[0:00] [music]

[0:03] Scott County providing safe, healthy,

[0:06] and livable communities.

[0:09] [music]

[0:13] » Item 6.1 is to receive information on

[0:16] Scott County delivers topic, family

[0:18] resource center. Take it away.

[0:21] >> Perfect. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair

[0:22] and commissioners. Um, as always,

[0:24] appreciate the time and opportunity to

[0:26] have another discussion before the

[0:27] board. Um, as Mr. chair stated today

[0:29] we'll be talking about the family

[0:31] resource centers or commonly known as

[0:32] the FRC's. Um in the packet it talks

[0:35] about the goal of the FRC's is to really

[0:37] strengthen a continue of access to

[0:39] services and supports in partnership

[0:41] with community- based nonprofit

[0:43] nonprofits for children and youth for

[0:45] families to thrive and prevent entry

[0:46] into involuntary systems thereby

[0:49] reducing deep end system involvement.

[0:51] Um, our F FRC started in 2021 and was

[0:54] innovative in that there were no other F

[0:56] FRC's in the state of Minnesota and

[0:57] we've now seen this start to start to

[0:59] change as other counties are coming

[1:01] online. I first and foremost want to

[1:03] thank every person who worked on the

[1:04] packet and preparing the data and of

[1:07] course thanking everybody for coming and

[1:09] being on the panel today. To start, if

[1:11] we could, I'll have our uh facilitators

[1:14] here give their names and their roles

[1:16] with the county and then the same for

[1:17] the panelists, please. Um, I'll start.

[1:19] I'm uh Katie Mico, quality improvement.

[1:22] >> Tony Winnicky, county highway engineer.

[1:25] >> Chris Loy, transformation and enterprise

[1:27] services.

[1:28] >> Jeff Smotish, director of employee

[1:29] relations.

[1:30] >> Jake Gruing, transformation enterprise

[1:32] services.

[1:33] >> I'm Judge Vra. I'm one of the uh Scott

[1:36] County judges. I'm in [clears throat]

[1:38] juvenile as well as child protection and

[1:41] then the rest of it is criminal pretty

[1:44] much and family.

[1:45] >> Um Nikki Halberg, Children and Family

[1:47] Services. Tracy Kerber. I'm a social

[1:49] work case manager on the prevention

[1:50] team.

[1:51] >> Fat Ali, interim coordinator with the

[1:54] family resource center,

[1:56] >> the Goldman Children's Services.

[1:58] >> Thank you all so much. And of course,

[1:59] commissioners, please jump in at any

[2:01] time with any questions. Um, but I'll uh

[2:03] hand it over to [cough] this question.

[2:05] [clears throat]

[2:05] >> All right. Thank you.

[2:08] Uh if you read through the packet, it's clear F FRC's are the cornerstone

[2:14] of our prevention infrastructure and

[2:16] they exemplify the culture of prevention

[2:18] that we're trying to foster here at the

[2:20] county. There are two people on the

[2:23] panel with the word prevention in the

[2:25] departments they work in. I think

[2:27] Samantha actually has the word

[2:28] prevention in her title. Nikki was uh

[2:32] foundational in really envisioning the F

[2:35] FRC with Suzanne and Barb with support

[2:37] from the board. Um that all that all

[2:40] tracks for me that all makes lots and

[2:42] lots of sense.

[2:44] My question is going to be targeted at

[2:46] Judge Verah. Um to me if you're

[2:49] >> I asked the question,

[2:50] >> right?

[2:52] >> Thank [laughter] you. respectfully if I

[2:54] can ask you if I can ask a question to

[2:56] so to me if I envision myself sitting in

[2:58] a courtroom in front of you I feel like

[3:01] it's somewhere along the way we've

[3:03] missed opportunities to prevent quite a

[3:05] few things. I I wouldn't think of the

[3:07] courtroom being where prevention work

[3:09] begins. So if you would from your

[3:12] perspective if you can share broadly how

[3:14] you how you see your work as a judge

[3:16] fitting with this and what opportunities

[3:18] if any are there for a culture of

[3:20] prevention from your seat.

[3:23] >> Well sure [clears throat and cough] I

[3:24] mean one of the things first of all I

[3:27] was a civil lawyer before just doing

[3:30] contract work. I come to Scott County

[3:33] become a judge. I've been a judge for

[3:35] nine years, so I feel like I have a lot

[3:38] of experience to speak to this because I

[3:42] wasn't in social work or or in, you

[3:45] know, public service before I came on

[3:48] the bench. But what I see, you know,

[3:52] almost everybody that comes in front of

[3:54] me is in crisis.

[3:56] um whether it's a divorce and that is

[4:00] just as much of a crisis for some people

[4:02] as it is for a criminal case. A criminal

[4:06] case, child protection,

[4:09] um juvenile cases,

[4:12] they're in crisis and they need help.

[4:16] And what I see is first of all just

[4:20] having the family resource center as an

[4:23] opportunity to say, "Have you checked

[4:26] with them? They're a one-stop shop." And

[4:29] what I love about it is it's not just

[4:31] the county resources, it's the private

[4:34] resources. You know, places like St.

[4:37] Francis Hospital or FISH or some of the

[4:41] other things. I can't even remember all

[4:43] the names of it, but I've got enough on

[4:45] my mind. I just like having the

[4:47] opportunity to say this is a place you

[4:50] can go to address your needs. It's a

[4:54] one-stop shop. You don't have to go here

[4:56] for housing, here for insurance, here

[4:59] for food help. It's like one place. And

[5:03] I love that it's at the transit center,

[5:05] which is kind of the hub of where

[5:07] everybody can go to. Um, and I've really

[5:12] seen the effects of it as well. Um,

[5:16] people know about it. You know, a lot of

[5:19] times I'll say, "Have you checked here?"

[5:21] And they'll be like, "Yes." Because the

[5:23] word has gotten out that there is a

[5:27] place that they can go to to uh find

[5:30] resources for what they need. And again,

[5:34] it's not just the criminal. It's not

[5:36] just the child protection. I know I work

[5:39] with all of these people in child

[5:41] protection, but it's the divorce cases

[5:44] too that, you know, people are just

[5:48] needing a place for it. And what I

[5:51] absolutely love is that Scott County has

[5:54] been innovative on doing this and other

[5:58] counties and other places are following

[6:01] in our footsteps and it really is just

[6:04] an amazing thing. And I just did I know

[6:08] we've been in the Star Tribune,

[6:11] not no the Pioneer Press. I pulled up an

[6:14] article. We're one of the first family

[6:16] resource centers a in the nation and um

[6:21] it really is a model and I don't know if

[6:25] the commissioners know how great the

[6:28] child protection team here is in Scott

[6:31] County but I work with them all the time

[6:35] and I work in other counties

[6:37] occasionally I go to other counties of

[6:39] the seven county judicial district. the

[6:42] people here are just so top-notch and

[6:46] supporting this program and making this

[6:48] program great. So, I just think it's a

[6:51] great idea. I'm getting on my soap box,

[6:54] but anyway,

[6:55] >> I I would jump in and say like to answer

[6:58] um to go back to your question around

[7:01] like those [clears throat]

[7:02] what Judge Frost said around those the

[7:04] families who see the judge and who are

[7:06] in child protection court are in crisis.

[7:09] And so while they may or may not have

[7:11] had access to prevention, I think the plan and the long-term safety

[7:17] planning that the child protection team

[7:19] does in coordination with their signs of

[7:21] safety practice to prevent future um

[7:24] need for child protection, whether

[7:26] that's through building resiliency

[7:28] within their family system to prevent

[7:31] future assessment or placements. break

[7:34] that generational trauma really gets at

[7:37] um the re-entry of foster care and

[7:40] ongoing need in the future for

[7:42] placement. So it it it doesn't

[7:45] necessarily may not it may start at

[7:47] court but we can see the effects when we

[7:49] have a reduction in placement numbers um

[7:52] we have a reduction in reentry and we

[7:54] have um system family systems that are

[7:56] building their resiliency that maybe

[7:58] they hadn't in the past.

[8:02] I have a question that kind of um goes

[8:05] off of something that Judge Bra said. Um

[8:07] when when speaking of the family

[8:09] resource center in Shakipi, I was a

[8:11] little surprised on page seven to see

[8:13] that there are multiple locations of the

[8:15] family resource center. So I was

[8:18] wondering um do they do the same things

[8:21] in each of the centers or are is it more

[8:24] targeted to the community that they're

[8:26] in or can you talk a little bit about

[8:28] what happens at the other locations?

[8:30] Sure, I can speak to that. Um, so our

[8:33] Shaka Pee location is the um is at our

[8:37] Mertz um transit building connected to

[8:40] the integrated health center. That is I

[8:43] would consider our primary location

[8:44] where we do a lot of programming. We

[8:47] offer the food distribution comes there.

[8:49] We have Wick and Portico as well as

[8:52] other programming and parenting classes.

[8:54] Our Savage location is housed in the

[8:57] library. Um, Wick does go to those every

[9:00] um, Tuesday. And then our Jordan is at

[9:03] the Jordan area food shelf. And then

[9:05] Bell Plane is also in our library. Okay.

[9:11] » Um, so my [clears throat] packing number

[9:13] is a little bit off. Sorry about that.

[9:14] So page six. So Jake, great uh, opening.

[9:17] So I appreciate it the response kicking

[9:18] us off here. So that was that that's

[9:20] fantastic and things are going really

[9:22] well. you can see in that first uh

[9:23] performance measure on on page six that

[9:26] shows that success. But then going to

[9:28] page seven, can you talk a little bit

[9:31] about the outreach and kind of the

[9:34] correlation between the monthly

[9:35] attendance and outreach and what does

[9:37] that outreach what does that engagement

[9:39] look like?

[9:40] >> Yeah. So you'll notice on page seven um

[9:43] our outreach really stopped um January,

[9:47] March through this year and in Bell

[9:49] Plain in April. So, we had a dip in

[9:52] numbers. When you look at page seven,

[9:54] this um this chart shows a dip in

[9:58] numbers and I would contribute that to

[10:00] the what was happening in the community

[10:02] at the time early January. Um Operation

[10:04] Metro Surge, we heard feedback from um

[10:07] community members that they they didn't

[10:09] feel safe coming into like a a community

[10:14] place at the time. And so that really

[10:16] impacted our engagement both in

[10:19] um families coming and seeking resources

[10:22] as well as participation in programming.

[10:24] We also had um transitions and changes

[10:27] both internally and externally with our

[10:30] um staffing which caused us to have to

[10:34] pause our bell plane um staff and also

[10:37] had cause us to pause our outreach so

[10:40] that we could prioritize and focus on

[10:42] how do we keep the the facility open?

[10:45] How do we continue to serve the people

[10:46] that walk in? Um, we were able to

[10:49] partner with the libraries and they

[10:50] offered support in maintaining community

[10:53] outreach if somebody stopped in and we

[10:55] offered virtual connection. But really

[10:58] those zeros in both the bell plane and

[11:00] outreach was due to um both the

[11:03] community um situation at the time at

[11:05] the beginning of the year and a lot of

[11:07] staffing changes that caused us to

[11:08] prioritize how we just keep our door

[11:11] open to serve families with open hours.

[11:14] Thank

[11:14] >> you.

[11:26] All right. I have I have another

[11:28] question.

[11:29] >> Um [clears throat]

[11:31] Evan, can you go to page four?

[11:37] So, the closing sum, I think there's a

[11:40] one-s sentence paragraph in the closing

[11:42] summary that addresses [snorts]

[11:46] the Minnesota African-American Family

[11:48] Preservation and Child Welfare

[11:49] Disproportionality Act. And I think I

[11:53] understand what that paragraph says that

[11:56] moving forward with the implementation

[11:58] of that act, integration of FRC's and

[12:00] child protection will be crucial to

[12:01] support the new active effort

[12:03] requirements through the provision of

[12:04] culturally specific services for

[12:06] populations disproportionately

[12:07] represented in the child protection

[12:08] system. Could somebody maybe dumb that

[12:12] down for somebody like me and anybody

[12:14] who is not as familiar with that act and

[12:16] what the implications are for the FRC?

[12:20] >> Yes. Um I think for us there's there's a

[12:22] couple of layers as we look at

[12:24] implementing um the act in 2027. Um

[12:28] first and foremost I think when we look

[12:29] at our um data for family resource

[12:31] centers, we've really seen an increase

[12:33] in our um bipok populations. like we

[12:36] have built trust in our community with

[12:39] um our East African and our Hispanic

[12:41] populations and those are um categorized

[12:44] in the Minnesota African-American Family

[12:46] Preservation Child Welfare

[12:48] Disproportionality Act as the population

[12:50] that is going to need the most active

[12:52] efforts. Um so we see our prevention

[12:55] services as really being able to serve

[12:57] that community and serve that community

[12:59] well and and be trusted um in those

[13:02] services. And that also I think when

[13:04] Ramsay and Henipin piloted um the

[13:07] implementation of the act in 2026,

[13:09] they've really talked throughout this

[13:11] year about how important the prevention

[13:12] services are. Um how like that has been

[13:16] a little bit of a missing piece,

[13:17] especially Ramsay has talked a little

[13:18] bit about that. Um and it with our

[13:21] services established, it really sets um

[13:24] a place for community to come get

[13:26] resources first to try and help them

[13:27] stay out of our child um protection

[13:29] system. Um, additionally, I think as a

[13:32] third layer, like we have really seen a

[13:35] decrease in our child protection

[13:36] assessments and our child protection

[13:38] case management. So, um, financially

[13:40] like we've been in a good place to

[13:42] maintain staffing or even reduce

[13:44] staffing when most other counties are

[13:46] looking at increasing staffing um, for

[13:48] implementation of the act.

[13:52] So, thank you [clears throat] Evan for

[13:53] going to slide eight and now on on page

[13:56] 12

[13:58] based on your description of what the

[14:00] act the expectations will be for us. Um,

[14:05] this the data in the packet leads me to

[14:07] believe we're already we're already on

[14:09] the right track. We're already moving

[14:12] toward a lot of the outcomes that the

[14:14] act seems to want counties in the state

[14:17] to achieve. Is that is that what you see

[14:19] in the data as well?

[14:20] >> I think we feel fairly confident that

[14:22] we're in a good place. Like we're still

[14:24] going to have to continue to make some

[14:25] changes. We're going to have to do some

[14:26] additional work. We want to assure like

[14:28] services are sustainable in our county

[14:31] and that we have these resources for

[14:32] families. But I think um we as a child

[14:35] protection team and a prevention team

[14:36] see our county is in a pretty good place

[14:38] for implementation.

[14:40] [snorts]

[14:41] >> And I think we've really seen child

[14:43] protection numbers go down at the courts

[14:46] quite a bit. I mean, since I started,

[14:49] um, we used to have four judges that did

[14:52] child protection, we're down to three.

[14:55] And the our basically our case loads in

[14:59] child protection are manageable. We can

[15:02] spend a lot of time with the families,

[15:04] which is makes a big difference. Um, I

[15:08] went to a national conference

[15:11] uh in Minneapolis. I think it was March.

[15:14] And there was a judge there from Nevada.

[15:18] And she said that she only had I think

[15:22] it was like every 15 minutes she had a

[15:26] new family that she had to address in

[15:28] child protection. And we usually have an

[15:31] hour to deal with a family where you

[15:34] know the they may start talking with the

[15:36] workers and their attorneys and then

[15:38] they come into court and we address how

[15:41] things are going. So we have the time

[15:43] and I I just I think the numbers are

[15:45] going down and a lot of that has to do

[15:48] with prevention beforehand before you

[15:51] have to remove the kids from the home.

[15:54] if you can make it work, get the, you

[15:56] know, however it may be. If you have a

[15:59] parent that can take over while another

[16:01] parent gets into drug treatment or

[16:03] something like that. [snorts] So, the

[16:05] numbers have really been going down.

[16:07] [clears throat]

[16:09] >> Nikki, can you talk to slide 12? I mean,

[16:11] I look at that one and I know our

[16:14] numbers are smaller than either

[16:15] [clears throat] Henipin or Ramsay,

[16:17] right, in the BIPO, but when I look at

[16:19] those percent decreases,

[16:22] that's tremendous work in bringing those

[16:24] disparities much closer together, which

[16:26] is ultimately what this act is about.

[16:28] Correct.

[16:28] >> Correct. Yep. And I think we we see that

[16:30] in our utilization in our family

[16:32] resource center. We see that in our

[16:34] educational and truency work as well.

[16:36] And really like when when we talk about

[16:38] the families that are in our court

[16:40] system, it's the prevention work has

[16:42] really been about how do we just shift

[16:43] everybody upstream. So we're still going

[16:46] to have these difficult cases, right?

[16:48] But we've we've also um cut cut our

[16:51] county attorneys from two to one in in

[16:53] our child protection cases. So it's

[16:55] really about how do we move everything a

[16:56] little upstream? And we've seen that in

[17:00] our our disparities um data of like how

[17:03] do we move those families a little bit

[17:04] more upstream and out of our system.

[17:07] >> Are we allowed to make comments, Katie?

[17:10] >> Of course.

[17:10] >> Is that okay? [laughter]

[17:12] >> Just so yeah, this is not a question. I

[17:14] think it's something that that here in

[17:16] Sky County easily goes without saying,

[17:18] but it probably never should go without

[17:19] saying. We didn't need the state to tell

[17:23] us that this was the right work to do.

[17:25] Suzanne and Barb and Leslie and the

[17:27] board and everybody at the table was

[17:29] looking at the data, seeing the

[17:30] disparities and put that work in motion

[17:34] long before a state mandate came down

[17:36] and said these are these are the

[17:38] outcomes. This is the work you need to

[17:39] do. Um just feel like it's important to

[17:42] call that out every time that happens,

[17:44] but especially here um because the

[17:46] results really speak for themselves.

[17:51] Maybe following [snorts] up on

[17:52] [clears throat] that on page 15.

[17:55] So with that said, obviously this really

[17:58] shows a great tenure.

[18:01] How does this compare with other

[18:03] counties like percent of population or

[18:07] any other measure? Um how does that

[18:11] compare?

[18:13] >> So go ahead. I was just going to say our

[18:16] out of home placement is the lowest in

[18:18] the state from any county

[18:19] percentage-wise. Um, and again, it's really that shift of how do we how

[18:24] do we continue the funnel where, you

[18:26] know, our prevention work serves all of

[18:28] our community and we continue to move

[18:30] people to the top of the funnel so that

[18:32] we continue to make the bottom of the

[18:33] funnel less and less, which is our court

[18:35] involvement and our odome placement.

[18:37] >> I would add to that it's the it's the

[18:40] culture of prevention within child

[18:41] protection. And it's thinking outside of

[18:43] the box instead of going straight to a

[18:46] formalized placement either through

[18:47] court or through a voluntary placement

[18:51] agreement. It's how do we how do we

[18:53] maintain safety for the children in the

[18:55] home while being creative and

[19:00] reducing the need for a placement that

[19:02] we know can be traumatic for children in

[19:04] and of itself. So, it's that

[19:06] preventative work that goes into the

[19:09] assessment, the case management case to

[19:12] continue to keep that child out of home

[19:14] or in the home in preventing an out of

[19:16] home placement.

[19:21] » Um, if we could go to page 10, there is

[19:24] a chart that talks about the parent

[19:26] support outreach program. So, I'm

[19:28] wondering if you could just talk to me

[19:30] about like to those who don't know, what

[19:32] is that program and then how do you see

[19:33] it connecting to [clears throat] the F

[19:34] FRC? Okay. Um, I do the parent support

[19:37] outreach program and what it is, it's a

[19:39] voluntary program for families who have

[19:41] at least one child who is age 10 or

[19:44] younger or maybe they're expecting their

[19:46] first [clears throat] child and they

[19:47] have two or more stressors or risk

[19:49] factors. Um, and the way I see it

[19:52] connecting to the F FRC is I I pretty

[19:55] much bring information about the family

[19:58] resource center to every family that I'm

[19:59] working with at a minimum. just letting

[20:02] them know that they exist and that

[20:03] they're there and what they can find

[20:05] there. But then when I do my meeting

[20:07] with them, we do an intake and I learn,

[20:10] oh, this specific need has has come up.

[20:13] So then when we're [clears throat] going

[20:15] through the calendar, I'm like, you can

[20:16] come on this day and this specific

[20:18] person is there to address exactly what

[20:20] you're talking about. Um, sometimes it's

[20:23] me picking them up and bringing them in.

[20:25] Sometimes it's we are just meeting there

[20:27] so I can just introduce them to the

[20:28] space and then we always do a lap around

[20:30] and they grab whatever resources that

[20:32] they want. Um lots of families are

[20:34] looking for that social connection and

[20:36] so we're talking about all of the

[20:37] activities that they can do there that

[20:38] they can bring their kids that it's you

[20:40] know such a nice space. So it's it's

[20:44] just embedded in my work and I'm telling

[20:45] every single family that does the parent

[20:47] support outreach program about the

[20:48] family resource center and I've really

[20:50] seen it

[20:52] do really really cool things for

[20:53] families. So

[20:55] >> yes

[20:55] >> and sorry [clears throat] at the family

[20:57] resource center when Tracy brings

[20:58] clients or families in her we're able to

[21:01] address the basic needs like housing,

[21:03] health insurance, providing a safe space

[21:05] for the kids to play and then Tracy can

[21:07] stay with the family or the parents and

[21:09] work through some more like other

[21:11] services or other needs that they need

[21:13] to address. So we meet their first Maslo

[21:16] hierarchy of need and then Tracy can

[21:18] provide the rest. So that's like the

[21:20] relationship between the family resource

[21:21] center and her program.

[21:23] Thank you both. I appreciate it.

[21:28] » So the data in the packet and the

[21:31] narrative itself, it's like it's all to

[21:33] me paints a very good picture of the

[21:36] work that's happening and that that

[21:39] seems to be accurate. We had Wilder here

[21:41] a couple weeks ago and they presented on

[21:43] their return on investment findings

[21:45] which was really I think a conservative

[21:47] estimate of the ROI

[21:49] um not capturing the the broadest

[21:52] possible impact of the F FRC.

[21:55] I don't see anything in here that like

[21:57] data wise that says something's going

[21:59] really poorly. So is there anything from

[22:03] your perspective that is not going well

[22:05] that would be an opportunity for

[22:06] improvement if you were here a year from

[22:08] now or two years from now that you'd say

[22:10] we really want this aspect of our work

[22:12] to look different. We know we can do

[22:14] better.

[22:18] I think um you know when I think back

[22:20] about when we started in 2021, there's

[22:22] always a piece of that because our

[22:24] community changes and so how do we

[22:27] continue to like work with our community

[22:28] about what new issues emerge? Um I think

[22:31] that like we've got some opportunities

[22:34] um for some additional peer support for

[22:37] people that are struggling with

[22:38] substance abuse. Like some of those

[22:40] things I think that we could continue to

[22:42] build on. Um, I think that right now

[22:45] we're in a a little bit of a challenging

[22:47] space with a a possible um discussions

[22:50] around transition. So, I think we've got

[22:52] some staffing um opportunities that we

[22:55] can clear up. And then I think we would

[22:56] [clears throat] certainly like to go

[22:57] back to um additional outreach um and kind of adding some of the

[23:03] additional services that you

[23:04] [clears throat] might be a need.

[23:07] I think I'll follow up on on J on uh

[23:10] page 13 kind of a followup to that. So

[23:13] this is number of initiated child mal

[23:15] treatment assessments and investigation.

[23:18] Obviously it's trending really well. So

[23:20] the question kind of similar is in an

[23:24] ideal world. Okay. What do you suggest

[23:27] to improve this trend or the rate of

[23:28] this trend? Let's say the goal is zero.

[23:32] So it's trending downward. So, what do

[23:34] you suggest to continue that downward

[23:36] trend or the or a greater rate of this

[23:38] trend?

[23:40] >> I what initially comes to mind for me

[23:43] when we look at um page 13 is I come

[23:47] from the lens of as you're talking to

[23:49] mandated reporters and they're making a

[23:51] child malreatment report. It's that

[23:53] ongoing education of mandated supporting

[23:56] and how can they fit into the prevention

[23:58] puzzle. I think our school districts um

[24:01] hospitals do a really good job of having

[24:04] a different lens since starting this

[24:07] culture of prevention, but it's that

[24:09] ongoing education for all mandated

[24:12] reporters to

[24:14] be able to connect families rather than

[24:16] make a child protection report that

[24:18] enters them into the system regardless

[24:20] of whether that report is screened in or

[24:22] screened out. they're they're then in

[24:25] the system instead of possibly having

[24:28] preventative resources or places to send

[24:30] families that would prevent them from

[24:33] making a mandated report.

[24:35] >> Can one of you build on that? Because

[24:38] having sat in some of those school

[24:39] district meetings early on, [cough]

[24:42] [clears throat] it seems to me that that

[24:43] was part of the culture, right? we get

[24:46] to seven unexcused versus preventing

[24:48] seven unexcused or we wait till the

[24:51] behavior gets to the point where we call

[24:53] in child protection. So, how have you

[24:55] built that partnership? What are you

[24:57] doing to keep that going?

[24:58] [clears throat]

[24:59] I think one of the things I see within

[25:02] my work in our screening department is

[25:06] ongoing conversations with schools when

[25:08] they call because we have the same

[25:10] reporters call whether it's our

[25:13] staff or the dean of students

[25:15] [clears throat] call to make reports.

[25:16] It's the ongoing relationship and the

[25:19] ability to challenge um in a friendly

[25:23] way, right? the ability to have an open

[25:25] candid conversation about what the

[25:27] report is, what have they tried, or to

[25:29] say, "This may not meet criteria for a

[25:31] child protection response, but we want

[25:33] to partner with you in a voluntary way

[25:35] through child welfare." Um, or through

[25:38] our prevention with St. David's or

[25:40] Catalaso and Treehouse. Um it is I think

[25:44] time time has really being consistent in

[25:48] the response and our screening decisions

[25:50] around how we are how we are being

[25:53] mindful of each report and if it meets

[25:56] criteria and it has to be assessed that is one thing and then having that

[26:01] worker connect with the um mandated

[26:05] reporter or other professionals in that

[26:07] child's life to have the conversation

[26:09] about further resources or the future

[26:12] plan that would that's more preventative

[26:14] focused to engage them in what the plan

[26:17] would be in the future rather than

[26:19] having child protection be that initial

[26:21] response.

[26:23] >> I think additionally like we've changed

[26:25] our narrative a bit around with schools

[26:27] and with some of our providers our

[26:29] mandated reporters around you know get the family to us and we can help

[26:33] them. And I think we've shifted that

[26:36] more to like we've implemented mandated

[26:38] supporter training and our mandated

[26:39] reporter training to really talk to um

[26:42] our mandated reporters around how they

[26:44] can support families without having to

[26:46] get them to us. And I think the family

[26:48] resources center is has been crucial

[26:51] because it's a place they can send

[26:53] people. The schools know like if a if a

[26:55] child needs a jacket, they don't have to

[26:56] wait until it's cold and call on this

[26:59] family. They can they can get a child a

[27:01] jacket at the family resource center.

[27:03] they have a place to go. Um, which I

[27:05] think has been imperative in in them

[27:08] being able to support the families

[27:09] they're working with. I think the other

[27:12] piece to to the question was um I think

[27:16] our family resource centers have been a

[27:18] little bit unique. A lot of family

[27:20] resource centers kind of have this, you

[27:22] know, whole level of prevention and

[27:24] we've been really um particular about

[27:26] how do we engage our child protection

[27:28] team and when we started it was really

[27:30] well by the time they're in child

[27:31] protection like prevention doesn't

[27:33] matter anymore. It's too late and it's

[27:35] not. And so how do we continue to work

[27:37] with child protection around the issues

[27:38] they're seeing with families and

[27:39] continue to support families in a

[27:41] preventative way even when they're in

[27:43] our deepest system.

[27:45] And I'd like to say just a couple things

[27:47] just on what Nikki said about when I

[27:52] think about what I've seen in the child

[27:54] protection area in the courts.

[27:58] Um there [snorts] was a really dark

[28:00] period during CO where people were not

[28:04] you know we were doing Zoom hearings and

[28:07] child protection. People were not going

[28:10] out in the public. people were not

[28:11] meeting and that one- on-one contact,

[28:16] you know, being able to go to the family

[28:17] resource center in person, talk to a

[28:20] person, have them point in the them in

[28:23] the right direction. I mean, I think we

[28:26] lost a lot of families during COVID

[28:29] where that, you know, we need each

[28:31] other. We need to appear in person. I

[28:34] mean, I'm like a closet introvert,

[28:37] even though I'm a judge, but I need

[28:40] connection with people, and Ron knows

[28:43] this. I ins we insist on criminal cases,

[28:47] people come to the court in person. I

[28:49] won't sentence a person unless they're

[28:52] there in person. And it's really

[28:54] important. And so just having, you know,

[28:58] a call to say, "Oh yeah, go to this

[29:00] place and you can find resources versus

[29:04] coming into [clears throat] a physical

[29:06] location and actually talking to people

[29:09] and having a face-to-face conversation

[29:11] is so important. I've just seen that in

[29:13] the courts." So

[29:16] >> I think I I might just add from a

[29:18] structural standpoint, even just the

[29:20] integration. And so Samantha is our in

[29:22] child protection intake screening

[29:23] supervisor and prevention supervisor. It

[29:26] was an intentional piece of how are we

[29:28] structurally organizing the connection

[29:30] between prevention and deep end service

[29:34] um to to be able to integrate that

[29:36] upstream um focus regardless of where

[29:39] someone's positioned outside the system

[29:41] or within the system. And I think in

[29:44] terms of this data on page 13 um we we

[29:48] continue to hope that we will see a

[29:50] decrease but it uh the goal is always

[29:53] going to be zero but more most

[29:55] importantly are we servicing the right

[29:58] kids and families in the right spot. So,

[30:00] can we secure safety and prevention

[30:04] services outside the child welfare

[30:06] system? And if we can, and I think this

[30:08] demonstrates that over time, that we

[30:10] were servicing families that maybe

[30:12] didn't need to be [clears throat] in the

[30:13] child protection system. We know about

[30:16] 60% of Minnesota child protection cases

[30:18] are related to neglect, often the result

[30:21] of pover impacts of poverty. And so, can

[30:23] we meet that need outside the child

[30:25] protection system? And then we have

[30:27] better ability to meet the needs of our

[30:29] really deep and most serious that may

[30:32] need the help, support, and expertise of

[30:34] the child protection system.

[30:38] I think in some sense this has kind of

[30:40] been answered through a multitude of

[30:41] questions, but just wondering if you

[30:43] could talk about what opportunities you

[30:46] look forward to to continue to make sure

[30:48] you're casting a wide net in and like

[30:49] everybody that you can help that you're

[30:51] finding them and getting them to the F

[30:53] FRC.

[30:56] Um, I would say this really speaks to

[30:59] the cultural navigators that we have at

[31:01] the F FRC location right now. We have

[31:04] Somali speaking and Spanish speaking

[31:06] cultural navigators both employed by the

[31:09] county and via community organizations

[31:11] like Micasa, CAP, Community Resource

[31:14] Center and 360s. Um, and having somebody

[31:18] who looks like you and most importantly

[31:19] speaks your language is very helpful and

[31:22] it allows families when they walk in or

[31:24] if they do call to have somebody that

[31:26] they can be a bit more honest with than

[31:28] they would be with like us who look a

[31:30] bit more government and serious. And it

[31:32] also allows them to be more open and um

[31:35] seek other resources that they might not

[31:37] be aware of. For example, we have the

[31:39] Mikasa food distribution and families

[31:41] come in for food and then multiple uh

[31:45] different kinds of families come in for

[31:46] food and then while they're there, they

[31:48] realize, oh wait, I can get questions

[31:50] about housing, about preschool, about

[31:52] health insurance, or even like a place

[31:54] to take my kids over the summer for

[31:56] summer camp. Um, I would like to see the

[31:59] cultural navigation piece um, expanded

[32:02] to include Asian-American community and

[32:05] the um, Native American community. And I

[32:07] would also like to see languages like

[32:08] Swahili, Cameron, Vietnamese, and all

[32:11] those implemented too as well. And I

[32:13] think that's a really good growth

[32:14] opportunity that allows us to expand our

[32:17] net and get everybody that would need

[32:19] the family resource center.

[32:22] And I think additionally like it's our

[32:24] outreach, right, and how we're planning

[32:25] programs [clears throat] for to reach

[32:27] every individual in Scott County. Um I

[32:30] mean I think we see people that are

[32:31] really struggling. We also see people

[32:32] that are really doing well and they just

[32:34] want a place to come and do an activity.

[32:36] [clears throat] So I think it's it's

[32:38] that that wide net

[32:41] >> to the judge's point of community, a

[32:43] place for community.

[32:44] >> Absolutely. It's just so important. And

[32:46] then the one thing about getting the,

[32:48] you know, the numbers to zero. And this

[32:50] is where my, you know, experience as a

[32:54] judge is, [clears throat]

[32:55] you know, there's always going to be

[32:56] cases involving sexual abuse, physical

[33:01] abuse that may not be related to

[33:03] poverty. We see those cases. And you

[33:06] know, good families, you from the

[33:09] outside, they look fine. They don't need

[33:11] resources, okay? But there's something

[33:14] going wrong seriously in that family.

[33:16] And that's where the, you know, the

[33:18] mandated reporters that the kids from

[33:21] the schools are able to report that.

[33:24] has nothing to do with the family

[33:25] resource center. But I don't think the

[33:27] number is ever going to go to zero

[33:29] because it shouldn't because I want to

[33:31] make sure that, you know, that schools

[33:34] and people, teachers know when that make

[33:39] kids feel comfortable to disclose if

[33:41] that is happening. So, I don't know if

[33:43] it'll ever go to zero is what I'm

[33:45] saying. A

[33:45] >> and with that, like that's where our

[33:47] child protection team wants to spend the

[33:48] most time, right? Like that's where if

[33:50] we if we get those cases lowered, we we

[33:53] get our case loads lowered, like those

[33:55] are the families that we can spend the

[33:56] most time with,

[33:57] >> right?

[34:00] » All right. I have another question. Um

[34:04] Nikki, you touched on this a little bit,

[34:05] the transition that's being considered

[34:08] for moving from the county operating the

[34:12] service to a community provider really

[34:15] operating [snorts]

[34:16] the service. And based on everything

[34:18] you've said, the panel here has said,

[34:20] all the data, it again seems like it's

[34:24] going exactly the way we want it to.

[34:28] um which maybe makes that it could make

[34:30] it a difficult transition to to let that

[34:32] go and trust a community partner to

[34:34] deliver that [clears throat] maybe to

[34:35] the same level even more effectively

[34:37] than the county has been providing it.

[34:40] What going forward

[34:43] would you have us do and us like as a

[34:46] Scott County I'm saying that in two ways

[34:48] as a Scott County resident as a Scott

[34:50] County employee what would you have us

[34:52] do to ensure the ongoing success of

[34:55] this? So you, Suzanne, Nikki, everybody

[34:57] at the table, you have ready access to

[34:58] everybody here, all 42 business units in

[35:01] the county. It's easy for me to bump

[35:03] into you in a meeting and then we can

[35:04] talk about what can the library do to

[35:06] support the F FRC or what can our

[35:08] volunteer coordinator do to support the

[35:09] F FRC?

[35:11] If those are not the right connections

[35:13] from a staff standpoint, what can the

[35:16] rest of us do to to make sure that

[35:18] fabric that your folks have so carefully

[35:21] and thoughtfully woven of that culture

[35:23] of prevention, how do we make sure that

[35:26] stays strong and stays connected to a

[35:28] community provider? So, that's one. What

[35:30] would you have us Scott County do? And

[35:32] then what would you have us as residents

[35:34] do to make sure the community provider

[35:36] has the support it needs? Um I so I I

[35:40] think it's it's it's a complicated sort,

[35:42] right? We we want to make sure with any

[35:44] community or organizations we're aligned

[35:46] with what our values are for the family

[35:48] resource center. Um and our family

[35:50] resource center has really been built on

[35:52] our community organizations, our

[35:53] nonprofits, our community, our parent

[35:56] advisory committee and our county

[35:58] services. So I think from a county

[36:00] perspective like it would be important

[36:01] for those services to continue to be

[36:03] present at the family resource center

[36:05] even when a community provider um may be

[36:07] leading the work. So our housing

[36:09] support, our library support um you know

[36:13] all of those services, their financial

[36:15] assistance, all of those things that are

[36:16] present today um we would want them to

[36:19] continue with a community organization.

[36:22] Um we we are hopeful to to really walk

[36:25] through together of a transition. So, we

[36:27] would want to work with our community

[36:28] about what they continue to value in our

[36:30] family resource center, our parent

[36:32] advisory committee about what they see

[36:34] as important, our together with Ken

[36:36] steering committee around what what are

[36:38] really the the values and the things

[36:39] we're doing that we want to see a

[36:41] community provider continue to do. Um,

[36:44] you know, we we've been really proud of

[36:46] the work and connecting it to our our um

[36:50] child protection assessments. Um, we

[36:53] also know like the community has a voice

[36:55] in this and how do we continue to

[36:56] respond to that and make sure that we're

[36:58] doing what the community also is asking

[37:00] of of our family resource center.

[37:06] » I know we look a lot at our child

[37:08] protection [clears throat] outcome and

[37:09] that tells us a lot about how well the

[37:11] FRC is doing. Are there any other areas

[37:13] that you see positive outcomes occurring

[37:15] in due to the impacts of the FRC?

[37:22] So, I think I mean we've heard from

[37:24] other departments, you know, we've

[37:25] worked with child support and we hear um

[37:27] from child support like they've had some good opportunities at our family

[37:31] resource center. Um I think that like

[37:34] we've we've seen some outcomes with our

[37:36] housing services and our prevention

[37:38] culture and housing and having housing

[37:40] present at the family resource center.

[37:42] Um I think that we're hopeful and and

[37:46] it's a really difficult thing to

[37:48] evaluate, right? But um how are we

[37:50] making sure that we're reaching families

[37:52] that are feeling like they've gotten

[37:53] what they need at the family resource

[37:55] center? And I think this coming year

[37:56] could be a year um that we take a look

[37:58] at like some of that survey data. I know

[38:00] a couple years ago we did um like 50

[38:03] cups of coffee with our community. So

[38:04] how are we hearing back from them about

[38:06] whether or not this is working?

[38:11] [clears throat]

[38:12] And I I might just add um I think

[38:15] Nikki's um point of the community like

[38:17] this was really communitydriven. And so

[38:19] this idea I think Jake you referenced

[38:22] sort of the the work at the onset. This

[38:25] work about um how do we serve and reach

[38:27] kids and families differently came from

[38:30] community connection. It came from

[38:31] community conversation. And what we

[38:34] heard is how do you find a place where

[38:36] um essentially it's a one-stop shop.

[38:38] Parents talked about the difficulty if

[38:40] you don't have transportation. How do I

[38:42] get to one place for one service and

[38:44] somewhere else for a different service?

[38:46] And so this is about um this if we are

[38:49] successful in a transition to a

[38:51] community provider, it is about

[38:54] government taking a new and different

[38:55] role. [clears throat] Um and so it is

[38:57] opportunity and sure is it can be scary

[39:00] in that. Um, but we have an opportunity

[39:02] to hear from community and we have since

[39:05] 2017ish and we will need to continue and

[39:09] that voice of community probably gets

[39:11] even more important as we approach the

[39:13] transition for how is it going, what

[39:15] does community need and how do we

[39:17] leverage our parent advisory council as

[39:19] parents with lived expertise to say how

[39:22] is it going and increase sort of our

[39:24] sharing of power with them as we move um

[39:27] to a new uh evolution of the F FRC

[39:29] service delivery.

[39:33] I think that's thank you Suzanne for

[39:35] that. I think that connects with

[39:36] something else I was thinking about like

[39:37] as time goes on as this evolves and

[39:40] changes and and hopefully transitions to

[39:42] more comm community even more community-

[39:44] based what kind of data would you all

[39:45] like to see or would you like to collect

[39:47] in the future to know it's having the

[39:49] impacts um that it should or that you

[39:51] expect?

[39:54] Maybe it's more about that survey data

[39:56] or

[39:56] >> I think um you know this this recent

[39:59] return on investment like it I think it

[40:01] gave us a small picture um and I think

[40:03] those are discussions we'd also like to

[40:05] continue to have with a community

[40:06] organization. We absolutely would want

[40:09] to continue to provide um or you know

[40:12] get data around our child protection

[40:14] team like are those cases continuing to

[40:16] stay low? Our out of home placements

[40:18] continuing to stay low. how is that

[40:20] family resource center still serving the

[40:21] people to make sure that we're getting

[40:23] those families upstream and not in our

[40:25] deep end systems? Um, and then I think

[40:27] we would probably want to work with our

[40:28] community organizations around what's next. Like are we are we seeing

[40:33] higher graduation rates? Are we seeing

[40:34] kids flourish in school? Are we seeing

[40:38] less crime? Like what is the big picture

[40:40] for family resource centers?

[40:44] Any

[40:47] other questions from my co-f

[40:49] facilitator?

[40:49] >> Well, I have an offbook compound

[40:51] question that I've been dreading asking,

[40:53] but so again, listen to the presentation

[40:56] reviewing the presentation. Uh there are

[40:59] I'm going to use my own terms, right?

[41:01] There are there's a reconceptualization

[41:03] of of prevention, right? You mean the

[41:05] prevention that spectrum is is longer.

[41:06] You've made that point. And we have

[41:08] different inputs in the system. You've

[41:09] got more generalized outreach to

[41:11] families who who fire risk factors.

[41:13] You've got education to mandatory

[41:15] reporters which again is another input.

[41:17] You've got uh your honor uh there

[41:20] suggesting the family resource center

[41:22] will reach a certain point. Does this

[41:24] group even anecdotally have a sense of

[41:26] in those three phases if you take my

[41:28] arbitrary uh you know breaking up of of the in of the inputs if you will. Is

[41:33] there a place where it's stickiest? Is

[41:35] it a place where it's most effective?

[41:37] I.e. early prevention if you're just

[41:38] reaching out to the families maybe they

[41:40] don't uh engage in the services or show

[41:43] up uh you know to to to leverage some of

[41:45] these events I noticed the there the

[41:46] drop in outreach there was a drop in

[41:49] attendance but that also that correlated

[41:51] with some other things happening in

[41:52] society so again even just on a sort of

[41:54] anecdotal level is there a point in the

[41:56] process where a specific type of

[41:58] outreach or engagement is most

[42:02] >> successful or or has the most engagement

[42:04] back from the individual if that's

[42:06] making sense

[42:08] Um so the return on investment study

[42:11] would show that that initial engagement

[42:14] where you're having the intake you're

[42:18] meeting that basic need whether it's

[42:20] those concrete supports or the warm

[42:22] connection to a service has the most

[42:24] impact.

[42:24] >> Yeah. No no and I'm sorry it's was a

[42:27] very again a rambling uh compound

[42:29] question. Yeah. Obviously that's where

[42:30] the greatest return on investment is.

[42:32] But is there a greater amount of sort of

[42:34] attrition out because it's not at a

[42:36] point where something might be mandatory

[42:37] or there might be another consequence.

[42:38] Do we have any sense of you know right

[42:40] once we really we get our hands on

[42:42] someone in the system they don't trip

[42:44] back out they they maintain uh

[42:46] engagement with the program or again is

[42:48] that a data point we might want to

[42:50] >> um

[42:51] >> yeah I think we could certain go ahead.

[42:53] >> Go ahead. So, I think we certainly um

[42:56] probably need to take a look at like the re-engagement of families who might

[43:00] have the most difficult situations and how do we continue to support those

[43:05] families. I think when

[43:06] >> um our doors opened, we we had some of

[43:08] that and because of some staffing

[43:10] challenges like we've lost a little bit

[43:12] of um that

[43:14] >> like walking along with a person a

[43:16] little bit um for a longer period of

[43:18] time, right? Um, so like families are

[43:21] still able to come back, but how do they

[43:22] have that personal connection?

[43:24] >> Um, and I think really when you talk

[43:25] about like this the sticking point, um,

[43:29] I think we try and catch all of those,

[43:31] but you're always going to have places

[43:33] where you can continue to do more,

[43:35] right? But I think about like our

[43:36] father's programming where it's a

[43:37] community, anybody can join and we go to

[43:41] the Scott County jails. And so, um, some

[43:43] of those sticky points I think we've

[43:45] tried to

[43:46] >> to reach. Um, but I think the the

[43:49] outreach is a place that we've seen like

[43:51] when we have our our events, our our

[43:53] back to school, like it's it's we know

[43:56] like um you know having some of those

[43:59] things or giving kids backpacks isn't

[44:00] necessarily going to prevent child

[44:02] protection, but it really offers a

[44:03] family a place to go and they really

[44:06] it's about getting that word out so

[44:07] families know that they have somewhere

[44:08] [clears throat] to go for whatever they

[44:10] might need.

[44:11] >> Well, that's thank you very much. It's good to to know or hear that that

[44:14] broadspectctrum outreach is is having a

[44:16] return. Um and because another

[44:19] anecdotally in my own experience, right,

[44:20] the further upstream you go, the greater

[44:22] your your attrition rate because people

[44:24] don't there isn't necessarily a sense of

[44:26] urgency. So that's a wonderful bit of

[44:27] information. Thank you.

[44:29] >> Okay.

[44:31] >> I just want to give an opportunity if

[44:32] there if anybody had anything else that

[44:34] they thought of uh maybe a answer to a

[44:37] question that was asked earlier that you

[44:38] want a moment to address it.

[44:44] All right. Well, then

[44:46] >> I want to add something, Katie, before

[44:47] we jump on. I usually don't do this, but

[44:51] Suzanne, was it like 10 years ago Nikki

[44:53] was sitting on one of these panels as a

[44:56] social worker?

[44:57] >> I think you're right. And you could see

[45:00] then her [clears throat] interest in not

[45:03] siloing, broadening. You can't do this

[45:07] alone. I sat there and was just amazed

[45:10] at your thought process and now I sit

[45:12] here and watch today what you have

[45:15] helped do and your research and your

[45:17] support for putting this program in

[45:20] place to help our residents. Just kudos

[45:23] to you and your commitment to the people

[45:26] of Scott County and using and breaking

[45:30] that down and broadening and bringing

[45:32] people together. Just outstanding data,

[45:35] outstanding work.

[45:38] Thank you.

[45:40] >> Thank you, Administrator Vermillion.

[45:41] We'll turn it back to Mr. Chair and the

[45:43] commissioner for any I would like to

[45:45] start off and I know the board will have

[45:47] comments or questions and stuff, but you

[45:49] know, over the time that I've been a

[45:50] commissioner, um the county I think has

[45:53] struggled with community engagement.

[45:55] we've tried to figure out how to provide

[45:57] more outreach, more connection,

[46:00] more involvement with the community and that's been a theme that we've

[46:03] worked on and had, you know, success

[46:07] come and go or or, you know, levels of

[46:08] success. And I'm wondering, and I'm like

[46:11] Jake, I think I need something

[46:13] simplified for me. I think it's mo maybe

[46:15] it's a rhetorical question for this

[46:17] morning, but I'm wondering um you know

[46:20] the family resource center to me seems

[46:22] like a portal of to the community, a

[46:24] connection, a connection with the

[46:26] community. And I my what I need

[46:28] simplified eventually is why would you

[46:30] want to have a nonprofit run this? Why would you want to give up this

[46:36] direct county engagement with the

[46:39] community and have someone else which

[46:42] you may or may not be happy with over

[46:44] the time you know and you give up

[46:45] control you give up the the portal the

[46:48] connections so anyhow that could be

[46:51] rhetorical for the future but I don't

[46:53] know if it needs to be answered today

[46:54] but that's my question I would be very

[46:56] and I'd be very cautious on on

[46:59] giving it up okay you I commissioner

[47:02] record. Did you Oh, well, I I said it

[47:05] was rhetorical, but if you want to

[47:06] answer that, [clears throat]

[47:07] >> I I think um for me, like my first

[47:09] reaction is I don't I don't know that we

[47:11] want to give it up. I think we want to build it stronger for our

[47:14] community. You know, I think that when

[47:16] we saw a metro surge in January, it was

[47:18] really a little bit of an eyeopening. We

[47:21] are still a county service, right? And

[47:24] so families, I think, still find some of

[47:26] those opportunities and they get a

[47:27] little hesitant around, do I really want

[47:29] to go to a county building? Um, so I

[47:31] think we want to continue to provide

[47:33] those services and make that connection

[47:34] to the county and and have that

[47:37] opportunity, but we want to give our

[47:38] residents and our community an

[47:40] opportunity to feel safe, to feel

[47:42] comfortable, to feel like they can ask

[47:43] for whatever they need um and not have

[47:46] that that government feel of like, oh, I

[47:48] don't know. And and I think as a team,

[47:51] we struggled a little bit during that um metro surge because we we had to

[47:57] balance both, right? like how do we

[47:58] serve our community and how do we follow

[48:00] laws and how do we how do we react to

[48:02] some of those things? And so I think

[48:04] some of those um make it difficult for county government to continue to to lead and how do we how do we walk

[48:12] along together um to get both of those

[48:15] needs met? And Mr. Chairman, I I would

[48:18] go back to the original discussions

[48:20] which goes all the way back to Pam

[48:22] Selvig and Chris Harter. And it was

[48:24] really the county board who talked about

[48:26] collaboration [clears throat] and

[48:28] community-led

[48:29] and alignment. So we're we're not

[48:32] walking away from it. We're still

[48:34] providing the infrastructure, the

[48:36] capital, and we still have to provide

[48:38] some financial resources to make this

[48:41] work. But it was really about aligning

[48:43] and who was in the best place to do some

[48:45] of this community and that engagement

[48:48] and outreach. And it really came from

[48:50] the discussions with the county board as

[48:51] we were formulating this and where it

[48:53] was going to go. It was aligning those

[48:55] to best who could lead and then we are

[48:58] still at the table.

[49:00] >> Okay. Well, you made a case for not

[49:03] doing it, I think, this morning. And and

[49:06] um you know, I I'll just think of I

[49:09] won't name the categories, but I think

[49:10] there's other categories and not really

[49:13] related to this at all where we've said

[49:15] we're going to kind of shift this over

[49:17] to someone else or some other way to do

[49:19] this. And then our mindset became

[49:22] gradually we don't do that, they do

[49:24] that. Um, and I, you know, there's some,

[49:26] I think there'd be some of that if you

[49:28] had a nonprofit, but I I know you you

[49:31] have to be somewhat vitally or you need

[49:33] to be vitally connected. I get that part

[49:36] of it, but again, I'll go back to Jake.

[49:38] I I need it simplified for me. Okay, Mr.

[49:42] Chair, if I if I might. Um, I think the other piece though, Family Resource

[49:46] Center is a national model and really

[49:48] Scott County has done it different,

[49:50] which doesn't mean right or wrong. It

[49:52] but we did do it different. the vast

[49:54] majority of family resource centers

[49:56] across the country are operated by

[49:59] community organizations. So, we are sort

[50:01] of the unique piece. Um, and I and and

[50:04] so is there fear? Sure, there's fear.

[50:07] Like I I will be the first to say we've

[50:10] invested a lot of time, energy, sweat,

[50:12] tears, relationships into the

[50:14] development um of what the family

[50:17] resource center is. Um, and also I think

[50:20] there's an opportunity that we just

[50:22] simply have a new role within it where

[50:24] maybe instead of the driver, we're

[50:26] co-pilot or we're the backseat driver.

[50:28] Um, but we're not the sole driver. And

[50:30] so this is just an opportunity to I

[50:32] think reframe it and to be in alignment

[50:34] with really um what the evidence of the

[50:37] model demonstrates is that um broader

[50:40] impact both reductions in our deep end

[50:42] as well as other um impacts like

[50:44] self-sufficiency and education and

[50:46] literacy over time. And so I don't I

[50:49] think it's critical. We're not walking

[50:50] away. I don't I don't think it is at all

[50:53] about that. Is about how we reinvision

[50:56] sort of our role with a community

[50:58] organization.

[51:01] » Thank you. All right. Other comments

[51:03] from board members.

[51:04] >> Thank you. Um thanks for the

[51:06] presentation and first off I just want

[51:08] to say thanks to everybody here in the

[51:09] room and and those who worked on this

[51:12] initiative earlier who aren't with us

[51:14] anymore. Uh, thank you because I I think

[51:17] early early on the board was involved in

[51:20] talking about this and it all it always

[51:24] was our lane here is to have better

[51:27] outcomes for children and and not have

[51:31] them need the deep end services. And I

[51:33] just really thank you for keeping the

[51:34] eye on the prize there because it's

[51:36] shown that that we can do that and we I

[51:39] think we can use that lesson as we look

[51:41] at other things the county needs to do

[51:44] and make sure we're keeping that

[51:46] long-term outcome in mind. I also at

[51:48] least my memory is that some of the

[51:50] reason um the transition to a community

[51:53] partner was looked at is because I think

[51:54] this board said you must [laughter] um

[51:57] or really encouraged it because of

[51:58] funding and things like that. So, I

[52:00] appreciate Commissioner Alwark's

[52:02] comments and and Suzanne talking about

[52:04] how

[52:06] maybe we don't even call it

[52:07] transitioning anymore, but it's a

[52:09] reframing and I hope we always will be a

[52:12] key partner on those outcomes because I

[52:15] think the Family Resource Center can

[52:17] achieve outcomes that maybe aren't in

[52:19] our government lane, which is great, and

[52:22] allowing other folks to accomplish them

[52:23] while we stay in our lane um is

[52:26] [clears throat] good. So, my comments

[52:29] really were about potential, I don't

[52:32] want to say even transitioning, but

[52:33] reimagining and and broadening of the

[52:36] family resource center. Just a couple

[52:38] things. I I would love a couple comments

[52:41] on no matter how that happens, if it

[52:43] happens,

[52:45] what part of the partnership will the

[52:47] county hold on to tight to make sure

[52:49] we're achieving those those outcomes?

[52:52] And then for especially for my district,

[52:54] for district one, really seeing the um

[52:56] work to get those resources out to the

[52:59] rest of the county, not just our primary

[53:00] location, has been really important. And

[53:03] just wondered if anybody could comment

[53:05] on kind of long-term thoughts about that

[53:09] because I I know it takes a while. It

[53:10] takes a while to get people to

[53:12] understand it's it's a worthwhile place

[53:14] to go to to get resources, can help,

[53:16] especially when it's, you know, two

[53:17] hours on Wednesday and two hours on

[53:19] Monday or whatever. But what's the the

[53:21] long-term thought about that? So, thank

[53:23] you.

[53:25] >> I think our long-term thought is really

[53:28] ho how do we how do we continue to

[53:30] expand that to areas that are most

[53:32] reachable for families? Like, do we do more working with our schools and

[53:35] have um traveling for things like that

[53:39] so we can make sure that we're

[53:40] consistent. We're getting the word out.

[53:42] And you know, unfortunately with like

[53:44] some of the staffing issues we've had,

[53:45] those are the the locations that

[53:47] sometimes suffer the most um because we

[53:49] want to make sure we're available to as

[53:51] many people as we can be. Um but I think

[53:53] it would be reimagining how are we still

[53:55] available in those communities

[53:56] consistently and how are we doing some

[53:58] of that outreach to make sure we're

[54:00] reaching the community.

[54:05] » Oh, go ahead.

[54:07] I [clears throat] just want to also say

[54:09] how much your work is appreciated. I

[54:11] think Nikki, you mentioned that you've

[54:12] cut that in half pretty much the uh

[54:16] cases coming to my office which allowed

[54:18] me to reallocate some resources in my

[54:20] office. Um so it's really appreciate the

[54:22] great work that you guys are doing and

[54:24] uh we can keep the lawyers out of your

[54:26] way and let you guys do your do your

[54:28] job. Um it's been working out great and as you know we're there if you need

[54:32] us. But uh excellent excellent work by

[54:35] your group

[54:36] >> and and our lawyer is pretty great,

[54:38] [laughter]

[54:42] » Commissioner Bear.

[54:42] >> Thank you. [clears throat] Yeah, this feels like I mean we've we've

[54:45] talked about this. We're going to

[54:46] continue to talk about it and rustle

[54:48] through it uh in a good way, which is great. This just feels like I

[54:52] mean there are good results. Um,

[54:55] and it potentially is changing from what

[54:58] we originally envisioned and maybe not,

[55:01] but it does feel like, and I hate to be

[55:03] cliche, but what does it say? You know,

[55:04] good is enemy of great. It feels like we

[55:06] could be at a spot to where we're

[55:08] satisfied. Good things are happening.

[55:10] It's not a bad It's really not bad. Um,

[55:14] but it does also feel like this is just

[55:16] something that could be even better,

[55:19] which I think we all want. But are we

[55:21] willing to risk? because it's good. It's

[55:24] good right now. And government tends

[55:25] just generally tends to be okay. We got

[55:28] something good. Let's just kind of stay

[55:31] and cuddle that when it's like, well,

[55:33] maybe one more step and we can be great.

[55:35] But but but yeah, there's a lot of

[55:37] butts. And it just feels like this is

[55:38] that

[55:40] um that it could be great, could be

[55:43] better, and not to say that it's not

[55:45] good. So, I want to be clear it and and

[55:48] it's fall and you know this has been a

[55:51] baby that's you have all seen grow up

[55:54] and oh it's going to get on a big yellow

[55:56] bus and go to kindergarten. I don't

[55:58] know. Um it's my baby. Like I get that

[56:02] too. But it does just feel like

[56:05] it's it's it's ready for this. Like I've

[56:07] always been bullish and now lately I've

[56:09] said still bullish but it's tarnishing a

[56:12] little bit. And not because it's bad,

[56:14] because it's good, but because I feel

[56:16] like we need to take some steps to make

[56:18] it greater, better. I don't think the

[56:21] county would ever

[56:23] completely step away from this and here

[56:25] you go, whoever, if you can find someone

[56:27] to do that. Uh, it always felt like, and

[56:30] boy, this will really date me, but felt

[56:32] like a mall concept where Scott County

[56:33] would always be an anchor tenant to

[56:36] whomever, uh, the multitude hopefully

[56:38] would be that would be in this. It's got

[56:41] to be a better analogy these days. Malls

[56:43] are dying. But of this mall of different

[56:45] storefronts of of the main street, a

[56:46] main street of just different storefrs

[56:48] that's going to meet people where

[56:50] they're at, different nonprofits that

[56:52] are with us today in the county or yet

[56:55] to be uh met and introduced to

[56:57] throughout the country or the world that

[56:59] are doing things like this. So that's just my not caution, but just my

[57:05] encouragement is that

[57:07] I do believe this county is bold, is

[57:10] willing to take calculated risks, to be

[57:13] um to venture away from good and risk

[57:17] being great. Um I I just hate to see

[57:21] programs and I'm not saying that this is

[57:22] there but it could be where it just

[57:25] becomes good and governmenty that the

[57:27] next group at this table you know adds

[57:30] something or you and it just never quite

[57:34] got to its potential.

[57:37] So that's just my encouragement, not

[57:40] caution, but just encouragement that we

[57:44] look to what we originally had talked

[57:46] about, understanding things change, but

[57:49] could this be even better? And are we

[57:51] willing to take that risk? And I think

[57:53] we are. So

[57:56] thank you for all the great work that's

[57:57] happened. I mean, great work has

[57:58] happened. And I again, I want to

[58:00] clarify, I'm not saying that good things

[58:01] are not happening. Good things are

[58:03] happening. and it just feels we're

[58:06] almost there.

[58:08] >> So, Mr. Chairman, your staff in the work

[58:10] session on the budget is making that

[58:13] recommendation to make the next step

[58:16] that we would be one of the elements of

[58:19] the first stop shop of the F FRC. We're

[58:21] still going to be there. We're still a

[58:23] tenant. We are still a financial backer

[58:25] of it. But the recommendation in the

[58:27] next budget is to move forward.

[58:32] » And Mr. Mr. Chair, if I might um offer a

[58:35] comment in response to Commissioner

[58:36] Wcman's um I think question around like

[58:39] what's our vision for if there is a

[58:42] transition, what role do we play in

[58:44] that? And I think as we have talked

[58:46] about that internally like we are

[58:48] prepared, we've got um I'll I'll name

[58:50] her Samantha would be identified as sort

[58:52] of that bridge. And so walking closely

[58:55] alongside a partner if it's six months a

[58:58] year with intentional steps around

[59:01] transition. Ultimately we want the

[59:03] community provider right to own that and

[59:05] we want to help support it. But I do

[59:07] think there will be um close integration

[59:10] as we walk through any sort of a

[59:12] transition in the upcoming year.

[59:19] » All right. Any additional comments or

[59:22] questions? I don't know. I I I want to I

[59:24] guess say a little bit more. I if we

[59:27] have a nonprofit that's chomping at the

[59:28] bit and they are going to do a fabulous

[59:30] job and make it better, I would who

[59:31] would um stand [clears throat] in the

[59:34] way with that, you know, but if we're

[59:36] trying to talk somebody into taking it

[59:38] and we're uncertain of how they're going

[59:39] to do, that's another thing. Um so um

[59:43] any I just have caution there. Um

[59:47] anybody else? Okay. Well, thank you.

[59:50] for your work. Uh, it's vital

[59:52] and you're doing a good job and thank

[59:55] you very much. Yeah.

Scott County Delivers- Family Resource Center (FRC)

Agenda

Transcript