DATE: March 28, 2023
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Kirk Haynes, Chief Probation Officer
SUBJECT: Unserved/Underserved Victim Advocacy and Outreach Program Grant Application/Agreement
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Retroactively approve and authorize the Chief Probation Officer’s previous submittal of a grant proposal to the State of California, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services for the Unserved/Underserved Victim Advocacy and Outreach Program ($196,906);
2. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a retroactive Grant Application/Agreement for the Unserved/Underserved Victim Advocacy and Outreach Program with Cal OES, for the period of January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023 ($196,906); and
3. Approve and Authorize the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector, or his designee, to execute the required Authorization for the Grant Subaward Certification of Assurance of Compliance.
REPORT
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. To meet the grant filling deadline, the Probation Department submitted the grant proposal, contingent upon your Board’s approval. The grant provides funding to increase identification of elderly and dependent adult victims of crime and improve services available to those victims. The recommended actions will authorize the previous submittal of the grant application and the execution of the retroactive Grant Agreement. It should be noted, once the grant agreement is executed by the Chairman and the State of California, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), the application documents become the final agreement between the County and Cal OES. This item is countywide.
RETROACTIVE AGREEMENT:
The agreement before your Board is retroactive due to the length of time between application submittal and notification of award received from Cal OES on January 3, 2023 and is retroactive to January 1, 2023. Although staff received the award notification on January 3, 2023, the item is coming to your Board retroactively approximately three months later. Department staff are proactively working on scheduling items to come before your Board in a timely manner.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If the recommended actions are not approved, the Grant Proposal will be withdrawn. This will result in the elimination or reduction of services provided by the Crime Victim Assistance Center (CVAC) to elderly and dependent adult victims of crime. It will also result in the elimination of two Victim-Witness Advocate (VA) positions, unless an alternative funding source is identified.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. The grant will provide a total of $196,906 in grant funds. Due to the fiscal impact of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, a waiver request for the required match was submitted with the proposal to Cal OES and is expected to be approved; therefore, the mandated match of $49,226 is not included in the grant application. The grant fully funds one Victim-Witness Advocate (VWA), and partially funds the following positions: 55% of one VWA, 9% of one Assistant Deputy Chief (ADC) Probation Officer, 9% of one Program Technician (PT), and 9% of one Office Assistant (OA). If funding is not granted, Probation will have to identify an alternative funding source for the above listed positions. If an alternative funding source is not identified, the positions will be deleted. The grant does not pay for any indirect costs. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the FY 2022-23 Adopted Probation Grants Org 3432 Budget.
DISCUSSION:
On December 14, 2021, your Board approved the final non-competitive application/agreement with Cal OES for this program that remained in the prior grant cycle. On August 12, 2022, Cal OES released a request for proposals for a competitive grant funding opportunity, with a filing deadline of September 30, 2022. In order to meet the filing deadline, the proposal was previously submitted to Cal OES, contingent upon your Board’s approval, and is being brought to your Board with the associated application/agreement on the first available Board date.
With the award of this grant, Probation’s CVAC will continue fulfilling the Unserved/Underserved Victim and Advocacy (UV) Program. Grant funding provides in whole or in part two VWA positions, one ADC, one PT, and one OA to reach elderly and dependent adult victims of crime and assist them in coping with the impacts of the criminal acts perpetrated against them. The objectives of the VWA positions are to improve identification of elderly and dependent adult victims, increase community awareness of victims’ rights and available services, establish connections between Probation’s CVAC and the County’s rural communities and cultural groups, and improve services available to elderly and dependent adult victims of violent crime through a collaboration of agencies.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #58, December 14, 2021
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Application/Agreement with Cal OES
CAO ANALYST:
Samantha Buck