

Great.

You're getting two presentations and one.

And we're going to start with Stephanie McElmore-Bray

from Touchstone Leadership Group

to give a quick update on participatory grant making.

Okay, presentation, thank you.

You would think I would know by now how to work this, right?

Sorry.

Commissioner Serna, first five commissioners.

Thanks for having me back.

I'm excited to report out on our phase one work

through our participatory grant making process.

And again, I want to acknowledge the team

and their support and help with our team

in completing this phase.

And so just to remind everybody,

there were two work streams.

Phase one, which is our community engagement work stream.

And that was to design or to work

to build a community design process

for identifying the deliberative panel

that'll make the decisions

about where the money will go.

And then the second phase is actually

the participatory grant making process

where the panel will convene and talk about

and decide who gets the award.

So just a timeline and I post this again

because it has shifted.

And so in September, we started our outreach strategy

for the community assemblies

because the goal was to host community-based

and non-traditional organizations to tell us

how the process should be designed to select the panel.

And so we all through September, we did that work.

We built an outreach list, worked with the team

and felt like we had a really robust list

of folks who had not previously been engaged.

And then October on the 23rd and the 29th,

we had assemblies, the 23rd was an in-person assembly,

the 29th was virtual.

And then February this month,

we will be reporting out to the community what they told us.

We have not yet done that, but we promised that we would.

But we'll also take that as the opportunity

to launch the recruitment process,

which I'll talk to you more about.

And we have a date, it's February 26th,

and it'll be virtual from 530 to 630.

And so we will invite the 272 people,

as well as a broader group of stakeholders to come

and hear what we learned during those assemblies

and will launch the process.

And then our goal is that in April,

the panel will be identified and on boarded.

And I'll talk a little bit more about what that'll look like too.

And so as I mentioned, we sent out 272 invitations,

and we got an outstanding response rate.

We were shooting for 10%, we got almost 20%,

which was wonderful.

We had a registration form in English and in Spanish.

We did personalized follow-ups, via text, email, and phone.

We also provided a stipend to all of the attendees,

and it was interesting because we had a request

somewhere along the way.

They didn't realize they were getting a stipend,

so that was kind of funny, even though we advertised it.

We also provided them with a dinner,

and there was childcare available

for the in-person participants.

And so the registration criteria was,

you could be a staff member of a by-pock-led

or serving community-based organization,

supporting children's and families, age zero to five,

or a community member who received services

from such an organization,

or an individual or business interested

in serving children, age zero to five,

and your organization had not received funding

from first five Sacramento since 2010.

And we selected that timeframe because based on

the internal analysis of first five's grant making,

we determined that that was when the funding

was reduced dramatically, and it really moved

into kind of a maintenance model

where the same folks were getting their funding renewed,

which essentially limited the opportunity

for other organizations to receive funding.

And that was because the funding was reduced, right?

And so we had 60 people.

There were 25 in-person, 35 virtual,

78% were from by-pock-led organizations,

87% served by-pock communities,

and the attendees represented Black Latino, Asian,

Afghan, and white communities.

And the overwhelming majority were from communities of color.

10% were businesses, 72% were CBOs,

and then 10% were community members,

and that's how they identified themselves.

And then the neighborhood representation

was Northsack, Southsack, North Highlands,

Rancho Cordova and Arden Arcade,

even though our outreach did extend to Galt

and other places where first five identified

that there hadn't been much engagement,

but we were happy to see some folks

from like the North Highlands, that Northsack area come.

So that was really wonderful.

And so the agenda was really designed

to engage the community as much as we could.

We certainly talked about the purpose, right?

So that everybody understood why they were there,

and what we wanted to accomplish,

and then what the process would be,

and we walked through all of this at the very beginning.

It was important to establish group agreements,

because we know that an important aspect of community building

is making sure that the community has an opportunity

to come together in an environment that was inclusive

and could be productive.

And we didn't assume that everybody was coming

from the same place, culturally,

and certainly not racially or ethnically.

And so those group agreements were really, really helpful

in establishing a container of trust among

and between all of the different groups

that were represented.

And then we gave them some background.

How did first five arrive at this idea, right?

And we gave a very quick overview

of that strategic plan goal, so that they could understand

why we were asking them to come together and do that work.

And then we had a set of probing questions,

which I'll share with you in the next slide,

to really set them up and set the stage

for the discussions they were going to have.

And then we had the breakout groups.

And we had, I think we had five or six different breakout groups.

And they were facilitated by a member of my touchstone team.

I got to facilitate one as well.

And then they came back together and did report out,

which was really, really amazing too.

And then conclusion in next steps,

including we invited them to come to commission meetings

if they wanted to get regular updates.

We also promised them that we would come back and share

what we heard with them.

And then of course, we made sure that they got compensated.

So the questions were centered.

These are the questions.

First, we asked them what came to mind

when they heard the statement.

First five Sacramento has set aside $4 million in grant funding

to be decided by a panel of community members

for BIPOC-led serving organizations.

What are some benefits of this approach?

What are potential drawbacks?

What questions do you have about this approach?

And then what suggestions or considerations do you have?

And so that really kind of set the stage in a number of ways.

One, it helped establish trust.

They were all sitting together here in the same thing.

It also sent a message that first five is really serious

about community engagement and really cares about their input.

And so that was absolutely essential.

And then the breakout sessions.

And so the goal here was to help design recruitment strategies,

for the panel.

And so there were five key pieces to that as well.

What criteria should we use?

What qualifications, expertise, or frameworks for panel members?

Recruitment resources, where should we look?

Targeted organizations, geographic areas for outreach

are their others.

Recruitment messages, what should we be saying about this?

Right?

What are some key themes and values that should be conveyed

during the recruitment?

Key messengers, who are the individuals or groups responsible

for that outreach?

Who are those trusted voices that can help identify panel members?

And then there were some wild cards,

because we felt like folks were going to come in

with some pretty general questions about everything from,

who can apply, who's going to get the money, you know,

things that we weren't necessarily there to talk about.

But we wanted to allow space for that as well.

The real food is great.

Oh yeah, yeah, they were pretty clear about that, you know,

please, no more pizza or, you know, yeah.

Okay, so this might be hard to read,

and if you have it in your packet,

I just wanted to point out a few different things.

And so we thought it important to kind of organize,

you know, what we heard from the group in this way.

And so you'll see it's organized by the key criteria.

The one that really rose to the top was the first one,

which is they have to have first hand knowledge of the community,

of the BIPOC community.

Then proven, proven lived experience was also high on that list.

They thought it important to have,

or going to boots on the ground organizations,

or what they call not the usual suspects, right?

And that ranged from everything from, you know,

some of these organizations have, you know, big staff, right?

Are they going to allow to, you know,

are they going to be allowed to have their staff come in

and tell everybody, you know, where the money should go?

They much rather preferred smaller grassroots organizations,

of people who they believed were really those boots on the ground,

and who really were connected into the community.

They wanted those represented that didn't have a voice.

And they wanted to do, make sure outreach happened

at low income housing complexes, for example,

and building a transparent process so that everybody understood

what was being done.

Cultural competency and sensitivity was also important.

And because, first five, Sacramento is focused,

one of the areas is health and well-being.

Someone talked about the importance of making sure that there was outreach

to healthcare providers who were working with those families

and with those children.

They also talked about small businesses,

and we were very clear with them,

and we used the language from the strategic plan,

referencing non-traditional organizations.

And the question was, will they have to be nonprofits?

No. No, they don't.

And so they wanted to be sure that the focus was on small businesses

in those underserved areas.

Experience with early childhood education.

Having children, age zero to five, they thought that was pretty important too.

And the other thing that was really interesting was, overwhelmingly,

they talked about, can we have some young people,

especially those folks that are in households

and have some responsibility for the younger children in their family,

and in particular those that are between zero and five.

And they talked a lot about where to find them, right?

And they talked about grocery stores or beauty salons or nail salons.

There was also talk of, can we partner with organizations

that serve those youth and ask them to make recommendations

of young people who could serve?

And so I just shared kind of the overarching recommendations.

So the panel recruitment, again,

ensuring that they represent diverse geographic,

cultural and professional backgrounds,

include individuals with lived experience and grassroots work,

and then adopt a nomination or referral process

to identify strong candidates.

And I'll talk a little bit more about that.

Accessibility makes sure it's easy,

that it's not a cumbersome process and make it user-friendly,

translated into various languages accessible through a number of channels.

There was even talk about potentially, you know,

having kind of a paper-based thing, right,

to make sure that you're reaching people

who don't use technology that much.

And then provide adequate compensation.

And that includes, of course, stipends, transportation and childcare

for any in-person engagement in order to ensure participation.

And then community trust, share the report so that there's transparency,

and then clearly communicate the panel selection process

and how community feedback was incorporated.

And so one of the companion pieces that we're doing

with First Five is around that communication and narrative building.

And so we actually are working with a partner that has contracted with First Five.

And we'll be testing any key messages to recruit the panel before they go out.

And so there'll be another opportunity to engage with some of those folks

who participated in the deliberative panel process design

to also take a look at how First Five is talking about this and get their feedback.

And then the next steps.

And so we're going to share the report.

And I hope that you'll mark your calendar again February 26th,

530 to 630, it'll be virtual and you'll get more information,

but you are invited to come in here.

And our goal is to recruit a panel of up to 15 people who will serve.

At least three will be between the ages of 16 and 24

so that there's that youth representation.

And there will be onboarding curriculum and training.

And so we'll be developing that.

And they'll include conflict resolution,

which we think is really important.

Again, tapping into that community building piece

and recognizing that folks are coming in from very different places and experiences.

Training on decision making, what framework are they going to use to determine

how they're going to decide who gets the money?

And then how to deliberate?

How do you even do that?

And then we'll identify or help first five identifying evaluation partner.

And it'll be, I don't know if it'll be different from the current partner,

but the goal here is to identify a partner who understands how to evaluate participatory models

that are community designed and community led and community driven.

Because the exemplars may be very different.

And so one of the things that we've started to do is we've engaged with an organization

called the Equitable Evaluation Initiative.

And they were really the pioneers of equitable evaluation.

And they use cultural markers, they use cultural rigor as one of the indicators

of equitable evaluation.

And so it's, yes, it's scientific, but it's also, they also acknowledge that cultural rigor

really is a thing.

And it's important to take into account, especially when your approaches are rooted

in this participatory model where people are coming in and bringing their lived experience,

which creates a whole other kind of milieu.

And it's something that needs to be taken into consideration.

So that's it.

Thank you so much.

And I'll be happy to take any questions that you might have.

I do have a question, Stephanie.

Thanks for that.

So cool to see where this is all how it started and kind of where you are now.

I'm sure you're excited to get, keep going through the process.

My question actually is, I think, small and technical around the identification

of a evaluation partner, just making sure that there are resources

that were allocated money, that there was money there to do that.

Yes.

We put that into our spending plan for the implementation plan.

Super duper.

Yep.

Mr. Fernandez-Cherseo.

So I wanted to follow up on that question.

Do we evaluate our current grant making now?

Do we evaluate that?

Aside from looking at the outcomes of the things that we've implemented,

we don't evaluate that, right?

No, we don't.

So what we did, we called it discovery, when we first brought on touchstone leadership group.

One of the first things that they asked us to do was to go back and look at how many partners

did you all start with?

How many partners did you end with?

That's why we got to the 2010 date, which is from 2010 forward,

we practically funded the same people.

We lost, we lost agencies as we,

we had to take fiscal cliffs, but we really didn't bring anybody on.

And so we sort of did this like forensic internal thing about how much money do we have?

How many partners do we have?

What did our outreach look like in the beginning?

What did it look like in 2010?

What does it look like now?

We didn't call it an evaluation, but we did kind of go back and pull all of that information together

to help us sort of look at what would a participatory grant making process look like,

and how would it be different than what we'd currently been doing?

So we're doing that now, prospectively, to avoid realizing that later and having to redo it.

Yeah, and it really came, it was really apparent in the prior, not the 20, not the 2024,

but the 2021 strategic planning process, where at that time, because of county council basically said,

you have to go out to bid for all contracts.

There can be no legacy kind of contracts, so everything has to go out.

So for the first time in a long time, many contracts went out to bid,

and we had brand new people at the table applying for the dollars,

but because of the way, even like our rubrics for our evaluation,

and they give points to whether or not you'd been a partner before,

and how long have you worked with the target audience and all the things like that,

we ended up with the same partners all over again, even after going out to bid.

And that was really one of the things when we started looking at

revamping the strategic plan, we knew we had to look at revamping how we grant make grants as well.

Cool.

Yeah.

I have another question.

Yeah.

So when we're developing our panel, and not to get too much into the specifics of how that panel will deliberate,

but it looked like there was a significant number of folks who preferred another language in the services

that we delivered, and those are folks who will ostensibly be serving on this panel.

So if we have, if we welcome folks who have limited English,

that has a lot of implications for how a group deliberates, especially a large one.

And that could be needing in-person interpreters, but

also translating every application.

So that someone can actually evaluate the application in the language that they're most comfortable with.

And that's a very tall order.

So just something to consider as you're planning on, as you're developing your processes,

and maybe I hate to limit participation, but if we don't have the resources to ensure that somebody can do the job,

we're asking them to do, we might need to limit.

Yeah.

That's a good point.

Well, I think of it a little differently, and it always starts with asking them what they need.

What do they want and need in order to fully participate?

And then we can make some decisions around that.

I think that, thank you, and we should be mindful of that, absolutely.

But I also think that we should ask them so that there aren't any limitations that we might be imposing,

because of assumptions that we're making.

But to say to them, what are you going to need in order to fully participate?

And that can be part of the nomination process, right?

And so we've already started to frame out what that form would look like.

And we'll be getting feedback from the team as well.

And most likely, we'll be going back out and asking the folks who helped us to say, hey, take a look at this.

What's missing?

How can we ensure that there aren't any barriers to people participating?

Because that's one of the key principles of this whole process.

Commissioner Wesley.

I just have a question.

And if it was somewhere in here, forgive me if I missed it.

But for the panel members who are being so, when they develop their process, will there be backup members in case

the one, because life gets to life in.

Alternates, yes.

Will there be alternatives that might serve?

And then I was thinking that would also help with any succession planning or mentorship.

And I'm also thinking about the youth, because I know they have incredibly busy lives, but they are so powerful in their part of these communities.

So yeah, and the alternates.

Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great suggestion.

And I think as the group comes together that first time, that's one of the things that we can talk about as well.

It's like, how do you make up, right?

If you're not able to attend, and what's the best way to do that, so that everybody is engaged.

And so that's certainly one of the things that we can talk about, too, with them.

And, you know, I'm certain we're going to get, well, we're going to get lots of applications.

We'll have a robust pool.

And so we can then work with a team, too, to think about, does it make sense to have a few folks that could be alternatives in the event that we need them?

Yeah, and maybe that's one of the questions.

Would you be willing to serve as an alternate?

Okay.

Mr. Gross.

So this is just a little bit in the weeds again, like with, but to go back to the language justice that Commissioner Fernandez Garcia was talking about,

just want to say that if we get into like using headsets, which we did at the PLTI training, that could be something that if first five was able to fund it,

that then PLTI could do, you have the technology that then we share across this initiative and PLTI, because we had been hoping in the beginning of PLTI to do a language justice oriented cohort,

we would have simultaneous translation, and it didn't work out in our first go.

And then now we're doing the separate cohort, Spanish and English.

But if they could all be together in the same room, it was so powerful, powerful for us with the training that everybody had to stop

and wait for things to be translated all day long, and that that would be really valuable that we could fold it into somehow sharing those resources across different things that we're funding.

Love it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thanks for the presentation, Stephanie.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Thank you.

Okay.

Thanks.

Thank you.

All right.

Last item on today's agenda is the commissions.

Well, we have, you got a two for on this one.

Oh, we do.

Getting a really quick update.

Because you just heard this presentation, and they're so, they just dovetail together so well, which is the Sacramento County's CBO partnership initiative.

And.

That one.

Okay.

So, and this really is, we're having this discussion because of chair Surnah actually acting as a supervisor Surnah.

When the county declared racism as a public health crisis, it really made the disproportionate negative outcomes even more obvious.

And shortly thereafter, chair Surnah asked a question about what can the county do to help support our community based organizations.

They were really stepping up to help during COVID.

And and he really wanted to see how can we use some of our ARPA dollars in order to provide longer term support for these CBOs.

And so with that, the board with his leadership approved $7.2 million allocation.

To help build capacity among bypox, served, led, rooted grassroots organizations.

That funding was eventually changed from ARPA money to general fund money, switching around of stuff.

But I'm really set the ball in motion for.

For a countywide, what we call CBO partnership initiative.

I'm going to stop you real quick.

You said moving around stuff.

So I just want to make sure everyone understands it was all on the up and up.

It was all legal and it was all with a great deal of forethought so that especially the media would not do what they did during the onset of the pandemic,

which confused the heck out of what we're doing to make sure that funding was available past certain dates.

Yes.

Thank you for that very clearly on the record.

That's why you're chair.

So in 2023, we partnered with DEC State, the Institute for Social Research, and they conducted a landscape analysis of primarily small,

very diverse nonprofits in the county.

But 21 county staff were involved in focus groups, interviews and focus groups with 14 support organizations that acted like backbone organizations,

featuring COVID, focus groups with 12 small CBOs, and then an online survey of 158 community-based organizations.

We then gathered all that information and Commissioner Cotari led four forums, community forums, chair,

and our county executive, David Villanova, came and kicked off the in-person gatherings.

The forums were grounded in the knowledge that CBOs make a huge difference in our community that they're very valued,

and that the county was listening to the information that they were provided during those focus groups and the surveys.

I just want to make sure we understand that the CBO, when we say CBOs here, it's not just those limited to fulfillment of first-fives mission.

Much, much broader.

Much broader.

Which again is why dovetails so well with what we're doing with PGM.

I'm just going to save it for the end, but I have to say, it's a good time to be a nonprofit in Sacramento County.

Who is serving underserved populations right now with first-fives, $4 million going out,

and the $5 million going out to community-based organizations through the county's partnership initiative.

It really is going to make a big difference here in Sacramento County.

These are the questions that the forum led by Commissioner Cotari really drilled down on.

And she acknowledged that the county has not always been the easiest partner,

the easiest agency to partner with, especially if you're a small nonprofit.

And that we needed to build some trust between the county and the CBOs.

This is what came out in those surveys is some trust issues.

She assured the participants that the goals to create an equitable program that changes the way the county operates itself.

So we kind of started off looking at it as a two-pronged approach.

What can the county do to change our internal operations to make it easier for these nonprofits?

And then what do the nonprofits need in order to actually build their infrastructure and sustainability and other capacity building?

The Landscape Study was designed collaboratively through county work groups that were established by Commissioner Cotari,

as well as pure genius consulting and the Institute for Social Research.

They collected data from December 2023 to April of 2024.

And these were the key questions that were asked in the study,

which is what's the experience and what are those barriers and what can be done to overcome those barriers?

These, that four key themes, themes, what came out, again,

kind of alluded to CBOs were very important.

There's a lot of challenges in working with our Behemoth County.

We have limited formal resources that we have put toward our small CBOs

to build their capacity and not removing barriers to funding and support systems

to fully realize the potential of CBOs.

This is a long list of recommendations that ISR put together for us.

And they really noted that these challenges and recommendations were very deeply felt

by the smallest of the community-based organizations.

So Commissioner Cotari looked at all of those and said,

why don't we establish some working groups?

So following the release of the study, she did just that and put together four work groups

that looked at reducing barriers for local CBOs, finding ways to increase consistency

across our county departments and decrease confusion with how to navigate the county.

And then identifying innovative strategies that help to build trust, improve communication,

and promote the strengthening of CBOs in some of our priority areas.

So at the workshops or at the forums, we basically said we heard you and we're working on it.

And these are the main internal county improvements that are being implemented

right now in response to the CBO feedback.

It's pretty impressive how quickly the work groups dug in.

They made the recommendations.

Recommendations were brought forward to the work groups.

And now the county is doing this internal work.

While simultaneously building a program that is a granting program for the nonprofits

to help them build their capacity.

So this is the other side of the coin.

So some key findings from the CBO capacity building side of the survey are shared on this slide.

Our capacity building efforts are being led by the county's Department of Health Services,

specifically the Health and Racial Equity Unit.

And they are looking at how to build the capacity of agencies through a two-pronged approach.

The main goal is to bring more small grassroots agencies to the county's funding table,

as well as to assist them with our invoicing and our internal challenges.

And we are improving these areas, as mentioned in the earlier slides,

and we understand that the county is still going to be have challenges.

So we wanted to work with the agencies again for the capacity building side

to help them strengthen their own abilities.

So CBOs can receive funding in one of two ways.

These are the two different approaches.

One is they can join a cohort with other CBOs who are all looking to serve a similar audience

or geographic area or are interested in a similar topic, something like food insecurity.

CBOs will each complete an organizational assessment to determine their priority areas for support.

And while the details are still being worked out, we imagine that the cohorts will meet for six to 12

months. They will get a small grant in order to implement some of the things that they decide

to work on in their cohort to spend at their own agency level.

And then the second piece is we're calling it a self-directed grant. Those are smaller grants

for CBOs that don't want to participate in a full six to 12 months. This is like a one-time funding

opportunity to fulfill a need like they just need a financial audit or they just need consulting

to get a strategic plan done or they just need that cooler to keep their fresh produce cool

so they can, it would last longer.

And these were some of the examples that came out of the report for those capacity building

supports. So that's really it. It's a lot. That's like a year and a half's worth of work in 15

short slides and 15 minutes. But I just wanted you to see these agencies can come in and say we

need support for capacity building or we need support for direct services. And there's going to be

a path for them of $9 million coming down the pipes for them to participate in. So it's it is

really exciting. And I'm happy to answer any questions or commissioner Katari certainly can answer

some questions. Any questions for executive director?

Great thank you. No thank you. We don't have anyone sign up to speak on this matter. No sir.

All right now we are on to the last item of the Safanese agenda which is comments from commissioners.

I just have a question. Does commissioner Gros want to introduce

her trusted sidekick?

How old? Two months. Two months.

Bjork? Bjork. I like that. Well I'm glad that he's joined us here today.

He almost made it. He's perfect. Oh he's better behaved than I am.

Any other comments for the good of the order? If not I want to thank staff and I thank our

commissioners and our speakers. Again thank you Stephanie for your decades of service.

If there's no further business before this commission we are adjourned.