Agenda - 10-06-20; 8-a - Minutes

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27 1 The Partnership to End Homelessness and the Criminal Justice Resource Department were 2 awarded an additional COVID related Emergency Solutions Grant to implement a Harm 3 Reduction and Street Outreach program. These funds will support a 1.0 FTE Harm 4 Reduction Clinical Coordinator and 2.0 FTE Peer Specialists. These positions are designed 5 to serve individuals in the community who are experiencing homelessness and/or 6 behavioral health issues. The program is intended to increase access to housing, provide 7 consistent case management, address individual clinical needs, increase deflection from 8 the criminal justice system, and facilitate the transition into housing and community-based 9 treatment programs. This grant runs through June 30, 2022 and fills a long standing gap in 10 the homeless service system. 11 The Department of Social Services received supplemental funding to support staffing needs 12 in child and adult protective services. This $66,787 award adds 3.0 FTE for six months 13 ending on December 31, 2020. 14 The Health Department has received a total of$298,647 to hire additional case 15 investigators, COVID-19 testing technicians, and a temporary data analyst to monitor, 16 analyze, and report on COVID-19 statistics and trends. 17 18 County Economic Development Funds 19 Finally, the County has consolidated and reallocated small business funds to create an 20 Emergency Small Business Loan and Grant Program. This program has opened for two rounds 21 of applications and has awarded a total of$135,000 in loans and $385,000 in grants to 78 small 22 businesses located in Orange County. The program has a balance of$329,583. 23 Budget Amendment#1 proposes to reallocate $50,000 of that balance to the Arts 24 Commission to fund a supplemental grant program for arts organizations. The County and its 25 community and municipal partners are also conducting an economic impact assessment and 26 will use the results of that survey to recommend further distribution of funds consistent with the 27 needs expressed in the survey. Survey results will be available in early September. 28 29 Long Term Recovery Planning 30 Although the response effort to COVID-19 is ongoing, the County and its municipal 31 partners have allocated a total of$175,000 to retain a consultant to support long term recovery 32 planning. As part of the effort, the County has organized over 150 community organizations and 33 representatives to help create recommendations that will promote an expeditious and long term 34 recovery and improve resiliency. These organizations are organized into seven Recovery 35 Support Functions focused on the local economy, the health system, human services, housing, 36 natural and cultural resources, community planning, and public information. With the assistance 37 of the consulting group, these support functions are being asked to characterize and quantify 38 the impact of the pandemic, create a framework for building recovery strategies and priorities 39 using a social justice and racial equity perspective, and develop strategies for consideration by 40 local governing boards for consideration and implementation. 41 The Recovery Support Functions had an initial orientation and convening over the 42 summer. These groups are now meeting individually. An economic impact assessment survey 43 has been distributed to the business community. This survey is open until the end of August. A 44 public values survey is currently under development and will be distributed in early September 45 that will offer additional community context for the work of the Recovery Support Functions. The 46 first work product, an initial COVID-19 Impact Assessment is due in the coming weeks. Final 47 work products, including recommendations, will be presented to local governing boards in early 48 2021. 49 50 FINANCIAL IMPACT: