Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, March 29, 2011,
Item 16
16 is receive the physical year 2010 annual report for the Austin-Travis County reentry round table.
good morning.
>> good morning.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
we're here for the reentry round table to give their annual report and as soon as I figure out where this power point is I'll pull it up.
>> I have another one.
>> do we need help from media?
>> I think so.
I'm sorry.
>> if we could get somebody from media to come in and give us a hand.
is this the same as the presentation we have in our backup?
>> yes, sir.
>> while she's hooking that up, I'll go on and tell you in your packets on the right-hand side is our annual report, and unless you are just real bored and need to get sleepy tonight, if you don't want to read the whole thing, I've pulled out the executive summary which is right behind the annual report which gives you an overlook of everything.
anything that really catches your eye that you want more details, the full annual report will have more specifics in it, but that's just f.y.i.
on the left-hand side of your packet is the power point.
we made it three to a page so you could take notes in case there were questions that come up later or things that you want to pursue for yourself.
and then there's things right behind the power point that as we go through the report I'll be referring to that you may want to look at.
while we're trying to get the power point going, I'll just go on and start since you've kind of got it in mini print.
I had to put my glasses on so I would be able to read it as well.
as administrator director of the spin Travis County reentry round table it's my honor to share with you judge business company and Commissioners the exciting reentry achievements made in 2010 with our unbeatable volunteer staff and that's the citizens of Austin and Travis County.
it's the public and private entity, nonproperty, faith based organizations and individual citizens that are the Austin christian county reentry round table.
it's appropriate I begin introducing our chair this year and that's thomas cruise.
thomas is getting ready to leave for the middle east, he is being deployed by the military, so he will be skypeing a lot this coming year, and sandra, who is our vice chair, will be the interim chair for the next year that thomas is overseas serving our military.
it's only appropriate also that I begin with what is our mission, what is the mission of the round table and what's the structure of the round table.
the mission of the round table is to be a robust community-wide, collaborative and catalyst for change that educates, facilitates and advocates to promote public safety through effective reentry of incarcerated and former incarcerated persons.
no overhead yet.
okay.
the structure of the round table is probably the most important part of what -- of what makes what we do successful because our structure is a top-down structure, and the top is the community.
we hold community forums, hold surveys to actually have the community come and address what are the needs, what are the real-life barriers.
we a lot of times sit behind a desk and things look good theoretically, but in real life it's a whole different story and the only way you know what's different between theory and real life is to here it for yourselves.
we had a fabulous forum.
judge Biscoe was part of our opening and welcome.
didn't make him stand up this year like I did y'all during last Commissioners court.
but it was a great turnout.
we had over 100 people.
we expanded the planning -- the round table tremendously.
got 21 new people on our support systems committee, and so it was really exciting.
so our structure starts with the community and then it goes to our committees.
so from those community forums and surveys, people join the different committees, the ones they have the most interest in whether it be policy reform, whether it be support systems, evidence based practices, so the committee is made up of individuals from the k some from public, some from private, some are just john q.
citizens and moms and wives of former offenders and offenders.
those committees do research based on what we heard from the community forums and the surveys, they determine what their goals are, what their objectives are, what their activities are going to be for that year so they have ownership in what the round table is really doing.
they then do the work in their own specific area and make recommendations to the planning council who is the governing body.
that's the one -- that's the group of policy makers that actually make systemic change, can promote systemic change.
and then, of course, it goes back to the community so it is a full circumstance nell that respect.
starts with the community and ends up benefiting the community.
we had five major targeted areas this year.
evidence based practices, funding opportunities, housing, policy reform and support systems. Just to kind of throw things together just to show you the impact of the main things that we did, we held 13 community forums. We invited 14 strategies of advocacy around reentry policy and created the 2011 policy reform agenda.
we created, funded or provided technical assistance for reports and -- arrest protocols when children are present.
we dispersed information regarding 19 funding opportunities and grants for four applications related to reentry.
and finally we provided specialized technical assistance to local state and national partners.
we had several key impacts.
the Travis County sheriff's office, the Austin police department began revising their arrest protocols and training for dealing with children when they are present when -- during the arrest.
you are going to notice in your packet -- well, one thing I didn't point out awhile ago on structure, our outreach brochure is in your packet and it shows that structure I was just discussing as well as our mission and shows you exactly what we do to try to get people involved and part of our committee.
other key impacts for the year was Austin city council adopted the neighborhood housing and community development f.y.
action plan that included permanent supportive housing in accordance with the f.y.
29 consolidated plan specifying the reentry population as a special needs population.
which is the first time in the history that that's actually been included and specified as a special needs population.
Austin city council also passed a resolution supporting the creation of 350 units of permanent supportive housing, 225 of which they recommended to be specific to the reentry population.
>> by the way, what's the status of that housing?
>> there's two things, judge.
one is I've got a -- in your packet, at the very back of the packet it tells what all of our housing issues were for 2009-2010.
and then I did bring -- we're doing a monthly update.
darla gay heads our housing focus team and they do a monthly update, which I can make copies for February, February 11th through March 13th.
>> I was wondering whether the 350 units are under construction or completed?
>> no, no, that's the goal we're working toward.
it's like 20 to time here, five in this pot and we're having to hang on and fight for everything.
there's five units right now that the legislature is -- the bills go through that we would lose.
five units to us is a lot of lives.
it's families and people's futures.
so we've got our policy reform committees down there today in fact representing -- and speaking of housing, I just talked about her.
judge was just asking what the status is of housing right now.
>> I'm darla gay with the district attorney's office and my role on the round table is in the housing issue area facilitator.
judge, since the resolution has passed, in October the city -- or actually December, the city approved development of 64 units of psh using the funding that comes through h.u.d.
so it's looking at also some of their bond money.
they actually approved more p.s.h.
in what, but as it relates to that specific resolution, they only are counting those units that are going to the target population of the chronically homeless and those with the most significant barriers to housing.
so 64 of those units are on the ground being developed immediately.
and then last legislative session the state of Texas for the first time ever allocated $20 million to homeless housing and services to the eight largest urban areas.
so the city of Austin got 1.9 million of that.
and when they deployed that money, the city chose to deploy it primarily around permanent supportive housing units so they funded 46 permanent supportive housing units with that.
and ten of those units are going directly to a reentry population.
they are serving men coming out of travis state jail and going directly into permanent supportive housing.
ten of those 46 went directly to reentry.
then in the rfa, one of the conditions of the rfa is the providers had to show in their policies and procedures how they were reducing barriers to housing particularly for those with criminal backgrounds.
so life works got some funding and they have pretty much removed their barriers to those with criminal backgrounds because most of the kids they are serving are kids coming out of foster care system.
and so as you know, those barriers are probably significantly challenging.
so --
>> are those barriers also -- let me ask this question as far as the barriers are concerned because that's a real good point.
especially when it comes to housing.
what is the latest barrier or disposition of the barrier that -- where a person has a -- a ex-offender want to actually buy a home and they are unable to because of the history of the criminal record?
is that still in place as far as some of the barriers that are being mentioned here today?
>> where that barrier comes into place for homeownership is in their credit repair.
that's where the challenge is.
>> that's where it is.
>> that's where it's at.
for instance, have they been ejected, have they not paid their utilities, are they in arrears with child support.
those are the kinds of barriers they have so it's kind of one of those slippery slopes.
once they start sliding, their ability to catch up is really where they start struggling.
so it's not that they just because they have a criminal background they don't qualify, it's that credit that comes into their ability to be able to link that up.
and there's a lot of things going on locally around credit repair and how to work with particularly people that are moving in this situation.
so there are some strategies in place around financial literacy to help them with budgeting.
>> because I had a discussion with a person that had a criminal background and he said one of the challenges that he had was actually trying to get an opportunity to purchase a home because of the criminal record.
so I really didn't know what the law really stated as far as that's concerned.
I'm glad that you brought that up because it brings some clarity to me as far as that -- as far as that's concerned.
>> one of the interesting factors in is is that we're seeing more and more persons of criminal backgrounds seeking homeownership because they can't rent anywhere, no one will lease to them because of their criminal background.
and homeownership is easier to obtain than lease someplace or rent someplace.
>> so it's rental also.
>> particularly in the private sector, as well as the public housing authority.
>> could you all also talk to us just a moment just for the benefit of the t.v.
audience because we're all sold on the evidence based practice of permanent supporting housing but someone hearing it cold might think what's the deal, something coming out of prison is going to get a permanent rental unit?
what's up with that.
>> it's geared, clear what the evidence is saying, we need to manage people based on housing stability.
that the more stable they are in housing, the more successful they are going to be.
so instead of housing being a piece of the component of success, what the research says is that if they are not stable in housing, none of these other things are going to fall into place.
so there is document evidence that if you manage the housing stability, not only are your stability rates going to go up, then everything else falls into place such as recidivism reduction, utilization of emergency health care, the reduction of cry his mental health care.
so you actually get into more cost avoidance by using this strategy.
we just completed a small (tudy of one client that we sentenced to the state jail that is severely persistently mentally ill over the last 15 years of his life.
and for the last ten years, we've been able to document his prison history and his Travis County jail history.
and his cost is astronomical.
to just those two systems. But what was really fascinating to us is two points is that he's been out of the system very few days in the last ten years.
he's just cycled so much in and out of the system.
the second thing that was really, you know, a piece of evidence that we talk a lot, this young man had never received a diagnosis in our community mental health system.
he had never been able to stay out long enough in the system to get under htcic care.
so our only place for diagnosis is our jail because that's where he actually spends his time.
so this last year he has actually cost Travis County and tdcj about $60,000 in the last year.
but if we put him into a permanent supportive housing unit, operating and support costs will be around 25,000.
so that's the thing that we're trying to do is to up with ways that would save money in the long run, but also give the housing stability for all the other successes.
he gets healthier physically and he gets healthier mentally and then these other things start playing, his ability to get a job goes up, his ability to make reconnections with families.
all of that comes up as well.
that's the kind of thing p.s.h.
is looking at is how do we manage the housing stability and take away the barriers such as chronic homelessness and/or the criminal history barrier.
>> thank you.
>> does that answer so far?
some of our key outcomes from those impacts was the Travis County sheriff's office and Austin police department, victim services division are now disseminating the child sensitive arrest guide for caregivers.
have you that in your packet and we'll talk a little bit more about it later.
but it's the picture of the child on the front.
the back has the sheriff.
so victims services passes this out when they actually get to a home where they are arresting a parent and there's a child present.
if you have the chance to look at it, it's really need because it tells that caregiver what to expect not only from the system and what's going to happen to the person arrested but also helps them with what to expect from that child and it's age appropriate.
so that was one of the key outcomes.
another key out come was caritas has -- the state jail, travis state jail.
the city of Austin comprehensive, I've already told you about this, strategy completed the recommendation that 225 of the 250 units be targeted toward frequent users assistance and that includes the criminal justice system.
and then finally, caritas of Austin in partnership with the downtown Austin alliance has a proposal now for 20 units of permanent supportive housing for frequent users of the downtown Austin community.
our policy committee did great things.
in your packet it frequently asks questions, it's an f aq on criminal justice planning.
actually they produced two faqs, one in collaboration with university of Texas and unit action network that was just general evidence based practices.
because the fact is we don't -- we can't just separate criminal justice issues and reentry issues anymore from the rest of the world.
when you have 95% of the people coming back to the community, it's part of education, part of substance abuse, part of family life.
evidence based practice is something at least federal dollars if you aren't using evidence based practice you aren't going to get federal dollars.
we decided we would go in with c.a.n.
and the university to do a generic faq.
what is evidence based practice no matter what your field is and, of course, we did a specific one to criminal justice itself.
>> also considering slightly more than one in 100 Travis County residents have been in the criminal justice system.
>> absolutely.
yeah.
not to mention the family members that are all associated with that one in 100.
our evidence based practice had several things besides this that they did and it's also in your packet.
our policy reform committee, this is in 2010 so it doesn't count this legislative session other than in preparation for this legislative session.
we formed our -- we formed a statewide coalition two years ago and hosted the statewide forum or seminar.
this year we assisted -- this last year we assisted bexar county.
we passed the baton over to them because it is statewide and we're wanting to go throughout the state so we provided technical assistance to bexar county so they could host this year's.
also policy reform did our issue papers and got ready for the legislative session coming up.
we set our policy agenda and had members on every committee of the Texas -- Texas reentry task force, which is newly formed task force for the entire state.
once again our support systems, we collaborated with the die cyst and did a scum projects.
one thing we did was hold children of incarcerated parents rights workshop and the arrest protocols, the brochures and some things for visitation out at the state jail all were part of that project.
and then our housing focus area, like I say, there's a highlight in there on that, but along with that we also did a study or analysis of private sector housing to see what -- what's private sector.
why are -- what's it going to take from the private sector to start leasing and renting to this population.
because what we found was when tdctj came out with vouchers, they still weren't able to find housing and apartments.
we collaborated with the university and went to the private sector to find out if you have housing vouchers, will that help, will that make you more open to accepting this population.
and pretty much the answer was no.
pretty much the answer was no, it's a matter of safety, it's not a matter of whether we're going to get tight or not.
so there's a real challenge to change that not in my backyard mentality and get the private sector to open up and realize it promotes public safety to -- for this population to be supported and have a second chance.
so that was one thing that the housing --
>> do we know what the percentage of the ones that are actually -- the once, the ex-offenders that are out in the public really needing housing but because of the attitude of the private sector rental persons in the community, do we know what the percentage is of those that are able to get around that barrier?
>> oh, able to get around it?
>> yes.
>> I can tell you those that are coming out of prisons or state jail, 33% of them have no place to go.
>> 33% have no place to go.
>> have no home to identify to.
of course, there's flat discharges, so they don't have -- they don't have parole to turn to or help the system in any way.
they are not on probation so they don't have any type of case management.
if it wasn't for crime prevention institute or programs like that, some of those guys would just be living couch to couch.
>> looking at 100 folks coming out, we're saying 33%?
>> uh-huh.
>> 33 out of those hundred.
that's very significant.
that's a third.
that's very significant.
that's a third.
and, of course, I guess then to look at those persons that do not get stabilized as far as housing is concerned, has there been any tracking mechanism to indicate if there is recidivism involved in not acquiring or being made whole?
>> one thing we know, every time that a person has to move, it increases their chance for recidivism by 25%.
>> 25% increase.
>> so joe blow comes out and has no place to go to begin with, or even if he has aunt judy's couch for two weeks and she says you can stay one month and one month later he's out to street, there's 25% increase he will do recidivism.
now he's on somebody's couch and a week later they kick him out and pretty soon he's out to street and is arrested.
or he leaves travis state jail and goes to the arc because he has no place to go.
it's like darla pointed out, the whole idea of the stability program, if you don't have an address, you can't get a job.
if you don't have a job, you don't have any chance of getting back on your feet.
>> even getting into workforce.
>> you need an address.
>> an address.
so it appears that a lot -- and I guess what can we do, and I really don't know what can we do to maybe assist they had major mental illness and they were homeless.
there was 814 of them.
they had taken up 54,000 jail bed days at a cost of over $3 million for 814 men.
so when you start looking at that kind of money and that's just one population.
and you are looking at that kind of money of homeless individuals, you can imagine what kind of money we're looking at these guys coming out of state jail, out of the walls unit and tcdj and our community court in and out and in and out.
the cost of them not getting stability, first housing stability, income stability right on up the line is costing taxpayers press amounts of money.
>> why don't we take a few minutes and discuss funding status and funding opportunities.
>> one of the main things we're doing again this year is looking at funding opportunities.
to say, okay, the city and county cannot bear the burden and need for reentry.
we've got to start reaching out and we've got to start being partners with one another instead of collaborators.
you heard me say the partners sitting side by side instead of collaborators sitting across the table and that's what it's going to take.
what the round table has begun doing, we're attracting solicitations as they come from the state and federal government as well as from foundations.
as soon as something comes out that is anywhere in the arena of could be construed in the arena of reentry, we send those out to the specific stakeholders that have an interest in that area.
we then offer to facilitate a meeting, a collaborating meeting to see if we can have levels of collaboration.
a lead applicant along with collaborating applicants along with supporting party.
in fact this afternoon I have a large one at the department of labor.
it's a 3 to 6 million dollars funding opportunity for our county for employment.
it's directed to noncustodial parents.
it's those funding opportunities we're looking for because you can't expect Travis County taxpayers to pay for all this and there's too much to be done.
so we track those solicitations, disseminate the information, we do a visual summary so somebody doesn't have to read that 32-page solicitation, they can look at the summary and see what the requirements are, who is eligible.
then we pull people together to see if we can't develop some partnerships there, and then we assist them by technical assistance and grant writing and reviewing.
our evidence based practice committee has a great team of both grant writers, freelance grant writers and
>> [indiscernible] department of justice, department of labor, department of health and human services, u.s.
department of health and human services that all pitch in and help write these grants and review them and get them ready.
so that's pretty much what 2009-2010 or f.y.
10 was like.
I would like to just briefly tell what you we're looking at and what we're in the process halfway through this year.
>> very briefly.
>> very briefly.
organizationally we've totally updated our bylaws.
we really have expanded our membership on committees and on the planning council.
we're disseminating newsletters.
we host a community forum in holding surveys and developing our annual reports.
very active in the 82nd legislature and I won't go through the specific things there.
evidence based practice has held two seminars that specifically start letting people understand what they need to have in their grants and in their programs to be considered evidence based.
both seminars we gave free ceus to get social workers and caseworkers out.
support assistance committee, we're expanding that.
they are in the process of developing their objectives for the next year and in having darla kind of brief you on what we're doing in housing, we are very active in echo, which is now a 5013-c.
there is a specific housing work group that darla -- darla and I are the two voting members in echo and she is pretty much leading the charge on the housing.
we're also tracking our funding opportunities as we did last year
>> [inaudible].
so actually in closing, as doors for opportunity open, design, plan and implement new strategies, the round table membership looks forward bringing the criminal and juvenile justice behavioral health, human service, education and stakeholders together to form partnerships that break the cycle of recidivism while making Austin-Travis County the place where all citizens can live, work and play safely.
I'm proud to be part of the county, proud that you all support news the way that do you, and please pick up the phone and fall any time you have a question or a need or want us to help with anything.
we're really going after the community being whole and being together because we've got some real budget problems facing us both federal and statewide and we've got to do it as a team.
>> thank you so much.
>> thank you.
>> court members questions, comments?
>> last question, judge.
, for me.
can you tell me possibly when you will actually -- at least tell me the status of submitting the necessary grants through those federal departments, dol, doj and those folks to see if there is possible grant moneys that may be filtered down from the federal government to the local level so it will take some of the expense burden -- challenges, I wouldn't say burden, but challenges to the Travis County taxpayers.
>> there's typically two cycles, the spring cycle and a fall cycle.
and we start tracking these last year, we've been tracking them all along and holding these forums, bringing people together.
right now we're right in the middle of the spring cycle.
we've had just in the last three, two to three weeks we've had two consensus building meetings.
good will is filing for a large mentoring grant through the department of justice.
it's a second chance grant.
and this afternoon we're meeting on the department of labor grant for employment.
those are happening weekly, literally.
I send out emails and invitations and visual summaries of these things every week.
I would be more than glad to forward that to the court so that if y'all want to look at what's going on.
>> I would appreciate it.
thank you.
>> anything else, court members?
you are working with the community justice council, right?
>> yes.
>> okay.
thank you very much for the informal and informative presentation.
>> thank you so much.
>> thank you.
>> thank you very much.
>> looking forward to working with you in the future.
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