Recast Advisory Board

RECAST ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES Wednesday, January 24, 2024 Third Floor GwMA Conference Room 6:00 PM 70 S. Clayton St, GA 30046 Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:01 PM, recognizing a quorum. Approval of Agenda Approval of Agenda Motion to approve the agenda was made by Martin, Seconded by Pino. Voting Yea: Floyd-Bryant, Sanchez, Drane, Pino, Joseph, Martin, Olumba, Waltz, Davis, PhD Voting Abstaining: Brown (arrived at 6:10 PM) Swearing in of New Board Members Swearing in of New Board Members Mayor David Still joined to swear in both new and reappointed members: Michael Davis, Tracy Joseph, Nancy Martin, Winifred Olumba, and Tawny Waltz. Dr. Tiffany Washington (reappointed but absent) will be sworn in separately. Citizen Comments To participate in the Public Comment 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 the prior meeting minutes was made by Waltz, Seconded by Brown. Voting Yea: Brown, Floyd-Bryant, Sanchez, Drane, Pino, Joseph, Martin, Olumba, Waltz, Davis, PhD General Discussion Officer Elections Officer Elections for 2024 The board voted to select officers for 2024. Chanda Floyd-Bryant, Dr. Hector Sanchez, and Marcus Thorne were elected to retain the positions of Chair, Vice-chair, and Secretary, respectively. Of the ten (10) ballots submitted, Chanda was selected unanimously. Hector received nine (9) votes for Vice-chair with one (1) vote for Nancy Martin. Marcus received 8 votes for secretary with one (1) vote for Nancy and one abstention. Program Personnel Update and Board Role Reminder Jasmine Billings, Director of Community & Economic Development, provided the update. She reminded the board of its role in correspondence with the City ordinance which created it. She emphasized number 7 of Section 2 of the bylaws (Purpose & Authority). The City has authorized the board to, “Study, assess, render advice, and as needed make recommendations on specific projects, plans, and City programs related to the ReCAST Grant, and bring for any issues of concerns to the City’s elected officials about behavioral health services.” Additionally, she reminded the board of the new contract the City has with ReCAST Program Director, Dr. Edward Valentin. Dr. Valentin’s role is to offer guidance and expertise related to grant direction and parameters. She also brought clarity to the role of the Program Manager position. During this portion of the meeting, the board raised many questions. Jasmine addressed those questions with the following responses. Though employed by one of the grant’s sub-recipients, Impact46, the City has worked with the City attorney to ensure that Impact46 does not provide direction to the PM regarding grant programming. This is the exclusive role of the City. Likewise, the City does not manage the PM’s personnel matters such as PTO, health benefits, etc.. If (and/or when) significant changes need to be communicated to sub-recipients regarding the ending of a contractual relationship, that will be communicated by the Program Director and city leadership/staff based on the data tracker and board recommendations. Member Liliana Pino asked when the board could begin making recommendations about whether to move away from a current sub-recipient and select a new partner. Jasmine shared that the board could make suggestions/recommendations as they see fit when reviewing annual performances from each sub-recipient, based on the data tracker, milestones, and monthly updates. If the City deems it necessary to move in a different direction, it will be based on the data tracker, program milestones and board recommendations. Jasmine encouraged the PM to keep the Data Tracker in front of the advisory board. A pre-audit, conducted by the Program Director, is planned for each sub-recipient in preparation for a full audit anticipated to be conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) in the coming months. Board Check-In There was a board member check-in, sharing brief introductions with each member sharing his or her word for the year. Program Update: Georgia Center for Opportunity Luisa Beeco, Program Manager of Better Work Gwinnett, provided the update. (Note: Better Work Gwinnett is a program of the Georgia Center for Opportunity [GCO].) Ms. Beeco reminded new and existing members of the role of GCO for ReCAST – working with adults who need help with employment. That help primarily includes coaching, resume review, job connections, and one-to- one mentors. GCO often plays the role of making matches between jobseekers and employers, so they build relationships with local employers as well. Those employers often reach out based on GCO’s recommendation. For GCO’s work through ReCAST: During the previous quarter, GCO received 37 applicants, 13 of whom gained employment. Member Tracy Joseph noted encouragingly that this is a 35% success rate. Note, GCO received 16 total ReCAST referrals during the same period– most of which came from I46. GCO has many more referrals, because of Gwinnett-wide service; it serves well beyond the ReCAST boundary. Louisa also offered the success story of “Ms. S,” who has been served by all three collaborating partners. She started with Impact46 (with its Lawrenceville Response Center) receiving shelter support. Needing employment support, Ms. S was referred to GCO which helped her land several job interviews. However, without a car, Ms. S would have struggled to get to her interviews. GCO got her there (through a transportation partner, Heirborn Servants). And though Ms. S – at the time of this writing – was both pregnant and showing, GCO helped connect her to an employer who hired her. Because Ms. S will continue to need support, GCO made an additional referral to Families First who will provide continued support to her through its Navigator services. Because of Ms. S’s progress and the coordination between the LRC and GCO, Ms. S qualified for an additional month of housing support. The board had many questions, primarily 1) regarding the validation of participants within ReCAST data and results as well as 2) how ReCAST can do a better job raising awareness of its programs. Luisa, Dr. Valentin, and Marcus were the primary respondents to these questions. Those responses included the following: Member Michael Davis asked to see partner contracts in future meetings to provide the board with greater clarity about service delivery expectations from each sub-recipient. Marcus committed to making those contracts available. General Program Update: ReCAST Program Director, Dr. Valentin, shared regarding ReCAST. Though the smallest city awarded, Lawrenceville was awarded the grant based on its very high score. The score was high due to the inclusion of a resiliency measure – Lawrenceville was the only applicant to include such a measure – the Families First Resiliency Needs Screener (FFRNS-14). SAMHSA was very impressed with this resiliency instrument and desired to see the results of its implementation. Dr. Valentin also expressed a need to develop a sustainability plan. Program Manager, Marcus Thorne, shared about the ongoing operations of ReCAST. ● National Night Out (NNO) – this event, intended to restore and amplify the trust between the community and police, is scheduled for 8/9/24. Board guidance was included in the planning, with the date shifted to a Friday from its traditional date. Marcus is actively working with Lawrenceville PD to organize the event. ● MindSet Training – ReCAST Lawrenceville’s Grant Program Officer (GPO) has approved the substitution of MindSet Training in place of GAINS training. MindSet training includes both de-escalation and restraint components and will be led by Families First. The initial date of February 2 has been postponed; three (3) other dates have already been scheduled in advance of September 30, the end of the current grant year. Four (4) dates are committed SAMHSA deliverables, and the program is on track to complete all four once the postponed date is rescheduled. ● Embrace Training – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging training, led by the Georgia Municipal Association, is scheduled to continue in February. Both initial training (Embrace 101) and add-on training (Embrace 102) are scheduled through the end of the current grant cycle. The program is on track to fulfilling this deliverable. ● Community Connections Workshops – A request for proposal (RFP) is expected to be published before the end of January. This RFP will request offers from organizations and/or consultants to provide community-facing implicit bias workshops, a SAMHSA deliverable. Publishing an RFP in January positions the program to host workshops during the summer and fulfill the deliverable well ahead of September 30. ● Personnel Updates ○ Families First has hired a new Clinical Director, Chris Haider-Bardill ○ Impact46 has hired three new staff people. ■ Emelda Mumba – Intake Specialist, LRC ■ Alexis Douglas – Rental Assistance, LRC ■ Amanda Mason – Shelter Assistance, LRC Other Business No additional business was discussed. Final Adjournment Motion to adjourn was made by Floyd-Bryant, Seconded by Davis, PhD. Voting Yea: Brown, Floyd-Bryant, Sanchez, Drane, Pino, Joseph, Martin, Olumba, Waltz, Davis, PhD Minutes Signature ___________________ Chanda Floyd-Bryant ___________________ Marcus Thorne, Secretary