TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all necessary documents, and any amendments, to receive and expend grant funding from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation in the amount of $557,124 over a two-year period, to fund two positions to support the City’s Data-Driven Justice Initiative, beginning January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019; and
Increase appropriations in the General Grants Fund (SR 120) in the City Manager Department (CM) by $557,124, offset by grant revenue. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
In October 2016, the City of Long Beach (City) joined the White House Data-Driven Justice Initiative (DDJ), joining more than 100 cities seeking to disrupt the cycle of incarceration. DDJ communities bring together data from across criminal justice and health systems to identify the individuals with the highest number of contacts with police, ambulance, emergency departments, and other services, and link them to health, behavioral health, and social services in the community, with a goal of reducing overreliance on emergency healthcare and encounters with the criminal justice system.
DDJ Long Beach is part of the larger portfolio of the Long Beach Innovation Team (i-team). With the grant funding, the i-team, in collaboration with several City departments, will implement the following strategies that have proven to be effective in reducing unnecessary incarcerations:
Creating or expanding local data exchanges that combine justice and health system information, with appropriate legal and privacy protections, to identify multiple system users;
Diverting this population, as well as people who may be committing low-level crimes primarily due to mental illness, from the criminal justice system prior to arrest, where appropriate, and linking them to proper care management; and,
Implementing data-driven risk assessment tools to ensure decisions on pre-trial release are informed by empirically validated methods of evaluating defendants' risk to the community, not ability to pay or other extraneous factors.
These innovative strategies, which have measurably reduced jail populations in several communities, help stabilize individuals and families, better serve communities, and often save money in the process.
In January 2017, the Long Beach i-team shifted its efforts from Economic Development to Public Safety. With a focus on supporting the Long Beach Police Department, the i-team researched the deployment of resources with a lens toward data-driven solutions around high-frequency offenders. High-frequency offenders are individuals cited or booked 11 or more times over a five-year period. The primary objective of this research effort is to better understand the experience of high-frequency offenders and develop solutions with the Public Safety Continuum. The entire Long Beach community benefits from the City’s Public Safety Continuum, which includes Police, Fire, Health, Development Services, City Prosecutor’s Office, and other key departments, all contributing to make Long Beach a safer city.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Amy R. Webber on October 23, 2017 and by Budget Analysis Officer Julissa José-Murray on October 30, 2017.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action is requested on November 14, 2017, to allow timely implementation of program activities.
FISCAL IMPACT
The City will receive up to $557,124 for the period of January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019 from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. An appropriation increase, offset by the grant revenue, is requested in the amount of $557,124 in the General Grants Fund (SR 120) in the City Manager Department (CM). This grant will support two full-time employees for two years to implement the goals of the program. No match or in-kind service is required, and there is no local job impact associated with this recommendation.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
PATRICK H. WEST
CITY MANAGER