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Scott County providing safe, healthy,
and livable communities.
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» Item 6.1 is to receive information on
Scott County delivers topic, family
resource center. Take it away.
>> Perfect. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair
and commissioners. Um, as always,
appreciate the time and opportunity to
have another discussion before the
board. Um, as Mr. chair stated today
we'll be talking about the family
resource centers or commonly known as
the FRC's. Um in the packet it talks
about the goal of the FRC's is to really
strengthen a continue of access to
services and supports in partnership
with community- based nonprofit
nonprofits for children and youth for
families to thrive and prevent entry
into involuntary systems thereby
reducing deep end system involvement.
Um, our F FRC started in 2021 and was
innovative in that there were no other F
FRC's in the state of Minnesota and
we've now seen this start to start to
change as other counties are coming
online. I first and foremost want to
thank every person who worked on the
packet and preparing the data and of
course thanking everybody for coming and
being on the panel today. To start, if
we could, I'll have our uh facilitators
here give their names and their roles
with the county and then the same for
the panelists, please. Um, I'll start.
I'm uh Katie Mico, quality improvement.
>> Tony Winnicky, county highway engineer.
>> Chris Loy, transformation and enterprise
services.
>> Jeff Smotish, director of employee
relations.
>> Jake Gruing, transformation enterprise
services.
>> I'm Judge Vra. I'm one of the uh Scott
County judges. I'm in [clears throat]
juvenile as well as child protection and
then the rest of it is criminal pretty
much and family.
>> Um Nikki Halberg, Children and Family
Services. Tracy Kerber. I'm a social
work case manager on the prevention
team.
>> Fat Ali, interim coordinator with the
family resource center,
>> the Goldman Children's Services.
>> Thank you all so much. And of course,
commissioners, please jump in at any
time with any questions. Um, but I'll uh
hand it over to [cough] this question.
[clears throat]
>> All right. Thank you.
Uh if you read through the packet, it's clear F FRC's are the cornerstone
of our prevention infrastructure and
they exemplify the culture of prevention
that we're trying to foster here at the
county. There are two people on the
panel with the word prevention in the
departments they work in. I think
Samantha actually has the word
prevention in her title. Nikki was uh
foundational in really envisioning the F
FRC with Suzanne and Barb with support
from the board. Um that all that all
tracks for me that all makes lots and
lots of sense.
My question is going to be targeted at
Judge Verah. Um to me if you're
>> I asked the question,
>> right?
>> Thank [laughter] you. respectfully if I
can ask you if I can ask a question to
so to me if I envision myself sitting in
a courtroom in front of you I feel like
it's somewhere along the way we've
missed opportunities to prevent quite a
few things. I I wouldn't think of the
courtroom being where prevention work
begins. So if you would from your
perspective if you can share broadly how
you how you see your work as a judge
fitting with this and what opportunities
if any are there for a culture of
prevention from your seat.
>> Well sure [clears throat and cough] I
mean one of the things first of all I
was a civil lawyer before just doing
contract work. I come to Scott County
become a judge. I've been a judge for
nine years, so I feel like I have a lot
of experience to speak to this because I
wasn't in social work or or in, you
know, public service before I came on
the bench. But what I see, you know,
almost everybody that comes in front of
me is in crisis.
um whether it's a divorce and that is
just as much of a crisis for some people
as it is for a criminal case. A criminal
case, child protection,
um juvenile cases,
they're in crisis and they need help.
And what I see is first of all just
having the family resource center as an
opportunity to say, "Have you checked
with them? They're a one-stop shop." And
what I love about it is it's not just
the county resources, it's the private
resources. You know, places like St.
Francis Hospital or FISH or some of the
other things. I can't even remember all
the names of it, but I've got enough on
my mind. I just like having the
opportunity to say this is a place you
can go to address your needs. It's a
one-stop shop. You don't have to go here
for housing, here for insurance, here
for food help. It's like one place. And
I love that it's at the transit center,
which is kind of the hub of where
everybody can go to. Um, and I've really
seen the effects of it as well. Um,
people know about it. You know, a lot of
times I'll say, "Have you checked here?"
And they'll be like, "Yes." Because the
word has gotten out that there is a
place that they can go to to uh find
resources for what they need. And again,
it's not just the criminal. It's not
just the child protection. I know I work
with all of these people in child
protection, but it's the divorce cases
too that, you know, people are just
needing a place for it. And what I
absolutely love is that Scott County has
been innovative on doing this and other
counties and other places are following
in our footsteps and it really is just
an amazing thing. And I just did I know
we've been in the Star Tribune,
not no the Pioneer Press. I pulled up an
article. We're one of the first family
resource centers a in the nation and um
it really is a model and I don't know if
the commissioners know how great the
child protection team here is in Scott
County but I work with them all the time
and I work in other counties
occasionally I go to other counties of
the seven county judicial district. the
people here are just so top-notch and
supporting this program and making this
program great. So, I just think it's a
great idea. I'm getting on my soap box,
but anyway,
>> I I would jump in and say like to answer
um to go back to your question around
like those [clears throat]
what Judge Frost said around those the
families who see the judge and who are
in child protection court are in crisis.
And so while they may or may not have
had access to prevention, I think the plan and the long-term safety
planning that the child protection team
does in coordination with their signs of
safety practice to prevent future um
need for child protection, whether
that's through building resiliency
within their family system to prevent
future assessment or placements. break
that generational trauma really gets at
um the re-entry of foster care and
ongoing need in the future for
placement. So it it it doesn't
necessarily may not it may start at
court but we can see the effects when we
have a reduction in placement numbers um
we have a reduction in reentry and we
have um system family systems that are
building their resiliency that maybe
they hadn't in the past.
I have a question that kind of um goes
off of something that Judge Bra said. Um
when when speaking of the family
resource center in Shakipi, I was a
little surprised on page seven to see
that there are multiple locations of the
family resource center. So I was
wondering um do they do the same things
in each of the centers or are is it more
targeted to the community that they're
in or can you talk a little bit about
what happens at the other locations?
Sure, I can speak to that. Um, so our
Shaka Pee location is the um is at our
Mertz um transit building connected to
the integrated health center. That is I
would consider our primary location
where we do a lot of programming. We
offer the food distribution comes there.
We have Wick and Portico as well as
other programming and parenting classes.
Our Savage location is housed in the
library. Um, Wick does go to those every
um, Tuesday. And then our Jordan is at
the Jordan area food shelf. And then
Bell Plane is also in our library. Okay.
» Um, so my [clears throat] packing number
is a little bit off. Sorry about that.
So page six. So Jake, great uh, opening.
So I appreciate it the response kicking
us off here. So that was that that's
fantastic and things are going really
well. you can see in that first uh
performance measure on on page six that
shows that success. But then going to
page seven, can you talk a little bit
about the outreach and kind of the
correlation between the monthly
attendance and outreach and what does
that outreach what does that engagement
look like?
>> Yeah. So you'll notice on page seven um
our outreach really stopped um January,
March through this year and in Bell
Plain in April. So, we had a dip in
numbers. When you look at page seven,
this um this chart shows a dip in
numbers and I would contribute that to
the what was happening in the community
at the time early January. Um Operation
Metro Surge, we heard feedback from um
community members that they they didn't
feel safe coming into like a a community
place at the time. And so that really
impacted our engagement both in
um families coming and seeking resources
as well as participation in programming.
We also had um transitions and changes
both internally and externally with our
um staffing which caused us to have to
pause our bell plane um staff and also
had cause us to pause our outreach so
that we could prioritize and focus on
how do we keep the the facility open?
How do we continue to serve the people
that walk in? Um, we were able to
partner with the libraries and they
offered support in maintaining community
outreach if somebody stopped in and we
offered virtual connection. But really
those zeros in both the bell plane and
outreach was due to um both the
community um situation at the time at
the beginning of the year and a lot of
staffing changes that caused us to
prioritize how we just keep our door
open to serve families with open hours.
Thank
>> you.
All right. I have I have another
question.
>> Um [clears throat]
Evan, can you go to page four?
So, the closing sum, I think there's a
one-s sentence paragraph in the closing
summary that addresses [snorts]
the Minnesota African-American Family
Preservation and Child Welfare
Disproportionality Act. And I think I
understand what that paragraph says that
moving forward with the implementation
of that act, integration of FRC's and
child protection will be crucial to
support the new active effort
requirements through the provision of
culturally specific services for
populations disproportionately
represented in the child protection
system. Could somebody maybe dumb that
down for somebody like me and anybody
who is not as familiar with that act and
what the implications are for the FRC?
>> Yes. Um I think for us there's there's a
couple of layers as we look at
implementing um the act in 2027. Um
first and foremost I think when we look
at our um data for family resource
centers, we've really seen an increase
in our um bipok populations. like we
have built trust in our community with
um our East African and our Hispanic
populations and those are um categorized
in the Minnesota African-American Family
Preservation Child Welfare
Disproportionality Act as the population
that is going to need the most active
efforts. Um so we see our prevention
services as really being able to serve
that community and serve that community
well and and be trusted um in those
services. And that also I think when
Ramsay and Henipin piloted um the
implementation of the act in 2026,
they've really talked throughout this
year about how important the prevention
services are. Um how like that has been
a little bit of a missing piece,
especially Ramsay has talked a little
bit about that. Um and it with our
services established, it really sets um
a place for community to come get
resources first to try and help them
stay out of our child um protection
system. Um, additionally, I think as a
third layer, like we have really seen a
decrease in our child protection
assessments and our child protection
case management. So, um, financially
like we've been in a good place to
maintain staffing or even reduce
staffing when most other counties are
looking at increasing staffing um, for
implementation of the act.
So, thank you [clears throat] Evan for
going to slide eight and now on on page
12
based on your description of what the
act the expectations will be for us. Um,
this the data in the packet leads me to
believe we're already we're already on
the right track. We're already moving
toward a lot of the outcomes that the
act seems to want counties in the state
to achieve. Is that is that what you see
in the data as well?
>> I think we feel fairly confident that
we're in a good place. Like we're still
going to have to continue to make some
changes. We're going to have to do some
additional work. We want to assure like
services are sustainable in our county
and that we have these resources for
families. But I think um we as a child
protection team and a prevention team
see our county is in a pretty good place
for implementation.
[snorts]
>> And I think we've really seen child
protection numbers go down at the courts
quite a bit. I mean, since I started,
um, we used to have four judges that did
child protection, we're down to three.
And the our basically our case loads in
child protection are manageable. We can
spend a lot of time with the families,
which is makes a big difference. Um, I
went to a national conference
uh in Minneapolis. I think it was March.
And there was a judge there from Nevada.
And she said that she only had I think
it was like every 15 minutes she had a
new family that she had to address in
child protection. And we usually have an
hour to deal with a family where you
know the they may start talking with the
workers and their attorneys and then
they come into court and we address how
things are going. So we have the time
and I I just I think the numbers are
going down and a lot of that has to do
with prevention beforehand before you
have to remove the kids from the home.
if you can make it work, get the, you
know, however it may be. If you have a
parent that can take over while another
parent gets into drug treatment or
something like that. [snorts] So, the
numbers have really been going down.
[clears throat]
>> Nikki, can you talk to slide 12? I mean,
I look at that one and I know our
numbers are smaller than either
[clears throat] Henipin or Ramsay,
right, in the BIPO, but when I look at
those percent decreases,
that's tremendous work in bringing those
disparities much closer together, which
is ultimately what this act is about.
Correct.
>> Correct. Yep. And I think we we see that
in our utilization in our family
resource center. We see that in our
educational and truency work as well.
And really like when when we talk about
the families that are in our court
system, it's the prevention work has
really been about how do we just shift
everybody upstream. So we're still going
to have these difficult cases, right?
But we've we've also um cut cut our
county attorneys from two to one in in
our child protection cases. So it's
really about how do we move everything a
little upstream? And we've seen that in
our our disparities um data of like how
do we move those families a little bit
more upstream and out of our system.
>> Are we allowed to make comments, Katie?
>> Of course.
>> Is that okay? [laughter]
>> Just so yeah, this is not a question. I
think it's something that that here in
Sky County easily goes without saying,
but it probably never should go without
saying. We didn't need the state to tell
us that this was the right work to do.
Suzanne and Barb and Leslie and the
board and everybody at the table was
looking at the data, seeing the
disparities and put that work in motion
long before a state mandate came down
and said these are these are the
outcomes. This is the work you need to
do. Um just feel like it's important to
call that out every time that happens,
but especially here um because the
results really speak for themselves.
Maybe following [snorts] up on
[clears throat] that on page 15.
So with that said, obviously this really
shows a great tenure.
How does this compare with other
counties like percent of population or
any other measure? Um how does that
compare?
>> So go ahead. I was just going to say our
out of home placement is the lowest in
the state from any county
percentage-wise. Um, and again, it's really that shift of how do we how
do we continue the funnel where, you
know, our prevention work serves all of
our community and we continue to move
people to the top of the funnel so that
we continue to make the bottom of the
funnel less and less, which is our court
involvement and our odome placement.
>> I would add to that it's the it's the
culture of prevention within child
protection. And it's thinking outside of
the box instead of going straight to a
formalized placement either through
court or through a voluntary placement
agreement. It's how do we how do we
maintain safety for the children in the
home while being creative and
reducing the need for a placement that
we know can be traumatic for children in
and of itself. So, it's that
preventative work that goes into the
assessment, the case management case to
continue to keep that child out of home
or in the home in preventing an out of
home placement.
» Um, if we could go to page 10, there is
a chart that talks about the parent
support outreach program. So, I'm
wondering if you could just talk to me
about like to those who don't know, what
is that program and then how do you see
it connecting to [clears throat] the F
FRC? Okay. Um, I do the parent support
outreach program and what it is, it's a
voluntary program for families who have
at least one child who is age 10 or
younger or maybe they're expecting their
first [clears throat] child and they
have two or more stressors or risk
factors. Um, and the way I see it
connecting to the F FRC is I I pretty
much bring information about the family
resource center to every family that I'm
working with at a minimum. just letting
them know that they exist and that
they're there and what they can find
there. But then when I do my meeting
with them, we do an intake and I learn,
oh, this specific need has has come up.
So then when we're [clears throat] going
through the calendar, I'm like, you can
come on this day and this specific
person is there to address exactly what
you're talking about. Um, sometimes it's
me picking them up and bringing them in.
Sometimes it's we are just meeting there
so I can just introduce them to the
space and then we always do a lap around
and they grab whatever resources that
they want. Um lots of families are
looking for that social connection and
so we're talking about all of the
activities that they can do there that
they can bring their kids that it's you
know such a nice space. So it's it's
just embedded in my work and I'm telling
every single family that does the parent
support outreach program about the
family resource center and I've really
seen it
do really really cool things for
families. So
>> yes
>> and sorry [clears throat] at the family
resource center when Tracy brings
clients or families in her we're able to
address the basic needs like housing,
health insurance, providing a safe space
for the kids to play and then Tracy can
stay with the family or the parents and
work through some more like other
services or other needs that they need
to address. So we meet their first Maslo
hierarchy of need and then Tracy can
provide the rest. So that's like the
relationship between the family resource
center and her program.
Thank you both. I appreciate it.
» So the data in the packet and the
narrative itself, it's like it's all to
me paints a very good picture of the
work that's happening and that that
seems to be accurate. We had Wilder here
a couple weeks ago and they presented on
their return on investment findings
which was really I think a conservative
estimate of the ROI
um not capturing the the broadest
possible impact of the F FRC.
I don't see anything in here that like
data wise that says something's going
really poorly. So is there anything from
your perspective that is not going well
that would be an opportunity for
improvement if you were here a year from
now or two years from now that you'd say
we really want this aspect of our work
to look different. We know we can do
better.
I think um you know when I think back
about when we started in 2021, there's
always a piece of that because our
community changes and so how do we
continue to like work with our community
about what new issues emerge? Um I think
that like we've got some opportunities
um for some additional peer support for
people that are struggling with
substance abuse. Like some of those
things I think that we could continue to
build on. Um, I think that right now
we're in a a little bit of a challenging
space with a a possible um discussions
around transition. So, I think we've got
some staffing um opportunities that we
can clear up. And then I think we would
[clears throat] certainly like to go
back to um additional outreach um and kind of adding some of the
additional services that you
[clears throat] might be a need.
I think I'll follow up on on J on uh
page 13 kind of a followup to that. So
this is number of initiated child mal
treatment assessments and investigation.
Obviously it's trending really well. So
the question kind of similar is in an
ideal world. Okay. What do you suggest
to improve this trend or the rate of
this trend? Let's say the goal is zero.
So it's trending downward. So, what do
you suggest to continue that downward
trend or the or a greater rate of this
trend?
>> I what initially comes to mind for me
when we look at um page 13 is I come
from the lens of as you're talking to
mandated reporters and they're making a
child malreatment report. It's that
ongoing education of mandated supporting
and how can they fit into the prevention
puzzle. I think our school districts um
hospitals do a really good job of having
a different lens since starting this
culture of prevention, but it's that
ongoing education for all mandated
reporters to
be able to connect families rather than
make a child protection report that
enters them into the system regardless
of whether that report is screened in or
screened out. they're they're then in
the system instead of possibly having
preventative resources or places to send
families that would prevent them from
making a mandated report.
>> Can one of you build on that? Because
having sat in some of those school
district meetings early on, [cough]
[clears throat] it seems to me that that
was part of the culture, right? we get
to seven unexcused versus preventing
seven unexcused or we wait till the
behavior gets to the point where we call
in child protection. So, how have you
built that partnership? What are you
doing to keep that going?
[clears throat]
I think one of the things I see within
my work in our screening department is
ongoing conversations with schools when
they call because we have the same
reporters call whether it's our
staff or the dean of students
[clears throat] call to make reports.
It's the ongoing relationship and the
ability to challenge um in a friendly
way, right? the ability to have an open
candid conversation about what the
report is, what have they tried, or to
say, "This may not meet criteria for a
child protection response, but we want
to partner with you in a voluntary way
through child welfare." Um, or through
our prevention with St. David's or
Catalaso and Treehouse. Um it is I think
time time has really being consistent in
the response and our screening decisions
around how we are how we are being
mindful of each report and if it meets
criteria and it has to be assessed that is one thing and then having that
worker connect with the um mandated
reporter or other professionals in that
child's life to have the conversation
about further resources or the future
plan that would that's more preventative
focused to engage them in what the plan
would be in the future rather than
having child protection be that initial
response.
>> I think additionally like we've changed
our narrative a bit around with schools
and with some of our providers our
mandated reporters around you know get the family to us and we can help
them. And I think we've shifted that
more to like we've implemented mandated
supporter training and our mandated
reporter training to really talk to um
our mandated reporters around how they
can support families without having to
get them to us. And I think the family
resources center is has been crucial
because it's a place they can send
people. The schools know like if a if a
child needs a jacket, they don't have to
wait until it's cold and call on this
family. They can they can get a child a
jacket at the family resource center.
they have a place to go. Um, which I
think has been imperative in in them
being able to support the families
they're working with. I think the other
piece to to the question was um I think
our family resource centers have been a
little bit unique. A lot of family
resource centers kind of have this, you
know, whole level of prevention and
we've been really um particular about
how do we engage our child protection
team and when we started it was really
well by the time they're in child
protection like prevention doesn't
matter anymore. It's too late and it's
not. And so how do we continue to work
with child protection around the issues
they're seeing with families and
continue to support families in a
preventative way even when they're in
our deepest system.
And I'd like to say just a couple things
just on what Nikki said about when I
think about what I've seen in the child
protection area in the courts.
Um there [snorts] was a really dark
period during CO where people were not
you know we were doing Zoom hearings and
child protection. People were not going
out in the public. people were not
meeting and that one- on-one contact,
you know, being able to go to the family
resource center in person, talk to a
person, have them point in the them in
the right direction. I mean, I think we
lost a lot of families during COVID
where that, you know, we need each
other. We need to appear in person. I
mean, I'm like a closet introvert,
even though I'm a judge, but I need
connection with people, and Ron knows
this. I ins we insist on criminal cases,
people come to the court in person. I
won't sentence a person unless they're
there in person. And it's really
important. And so just having, you know,
a call to say, "Oh yeah, go to this
place and you can find resources versus
coming into [clears throat] a physical
location and actually talking to people
and having a face-to-face conversation
is so important. I've just seen that in
the courts." So
>> I think I I might just add from a
structural standpoint, even just the
integration. And so Samantha is our in
child protection intake screening
supervisor and prevention supervisor. It
was an intentional piece of how are we
structurally organizing the connection
between prevention and deep end service
um to to be able to integrate that
upstream um focus regardless of where
someone's positioned outside the system
or within the system. And I think in
terms of this data on page 13 um we we
continue to hope that we will see a
decrease but it uh the goal is always
going to be zero but more most
importantly are we servicing the right
kids and families in the right spot. So,
can we secure safety and prevention
services outside the child welfare
system? And if we can, and I think this
demonstrates that over time, that we
were servicing families that maybe
didn't need to be [clears throat] in the
child protection system. We know about
60% of Minnesota child protection cases
are related to neglect, often the result
of pover impacts of poverty. And so, can
we meet that need outside the child
protection system? And then we have
better ability to meet the needs of our
really deep and most serious that may
need the help, support, and expertise of
the child protection system.
I think in some sense this has kind of
been answered through a multitude of
questions, but just wondering if you
could talk about what opportunities you
look forward to to continue to make sure
you're casting a wide net in and like
everybody that you can help that you're
finding them and getting them to the F
FRC.
Um, I would say this really speaks to
the cultural navigators that we have at
the F FRC location right now. We have
Somali speaking and Spanish speaking
cultural navigators both employed by the
county and via community organizations
like Micasa, CAP, Community Resource
Center and 360s. Um, and having somebody
who looks like you and most importantly
speaks your language is very helpful and
it allows families when they walk in or
if they do call to have somebody that
they can be a bit more honest with than
they would be with like us who look a
bit more government and serious. And it
also allows them to be more open and um
seek other resources that they might not
be aware of. For example, we have the
Mikasa food distribution and families
come in for food and then multiple uh
different kinds of families come in for
food and then while they're there, they
realize, oh wait, I can get questions
about housing, about preschool, about
health insurance, or even like a place
to take my kids over the summer for
summer camp. Um, I would like to see the
cultural navigation piece um, expanded
to include Asian-American community and
the um, Native American community. And I
would also like to see languages like
Swahili, Cameron, Vietnamese, and all
those implemented too as well. And I
think that's a really good growth
opportunity that allows us to expand our
net and get everybody that would need
the family resource center.
And I think additionally like it's our
outreach, right, and how we're planning
programs [clears throat] for to reach
every individual in Scott County. Um I
mean I think we see people that are
really struggling. We also see people
that are really doing well and they just
want a place to come and do an activity.
[clears throat] So I think it's it's
that that wide net
>> to the judge's point of community, a
place for community.
>> Absolutely. It's just so important. And
then the one thing about getting the,
you know, the numbers to zero. And this
is where my, you know, experience as a
judge is, [clears throat]
you know, there's always going to be
cases involving sexual abuse, physical
abuse that may not be related to
poverty. We see those cases. And you
know, good families, you from the
outside, they look fine. They don't need
resources, okay? But there's something
going wrong seriously in that family.
And that's where the, you know, the
mandated reporters that the kids from
the schools are able to report that.
has nothing to do with the family
resource center. But I don't think the
number is ever going to go to zero
because it shouldn't because I want to
make sure that, you know, that schools
and people, teachers know when that make
kids feel comfortable to disclose if
that is happening. So, I don't know if
it'll ever go to zero is what I'm
saying. A
>> and with that, like that's where our
child protection team wants to spend the
most time, right? Like that's where if
we if we get those cases lowered, we we
get our case loads lowered, like those
are the families that we can spend the
most time with,
>> right?
» All right. I have another question. Um
Nikki, you touched on this a little bit,
the transition that's being considered
for moving from the county operating the
service to a community provider really
operating [snorts]
the service. And based on everything
you've said, the panel here has said,
all the data, it again seems like it's
going exactly the way we want it to.
um which maybe makes that it could make
it a difficult transition to to let that
go and trust a community partner to
deliver that [clears throat] maybe to
the same level even more effectively
than the county has been providing it.
What going forward
would you have us do and us like as a
Scott County I'm saying that in two ways
as a Scott County resident as a Scott
County employee what would you have us
do to ensure the ongoing success of
this? So you, Suzanne, Nikki, everybody
at the table, you have ready access to
everybody here, all 42 business units in
the county. It's easy for me to bump
into you in a meeting and then we can
talk about what can the library do to
support the F FRC or what can our
volunteer coordinator do to support the
F FRC?
If those are not the right connections
from a staff standpoint, what can the
rest of us do to to make sure that
fabric that your folks have so carefully
and thoughtfully woven of that culture
of prevention, how do we make sure that
stays strong and stays connected to a
community provider? So, that's one. What
would you have us Scott County do? And
then what would you have us as residents
do to make sure the community provider
has the support it needs? Um I so I I
think it's it's it's a complicated sort,
right? We we want to make sure with any
community or organizations we're aligned
with what our values are for the family
resource center. Um and our family
resource center has really been built on
our community organizations, our
nonprofits, our community, our parent
advisory committee and our county
services. So I think from a county
perspective like it would be important
for those services to continue to be
present at the family resource center
even when a community provider um may be
leading the work. So our housing
support, our library support um you know
all of those services, their financial
assistance, all of those things that are
present today um we would want them to
continue with a community organization.
Um we we are hopeful to to really walk
through together of a transition. So, we
would want to work with our community
about what they continue to value in our
family resource center, our parent
advisory committee about what they see
as important, our together with Ken
steering committee around what what are
really the the values and the things
we're doing that we want to see a
community provider continue to do. Um,
you know, we we've been really proud of
the work and connecting it to our our um
child protection assessments. Um, we
also know like the community has a voice
in this and how do we continue to
respond to that and make sure that we're
doing what the community also is asking
of of our family resource center.
» I know we look a lot at our child
protection [clears throat] outcome and
that tells us a lot about how well the
FRC is doing. Are there any other areas
that you see positive outcomes occurring
in due to the impacts of the FRC?
So, I think I mean we've heard from
other departments, you know, we've
worked with child support and we hear um
from child support like they've had some good opportunities at our family
resource center. Um I think that like
we've we've seen some outcomes with our
housing services and our prevention
culture and housing and having housing
present at the family resource center.
Um I think that we're hopeful and and
it's a really difficult thing to
evaluate, right? But um how are we
making sure that we're reaching families
that are feeling like they've gotten
what they need at the family resource
center? And I think this coming year
could be a year um that we take a look
at like some of that survey data. I know
a couple years ago we did um like 50
cups of coffee with our community. So
how are we hearing back from them about
whether or not this is working?
[clears throat]
And I I might just add um I think
Nikki's um point of the community like
this was really communitydriven. And so
this idea I think Jake you referenced
sort of the the work at the onset. This
work about um how do we serve and reach
kids and families differently came from
community connection. It came from
community conversation. And what we
heard is how do you find a place where
um essentially it's a one-stop shop.
Parents talked about the difficulty if
you don't have transportation. How do I
get to one place for one service and
somewhere else for a different service?
And so this is about um this if we are
successful in a transition to a
community provider, it is about
government taking a new and different
role. [clears throat] Um and so it is
opportunity and sure is it can be scary
in that. Um, but we have an opportunity
to hear from community and we have since
2017ish and we will need to continue and
that voice of community probably gets
even more important as we approach the
transition for how is it going, what
does community need and how do we
leverage our parent advisory council as
parents with lived expertise to say how
is it going and increase sort of our
sharing of power with them as we move um
to a new uh evolution of the F FRC
service delivery.
I think that's thank you Suzanne for
that. I think that connects with
something else I was thinking about like
as time goes on as this evolves and
changes and and hopefully transitions to
more comm community even more community-
based what kind of data would you all
like to see or would you like to collect
in the future to know it's having the
impacts um that it should or that you
expect?
Maybe it's more about that survey data
or
>> I think um you know this this recent
return on investment like it I think it
gave us a small picture um and I think
those are discussions we'd also like to
continue to have with a community
organization. We absolutely would want
to continue to provide um or you know
get data around our child protection
team like are those cases continuing to
stay low? Our out of home placements
continuing to stay low. how is that
family resource center still serving the
people to make sure that we're getting
those families upstream and not in our
deep end systems? Um, and then I think
we would probably want to work with our
community organizations around what's next. Like are we are we seeing
higher graduation rates? Are we seeing
kids flourish in school? Are we seeing
less crime? Like what is the big picture
for family resource centers?
Any
other questions from my co-f
facilitator?
>> Well, I have an offbook compound
question that I've been dreading asking,
but so again, listen to the presentation
reviewing the presentation. Uh there are
I'm going to use my own terms, right?
There are there's a reconceptualization
of of prevention, right? You mean the
prevention that spectrum is is longer.
You've made that point. And we have
different inputs in the system. You've
got more generalized outreach to
families who who fire risk factors.
You've got education to mandatory
reporters which again is another input.
You've got uh your honor uh there
suggesting the family resource center
will reach a certain point. Does this
group even anecdotally have a sense of
in those three phases if you take my
arbitrary uh you know breaking up of of the in of the inputs if you will. Is
there a place where it's stickiest? Is
it a place where it's most effective?
I.e. early prevention if you're just
reaching out to the families maybe they
don't uh engage in the services or show
up uh you know to to to leverage some of
these events I noticed the there the
drop in outreach there was a drop in
attendance but that also that correlated
with some other things happening in
society so again even just on a sort of
anecdotal level is there a point in the
process where a specific type of
outreach or engagement is most
>> successful or or has the most engagement
back from the individual if that's
making sense
Um so the return on investment study
would show that that initial engagement
where you're having the intake you're
meeting that basic need whether it's
those concrete supports or the warm
connection to a service has the most
impact.
>> Yeah. No no and I'm sorry it's was a
very again a rambling uh compound
question. Yeah. Obviously that's where
the greatest return on investment is.
But is there a greater amount of sort of
attrition out because it's not at a
point where something might be mandatory
or there might be another consequence.
Do we have any sense of you know right
once we really we get our hands on
someone in the system they don't trip
back out they they maintain uh
engagement with the program or again is
that a data point we might want to
>> um
>> yeah I think we could certain go ahead.
>> Go ahead. So, I think we certainly um
probably need to take a look at like the re-engagement of families who might
have the most difficult situations and how do we continue to support those
families. I think when
>> um our doors opened, we we had some of
that and because of some staffing
challenges like we've lost a little bit
of um that
>> like walking along with a person a
little bit um for a longer period of
time, right? Um, so like families are
still able to come back, but how do they
have that personal connection?
>> Um, and I think really when you talk
about like this the sticking point, um,
I think we try and catch all of those,
but you're always going to have places
where you can continue to do more,
right? But I think about like our
father's programming where it's a
community, anybody can join and we go to
the Scott County jails. And so, um, some
of those sticky points I think we've
tried to
>> to reach. Um, but I think the the
outreach is a place that we've seen like
when we have our our events, our our
back to school, like it's it's we know
like um you know having some of those
things or giving kids backpacks isn't
necessarily going to prevent child
protection, but it really offers a
family a place to go and they really
it's about getting that word out so
families know that they have somewhere
[clears throat] to go for whatever they
might need.
>> Well, that's thank you very much. It's good to to know or hear that that
broadspectctrum outreach is is having a
return. Um and because another
anecdotally in my own experience, right,
the further upstream you go, the greater
your your attrition rate because people
don't there isn't necessarily a sense of
urgency. So that's a wonderful bit of
information. Thank you.
>> Okay.
>> I just want to give an opportunity if
there if anybody had anything else that
they thought of uh maybe a answer to a
question that was asked earlier that you
want a moment to address it.
All right. Well, then
>> I want to add something, Katie, before
we jump on. I usually don't do this, but
Suzanne, was it like 10 years ago Nikki
was sitting on one of these panels as a
social worker?
>> I think you're right. And you could see
then her [clears throat] interest in not
siloing, broadening. You can't do this
alone. I sat there and was just amazed
at your thought process and now I sit
here and watch today what you have
helped do and your research and your
support for putting this program in
place to help our residents. Just kudos
to you and your commitment to the people
of Scott County and using and breaking
that down and broadening and bringing
people together. Just outstanding data,
outstanding work.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, Administrator Vermillion.
We'll turn it back to Mr. Chair and the
commissioner for any I would like to
start off and I know the board will have
comments or questions and stuff, but you
know, over the time that I've been a
commissioner, um the county I think has
struggled with community engagement.
we've tried to figure out how to provide
more outreach, more connection,
more involvement with the community and that's been a theme that we've
worked on and had, you know, success
come and go or or, you know, levels of
success. And I'm wondering, and I'm like
Jake, I think I need something
simplified for me. I think it's mo maybe
it's a rhetorical question for this
morning, but I'm wondering um you know
the family resource center to me seems
like a portal of to the community, a
connection, a connection with the
community. And I my what I need
simplified eventually is why would you
want to have a nonprofit run this? Why would you want to give up this
direct county engagement with the
community and have someone else which
you may or may not be happy with over
the time you know and you give up
control you give up the the portal the
connections so anyhow that could be
rhetorical for the future but I don't
know if it needs to be answered today
but that's my question I would be very
and I'd be very cautious on on
giving it up okay you I commissioner
record. Did you Oh, well, I I said it
was rhetorical, but if you want to
answer that, [clears throat]
>> I I think um for me, like my first
reaction is I don't I don't know that we
want to give it up. I think we want to build it stronger for our
community. You know, I think that when
we saw a metro surge in January, it was
really a little bit of an eyeopening. We
are still a county service, right? And
so families, I think, still find some of
those opportunities and they get a
little hesitant around, do I really want
to go to a county building? Um, so I
think we want to continue to provide
those services and make that connection
to the county and and have that
opportunity, but we want to give our
residents and our community an
opportunity to feel safe, to feel
comfortable, to feel like they can ask
for whatever they need um and not have
that that government feel of like, oh, I
don't know. And and I think as a team,
we struggled a little bit during that um metro surge because we we had to
balance both, right? like how do we
serve our community and how do we follow
laws and how do we how do we react to
some of those things? And so I think
some of those um make it difficult for county government to continue to to lead and how do we how do we walk
along together um to get both of those
needs met? And Mr. Chairman, I I would
go back to the original discussions
which goes all the way back to Pam
Selvig and Chris Harter. And it was
really the county board who talked about
collaboration [clears throat] and
community-led
and alignment. So we're we're not
walking away from it. We're still
providing the infrastructure, the
capital, and we still have to provide
some financial resources to make this
work. But it was really about aligning
and who was in the best place to do some
of this community and that engagement
and outreach. And it really came from
the discussions with the county board as
we were formulating this and where it
was going to go. It was aligning those
to best who could lead and then we are
still at the table.
>> Okay. Well, you made a case for not
doing it, I think, this morning. And and
um you know, I I'll just think of I
won't name the categories, but I think
there's other categories and not really
related to this at all where we've said
we're going to kind of shift this over
to someone else or some other way to do
this. And then our mindset became
gradually we don't do that, they do
that. Um, and I, you know, there's some,
I think there'd be some of that if you
had a nonprofit, but I I know you you
have to be somewhat vitally or you need
to be vitally connected. I get that part
of it, but again, I'll go back to Jake.
I I need it simplified for me. Okay, Mr.
Chair, if I if I might. Um, I think the other piece though, Family Resource
Center is a national model and really
Scott County has done it different,
which doesn't mean right or wrong. It
but we did do it different. the vast
majority of family resource centers
across the country are operated by
community organizations. So, we are sort
of the unique piece. Um, and I and and
so is there fear? Sure, there's fear.
Like I I will be the first to say we've
invested a lot of time, energy, sweat,
tears, relationships into the
development um of what the family
resource center is. Um, and also I think
there's an opportunity that we just
simply have a new role within it where
maybe instead of the driver, we're
co-pilot or we're the backseat driver.
Um, but we're not the sole driver. And
so this is just an opportunity to I
think reframe it and to be in alignment
with really um what the evidence of the
model demonstrates is that um broader
impact both reductions in our deep end
as well as other um impacts like
self-sufficiency and education and
literacy over time. And so I don't I
think it's critical. We're not walking
away. I don't I don't think it is at all
about that. Is about how we reinvision
sort of our role with a community
organization.
» Thank you. All right. Other comments
from board members.
>> Thank you. Um thanks for the
presentation and first off I just want
to say thanks to everybody here in the
room and and those who worked on this
initiative earlier who aren't with us
anymore. Uh, thank you because I I think
early early on the board was involved in
talking about this and it all it always
was our lane here is to have better
outcomes for children and and not have
them need the deep end services. And I
just really thank you for keeping the
eye on the prize there because it's
shown that that we can do that and we I
think we can use that lesson as we look
at other things the county needs to do
and make sure we're keeping that
long-term outcome in mind. I also at
least my memory is that some of the
reason um the transition to a community
partner was looked at is because I think
this board said you must [laughter] um
or really encouraged it because of
funding and things like that. So, I
appreciate Commissioner Alwark's
comments and and Suzanne talking about
how
maybe we don't even call it
transitioning anymore, but it's a
reframing and I hope we always will be a
key partner on those outcomes because I
think the Family Resource Center can
achieve outcomes that maybe aren't in
our government lane, which is great, and
allowing other folks to accomplish them
while we stay in our lane um is
[clears throat] good. So, my comments
really were about potential, I don't
want to say even transitioning, but
reimagining and and broadening of the
family resource center. Just a couple
things. I I would love a couple comments
on no matter how that happens, if it
happens,
what part of the partnership will the
county hold on to tight to make sure
we're achieving those those outcomes?
And then for especially for my district,
for district one, really seeing the um
work to get those resources out to the
rest of the county, not just our primary
location, has been really important. And
just wondered if anybody could comment
on kind of long-term thoughts about that
because I I know it takes a while. It
takes a while to get people to
understand it's it's a worthwhile place
to go to to get resources, can help,
especially when it's, you know, two
hours on Wednesday and two hours on
Monday or whatever. But what's the the
long-term thought about that? So, thank
you.
>> I think our long-term thought is really
ho how do we how do we continue to
expand that to areas that are most
reachable for families? Like, do we do more working with our schools and
have um traveling for things like that
so we can make sure that we're
consistent. We're getting the word out.
And you know, unfortunately with like
some of the staffing issues we've had,
those are the the locations that
sometimes suffer the most um because we
want to make sure we're available to as
many people as we can be. Um but I think
it would be reimagining how are we still
available in those communities
consistently and how are we doing some
of that outreach to make sure we're
reaching the community.
» Oh, go ahead.
I [clears throat] just want to also say
how much your work is appreciated. I
think Nikki, you mentioned that you've
cut that in half pretty much the uh
cases coming to my office which allowed
me to reallocate some resources in my
office. Um so it's really appreciate the
great work that you guys are doing and
uh we can keep the lawyers out of your
way and let you guys do your do your
job. Um it's been working out great and as you know we're there if you need
us. But uh excellent excellent work by
your group
>> and and our lawyer is pretty great,
[laughter]
» Commissioner Bear.
>> Thank you. [clears throat] Yeah, this feels like I mean we've we've
talked about this. We're going to
continue to talk about it and rustle
through it uh in a good way, which is great. This just feels like I
mean there are good results. Um,
and it potentially is changing from what
we originally envisioned and maybe not,
but it does feel like, and I hate to be
cliche, but what does it say? You know,
good is enemy of great. It feels like we
could be at a spot to where we're
satisfied. Good things are happening.
It's not a bad It's really not bad. Um,
but it does also feel like this is just
something that could be even better,
which I think we all want. But are we
willing to risk? because it's good. It's
good right now. And government tends
just generally tends to be okay. We got
something good. Let's just kind of stay
and cuddle that when it's like, well,
maybe one more step and we can be great.
But but but yeah, there's a lot of
butts. And it just feels like this is
that
um that it could be great, could be
better, and not to say that it's not
good. So, I want to be clear it and and
it's fall and you know this has been a
baby that's you have all seen grow up
and oh it's going to get on a big yellow
bus and go to kindergarten. I don't
know. Um it's my baby. Like I get that
too. But it does just feel like
it's it's it's ready for this. Like I've
always been bullish and now lately I've
said still bullish but it's tarnishing a
little bit. And not because it's bad,
because it's good, but because I feel
like we need to take some steps to make
it greater, better. I don't think the
county would ever
completely step away from this and here
you go, whoever, if you can find someone
to do that. Uh, it always felt like, and
boy, this will really date me, but felt
like a mall concept where Scott County
would always be an anchor tenant to
whomever, uh, the multitude hopefully
would be that would be in this. It's got
to be a better analogy these days. Malls
are dying. But of this mall of different
storefronts of of the main street, a
main street of just different storefrs
that's going to meet people where
they're at, different nonprofits that
are with us today in the county or yet
to be uh met and introduced to
throughout the country or the world that
are doing things like this. So that's just my not caution, but just my
encouragement is that
I do believe this county is bold, is
willing to take calculated risks, to be
um to venture away from good and risk
being great. Um I I just hate to see
programs and I'm not saying that this is
there but it could be where it just
becomes good and governmenty that the
next group at this table you know adds
something or you and it just never quite
got to its potential.
So that's just my encouragement, not
caution, but just encouragement that we
look to what we originally had talked
about, understanding things change, but
could this be even better? And are we
willing to take that risk? And I think
we are. So
thank you for all the great work that's
happened. I mean, great work has
happened. And I again, I want to
clarify, I'm not saying that good things
are not happening. Good things are
happening. and it just feels we're
almost there.
>> So, Mr. Chairman, your staff in the work
session on the budget is making that
recommendation to make the next step
that we would be one of the elements of
the first stop shop of the F FRC. We're
still going to be there. We're still a
tenant. We are still a financial backer
of it. But the recommendation in the
next budget is to move forward.
» And Mr. Mr. Chair, if I might um offer a
comment in response to Commissioner
Wcman's um I think question around like
what's our vision for if there is a
transition, what role do we play in
that? And I think as we have talked
about that internally like we are
prepared, we've got um I'll I'll name
her Samantha would be identified as sort
of that bridge. And so walking closely
alongside a partner if it's six months a
year with intentional steps around
transition. Ultimately we want the
community provider right to own that and
we want to help support it. But I do
think there will be um close integration
as we walk through any sort of a
transition in the upcoming year.
» All right. Any additional comments or
questions? I don't know. I I I want to I
guess say a little bit more. I if we
have a nonprofit that's chomping at the
bit and they are going to do a fabulous
job and make it better, I would who
would um stand [clears throat] in the
way with that, you know, but if we're
trying to talk somebody into taking it
and we're uncertain of how they're going
to do, that's another thing. Um so um
any I just have caution there. Um
anybody else? Okay. Well, thank you.
for your work. Uh, it's vital
and you're doing a good job and thank
you very much. Yeah.