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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - Mail Packet - 3/23/2021 - City Council Ad Hoc Community Impact Committee Agenda - March 22, 2021 City Manager’s Office City Hall 300 LaPorte Ave. PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6505 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com AGENDA City Council Ad Hoc Community Impact Committee Monday, March 22, 2021, 3:00-5:00 p.m. Location: Virtual Public is encouraged to listen through Zoom https://zoom.us/j/93008063610 Or Telephone: Dial: (253) 215-8782 or (346) 248-7799 Webinar ID: 930 0806 3610 Committee Members: Susan Gutowsky, District 1 Julie Pignataro, District 2 Emily Gorgol, District 6 Committee Contact: Ginny Sawyer, gsawyer@fcgov.com Note: Per Ord. No 079, the Committee Chair, may in consultation with the City Manager and City Attorney, determine that meeting in person would not be prudent for some or all persons due to a public health emergency or other unforeseen circumstance affecting the city. As well, an individual Committee member may request to participate remotely even if the rest of the Committee will be there if the member has a concern about their or others’ health or safety by notifying the Clerk at least three hours in advance of the meeting. 1. Call Meeting to Order 2. Approval of February 22, 2021 minutes 3. Agenda Review 4. Discussion Items a. Budget/Programming Ideas to enhance community safety and equity b. End of Committee Report – i. review and feedback ii. note any additional recommendations going forward 5. Other Business 6. Next meetings  April 26 There are three or more members of City Council that may attend this meeting. While no formal action will be taken by the Council at this meeting, the discussion of public business will occur, and the meeting is open to the public via Zoom. Attachments: 1. Budget Programming Ideas 2. BFO Sellers’ Equity Guide City Manager’s Office City Hall 300 LaPorte Ave. PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6505 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com Ad Hoc Community Impact Committee Meeting Minutes Monday, February 22, 2021, 3:00-5:00 p.m. Location: Virtual Councilmembers present: Susan Gutowsky, Julie Pignataro, Emily Gorgol Staff: Ginny Sawyer, Darin Atteberry, Kelly DiMartino, Jenny Lopez-Filkins, Jackie Kozak-Thiel, Greg Yeager, Kyle Stannert, Honore Depew, Janet Freeman, Lawrence Pollack 1. Meeting called to Order and January 25, 2021 minutes approved. 2. Discussion Items a. Budget Improvements and Learnings – Lawrence Pollack, Budget Director Presentation Follow-up: • Appreciation for work and the creation of the Budget in Brief document. • Discussion regarding the BFO teams and outreach process and how to make this as accessible as possible: o Process is such a barrier for folks. o Can we shorten the time commitment? We have tracked time commitment historically and continue to look for ways to streamline. Average BFO Team time commitment still around 50-60 hours. o What are other ways to participate both on offers and prior to offers being submitted? Always looking for new ways to inform and engage residents. This year reaching out to known stakeholder partners to inquire how to best engage and where they are most interested in engaging. o How do we make it as easy as possible to give input? This is always our goal. Continue to try new things and listen to suggestions. o Can residents be proactive and not reactive? Hoping Budget in Brief helps along with video library of budget process and ways to engage. o How do we get to community budget offers? Have heard some ideas from previous budget cycle. We do not currently have a “participatory budget” process. o How would Community member know to give ideas at the strategic plan level? Staff working on increased outreach and information on the Strategic Plan process and timeline. o Can we include offer numbers in the budget in brief? This might defeat the Budget in Brief goal. Will look at how to direct those interested in more details to the larger budget document. • Support for Focus group Outreach plan. o Glad we’re simplifying. o How will we gather these groups? b. End of Committee Report – review and feedback Discussion: • Did a lot of work but some may have gotten done by Council regardless of Committee. • Committee was in response to a sensitive social issue and we skirted around the big issues. • Want to identify what would have happened if we didn’t have the committee? o Equity Office is a big win • Chief and Police Services doing great work but committee did not get a chance to discuss. • Want to make sure we’re asking questions about disparities in City services. • Focus next meeting on recommendations for safe community and recommendations for budget process. What do we suggest to upcoming Council? c. Other Business • Capture learnings for future ad hoc committees: o clarity of scope and direct tie to a resourced body of work. o Timing is also really important. • Equity Office Updates o In recruitment phase. Karen Burke leading. Over 200 people have engaged. o Latest timeline…hire in mid-May. Council will have engagement with finalists. • Council training o Can we include equity training as part of Council on-boarding? o Look at a REAL training (either weekend or piecemeal?) d. Next meeting - April 26 DRAFT v2 – March 17, 2021 Community Impact Ad Hoc End of Committee Report The Community Impact Ad Hoc Committee was established by Resolution 2020-060 on June 23, 2020 with an overall purpose of ensuring that the City is creating an environment that provides safety and addresses equity for all residents. During the 9-month duration of meeting to address challenging community topics, the Committee has accelerated the direction and the groundwork for long-term organizational work in this space and ensured: • The off-cycle creation of an Equity Office. • Budget process improvements including furtherance of an Equity Lens and a more accessible Budget in Brief document. The formation of the Committee was driven by national and local concerns and initiatives calling for reallocation of budget dollars from traditional police services. Council was receiving hundreds of emails requesting a review of police use-of-force policies and accountability as well as questioning the proper role and responsibility of the police department compared with other response types. The Resolution expressed Council’s desire to take intentional action to ensure and maintain equitable and inclusive policing, community engagement, programming, and social health initiatives through services and programs and called for the Committee to: • Develop recommendations for ways to enhance and achieve a safe and equitable community for all through examining policy initiatives, police operations and other municipal programs and services. • Provide recommendations to Council for the 2021 budget cycle in furtherance of these objectives. • Review higher-level performance indicators for Police Services and other related programs and services to improve the measurement of success in providing a safe and equitable community for all. The Committee convened monthly from July 2020 to April 2021. Early meetings highlighted a few key considerations to the committee’s overall workplan: • This work cannot be impacted by a sub-Committee alone and will likely become the focus of the Council as a whole in the future. • The timeframe for strategically impacting the budget was constrained. • There was a desire to keep the scope manageable and not take on every topic brought forward (Land Acknowledgement, School resource Officers, Street Naming, etc.). The Committee also agreed on the importance of hearing from residents, impacting root causes over symptoms, and laying a foundation for organizational long-term work in this space. Based on the topics and understandings, Committee presentations and discussions centered around community engagement and police services. Below are highlights of Committee engagement and future organizational work supported by the Committee. A. Develop recommendations for ways to enhance and achieve a safe and equitable community for all through examining policy initiatives, police operations and other municipal programs and services. Committee Engagement: • Agendas included presentations and discussions with consultants and staff regarding the Criminal Justice and Civic Engagement topic areas of the Equity Indicator project. These conversations helped to identify questions and highlight needed learnings, especially in Police Services, to better understand what metrics to focus on, how to interpret what we measure, and how targets and benchmarks should be determined. • Panel discussion with staff on community engagement goals and practices highlighted needs and efforts to make feedback easy for residents and to be more holistic in our outreach. The Committee reinforced the desire to make outreach assessable and easy for residents while ensuring that feedback loops are in place. • Reviewed and provided feedback on the process of developing Principles of Community for the organization. • Early presentation and discussion with Police Services staff on programs and operations grounded future conversations on allocations, redeployment offers, and metrics and opened dialogue into current practices, including use-of-force and proactive policing protocols. • Police discussion on local implementation of “8 Can’t Wait” and other initiatives (April). Future Council/Organization Activity: • Determine how to best implement and utilize equity indicators to gauge progress. • Develop and consider budget offers that address this bullet. • Partner with other agencies. • Enhance engagement opportunities and ensure residents can provide feedback in a variety of ways. B. Provide recommendations to Council for the 2021 budget cycle in furtherance of these objectives. Committee Engagement: • Discussion of 2021 redeployment offers addressed local efforts to consider best use of budgeting dollars and willingness to shift dollars to “cause vs. symptom” efforts. Committee had early opportunity to learn of police redeployment offers and housing manager and homeless coordinator offers. • Presentation and discussion of equity efforts specific to the budgeting process helped guide new equity lens on budget offers. Rapid Response team created budget offer equity lens which will continue in 2021 process. • Panel presentation and discussion of Equity Office creation provided valuable insights and considerations as Fort Collins looks to create Equity Office. Committee confirmed desire for creation of office, recommend Sustainability model (sustainability practices now embedded throughout City organization), and agreement that position and office need high level support. • Presentation and discussion of budget communication improvements. • Presentation and discussion of budget and programming ideas that enhance safety and equity in the community. Future Council/Organization Activity: • Enhance budget related communication/education/information efforts with focus on equity, enhanced stakeholder communications, and more user-friendly materials. • Creation of and recruitment for Equity Office. C. Review higher-level performance indicators for Police Services and other related programs and services to improve the measurement of success in providing a safe and equitable community for all. Committee Engagement: • Presentations and discussion of metrics with both equity project consultants and police services staff started key conversations to help guide metrics and programming Fort Collins may want to pursue going forward. • Presentation and discussion of internal Principles of Community effort was supported as an effective program to build knowledge and standards within the organization that will have positive impacts both internally and externally. Future Council/organizational Activity: • Additional discussion and learning around use and meanings of metrics and Equity Indicators. • Police Services community engagement efforts. The Community Impact Ad Hoc Committee helped set the stage for important equity work going forward and showed local responsiveness to resident concerns. The focus on identifying and resourcing root cause issues that create inequities in resident experience and perception of safety and belonging provide the groundwork to impact programming, services, and metrics to track improvement. Additional Recommendations: (Draft ideas) • Equity training as part of Council onboarding. • Develop a Council priority statement around safety and equity for all residents. • Continue to develop the community voice (engagement techniques/practices? Utilize Boards?) • Ad Hoc after-action by staff to outline learnings that impact the effectiveness of ad hoc committees. Programming Ideas to “Enhance a Safe and Equitable Community for All.” Below are ideas generated based on community feedback and Committee discussions. These programming efforts address needs and desires heard from community members during outreach efforts, at Council meetings, and through the 2021 budget process. Chief Equity Officer ($130-160: salary/does not include recruitment) Funded and in process The City has committed to creating a new executive position and an Equity Office in the City Manager's Office to lead the City's efforts to embed an equity lens through service delivery and to lead by example as an employer, engage community members, and partner with other institutions for systems change. Eviction Prevention Fund ($125K) As our community shifts from COVID-19 response to recovery, the need to support housing stability continues. An eviction prevention fund was identified as a quicker win in the Housing Strategic Plan. Disparity Study (TBD) Develop a disparity study that uncovers the root causes of the racial disparities we see today in home ownership, business ownership, climate impacts, and more. Inclusive Engagement ($50-75K) Based, in part, on feedback during 2021 Budget engagement, this offer would enable enhanced engagement and transparency for major organizational initiatives particularly with underserved or historically marginalized communities. Included would be enhanced language access, incentive/compensation options for valued input and participation, and additional paid partnerships with cultural brokers and professional engagement organizations. Cultural Services Community Programs Manager with Program Support ($175K) Throughout the engagement and development process of the City’s FoCo Creates Arts and Culture Master Plan, the community consistently expressed a desire for an inclusive and equitable creative community. Access and Scholarship Fund for Low-Income Families - Cultural Services ($90K) The offer will enhance the Department’s ability to support access for local low-income families to the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery (FCMoD), the Lincoln Center (LC), and the Gardens on Spring Creek (Gardens). Could include: early childhood family memberships for local school district families, one-day admission/show passes for social service agency partners and participants, field trip admissions for students from higher-need schools, and camp scholarships for youth. Reduced Fee Recreation Programming ($100K) Recreation offers significant discounts for youth and adult programs and unlimited visits to recreation facilities through the Reduced Fee Program established for qualified low-income members however the need consistently outweighs the subsidy amount each year. Expansion of Police Services’ Mental Health Response Team ($800K) In late 2020, FCPS dedicated two police officers to the inaugural Mental Health Response Team (MHRT) for dedicated support of some of our community’s most vulnerable residents. Those initial officers have seen extensive use and high-level returns on the investment. FCPS now seeks to expand the program by four (4) additional police officers and one (1) sergeant to manage what will become a six (6) officer MHRT which will continue its close working relationship with the UCH CORE Team. Immigration Legal Defense Fund (pending Council Work Session) Council is considering the creation of funding to assist with representation and navigation for undocumented residents to help ensure safety and best efforts to help ensure safety, equity, and livability for all community members regardless of immigration status and support lawful pathways to citizenship. Community Submissions from the OurCity page: • Continue trainings, adequate staffing and support and positive community engagement • More traffic enforcement • Better wifi for poorer communities • Increase police community engagement opportunities. Bike patrols, citizen ride-a-longs, Citizen Police Academy, CSU/FCPS Student Welcome • Mental Health Professional on Call • More Affordable and Attainable Housing • Citizens, City, CSU, Faith Community, PSD, Chamber of Commerce group to create a vision of the community values and process to attain them • Instead of defunding, use those funds to create a mental health division and certify some (still armed) officers in behavioral health. • Increase funding for court-ordered treatment for low income offenders 1 MARCH 2021 BFO SELLERS’ EQUITY GUIDE 2022 2 ADVANCING EQUITY OVERVIEW In the 2020 Strategic Plan, the City adopted Neighborhood Livability & Social Health 1.4 as a strategic objective: Advance equity for all, leading with race, so that a person’s identity or identities is not a predictor of outcomes. In an effort to make progress on this strategic objective, City leadership supports the addition of an equity question to the City’s Budgeting for Outcomes Offer Narratives. The 2022 Budget provides an opportunity for our organization to “learn while doing.” The Offer Narrative Equity Question and this Sellers’ Guide are designed to assist the organization to better understand the City’s commitment to equity for all, leading with race, and how this commitment can be reflected in the work done across City programs, services, and policies, both internal and external. We recognize that everyone has a different level of experience in this space, and we welcome this opportunity to move forward with equity as an organization. What Does Leading with Race Mean? Leading with race is a business strategy, rather than a philosophical statement, that allows the City to bring focus and specificity to this effort as part of the Strategic Plan. Equity for all, leading with race, is about closing race-based disparity gaps. Being race explicit is not race exclusive. Promising practices in peer cities indicate that leading with race results in more equitable outcomes for numerous marginalized populations, including women, people who identify LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, and more. "How does this Offer support adopted 2020 Strategic Objective NLSH 1.4 - Advance equity for all, leading with race, so that a person’s identity or identities is not a predictor of outcomes." 3 INSTRUCTIONS The Budgeting for Outcomes Sellers’ Equity Guide is designed to provide thought- prompting questions, resources, and tools to better prepare Sellers to respond to the equity question in the 2022 Offer Narratives. To get the most out of the tool, Sellers should do the following: 1. Review the tools, terms, and concepts included in this guide. 2. Discuss the budget equity prompts in this guide. a. As a department or sub-team, schedule time to discuss and answer the Budget Equity Prompts to better understand how your programs and services advance equity or may have adverse effects on certain groups within the community or organization. i. A list of historically underrepresented groups is provided with the prompts for you to consider while discussing. 3. Answer the equity question in the 2022 offer narrative. How will offers be reviewed? The Budget Equity Team (BET) will review offers and collaboratively discuss how programs, services or policies will impact equity in Fort Collins. Each offer will be categorized based on if it advances equity, has a neutral impact on equity, or has an opportunity to be more intentional in how equity is embedded into programs, services or policies. The BET will share the categorized offers and summarize key findings with BFO Teams before they share their final recommendations with the Budget Lead Team (BLT). The BET will also share this information with the BLT. 4 BUDGET EQUITY PROMPTS The following prompts are meant to facilitate thinking and conversations among work teams. Responses to these prompts will not be reviewed during the 2022 BFO process and Sellers are not required to provide written answers to the prompts. This is an encouraged and optional exercise. GENERAL: 1. Consider how historically underrepresented groups in Fort Collins may experience City service delivery, programs, or other outcomes differently than other community members. 2. How is your offer (program, service, or policy) aligning or realigning resources to advance equity for all, leading with race? a. What groups will be positively and/or negatively impacted by your budget decisions? i. For example, when deciding where in the City to prioritize projects, considerations may include where the neighborhood is located or if it is an area where access to services have historically been limited or projects have not been prioritized in the past. b. What are the potential unintended consequences of your budget decisions and how might you mitigate harm and address any concerns? ENGAGEMENT & ACCESS: 3. What offers will your department submit to support engagement and participation in decision making? 4. What offers will your department submit to support access (trails, parks, language, information, public participation, transportation, etc.)? INTERNAL: 5. Describe your offer’s connection to internal diversity, equity, and inclusion. a. Identify policies, trainings, and/or practices exercised by your department or work team to advance knowledge of or address systemic injustice, inequity and/or racial oppression (racial justice trainings, hiring practices, updates to internal policies, etc.). b. Identify operational decisions (procurement, purchasing, training, contracting, etc.) exercised by your department to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. DATA 6. Describe the data used to inform your decision making. a. Are you using datasets disaggregated by race, age, language spoken at home, neighborhood, etc.? b. Are you referencing both qualitative and quantitative data to inform your decision making? What is a Historically Underrepresented Group? Leading with equity in process means asking who is most impacted by a decision and has historically had the least influence. Historically underrepresented groups include, but are not limited to: • Communities of Color • Community members under age 29 • DACA Students • LGBTQIA+ Communities • Local Indigenous Communities • Migrant Communities • People Experiencing Disabilities • Veterans • Religious-Based Minorities • People experiencing homelessness • Commuter community • Low-income communities • Minority and women-owned businesses These identities can overlap and intersect. We recognize that many people are a part of multiple groups and bring lived experience knowledge to this work. 5 TERMS EXPLAINED Budget Equity Team: A team of Racial Equity Rapid Response Team members and other staff members with equity experience chosen to review BFO Offers with an equity focus. Diversity: Diversity is how we identify along lines of culture, ethnic origin, race, age, gender identity and expression, physical ability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, political viewpoints, language abilities, socioeconomic status, and more. Equity: Equity is both a process and an outcome. It is a process in that policies, programs and tools are developed to ensure the elimination of existing disparities and includes inclusive engagement that leverages diversity. Equity becomes an outcome once a person's identity or identities no longer impacts their ability to experience equality. Historically Underrepresented Groups: Historically Underrepresented Groups are underrepresented in both the level of influence and decision-making they hold in relationship to systems of power (e.g., access to participating in City planning processes) and in overall resource distribution. Examples include communities of color, First Nations People, LGBTQIA+, federal poverty level, limited English proficiency, minority/women businesses, and others. Inclusion An intention or policy of including people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized based on ethnicity, familial status, gender identity, age, marital status, national origin, geographic background, race, religious and spiritual beliefs, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, veteran status, or other historically underrepresented groups. Institutional Racism: Policies, practices, and programs that, most often unintentionally and unconsciously, work to the benefit of white people and the detriment of people of color. Intersectionality: An approach developed by Kimberle Crenshaw, arguing that classifications such as gender, race, class, sexual orientation, nationality, and others cannot be examined in isolation from one another; they interact and intersect in individual’s lives, in society, in social systems, and are mutually constitutive. Outcomes: Outcomes in this context relate to how well different communities are faring compared to the overall average across multiple indicators related to social and economic inclusion, health, education, housing, and more. Systemic Racism: The various policies, practices, and programs of differing institutions within a community that can lead to adverse outcomes for communities of color compared to white communities. 6 CONCEPTS EXPLAINED Equity vs. Equality: Equality as a strategy means giving everyone the same resources. Equity means distributing different levels of resources to address identified inequities and barriers to decision-making processes. Leading with Race: Rather than a philosophical statement, leading with race is a business strategy, that allows the City to bring focus and specificity to this effort as part of the Strategic Plan. Leading with race does not mean that identities will be excluded. Targeted Universalism: Targeted universalism means setting universal goals that can be achieved through targeted approaches. To learn more, see the video linked here. 7 OTHER RESOURCES Social Sustainability Equity and Inclusion Page Information on the City’s equity efforts to date, additional resources, and more. https://www.fcgov.com/socialsustainability/equity Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) In 2017, the City of Fort Collins became a member of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), a membership network of government entities to advance racial equity and equitable outcomes for all. https://www.racialequityalliance.org/ Just in Time Equity & Inclusion Resources Tools to help advance equity considerations in work. Getting Started Equity Assessment Assessment Worksheet 2020 Strategic Plan If you would like to learn more about Strategic Objective NLSH 1.4, the Strategic Objective can be found on page 20 here. Title VI Resources If you would like to learn more about Title VI and how it applies at the City, visit the Title VI CityNet Page. Budget Equity Team If you have any questions, or if you would like to talk through the prompts with a member of the Budget Equity Team, please feel free to reach out to budgetequityteam@fcgov.com.