DATE: September 5, 2023
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Susan Holt, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT: Amendment to Agreement with Adele James Consulting Inc.
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute First Amendment to Agreement with Adele James Consulting Inc. to increase the maximum number of participants for both virtual and in-person Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion foundational trainings to accommodate Department of Behavioral Health workforce demands, with no change to the term of July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025, or compensation maximum of $278,800.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended action will increase the training capacity of the one-day virtual training from 25 to 35 participants and convert the in-person training from a two-day training to a one-day training, therefore delivering two trainings over two days. This would allow the Department the opportunity to potentially train up to 100 Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) personnel and contracted providers versus 50 as DBH did prior to the pandemic when the in-person trainings were offered. The agreement will be funded with Mental Health Services Act - Workforce Education and Training, with no increase in Net County Cost. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If your Board does not approve the recommended action, the Department will not be able to meet workforce demands to be in compliance with Department of Health Care Services Cultural Competence Plan Criterion 5.I.A, mandating that the county system shall require all staff and shall invite stakeholders to receive annual cultural competence training; Department of Mental Health Information Notice 10-17, Enclosure 1. The 2010 Cultural Competence Plan Requirements.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Costs for the trainings ($278,800) are funded by Mental Health Services Act - Workforce Education and Training. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Department’s FY 2023-24 Recommended Budget and will be included in subsequent budget requests for the duration of the agreement.
DISCUSSION:
On June 21, 2022, your Board approved Agreement No.22-265 with Adele James Consulting Inc. (AJCI) to provide Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion foundational training for DBH personnel and contracted providers from FYs 2022-23 through 2024-25 with the two optional one-year extensions.
As of May 2023, DBH has over 200 staff that need to complete the foundational cultural competence training. Of those staff, 138 are staff that need to retake the training as it has been over five years since taking the foundational training in 2018. DBH Policy and Procedure Guide 1.5.1 requires a DBH approved foundational cultural competency training for county staff every five years and indicates DBH shall offer the same foundational training to contracted direct service providers.
Under the current agreement, eight virtual trainings and four in-person trainings are budgeted for FY 2023-24. With the proposed Amendment, DBH can train up to an additional 360 persons in the current fiscal year. For FYs 2024-25 though FY 2026-27, DBH would have the ability to have an additional 1,260 persons trained.
As an equity trainer for over 10 years, Adele James of AJCI brings extensive knowledge in implementation of training, assessment, and organizational equity and inclusion practices. She provides her copyrighted Introduction & Implementation of Cultural Responsiveness (IICR), a curriculum originally developed around and continually updated based on current events. Training sessions are highly interactive, built around adult learning theory, and focus on participant driven learning and problem solving. Outside of providing IICR Training, Ms. James has also supported the county by providing training on the use of the Racial Equity Impact Assessment Toolkit and Applied Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services to a cohort of DBH supervisory staff.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI # 45, June 21, 2022
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Amendment No. 1 to Agreement 22-265
CAO ANALYST:
Ron Alexander