Afternoon and welcome to the
JUNE 10th meeting of the
Regional Policy Committee. To
manage today
s meeting, I
d
like to ask only the committee
members and the scheduled
presenters. Join us on the zoom
platform. We
ll start the
meeting by having the clerk
call the roll. Angelica.
Angelica, can you hear me?
Sorry. Can I. Am now working?
Can you hear me?
Now we can.
Okay. Council Member Arnold.
MAY your back is. Here. MAY
your pallone. Council member
Robinson. MAY your round.
Here.
Angelica.
Chair von Reichbauer. I can
take over for Angelica.
I think you should.
Yes. Thank you. Uh, Mayor
Rebello. Council member.
Juarez. Council member. Lynn.
Council member. Foster. Council
member rank. Councilmember
Baron.
Here.
Councilmember. Perry. Chair.
Von Reichbauer.
Here. Well, I want to thank
you, everyone, for attending
today
s regional policy
Committee. We have a short
agenda today that includes a
briefing from the executive
staff on the implementation
status of the King County Youth
Diversion and Intervention
Program. We
ve made today
s
meeting shorter than usual, so
that many of you can attend the
state of the County address of
the county executive.
Do you need me to do the roll
call?
We
re fine. We
re fine. Thank
you. And, uh, and we
re going
to have an opportunity tonight
to have the county executive
give a address in South King
County at the Performance Arts
Center. At this time. Going to
our today
s briefing, we
re
joined by Jen Tanaka and
Jennifer Hill, who are the
acting director and acting
deputy director, respectively,
of dcfs children, youth and
Young Adults Division. Acting
director Tanaka and Acting
Director Hill are going to
provide the committee with an
update on the implementation
status of the King County Youth
Diversion and Intervention
Program. Thank you both for
being here. Go ahead and begin.
Thank you. Chair. Uh, and
thanks for the invitation and
the opportunity to present to
the committee. Um, as
requested, we are here to give
a brief overview and leave time
for questions on the King
County Youth Diversion and
Intervention Program. And my
colleague Jennifer, um, we
re
both named Jennifer. I go by
Jen. She goes by Jennifer. Just
because we
re often in the same
meetings, and it makes it a
little easier. But if you call
either one of us those, uh, we
will respond. Um, so we thought
we would just give a brief
overview. Um, as background,
you MAY recall and MAY be aware
that in 2020, the King County
Department of Public Defense
and the prosecutor, prosecuting
Attorney
s office proposed,
together with community
organizations, Restorative
Community Pathways in 2020. Um,
this was added to the King
County budget in 2021. The 2122
budget and through an rfp
process and implementation
planning services were launched
in NOVEMBER of 2021. Um, and
this is a community based
diversion program that really
looked to work with young
people under the age of 18 who
were referred from the
prosecuting attorney
s office
to the program and to have a
community navigators and
community organizations which
worked directly with those
referred youth and what was new
to the program at the time,
also was serving community
members who experienced harm.
And um, and so that was new to
previous diversion initiatives
as well. So there are just some
of the core services which are
provided in the program as, as
background and then bringing
you up to speed in 2025. Um,
um, sorry. Can you go back one
more slide, Jennifer. Um, so as
the program was running, we
ve
given a number of reports to
council. Um, I don
t think
we
ve actually presented here,
if I recall correctly, but a
number of of reports and
updates on the data. But in
2025, the King County Executive
actually put forth changes as
part of the budget process. Um,
to and renaming and re
relaunching the program as the
King County Youth Diversion and
Intervention Program. So that
s
that
s the context where we are
now as part of the budget
process at the end of the year.
And in APRIL earlier this year,
we have with the executive
transmitted a report which sort
of talks about that, the
transition plan as well as the
design and the future King
County, um, Youth Diversion and
Intervention program. So that
has not yet been heard and
discussed in council, but
you
re getting a preview here
as well as this ongoing
process, um, with the council.
So it
s a great opportunity to
kind of get insights into it
and happy to answer any
questions. And then just to
kind of recap what we
re
looking at as part of our
restorative community pathways.
Um, a total of 522 young people
have been served, 290 and um,
in 2025 exited um, and of those,
223 or 77% completed rcp
programming. So this is just
some of the data which we have
reported on over the years. And
remember, we
re looking at the
young people being served,
referred from the prosecuting
attorney
s office, as well as
community members who
experienced harm. And the data
there looks at the number of
students who have exited, those
who
ve completed the
programming. So still, one
thing I do like to remind folks
is that these are youth. So
under the age of 18, um, who
are in a in an incident and an
alleged incident, misdemeanors.
And so the average age of the
young people being served is,
is, is currently 15 or 15.5.
And if we look at the community
members who
ve experienced
harm, right. So those get
referred together to the
program and someone reaches out
and looks at an accountability
or a restorative justice
process, or whether or not that
individual needs services and
supports and the average age of
those community members is
18.8. Um, this is just a little
bit on the, um, program.
Participants in their
geographic distribution list,
that being our top five zip
codes served in Auburn, Federal
Way in Kent. Um, but you see,
we have, um, participants
ranging from shoreline past
North Bend, Vashon Island and
to green water. Okay, so, um,
what is the King County? That
s
sort of the background. Just to
understand that as we are
currently right now in the
process of transitioning from
restoring community pathways to
the King County Youth Diversion
and Intervention Program, um,
there are some elements that
still remain the same in the
sense of this being a pre
filing, community based
diversion program for youth
under the age of 18 referred
from law enforcement to the
prosecuting attorney
s office
and then to the program. Um,
and these young people have
alleged misdemeanors. So as a
community based diversion
initiative or program, we
re
working with contracted
community organizations that
will be working, that will
providing support to those
young people that referred um
or and family members, as well
as any community member who
experienced harm in the
incident and responding to
their needs. Um, as well as,
um, sorry, just have something
dinging here. Uh, responding to
the community members to
respond to the to the needs of
both the youth and the
community members who
experienced harm. And then just
briefly or an overview, you
know, the long term, the long
term is really how do we, um,
how do we and what we have to
learn is how do we intervene
early on? Young people who have
been identified through an
incident referral through the
prosecuting attorney
s office.
Um, um, to identify, to provide
that support, to provide an
opportunity for meaningful, non
punitive accountability for the
alleged misdemeanor, and also
connect to needed services.
We
ve had a lot of data and
evaluation report that talked
about the key role of basic
needs for many of the young
people, housing security or
housing stability. Clothes,
food, connection to behavioral
behavioral health services. So
a lot of what that navigator
does is understand is this
young person in crisis and
what
s the level of their
needs. Um, and so and those
vary depending on the
individual being referred. I
think we can move on. Um, so as
laid out in our plan, um, what
changes with the King County
youth Diversion and
Intervention program? One of
the biggest changes that we
re
making is we have the role of
the referral administrator and
the consortium coordination
used to sit in a community
organization. So the pa would
refer directly to a referral
administrator who sat in a
community organization. We
ve
actually brought that in-house
to dhs. S and I
ll talk a
little bit about that later.
But that way. So we are working
directly with the prosecuting
attorney
s office. Um, and they
will refer that case or that
that young person and the
associated community member
who
s experienced hard to dhs.
And we
ve sort of been we
ve
changed up a little bit. The
triaging that happens at that
referral administration before,
uh, that understanding, that
case, contacting that young
person and then referring them
to the community organization
which best meets their needs,
that could be geographic, uh,
cultural or, um, or other in
terms of their, their
programming that can really
best serve that young person.
Uh, we are launching a new rfp
to re procure the community
based services. So this looks
at new organizations will be
applying to this, um, to
provide services within case
id, um, and within that rfp, we
have outlined enhanced data
collection, which we
re
planning for this the launch of
of Cassidy, especially around
school and and education
engagement. Um, a lot of the
cases, um, or incidents that
are coming to us, those
misdemeanors of of the of these
children and youth are, um,
originating from schools can
think of it as maybe a school
fight. Um, and that and so, um,
at this age especially. Right,
they
re all under 18. They
should all be in school. It was
like where, uh, we
re going to
do more. Also, understanding
the, um, the, the status of
their school, what support they
might need to get back in
school or find alternative
education pathways. Um, but
just staying engaged in
education. Um, among other
things, which I will be
presenting on later. Um, as
well, we believe that having a
closer role in managing, uh,
the triaging and administration
referral process that will also
allow us to make faster
connections within dhs services
and county services so that we
can, um, bridge a little bit
the the services and
connections and partners that
we hold within dhs to actually
meet the needs of the young
people. Um, and community
members being referred to the
program. Um, we
re adding a
school liaison position to
support, um, to really add
support to work with community
partners, work with youth to,
to focus on, uh, getting back
into school, staying in school
and being successful in school.
So that adds that capacity. Um,
previously, the Youth and
Family Fund, which is you can
look at that as sort of the
basic needs fund to provide
support was, was, um,
centralized. And then it was
coordinated within that. We
were just decentralizing that
and including that within the
contracts of each of the future
partners, as well as the youth
steering committee. If you knew
about the program before, um,
went, um, which operated for a
little bit during the beginning
of the program, but really
wasn
t operating by middle and
the end of of our cp in the in
the previous years. We do
believe in the importance of
youth agency as a, as a good
practice. Um, and see that as a
role for um informing
continuous quality improvement
in the programming. All right.
So the rcp, uh, the I mean, so
the rfp, the request for
proposals is, uh, is still
live. Uh, we really encourage
you to share this with your
constituents and partner
organizations in your areas.
Um, a application is still open
until JULY 15th. Um, at 2 P.M..
Um, the. And this is, um, this
process right now. So, um, as
sort of again, we
ve brought in
sort of, sort of some of that
referral administration and
other team members to hold part
of the work now in dhs. We have
launched the rfp to identify
the partners and confirm the
partners for Cassidy going
forward. We will have this
transition and working closely
with organizations that don
t
continue to provide the
continuity of care this year as
we work towards the final
selection and the contracting
process and the actual full
transition to Cassidy, by the
beginning of 2027. Uh, just
really I think this might come
from the presentation to to
potential applicants. Again,
the rfp focus is really looking
at those organizations which
can provide that navigation,
that support the programming
for the youth referred and
their families. Um, and so
again, if you look, if we think
about this program, you have an
we
re having an incident that
s
happening somewhere in school
or elsewhere. It, um, lands
with the police. The police,
since the prosecuting
attorney
s office. Um, and then
they, at their discretion, will
be referring, um, relevant and
eligible youth to the program.
Again, core services are just
sort of listed out here. Um,
these are all also, um, um, we
had an evaluation of the
program and see a lot of these
aspects around basic needs. The
importance of, um, conflict
resolution and accountability,
the importance of education and
those support services. I want
to say peer connection,
mentorship. If you think of a
young person in your life who
might be 12, 13, 14, 16 years
old and those peer connections
and those positive, um,
learning and safe, safe spaces,
safe spaces are all part of of
the programming which have, um,
contributed to, um, both
positive outcomes for those
young people in their own youth
development, um, as well as
contributing factors towards
prevention and longer term
legal system involvement. And
so these are the core services
which are part of the rfp,
which the organizations would
be providing. And then we have,
um, also explicitly stated
within the rfp, the intended
reporting, uh, data and
outcomes. And so here we just
look at, uh, really
understanding numbers of youth
served. Right. Caseload. Some
of the, um, demographics which
we often collect. And then
we
re, we
re, um. Um,
completion status. And when we
talked about program completion
earlier, we look at, you know,
really having the data on did
they complete partially
complete withdrawal or
terminated and why? Um, to
understand their programming
level of programming engagement.
Here we have other thing, other
aspects around, um, and this
helps us understand, you know,
what are the services that that
are being provided? We do. We
didn
t collect this at such a
deep level, but it was really
important for us to understand.
We know, you know, I think it
was I don
t know, I
ll have to
get the exact exact data, but
it was very high percentages of
young people in the program
needed basic needs, aspects of
basic needs. But I think that
this, um, in our intention is
really understanding what are
the needs and what are the
services being accessed by the
young people in the program?
Um, the navigator will work
with a young person, and I
think, you know, that might
that will differ. If the person
is 17. Right. Getting ready to
to hopefully graduate from high
school or if or if the young
person is 12, their action
plans might look differently.
Their discussion around
consequences or accountability
might look differently at
different and their needs. But
that
s really the
individualized sort of
wraparound support that that we
seek to provide with our
partners. Um, this but
understanding really, um, the
services also helps us
understand the situation that
these young people are in and
why often, um, often some of
the reasons why they
re in this
program to begin with. And
that
s sort of part of
understanding cause is not
just, um, not just the impacts,
but actually some of the causes
of, of, of behaviors that which
MAY lead to being referred to,
to this program. Um, I think we
want to look so here we look at
the outcomes of sort of the
immediate outcomes and longer
term outcomes around, um, lower
rates of referral. Many of
these will be collecting
ourselves, others, our
continued work in partnership
with the prosecuting attorney
s
office and other relevant
institutions longer. But
really, uh, looking at
referrals, looking at school
engagement as a big indicator
for young people under the age
of 18, um, as well as some of
the longer term outcomes. I
think this is important. And we
included this in the rfp that,
you know, this isn
t just about
the shorter term incomes, but
really we want to look at this
as part of our our approach to,
um, to reducing, identifying,
um, supporting and reducing,
um, future legal system
involvement of these young
people. And I think of many of
the programs that we do is this
is a way for us. I kind of look
at it as an early
identification or early
detection. Is this a young
person in crisis? If you
re at
the age of 12 or 13, being
referred to by law enforcement,
to the prosecuting attorney
s
office, and are their root
causes of homelessness,
poverty, mental health needs,
behavioral, you know, mental
and behavioral health needs.
Um, that we can provide the
support to, to support that
young person, um, to, uh, to
overcome barriers, to be
successful in school and to
hopefully, um, not be involved
in, in the legal system in the
future. Uh, a little bit of our
team. So Jennifer Hill is the
one running the slide deck for
me. And Jennifer has been
working in County for decades,
and in our education and
employment resource team within
dhs, so brings a wealth of
knowledge and connection. And
working with especially
opportunity youth who have been
out of school and out of work
in 16 to 24, but not only, um,
of the slide, um, um, Claudia,
I just want to point out Jen
has been with us with rcp, so
she
s transitioning and has
been, um, um, understanding and
and managing the program, um,
since the beginning, almost.
Um. Um, Claudia, we
re really
excited. Is our new referral
administrator, uh, really
excited to have her on board.
Um, it
s part of our 2627
budget to sort of staff up our
team. And she brings excellent
experience working with, um,
youth with legal system
involvement in restorative
justice and facilitation. And
so she is able to have
conversations. Um, you know,
before referring and with young
people and families. And so
we
re really, really excited to
have her on the team. Um,
Sumeet is also very, very new
within our team. And that that
adds contract manager is the
importance of our, um, our work
managing effectively the
contracts. Um, and including,
um, reporting. Um, and so that
Ian and Sumeet together can
support some of the
coordination role that we
re
taking on in case. And then
just briefly, I want to also
take the opportunity to shout
out, um, Leah and Vanessa from
our evaluation team within dhs.
Leah has been doing the job,
um, during rcp as other duties
as assigned. I don
t know, we
might all have that in our job
description. Um, and so part of
our efforts to actually bring
on a full time senior
evaluator, um, with Vanessa. So
we
re sort of going through
some transition right now. Leah
has done a fantastic job. Um,
along with what has not been
the focus of her work, but it
s
been a lot of her time. Um, and
so we
re very excited that, um,
Doctor Vanessa also comes to
our team bringing very
practical experience in mixed
methods evaluation, uh,
restorative justice youth. And
so we feel really, really
excited about the opportunity
to continue to, um, learn and
refine and and improve. Um,
Cassidy, as we, as we work with
this and then, um, some of our
other team members. Um, Shelby
oversees our, our evaluation
for the entire children, youth
and young adults division. Um,
and we have our support in the
rfp process. Nikki. And that
was all I had for the
presentation.
Jen, thank you very much.
Before we take questions, I
want to make sure Angelica
noticed that, uh, Mayor Pavone
and Councilmember Robinson have
joined us.
Thank you. Yeah, I do have
them. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thanks for
Angelica. And thank you for
your presentation and for
introducing your staff and the
the team you have built around
you. I know my colleagues pay a
lot of attention to this issue.
Uh uh, my, uh, George Barron
has been a leader in the
private sector. And on this
issue as well. Uh, any
questions from my colleagues at
this time? Just feel free to
speak up or raise your hand.
I
ll try to catch it. Okay. I
think your report was all
right.
MR. Chair, you MAY not be able
to see it on the screen, but,
uh, Council Arnold and
Councilmember Baron also have
their hand up. In addition to
me.
I could not see it. Thank you
for asking. Uh. Thank you. Do
you want to speak first?
Thank you, MR. Chair. And, Jen,
thank you for the presentation.
And thank you for the
thoughtful ways that, uh, there
have been some changes being
reflected in this. I do have a
few questions, though. Um,
Mister chair, do you mind if I
ask them all, or do you want me
to ask one? Okay. Thank you. So
the first one on your 2025
total youth and community
members served, 522. Youth
served 290. Exited services. So
that leaves 232. Should we
assume that they are still
receiving services or we don
t
have status for them?
Yep. Um, they you can assume
that they
re still receiving
receiving services. The average
time of service is nine months.
Okay. And so could that also
include some? Because I know
before if there were some youth
that had kind of fallen through
the cracks at one of the
organizations and the
prosecutor
s office wasn
t
following because they had
referred them to one of the,
uh, one of the community
organizations. There was no
there was no idea, really, of
what had occurred, what was
what the status were of some of
the young people. So I
m just
wanting to make sure that
moving forward, we know what
the status is of those youth.
Like. Has it been six months
since a check in? Um, are we
trying to get back in touch
with them? Because I think
that
s critical, obviously, to
the success. So wanting to
point that out. Um, also. So
with the rfp and I, I
appreciate that as well. But
given that I have two of the
most impacted zip codes, has
there been any end and all five
of them are in South King
County? Has there been any
outreach to South King County?
Uh, for this rfp or to work
with us to ensure the success
moving forward?
Jennifer, do you want to speak
a little bit to the outreach?
Yeah. So we have been sharing
the rfp with as many community
providers and community
organizations that we can get
in front of, including the
South King County Council. Um,
Alliance for Human Services.
Um, and making sure I mean, we
would love for you all to also
share that with any providers
that you have. Um, we
re doing
a bitters conference tomorrow,
and have still a month left
before the rfp is due. So want
to just make sure that that is
out in the community as much as
possible?
Yes. And mayor Mayor Baucus, we
would welcome any, any venue or
any additional outreach that we
can do together with you. We
would absolutely welcome that.
That was really my point is.
Where we
re we
re happy to do
that.
There has been, to the best of
my knowledge, there has been no
outreach to government, to
government in this. Um, my
fellow mayors, Mayor Pavone,
Mayor Ralph and Mayor Farrell,
um, three of three of us are on
our pc. Uh, Mayor Farrell is
not. But, uh, as you
re
probably aware, we were very
vocal when we first started.
Uh, and very critical. I don
t
want to be critical. I want to
be able to shout the successes
of this program from the roof
of of of City Hall and be able
to celebrate them. I just don
t
want us to get off on the wrong
foot. Uh, of not having open
communication. So I would think
that there would be there would
have been or could be outreach
to the mayor
s in South King
County, since we are the most
impacted zip codes. And then.
I hear you, I hear you, and I,
I look forward to connecting
after this meeting.
Great. Thank you. And then just
wanting to make sure
accountability as, uh, as we
have stated in the past, is
critical to this. Um, and there
were concerns in the past about
not knowing the status of the
young people involved. Uh, had
they fallen through the cracks,
was there any outreach at all?
So just wanting to make sure
that there is that
accountability. And then in the
reporting data, I don
t know
that I saw anything about
recidivism rates. That was one
of the things that we were
asking for for data in the past
in South King County, along
with the items that are listed
in your presentation. But I
didn
t see anything about
recidivism rates. And I would I
would think that that would be
a really good measure for us to
be able to tout successes on.
It is, um, it does take time to
be able to understand and and
understand whether a young
person it is absolutely
critical for us to work
together with the now in the
future and to continue. We want
to understand the impact and
whether this program works like
we
re like, right? Like we we
know that the young people are
benefiting from the services
and we want to know, does it
have the impact in terms of
legal system reduction, legal
system involvement? And it
s
going to take time, and we
re
going to need the resources and
the time to be able to follow
that. Um, so it just wasn
t
there in terms of we will not
within the rfp, within the
start of 2027 to 2020, you
know, the at the end of 2027.
Um, be know the be able to, um,
define and and um, evaluate
recidivism. And I absolutely
agree and we understand. And in
order for us to understand the
efficacy of this program, we
actually will need to do that
over time, because that
s all
of our interest. Right? We want
to know, is it working? Is it
working? I mean, that
s that
s
what we
re here for. And if and
it
s really about understanding
the strategy and the and the
programming and is it having
the impact that we, that we,
that we want it to. So yeah.
Okay. Thank you. So so youth
that were involved prior to
2025, are we collecting any
data on them or are we just
moving forward from 2025.
Sorry. Yes we have been
collecting. Oh, so we have we
have um, and maybe the pow pow.
You MAY maybe want to stick to
this. We have been. We are not
right now doing a new
recidivism study. There was a
report issued by the
prosecuting attorney
s office
last year. Um, and then we had
our program evaluation. The
recidivism was not part of that
program evaluation. Um, last
year, uh, the pow did their,
uh, did their study. Um, and I,
we haven
t gotten to the point
of what is the recidivism, uh,
longer term recidivism
evaluation for the programming.
But we we want that to we want
that, too, because that tells
us, is it working or not?
Thank you. Thank you, MR.
Chair.
Thank you. Councilmember
Verona. Then Councilmember
Arnold, I think Councilmember.
Arnold had his hand at first,
so I
ll defer to him if he
wants to go next.
Thank you. Councilmember Baron.
Um, just building on what Mayor
Bacchus is talking about. The
the metrics that you mentioned
on slide 16 and the outcomes
you mentioned on slide 18 are
really important for both
celebrating the success of this
program and the the idea of
continual improvement. Um, how
for those metrics, how often
are they reported? Do you have
a dashboard or anything like
that that we get to see, um,
the status of the program?
Yep. We have been reporting on
a quarterly. So every
contracted organization uploads
data on a quarterly basis. And
we do have our. Can you remind
me if we have the rcp on the
dashboard and the data reports.
Right. I think we did that last
year as part of the diversion
dashboard.
Yeah, they
re all on the
county
s website. We can share
a link. And the county also
does have a legal system
dashboard that
s on the county
public facing website.
Yeah, that
d be great. Great to
look those and especially
understand for, um, people that
exited the program without
completing the program. One of
the reasons. So we can address
those. And then again, to back
at this point the um,
recidivism rates, um, over
time, we, we get that
information for our community
courts. It would be great to
have information for the youth
as well, or for this diversion.
Thank you.
Councilmember Baron.
Thank you. Chair, I appreciate
the questions. Uh, thanks to
the dhs team for the
presentation. Um, I wanted to
ask, uh, two questions, and
I
ll just lay them both out.
Um, and then for, for folks to
respond. The first is, uh,
could you give us a sense of
the status of, like, the
current program and kind of the
transition plan a little bit? I
think this is related to to
Mayor Rebecca
s question, like,
what are we going to. So, so I
understand the rfp is is issued
right now. Uh, the program is
operating, I think, under rcp
in 26. And what type of
transition the contracts are
going to start in 27. Can you
talk a little bit about the
transition??? What happened to
the youth who are in the
program? How is that transition
going to be managed? And then
my second question, I
appreciated the questions that
have been asked by both
Councilmember Arnold and Mayor
Backus on the recidivism. Um, I
did see that there was
reference. There
s a report
that I that actually dhs
prepared for the council, which
is public, um, that, that that
MAY be of interest to, to
members of the committee. Uh,
it does talk about lower rates
of new referrals or arrests.
And I know the presentation
there was a reference about,
you know, uh, uh, that one of
the outcomes that we want to
see is, uh, less involvement in
the future. Uh, but I just want
to understand, like, who
s
going to be doing that analysis
because I think one of the
questions that I think, Jen, I
think you mentioned the the
there was the I think the
impact justice report last
fall, and then there was the pa
had a report and we were
getting kind of like different
sets of numbers. And people are
like looking at things
differently. And I guess I
would just both comment and say
it
d be really good. As we
launch this new version of this
program or this new program,
this new initiative, to really
think through ahead of time,
like what? How are we going to
tracking? What are we, what are
we, what are we consider
recidivism, right. Like what is
the time period we
re going to
be looking back on? And I guess
I would just say I also
encourage people to for us to
have this been kind of like an
ongoing effort. Uh, and I the
question that Councilmember
Arnold mentioned about
reporting, you know, because I
realize that for recidivism,
like we need some track record,
it takes time to get developed.
I get that point. But I also
want to make sure that we
re
collecting the information in a,
in a consistent way, and that
we all kind of have some
agreement on what those what
those metrics are going to be,
rather than trying to figure
out at the back end, which
might make it complicated to
actually track that data. So I
know that
s a lot, but I just
want to lay it all out so that
you don
t hear from me again.
Thank you.
Yes. Thank you. Um, let me
speak a little bit to the
transition. And then, Jennifer,
if you want to add in, if I
m
missing anything, uh, the first
word that came to my mind when
you were asking me, I was like,
we
re kind of hybrid right now
because we are we
ve we
have brought in-house the
referral administration. Um, so
that
s sort of changed a little
bit. The operations, uh,
working directly with that
towards, um, in, in, in, um,
you know, getting the, um,
referrals, understanding those,
having that conversation, our,
our staff member has that
conversation and then they get
referred. So that
s already a
little bit of in between.
Right. It
s a little bit it
s a
little bit different. Um, and
then we have planned and and
it, it, it, it
s a little bit
better laid out in the report
this um, um, over overlapping
of time so that rcp
organizations will continue.
Um, and we have, I think, 1 to
3 months of overlap with Csea
selected organizations so that
we can actually look at the
warm handoff. So that was one
of, um, the large concerns,
like we don
t want to we don
t
want to disrupt services for a
young person. And so being
really thoughtful in terms of
how we we don
t know whether
there might be some
organizations that continue and
whether there
s newer. We
already know that there likely
will be some organizations
because the landscape is
changing, um, all the time in
terms of organizations
continuing and discontinuing.
So, um, the landscape will
change. There
s there are some
organizations which MAY be
continuing and there
s likely
be new ones. And so we have to
work together and, and very
intentionally, um, it
s great
that we have the program team
as well as the referral
administrator who has been
developing relationships, you
know, with the current
organization so that we can
understand. And it can also
look at how we
re referring
young people, as we understand
through the rfp process, who
has selected. So, um, I hope
that answers your question in
terms of the transition we
have, I think almost 100. Um,
is it 90? Almost nearly 90
referrals in the first quarter
of 2026? Um, so, uh,
programming and referrals and
services are continuing this
year with current partners and
what our, what our work and
does through relationships,
through timing and through
planning is to really ensure a
seamless transition from rcp to
kc. And so we actually have
overlapping, um, overlapping
periods of service so that we
can actually avoid gaps where a
young person can get could get
lost right in that or get um,
um, disrupted service during
that time. And then, um, I
m
really glad. Stephanie, thank
you so much for joining us from
the prosecuting attorney
s
office. I think that
s part of
our charge ahead. And we
re
we
ve, uh, remaining close
collaboration, and we
re
excited, um, to continue this
work together in our
communication and how to see
the improvements and changes in
case I think it
s a common
interest of ours to also
understand how this is working.
And, um, finding that way
together, it will be important.
My message something.
Oh, Chair von Reichbauer. Uh,
Mayor Ralph has her hand up,
and then I have follow up
questions.
Okay. Mayor Ralph, thank you.
Thank you, MR. Chair. Um, thank
you for the presentation. I,
um, I
ve got a couple of things
that I
m maybe just not
tracking, and so I want
hopefully you can get some
clarity. So the the referral
portion is moving out of what
has historically been sort of
that, that community based
consortium and into internal to
King County is is there a
reboot of of rcp itself and
under a new name, or is it
going to continue sort of the
same philosophy? I mean, some
of the places that I
m
thinking, um, you have the
slide about the 522 youth
served, 2290 exited.
Historically, we
ve been told
that if there
s any contact at
all that qualifies the youth as
having been served, but then
there
s not a tracking of sort
of of completion. And I think
that lends itself to the
questions that you heard from,
from mayor back as of what are
what are we counting as served?
What does completion mean?
There were a lot of things
historically that I think we
had questions around. Um, and
I
m not I just need to better,
I guess, understand what what
this looks like going forward.
Because we I think we did feel
like there were a lot of gaps,
just contact with the youth did
not in a lot of our minds mean
that there was any sort of
restorative services offered.
And then and there was no, um,
there was no requirement. So if
they chose to make contact or
make contact one time, then
then that qualified them as
having completed a program. So
trying to figure out sort of is
is this the same thing? Just
we
re calling it something
different or are we looking at
it in a different in a
different way with a different
philosophy?
Uh, that
s a great question.
Um, I just want to say that I
think it was Councilmember
Burrell that we should be
having more of these
conversations, because I think
there was a lot of improvements
over time, from the beginning
of the program to last year.
Um, and getting this set up, as
you said, in terms of defining
program completion, like in the
very beginning, I don
t think
we collected data on program
start date, program end date,
and what happened in between.
Right. But that was has
actually been added. So program
completion is some of the data
that
s already being collected
in terms of starting services
provided and ending and
completing meaning like that
s
a that
s a um, uh, you
ve
completed your plan and your,
you
ve, your, you
re exiting
with a completion rather than
exiting like just sort of
stopped attending meetings or,
um, exited without completion,
completion of services. So
there have been improvements in
that. Um, and they will
continue to be and actually we
have more data in terms of the
types of services being
provided that we that we will
be collecting. So, um, a lot of
the early years and the start
of, of the system, as we as we
started that up in 2022 and
2023, but by 2024 and 2025, we
did make a lot of adjustments
in terms of understanding and
collecting the data that you
would see now more recently in
those reports, um, it is the
the restorative community
pathways is concluding its
contracts in this year and from
2027, it
s the King County
Youth Diversion and
Intervention Program. Um, yes.
So the referral administrator
who was sitting in the
community is now actually
sitting in dhs, is a member of
my team and is working closely
with Stephanie within the pow
and working with those
referrals. And so one of the
things that we actually changed
up is that those conversations
with the first contact is
actually being handled by our
team to actually understand
that young person
s situation,
what is it? And even if they
don
t accept services, that
s a
great opportunity still for
understanding, for
accountability. You know, in
our and I
m really excited that
our program manager, our
referral administrator actually
has this, this expertise to
understand the consequence. You
know, you can still have a
conversation around
consequences of actions and
understand if you if you don
t,
even if you don
t need, um,
urgency, emergent or urgent
housing assistance or
behavioral health services. And
so that triaging which when I
explain sort of happening in
the county is an opportunity
for us to better understand
that young person as they get
referred and to work with the
collection of the data. And I
would just add that I think
this is the opportunity to add.
i didn
t want to put in too
much, but I think it
s a great
opportunity for us. Like you
were saying, Mayor Baucus. And
if we
re looking at where these
young people are coming from
and if a lot of these are
coming from schools like my
dream beyond this program is
like, can we actually get
capacity into those schools and
to support the schools if to
with, um, increased capacity to
work with the young people on
this does not even get to refer
to the police and to the
prosecuting attorney
s office,
then we
re really going to like
the cause, because I know
schools have a lot on their
plates and their own capacity
to deal to, to work with
conflicts or crises that young
people might be having in
their, in their school sites.
And so, um, I think part of my
dream is to is, is that having
access to this data and
understand the time and effort
to be able to understand that
and understand a little bit
more, uh, the young people that
we
re getting, where they
re
coming from. And can we
actually go to the source in
the future and look at how we
might partner to provide
additional resources to
actually just not even get them
referred to the pa in the
future? That would be that
would be sort of my next step,
where I would love to see us
grow if possible, with with
this initiative. I hope Mayor
Ralph, that that explained. But
but if you want additional
clarification, I
m really
happy. I don
t know if if I
know we answered your question.
That was helpful. MR. Chair,
can I ask a follow up?
Absolutely.
Um, so one of the things, Jen,
that you noted is that you so
you
re making that first
contact. And if if the youth
makes the decision to, to
receive service previously that
was a decision. And if they
didn
t, then there was no next
step. So in in this new model,
are they then being referred
back to the Pao for follow ups
like they they chose to not
seek restorative services. So
so then there will be that uh,
that more legal path. Or are we
just saying we gave it a shot
and they chose not to this time.
Yeah. So if we I think that
stays the same. And correct me
if I
m wrong, Stephanie, if we
have a young person, let
s say,
for example, that we can
t
contact or that refuses to have
the conversation or accept
services, those that gets
reported back to the to the
prosecutor
s prosecuting
attorney
s office. I think
within 90 days. I think, if I
recall correctly, yes. Right.
Yes, yes. So those individuals
get referred back. And I guess
what I meant in terms of length
of services, uh, we have young
person who really that might be
around the accountability piece
and a discussion with that. And
we have other young people who
might need, um, who might not
who might not be going to
school or who might have, um,
um, we
ve had um, uh, might
need, uh, referrals to, uh,
mental health or behavioral
health services. Right. Or are
we understand that their
families are actually in, uh,
housing? Housing is a big we
have navigators saying, can you
help us with our, you know, our
housing, our housing
instability and that, you know,
that that still remains. So
when we see those overlaps and
where you look into, um, nine
months is a long, you know, is
a is a significant and that
s
an average, right. So nine
months of a young person. And I
think when we think about
children and we think about
young people and things like
positive peer connection and
social connection, it seems
like a simple indicator. But
when you think about your child
or your or someone in your life
and you think that they
re
isolated or their peer
influences, maybe, uh,
contributing to poor decisions
or school might not feel like a
safe place. They might be, uh,
truant. All of those things are
the things that we think
around. Service plans and
action plans is how do we
support that young person to be
successful? Um, in getting
education, if they can, for
example, back in school or
through our own sites where we
work, we provide ged high
school and post-secondary and
education employment as an
alternative learning option.
Um, but those are the kinds of
things when you think about the
service plans and what that
young person might need to to
be successful and to fulfill
their own plan. So that
s
that
s sort of that discussion.
And sometimes if it
s a
shoplifting and there
s really
no other issue that might be,
that
s a sort of an
accountability conversation.
And if it
s if it
s, um, those
more serious, uh, barriers and
concerns, then that
s a longer
that
s a longer plan.
A follow up, Mayor Roff.
No, thank you.
Mayor Bacchus, I
d like to get
Councilmember Robinson, who
hasn
t? Yes. First,
Councilmember Robinson.
Oh, thank you, I I
m on light
rail, so I hope it
s not too
loud. Um, you can
t listen to
this without hoping that we
re
putting as much energy and
funding into prevention. Just
like what Jen talked about. I
would love to see this program
with a phase, a second phase
of, um, a plan to get more
funding for prevention as well
as this so that we can work in
tandem. I think it
s just it
s
got to be the big picture. But
that
s my only comment. Thanks.
During any comment?
Um, yes, I thank you very much.
I think it
s, uh, I would
completely agree. I think it
is, um, in early prevention or
an early intervention. Um,
program. And if it helps us to
identify, um, young people that
are in need of, of services and
supports. And so I think it
s,
there
s great potential and
opportunity to continue to
build off this program. Like I
said, how do we actually
understand look at have the
data to understand potential
trends? Um, and get those
resources and the supports
earlier on even, you know, at
the, um, at sort of at the
source, um, um, rather than
having a pow pow referral, that
would be that would be, to me,
uh, a wise, uh, and exciting
strategy and investment.
Thank you. Mayor Backus. Always
the last word.
Yeah. Thank you, MR. Chair.
Jen. Thank you. And I hope that
the South King County mayors
and you become each other
s new
best friends. Um, we we really
do want to partner with you. I
just have one more question.
And this was something that was
kind of nebulous in rcp is if
if a young person does not
follow through on the
community, uh, community
benefits and they do reoffend,
do they have another
opportunity to be part of this
new youth diversion and
intervention program, or have
they already had that
opportunity, did not follow
through, and therefore it goes
to the prosecutor
s office.
Um, Stephanie, since.
I
m happy to answer that. And
Stephanie, trolling from the
prosecutor
s office. Um, that
s
kind of it
s it
s not a it
s
not a one size fits all answer
for the most part. Most youth
only will have one referral to
the King County youth. Um
diversion program, similar to
rcp. There are there are
instances when there are more
than one referral. It
s really
um, it
s really up to the
discretion of the prosecutor
reviewing the case. But I would
say those are pretty rare. Um,
and we do send, um, we would
share that information
certainly with the referring
law enforcement agency to an
example of when that might
happen is to, um, shoplifting
instances that happened like
within a week or of each other
where somebody is doing some
food from Safeway, and then two
weeks later is caught stealing
some food again. And there
haven
t really been much time
for engagement. We might think,
well, let
s not throw it all
away and bring them into the
court process yet. Let
s like
kind of treat those together.
Those are the most kind of
common scenarios. Like fairly
what we would consider fairly
low harm situations. There
s
not like a person victim or
someone
s been harmed and it
just makes good sense to try
that course at least. Um, but
otherwise this does count as a
diversion, if that
s what you
mean. And, you know, you
re
well aware. I know that, you
know, first offense
misdemeanors in this state are
mandatory diversion. We have no
discretion there. But once
we
ve sent a case, a referral
to this community diversion
program, it is a diversion
program. So then then it is our
discretion. We don
t have to
send the next one. So I hope
that kind of answers it.
That helps a great deal. Thank
you for that explanation. And
MISTER Chair, thank you for
indulging me this afternoon
with so many questions. Uh,
it
s clearly an important topic
for our communities, and I just
want to make sure that we
re
understanding the benefits of
this new program.
I think you
ve raised also.
A good point. As I said, I hope
that becomes a huge success.
I agree, and and I think you
raised a good point about how
much impact it has in South
King County and how much those
numbers reflect a growing
problem. And hopefully
collectively, we can work
together. I hope to see many of
you tonight at the state of the
County address at the pac. Uh,
thank you all for being here.