City Council Meeting
September 20, 2022
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Edward D. Reiskin FROM: Guillermo Cespedes
City Administrator Chief, Violence Prevention
SUBJECT: FY22 Gilead Foundation Grant DATE: August 26, 2022
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution To Accept and Appropriate A Gilead Foundation Grant From The Oakland Fund For Public Innovation In An Amount Not To Exceed One Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,800,000) For The Period Of July 1, 2022, To June 30, 2025, (3 Years); And To Authorize the City Administrator To:
1. Take All Steps Necessary For The City To Receive The Gilead Grant;
2. Waive The City Of Oakland’s Local And Small Local Business Enterprise Program (L/SLBE) Requirements And Competitive Bidding Process And Awarding An Agreement In An Amount Not To Exceed Sixty-Six Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($66,250) For A Term Ending June 30, 2025, To Urban Institute To Evaluate Grant Activities;
3. Add Two (2) 1.0 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Case Manager I Positions To The Department Of Violence Prevention (DVP) For The Term Of October 1, 2022, To June 30, 2025, (33 Months) For A Total Amount Not To Exceed Eight Hundred Seventeen Thousand Three Hundred Two Dollars ($817,302);
4. Add One (1) 1.0 FTE Health & Human Services Program Planner Position To The DVP For The Term Of October 1, 2022, To June 30, 2025, (33 Months) For A Total Amount Not To Exceed Five Hundred Seventy-Four Thousand Nine Hundred Forty-Eight Dollars ($574,948);
5. Allocate Grant Funds In An Amount Not To Exceed Three Hundred Forty-One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($341,500) To Augment Existing Violence Prevention Services In The DVP Through June 30, 2025.
Aug 29, 2022
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: FY22 Gilead Foundation Grant
Date: August 26, 2022 Page 2
City Council Meeting
September 20, 2022
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The proposed resolution, if adopted, will authorize the City Administrator to: (1) accept and appropriate a Gilead Foundation grant from Oakland Fund for Public Innovation in the amount of $1,800,000 for the grant term of July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025 (3 years); (2) allocate grant funds in an amount not to exceed $1,392,250 to fund two (2) 1.0 FTE Case Manager I positions and one (1) 1.0 FTE Health & Human Services Program Planner position; (3) allocate grant funds in an amount not to exceed $66,250 to a contract with Urban Institute to evaluate grant activities; and (4) allocate grant funds in an amount not to exceed $341,500 to augment existing violence prevention services through the DVP.
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Research clearly demonstrates that students who are routinely exposed to violence at home and in the community experience toxic stress that leads to cognitive impairment, hyperactivity, and attention deficits, making it very challenging to succeed in the classroom (Schwartz & Gorman, 2003; Borofsky et al., 2013). A systematic review of 13 studies that examined the impact of family violence exposure on adolescent academic achievement reported significant negative effects, and a retrospective study of over 26,000 school children found that exposure to family and domestic violence was associated with lower rates of attendance and higher rates of suspension (Supol et al., 2021; Orr et al., 2022). Similar negative outcomes have been demonstrated for exposure to community violence on academic outcomes and school attendance (Borofsky et al., 2013; Patton, Woolley, & Hong, 2012; Rankine et al., 2022).
Over the past two years, due largely to economic and social repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oakland has experienced a significant uptick in group and gender-based violence (GBV). Oakland ended 2021 with 134 homicides, its most violent year since 2006. Incidents of GBV are even more common, with 3,219 incidents of domestic violence, 343 incidents of rape, and 457 incidents of other sex offenses being reported to the Oakland Police Department (OPD) in 2021. Incidents of GBV are very often not reported to law enforcement, particularly among undocumented and immigrant populations, making the true incidence of GBV in Oakland significantly higher (Morgan & Truman, 2020).
Community violence and GBV cluster in specific neighborhoods of East, West, and Central Oakland, where the vast majority of high school students attend school in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). Incidents of violence are experienced by high school students in Oakland both vicariously and directly; in 2021, 6% of shootings with injury, 2% of domestic violence incidents, 13% of rapes, and 24% of other sex offenses reported to OPD involved victims between the ages of 14 and 18.
The DVP, through the Oakland Fund for Public Innovation (OFPI), has been awarded a grant for $1,800,000 from the Gilead Foundation’s Creating Possible Fund to improve education equity in OUSD by reducing exposure to violence and associated trauma among high school students.
Specifically, the DVP seeks to reduce chronic absenteeism and suspension rates at seven high Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: FY22 Gilead Foundation Grant
Date: August 26, 2022 Page 3
City Council Meeting
September 20, 2022
schools in OUSD by creating family and community contexts that support resistance to violence among students, families, and community members.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
With funding from the Gilead Foundation, the DVP will achieve the following three objectives during the grant period of July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025:
1. Objective 1: From December 2022 through June 2025, engage 80 families with high school students who are at high risk for violence victimization or perpetration in six months of coaching, educational sessions, and resource provision designed to improve the family’s ability to protect its members from violence.
2. Objective 2: From June to August 2023 and June to August 2024, host Town Nights events on Friday evenings for eight consecutive weeks at nine locations across Oakland that serve students and families from the seven target high schools in order to increase community cohesion and facilitate violence mediation.
3. Objective 3: From December 2022 through June 2025, develop and implement a violence prevention and intervention awareness media campaign at the seven high school sites and during Town Nights events to increase knowledge of impacts, resources, and constructive responses related to group violence and GBV among students, families, school staff, and local community members.
Objective 1 will be achieved by hiring two family coaches (Case Manager I classification) to implement the prevention and intervention family systems approach with four cohorts of twenty families per cohort (80 families total). During 6-month intervention periods, family coaches will meet with families once a month and with students twice a month to engage them in coaching and educational sessions. Through these sessions, families will practice constructive ways of problem solving, communicating, and making decisions that they are able to apply to any problem the family needs to address, including exposure to violence, chronic absenteeism, or suspension. This work will strengthen relationships between family members inside and outside the home from multiple generations in order to increase family cohesion, pride, and sources of support. Family coaches will also connect families to resources in the community that address pressing needs and strengthen their external support network.
To achieve Objective 2, the DVP will hire a full-time Town Nights planner to support the planning and implementation of Town Nights events on Friday evenings during Summer 2023 and Summer 2024 for eight consecutive weeks at nine community locations across Oakland that are proximate to seven OUSD high school sites. Town Nights is a multi-generational approach to violence prevention that involves hosting community events during hours and days when violence is likely to increase for the purpose of engaging families in prosocial activities during high-crime hours, building community cohesion as a protective factor against future violence, and engaging group-involved individuals in mediation discussions that result in reductions in future violence. Students and families from the target school sites will be specifically recruited to work at and attend these events.
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: FY22 Gilead Foundation Grant
Date: August 26, 2022 Page 4
City Council Meeting
September 20, 2022
For Objective 3, the DVP will hire a violence prevention expert to develop and design messages and materials for a violence prevention and intervention awareness media campaign that will be implemented at the seven high school sites and during Town Nights events held during Summer 2023 and Summer 2024. Campaign messaging will focus on the following: (1) emotional, cognitive, and physical effects of violence on victims; (2) signs of victimization; (3) available prevention and intervention resources in Oakland; (4) non-violent responses to violence; and (5) cultural misconceptions and unhealthy behaviors related to violence. These education campaign materials will be separately customized to African American and Latino audiences, who comprise 78% of the student population at targeted school sites, to maximize relevance and relatability. Students from each school site will receive stipends to provide feedback on developed materials and to publicize the materials once they are created. Fifteen family members from each school site will also be engaged for this purpose to ensure the appropriateness of messaging for adult audiences.
Implementation of these activities addresses the citywide priority of holistic community safety by strengthening internal and external protective factors against violence for high school students who are at the greatest risk for being victims or perpetrators.
Justification of Waiver
In its grant submission to the Gilead Foundation, the DVP indicated its intention and ability to contract with Urban Institute to evaluate the impact of grant-funded activities. The DVP selected Urban Institute because the City Administrator's Office has already contracted with Urban Institute through Request for Qualifications (RFQ) #267688 to perform an evaluation of DVP violence prevention and intervention services funded through the Oakland Public Safety and Services Violence Prevention Act of 2014, also known as Measure Z, for the period of August 1, 2022 through July 31, 2025. Additionally, the City Council approved the DVP to contract with Urban Institute to evaluate activities funded through the DVP’s Fiscal Year 2022 California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) grant for the period of July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2025.
Contracting with Urban Institute to evaluate Gilead Foundation grant activities will c reate alignment with evaluation activities of DVP programs and services that will already be conducted during the grant period.
FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of this resolution will authorize the City Administrator to accept and appropriate a Gilead Foundation grant from OFPI for a total of $1,800,000 for the grant term of July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025 (3 years). The grant will be appropriated into the Social Services Fund (2994), Oakland Unite Organization (70211), Gilead 2022-2025 Project (TBD), and Fostering Safe and Healthy Communities Program (SC22).
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: FY22 Gilead Foundation Grant
Date: August 26, 2022 Page 5
City Council Meeting
September 20, 2022
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
The DVP worked closely with OFPI in the development and submission of the Gilead Foundation grant proposal. The hiring of two family coaches to work with students and families from OUSD high schools reflects a strong partnership that the DVP has built with OUSD to also place life coaches, GBV specialists, and violence interrupters at seven OUSD high schools during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 School Years. The funding of a Town Nights planner to support the coordination and implementation of Town Nights events is also a reflection of feedback from community-based organizations that hosted Town Nights events during Fall 2021 and Summer 2022.
COORDINATION
The City Attorney’s Office, Budget Bureau, and the City Administrator’s Office were consulted during the preparation of this agenda report and corresponding resolution. Once hired, the family coaches will work closely with staff at OUSD high schools to identify students and families for participation in the family systems approach and to coordinate services and support for participating families. The Town Nights planner will also work closely with community-based organizations that are funded to host Town Nights events in Summer 2023 and Summer 2024 to coordinate and implement the events. Lastly, the DVP will work closely with the seven OUSD high schools to develop the violence prevention and intervention awareness media campaign that will then be publicized at school sites, in the broader community, and during Town Nights events.
PAST PERFORMANCE, EVALUATION, AND FOLLOW-UP
The prevention and intervention family systems approach is an evidence-based strategy that has been implemented in Los Angeles, Central America, the Eastern Caribbean, and North Africa. The approach includes tenants of the highly effective Functional Family Therapy but is more culturally responsive due to its focus on multiple generations and celebration of family traditions and customs. An evaluation of the prevention and intervention family systems approach implemented in Central America found that after one year of intervention, 73% of high-risk individuals experienced a reduction in risk factors and 56% experienced such a significant reduction that they dropped below the minimum risk threshold for program participation based on delinquent behavior (United States Agency for International Development, 2020). The DVP is requesting to contract with Urban Institute using grant funding to evaluate the impact of this approach on participating students and families.
Town Nights is modeled after the highly effective Summer Night Lights (SNL) Program that has been implemented in Los Angeles over 12 years and expanded to serve 32 sites across the city on Wednesday through Saturday nights during summer months. Non-causal analyses of crime data in neighborhoods that hosted SNL events demonstrated reductions in gang-related, Part I crimes compared to neighborhoods that did not host these events (Gold, 2010). Additionally, surveys of local youth who worked the events indicated an increase in perceived community Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: FY22 Gilead Foundation Grant
Date: August 26, 2022 Page 6
City Council Meeting
September 20, 2022
safety during these events and improvements in quality of life (Ananth & Hernandez, 2016). As a result of its success, SNL has been duplicated in various US cities and in cities within Central America. In November and December 2021, the DVP replicated SNL in Oakland through Town Nights events at eight sites across the city for four consecutive weeks. Initial data analysis indicates that in the 48 hours following the 6:00pm start time of Town Nights events, there were 15 shootings with injury compared to 41 shootings with injury during the same days and hours in 2020, a 63% reduction. Although these results are not causal, they suggest a positive impact in Oakland that will be further examined in partnership with DVP-contracted researchers from the Urban Institute during future summers. The City of Oakland has contracted with Urban Institute from August 1, 2022, to July 31, 2025, to evaluate the Town Nights strategy as part of a larger evaluation of Measure-Z-funded programs and services.
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: There are no economic benefits.
Environmental: There are no environmental benefits.
Race & Equity: The majority of victims of community violence and GBV in Oakland are people of color. In 2021, African Americans represented 41% of assault-with-a-firearm victims and 59% of homicide victims even though they represent less than 25% of the Oakland population.
Additionally victims of GBV who reported incidents to OPD in 2021 were predominantly African American or Latino (70-81% depending on GBV crime). These trends remain true when limited to high-school-aged individuals. By focusing resources on reducing community violence and GBV impacting high school students in OUSD, grant activities will contribute to a reduction in violence that disproportionately impacts Oakland’s black and brown community members.
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Council To Accept and Appropriate A Gilead Foundation Grant From The Oakland Fund For Public Innovation In An Amount Not To Exceed One Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,800,000) For The Period Of July 1, 2022, To June 30, 2025, (3 Years); And To Authorize the City Administrator To:
1. Take All Steps Necessary For The City To Receive The Gilead Grant;
2. Waive The City Of Oakland’s Local And Small Local Business Enterprise Program (L/SLBE) Requirements And Competitive Bidding Process And Awarding An Agreement In An Amount Not To Exceed Sixty-Six Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($66,250) For A Term Ending June 30, 2025, To Urban Institute To Evaluate Grant Activities;
3. Add Two (2) 1.0 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Case Manager I Positions To The Department Of Violence Prevention (DVP) For The Term Of October 1, 2022, To June 30, 2025, (33 Months) For A Total Amount Not To Exceed Eight Hundred Seventeen Thousand Three Hundred Two Dollars ($817,302);
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: FY22 Gilead Foundation Grant
Date: August 26, 2022 Page 7
City Council Meeting
September 20, 2022
4. Add One (1) 1.0 FTE Health & Human Services Program Planner Position To The DVP For The Term Of October 1, 2022, To June 30, 2025, (33 Months) For A Total Amount Not To Exceed Five Hundred Seventy-Four Thousand Nine Hundred Forty-Eight Dollars ($574,948);
5. Allocate Grant Funds In An Amount Not To Exceed Three Hundred Forty-One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($341,500) To Augment Existing Violence Prevention Services In The DVP Through June 30, 2025.
For question s regarding this report, please contact Guillermo Cespedes, Chief of the Department of Violence Prevention, at 510-238-2916.
Respectfully submitted,
Guillermo Cespedes
Chief
Department of Violence Prevention
Reviewed by: Mailee Wang
Administrative Services Manager
Department of Violence Prevention
Prepared by: Jenny Linchey
Budget and Grants Administrator
Department of Violence Prevention
Guillermo Cespedes (Aug 29, 2022 15:40 PDT)