ARPA - Investing in Equity in Sonoma County

Greetings!

Millions of dollars from Congress has been allocated to cities and counties across America in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).  The American Rescue Act of 2021 (H.R. 1319) states its purpose as "to address the continued impact of COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) on the economy, public health, state and local governments, individuals, and businesses."  The County of Sonoma has chosen to implement this legislation to achieve the following mission:

"That the needs of disproportionally impacted low income communities and communities of color are addressed through the equitable distribution of American Rescue Act Funds"

Next Tuesday, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors will receive and take action to direct its staff to begin the implementation of the distribution of the remaining $76 million of its allocation.  

Today, the results of two months of work to provide the Board with recommendations on its use, is being released for public review prior to the discussion at 10:45am on Tuesday (Agenda Item #36).

I have served for much of that time on a Board-appointed 15-member community ARPA Working Group, staffed by three County department directors, to provide recommendations from the community.  The report being delivered to the Board additionally contains recommendations from the business community, and the Board has previously heard from its own departments how they want the money spent.

The ARPA Work Group has worked to review the available data and to conduct a root cause analysis of the disproportionate outcomes for communities of color, in order to reach recommendations that address the root causes and to facilitate consensus in the recommendations. A sampling of those initial or preliminary recommendations include:

Technical Assistance: including 

• providing technical assistance to small, BIPOC led or focused non‐profits or other informal community based organizations in disproportionately-impacted areas to increase capacity and connectivity to County funding; 
• providing targeted support to BIPOC‐owned businesses to assist with connection to resources and enhanced compliance; 
• incentivizing older, established nonprofits to work with and in support of smaller, informal, and culturally responsive community based organizations; 
• providing or supporting leadership training in underrepresented or underserved communities

Targeted Resource Allocation: including 

• keeping smaller, BIPOC‐led or focused community groups funded during non‐emergent times to ensure surge capacity during disasters; 
• resourcing area‐specific organic community‐led efforts (like Comida Para Todos, etc.);
• resourcing community organizations who provide wraparound or holistic support to clients/patients or who engage in deep collaboration with partners to ensure no one falls through the cracks. 

Investments in Internal and External County Infrastructure: including 

• creating community hubs for smaller and informal community efforts (like Roseland CBI, Just Recovery Promotora Partnership, e.g.); 
• increasing cultural responsiveness of County staff by recruiting, hiring, and promoting bilingual, bicultural and Black, Indigenous, People of Color; 
• developing, implementing, and training County departments and community partners on humanizing demographic data collection, analysis, tracking, and performance measurements; 
• increasing accountability mechanisms for creating a community engagement plan at the County of Sonoma; 
• including community engagement responsibilities in relevant County job descriptions; 
• increased and targeted outreach efforts to community based organizations when a new Request for Proposals is released).

The ARPA Equity Work Group will meet again to continue its work to refine and organize their recommendations, as well as to create performance metrics to ensure accountability to disproportionately impacted communities of color. Those refined recommendations and performance metrics will come back for final approval at the next update to this process at the December 14, 2021 Board meeting.

Where to Start

• The County Health Services Division (HSD) has a database of those who contracted the Corona Virus.  The HSD has a database of those who applied for rent relief, and were denied because federal program regulations would not allow repayment of the loans they took out to continue their rent payments.  Integrate the two databases, and award rent relief payments to those impacted by the Virus to repay the loans ($2 million) to maintain their housing.
• Integrate the HSD Virus database, and the Sonoma County Housing Authority Housing Choice database, and award eighteen-month housing vouchers to all those on both lists.
• Using the HSD Virus database, identify those whose employment was terminated, and initiate a small business payroll grant program to support their employment for up to six months.
• Using the HSD Virus database, and the Sonoma County Medi-Cal database, authorize Medi-Cal for not currently-enrolled.
• Authorize mental health appointments and medication coverage for all current residents of homeless shelters, transitional housing programs, and supportive permanent housing for up to three years.
• Expand all current efforts to enlarge the system of child care in the County, including recruitment, hiring, and retention of staff and the development and operation of child care centers and day care homes.
• Provide universal health care coverage for all those not covered fully by employers.
• Expand addiction services and facilities to meet the needs.
• Develop a system which expands and integrates the public and private food programs serving those in need.
• Expand transit and para-transit systems in the County, and eliminate fares.
• Provide facilities throughout the County which can be used by community groups and organizations to develop and operate services delivered using public and private resources.
• Broaden the use of school facilities by the general community.  Insure the school board and all employees against any liability, and fully-fund any program using the premises.
• Institute training and subsidized employment programs for those seeking to become  service employees in public and private nonprofits organizations. 
• Raise the minimum wage to more effectively fund a living wage.
• Expand the capabilities of the Sonoma County Superior Court to assist in the reduction or elimination of all outstanding citation fines constituting barriers to housing and employment.
• Provide birth certificates to all those without theirs.
• Provide certificates of identification to those wanting one at no cost.
• Register the automobiles for those eligible for Medi-Cal at no cost.
• Provide library cards to everyone, and free entry to all parks.