To: County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Office of Equity
Staff Name and Phone Number: Melissa Valle, 707-565-8631
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Office of Equity Time-Limited Position Extension
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Adopt a Resolution amending the Department Allocation List of the Office of Equity to extend 1.0 Full-Time Equivalent Time-Limited Program Planning and Evaluation Analyst through June 30, 2027, effective February 3, 2026.
end
Executive Summary:
The Office of Equity is requesting an extension of one Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Time-Limited Program Planning and Evaluation Analyst (PPEA) through June 30, 2027. Currently, the allocation, resourced by Strategic Plan funds is set to expire on October 31, 2026. However, salary savings in the existing Strategic Plan award intended to support this position, provide fiscal capacity to support extending this position to continue the implementation of several objectives of the County’s Strategic Plan through the end of Fiscal Year 2026-27.
Discussion:
The Office of Equity (OOE) is requesting an extension of 1.0 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Time-limited Program Planning and Evaluation Analyst (PPEA), currently set to expire on October 31, 2026. The position, funded by the Strategic Plan, can be extended through June 30, 2027, by using salary savings in the existing Strategic Plan award. No additional General Fund contingencies are requested for this extension.
The Office of Equity’s Time-Limited Strategic Plan Program Planning and Evaluation Analyst (PPEA) allocation was approved in February 2023 through Strategic Plan funding. The PPEA supports the Racial Equity Social Justice Pillar Goal 1 Objective 4 <https://socostrategicplan.org/racial-equity-and-social-justice/>, and the Healthy and Safe Communities Pillar Goal 2 Objectives 1 and 3 <https://socostrategicplan.org/healthy-and-safe-communities/>.
The Strategic Plan PPEA capacity is dedicated to bolstering the capacity of the Racial Equity Learning Program by spending 50% of their time in codesigning, coordinating, and facilitating the Racial Equity Foundations Trainings, and the remaining 50% towards producing and delivering the Anti-racist Results-Based Accountability trainings and providing technical assistance on its application, in partnership with Upstream Investments in the Human Services Department (HSD).
The Racial Equity Foundations Training is designed to build County employees’ understanding of local history and their roles in advancing racial equity as public servants. Completion of this foundational training is a prerequisite for the Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability Training, which is designed to expand and strengthen County staff skills and capacity to apply anti-racist data analysis to program design, evaluation, and outcome tracking. To support learning transfer from training into day-to-day implementation, the PPEA also provides one-on-one technical assistance for staff seeking practical support in setting the foundation for data-driven decision-making in their roles.
Since 2024, the PPEA has facilitated over 55 training sessions, averaging 2.2 live trainings per month, reaching 730 staff participants on Racial Equity Foundations and 360 individuals through the AR-RBA training sessions. Of the participants in the AR-RBA trainings, 30% have pursued additional training and practical application workshops, signaling engagement and interest in the application of the AR-RBA framework. In addition, the PPEA has provided 110 hours of technical assistance on AR-RBA across 10 County departments and divisions since 2024. Details of the performance outcomes resulting from the partnership between the OOE and HSD are outlined in Attachment A: AR-RBA Strategic Partnership Report.
As part of the focus on applied AR-RBA, and in partnership with the Safety Net departments, the PPEA assessed the current data collection tools among safety net partners and is finalizing a report outlining the current landscape of existing practices and identifying gaps and opportunities in the implementation of consistent data collection and analysis practices, starting with the County safety net. This report will be presented to the County Executive’s Office and Board for direction on next steps on the sustained operationalization of the AR-RBA framework across the County.
The existing salary savings from the ten-month delay between allocation of funding and filling the position present an opportunity to sustain the Office’s capacity to advance this work through the end of FY 2026-27, including meeting the high demand for equity trainings (Racial Equity Foundations and Antiracist Results-Based Accountability). Currently, in addition to the established Countywide trainings for 2026, there are 9 requests for department, division, or team-specific trainings to be fulfilled between 2026 and 2027. Without this allocation, the capacity to sustain the current training cadence and technical assistance support would be reduced by half.
The Office of Equity requests amending the Department Allocation list to extend a time-limited 1.0 FTE PPEA from October 31, 2026, to June 30, 2027.
Strategic Plan:
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Healthy and Safe Communities
Goal: Goal 2: Establish equitable and data-driven distribution of services
Objective: Objective 1: Safety Net departments will begin tracking data using results-based accountability (RBA) for key programs to establish common outcome measures, such as increased service access and utilization by communities of color, or decreased homelessness
Pillar: Healthy and Safe Communities
Goal: Goal 2: Establish equitable and data-driven distribution of services
Objective: Objective 3: Identify and eliminate data gaps for underrepresented groups, and collaborate with the community to implement measures to mitigate the negative impacts caused by the lack of access to services by racial and ethnic groups that are disproportion
Pillar: Racial Equity and Social Justice
Goal: Goal 1: Foster a County organizational culture that supports the commitment to achieving racial equity.
Objective: Objective 4: Develop a shared understanding of key racial equity concepts across the County and its leadership.
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
On February 7, 2023, the Board adopted funding recommendations under the Strategic Plan Annual Report and Funding Recommendations Calendar Item.
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY25-26 Adopted |
FY26-27 Projected |
FY27-28 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
$201,500 |
$207,545 |
$0 |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
$201,500 |
$207,545 |
|
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
$201,500 |
$207,545 |
|
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
General Fund Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$201,500 |
$207,545 |
|
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
Extending the allocation of the position an additional eight months through June 30, 2027, is projected to cost $139,296.65 in FY 26-27. This cost will be funded with Strategic Plan salary savings, resulting from the ten-month delay between allocation of the funding and filling the position, set aside on February 07, 2023 to support the PPEA position. This adjustment will be included in the FY 26-27 Recommended Budget. There was a ten+ month delay in filling the position, resulting in salary savings between February and November 2023. Extending the position for 8 months would be aligned with the original timeline for the position.
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
There are no staffing impacts, this is a request to extend an existing 1.0 FTE PPEA allocation from October 31, 2026, to June 30, 2027.
Attachments:
Attachment A: AR-RBA Strategic Partnership Report
Attachment B: Resolution amending the Office of Equity Department Allocation List
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A