Seattle City Council Public Safety & Human Services Committee 2/11/20

Good morning, and welcome to the February 11, 2020 meeting of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

It is 9.36 a.m.

I am Lisa Herbold, the chair of this committee and Councilmember to District 1. I call the meeting to order and welcome my co-committee members, Councilmember Lewis and Councilmember Morales.

Before we get started, I just want to very quickly go over the agenda.

Today, we will start with approval of the agenda, followed by public comment.

And the items of business today include appointment of two members of the Community Police Commission hearing from the Office of the Inspector General about her 2020 work plan, and also a presentation from the Human Services Department that will include a focus on the HSD, the Human Services Department Director's Report, and a focus exclusively on the non-homelessness investments side of the Human Services Department's portfolio.

If there are no objections, I'd like to approve the agenda.

Seeing no objections, the agenda is approved.

And now we'll move into public comment.

I have, let's see, four folks signed up for public comment.

Alex will be keeping time.

You'll have two minutes, and he'll let you know when you have a minute, 30 seconds, and when your time is up.

If you could come to the mic when you hear your name called, and we'll get started.

We're going to start with Ruby Holland, followed by Howard Gale.

I think, sorry, just one second.

The mics are on.

Okay, very good.

We need to make sure the mics are on.

Thank you.

We want to hear you.

Mayor Durkin, as the leader of this city and Seattle's drug cartel, the buck stops with you.

This is your The in-your-face, illegal dealing and use of heroin that you have sanctioned and allowed is what attracts gang members and other undesirables to Third and Pine.

Addicts left to police themselves are shooting up in public, committing crimes against people and businesses in order to feed their habits.

defecating and urinating everywhere, they are living like animals with your permission.

This is not compassion, it's cruel and inhumane.

Many people have notified you of their safety and health concerns, yet you've chosen to ignore their pleas, allowing the dangerous criminal behavior to put thousands of lives of workers, shoppers, tourists, and children at risk every day.

Mayor Durkin, you have blood on your hands.

As long as you allow illicit drug dealing to continue in downtown Seattle, you are a co-conspirator for whatever future crime is committed.

The homelessness problem may be difficult to deal with, but the problem of drug addiction in downtown Seattle is not.

It's not rocket science to clean the mess up.

Just enforce the law.

We all know that you, working with homes in Satterberg, can have the drug problem cleaned up in no time.

One call, that's all.

Compassion and accountability, it's what's needed for anyone addicted to heroin.

Lastly, move them out.

If you can coerce some people of color to sell their homes and leave Seattle because of a land grab disguised as the MHA, then surely relocating homeless drug addicts and the undesirables that follow them from downtown Seattle is a piece of cake.

How about to your neighborhood?

Thank you.

Howard Gayle will be followed by Valerie Chalorette.

Morning council members.

Is this on?

Um, we have a contract negotiation coming up in just a few weeks and yet the consistent request from the community police commissioner from community to have a community advocate at the table actually at the negotiating table has gone unanswered.

Um, put this in the context since John T. Williams, 26 people have been killed by Seattle police in Seattle.

We've had an OPA just recently determined in November that there was nothing wrong with the Falotogo shooting, the execution that happened on 2018 New Year's Eve.

We just saw the election of a police union leader who believes we need to use more force, not less force, and was elected by over two thirds of the officers.

We have a dysfunctional CPC, which has failed for five years to actually have a real public meeting to get public input.

We now have the revised King County inquest in which 20 families are waiting for answers about how their loved ones got killed.

That was just put on hold by the city of Seattle.

And unless you guys make a statement, you own it.

That was done by Pete Holmes.

And it was all of a sudden, you know, days before an inquest is going to start that was announced.

So finally, I want to go just back to the requirement to have someone at the table at the negotiating table, not on the Labor Relations Policy Committee, but actually on the negotiating committee at the table so that at least on this round, we can understand where gains and where police accountability get lost.

Because what we've been stuck with for the last 40, 50 years is after the negotiation, we hear we tried really hard, nothing happened.

So something has to change this year.

And it really is urgent.

Thanks.

Valerie Schloret will be followed by Charles Stewart.

Good morning.

My name's Valerie Schloret and I grew up in Seattle.

This is my hometown.

I've been following the policing in Seattle since the shooting of John T. Williams in 2010. I had great hopes for the police reform process following the consent decree of 2012 and the formation of the Community Police Commission.

I've since witnessed how incredibly difficult this process is.

So here we are, all these years later, and I think that important aspects of the police accountability, structures for real consequences in misuse of force, are in danger of being lost in the upcoming and closed police contract negotiations.

The police union has just elected a head who campaigned with a stance and a video that glorified militarized policing and an embattled us and them attitude.

This doesn't give me a lot of hope.

So, I'm sure many of you agree with me that policing should be seen as a contract between the public and the police force that they actually pay for.

So I ask you at this crucial moment in the police reform process in Seattle to make sure that there is a community, that community interest is actually represented at the bargaining table.

I would like to see a community advocate and policing specialist who advises and records on behalf of the community and the real police reform.

Thank you.

Charles Stewart.

Hello.

I've been a condo owner on 3rd and Pine for 16 years, so since 2003. Back then, the cops, they called it unofficially Mary 1, because they knew that's where all the pot dealers were.

When I asked them, I was like, well, why aren't they arrested?

Why aren't they in jail?

They would say, well, they're out in a couple of days anyway.

And at least we know where they are now.

They're not around the city.

We don't have to chase them down.

I'm afraid that's still the case, except now it's heroin and meth.

So 18 months ago, I moved to First Hill.

I still own it.

It's furnished.

If you guys want to stay there for a month or two, please.

You can see what happens every day.

And then once the cops start moving out, as they always do, as they always have in the past 16 years.

And generally, the open market drug dealers, they don't bother you.

However, like I've had a flashlight in my face late at night asking if I want to be a victim because I was on the wrong side of the street.

I've had, I've taken videos of like fights happen where people from the corners of the surrounding blocks rush in and then I tell the cops about it, call the cops about it.

They don't look at the video.

So the stats that I see, they're not 100% real.

I know they're based on something, but they're not fully reported and all the stabbings and everything.

So after 16 years, I'm like beyond outraged.

And what I'm not seeing from our city leaders is outrage, like from, from the city council, from the mayor, from the prosecutors.

And I just don't understand why these three individuals were on the streets.

Like if one was arrested or one was in jail, they probably, that shooting probably would not have happened.

If two were in jail, it definitely would not have happened.

And so Ms. Tanya Jackson would be alive, a nine-year-old boy wouldn't be shot.

And when I, just not seeing the outrage, it's troubling.

So two weeks ago, You had mentioned, Ms. Arbold, that you didn't know the, or the City of Seattle did not know about the felonies.

They only knew about a handful of misdemeanors.

So there's definitely a communication error there with King County.

But I think the way it was said was more, it's not our fault.

We didn't know, rather than, hey, that's an issue we need to address.

Ms. Sawant, my new representative, she wasn't here.

She tweeted 33 times or retweeted 33 times in the week following, nothing about the shooting, nothing about the failures of Seattle, nothing about any of that.

Alex Peterson, who is the alternate, and I'm glad he was here, just one last thing.

He wrote a letter to Uber and Lyft about their jacking of prices, and they had already apologized, already said refunds, but it just seemed like that's your focus.

And I implore you guys to, oh, about that.

It's like, I don't want to send other Seattle citizens into a dangerous situation, those Seattle citizens being drivers.

They're not your indentured servants.

So just refocus on where the issue is.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

All right, that is our last person signed up for public comment.

If there's nobody else intending to speak, we're gonna move on to the rest of the items on the agenda.

And let's start with items one and two.

If you could read them both into the record together, that'd be great.

Item number one, appointment 01545, appointment of Prachi Dhabi as member of Community Police Commission for a term to December 31, 2020. Item number two, appointment 01547, reappointment of Colleen EchoHawk as member of the Community Police Commission for a term to December 31, 2022. All right.

If folks can join us at the table, that'd be great.

Thank you.

Good morning.

If we could just start off with a quick round of introductions and then we'll get down to business.

Good morning.

Green lights on.

There you go.

I'm Bessie Marie Scott interim executive director of the Seattle Community Police Commission.

Good morning.

I'm Prachi Dhave, Senior Attorney at the Public Defender Association.

Good morning, Council Members.

Shefali Ranganathan, Deputy Mayor.

Great.

Thank you so much.

So we have an appointment and a reappointment.

The reappointment is not required to attend the reconfirmation.

And both these appointments have different appointing authorities.

One is the CPC, and the other is the Mayor's Office.

So maybe, Bessie, we could start off with just a quick overview of what the CPC is all about.

Sure.

I have a little bit of information about her and Dahvie at the same time, so do you want me to do it together?

Let's start with just a quick overview of the CPC itself and why it's so important to place accountability.

Yeah.

So the CPC was formed in 2013 as a result of the consent decree, federal consent decree, which included a memorandum of understanding and a settlement agreement.

to oversee SPD functions as part of a hybrid accountability system.

So we look at police procedures, policies, and training, and we're the community-based wing of the accountability system.

So we take community priorities, we have public meetings twice a month, and we work on, we draft it, help draft the use of force policy, bias policing, we look at disparity in policing, and we lift community voices.

Fantastic, thank you so much.

And now, let's hear you sing the praises of our new appointment.

I would love to.

Thank you so much.

Okay, as you know, under legislation adopted in 2017, the Community Police Commission was made permanent.

and its scope of responsibilities and authorities broadened.

In addition, the number of commissioners increased.

The CPC is responsible for its obligations related to the settlement agreement and to also provide ongoing community-based oversight of SPD and the police accountability system.

The CPC is excited to bring forward today its nomination of Prachi Davi for CPC Commissioner.

Prachi has been selected by the CPC to fill its critical seat reserved for people with expertise in public defense.

As you know, the historic 2017 accountability law envisions the CPC with at least two lawyers on the commission dedicated to community and advancing equity.

Prachi Davy has worked towards those values throughout her entire life.

Whether it be with her experience with the American Civil Liberties Union, advocating for social and racial justice, or in public defense, she is not only well qualified for this role, but has already demonstrated the ability to fulfill it.

Prachi Davy is currently the senior attorney at the Public Defenders Association.

At PDA, Prachi manages the legal work in the Racial Disparity Project.

and the direct representation area of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, LEAD Legal Services.

Prachi is also deeply involved in PDA's coalition-based criminal legal work.

Prior to joining PDA, Prachi was a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, where she managed Second Chances Project, a project focused on reentry and the criminal legal reform.

In that role, she worked to reduce the barriers posed by prior criminal history through a combination of litigation and public advocacy.

Additionally, she was very involved in the advocacy work bringing attention to the problems related to legal financial obligations in Washington's criminal legal system.

In that capacity, Prati was also involved in legislative advocacy that resulted in reform of the system of legal financial obligations.

Prior to joining the ACLU Washington, Prachi spent her first seven years as a lawyer practicing as a public defender in Colorado, representing both juvenile and adult clients in hundreds of misdemeanor and felony cases.

Prachi arrived many years ago to this country as an immigrant.

She was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, where her family still lives.

Prachi has attended CPC meetings for most of last year, as well as commission and workgroup retreats, and she has helped the CPC as part of its police practices workgroup.

Working with commissioners, she has demonstrated her commitment to the mission of the CPC and an understanding and vision for the work that lies ahead for the commission.

The CPC is excited to bring forward Prachi's nomination today and look forward to bringing her vision and voice to the commission during this critical time in police accountability and reform.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Davi, for your long history of work associated with criminal justice reform.

Thank you for your commitment to the CPC already.

I think that's the longest onboarding process I've heard of any incoming commissioner making.

A year's worth of attendance, that's great.

You'll be ready to get started.

Can you talk a little bit about what it is that you're most interested in accomplishing in your time as a CPC Commissioner?

Absolutely.

Thank you very much, and thank you for taking the time to listen to me speak about my interest in the CPC.

As Bessie mentioned, kind of one of the originating focal points of my work when it comes to criminal legal reform was my time as a public defender.

That was very formative.

I spent a great deal of time, of course, with my clients at the granular level, looking at the ways in which police practices impacted not only their lives, but their families' lives and the nature in which their communities intersected with police practices and intersected with police reform.

The thing that I am most excited about as part of the CPC is really being part of, honestly, a groundbreaking system of police accountability in a way that the CPC interacts with the community and brings work back to the community and ensures community-based voices are involved in the conversations around not only police practices, but criminal legal reform writ large.

As we know, criminal legal reform, we have a long road ahead of us, and I do believe that it is integral for community-based voices to be part of that legal reform and to deeply inform the direction in which that reform goes.

Again, broadly when it comes to the criminal legal system, specifically when it comes to police practices and kind of the deep and kind of lasting relationship that certainly is the case right now between kind of police departments and communities and the ways in which communities are impacted.

So that particular focal point, my work in the police practices work group, focusing on those particular policies, ensuring that we bring community-based voices to those policies and in shaping those policies are the things that I'm most excited about as I've been working with the CPC and continue to work with the CPC.

Thank you so much.

Any questions?

Okay, great.

Before we, I think we're just going to vote on them both together.

I'd love to hear from the executive on the great work of Colleen Echo-Hawk and both in the past and why she should be reappointed.

Good morning, Councilmember Herbold, Councilmember Lewis, and Councilmember Morales.

It's my great pleasure to introduce the reappointment of Colleen Echohawk.

Colleen Echohawk has been on the Community Police Commission since 2017. She was first appointed by Mayor Ed Murray, and we are seeking to have her reappointment.

Colleen Echohawk is a known community advocate for police accountability.

She is an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation, and you all are familiar with her work as the Executive Director of Chief Seattle Club, which is a non-profit dedicated to serving the needs of low-income and homeless urban native.

people in Seattle.

She is also the founder of the Coalition to End Urban Native Homelessness.

And Colleen, during her time on the CPC, has really focused to bring the Native American voice to the Community Police Commission.

As you all know, all of this work really stemmed from the shooting of John T. Williams and continuing to represent that voice strongly, both in community, bringing the voice from community to the commission.

is something that Colleen is very passionate about.

We are excited that Colleen is willing to serve for another term and she's excited to bring that energy to the Community Police Commission and we look forward to working with you all.

We have other appointees that we're hoping that you will consider at the next meeting.

Looking forward to really bringing more community folks to to this work that is in a critical phase that Bessie mentioned and working strongly with CBC and council to make sure that we are continuing those reforms and ensuring police accountability.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Deputy Mayor, you're right.

We have additional appointees to bring forward at our next meeting on the 25th.

I believe we have two from the council and We have three from the mayor, is that right?

We have two.

Two from the mayor.

Okay, great.

And then we'll still have a couple openings from the CPC.

I know I have been approached by some of my colleagues who have folks that are interested.

If we have names, should we send them your way?

Okay, great.

We also have two reappointments for the next meeting as well.

Okay, great.

That's fantastic.

So we'll have six folks to bring forward on the 25th.

Great, thank you so much.

So if there are no further questions, checking out.

All right.

I'd like to move appointment 01545 and the other one we don't have.

Oh yeah, 01547.

Second.

Thank you.

All those in favor, vote aye.

Aye.

None opposed.

None abstaining.

These two appointments will move on to full council on Monday.

And thank you again for your time.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, item number three.

Item number three, 2020 Office of Inspector General Work Plan.

Thank you, Alex.

Folks, join us at the table, it'd be great.

Right.

Greetings.

Good morning.

Can we start with some quick introductions and then we'll talk about what we're doing here.

Good morning.

Lisa Judge, Inspector General for Public Safety.

Thank you for the time to come here and talk to you about our work plan for 2020. Thank you.

Amy Tsai, Deputy Inspector General.

Great.

So yes, this is, I think, an important part of organizing your work, the annual work plan, but it's also, I appreciate having the opportunity to allow myself, my colleagues, and the members of the public to hear from you so we can get well grounded in the priorities of your office for this year.

It's a really important part of our accountability system, one of the three legs of the stool, and it's civilian-led, and the fact that all three of our accountability stool legs are civilian-led, I think, is part of the strength of the system, but the focus that your office has to continuous improvement I think is what will keep us strong and grounded in the principles of reform moving forward.

So thank you so much for being here.

Thank you.

So I think the way I'd like to start off, and there's going to be a lot of information thrown at you, and we only have 25 minutes.

So Amy's going to start us off with a little bit of background for newer members who haven't had quite as much exposure to the office.

And then I'm going to talk about some of the work we're wrapping up from 2019 and talk to you about the projects we have on tap for 2020. So Amy will get us started.

We have a PowerPoint presentation that will help guide our discussion today.

Good morning, Council Members.

So I'd like to start by just giving a brief highlight.

Madam Chair, you already outlined the role of the OIG.

But the accountability partners, the system itself, you heard from the community police commission this morning.

There's also the office of police accountability whose charge is investigations of allegations of individual officer misconduct.

And then as you noted, the office of inspector general has that systemic overlook of looking at the entire system and ensuring that the system as a whole is performing as it should.

So all of these three entities exist together for the purpose of ensuring constitutional, effective, respectful policing, all with a goal of engendering public trust and being accountable to the community.

We're waiting on that slide up there.

So moving on, if you're following along in your packets, council members, turning to the next slide, the OIG office was created as part of the accountability legislation in 2017. And in 2018, Inspector General Judge was appointed in mid-2018 of that year.

And so last year, 2019, reflects the first full year of operation of the office, and there will be an annual report coming out in the next couple months.

And so here today, Inspector General Judge is here to talk about the 2020 work plan.

Thank you for that.

Thank you.

I think we're still waiting for the slides to catch up with us.

But if you'll turn to the next page, I want to talk briefly about our areas of work.

And basically those are tied very much to the authorities and duties that the office has been assigned.

both from the ordinance and from just, I think, you know, the natural, the nature of our work.

So we're charged with SPD oversight, OPA oversight, recommending system improvements, and eventually ensuring that public safety here in Seattle remains true to the consent decree reforms that have been instituted and that we keep a constant mindset of innovation and improvement for law enforcement.

and relationships with the community.

So how do we go about doing that?

One of our largest bodies of work is with audits and reviews of the Seattle Police Department and the Office of Police Accountability.

So you'll see as we move through and I talk about how we're staffed, we're very heavily staffed in the audit function.

I think that's one of the critical areas in which we can provide data and information to ensure that We've got appropriate systems for oversight and that they're effective and things are happening in a way that community and the stakeholders are wanting that to happen.

So we also engage in policy work.

We've got currently two policy analysts, but one of those slots is going to be vacating soon.

That's really important in informing our work in terms of what are best practices around the country and in working and providing technical assistance to OPA and SPD with their policy development.

respond to OPA significant incidents.

And one of the things that we're hoping to develop a robust system for is evaluating those critical incidents that happen within SPD with an eye toward including community, community voice in that and community involvement in the assessment and providing ways in which the systems that contribute to negative significant events can be improved.

One of the big duties that Amy and I have is doing a lot of collaboration with our system partners and outside stakeholders to make sure that we're taking into account the interests of community and the stakeholders in our work and working with SPD to implement those recommendations.

So.

first bullet under mechanisms, the audits and reviews of SPD and OPA.

You don't just review investigations after the fact.

You are able to kind of review those investigations as they're transpiring.

And if you see that there's something, maybe a witness that wasn't interviewed, you have that kind of a relationship with the OPA investigative arm in order to make sort of course correction kinds of recommendations.

Is that accurate?

Yeah, I want to be clear.

I think we're talking mostly like officer-involved shootings and scenes of significance to community.

We are one of the civilian folks that are allowed to enter the scene, to observe what's going on with the investigation, to talk with investigators.

That's changing a little bit with the I-940 implementation.

But Seattle Police Department and OPA have been very collaborative and welcoming with our having an extra set of independent eyes in the ears of the scene.

So yes, that is one of our functions.

And we do have a partnership that we can identify areas that we think, you know, in real time on the spot need a little bit of attention.

Yes.

Can I, I'm sorry to interrupt you again.

So the last two bullets, you said something about evaluating these incidents with an eye toward community input or community engagement.

And then talked about collaborating with community in the last bullet.

Can you give some examples of how you engage or how you receive community input for these processes?

Yeah, I think maybe we're conflating a couple of things.

And one of the projects that I want to talk about a little bit later in our special project section is something that I refer to as sentinel event review.

And we're hoping to pilot a sentinel event review process and group sometime this year that would essentially take a very hard, critical systemic review of an incident like an officer-involved shooting, a pursuit that ended in a fatality, a large-scale First Amendment event where there are maybe mass arrests or something, you know, something of significant community concern.

So I'll talk about that later.

That's one of the ways in which I think community voice and involvement is important.

in taking a look at police practices.

And I come from a jurisdiction that wasn't afraid of involving community in the conversation about policing, about how it happens, about how force is investigated and reviewed.

So ideally, that's where I would like to move our work in that area.

The other things that we do is we regularly attend CPC meetings.

We have regular meetings with outside stakeholders like ACLU, Innocence, Washington, you know, other groups like that.

We attend community events.

I'm going to talk a little bit about the youth engagement that we're hoping to get going very soon with my office.

So those are some of the ways in which we solicit community input.

When we identify projects that we'd like to audit, some of those projects come to us from community concerns, community input.

Once we've identified an audit topic, we try to identify stakeholders who may have an interest in that particular audit topic and go and sit down and talk with them.

make sure that we're asking the right questions.

Because, you know, one of the main benefits of having our office do reviews of these processes is we can ask the questions that stakeholders have and that community has so that we're making sure we're turning over all of the right rocks and getting at the right issues.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

So the next slide, we'll talk a little bit and you'll notice these nice colors that Amy and my folks have put in there.

They tie to the areas of our mechanisms for providing oversight.

So when you see on the bubble slide, the previous bubble slide, something in green that's policy, you'll see the staffing that we have assigned to those areas.

So this gives just a very general of how we're staffed and how our staff are divided up in terms of our work areas.

You'll see that the auditing section is the most heavily staffed.

We've got some folks in blue that are largely doing OPA review and conflict investigations of OPA personnel when they can't do an investigation of themselves.

And then in green, we've got our policy folks there.

Any questions about staffing?

I'm sorry, you may have covered this.

There are a number of gray boxes and they look like they are, so the gray doesn't actually correspond to one of these colors on the previous page.

The gray means vacant, is that correct?

Correct, yes.

I was looking for the color corresponding to outreach.

probably notice that there is no dedicated outreach person there.

We've been doing, we've sort of been spreading that function around with certain members of our office.

I try to do my part, you know, with stakeholders and with community getting out to meetings.

have had to sort of sacrifice a dedicated outreach and engagement function just so that we could have an appropriately staffed audit and policy function to get up and running.

We've only been operational for a year.

The whole first six months was hiring initial staff, getting an office building.

In fact, we just moved into our permanent office space two weeks ago.

So it really has been a building process.

And eventually, with the appropriate budgeting and staffing, we would have a dedicated engagement and outreach person.

Because I think it's very important in both identifying topics, identifying issues that are of import to community, and then communicating back to community the work that we've done.

And just educating folks about our role in the system and the system in general is very critical, but that is a place that you'll notice is not, doesn't have dedicated staffing.

Correct.

And for the vacant positions, we're on track for filling them?

We, yes we are.

It's a process for us because they have to pass background checks and go through some clearances to get access to criminal justice information.

We are in the process of hiring for the vacant auditor position.

And probably in the next two to three months, hiring the other auditor position for the supervisor, the policy analyst, and the admin where we're about to launch those as well.

So if everything goes as planned by June, I would ideally have an entire staff of folks.

So can I just clarify?

You have four funded but vacant positions.

Yes.

And then there is a desire for an outreach position that is not funded.

Correct.

And I would just say that there is an ongoing fervent desire for more auditors.

So I think that's always going to be something that is in our near-term planning.

just because of the size of the Seattle Police Department.

And I think you'll see that we've got a list of horizon topics.

It's not part of the presentation today.

But if we had additional audit staff, there are so many other things that we could be doing, both in terms of performance audits and assisting SPD with compliance auditing.

Okay.

Thank you.

Sure.

So the next slide really just talks about the standards that we have for conducting our audits and for reporting.

We are one of, I think, the few OIG offices in the law enforcement context that uses GAGIS standards, or Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards.

So we use a yellow book method.

It's very labor-intensive.

It takes time.

It makes an audit process seem like it's taking a lot longer than perhaps it should, but there are a lot of quality control checks.

There is a mandate for independence.

And so, on the work product end of it, I think it produces a report that can withstand peer review, can withstand scrutiny from from really anybody who looks at it, because it is an independent, fair, objective process.

And using this standardized methodical approach also provides some certainty to the folks that we're auditing.

They know what the process is.

They know we're going to sit down We're going to talk about the project as we start it.

We're going to be methodical as we go through.

We're independent.

We're going to try to produce a fair result in consultation with them.

And then it's going to be a report that will be transparent and available to anyone who wants to read it.

Just talking a little bit about how we select a project.

I think I talked a bit about it comes from a variety of sources both from our own observations of SPD operations and from other people.

Occasionally the chief of police will make a request for an audit.

We've had members of the department that now actually formally requests that we audit their sections because we have developed a high degree of trust with our partners, comes from stakeholders like CPC and other folks, once we've identified then we go through a risk assessment process.

So we look at, with the topic, what is the risk if there's something going wrong?

What is the risk and the impact?

You know, the likelihood of that risk and the impact if something really went wrong.

We prioritize them that way.

We figure out if we've got the appropriate staffing and resources to do the particular audit.

And then we start meeting with stakeholders and others who have an interest in that project to get there.

input on how we scope the particular audit.

Meaning the higher the risk, the greater the likelihood you're going to take the project as opposed to...

The higher the risk and the worse the impact if a negative thing happened.

If the risk was realized, the impact on community, on the agency, on stakeholders, we take all of that into account in the matrix and that's how we prioritize those topics.

So just talking a little bit about what we've got going on right now, we have two audits that are mandated to be recurring by ordinance.

That's a surveillance review, and that's of technology.

Because of a lag time in the surveillance technology process itself, we've really not had much.

to review, but that's one of our functions.

And then the intelligence audit is our obligation to take a look at how SPD collects and manages intelligence information to make sure they're following the ordinance.

So we did a review of that last year formally, and we've got an ongoing review process.

And could you say a few words for the viewing public of what the intelligence ordinance is, what you're looking at?

Sure.

Unfortunately, a bit antiquated, it was adopted in the 70s before social media and the internet and really technology became as widespread as it is.

And so it was meant to put some restrictions around how the police department collected and maintained information about religious affiliation, political affiliation, sexual orientation, and sexual practices.

So it's essentially a person's private information has protections in how SPD, you know, gathers information about it and keeps it.

So is that sufficient for you?

Okay.

So, one thing I'd like to mention, Amy mentioned it in her second slide, we've got a year-end report coming out probably at the end of Q1 that will talk about the work we did in 2019 and will reference these recurring audits.

So, there's a lot more information that will be coming out in our wrap-up.

So projects that we have that began in late 2019 that are set to wrap up are an audit of SPD's K9 unit.

And that's really a look at the entire operation of the unit, training, supervision, how they do record keeping, how they investigate force.

So it's a fairly comprehensive look at SPD's K9 unit that should be out.

Right around the end of March, so end of Q1, we are looking at, it's called, we've called it a mutual aid audit, but it's really a look at any time an SPD officer is working outside of a normal SPD chain of command.

So if they're working on a task force, if they're working providing assistance to another agency close by, we want to look at, whether they're following SPD policy, how they're reporting things like force, interactions with persons in mental health crisis, things like that, that get quite a bit of scrutiny and attention within the SPD system, but perhaps are a bit unknown once those folks are working outside of a normal SPD structure.

And then the last one is an issue of DNA destruction, some inadvertent destruction of samples in the SPD evidence section.

That was initiated at the request of Chief Best.

So that one is ongoing and should be finishing up right around the end of Q1, beginning of Q2.

Any questions about those?

Okay, so what we've got getting set to start this year are major performance audits.

We plan to start with an audit of the discipline and appeals process.

That was identified largely because it's very much of interest to the court and to the city and others in terms of compliance with the consent decree and demonstration around the accountability system and how effective it is in Seattle right now.

So we thought that that was a pretty significant topic to take on right away.

And particularly my recollection is there has been an interest in a focus on the part of the disciplinary process that in some cases continues past the OPA director's recommendation and the chief's determination, the appeals process, where that isn't as, not as much as known about it.

And so I believe you're going to sort of do a sort of roadmap of what the process is and a review of past cases, more or less, correct?

More or less, we've already done the mapping of the process.

Our policy folks did a fairly substantial and I think impressive bit of work in mapping from the time a complaint comes in to SPD or OPA or whomever through the entire process until an appeal has been heard and decided.

The entire process has been mapped just so we could educate ourselves and educate stakeholders and community about the process itself.

Now we're gonna undertake the process of trying to understand whether that system is effective, whether it's meeting the goals that the city and SPD and community would hope in a police discipline system, whether there are improvements that can be made in the discipline and appeals process, whether there are gaps or inefficiencies or problems, with it frankly that need to be addressed in some way.

So yeah, that's part two of that process.

And when is the, what's the timeline for that one?

That one is set to start in Q2.

So I'm assuming beginning of April it will kick off and it's going to be a fairly significant project.

So it will probably take two to three auditors, which currently is my entire audit team.

And it will probably be a three to four month endeavor Thank you.

Amy, do you have anything to add to that in terms of timeline?

So the disciplinado would be kicking off, as you mentioned, in Q2 and probably taking through the remainder of the rest of the year.

Yeah, it's a big project.

But I anticipate having staff to also undertake a look at supervision issues.

Supervision was one of the major issues in the consent decree, but that was largely focused on first-line patrol supervision.

So I think what we would like to do is take that back a step and take a look at command supervision and look at the effectiveness of it, consistency, what communication is like both up and down the chain of command.

So it will be a different look at SPD supervision than has gone on in the last seven or eight years.

This also was identified in the recent retention and hiring report and recommendations that led to the funding of officers training to the tune of about $780,000.

And so, you know, I support that work because to the extent that we can support our sergeants who are supervising other officers, and that helps with the retention of officers, existing officers.

I think that's really important, but I'm just wondering, will the supervision audit provide the department with some data that it can use to actually measure the effectiveness of this training?

Ideally, yes.

All of these work products, Our goal for them is to give something to community that educates community and give something to SPD that allows them to make system improvements.

So this is really about identifying issues and providing suggestions for potential ways that they can improve.

So all of these things will hopefully involve concrete identification of root causes in systemic issues and then recommendations for how those things can be improved.

So similarly, the retention audit, which I think you're about to talk about.

Yeah, they're all really intertwined as you've noted.

Discipline, supervision, retention, they're all very much intertwined in terms of how officers perceive their jobs, their role in the department and community, whether they're satisfied with that, whether they want to stick around, whether they want to promote how communication works in the department.

So I'm hoping that all of these three taken together will provide some pathway to perhaps morale improvement, improved retention, that will have impacts on hiring and stuff, so.

And on the retention audit, I would request that you pay particular attention to one of the recommendations I saw that came out of the report I just mentioned, and that's related to officer schedules.

So I don't know if you're planning on doing sort of exit interviews with officers, but I think getting more of a sense from officers on the difficulties that the current scheduling regime creates for them and how that leads to the loss of officers to other departments that have different approaches to scheduling, I think that would be really useful as well.

Yeah, I think work schedules are definitely a huge factor in officer satisfaction, morale, retention.

So we will look at that, certainly.

There was a key point I was going to make, and it just went right out of my head.

I might remember it, but I might not.

So some of the other issues that are sitting there waiting for us to be able to devote some attention to are a follow-up on the DNA destruction issue.

I think we, on our horizon, is a look at the evidence section in a larger context.

What tends to happen in a consent decree situation is all of the resources in the department are very much focused on the needed, you know, reforms and changes And there are so many other systems that are very critical within a police department that are then not getting the attention that they perhaps need.

So we're going to take a look at evidence.

Chief Best has asked us to look at issue identification within the force investigation team, the chain of command, and the office of police accountability.

There are times when, perhaps because there's a focus on a certain aspect of an investigation, there may be other issues, say professionalism or other violations, you know, significant violations of policy that go unaddressed until they get to a certain stage much later in the game.

And so we're going to take a look at communication and efficiency within all of those various ways that policy violations, misconduct, and force are investigated to make sure that there are no gaps.

The last one is a secure firearm storage issue that also came to us from Chief Best.

And I don't know if you're aware of that, but it was about a firearm that went missing during a training exercise.

So we're looking at the training facility to make sure they have adequate storage for firearms there.

All right.

Policy work.

This is the work that's fairly near and dear to my heart.

And so I've talked a little bit about the descriptive audit that we did of the discipline and appeals process.

We're currently doing the same process mapping use as a force.

So from the time force is used through investigation and review of that force, we want to have another process map so that people understand you know, how forces reviewed and investigated.

Same with crisis intervention and human services.

There are a lot of other players in that system in addition to SPD, so we want to make sure that we understand how that how interactions flow, who the stakeholders are, and what the obligations are of everyone in those circumstances.

And also, we're going to take a look at force investigation team processes.

That'll be probably part of the larger use of force mapping process.

We're engaging in some pattern analysis for our annual report that's looking at aggregated OPA numbers and providing some statistics for folks, and looking at complaints, claims, and lawsuits that come in as a result of SPD actions.

So we're hoping to have some data and information on those also.

I think that's going to be interesting work in our year-end report.

Amy, do you want to talk a little bit about the civilian sworn work that's being done?

One of our mandates is that we do an assessment of the effectiveness of civilian investigators at OPA versus sworn members.

A little bit of an impediment because OPA has just recently started hiring civilian investigators, so there's really not much we can do in terms of an actual analysis of efficiency or effectiveness, you know, is one between the other.

But as they onboard their civilian staff, we'll be able to do some comparative analysis.

So in the interim, we're doing some just research on our own, if you want to describe that a little bit.

Sure.

Just for some additional background context, Madam Chair, you highlighted that all the oversight entities are civilian-led.

One of the considerations in the development of the structure was what role can sworn officers play, particularly when you're doing investigations of allegations of officer misconduct?

One concern had been, can a sworn officer fairly investigate a fellow sworn officer, given those dynamics, relationships, power structures, and whatnot?

And so the council had, as part of the accountability legislation, built in a look at civilian versus sworn investigators and what kind of impact that has on trust, effectiveness, outcomes, and that sort of thing.

As Inspector General Judge highlighted, it's a little challenging to figure out that dynamic and the data when the process is in the beginning stage of just now starting to hire some of those civilian investigators.

So I think that will impact the IG's look at that question.

Can you remind us, because I recall this is one of the areas where the contract approved by SPOG and the executive and the council differed from our 2017 accountability legislation as it relates specifically to the OPA director's authority to hire civilian investigators.

Can you remind us of what we passed in our original legislation versus what's ultimately ended up in the contract?

Sure, your recollection is correct, Madam Chair.

So the accountability legislation had contemplated that there would be a mix of civilian and sworn in whatever configuration that made the most sense based on available data, best practice, and so forth, which is part of the impetus for having it studied.

The SPOG, the Police Officers Guild contract, identified that there could be two civilian investigators.

So out of a complement of approximately 10 investigators, about 20% of them are in the process of being converted into a civilian position.

There is also, on the management side, there has already been a migration of the supervisor-level investigators to a civilian structure under the Seattle Police Management Association contract.

One of the challenges that was highlighted by Inspector General Judge in her bargaining agenda recommendations is if the contract does specify a specific number, it does create difficulties for our office to evaluate what is the logical number that makes the most sense.

How do you give the OPA director the discretion to identify what mix will produce the optimal outcome?

And for sure, there have been benefits that everyone has been seeing from having sworn officers as part of that process.

The Inspector General herself has someone with extensive law enforcement experience on staff, and that's really invaluable in understanding the dynamics of the individual cases, the history, and regular police practices.

But there is still the question of what is that optimum mix.

And what is happening so far is if you are having two civilian investigators, you are necessarily constraining the model to having, if you think of organizational deployment, if you have two and eight, that is necessarily going to steer you in certain directions of how you want to manage the workflow and what categories or types of cases people might hear.

And so the original legislation contemplated a freer flowing model where that discretion rested with the OPA director.

Thank you.

Just to wrap up, the Seattle Police Department has an audit policy and research section, so we are in an ongoing relationship with them to provide technical assistance.

Moving on to the next slide.

This is just a slide that describes our work in OPA review.

So we review their decisions about how to classify incoming complaints.

We review their completed investigations to ensure that they're thorough, unbiased, and timely.

And then we've also been in the process of doing our own internal analysis of our of our work to make sure that we have appropriate quality controls in place and we have appropriate criteria that's stated and understood by all of the parties about how we do those assessments of OPA.

We've got some special projects underway that I think are really interesting and innovative, and I'm very excited about them.

The first one I'd like to highlight is an effective interviewing project that we have ongoing.

It was initially identified as a priority project with my office and CPC.

And so in that collaboration, an expert from the UK was identified who came out has done some trainings and has now been engaged by my office SPD and OPA to create a training policy and, you know, really an overall program for effective communication.

And this involves how you talk to suspects, victims, witnesses, everybody in a way that uses the best social science research that we have now to to understand how to effectively mine memory, how not to overwrite memory, how to engage free-flowing information without introducing any undue coercion or things that might contribute to wrongful confessions or something.

So I think this is a really exciting topic, and this would probably be one of the first comprehensive training and policy programs of this nature in the country.

Yes.

Do you know if that training includes anything specifically about how to notice or observe whether people have a disability, a mental health issue, or if there is a different way to talk to young people compared to adults?

Absolutely.

Yeah, I think effective human communication has to take into account the person's capabilities and their situation.

So the great thing about this is this expert is working with SPD and the other stakeholders to develop a training product and a program that is responsive to the needs of community here in Seattle.

So that is one of the things that we've talked about ensure that it's part of policy and training.

And is it likely that this collaboration will include a review of current policies around the use of RUSs in interviews?

Yes.

So the next one is a program that was developed in New Orleans as a result of their involvement in a consent decree.

And just to boil it down, it's about providing officers with training and skills to be active bystanders with each other.

So it's a way for officers to intervene when they see one of their fellow officers perhaps you know, losing their temper or getting into a situation before unprofessional conduct happens, before misconduct occurs, so that they can help each other out and keep each other out of those kinds of situations.

And it may seem intuitive that people would step in and intervene and help each other out, but the science, the social science indicates that it's really the inverse of that, that there is a natural inclination to not want to step in and intervene in situations that are going down a bad road.

So I think this would be a very helpful program for SPD to develop and implement.

And it was one of my first recommendations to Chief Best about a year and a half ago.

A year ago, maybe.

Yeah.

So the last one is the program that I mentioned earlier, Council Member Morales, the Sentinel Event Review Process, and that's about having a trained group of people involving SPD personnel, oversight people, community members, subject matter experts, who have the requisite foundation of knowledge about police practices, constitutional law, and the subject matter, to come together and do a thorough, thorough review of a sentinel event, which is a bad outcome with an eye toward making systemic improvements to mitigate the likelihood that that bad outcome happens again.

And I'd be happy to To come and talk to you about, you know, if you want to talk more about this, I'd be happy to come and meet with you and talk to you about it.

And just to add, this is also a recommendation of the CPC in there.

September 2019 Serious and Deadly Force Investigation Task Force.

Yes, they had a specific recommendation that we start our process with a review of the Falotogo officer-involved shooting from New Year's Eve of 2018. My own sense of getting one of these review processes started is I think that that is perhaps too important of an event for a community to have that be the test case.

I think we really need to do a pilot of something that's perhaps not as I know this sounds counterintuitive, but that's not as of immediate and significant import to community so that we don't work out the bugs on something that's really critical.

All of these events are critical and, you know, have had significant negative impacts on community and families and whatnot.

So I don't want to diminish any of those, but I think starting with one that is, where the issues are a little bit easier to identify, to make sure that we have a good framework for this review process is important before we embark on the Falotogo matter.

And is there a timeliness issue in the selection of a particular incident to review?

Do you get to a point where too much time has gone by for it to be a meaningful engagement?

I think that's one of the critical aspects of a Sentinel Event Review Board.

It's got to be timely.

If you're identifying critical systemic failures or ways in which the system needs to be improved, a year or two down the road, you're really doing a disservice to everybody who's been operating in that system for that period of time and to whomever is impacted by that.

So in an ideal world, these need to happen in fairly short order.

I mean, you know, the force investigation has to occur.

There's got to be some investigation for the board to look at and to use as the framework for the review, but it can't be so far down the road that it, you know, it makes the impact of it less significant.

And so can you talk a little bit about your timeline for selecting a case for the Sentinel review?

Yes, we are hoping to pilot a sentinel event review process sometime in, it's probably going to be toward the end of Q2, maybe Q3.

And what's the approximate length of such a review?

I think it would depend on the complexity of the case.

I would like to start with one where a board could maybe meet a day or two and be able to really do a thorough review.

But those details are to be worked out with stakeholders and we have to identify persons who would be good members of the board and contribute the things that all of us would like to see as part of that board.

Okay.

So you made a comment about CPC's recommendations, and so these are just some of the issues that we wanted to highlight.

Discipline and supervision, we've accepted their recommendations that we look at those issues, and sentinel event review, which I just talked about.

CPC has identified 911 center operations as an area for us to look at.

with times and also with issues potentially of disparity.

So we're continuing to assess our ability to take that on.

I think that's an important topic.

They had identified hate crimes, but the city auditor has done some work on that.

And so we're trying not to cross over into their work too much.

Disparity in police stops, that's an ongoing issue, a body of work with SPD and CPC.

So we'll be looking to continue that.

as is officer wellness.

So I've mentioned our wrap-up report for 2019, but we will also be doing a joint mid-year report with CPC sometime in the summer to talk about our projects and our work together.

We've talked about outreach.

I think I've gone way over my time, I'm sure.

So if there's anything else you'd like to talk about, I'm happy to do that.

That's quite all right.

I had a lot of questions, so I appreciate your indulgence.

Absolutely.

Great report.

I look forward to ongoing work with you in the upcoming year.

Thank you.

So I don't have a question.

I just have a few quick comments.

You know part of the reason I don't have any questions is that The director and deputy director were kind enough to spend a considerable amount of time with me last week where we talked over the coming goals and the work plan for the office, and I just want to Thank you very much for your professionalism.

I really look forward to the results, especially of the upcoming 2020 audits on discipline and supervision, and just look forward to seeing the result of that and how it informs the work of this committee for this year and going forward.

Thank you so much.

I'm looking forward to working with the committee and with the other stakeholders.

Thank you, I appreciate the support.

Thank you very much.

All right, great.

Let's move on to item four.

Item number four, Human Services Department Director's Report.

The Director's Report?

The Human Services Department Director's Report, yeah.

I don't see anything in here.

That's correct.

I think they have

Yeah, I think this is the extent that we have in the portal, yeah.

Yes, for the viewing public, the report was not available, but we will link it to the agenda after this meeting.

And we can start with a quick round of introductions before we get rolling here.

And I just want to say a few words after those introductions.

Good morning, Jason Johnson, Director of the Human Services Department.

Audrey Beering, Deputy Director of the Human Services Department.

Tanya Kim, Division Director of Youth and Family Empowerment.

Kathy Knight, Director, Aging and Disability Services Division.

Good morning, Lan Pham, with the Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

Good morning, Susan McAllister, Leadership and Administration Division Director.

Great, thank you.

And just for the viewing public and for my colleagues on this committee, my committee has oversight of the Human Services Department portfolio exclusive to items related to the Homelessness Services Investment.

programs, policies that are run through what is referred to as HSI, is within the purview of Councilmember Lewis's committee.

And so for that reason, we are going to restrict our presentation and our questions to the non-HSI related programs and policies of the Human Services Department.

And with that, who would like to kick us off?

Great, I will.

Thanks.

Thanks again for having us.

It's always a pleasure to be able to talk about a department of 400 employees I care deeply about, who are all mission-aligned, and I could talk for hours about their accomplishments, but I'm going to try and keep to script given the limitation of time.

I do want to acknowledge, and you'll hear from the team here, but I want to acknowledge Diana Salazar, who is the Division Director over HSI, or the Homeless Strategy and Investment Division, as well as Tara Beck, who is Director of the Navigation Team.

Not with us today, given the focus on homelessness that they oversee that will be part of the select committee discussions.

But just want to acknowledge them as they're a critical part of the senior leadership team at the department.

Today I wanted to offer an overview of HSD and also introduce 2020's work.

The Human Services Department consists of five divisions representing the efforts of 400 dedicated employees.

HSD serves primarily as a funder.

We're the largest contributor to Seattle's human service safety net.

HSD manages $170 million in contracts with over 150 different community-based organizations.

HSD also provides direct services.

We do this through our Aging and Disability Services Division Case Management Program, through the Navigation Team Operations, through our Utility Discount Program, as well as through the Seattle Youth Employment Program.

HSD also serves as a convener.

We organize strategic human service discussions with stakeholders and community on a daily basis.

Across all of our work, we strive to eliminate racial disparities in service provision with our grantees and as a direct service provider.

Slide two, I think it's important to understand our mission and vision.

And so just want to read that aloud, because this mission and vision really center our work.

So the vision of Seattle Human Services Department is that all basic needs in our communities are met through innovative and collaborative approaches.

Greater Seattle is a place where the richness of our diversity is valued, all of our communities thrive, and people grow up and grow old with opportunity and dignity.

The mission of the Human Services Department is to connect people with resources and solutions during times of need so we can all live, learn, work, and take part in strong, healthy communities.

The department is focused on the following impact areas, and you'll see those captured on this slide, preparing youth for success, supporting affordability and livability, addressing homelessness, promoting public health, responding to gender-based violence, and promoting healthy aging.

We do this in partnership.

So we do this, again, primarily as a funder, sometimes as a direct service provider, as well as a convener.

But our community-based organizations are our critical partner.

And we do this in alignment with them, and we do that in partnership with them.

We share expertise with them.

Many of the 400 employees at the Human Services Department come from those community-based organizations.

And so there's a lot of alignment between the department and the providers doing this work out in the field.

We are, as I mentioned, organized in five divisions, with leadership and administrative division, which oversees all of the work and helps to support teams throughout all of these efforts.

So that includes the director's office, our finance team, HR, our continuous quality improvement, risk management, contract oversight, et cetera.

And these are a division led by Susan McAllister, who's here at the table today.

And it's also her birthday.

But there's about 70 plus staff as part of that division.

I also want to introduce you to Joe Kaspersky, who recently joined the department as chief financial officer.

Joe's here with us in the chamber.

And working closely with Susan and the division directors, city budget office, as well as FAS, Joe will be leading our finance team.

This is a team that ensures our fiscal health is strong and transparent, and we're really glad to have him on board.

So starting with preparing youth for success, this is done through our Youth and Family Empowerment Division, often referred to as YFE, and is done under the leadership of Tanya Kim.

This is a division of over 50 staff, I should say 50 permanent staff.

We also have about 10 seasonal staff that come on during the summer.

But in this division, this is where you'll see the efforts to support Seattle's Youth Employment Program, Summer Meal Program, Community Safety and Youth Development, and has historically held the Upward Bound Program where just a month ago, that program transitioned from the Human Services Department to the Department of Education and Early Learning.

YFE is also instrumental in helping us support affordability and livability, but do that in partner with other divisions.

So those efforts are, some examples of those efforts are the utility discount program, home delivered meals, senior congregate meal programs, children and youth summer meal programs, and family support.

Responding to gender-based violence, that is done through a small but mighty team known as the Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, led by Lan Pham.

The Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault is the lead coordinator for a number of cross-departmental and regional response efforts, including Access to Advocacy Network, Coordinated Effort Against Sexual Exploitation, the City of Seattle's Domestic Violence Prevention Council, and Seattle Criminal Justice Committee.

The Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault also invests in prevention and outreach education efforts and also supports the safety and stability needs of domestic violence, sexual assault, and commercial sexual exploitation survivors and their families.

Promoting Public Health, the Human Services Department holds the contract, holds the city's contract for public health.

This contract helps support over 19 community health centers, as well as Seattle, King County public health initiatives that reduce gun violence and opioid use.

Promoting Healthy Aging, this is done through our Aging and Disability Services Division and led by Kathy Knight.

This is our largest division when you look at number of employees with nearly 200 staff.

This is a division that oversees the area plan as well as the age-friendly action plan.

This is a division that oversees the case management program, which ensures that well over 12,000 households across King County can get the health care that they need and support that they need in their home so that they don't have to relocate into an institutional setting like a nursing home or hospital.

And then finally is our efforts to address homelessness.

I want to highlight that.

They're a key division, a key member of our team, and that is a division of a little over 30 staff and led by Director Diana Salazar.

They hold all of the contracts, all of our homeless investments.

They do all of the department's strategic thinking and partnership.

And they are also right now working hard to make sure that our efforts to stand up a regional authority are successful.

I also want to acknowledge a group of 10 people who make up our navigation team.

led by Tara Beck.

The navigation team is part of the HSI division.

And looking ahead to 2021, the navigation team will remain in the Human Services Department and not move over to the regional authority.

And we can get into some of the detail and exactly what that transition will look like in a future select committee.

All right, so looking ahead to 2020, this is where I wanted to give a high-level overview of some of the work that's going to be taking place this year.

But I wanted to start with something I just mentioned, and that is standing up of the regional authority.

King County Regional Authority to Address Homelessness is a critically important effort, and one that we want to make sure is successful.

And I think we'll have several opportunities to discuss that in more detail.

But that opportunity really required us to answer the question, who is the Human Services Department once this transition takes place?

And it allows us the opportunity to really re-envision the Human Services Department.

With the homeless response transitioning, HSC will redefine how it exists within the human services space.

HSC is working with staff, service providers, and clients to co-create a roadmap for the future.

This extensive work will examine form, function, culture, and the future outcomes of the human services department.

Ultimately, we want the Human Services Department to attract and retain the most talented people while positioning HSD's programs as a national leader in addressing poverty.

So this is work that is underway and will continue throughout 2020. Many of us are going to be involved and I'd love to be able to bring the details of that effort to a future committee meeting.

Great.

I would love to hear more about that.

As I've mentioned before, when we spoke about this effort recently, I appreciate your doing both an inside, outside look as part of this re-envisioning exercise, engaging our social service providers together with our own good staff doing this critical life-saving work.

And just want to highlight again my hope that we consider ways that we can include the recipient of city services through our contractees as part of the stakeholder groups that you work with.

Yeah, we can definitely commit to that.

We really see this in re-envisioning as offering three things.

One is that when you look at the past few decades of our work, not only has homelessness left our department, but so has education and early learning, immigrant and refugee affairs, housing used to be part of us.

And so we really see this, okay, we've evolved.

Let's really update who we are.

The second thing is, you know, we often hear, what's the prevention and upstream work that the city's doing in regards to homelessness?

And always connected to homelessness, but we really see our work as that.

So how do we really invest smartly to become that upstream effort so that we're not sending more people into the homelessness system?

And the third thing is, how do we be, this entire process of re-envisioning, how do we make it so it's so inclusive, not only is it for our community and for our employees, but it's by them, it's owned by them.

And so as part of that, we will be going directly to service recipients, providers, our own employees, to really craft what are our values, our culture, and our work, and it's not coming from leadership, per se.

Thank you.

All right, so moving through our other results.

First, I just want to acknowledge our overall stewardship role.

We acknowledge that the Human Services Department administers funds that come from local taxpayers as well as come from the federal government and other grants.

And so we take this stewardship role very seriously and we are always working to identify and reduce administrative burden, especially to our customer, the service providers.

For preparing youth for success in 2020, this will continue to be an effort where we support the Seattle Youth Employment Program.

This is a program that helps young people gain important career skills and provide them an opportunity to earn and save money.

This program serves 400 participants in the summer and 200 participants in the fall.

The Youth and Family Empowerment Division, or YFE, funds Our Best, which helps to improve the life outcomes for young black men and boys.

YFE partners with other departments as well as community organizations to support community safety and end violence for young people, both under 18 as well as over 18. And we do that in partnership with a series of investments we refer to as youth development, which will be RFP'd this year.

Madam Chair, can I ask a question?

So I'm interested in the Seattle Youth Employment Program.

You just stated that like 400 folks take advantage of it in the summer, 200 in the fall.

It looks like from looking at it online, it's kind of like a, it seems to be structured as like a year long plan with like a fall, winter, and spring module and then like a summer internship.

Are there, and the expectation on the website seems to be setting up that everyone kind of sign up for the whole hall, but do some people like do the modules and maybe not the internship?

Or do some people get grandfathered in for the internship and not do the modules?

How does that work if it kind of starts with?

Yeah, thank you.

Great question.

Do you want to provide an overview?

So we actually expanded the program and so in recent years it was summer only and in fact some of the council offices held Seattle Youth Employment interns during the summer so that's my pitch to you.

But we expanded it because we know that we want to build competencies over a period of time and so that's where in the fall we have an opportunity where young people can essentially learn and earn with us.

And so they'll participate in weekly activities to build those competencies, be exposed to, you know, future career opportunities.

build relationships with each other, all of those important things around youth development.

So then that way they can transition successfully into the summer internship program.

Because we're phasing it in, we have 200 young people starting with us and then increasing it to 400. So we're actually releasing an application I don't have the exact date.

I was hoping to have it, but it'll be next week.

So I'll follow up with you.

We are having some technical difficulties, but we will open it up for young people in the Seattle area to apply.

And so that's where we'll fill the 400. However, for those young people who worked with us during the school year time, they will, as long as they've met their performance measures, they'll be automatically placed in the Youth Employment Program.

But we will open it up so we can fill all those other slots.

And then as we transition into the fall, we'll work on that again.

Jason mentioned that we have our youth employment, or excuse me, youth development RFP coming out too.

So we'll be working with our community-based providers to also be another throughput into our summer program.

But we just need to kind of align it through the years of phasing it in fully.

But I'm happy to come back and give you a more thorough presentation because it's a lot of layers and different pieces.

But we are accepting employers.

So if you'd like to host a young person, I'm happy to follow up with that too.

You anticipated one of my other questions.

So I have a question about who are the other employers and what is the process for them to get young people into their place of employment?

Yeah, we have an application process for that as well.

And so we work with a lot of city departments, as well as our community-based organizations.

You know, it's a six-week opportunity.

And because we're working with, you know, quote, unquote, underserved populations, it's really an opportunity for people to mentor, to give exposure, to hopefully have some meaningful experience within a short period of time.

is not really meant to be a workforce development program where we're kind of filling positions for you to operate fully during the summer.

And so if that's for you, it's definitely something that we're looking for.

But a lot of our city departments, as well as community-based providers, we have a lot of returning organizations like Swedish, et cetera.

We've had very high success.

I have one more follow-up question, and it's not if you'll expand the eligibility to 30 so I can apply as well.

But this sounds like a great program.

I wish that it actually had existed when I was kind of at this point in high school and I'm looking to get more engaged with a cohort like this.

But are private employers engaged as well potentially as an opportunity for placements?

Because I know of some that would potentially be interested, if they aren't currently, to engage in something like this to provide kind of entry-level internship opportunities.

So, I'm just curious.

Well, you are not eligible, I'm sorry.

But we could talk offline about how we could support.

I will say what I love about the city is that it's not just about the Seattle Youth Employment Program.

You probably have heard about other programs like Opportunity Promise, which is supporting internships for our Seattle Promise young people.

And I can't speak to that because it's not being administered by our department, but we work closely and we align.

And I know that they, our cohort is working with a lot of private sector employers who, the real difference is that we're subsidizing our wages.

And so young people who are eligible, we pay for their wages.

We provide them wraparound supports, everything from, you know, your ORCA pass to even a food stipend to make sure that you're set up to succeed.

In terms of the private employers who are really ready to have their first intern, we want to encourage where they could, if they're already offering that, to really consider hiring our community college students.

And so that's really a plug for our opportunity promise.

And so there is need.

There is a pathway, a career pathway.

And so I would say that we can plug into that.

But I just want to make sure that you get to the right program.

Great, thank you.

One more question.

So this chart indicates investments in youth development and investments in reducing youth violence.

Can you talk about what those two things are?

Yes, and so we, YFE is a mix of a portfolio, and so along with our direct services that we just discussed, we have investments through contracts.

We have a, traditionally we've had a pre-employment and youth development a request for proposal.

This year we're aligning it because we believe if you're working with youth and young adults, they should, you know, do youth development and career readiness at the same time.

And so that is actually going to be released this spring.

And so I just previewed without giving anything away, I previewed the RFP guidelines and it's pretty magnificent if I may say.

So that's coming out very shortly.

Those investments are things like you can imagine, connecting young people to their cultural identity, working in teams to be involved in their community, leadership opportunity, et cetera.

So those are, there'll be more detail in the RFP, but that's kind of a preview.

For the youth violence reduction, we do have a focus on young adults, 18 to 24, but we actually serve a spectrum of ages.

And so we certainly work with minors as well as all ages up.

And it's really around working with individuals who have been impacted by the criminal legal system.

And that RFP went out last year.

We started our contracts just now, or just last month in January.

And we have an amazing cohort of 14 community-based organizations who are tackling violence and the criminal legal system itself.

But we're working, it's as you know, it's top of mind for a lot of people and so that is a priority for us to look at our investments and where are some potential gaps and where might we continue to support safety in the community.

As it relates to that specifically, in our last committee meeting, we did a quick overview led by central staff of where the Human Services Department was in allocating council budget ads.

And there is, as you know, about $522,000 in council budget ads focused on youth diversion, community building, education programs.

And as of the memo that we received on the 24th of January, the status that we had received from HSD as captured by the central staff is that the allocation of these funds was part of an ongoing discussion.

HSD is meeting with the organizations to get a better understanding of programming to determine best contracting options.

The point of this exercise was to recognize that some of the council funding was for existing programs and so could just be rolled into an existing contract.

Some are for existing services but would require a new RFP and some are for brand new programs that have to be developed.

The brand new programs that have to be developed probably are going to take the most amount of time.

The things that are for existing services but still need an RFP, mid-range amount of time to get those dollars out the door, but that the existing contract should be the quickest.

And I think the information that we receive from HSD largely comports with that expectation.

But just wanting a little bit more detail on where we're at with the diversion funds, you are identifying it as a new contract, but not but not a new program development.

Is that correct?

Yeah, that one was complicated because there were ongoing funds that were introduced as well as one-time funds, and so we're reconciling the two CBAs that were awarded.

And so we've been working on it as recently as yesterday.

You're right that there are some agencies that we would just make a contract amendment, but But in addition to that, there was a multiple strategies outlined or activities outlined in there.

And so we're trying to finesse it where how do we identify how much money is needed for each of those project areas.

And so I do believe that within a couple months we should be able to contract those out.

We are mindful that people want the funds now and we want to get the resources out.

And so we're very close and we're having conversations with those providers.

One of them I might just quickly mention is the Rainier Beach, a beautiful safe place for youth.

That's already happening.

And so that's just us, you know, partnering with the lead organization.

And so really it's doing the budget development and then contracting.

So it could be just amendment, which is more straightforward.

All right.

So some of the funds will potentially just be awarded via amendment more quickly.

It's going to take a little bit more time.

You know, one of the reasons that was given during the budget process for the urgency of these funds is because there was recognition that the council had allocated another pot of funds, and those dollars are going to be awarded by the Office of Civil Rights for very similar kind of work, but that that was going to be a community-led grant-making process.

And so, you know, that was, I think, $1.3 million.

So that process is ongoing.

The process itself is taking a little bit more time, but is basically aligned with what the council's expectations were in 2018. 18 when we voted for the funds to be allocated in 2020. But the idea behind these funds is we want to get these out the door right away.

So I just want to highlight that.

You mentioned that there is a sense of urgency.

But I also want to make sure that there is some coordination with the work that's being done over in SOCR.

on the Office of Civil Rights in the decisions that they're making for, you know, a similar body of work with similar desired outcomes and a lot of the same community partners.

Thank you.

Okay, before leaving Preparing Youth for Success, I want to highlight their important work around addressing hunger.

So it is healthy food access in out-of-school programs that is critically important and will continue to be a priority area for the department this year.

Likewise, the efforts to reduce sugary beverage consumption and advance health equity will continue.

The Human Services Department administers roughly $5 million of that fund.

Food access and meal deliveries also takes place in YFE, but also in our Aging and Disability Services Division and is critically important to helping to make Seattle more affordable.

Likewise, we have and administer inside the Human Services Department the Utility Discount Program.

And that is a program that is currently supporting a little more than 34,000 households across the utility service area.

We will continue to support those households, but also continue ensuring that other qualified households across the region know about the program and know how to access the program.

And I would, on this track related to expanding UDP to a larger proportion of likely eligible households, we understand that the likely universe of eligible households is around 98,000 individuals or 98,000 households.

We are currently serving about 35,000.

I would be very interested to know from you more information about what it will take and what kind of support the council can offer to expand access to this really vital home saving program.

Great.

Look forward to that.

So promote healthy aging.

This year, we will continue all of the great work inside of the Area Agency on Aging Plan.

This is a plan that helps us to maximize independence for thousands of vulnerable older adults and adults with disabilities living in their homes.

We also want to explore and hopefully increase our partnership with King County.

King County has a veterans, seniors, and human services levy and is supporting some really important work for seniors through that fund source.

And we want to make sure that we're aligned and that we can build on a joint effort there.

Community Living Connections, this is an effort that supports nearly 40,000 clients to ensure that they are connected to the services they need.

Likewise, we'll be implementing the age-friendly action plan sorry, Seattle's Age-Friendly Action Plan.

This is a multiple department and stakeholder effort to ensure that Seattle is built for and supports an aging population.

But with that lens, it supports all of us and makes life easier for anyone at any age.

And we want to make sure that that effort is expanded.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

Some of these things are new to me.

Can I get just a little more information on what the Area on Aging plan is?

Sure.

Kathy?

So it's about a 45-year relationship that we've had with the federal government through the Older Americans Act, and so that mandates area agencies on aging.

We have that designation within the city in partnership with the county.

Part of our requirement is every four years we develop an area agency plan.

Sort of is a map to help us.

We go through a process of identifying needs, and this is countywide.

because we serve the entire county.

So it's a great way for us to sort of stay focused on the future and making sure we're trying to address the needs of older adults.

But that doesn't tell me anything about what specifically you're doing.

Is that?

Is it housing?

Is it transit?

Is it health care?

What is it?

It's considered mostly supportive services.

The Older Americans Act was really that program that looked at how you help people stay at home who need maybe access to meals.

Transportation, it's all those supportive services.

We don't fund housing.

We have some transportation services, but they're fairly limited.

And we, as Jason said, we work in partnership with other departments to try to meet those needs.

And how often is, or what period of time does the plan cover?

We just submitted our four-year plan for 2020 through 2023. So it's, and it's many of the services, it's a continuation.

There's been, the Older Americans Act identifies priorities for services.

We have some flexibility, but we also have, nutrition's always been a very important part of the program.

Community Living Connections, 40 years ago we called it Senior Information and Assistance.

So now it's kind of progressed to where we're looking at broader needs.

It's great because this is a strong partnership with our community providers.

People want to go to a trusted source for information.

So they're going to look to those agencies in the community that they feel they can get the information they need.

And I think I heard you say that you just submitted the plan, is that right, last year?

In October.

OK, and so it will have to be approved, is that correct?

It's approved by the state.

The state has the responsibility for doing that.

And then, so that's how we access our federal funds, through the approval of that plan.

And the elements of the plan are, to some extent, defined by the requirements of the federal government.

But you do have some flexibility.

We do.

We do have some flexibility in terms of because the whole focus of area agencies on aging where you know what your local needs are, ours are different here than in Spokane.

So you do have some flexibility.

One of the things that I hear a lot from folks is a feeling through experience that we need to be doing more around employment.

As it relates to our aging population, people are having to work longer before they're able to retire.

And I'm wondering, is this an area that this particular plan covers?

You know, ageism is a big problem.

And we focus more on that through our action plan for the age-friendly initiative.

That's where we have a stronger focus there.

And we're working with other departments on that.

That's a big priority for me.

I hope with the mayor, we can really make some progress.

Yeah.

Bring you back and have a conversation about that.

Thank you.

Great.

I just wanted to underscore, too, while our department mostly just serves the city of Seattle, this division is unique in that it does have jurisdiction over the entire county.

So our case managers, actually, we have some in Renton.

They serve all of King County.

They go into people's homes, not just in the city.

Good, and there, I just wanna make sure to capitalize on the opportunity to come back and talk more about both the area plan as well as the age-friendly plan.

I think there is a lot of opportunity in both of those for champions to help us move that work forward.

And we stand ready to come back and dive deeply into that effort.

So our efforts to respond to gender-based violence, we have an investment portfolio that goes to community-based organizations totaling nearly $11 million.

We will be supporting a gender-based violence conference in 2020. This is the first of its kind.

in this area.

We're also trying to continue efforts, really strong efforts by the Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault to increase awareness.

So there will be a creative art exhibition at City Hall during Sexual Assault Awareness Month that will get a lot of our focus this year.

Promoting public health, so we continue to hold that contract, and we want to ensure that those investments, especially those that address gun violence and reduce opioid use in communities across Seattle and the region, are being supported in the right way.

And then finally, our efforts to respond to homelessness.

Again, we can talk in more detail about those, but those will really center on successfully standing up the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.

That begins with a co-location period, but also some important factors such as finding a CEO, seeding and supporting a governance structure, developing the staff plan and really being in a position to launch that authority in 2021 successfully.

We'll continue to administer the city's navigation team and we'll continue to coordinate with you and the mayor's office to provide critical data updates and milestones related to our partnership with stakeholders.

Back on promoting public health there, I just want to go back again to our previous committee meeting and the document that I referenced earlier giving the status update on council ads.

There are two items that I believe fit in the public health.

One is adding $55,000 in one-time funds for educational programs targeted to the African-American diaspora on HIV, AIDS, and chronic disease.

And then the other is add $140,000 for a harm reduction outreach program for street-based sex workers and drug users.

We were told for the former that there would be a contract enacted by January 31st.

And for the latter, by February 29th, just checking in and making sure that that's happened.

I can address the second ad.

It is actually held by our office, and we're working in collaboration with public health right now to draft that contract.

The contract will be the first contract of its kind for the Green Light Project, so we're in contract negotiation right now.

Fantastic, thank you.

And for the one that was supposed to be enacted by the 31st?

Yeah, so that's a simple amendment to the public health contract and I would expect is on target.

Okay, great.

So thank you.

That's the Human Services Department and the work that we have ahead in 2020. I appreciate having the time to run through that update with you and that concludes my director's report.

I just have one further question.

I don't know if my colleagues do.

I understand that the negotiations as it relates to the council's added funding for the LEAD program is going through the mayor's office.

So I'm not here to speak about the status of those negotiations.

But I am interested to know where this falls in your focus areas.

Where does it fit?

Yeah, so right now and throughout 2020, the LEED contract will be held by the NHSI.

And so the Homeless Strategy and Investment Division historically has managed that contract and will continue to do so this year.

In 2021 and beyond, we are working in partnership right now with the YFE division and trying to do some cross-training of grants and contract specialists so that they can learn from the expertise of the current contract holder in HSI.

So we'll be working on a transition plan for that contract.

But throughout 2020, that will be held by the HSI division.

And I'm looking to my colleague, Council Member Morales, because she has made this point, as have I, as has this committee in our communication.

I just want to flag that I think the fact that this contract is held in at HSI might be sort of a foundational issue for why we're having some problems because This is not a homelessness program, it is a public safety program.

So I'm glad that you're looking at other alternatives, but I do, I want to again flag that I think Some of the difficulties that we're having with negotiating this new contract might stem from the viewing of this as a homelessness program.

I do recognize that it was a previous council a few years ago that worked to move, lead to the Human Services Department.

But, you know, this is a process of continuous improvement and we will all do so together.

Yeah, thank you.

And, you know, we've moved many of investments historically held by that division out into other divisions.

I think a clear example of that is all of our food contracts.

Those used to be part of that larger homeless portfolio.

But really, one's housing status was not a requirement for accessing food.

And so we made that transition.

So we continue that improvement process to make sure that the investment portfolios that we hold align within our current structure.

I will also flag just the importance of our re-envisioning effort.

Really paying attention to what results we're after, how we're organized to achieve those results is critical.

And we're doing that work now.

And so the way that we may envision a contract like LEAD being supported in the Human Services Department now might look different by the end of the year.

So I think that's why it's, you know, really important for us to stay in close communication about what that effort looks like.

That's a good reminder about the importance of that re-envisioning process that you're engaged with.

So thank you.

Any other thoughts or questions?

Just really want to thank you all for the work that you do on behalf of the residents of our city that are greatly in need of your work and your commitment and your services.

It's really life-saving work, so thank you all and I look forward to working with y'all.

Thanks for the support.

Take care.

With that if there's no other further business No other further business.

We are adjourned.

It is a 1130 a.m.

Thank you