CITY OF POMONA
COUNCIL REPORT
July 18, 2022
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: James Makshanoff, City Manager
Submitted By: Michael Ellis, Chief of Police
SUBJECT: AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR (FY) 2022-23 CITY OPERATING BUDGET TO INCREASE REVENUE ESTIMATES AND APPROPRIATIONS IN THE AMOUNT OF $5,144,940 THROUGH ACCEPTANCE OF THE CALIFORNIA VIOLENCE INTERVENTION AND PREVENTION GRANT (CALVIP) RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council take the following actions:
Adopt the following resolution:
RESOLUTION NO. 2022-133 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF POMONA, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR (FY) 2022-23 CITY OPERATING BUDGET TO INCREASE REVENUE ESTIMATES AND APPROPRIATIONS IN THE AMOUNT OF $5,144,940 THROUGH ACCEPTANCE OF THE CALIFORNIA VIOLENCE INTERVENTION AND PREVENTION GRANT (CALVIP) Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to negotiate and execute all related documents to receive the grant funds and implement the funded activities.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
On June 9, 2022, the City of Pomona was notified by the Board of State and Community Corrections of an award amounting to $5,144,940 through the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) Grant Program Funds. The Pomona Partnership for Violence Prevention and Neighborhood Wellbeing will work to reduce violence in the City of Pomona by establishing an Office of Violence Prevention and Neighborhood Wellbeing (OVP) to coordinate all activities. The Pomona OVP will; 1) serve an estimated 150 individuals in Pomona who are at highest risk of involvement in violent crime and the community members most directly affected through street outreach, community stakeholder engagement, cognitive behavioral therapy, diversion, employment/job resources, intensive case management, mental health services, and mentoring/credible messengers; 2) improve social cohesion in key areas most impacted by violence through collective efficacy including neighborhood building activities; and, 3) strengthen community-police relations through group violence intervention/focused deterrence, principled policing training, direct support of families affected by violence, and the creation of a high impact Violence Prevention Team of officers in the police department specially trained in focused deterrence, procedural justice, reconciliation, homicide prevention, arrest reduction, and youth diversion.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The adoption of Resolution No. 2022-133 (Attachment No. 1) will amend the Fiscal Year 2022-23 Operating Budget in Fund 188, CalVIP Fund by $5,144,940. Revenue (188-XXXX-40873-00000) will increase by $5,144,940 and appropriations (188-XXXX-52285-00000) by an equal amount.
Match Funding
The Program encouraged cities to leverage resources through cost-sharing or matching. Among the permissible match resources are local funds and non-governmental organization contributions. For the 42-month term, the City will provide match resources of $3.9M in salaries/benefits, training, supplies, professional service contracts and equipment from various City departments for a portion of time spent directly working on the CalVIP grant and/or activities focused on deterrence, proactive peacemaking, peer-to-peer guidance, after-school programming and violence intervention; $98k from Tri-City Mental Health; $1.1M from non-governmental organization subcontracts. Match funding has no impact on revenue and appropriation.
PUBLIC NOTICING REQUIREMENTS:
No public noticing is required for this council item.
PREVIOUS RELATED ACTION:
On June 6, 2022, the City Council adopted the FY 2022-23 City Operating Budget.
DISCUSSION:
This grant proposal for the Pomona Partnership for Violence Prevention and Neighborhood Wellbeing (the Partnership) is being submitted by the City of Pomona out of an acute need and unusual opportunity for change. For the last several years, Pomona has experienced a high number of homicides for a city of its size. The city is listed in the top 15 most violent cities on three out of four violent indicators and serves as a “gateway” for sex trafficking in the region. The Pomona Partnership for Violence Prevention and Neighborhood Wellbeing’s strategies focus on three aspects of community need: The first are those individuals who are at an extraordinary risk of violence and incarceration and struggle with multiple negative factors; the second will be the surrounding local communities that have been traumatized by violence, resulting in a lack of social cohesion, and the third will be the historic relationships and conditions in the community, exacerbated by COVID-19, require systemic change and a cultural shift in the relations between the community and law enforcement. The four neighborhoods we were specifically going to service will be the West Grove/District 1 area, Angela St. and Chanslor St. area, the Abbey St. and Karesh St. area, and the area around Pomona High School with other areas included as appropriate.
In light of these challenges, the Pomona Partnership for Violence Prevention and Neighborhood Wellbeing seeks to improve public health and safety by employing effective violence reduction initiatives in the City of Pomona. At the same time, the Partnership plans to improve both the lives of high-risk individuals and community social cohesion as well as community-police relations. The Partnership envisions a three-step plan to be executed by the Office for Violence Prevention and Neighborhood Wellbeing (OVP):
Step 1: The City will establish an Office for Violence Prevention and Neighborhood Wellbeing (OVP). This office will outreach with individuals to help reduce participation in homicides, non-fatal injury shootings, and aggravated assaults by individuals in the City of Pomona and improve those individuals’ outcomes (estimated to be 150 individuals).
The OVP will close gaps in the City’s knowledge/data regarding individuals at highest risk for perpetuating violence, so efforts are appropriately targeted. The OVP will target those at highest risk for violence and will help them: a) develop positive relationships with supportive OVP staff and street outreach workers; b) gain new skills in negotiating conflict and avoiding violence; and c) learn about and engage in alternative pathways away from violence.
Our vision for the OVP is that it will become a hub or “one-stop shop” of coordinated services, including case management, CBT services delivery, peer support specialists, life skills education, and training of street outreach and credible messenger providers. We will also coordinate other support services, based on the needs analysis, such as tattoo removal, expungement clinics, eviction defense, job training, and supported employment opportunities. Such services, like eviction defense specifically, can have a significant impact on violence.
Step 2: Improve social cohesion in key areas most impacted by violence in the City through neighborhood building and place-making activities. OVP will serve as the primary liaison between community violence prevention providers and the Pomona Police Department.
This will help to overcome mistrust between certain members of the community, outreach workers, and law enforcement. OVP will play the vital role of establishing structured protocols and activities to coordinate violence prevention by both community outreach providers and the Pomona PD. OVP will engage community stakeholders in violence prevention and help coordinate neighborhood building and place-making activities.
Step 3: Strengthen community–police relations, especially those most relevant to the individuals who are at highest risk of perpetrating and experiencing violence. The Partnership is particularly interested in strengthening relationships between the community and the Pomona Police Department. We are truly perched on the edge of an unprecedented moment in the history of Pomona that will provide an unusual opportunity to create real and lasting change and expand Police Department capacities for Group Violence Intervention/focused deterrence.
The OVP will engage the California Partnership for Safe Communities and others to establish a Group Violence Intervention (GVI) strategy to compassionately communicate an anti-violence message to people at high risk of violence. Their services will include stand up shooting reviews, problem analysis, and collaboration with the Pomona Police Department, as well as co-project management, development and oversight of performance and quality, and collaboration with the lead evaluator on the program evaluation and final report.
OVP will reduce the number of arrests through focusing on the highest risk individuals and diverting others away from prosecution/incarceration (such as the Youth Diversion and Development Program). Develop Police Department capacities in Principled Policing (including procedural justice and implicit bias) and proactive peacemaking. The core tenets of this strategy is to treat people with dignity and respect, to give them a voice and listen respectfully, to be neutral and transparent, and convey trustworthy motives. With its partners, the OVP will provide State of California Principled Policing training, including the Post Plan V-funded procedural justice training and the implicit bias training.
Improve community-police relations through more direct support of families who have experienced intense violence. One of the major gaps in the City is the lack of a coordinated plan to support the families of those killed or injured by serious violence. We plan to establish a critical event response team to work in conjunction with the Police Department Mental Health Evaluation Unit to support families who have experienced violence with special emphasis on children. The OVP will coordinate the services of the support team that will involve a sworn officer and a department of mental health clinician, as well as enlisting the aid of Tri-City Mental Health Services and volunteers from the Kennedy Austin Foundation.
Direct staff. The OVP will be run by a Chief Administrator and assisted by three staff members: a Deputy Chief Administrator, a Case Manager/Interventionist, and a Community Outreach Leader. They will manage the day-to-day implementation of this grant, provide community outreach and intervention, as well as fostering and maintaining all the relationships with offices, organizations, and individuals that are coordinated by the office itself.
Key Partnerships: Los Angeles County Office for Violence Prevention, Advance Peace, California Partnership for Safe Communities (CPSC), Tri-City Mental Health Services, Kennedy Austin Foundation International Family Institute, and CalPoly Pomona Measurable results: The Partnership seeks a minimum reduction in shootings of at least 10% per year citywide and a significant reduction in arrests. The OVP will seek to serve the targeted individuals and communities and will determine the appropriate numerical targets once the analysis has been completed. We seek to train all 162 members of the Pomona Police Department in Group Violence Intervention and Principled Policing. Qualitative measures for improved community-police relations will be developed through systematic engagement with the key partners and community stakeholders.
Never before have we been able to launch a city-wide intervention that coordinates between effective law enforcement on the one hand, and the on-the-ground provision of social services and trust-building on the other. We now have the right individuals leading the Police Department, City Management, related County Offices, Anchor Institutions, and our CBOs to make real change in the City of Pomona.
COUNCIL PRIORITIES & GOALS:
This item supports 2021 City Council Priority No. 4 – Safe and Clean Community; Goal N – Take actions to eliminate prostitution, human trafficking, and gang-related violence.
Prepared by:
_____________________________
Brian Hagerty
Police Lieutenant
ATTACHMENT(S):
Attachment No. 1 – Proposed Resolution No. 2022-133
Attachment No. 2 – CalVIP PowerPoint
Acceptance of CalVIP Grant Funds