[0:04] Afternoon and welcome to the

[0:06] JUNE 10th meeting of the

[0:07] Regional Policy Committee. To

[0:08] manage today

[0:08] s meeting, I

[0:08] d

[0:10] like to ask only the committee

[0:12] members and the scheduled

[0:14] presenters. Join us on the zoom

[0:15] platform. We

[0:15] ll start the

[0:16] meeting by having the clerk

[0:26] call the roll. Angelica.

[0:31] Angelica, can you hear me?

[0:33] Sorry. Can I. Am now working?

[0:35] Can you hear me?

[0:37] Now we can.

[0:40] Okay. Council Member Arnold.

[0:43] MAY your back is. Here. MAY

[0:50] your pallone. Council member

[0:53] Robinson. MAY your round.

[1:06] Here.

[1:10] Angelica.

[1:11] Chair von Reichbauer. I can

[1:13] take over for Angelica.

[1:14] I think you should.

[1:16] Yes. Thank you. Uh, Mayor

[1:19] Rebello. Council member.

[1:22] Juarez. Council member. Lynn.

[1:25] Council member. Foster. Council

[1:28] member rank. Councilmember

[1:29] Baron.

[1:30] Here.

[1:34] Councilmember. Perry. Chair.

[1:35] Von Reichbauer.

[1:37] Here. Well, I want to thank

[1:38] you, everyone, for attending

[1:39] today

[1:40] s regional policy

[1:41] Committee. We have a short

[1:42] agenda today that includes a

[1:44] briefing from the executive

[1:45] staff on the implementation

[1:47] status of the King County Youth

[1:48] Diversion and Intervention

[1:49] Program. We

[1:50] ve made today

[1:50] s

[1:52] meeting shorter than usual, so

[1:54] that many of you can attend the

[1:57] state of the County address of

[1:58] the county executive.

[1:59] Do you need me to do the roll

[2:00] call?

[2:00] We

[2:01] re fine. We

[2:02] re fine. Thank

[2:05] you. And, uh, and we

[2:05] re going

[2:07] to have an opportunity tonight

[2:09] to have the county executive

[2:11] give a address in South King

[2:13] County at the Performance Arts

[2:15] Center. At this time. Going to

[2:16] our today

[2:16] s briefing, we

[2:17] re

[2:18] joined by Jen Tanaka and

[2:20] Jennifer Hill, who are the

[2:22] acting director and acting

[2:24] deputy director, respectively,

[2:26] of dcfs children, youth and

[2:28] Young Adults Division. Acting

[2:29] director Tanaka and Acting

[2:31] Director Hill are going to

[2:32] provide the committee with an

[2:34] update on the implementation

[2:35] status of the King County Youth

[2:37] Diversion and Intervention

[2:38] Program. Thank you both for

[2:42] being here. Go ahead and begin.

[2:44] Thank you. Chair. Uh, and

[2:45] thanks for the invitation and

[2:47] the opportunity to present to

[2:50] the committee. Um, as

[2:52] requested, we are here to give

[2:54] a brief overview and leave time

[2:56] for questions on the King

[2:57] County Youth Diversion and

[2:59] Intervention Program. And my

[3:01] colleague Jennifer, um, we

[3:01] re

[3:03] both named Jennifer. I go by

[3:04] Jen. She goes by Jennifer. Just

[3:04] because we

[3:05] re often in the same

[3:06] meetings, and it makes it a

[3:07] little easier. But if you call

[3:08] either one of us those, uh, we

[3:11] will respond. Um, so we thought

[3:13] we would just give a brief

[3:16] overview. Um, as background,

[3:18] you MAY recall and MAY be aware

[3:21] that in 2020, the King County

[3:22] Department of Public Defense

[3:24] and the prosecutor, prosecuting

[3:24] Attorney

[3:26] s office proposed,

[3:27] together with community

[3:28] organizations, Restorative

[3:30] Community Pathways in 2020. Um,

[3:31] this was added to the King

[3:36] County budget in 2021. The 2122

[3:39] budget and through an rfp

[3:41] process and implementation

[3:43] planning services were launched

[3:47] in NOVEMBER of 2021. Um, and

[3:48] this is a community based

[3:50] diversion program that really

[3:53] looked to work with young

[3:55] people under the age of 18 who

[3:57] were referred from the

[3:59] prosecuting attorney

[4:00] s office

[4:02] to the program and to have a

[4:04] community navigators and

[4:05] community organizations which

[4:06] worked directly with those

[4:07] referred youth and what was new

[4:08] to the program at the time,

[4:09] also was serving community

[4:12] members who experienced harm.

[4:15] And um, and so that was new to

[4:17] previous diversion initiatives

[4:18] as well. So there are just some

[4:20] of the core services which are

[4:22] provided in the program as, as

[4:24] background and then bringing

[4:27] you up to speed in 2025. Um,

[4:28] um, sorry. Can you go back one

[4:31] more slide, Jennifer. Um, so as

[4:32] the program was running, we

[4:33] ve

[4:35] given a number of reports to

[4:36] council. Um, I don

[4:36] t think

[4:36] we

[4:37] ve actually presented here,

[4:39] if I recall correctly, but a

[4:40] number of of reports and

[4:42] updates on the data. But in

[4:44] 2025, the King County Executive

[4:45] actually put forth changes as

[4:48] part of the budget process. Um,

[4:50] to and renaming and re

[4:52] relaunching the program as the

[4:53] King County Youth Diversion and

[4:54] Intervention Program. So that

[4:54] s

[4:55] that

[4:56] s the context where we are

[4:57] now as part of the budget

[4:59] process at the end of the year.

[5:02] And in APRIL earlier this year,

[5:04] we have with the executive

[5:07] transmitted a report which sort

[5:08] of talks about that, the

[5:10] transition plan as well as the

[5:11] design and the future King

[5:13] County, um, Youth Diversion and

[5:14] Intervention program. So that

[5:16] has not yet been heard and

[5:17] discussed in council, but

[5:18] you

[5:19] re getting a preview here

[5:21] as well as this ongoing

[5:22] process, um, with the council.

[5:23] So it

[5:23] s a great opportunity to

[5:25] kind of get insights into it

[5:26] and happy to answer any

[5:29] questions. And then just to

[5:30] kind of recap what we

[5:30] re

[5:33] looking at as part of our

[5:34] restorative community pathways.

[5:38] Um, a total of 522 young people

[5:41] have been served, 290 and um,

[5:46] in 2025 exited um, and of those,

[5:51] 223 or 77% completed rcp

[5:53] programming. So this is just

[5:54] some of the data which we have

[5:56] reported on over the years. And

[5:57] remember, we

[5:57] re looking at the

[5:58] young people being served,

[6:00] referred from the prosecuting

[6:00] attorney

[6:01] s office, as well as

[6:02] community members who

[6:05] experienced harm. And the data

[6:06] there looks at the number of

[6:07] students who have exited, those

[6:07] who

[6:08] ve completed the

[6:10] programming. So still, one

[6:11] thing I do like to remind folks

[6:13] is that these are youth. So

[6:15] under the age of 18, um, who

[6:18] are in a in an incident and an

[6:20] alleged incident, misdemeanors.

[6:22] And so the average age of the

[6:23] young people being served is,

[6:27] is, is currently 15 or 15.5.

[6:29] And if we look at the community

[6:29] members who

[6:30] ve experienced

[6:31] harm, right. So those get

[6:32] referred together to the

[6:34] program and someone reaches out

[6:37] and looks at an accountability

[6:38] or a restorative justice

[6:40] process, or whether or not that

[6:42] individual needs services and

[6:44] supports and the average age of

[6:45] those community members is

[6:51] 18.8. Um, this is just a little

[6:53] bit on the, um, program.

[6:55] Participants in their

[6:58] geographic distribution list,

[7:00] that being our top five zip

[7:02] codes served in Auburn, Federal

[7:04] Way in Kent. Um, but you see,

[7:08] we have, um, participants

[7:09] ranging from shoreline past

[7:11] North Bend, Vashon Island and

[7:16] to green water. Okay, so, um,

[7:18] what is the King County? That

[7:18] s

[7:19] sort of the background. Just to

[7:21] understand that as we are

[7:22] currently right now in the

[7:24] process of transitioning from

[7:25] restoring community pathways to

[7:26] the King County Youth Diversion

[7:28] and Intervention Program, um,

[7:30] there are some elements that

[7:33] still remain the same in the

[7:35] sense of this being a pre

[7:37] filing, community based

[7:38] diversion program for youth

[7:42] under the age of 18 referred

[7:44] from law enforcement to the

[7:45] prosecuting attorney

[7:45] s office

[7:47] and then to the program. Um,

[7:48] and these young people have

[7:51] alleged misdemeanors. So as a

[7:53] community based diversion

[7:55] initiative or program, we

[7:55] re

[7:56] working with contracted

[7:59] community organizations that

[8:00] will be working, that will

[8:01] providing support to those

[8:03] young people that referred um

[8:05] or and family members, as well

[8:07] as any community member who

[8:08] experienced harm in the

[8:10] incident and responding to

[8:13] their needs. Um, as well as,

[8:15] um, sorry, just have something

[8:17] dinging here. Uh, responding to

[8:17] the community members to

[8:19] respond to the to the needs of

[8:20] both the youth and the

[8:21] community members who

[8:24] experienced harm. And then just

[8:26] briefly or an overview, you

[8:28] know, the long term, the long

[8:31] term is really how do we, um,

[8:33] how do we and what we have to

[8:34] learn is how do we intervene

[8:35] early on? Young people who have

[8:36] been identified through an

[8:38] incident referral through the

[8:39] prosecuting attorney

[8:41] s office.

[8:44] Um, um, to identify, to provide

[8:45] that support, to provide an

[8:48] opportunity for meaningful, non

[8:49] punitive accountability for the

[8:51] alleged misdemeanor, and also

[8:52] connect to needed services.

[8:52] We

[8:54] ve had a lot of data and

[8:55] evaluation report that talked

[8:58] about the key role of basic

[9:00] needs for many of the young

[9:02] people, housing security or

[9:04] housing stability. Clothes,

[9:05] food, connection to behavioral

[9:06] behavioral health services. So

[9:08] a lot of what that navigator

[9:09] does is understand is this

[9:11] young person in crisis and

[9:11] what

[9:12] s the level of their

[9:13] needs. Um, and so and those

[9:14] vary depending on the

[9:18] individual being referred. I

[9:22] think we can move on. Um, so as

[9:25] laid out in our plan, um, what

[9:28] changes with the King County

[9:28] youth Diversion and

[9:30] Intervention program? One of

[9:31] the biggest changes that we

[9:31] re

[9:33] making is we have the role of

[9:35] the referral administrator and

[9:37] the consortium coordination

[9:38] used to sit in a community

[9:40] organization. So the pa would

[9:41] refer directly to a referral

[9:42] administrator who sat in a

[9:43] community organization. We

[9:44] ve

[9:45] actually brought that in-house

[9:46] to dhs. S and I

[9:46] ll talk a

[9:48] little bit about that later.

[9:50] But that way. So we are working

[9:52] directly with the prosecuting

[9:52] attorney

[9:54] s office. Um, and they

[9:57] will refer that case or that

[9:59] that young person and the

[10:00] associated community member

[10:00] who

[10:02] s experienced hard to dhs.

[10:03] And we

[10:04] ve sort of been we

[10:05] ve

[10:06] changed up a little bit. The

[10:07] triaging that happens at that

[10:09] referral administration before,

[10:11] uh, that understanding, that

[10:12] case, contacting that young

[10:14] person and then referring them

[10:16] to the community organization

[10:17] which best meets their needs,

[10:19] that could be geographic, uh,

[10:21] cultural or, um, or other in

[10:22] terms of their, their

[10:23] programming that can really

[10:25] best serve that young person.

[10:28] Uh, we are launching a new rfp

[10:30] to re procure the community

[10:32] based services. So this looks

[10:33] at new organizations will be

[10:36] applying to this, um, to

[10:38] provide services within case

[10:42] id, um, and within that rfp, we

[10:45] have outlined enhanced data

[10:46] collection, which we

[10:46] re

[10:49] planning for this the launch of

[10:51] of Cassidy, especially around

[10:53] school and and education

[10:55] engagement. Um, a lot of the

[10:58] cases, um, or incidents that

[11:00] are coming to us, those

[11:01] misdemeanors of of the of these

[11:05] children and youth are, um,

[11:07] originating from schools can

[11:08] think of it as maybe a school

[11:11] fight. Um, and that and so, um,

[11:13] at this age especially. Right,

[11:13] they

[11:14] re all under 18. They

[11:15] should all be in school. It was

[11:17] like where, uh, we

[11:17] re going to

[11:19] do more. Also, understanding

[11:22] the, um, the, the status of

[11:23] their school, what support they

[11:25] might need to get back in

[11:26] school or find alternative

[11:29] education pathways. Um, but

[11:30] just staying engaged in

[11:32] education. Um, among other

[11:33] things, which I will be

[11:34] presenting on later. Um, as

[11:37] well, we believe that having a

[11:41] closer role in managing, uh,

[11:44] the triaging and administration

[11:46] referral process that will also

[11:47] allow us to make faster

[11:50] connections within dhs services

[11:51] and county services so that we

[11:53] can, um, bridge a little bit

[11:55] the the services and

[11:56] connections and partners that

[11:58] we hold within dhs to actually

[12:00] meet the needs of the young

[12:02] people. Um, and community

[12:03] members being referred to the

[12:05] program. Um, we

[12:06] re adding a

[12:07] school liaison position to

[12:10] support, um, to really add

[12:12] support to work with community

[12:15] partners, work with youth to,

[12:17] to focus on, uh, getting back

[12:18] into school, staying in school

[12:20] and being successful in school.

[12:23] So that adds that capacity. Um,

[12:25] previously, the Youth and

[12:27] Family Fund, which is you can

[12:27] look at that as sort of the

[12:30] basic needs fund to provide

[12:31] support was, was, um,

[12:33] centralized. And then it was

[12:34] coordinated within that. We

[12:35] were just decentralizing that

[12:36] and including that within the

[12:38] contracts of each of the future

[12:40] partners, as well as the youth

[12:41] steering committee. If you knew

[12:43] about the program before, um,

[12:45] went, um, which operated for a

[12:46] little bit during the beginning

[12:47] of the program, but really

[12:47] wasn

[12:48] t operating by middle and

[12:51] the end of of our cp in the in

[12:53] the previous years. We do

[12:54] believe in the importance of

[12:56] youth agency as a, as a good

[12:58] practice. Um, and see that as a

[13:00] role for um informing

[13:02] continuous quality improvement

[13:05] in the programming. All right.

[13:08] So the rcp, uh, the I mean, so

[13:10] the rfp, the request for

[13:12] proposals is, uh, is still

[13:14] live. Uh, we really encourage

[13:16] you to share this with your

[13:18] constituents and partner

[13:20] organizations in your areas.

[13:22] Um, a application is still open

[13:25] until JULY 15th. Um, at 2 P.M..

[13:28] Um, the. And this is, um, this

[13:31] process right now. So, um, as

[13:32] sort of again, we

[13:33] ve brought in

[13:34] sort of, sort of some of that

[13:37] referral administration and

[13:38] other team members to hold part

[13:41] of the work now in dhs. We have

[13:43] launched the rfp to identify

[13:44] the partners and confirm the

[13:46] partners for Cassidy going

[13:48] forward. We will have this

[13:49] transition and working closely

[13:51] with organizations that don

[13:51] t

[13:52] continue to provide the

[13:54] continuity of care this year as

[13:56] we work towards the final

[13:57] selection and the contracting

[13:59] process and the actual full

[14:01] transition to Cassidy, by the

[14:07] beginning of 2027. Uh, just

[14:08] really I think this might come

[14:10] from the presentation to to

[14:12] potential applicants. Again,

[14:14] the rfp focus is really looking

[14:15] at those organizations which

[14:17] can provide that navigation,

[14:19] that support the programming

[14:20] for the youth referred and

[14:24] their families. Um, and so

[14:25] again, if you look, if we think

[14:27] about this program, you have an

[14:27] we

[14:28] re having an incident that

[14:28] s

[14:29] happening somewhere in school

[14:32] or elsewhere. It, um, lands

[14:33] with the police. The police,

[14:34] since the prosecuting

[14:34] attorney

[14:36] s office. Um, and then

[14:37] they, at their discretion, will

[14:40] be referring, um, relevant and

[14:45] eligible youth to the program.

[14:47] Again, core services are just

[14:49] sort of listed out here. Um,

[14:54] these are all also, um, um, we

[14:55] had an evaluation of the

[14:57] program and see a lot of these

[15:00] aspects around basic needs. The

[15:02] importance of, um, conflict

[15:04] resolution and accountability,

[15:05] the importance of education and

[15:07] those support services. I want

[15:08] to say peer connection,

[15:09] mentorship. If you think of a

[15:10] young person in your life who

[15:13] might be 12, 13, 14, 16 years

[15:15] old and those peer connections

[15:17] and those positive, um,

[15:18] learning and safe, safe spaces,

[15:21] safe spaces are all part of of

[15:23] the programming which have, um,

[15:26] contributed to, um, both

[15:28] positive outcomes for those

[15:29] young people in their own youth

[15:32] development, um, as well as

[15:33] contributing factors towards

[15:35] prevention and longer term

[15:36] legal system involvement. And

[15:38] so these are the core services

[15:39] which are part of the rfp,

[15:40] which the organizations would

[15:46] be providing. And then we have,

[15:49] um, also explicitly stated

[15:52] within the rfp, the intended

[15:55] reporting, uh, data and

[15:57] outcomes. And so here we just

[15:59] look at, uh, really

[16:00] understanding numbers of youth

[16:02] served. Right. Caseload. Some

[16:04] of the, um, demographics which

[16:05] we often collect. And then

[16:06] we

[16:06] re, we

[16:10] re, um. Um,

[16:12] completion status. And when we

[16:13] talked about program completion

[16:14] earlier, we look at, you know,

[16:16] really having the data on did

[16:17] they complete partially

[16:18] complete withdrawal or

[16:20] terminated and why? Um, to

[16:21] understand their programming

[16:24] level of programming engagement.

[16:30] Here we have other thing, other

[16:33] aspects around, um, and this

[16:34] helps us understand, you know,

[16:36] what are the services that that

[16:38] are being provided? We do. We

[16:38] didn

[16:39] t collect this at such a

[16:40] deep level, but it was really

[16:42] important for us to understand.

[16:44] We know, you know, I think it

[16:45] was I don

[16:45] t know, I

[16:46] ll have to

[16:47] get the exact exact data, but

[16:50] it was very high percentages of

[16:52] young people in the program

[16:54] needed basic needs, aspects of

[16:56] basic needs. But I think that

[16:57] this, um, in our intention is

[16:59] really understanding what are

[17:00] the needs and what are the

[17:01] services being accessed by the

[17:04] young people in the program?

[17:06] Um, the navigator will work

[17:06] with a young person, and I

[17:07] think, you know, that might

[17:09] that will differ. If the person

[17:11] is 17. Right. Getting ready to

[17:12] to hopefully graduate from high

[17:13] school or if or if the young

[17:15] person is 12, their action

[17:16] plans might look differently.

[17:18] Their discussion around

[17:19] consequences or accountability

[17:20] might look differently at

[17:22] different and their needs. But

[17:22] that

[17:23] s really the

[17:24] individualized sort of

[17:26] wraparound support that that we

[17:28] seek to provide with our

[17:30] partners. Um, this but

[17:32] understanding really, um, the

[17:33] services also helps us

[17:35] understand the situation that

[17:37] these young people are in and

[17:40] why often, um, often some of

[17:41] the reasons why they

[17:42] re in this

[17:43] program to begin with. And

[17:44] that

[17:44] s sort of part of

[17:47] understanding cause is not

[17:49] just, um, not just the impacts,

[17:50] but actually some of the causes

[17:52] of, of, of behaviors that which

[17:53] MAY lead to being referred to,

[17:59] to this program. Um, I think we

[18:02] want to look so here we look at

[18:03] the outcomes of sort of the

[18:04] immediate outcomes and longer

[18:08] term outcomes around, um, lower

[18:09] rates of referral. Many of

[18:10] these will be collecting

[18:12] ourselves, others, our

[18:13] continued work in partnership

[18:14] with the prosecuting attorney

[18:14] s

[18:16] office and other relevant

[18:17] institutions longer. But

[18:20] really, uh, looking at

[18:21] referrals, looking at school

[18:22] engagement as a big indicator

[18:25] for young people under the age

[18:28] of 18, um, as well as some of

[18:30] the longer term outcomes. I

[18:32] think this is important. And we

[18:34] included this in the rfp that,

[18:34] you know, this isn

[18:35] t just about

[18:37] the shorter term incomes, but

[18:38] really we want to look at this

[18:43] as part of our our approach to,

[18:47] um, to reducing, identifying,

[18:50] um, supporting and reducing,

[18:52] um, future legal system

[18:53] involvement of these young

[18:54] people. And I think of many of

[18:57] the programs that we do is this

[18:58] is a way for us. I kind of look

[19:01] at it as an early

[19:03] identification or early

[19:05] detection. Is this a young

[19:07] person in crisis? If you

[19:07] re at

[19:09] the age of 12 or 13, being

[19:11] referred to by law enforcement,

[19:13] to the prosecuting attorney

[19:13] s

[19:15] office, and are their root

[19:17] causes of homelessness,

[19:20] poverty, mental health needs,

[19:21] behavioral, you know, mental

[19:23] and behavioral health needs.

[19:26] Um, that we can provide the

[19:27] support to, to support that

[19:31] young person, um, to, uh, to

[19:33] overcome barriers, to be

[19:35] successful in school and to

[19:37] hopefully, um, not be involved

[19:39] in, in the legal system in the

[19:44] future. Uh, a little bit of our

[19:45] team. So Jennifer Hill is the

[19:47] one running the slide deck for

[19:47] me. And Jennifer has been

[19:49] working in County for decades,

[19:51] and in our education and

[19:53] employment resource team within

[19:55] dhs, so brings a wealth of

[19:56] knowledge and connection. And

[19:57] working with especially

[19:59] opportunity youth who have been

[20:00] out of school and out of work

[20:03] in 16 to 24, but not only, um,

[20:06] of the slide, um, um, Claudia,

[20:07] I just want to point out Jen

[20:09] has been with us with rcp, so

[20:09] she

[20:10] s transitioning and has

[20:13] been, um, um, understanding and

[20:14] and managing the program, um,

[20:16] since the beginning, almost.

[20:18] Um. Um, Claudia, we

[20:18] re really

[20:20] excited. Is our new referral

[20:22] administrator, uh, really

[20:23] excited to have her on board.

[20:24] Um, it

[20:28] s part of our 2627

[20:29] budget to sort of staff up our

[20:31] team. And she brings excellent

[20:33] experience working with, um,

[20:34] youth with legal system

[20:35] involvement in restorative

[20:37] justice and facilitation. And

[20:39] so she is able to have

[20:41] conversations. Um, you know,

[20:44] before referring and with young

[20:45] people and families. And so

[20:45] we

[20:47] re really, really excited to

[20:48] have her on the team. Um,

[20:49] Sumeet is also very, very new

[20:51] within our team. And that that

[20:53] adds contract manager is the

[20:55] importance of our, um, our work

[20:57] managing effectively the

[21:00] contracts. Um, and including,

[21:03] um, reporting. Um, and so that

[21:04] Ian and Sumeet together can

[21:05] support some of the

[21:07] coordination role that we

[21:07] re

[21:11] taking on in case. And then

[21:12] just briefly, I want to also

[21:13] take the opportunity to shout

[21:16] out, um, Leah and Vanessa from

[21:18] our evaluation team within dhs.

[21:20] Leah has been doing the job,

[21:22] um, during rcp as other duties

[21:24] as assigned. I don

[21:24] t know, we

[21:25] might all have that in our job

[21:27] description. Um, and so part of

[21:29] our efforts to actually bring

[21:31] on a full time senior

[21:33] evaluator, um, with Vanessa. So

[21:33] we

[21:34] re sort of going through

[21:35] some transition right now. Leah

[21:37] has done a fantastic job. Um,

[21:39] along with what has not been

[21:40] the focus of her work, but it

[21:40] s

[21:42] been a lot of her time. Um, and

[21:43] so we

[21:45] re very excited that, um,

[21:46] Doctor Vanessa also comes to

[21:48] our team bringing very

[21:50] practical experience in mixed

[21:52] methods evaluation, uh,

[21:54] restorative justice youth. And

[21:55] so we feel really, really

[21:57] excited about the opportunity

[21:59] to continue to, um, learn and

[22:02] refine and and improve. Um,

[22:04] Cassidy, as we, as we work with

[22:06] this and then, um, some of our

[22:07] other team members. Um, Shelby

[22:09] oversees our, our evaluation

[22:10] for the entire children, youth

[22:11] and young adults division. Um,

[22:13] and we have our support in the

[22:19] rfp process. Nikki. And that

[22:21] was all I had for the

[22:22] presentation.

[22:23] Jen, thank you very much.

[22:25] Before we take questions, I

[22:27] want to make sure Angelica

[22:29] noticed that, uh, Mayor Pavone

[22:30] and Councilmember Robinson have

[22:31] joined us.

[22:32] Thank you. Yeah, I do have

[22:34] them. Thank you.

[22:34] Thank you very much. Thanks for

[22:36] Angelica. And thank you for

[22:37] your presentation and for

[22:39] introducing your staff and the

[22:40] the team you have built around

[22:42] you. I know my colleagues pay a

[22:43] lot of attention to this issue.

[22:46] Uh uh, my, uh, George Barron

[22:48] has been a leader in the

[22:49] private sector. And on this

[22:51] issue as well. Uh, any

[22:52] questions from my colleagues at

[22:55] this time? Just feel free to

[22:57] speak up or raise your hand.

[22:57] I

[23:04] ll try to catch it. Okay. I

[23:07] think your report was all

[23:07] right.

[23:10] MR. Chair, you MAY not be able

[23:12] to see it on the screen, but,

[23:14] uh, Council Arnold and

[23:16] Councilmember Baron also have

[23:18] their hand up. In addition to

[23:18] me.

[23:19] I could not see it. Thank you

[23:21] for asking. Uh. Thank you. Do

[23:22] you want to speak first?

[23:25] Thank you, MR. Chair. And, Jen,

[23:28] thank you for the presentation.

[23:30] And thank you for the

[23:32] thoughtful ways that, uh, there

[23:36] have been some changes being

[23:38] reflected in this. I do have a

[23:41] few questions, though. Um,

[23:42] Mister chair, do you mind if I

[23:43] ask them all, or do you want me

[23:45] to ask one? Okay. Thank you. So

[23:48] the first one on your 2025

[23:49] total youth and community

[23:53] members served, 522. Youth

[23:57] served 290. Exited services. So

[24:00] that leaves 232. Should we

[24:02] assume that they are still

[24:04] receiving services or we don

[24:04] t

[24:07] have status for them?

[24:10] Yep. Um, they you can assume

[24:10] that they

[24:11] re still receiving

[24:13] receiving services. The average

[24:16] time of service is nine months.

[24:20] Okay. And so could that also

[24:22] include some? Because I know

[24:25] before if there were some youth

[24:28] that had kind of fallen through

[24:30] the cracks at one of the

[24:31] organizations and the

[24:32] prosecutor

[24:33] s office wasn

[24:33] t

[24:35] following because they had

[24:38] referred them to one of the,

[24:42] uh, one of the community

[24:45] organizations. There was no

[24:47] there was no idea, really, of

[24:49] what had occurred, what was

[24:50] what the status were of some of

[24:52] the young people. So I

[24:52] m just

[24:54] wanting to make sure that

[24:58] moving forward, we know what

[24:59] the status is of those youth.

[25:01] Like. Has it been six months

[25:04] since a check in? Um, are we

[25:05] trying to get back in touch

[25:06] with them? Because I think

[25:06] that

[25:08] s critical, obviously, to

[25:11] the success. So wanting to

[25:18] point that out. Um, also. So

[25:22] with the rfp and I, I

[25:24] appreciate that as well. But

[25:26] given that I have two of the

[25:30] most impacted zip codes, has

[25:33] there been any end and all five

[25:34] of them are in South King

[25:37] County? Has there been any

[25:40] outreach to South King County?

[25:45] Uh, for this rfp or to work

[25:48] with us to ensure the success

[25:53] moving forward?

[25:54] Jennifer, do you want to speak

[25:57] a little bit to the outreach?

[26:01] Yeah. So we have been sharing

[26:04] the rfp with as many community

[26:06] providers and community

[26:08] organizations that we can get

[26:10] in front of, including the

[26:12] South King County Council. Um,

[26:14] Alliance for Human Services.

[26:17] Um, and making sure I mean, we

[26:18] would love for you all to also

[26:20] share that with any providers

[26:22] that you have. Um, we

[26:23] re doing

[26:26] a bitters conference tomorrow,

[26:28] and have still a month left

[26:30] before the rfp is due. So want

[26:32] to just make sure that that is

[26:34] out in the community as much as

[26:35] possible?

[26:37] Yes. And mayor Mayor Baucus, we

[26:39] would welcome any, any venue or

[26:41] any additional outreach that we

[26:42] can do together with you. We

[26:44] would absolutely welcome that.

[26:46] That was really my point is.

[26:47] Where we

[26:47] re we

[26:48] re happy to do

[26:48] that.

[26:50] There has been, to the best of

[26:51] my knowledge, there has been no

[26:54] outreach to government, to

[26:58] government in this. Um, my

[26:59] fellow mayors, Mayor Pavone,

[27:02] Mayor Ralph and Mayor Farrell,

[27:04] um, three of three of us are on

[27:06] our pc. Uh, Mayor Farrell is

[27:09] not. But, uh, as you

[27:09] re

[27:10] probably aware, we were very

[27:13] vocal when we first started.

[27:15] Uh, and very critical. I don

[27:15] t

[27:17] want to be critical. I want to

[27:19] be able to shout the successes

[27:22] of this program from the roof

[27:25] of of of City Hall and be able

[27:29] to celebrate them. I just don

[27:29] t

[27:30] want us to get off on the wrong

[27:34] foot. Uh, of not having open

[27:38] communication. So I would think

[27:40] that there would be there would

[27:43] have been or could be outreach

[27:43] to the mayor

[27:44] s in South King

[27:45] County, since we are the most

[27:49] impacted zip codes. And then.

[27:52] I hear you, I hear you, and I,

[27:53] I look forward to connecting

[27:54] after this meeting.

[27:56] Great. Thank you. And then just

[27:59] wanting to make sure

[28:01] accountability as, uh, as we

[28:04] have stated in the past, is

[28:07] critical to this. Um, and there

[28:09] were concerns in the past about

[28:11] not knowing the status of the

[28:13] young people involved. Uh, had

[28:14] they fallen through the cracks,

[28:17] was there any outreach at all?

[28:18] So just wanting to make sure

[28:20] that there is that

[28:23] accountability. And then in the

[28:25] reporting data, I don

[28:25] t know

[28:26] that I saw anything about

[28:28] recidivism rates. That was one

[28:30] of the things that we were

[28:32] asking for for data in the past

[28:34] in South King County, along

[28:36] with the items that are listed

[28:38] in your presentation. But I

[28:38] didn

[28:39] t see anything about

[28:41] recidivism rates. And I would I

[28:42] would think that that would be

[28:44] a really good measure for us to

[28:48] be able to tout successes on.

[28:52] It is, um, it does take time to

[28:53] be able to understand and and

[28:54] understand whether a young

[28:56] person it is absolutely

[28:58] critical for us to work

[28:59] together with the now in the

[29:01] future and to continue. We want

[29:03] to understand the impact and

[29:04] whether this program works like

[29:04] we

[29:06] re like, right? Like we we

[29:07] know that the young people are

[29:08] benefiting from the services

[29:09] and we want to know, does it

[29:11] have the impact in terms of

[29:12] legal system reduction, legal

[29:13] system involvement? And it

[29:13] s

[29:14] going to take time, and we

[29:14] re

[29:15] going to need the resources and

[29:17] the time to be able to follow

[29:19] that. Um, so it just wasn

[29:19] t

[29:20] there in terms of we will not

[29:22] within the rfp, within the

[29:24] start of 2027 to 2020, you

[29:26] know, the at the end of 2027.

[29:30] Um, be know the be able to, um,

[29:33] define and and um, evaluate

[29:36] recidivism. And I absolutely

[29:38] agree and we understand. And in

[29:39] order for us to understand the

[29:40] efficacy of this program, we

[29:41] actually will need to do that

[29:42] over time, because that

[29:43] s all

[29:44] of our interest. Right? We want

[29:45] to know, is it working? Is it

[29:46] working? I mean, that

[29:47] s that

[29:47] s

[29:47] what we

[29:49] re here for. And if and

[29:49] it

[29:50] s really about understanding

[29:52] the strategy and the and the

[29:54] programming and is it having

[29:56] the impact that we, that we,

[29:58] that we want it to. So yeah.

[30:01] Okay. Thank you. So so youth

[30:02] that were involved prior to

[30:05] 2025, are we collecting any

[30:07] data on them or are we just

[30:11] moving forward from 2025.

[30:12] Sorry. Yes we have been

[30:14] collecting. Oh, so we have we

[30:17] have um, and maybe the pow pow.

[30:19] You MAY maybe want to stick to

[30:21] this. We have been. We are not

[30:23] right now doing a new

[30:25] recidivism study. There was a

[30:26] report issued by the

[30:27] prosecuting attorney

[30:27] s office

[30:29] last year. Um, and then we had

[30:31] our program evaluation. The

[30:33] recidivism was not part of that

[30:35] program evaluation. Um, last

[30:37] year, uh, the pow did their,

[30:40] uh, did their study. Um, and I,

[30:40] we haven

[30:41] t gotten to the point

[30:43] of what is the recidivism, uh,

[30:45] longer term recidivism

[30:47] evaluation for the programming.

[30:49] But we we want that to we want

[30:51] that, too, because that tells

[30:52] us, is it working or not?

[30:53] Thank you. Thank you, MR.

[30:54] Chair.

[30:56] Thank you. Councilmember

[30:57] Verona. Then Councilmember

[31:00] Arnold, I think Councilmember.

[31:01] Arnold had his hand at first,

[31:02] so I

[31:03] ll defer to him if he

[31:06] wants to go next.

[31:09] Thank you. Councilmember Baron.

[31:10] Um, just building on what Mayor

[31:12] Bacchus is talking about. The

[31:14] the metrics that you mentioned

[31:16] on slide 16 and the outcomes

[31:17] you mentioned on slide 18 are

[31:21] really important for both

[31:22] celebrating the success of this

[31:24] program and the the idea of

[31:26] continual improvement. Um, how

[31:30] for those metrics, how often

[31:32] are they reported? Do you have

[31:33] a dashboard or anything like

[31:35] that that we get to see, um,

[31:38] the status of the program?

[31:42] Yep. We have been reporting on

[31:46] a quarterly. So every

[31:50] contracted organization uploads

[31:53] data on a quarterly basis. And

[31:55] we do have our. Can you remind

[31:56] me if we have the rcp on the

[31:58] dashboard and the data reports.

[31:59] Right. I think we did that last

[32:03] year as part of the diversion

[32:04] dashboard.

[32:05] Yeah, they

[32:06] re all on the

[32:06] county

[32:09] s website. We can share

[32:10] a link. And the county also

[32:12] does have a legal system

[32:13] dashboard that

[32:14] s on the county

[32:16] public facing website.

[32:16] Yeah, that

[32:18] d be great. Great to

[32:20] look those and especially

[32:23] understand for, um, people that

[32:25] exited the program without

[32:26] completing the program. One of

[32:27] the reasons. So we can address

[32:29] those. And then again, to back

[32:32] at this point the um,

[32:34] recidivism rates, um, over

[32:35] time, we, we get that

[32:37] information for our community

[32:38] courts. It would be great to

[32:39] have information for the youth

[32:42] as well, or for this diversion.

[32:45] Thank you.

[32:47] Councilmember Baron.

[32:48] Thank you. Chair, I appreciate

[32:50] the questions. Uh, thanks to

[32:52] the dhs team for the

[32:55] presentation. Um, I wanted to

[32:57] ask, uh, two questions, and

[32:57] I

[32:59] ll just lay them both out.

[33:01] Um, and then for, for folks to

[33:03] respond. The first is, uh,

[33:04] could you give us a sense of

[33:05] the status of, like, the

[33:08] current program and kind of the

[33:09] transition plan a little bit? I

[33:11] think this is related to to

[33:11] Mayor Rebecca

[33:12] s question, like,

[33:14] what are we going to. So, so I

[33:15] understand the rfp is is issued

[33:17] right now. Uh, the program is

[33:19] operating, I think, under rcp

[33:23] in 26. And what type of

[33:25] transition the contracts are

[33:27] going to start in 27. Can you

[33:27] talk a little bit about the

[33:29] transition??? What happened to

[33:29] the youth who are in the

[33:31] program? How is that transition

[33:32] going to be managed? And then

[33:33] my second question, I

[33:35] appreciated the questions that

[33:36] have been asked by both

[33:37] Councilmember Arnold and Mayor

[33:40] Backus on the recidivism. Um, I

[33:41] did see that there was

[33:41] reference. There

[33:42] s a report

[33:43] that I that actually dhs

[33:44] prepared for the council, which

[33:46] is public, um, that, that that

[33:47] MAY be of interest to, to

[33:49] members of the committee. Uh,

[33:50] it does talk about lower rates

[33:52] of new referrals or arrests.

[33:53] And I know the presentation

[33:54] there was a reference about,

[33:57] you know, uh, uh, that one of

[33:58] the outcomes that we want to

[34:00] see is, uh, less involvement in

[34:02] the future. Uh, but I just want

[34:03] to understand, like, who

[34:03] s

[34:04] going to be doing that analysis

[34:05] because I think one of the

[34:07] questions that I think, Jen, I

[34:08] think you mentioned the the

[34:09] there was the I think the

[34:11] impact justice report last

[34:13] fall, and then there was the pa

[34:14] had a report and we were

[34:15] getting kind of like different

[34:17] sets of numbers. And people are

[34:18] like looking at things

[34:20] differently. And I guess I

[34:22] would just both comment and say

[34:22] it

[34:23] d be really good. As we

[34:25] launch this new version of this

[34:27] program or this new program,

[34:29] this new initiative, to really

[34:31] think through ahead of time,

[34:32] like what? How are we going to

[34:33] tracking? What are we, what are

[34:34] we, what are we consider

[34:35] recidivism, right. Like what is

[34:36] the time period we

[34:36] re going to

[34:38] be looking back on? And I guess

[34:39] I would just say I also

[34:41] encourage people to for us to

[34:43] have this been kind of like an

[34:45] ongoing effort. Uh, and I the

[34:46] question that Councilmember

[34:47] Arnold mentioned about

[34:50] reporting, you know, because I

[34:51] realize that for recidivism,

[34:52] like we need some track record,

[34:53] it takes time to get developed.

[34:55] I get that point. But I also

[34:56] want to make sure that we

[34:56] re

[34:58] collecting the information in a,

[35:01] in a consistent way, and that

[35:03] we all kind of have some

[35:04] agreement on what those what

[35:05] those metrics are going to be,

[35:06] rather than trying to figure

[35:07] out at the back end, which

[35:08] might make it complicated to

[35:10] actually track that data. So I

[35:10] know that

[35:12] s a lot, but I just

[35:13] want to lay it all out so that

[35:13] you don

[35:14] t hear from me again.

[35:18] Thank you.

[35:20] Yes. Thank you. Um, let me

[35:21] speak a little bit to the

[35:23] transition. And then, Jennifer,

[35:24] if you want to add in, if I

[35:24] m

[35:26] missing anything, uh, the first

[35:28] word that came to my mind when

[35:29] you were asking me, I was like,

[35:29] we

[35:30] re kind of hybrid right now

[35:31] because we are we

[35:32] ve we

[35:33] ve we

[35:34] have brought in-house the

[35:38] referral administration. Um, so

[35:38] that

[35:39] s sort of changed a little

[35:40] bit. The operations, uh,

[35:41] working directly with that

[35:44] towards, um, in, in, in, um,

[35:46] you know, getting the, um,

[35:48] referrals, understanding those,

[35:50] having that conversation, our,

[35:51] our staff member has that

[35:52] conversation and then they get

[35:53] referred. So that

[35:54] s already a

[35:56] little bit of in between.

[35:56] Right. It

[35:57] s a little bit it

[35:57] s a

[36:00] little bit different. Um, and

[36:02] then we have planned and and

[36:02] it, it, it, it

[36:03] s a little bit

[36:06] better laid out in the report

[36:10] this um, um, over overlapping

[36:11] of time so that rcp

[36:13] organizations will continue.

[36:15] Um, and we have, I think, 1 to

[36:18] 3 months of overlap with Csea

[36:19] selected organizations so that

[36:21] we can actually look at the

[36:23] warm handoff. So that was one

[36:25] of, um, the large concerns,

[36:25] like we don

[36:26] t want to we don

[36:27] t

[36:29] want to disrupt services for a

[36:31] young person. And so being

[36:32] really thoughtful in terms of

[36:32] how we we don

[36:33] t know whether

[36:34] there might be some

[36:35] organizations that continue and

[36:36] whether there

[36:36] s newer. We

[36:37] already know that there likely

[36:38] will be some organizations

[36:39] because the landscape is

[36:41] changing, um, all the time in

[36:43] terms of organizations

[36:45] continuing and discontinuing.

[36:47] So, um, the landscape will

[36:47] change. There

[36:49] s there are some

[36:50] organizations which MAY be

[36:51] continuing and there

[36:51] s likely

[36:53] be new ones. And so we have to

[36:55] work together and, and very

[36:56] intentionally, um, it

[36:57] s great

[36:59] that we have the program team

[37:00] as well as the referral

[37:01] administrator who has been

[37:03] developing relationships, you

[37:05] know, with the current

[37:06] organization so that we can

[37:07] understand. And it can also

[37:08] look at how we

[37:09] re referring

[37:11] young people, as we understand

[37:12] through the rfp process, who

[37:14] has selected. So, um, I hope

[37:15] that answers your question in

[37:17] terms of the transition we

[37:21] have, I think almost 100. Um,

[37:23] is it 90? Almost nearly 90

[37:24] referrals in the first quarter

[37:28] of 2026? Um, so, uh,

[37:30] programming and referrals and

[37:31] services are continuing this

[37:33] year with current partners and

[37:35] what our, what our work and

[37:36] does through relationships,

[37:37] through timing and through

[37:39] planning is to really ensure a

[37:42] seamless transition from rcp to

[37:45] kc. And so we actually have

[37:49] overlapping, um, overlapping

[37:50] periods of service so that we

[37:54] can actually avoid gaps where a

[37:55] young person can get could get

[37:58] lost right in that or get um,

[38:00] um, disrupted service during

[38:03] that time. And then, um, I

[38:03] m

[38:04] really glad. Stephanie, thank

[38:05] you so much for joining us from

[38:06] the prosecuting attorney

[38:06] s

[38:07] office. I think that

[38:08] s part of

[38:09] our charge ahead. And we

[38:10] re

[38:10] we

[38:12] ve, uh, remaining close

[38:13] collaboration, and we

[38:13] re

[38:16] excited, um, to continue this

[38:17] work together in our

[38:19] communication and how to see

[38:21] the improvements and changes in

[38:22] case I think it

[38:22] s a common

[38:24] interest of ours to also

[38:26] understand how this is working.

[38:28] And, um, finding that way

[38:41] together, it will be important.

[38:42] My message something.

[38:45] Oh, Chair von Reichbauer. Uh,

[38:46] Mayor Ralph has her hand up,

[38:48] and then I have follow up

[38:48] questions.

[38:51] Okay. Mayor Ralph, thank you.

[38:53] Thank you, MR. Chair. Um, thank

[38:55] you for the presentation. I,

[38:55] um, I

[38:57] ve got a couple of things

[38:57] that I

[38:58] m maybe just not

[39:00] tracking, and so I want

[39:00] hopefully you can get some

[39:04] clarity. So the the referral

[39:06] portion is moving out of what

[39:08] has historically been sort of

[39:09] that, that community based

[39:12] consortium and into internal to

[39:15] King County is is there a

[39:20] reboot of of rcp itself and

[39:21] under a new name, or is it

[39:22] going to continue sort of the

[39:23] same philosophy? I mean, some

[39:24] of the places that I

[39:24] m

[39:26] thinking, um, you have the

[39:29] slide about the 522 youth

[39:31] served, 2290 exited.

[39:32] Historically, we

[39:33] ve been told

[39:34] that if there

[39:35] s any contact at

[39:37] all that qualifies the youth as

[39:38] having been served, but then

[39:38] there

[39:40] s not a tracking of sort

[39:42] of of completion. And I think

[39:43] that lends itself to the

[39:45] questions that you heard from,

[39:46] from mayor back as of what are

[39:49] what are we counting as served?

[39:50] What does completion mean?

[39:52] There were a lot of things

[39:54] historically that I think we

[39:56] had questions around. Um, and

[39:56] I

[39:59] m not I just need to better,

[40:01] I guess, understand what what

[40:02] this looks like going forward.

[40:04] Because we I think we did feel

[40:05] like there were a lot of gaps,

[40:07] just contact with the youth did

[40:10] not in a lot of our minds mean

[40:11] that there was any sort of

[40:12] restorative services offered.

[40:16] And then and there was no, um,

[40:18] there was no requirement. So if

[40:20] they chose to make contact or

[40:22] make contact one time, then

[40:23] then that qualified them as

[40:25] having completed a program. So

[40:27] trying to figure out sort of is

[40:29] is this the same thing? Just

[40:29] we

[40:30] re calling it something

[40:31] different or are we looking at

[40:33] it in a different in a

[40:34] different way with a different

[40:37] philosophy?

[40:37] Uh, that

[40:39] s a great question.

[40:43] Um, I just want to say that I

[40:44] think it was Councilmember

[40:45] Burrell that we should be

[40:46] having more of these

[40:47] conversations, because I think

[40:48] there was a lot of improvements

[40:50] over time, from the beginning

[40:52] of the program to last year.

[40:54] Um, and getting this set up, as

[40:56] you said, in terms of defining

[40:57] program completion, like in the

[40:58] very beginning, I don

[40:58] t think

[41:00] we collected data on program

[41:01] start date, program end date,

[41:02] and what happened in between.

[41:03] Right. But that was has

[41:05] actually been added. So program

[41:07] completion is some of the data

[41:07] that

[41:09] s already being collected

[41:11] in terms of starting services

[41:13] provided and ending and

[41:15] completing meaning like that

[41:15] s

[41:15] a that

[41:18] s a um, uh, you

[41:18] ve

[41:20] completed your plan and your,

[41:21] you

[41:21] ve, your, you

[41:22] re exiting

[41:23] with a completion rather than

[41:24] exiting like just sort of

[41:28] stopped attending meetings or,

[41:30] um, exited without completion,

[41:30] completion of services. So

[41:32] there have been improvements in

[41:34] that. Um, and they will

[41:36] continue to be and actually we

[41:37] have more data in terms of the

[41:40] types of services being

[41:41] provided that we that we will

[41:44] be collecting. So, um, a lot of

[41:47] the early years and the start

[41:50] of, of the system, as we as we

[41:52] started that up in 2022 and

[41:55] 2023, but by 2024 and 2025, we

[41:57] did make a lot of adjustments

[42:00] in terms of understanding and

[42:01] collecting the data that you

[42:03] would see now more recently in

[42:07] those reports, um, it is the

[42:11] the restorative community

[42:13] pathways is concluding its

[42:16] contracts in this year and from

[42:17] 2027, it

[42:18] s the King County

[42:19] Youth Diversion and

[42:20] Intervention Program. Um, yes.

[42:22] So the referral administrator

[42:23] who was sitting in the

[42:25] community is now actually

[42:27] sitting in dhs, is a member of

[42:29] my team and is working closely

[42:31] with Stephanie within the pow

[42:31] and working with those

[42:33] referrals. And so one of the

[42:34] things that we actually changed

[42:37] up is that those conversations

[42:39] with the first contact is

[42:40] actually being handled by our

[42:42] team to actually understand

[42:42] that young person

[42:44] s situation,

[42:46] what is it? And even if they

[42:46] don

[42:47] t accept services, that

[42:47] s a

[42:48] great opportunity still for

[42:49] understanding, for

[42:50] accountability. You know, in

[42:51] our and I

[42:52] m really excited that

[42:53] our program manager, our

[42:54] referral administrator actually

[42:56] has this, this expertise to

[42:57] understand the consequence. You

[42:58] know, you can still have a

[42:59] conversation around

[43:00] consequences of actions and

[43:01] understand if you if you don

[43:02] t,

[43:02] even if you don

[43:04] t need, um,

[43:06] urgency, emergent or urgent

[43:07] housing assistance or

[43:09] behavioral health services. And

[43:11] so that triaging which when I

[43:12] explain sort of happening in

[43:14] the county is an opportunity

[43:16] for us to better understand

[43:17] that young person as they get

[43:20] referred and to work with the

[43:21] collection of the data. And I

[43:23] would just add that I think

[43:25] this is the opportunity to add.

[43:25] i didn

[43:26] t want to put in too

[43:27] much, but I think it

[43:27] s a great

[43:29] opportunity for us. Like you

[43:30] were saying, Mayor Baucus. And

[43:30] if we

[43:31] re looking at where these

[43:32] young people are coming from

[43:33] and if a lot of these are

[43:35] coming from schools like my

[43:36] dream beyond this program is

[43:37] like, can we actually get

[43:39] capacity into those schools and

[43:41] to support the schools if to

[43:44] with, um, increased capacity to

[43:45] work with the young people on

[43:47] this does not even get to refer

[43:48] to the police and to the

[43:48] prosecuting attorney

[43:49] s office,

[43:49] then we

[43:50] re really going to like

[43:51] the cause, because I know

[43:52] schools have a lot on their

[43:54] plates and their own capacity

[43:56] to deal to, to work with

[43:58] conflicts or crises that young

[43:58] people might be having in

[43:59] their, in their school sites.

[44:02] And so, um, I think part of my

[44:03] dream is to is, is that having

[44:05] access to this data and

[44:06] understand the time and effort

[44:07] to be able to understand that

[44:08] and understand a little bit

[44:10] more, uh, the young people that

[44:10] we

[44:10] re getting, where they

[44:10] re

[44:11] coming from. And can we

[44:12] actually go to the source in

[44:14] the future and look at how we

[44:15] might partner to provide

[44:16] additional resources to

[44:17] actually just not even get them

[44:18] referred to the pa in the

[44:20] future? That would be that

[44:22] would be sort of my next step,

[44:24] where I would love to see us

[44:26] grow if possible, with with

[44:28] this initiative. I hope Mayor

[44:29] Ralph, that that explained. But

[44:30] but if you want additional

[44:31] clarification, I

[44:31] m really

[44:31] happy. I don

[44:32] t know if if I

[44:34] know we answered your question.

[44:36] That was helpful. MR. Chair,

[44:37] can I ask a follow up?

[44:38] Absolutely.

[44:41] Um, so one of the things, Jen,

[44:43] that you noted is that you so

[44:43] you

[44:43] re making that first

[44:47] contact. And if if the youth

[44:49] makes the decision to, to

[44:53] receive service previously that

[44:54] was a decision. And if they

[44:55] didn

[44:57] t, then there was no next

[45:00] step. So in in this new model,

[45:02] are they then being referred

[45:06] back to the Pao for follow ups

[45:07] like they they chose to not

[45:09] seek restorative services. So

[45:12] so then there will be that uh,

[45:13] that more legal path. Or are we

[45:15] just saying we gave it a shot

[45:19] and they chose not to this time.

[45:22] Yeah. So if we I think that

[45:23] stays the same. And correct me

[45:24] if I

[45:25] m wrong, Stephanie, if we

[45:25] have a young person, let

[45:26] s say,

[45:27] for example, that we can

[45:27] t

[45:29] contact or that refuses to have

[45:30] the conversation or accept

[45:32] services, those that gets

[45:34] reported back to the to the

[45:34] prosecutor

[45:35] s prosecuting

[45:35] attorney

[45:36] s office. I think

[45:38] within 90 days. I think, if I

[45:41] recall correctly, yes. Right.

[45:44] Yes, yes. So those individuals

[45:45] get referred back. And I guess

[45:46] what I meant in terms of length

[45:49] of services, uh, we have young

[45:51] person who really that might be

[45:53] around the accountability piece

[45:54] and a discussion with that. And

[45:55] we have other young people who

[45:59] might need, um, who might not

[46:00] who might not be going to

[46:03] school or who might have, um,

[46:03] um, we

[46:06] ve had um, uh, might

[46:08] need, uh, referrals to, uh,

[46:09] mental health or behavioral

[46:11] health services. Right. Or are

[46:12] we understand that their

[46:14] families are actually in, uh,

[46:16] housing? Housing is a big we

[46:17] have navigators saying, can you

[46:18] help us with our, you know, our

[46:20] housing, our housing

[46:22] instability and that, you know,

[46:23] that that still remains. So

[46:25] when we see those overlaps and

[46:27] where you look into, um, nine

[46:29] months is a long, you know, is

[46:30] a is a significant and that

[46:31] s

[46:32] an average, right. So nine

[46:34] months of a young person. And I

[46:35] think when we think about

[46:36] children and we think about

[46:38] young people and things like

[46:40] positive peer connection and

[46:41] social connection, it seems

[46:43] like a simple indicator. But

[46:44] when you think about your child

[46:45] or your or someone in your life

[46:46] and you think that they

[46:46] re

[46:48] isolated or their peer

[46:49] influences, maybe, uh,

[46:52] contributing to poor decisions

[46:54] or school might not feel like a

[46:56] safe place. They might be, uh,

[46:57] truant. All of those things are

[46:58] the things that we think

[46:59] around. Service plans and

[47:00] action plans is how do we

[47:01] support that young person to be

[47:04] successful? Um, in getting

[47:06] education, if they can, for

[47:07] example, back in school or

[47:09] through our own sites where we

[47:10] work, we provide ged high

[47:12] school and post-secondary and

[47:14] education employment as an

[47:15] alternative learning option.

[47:17] Um, but those are the kinds of

[47:17] things when you think about the

[47:19] service plans and what that

[47:21] young person might need to to

[47:23] be successful and to fulfill

[47:24] their own plan. So that

[47:24] s

[47:24] that

[47:25] s sort of that discussion.

[47:26] And sometimes if it

[47:27] s a

[47:27] shoplifting and there

[47:28] s really

[47:29] no other issue that might be,

[47:29] that

[47:30] s a sort of an

[47:31] accountability conversation.

[47:31] And if it

[47:32] s if it

[47:34] s, um, those

[47:37] more serious, uh, barriers and

[47:38] concerns, then that

[47:38] s a longer

[47:39] that

[47:40] s a longer plan.

[47:42] A follow up, Mayor Roff.

[47:44] No, thank you.

[47:45] Mayor Bacchus, I

[47:46] d like to get

[47:47] Councilmember Robinson, who

[47:47] hasn

[47:48] t? Yes. First,

[47:50] Councilmember Robinson.

[47:51] Oh, thank you, I I

[47:52] m on light

[47:53] rail, so I hope it

[47:53] s not too

[47:55] loud. Um, you can

[47:56] t listen to

[47:57] this without hoping that we

[47:57] re

[47:59] putting as much energy and

[48:01] funding into prevention. Just

[48:03] like what Jen talked about. I

[48:04] would love to see this program

[48:07] with a phase, a second phase

[48:11] of, um, a plan to get more

[48:12] funding for prevention as well

[48:14] as this so that we can work in

[48:15] tandem. I think it

[48:16] s just it

[48:16] s

[48:18] got to be the big picture. But

[48:18] that

[48:23] s my only comment. Thanks.

[48:26] During any comment?

[48:29] Um, yes, I thank you very much.

[48:30] I think it

[48:31] s, uh, I would

[48:33] completely agree. I think it

[48:35] is, um, in early prevention or

[48:39] an early intervention. Um,

[48:42] program. And if it helps us to

[48:44] identify, um, young people that

[48:46] are in need of, of services and

[48:47] supports. And so I think it

[48:48] s,

[48:48] there

[48:49] s great potential and

[48:50] opportunity to continue to

[48:51] build off this program. Like I

[48:53] said, how do we actually

[48:54] understand look at have the

[48:56] data to understand potential

[48:58] trends? Um, and get those

[49:00] resources and the supports

[49:02] earlier on even, you know, at

[49:04] the, um, at sort of at the

[49:07] source, um, um, rather than

[49:09] having a pow pow referral, that

[49:12] would be that would be, to me,

[49:15] uh, a wise, uh, and exciting

[49:17] strategy and investment.

[49:19] Thank you. Mayor Backus. Always

[49:20] the last word.

[49:22] Yeah. Thank you, MR. Chair.

[49:25] Jen. Thank you. And I hope that

[49:26] the South King County mayors

[49:27] and you become each other

[49:28] s new

[49:31] best friends. Um, we we really

[49:33] do want to partner with you. I

[49:37] just have one more question.

[49:39] And this was something that was

[49:44] kind of nebulous in rcp is if

[49:49] if a young person does not

[49:52] follow through on the

[49:55] community, uh, community

[49:59] benefits and they do reoffend,

[50:01] do they have another

[50:04] opportunity to be part of this

[50:05] new youth diversion and

[50:07] intervention program, or have

[50:10] they already had that

[50:12] opportunity, did not follow

[50:14] through, and therefore it goes

[50:15] to the prosecutor

[50:18] s office.

[50:22] Um, Stephanie, since.

[50:22] I

[50:23] m happy to answer that. And

[50:24] Stephanie, trolling from the

[50:25] prosecutor

[50:27] s office. Um, that

[50:27] s

[50:27] kind of it

[50:27] s it

[50:28] s not a it

[50:28] s

[50:31] not a one size fits all answer

[50:33] for the most part. Most youth

[50:36] only will have one referral to

[50:38] the King County youth. Um

[50:40] diversion program, similar to

[50:43] rcp. There are there are

[50:44] instances when there are more

[50:45] than one referral. It

[50:46] s really

[50:47] um, it

[50:48] s really up to the

[50:50] discretion of the prosecutor

[50:51] reviewing the case. But I would

[50:54] say those are pretty rare. Um,

[50:58] and we do send, um, we would

[50:59] share that information

[51:01] certainly with the referring

[51:02] law enforcement agency to an

[51:04] example of when that might

[51:09] happen is to, um, shoplifting

[51:11] instances that happened like

[51:12] within a week or of each other

[51:13] where somebody is doing some

[51:15] food from Safeway, and then two

[51:16] weeks later is caught stealing

[51:17] some food again. And there

[51:17] haven

[51:18] t really been much time

[51:20] for engagement. We might think,

[51:20] well, let

[51:21] s not throw it all

[51:23] away and bring them into the

[51:24] court process yet. Let

[51:24] s like

[51:26] kind of treat those together.

[51:27] Those are the most kind of

[51:30] common scenarios. Like fairly

[51:32] what we would consider fairly

[51:34] low harm situations. There

[51:34] s

[51:35] not like a person victim or

[51:36] someone

[51:37] s been harmed and it

[51:38] just makes good sense to try

[51:40] that course at least. Um, but

[51:43] otherwise this does count as a

[51:44] diversion, if that

[51:45] s what you

[51:46] mean. And, you know, you

[51:46] re

[51:47] well aware. I know that, you

[51:48] know, first offense

[51:50] misdemeanors in this state are

[51:51] mandatory diversion. We have no

[51:53] discretion there. But once

[51:53] we

[51:55] ve sent a case, a referral

[51:57] to this community diversion

[51:59] program, it is a diversion

[52:00] program. So then then it is our

[52:01] discretion. We don

[52:02] t have to

[52:04] send the next one. So I hope

[52:06] that kind of answers it.

[52:08] That helps a great deal. Thank

[52:09] you for that explanation. And

[52:11] MISTER Chair, thank you for

[52:13] indulging me this afternoon

[52:16] with so many questions. Uh,

[52:16] it

[52:18] s clearly an important topic

[52:20] for our communities, and I just

[52:21] want to make sure that we

[52:22] re

[52:24] understanding the benefits of

[52:25] this new program.

[52:26] I think you

[52:26] ve raised also.

[52:28] A good point. As I said, I hope

[52:32] that becomes a huge success.

[52:33] I agree, and and I think you

[52:34] raised a good point about how

[52:36] much impact it has in South

[52:38] King County and how much those

[52:40] numbers reflect a growing

[52:42] problem. And hopefully

[52:43] collectively, we can work

[52:45] together. I hope to see many of

[52:47] you tonight at the state of the

[52:49] County address at the pac. Uh,

[52:51] thank you all for being here.

Regional Policy Committee_20260610

Agenda

Transcript