TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an agreement, and any subsequent amendments, between the City of Long Beach and the Los Angeles County Children and Families First - Proposition 10 Commission - First 5 Los Angeles, to accept funding in the amount of $323,423, for the period of July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017, for the Communities Strategy 1 - Shared Vision and Collective Action Initiative - Central Long Beach Learning By Doing Program. (Districts 1,2,6,7)
DISCUSSION
On March 3, 2015, the City Council authorized the Health and Human Services Department (Health Department) to receive funding from the Los Angeles County Children and Families First - Proposition 10 Commission - First 5 Los Angeles (First 5 LA), to implement the Best Start Central Long Beach Learning by Doing Program (Program), formerly known as Best Start Central Long Beach Initiative. The Health Department was awarded a grant in the amount of $323,423 to continue to work with the Best Start Central Long Beach Community Partnership to build community capacity in the Central Long Beach area.
The Central Long Beach community has a long history of working together to impact the services and resources available to area residents. The area has been described as having a “culture of collaboration,” and the participation of multiple sectors is actively promoted. The diversity and extensiveness of the community's leadership has been a model for service coordination.
The Health Department was selected by First 5 LA to be the lead agency in coordinating the Program for this second year of funding. The Health Department will continue the coordination of multiple subcontractors to implement the various strategies and activities included in the performance matrix, which is the plan that was developed in conjunction with the Best Start Community Partnership, the governing body that consists of Central Long Beach residents and agencies serving this area. Residents and community agencies have taken on, and continue to fulfill, leadership roles when asked to participate and were actively involved in the successful completion of the strategies and activities that were part of the first year.
The performance matrix was designed to improve family capacities to demonstrate parental resilience, knowledge of parenting and child development, and awareness of resources that will support the development of relationships that nurture their children’s social and emotional competence. The target population is families with children ages 0-3 who reside within the borders established by First 5 LA. The two strategies that make up the performance matrix are: 1) build parent leadership capacity, and 2) Strengthen the existing Central Long Beach Best Start collaboratives (the home visitation collaborative and the Long Beach Child Abuse and Neglect Network), in order to strengthen organizational capacity and support service coordination. Achievement of the two strategies will be accomplished and evaluated with the Health Department’s oversight and collaboration with four subcontractors. Activities include: An Early Learning Festival with the Early Childhood Education Committee taking the lead; meetings with stakeholders to identify strategies to prevent child abuse and increase community awareness through continuation of a media campaign developed in the first year; and, service provider trainings to increase skills in serving families who have had a history of emotional trauma.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Robin Zur Schmiede on June 21, 2016 and by Budget Analysis Officer Rhutu Amin Gharib on June 24, 2016.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action on this item is requested on July 19, 2016, to accept funding and continue program operations to meet required objectives.
FISCAL IMPACT
The City will receive $323,423 for the second year in a row for the period of July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017. Sufficient funds are currently appropriated in the Health Fund (SR 130) in the Health and Human Services Department (HE). No match or in-kind service mandate is required, and there is no local job impact associated with this action.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
KELLY COLOPY
DIRECTOR
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
APPROVED:
PATRICK H. WEST
CITY MANAGER