TO: NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES FROM: Jill Bourne
AND EDUCATION COMMITTEE Jon Cicirelli
SUBJECT: CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICES DATE: August 28, 2023
MASTER PLAN STATUS REPORT
Approved Date
9/7/23
RECOMMENDATION
(a) Accept the Children and Youth Services Master Plan Status Report. (b) Direct staff to support and integrate Blue Zone assessment and findings throughout the design and implementation of the Children and Youth Services Master Plan. (c) Direct staff to return to the Neighborhood Services and Education Committee on December 14, 2023.
SUMMARY AND OUTCOME
The City Council will be aware of, and provide feedback on, the design and development of the Children and Youth Services Master Plan. The City Council will also approve the integration of Blue Zone assessment and findings throughout the design and implementation of the Children and Youth Services Master Plan.
BACKGROUND
In the Mayor’s June 2021 Budget Message, the City Manager’s Office (CMO) was directed to develop a comprehensive "Cradle to Career" Youth Development Master Plan, now referred to as the Children and Youth Services Master Plan.1 The City Council recognized that children, youth, and young people, especially from specific zip codes and geographic areas, who were already experiencing socio-economic challenges, were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic - which further exacerbated their already fragile living conditions. Consequently, they have faced even greater challenges and barriers to economic recovery, as well as overall reductions in health, physical, mental, and social-emotional well-being. These concerns further compelled the City Council to request that the Children and Youth Services Master Plan (CYS Master Plan) include a citywide strategy with recommendations and guidance on policy priorities, investments, and alignment of programs to create an integrated and coordinated continuum service 1 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showdocument?id=74429&t=637587454786824477 COMMITTEE AGENDA: 9/14/23
ITEM: (d)1
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
August 28, 2023
Subject: Children and Youth Services Master Plan Status Report
delivery model. Furthermore, the CYS Master Plan will provide a strategic framework and approach cementing the City’s commitment to disrupting the systemic racism, structural barriers, persistent inequities, and generational trauma that continues to widen the socio-economic, educational, health, and housing gap in San José.
Overarching Goal: The CYS Master Plan will create and expand opportunity pathways and supports from cradle to career for all San José children, youth, and young adults* (birth through age 24), and in particular for those most vulnerable.
Vision: All children, youth, and young adults have increased opportunities to gain 21st-century skills that lead to better health outcomes, sustainable employment, and a competitive living wage so that they can live and thrive in this community.
The CYS Master Plan will serve as a roadmap for not just the City but for other local public entities and community organizations to prioritize and ensure the well-being, prosperity, empowerment, and selfefficacy of all children and youth, and their families. To accomplish this the CYS Master Plan will include the following elements:
• Comprehensive Services: Ensure a comprehensive range of services that address their physical, emotional, social, educational, and recreational needs. It creates a holistic framework to guide the City's efforts and service delivery.
• Coordination and Collaboration: Engage authentically with diverse stakeholders, including public entities, community-based/grassroots organizations, schools, healthcare providers, and more.
Foster coordination and collaboration among these entities, preventing duplication of efforts and ensuring resources are leveraged and used effectively.
• Long-Term Vision: Develop a long-term vision that cements the City's commitment to its young population. It includes goals, objectives, and strategies for a sustained and consistent approach to children and youth services, regardless of changes in leadership and competing priorities. • Data and Research: Ensure the work is grounded in the most current data and research to identify the specific needs, challenges, and opportunities for children and youth within the City. This datadriven approach allows for informed decision-making and the allocation of resources where they are most needed.
• Equity and Inclusion: Ensure that all children and youth, regardless of their background or circumstances, and particularly those most vulnerable and marginalized, have equal access and opportunities to quality services and opportunities.
• Prevention to Intervention: Ensure that services are not only addressing existing challenges but also preventing potential barriers and issues. It is critically important to include strategies on the continuum, from prevention to intervention, to strengthen protective factors, mitigate and address risks, and promote positive outcomes.
• Flexibility and Adaption: Ensure flexibility and adaption are central to the design, planning, and implementation process as the environment and conditions children and youth experience are not stagnate, as societal trends and technology, economy, demographics, and community dynamics change – the pandemic is a clear example. As the City leads and supports this work it is important to embrace flexibility and adaptation.
• Priorities and Strategies: Identify priorities and strategies to effectively and efficiently allocate resources, regardless of the increases, decreases, and changes in funding, staffing, and other
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
August 28, 2023
Subject: Children and Youth Services Master Plan Status Report
factors. Ensure that even in the most difficult economic conditions, the City and its partners direct their resources and support to the most critical areas and communities in need. • Community Engagement: Engage a broad spectrum of community members, including children, youth, parents, educators, and other stakeholders. This participatory process fosters a sense of ownership and lifts the diverse perspectives and lived-experiences of the community. It also places value on the expertise of the community leading to more effective and relevant services and delivery approaches that are designed for and by the recipient. • Outcomes and Indicators: Ensure clear benchmarks and indicators for success, enabling the City to track progress over time. This accountability ensures that goals are met and that adjustments can be made if outcomes are not being achieved.
To achieve this, the City Manager’s Office has been working closely with staff across departments including Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services (PRNS), Office of Economic Development (OED), Office of Racial Equity (ORE), Housing, and Public Library (Library), to serve as thought partners and content experts, and to assist in engaging all sectors of the community in the development of the CYS Master Plan. To ground the CYS Master Plan on the work and achievements of existing City initiatives, strategies, and policies the following documents have been identified and reviewed:
• Education and Digital Literacy Strategy2
• Education Initiative (Education Policy 0-30)3
• Bill of Rights for Children and Young Adults,
4 and Audit Report from the City Auditor’s Office.5
• REIA: Racial Equity Impact Analysis6
• The Housing Element7
• Youth Empowerment Alliance Strategic Plan8
• COVID-19 Recovery Task Force (Recovery Task Force)9
Furthermore, the City Council’s approval of the $10.5M of ARP Funds for children and youth services on April 26, 2022,
10 provided additional guidance in the development of the CYS Master Plan. Collectively, PRNS, the Library, and the CMO identified priority areas to support low-income, vulnerable families who were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The completed CYS Master Plan will include recommendations on unspent and unallocated funds to support the recommendations and goals, indicators, and outcomes.
* The terms Youth and Young Adults will be used interchangeably throughout this document. 2 https://sanjose.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=604595&GUID=A678879F-AAB0-411B-AACC-7448FBA01821&Options=&Search= 3 https://records.sanjoseca.gov/Resolutions/RES79400.pdf 4 https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6259159&GUID=231942AD-371B-4632-8AD2-1F96FA74ACA6&Options=&Search= 5 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/88407 6 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/93897/638100685978870000 7 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/planning-building-code-enforcement/planning-division/citywide-planning/housingelement/2023-2031-draft-housing-element 8 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/parks-recreation-neighborhood-services/youth-intervention-services 9 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/office-of-the-city-manager/community-and-economic-recovery-task-force 10 https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5552978&GUID=D3375907-879F-46A3-B692-F7BA8F22D348&Options=&Search=
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
August 28, 2023
Subject: Children and Youth Services Master Plan Status Report
ANALYSIS
The City of San José has considerable community assets which have earned it recognition as the secondbest place to raise a family in the country as noted by the U.S. News & World Report Rankings in August 2023. However, many children and youth have quite a different experience. Although San José is fortunate to have committed community stakeholders with the resources to serve children and youth, a more coordinated and strategic approach is needed to have true transformational and sustainable system change. Therefore, it is important that the City focus on the needs, inequities, and systemic, institutional, and structural barriers that disproportionately place San José children and youth - low-income, Latino/x, Black, and from specific zip codes - are particularly in vulnerable circumstances and overrepresented in areas such as:
• Of those prosecuted for felony offenses in San Clara County, 53% were Latino/x. 11 o Adult and juvenile populations criminally charged in Santa Clara County were overrepresented in 6 zip codes, 5 of those were in East, Southeast, and Central San Jose (95112, 95111, 95122, 95116, 95127, 95123), accounting for 9,920 individuals.12 o Juveniles arrested and cited in Santa Clara County were overrepresented in 10 zip codes, 6 of these in the same San José zip codes mentioned above, 46%. 13 • 58% of San José Latino/x and 58% of Mixed (multi-racial) have a high school degree or less.14 o 70% of survey respondents from 9 Project Hope neighborhoods (n=1,831) have a high school degree or less. 74% of respondents identified as Latino/x.15 • The youth and young adults experiencing homelessness represent nearly 23% of the overall unhoused San José population.
16 • Latino/x are disproportionately represented in the unhoused San José population, 42.7%.17 • 81% of extremely low-income San José households were cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of their income on housing.
18 o Latino/x are the most cost-burdened, with 25.2%, paying between 30%-50% of their income on housing.
• 63% lowest-income households are severely cost-burdened, paying more than 50% of their income on housing.
19 o Black, non-Hispanic, are more severely cost-burdened, 26.5%, paying more than 50% of their income on housing.
• 8.7% of San Jose’s general population have income below poverty levels, 49.4% of those are communities of color (Native American, Black, Latino/x, multi-racial). 20 All children and youth should grow up with the confidence that their racial, ethnic, or socio-economic background, family history, special needs/development delays, self-identify, or zip code of residence will not be a determining factor in their access and opportunities to resources and supports to achieve their dreams and full potential. Over the years the City has moved swiftly in advocating and addressing issues of homelessness, safety, blight, and economic development through policies, programs, investments, and 11 Race and Prosecutions 2022 Update, A Report of the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, 2022 12 ibid 13 Annual Juvenile Justice Arrest and Probation Data 2021, Santa Clara County Juvenile Probation, 2022 14 Bay Area Equity Atlas, https://bayareaequityatlas.org/ 15 Project Hope Interim Evaluation, City of San José, Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department, 2022 16 Draft 2023-2031 Housing Element, City of San José, Housing Department, 2022 17 ibid 18 Draft 2023-2031 Housing Element, City of San José, Housing Department, 2022 19 ibid 20 ibid
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
August 28, 2023
Subject: Children and Youth Services Master Plan Status Report
coordinated approaches across departments, the County, and other partners for strategic solutions and sustainable impact. It is equally important to elevate the needs of children and youth to that same degree of urgency and call to action. A City that centers the interest and needs of its youngest residents will see short and long-term impacts that will have a rippling benefit to the vibrancy, economy, well-being, and future of all those who live, work, visit, invest, and do business in San José.
While the CYS Master Plan will take a citywide approach, it is critically important to focus on those residents who have been most impacted by racial, socio-economic, educational, and health disparities that lead to poverty, displacement, violence, and other poor outcomes. Unfortunately, it was not surprising to see that it was these same populations and communities that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and nearly two years later they have been slow to recover from the aftermath. The City has a critical role to play, alongside all sectors of the community, in dismantling systemic racism, structural barriers, persistent inequities, and generational trauma. To this end, City staff recognized the importance of a two-pronged approach in achieving the "cradle to career" vision for the CYS Master Plan. Thus, staff embarked on developing both the CYS Master Plan document, as well as a coordinated and interconnected cross-system of partners that places the child and youth in the center, supporting their development from birth to adulthood, cradle to career, within the context of their family, school, neighborhood, and larger community. This work will be accomplished through a collective impact framework that involves different sectors of the ecosystem (e.g., government, nonprofits, business, philanthropy, etc.) working together to create a structured process and cross-sector coordination with all those that touch a child, youth, and their family, and includes the following elements:21 • A common agenda,
• Shared measurements,
• Continuous communication/feedback loop, and
• Mutually reinforcing activities.
Through a collective impact approach and racial and justice equity lens, the City Manager’s Office in partnership with the Library, PRNS, OED, ORE, Housing, and other departments and community stakeholders (e.g., education leaders, school districts, community-based/grassroots organizations, childcare providers), families, children, youth, and young adults have been engaged in the design and development of the CYS Master Plan. City staff have made a concerted effort to engage and elevate the lived-experiences and voices of diverse individuals, communities, and entities such as, but not limited to, historically low-income neighborhoods, marginalized racial and ethnic groups, families, and providers of children and youth with special needs and developmental disabilities, immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ families and youth, and system-involved, foster, and unhoused youth. City staff are designing the CYS Master Plan with the intent that all sectors of the community will have a sense of ownership and a role in shaping, influencing, and achieving the goals, policy priorities, recommendations, performance measures, and overall strategic direction – to improve the community conditions, access to supports and opportunities, educational achievements, and earning potential of children and youth, and their families.
Key Highlights/Milestones
The City Manager’s Office with the guidance and support of City staff, consultants, community stakeholders, service providers, families, youth/young people, and educational leaders, designed a process and timeline to develop the CYS Master Plan. To inform and shape the CYS Master Plan, the following elements and activities were identified as essential:
21 https://ssir.org/articles/entry/collective_impact#
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
August 28, 2023
Subject: Children and Youth Services Master Plan Status Report
● Bill of Rights for Children and Young Adults – Frame and integrate the Bill of Rights throughout the CYS Master Plan document, including recommendations from the Auditor’s Office report; ● Primary Data – Collect data through focus groups, interviews, youth town halls, and citywide surveys;
● Secondary Data – Collect, review, and analyze national, county, city, and other local initiatives, research, and reports;
● Literature Review – Review and survey of literature and other published materials related to the topic (e.g., youth development, evidence-based practices, family support, etc.); ● City of San José Initiatives – Leverage and integrate City-led initiatives that have family, children, and youth as the focus; and
● County of Santa Clara (County) Initiatives – Leverage and align County-led initiatives, to ensure an integrated service delivery system across multidisciplinary partners.
Community Engagement
Recognizing that the CYS Master Plan should not be created in isolation by City staff, a team structure of committees and advisories was developed to provide a breadth of input, recommendations, guidance, and support throughout the design and development process. The CMO staff garnered input and feedback from nearly 3,000 individuals, representing youth/young adults, families, City staff, and over 120 organizations representing special needs/developmental delays, elementary-high school districts, foster children/youth, early education, workforce development, juvenile justice, public entities, higher education, and many others. In addition, two citywide surveys were developed and distributed online and in paper form for parents/caregivers and youth/young adults. The surveys were available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese - nearly 2,000 surveys were submitted online and in paper form.
Across the community engagement activities (e.g., focus groups, surveys, advisory meetings, etc.), six key themes and goals, were raised consistently. Addressing these key themes is considered critically important in ensuring children, youth, and young adults, from birth through age 24, have equitable access to services, resources, and opportunities to achieve their full potential from cradle to career. See Figure 1.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
August 28, 2023
Subject: Children and Youth Services Master Plan Status Report
Figure 1: Emerging Community Themes and Goals
Themes Goals
Childcare and Family
Supports
Access to culturally responsive, affordable, inclusive, and quality childcare in settings that support a living wage for childcare providers and caregivers.
Connected Neighborhoods/
Safe Communities
Access to safe, beautiful, and abundantly resourced places where youth and family voices are prioritized in the development and provision of community resources.
Housing Access and
Security
Access to and the ability to choose safe, sustainable, affordable, and quality housing that best meets their needs.
Learning and
Empowerment
Access to equitable and quality opportunities and spaces that allow youth and their families of all ages to grow, develop, and thrive academically, professionally, and socially.
Meaningful and Sustainable
Jobs
Access to robust and inclusive community-to-employer connections that actively support and provide equitable opportunities for youth and families to thrive throughout their career and employment pathways of their choosing
Mental Wellness and
Belonging
Awareness of and access to an abundance of mental health services and resources that are tailored to meet the diversity and cultural needs of the community.
Integrated Service Delivery System
While the key deliverable for City staff is the completion of the CYS Master Plan document, as staff delved into the planning and community engagement process it became clear early on that it was equally important to develop an integrated service delivery system, with a “no wrong door” entry, that is equipped, and responsive to the needs of children, youth, and young adults. Addressing complex challenges requires a collaborative network of policymakers, multidisciplinary providers, public entities, educational leaders, and community members focused on creating and leveraging opportunities for crosssystem coordination. No one entity holds the solution. Currently, collaborative efforts across sectors exist and provide invaluable services, however, many agencies continue to work in silos and lack a coordinated and interconnected ecosystem with continuous feedback loops, quality improvement, and communication.
This leaves families feeling exasperated and overwhelmed, and even worse unable to access the services they so desperately need. Unfortunately, these unaddressed needs do not dissipate, they become more complex, and therefore it is important for City staff and community stakeholders to work differently and in trusting relationships using collective impact as the process towards a common agenda.
The CYS Master Plan is uniquely positioned to serve as the vehicle and conduit in bringing families, youth, and community and institutional partners together for transformative systems change that focuses on shifting the current system and strengthening child, youth, family, and neighborhood resiliency.
During the next phase of the CYS Master Plan development, there will be a focus on building out this integrated service delivery (single system of support) framework in collaboration with the ecosystem of County and City departments, school districts, grassroots/community-based organizations, and others.
The design of the service delivery model will be grounded on racial equity, cultural relevancy, traumainformed practices, and proven systems change and theoretical frameworks. Staff are working with a consultant to establish a collaborative network of policymakers, multidisciplinary providers, educational leaders, and community members focused on creating and leveraging opportunities for cross-system coordination. This effort will also support PRNS Youth Empowerment Alliance staff and partners in achieving a key objective in their strategic plan aimed at reducing youth and community violence. 22 Thus,
staff will leverage the work of the Youth Empowerment Alliance to enhance and expand the current 22 https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5997815&GUID=6942F0C0-A962-4571-857F-EE32C830ACB2&Options=&Search=
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
August 28, 2023
Subject: Children and Youth Services Master Plan Status Report
service delivery system, to include upstream prevention, as well as intervention services and supports, that are in the communities that are disproportionately underserved and marginalized. This will prevent families and youth from entering the child welfare and juvenile justice system, and instead provide them with the resources, supports, and services, to address their emerging needs (e.g., mental health, housing, food, childcare, etc.), and access opportunities to succeed in school, explore educational/career opportunities, and realize their goals and dreams.
To address these continued systemic challenges and eliminate duplication of efforts, the CYS Master Plan will also leverage resources with cross-sector partnerships, aligning and supporting the integration and implementation of California State and County legislation and priorities such as Assembly Bill (AB) 2083.23 This provides both the opportunity for alignment with the work of CYS Master Plan and a formal structure by and between the City of San José and other involved agencies to form a Children’s System of Care, implementing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining the roles and responsibilities of entities that serve children and youth. Although AB 2083 is focused on the child welfare system, the County is considering expanding the MOU to reach children and youth served by various other systems.
This cross-agency effort is the vehicle to install and implement AB 2083 and to support the components of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA),24 by bringing together institutional and community partners to create trusting and collaborative relationships to change conditions and remove barriers by shifting policy and transforming systems. By joining this partnership, the City can elevate the livedexperiences, voices, vision, and dreams of those most vulnerable, and have a role in building an infrastructure, framework, and system that has tangible elements that can move the City from design to implementation of the CYS Master Plan. Collectively, everyone, regardless of entry point, will be better equipped to respond to the needs of children, youth, and young adults.
In addition, in the City’s 2023-2024 Budget, $150,000 was allocated to conduct a Blue Zones readiness assessment, that should be integrated with the CYS Master Plan. The Blue Zones Project™ is an internationally recognized well-being improvement initiative designed to achieve better health outcomes, greater equity, lower costs, and new economic opportunities through systems-level changes across an entire city. The comprehensive readiness assessment will be conducted by Blue Zones Project consultants and will provide a data-driven analysis of the City’s well-being and will identify the appropriate next steps to become a Blue Zone Project partner. In addition to the $150,000 funding provided by the City, the remaining $350,000-$550,000 required will be sourced by a coalition of public and private partners, including county, community, and health system stakeholders. From the outset, the project will be driven by rigorous research and an equity lens. The Blue Zones Project consultants will align with city-wide initiatives already underway, as well as other programs addressing access to transportation, health services, healthy food, and safe spaces Additionally, the county’s available health data will inform the assessment to ensure that all efficiencies and insights are captured. The assessment findings will be presented in a comprehensive 150-page report outlining the risks and economic opportunities for a fullscale Blue Zones Project implementation, such as those underway in Ft. Worth, TX, in neighboring Monterey County, CA, and in 70+ diverse communities nationwide.
Next Steps
23 https://www.chhs.ca.gov/home/system-of-care/ 24 https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/ffpsa
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
August 28, 2023
Subject: Children and Youth Services Master Plan Status Report
Given the robust and inclusive process that CMO staff have led over the past year, there is a generous amount of data, information, reports, and content to analyze, summarize, and reference. It has been extremely invaluable engaging City staff and community stakeholders throughout the design and development process. Therefore, to respect the time and contribution invested in this citywide collective impact approach, and to effectively incorporate the lived-experiences, voices, and expertise of the community as well as their dreams and hopes for all San José children and youth, CMO staff and consultants are currently finalizing the goals, priority areas, metrics, recommendations, and content of the CYS Master Plan document. The CMO anticipates presenting the completed CYS Master Plan to the City Council in Winter 2023. Recommendations for the use of the remaining $624,000 of the unallocated ARP funds will be included in the completed Child and Youth Services Master Plan.
COORDINATION
As directed by the City Council, the City Manager’s Office in collaboration with the Library, PRNS, OED, ORE, Budget Office, Housing, and with parents/caregivers, youth/young adults, educational leaders, community-based organizations, County of Santa Clara departments, and community stakeholders have and will continue to be engaged throughout the design and development of the Children and Youth Services Master Plan. The CMO will finalize the Children and Youth Services Master Plan and present it to the City Council in the Fall/early Winter of 2023. /s/ /s/
JILL BOURNE JON CICIRELLI
Director, San José Public Library Director, Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services
For questions, please contact Laura Buzo, Assistant to the City Manager, in the City Manager’s Office, at [email protected].