Recast Advisory Board

RECAST ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES Wednesday, August 23, 2023 Third Floor GwMA Conference Room 6:00 PM 70 S. Clayton St, GA 30046 Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:06 PM, recognizing a quorum. Approval of Agenda Motion to approve the agenda was made by Martin, Seconded by Drane. Voting Yea: Jordan, Floyd-Bryant, Sanchez, Drane, Sledge, Martin, Washington Citizen Comments To participate in the Public Comments part of this agenda, you must register with the Advisory Board Secretary prior to the beginning of the meeting. Presentations will be limited to two (2) minutes per person and the Board will not respond to comments. No citizen comments were offered. Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes Approve Prior Meeting Minutes Motion to approve May 31, 2023 meeting minutes was made by Martin, Seconded by Sanchez. Voting Yea: Jordan, Floyd-Bryant, Sanchez, Drane, Sledge, Martin, Washington Motion to approve June 28, 2023 meeting minutes was made by Jordan, Seconded by Sledge. Voting Yea: Jordan, Floyd-Bryant, Sanchez, Drane, Sledge, Martin, Washington General Discussion Board Member Check-In Members shared personal updates. Families First Presentation & Update The Advisory Board was joined by Sakina Huffman, Behavioral Health Program Manager, and Troya Jackson, Navigator Services Director, both presenting virtually via Zoom l ink. Both the Behavioral Health and Navigator Programs are integral parts of ReCAST and represent the two prominent services that Families First provides as a subrecipient partner of the program. Ms. Jackson shared first, presenting on Navigator Services. ● Navigator provides case manager support for participants facing challenges. They are committed to serving clients from initial referral and assessment through aftercare. Aftercare can last up to 24 months, depending on client's need and/or desire. ● 44 persons have been served (not just referred, but served) so far this year ● The Families First Resiliency Needs Screener (FFRNS-14) is a 14-question Likert-scale assessment, asking participant perceptions in three areas: connectedness to community, access to resources, and goal orientation. The board chair questioned and encouraged documenting families whose needs fall beyond the three main services of ReCAST (housing, employment, and behavioral health). Troya responded that she didn’t know whether (or how) those additional needs were being documented, but that she would find out. She also shared that Navigators are committed to helping ReCAST participants get connected to additional resources even when they fall beyond the ReCAST “main three.” Additionally, Navigators provide service to participants who live in Gwinnett, beyond the ReCAST service boundary. Note: ReCAST serves those who have a Lawrenceville address – even those beyond the city limits; it can also serve students (and families) who attend a Lawrenceville school, even when they don’t have a Lawrenceville address. Ms. Huffman presented on Behavioral Health Services. ● Families First has offered behavioral health services since the 1970s, and recently achieved CORE (Tier 2) status. ● 47 persons have been served; 4 have been successfully discharged, having made progress on their plan goals ● The Behavioral Health Team, inclusive of the Behavioral Health Specialist (Fr. Jorge Carranza), has been present for several community outreach events. These include: ○ National Night Out ○ Sneakers on the Street ○ Outreach to the local schools and at the local YMCA ○ Back to School Bash at DCFS Both Sakina and Troya offered stories of program success ReCAST Data Evaluator Presentation & Update ReCAST Data Evaluator, Betsy Crane, had a scheduling conflict and could not join the meeting. She helped prepare Program Manager, Marcus Thorne, to offer the presentation in her absence. Marcus presented a 3rd quarter (ending July 31) slide deck regarding all of SAMHSA's requested program measures. Marcus was pleased to report that our program is meeting and/or exceeding all of the measures except for two areas: ● Due to the early-year loss of Officer Jacob Baird, we have not attained our law enforcement training numbers. ReCAST plans to address this challenge: Families First is offering Mindset training to Lawrenceville Police Department. Chief John Mullin and Captain Sal Ortega are supportive and this training is expected to begin in mid-September. This will allow us to make additional progress toward our benchmark. Note: Mindset training is de-escalation training, helping decrease the use of force in potentially aggressive encounters. It also includes restraint training. It is not clear that Lawrenceville Police Department will include the restraint training portion of Mindset training at this time. ● ReCAST is also behind in our benchmark for community-facing implicit bias training. ReCAST plans to address: The program has hired a consultant team, Westbridge Solutions, to conduct our community training. Three of the six trainings will occur before our grant year ends. Three additional training s are expected to occur in October. SAMHSA is aware of the challenge and has been supportive of our plant to address it. ● All other reporting areas are either meeting or exceeding benchmarks. Board member, Marci Sledge, left the meeting at 7:00 pm, and we no longer had a quorum. Board members questioned how we are measuring increased knowledge and skills for civic engagement. Program Manager Thorne shared that he would inquire with the data evaluator and respond. Regarding ReCAST commitment to increase partnerships, Hector suggested at least two organizations that could potentially be partners for ReCAST. ● Georgia Youth Justice Coalition ● New Georgia Project Additionally, Chanda recommended including a youth presentation for Lawrenceville Legacy Leaders (L3)/Summer of Impact (SOI) so the board can hear directly from the youth served by the grant. Hector requested a list of those who were not accepted by L3, specific to those from Central Gwinnett, to see if he could engage them at the school as mentors in other programs. Project Manager Update Marcus Thorne provided an update on the following: ● National Night Out ○ We may be able to choose an alternate date next year.  ● ReCAST Year 3 Financial & Program Updates ○ Partner year-to-date progress on deliverables ○ Year 3 proposed budget allocations ○ ReCAST Year 2 remaining budget ● ReCAST Board request for guidance as we push toward increasing sustainability ○ We didn’t have time to fully address and plan to take up the question in future meetings ● Partner Progress, inclusive of staffing updates ● Outreach ○ Dates are set to continue outreach at Central Gwinnett and Discovery ○ H. Sanchez suggested an additional opportunity to connect at Central ● Implicit Bias Training ○ Westbridge Solutions continues to make good progress toward our goals for community- facing implicit bias training ● Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) ○ Embrace Training through the Georgia Municipal Association is scheduled to continue in 2023 and 2024 for City of Lawrenceville employees Other Business No additional business was discussed. Final Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:52 PM. No vote was taken due to loss of quorum. Minutes Signature ___________________ Chanda Floyd-Bryant ___________________ Marcus Thorne, Secretary