To: County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Department of Health Services
Staff Name and Phone Number: Tina Rivera, 707-565-4774
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Racial Equity Consulting Services for the Department of Health Services
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Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Authorize the Director of Health Services, or designee, to execute an agreement with Equity and Results Consulting, LLC for racial equity consulting services for the period September 19, 2023 to June 30, 2024 in an amount not to exceed $130,125.
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Executive Summary:
The Department of Health Services (hereinafter “the Department” or “DHS") is requesting the Board of Supervisors authorize the Director of Health Services, or designee, to execute an agreement with Equity and Results Consulting, LLC to provide the Department with tools to develop racial equity skills and competencies, beginning first with the Department’s Equity Circle and Core Team members, for a cost of $130,125 through June 30, 2024. DHS collaborated with the Office of Equity (hereinafter “OoE”) to ensure alignment between the two departments. DHS is using some elements of the OoE’s model of the Equity Core Team in the design of its own Equity Circle including providing Race Equity Foundations training and the training, support, and expertise that will be provided through the proposed contract. This contract furthers the work of OoE around equity planning and accountability.
Discussion:
The County Office of Equity issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) for Race and Social Equity Consulting services on January 5, 2021. The RFQ received 13 responses, and after reviewing the submitted materials and conducting research into the proposed methodologies to be utilized, the County Office of Equity determined that Equity and Results Consulting, LLC (Equity & Results) provided the best pathway to achieving the County’s racial equity goals. Equity & Results uses antiracist principles to transform how systems work and strategically disrupt common practices that perpetuate inequities and replace them with actions that address the root causes of the problem and lead to improved outcomes. Equity & Results explains: “[i]t is very common that groups do not know how to bridge the gap between a commitment to racial equity and their day-to-day work. But when an organization with a deep understanding of racial equity through personal and institutional education and training uses a results-driven methodology, the group moves from good intentions to transformation.”
Equity & Results is uniquely qualified to support the County in developing a Racial Equity Learning Program and to apply a Results Based Accountability model to track internal and external progress in addressing disproportionate outcomes using a set of specific indicators and metrics. The Office of Equity and the Human Services Department have already engaged Equity & Results for training, and the Department of Health Services is now also ready to utilize the Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability (AR-RBA) model to facilitate the normalization of conversations around race, to enhance staff capacity through ongoing training, and to operationalize racial equity by embedding this lens into routine decision-making and policy implementation. The County’s Purchasing Division has approved DHS’s use of recommended results from the RFQ formal solicitation conducted in 2021 to contract for these services.
The proposed scope of work will develop racial equity skills and competencies, beginning first with the Department’s Equity Circle and Core Team members, who have already received foundational training in preparation for this next phase of work. Part 1 of the agreement deliverables will include implementing an Antiracist Results-Based Accountability Workshop Series that provides the participants with a working knowledge of Antiracist Results-Based Accountability (AR-ARBA) methodology. This series of workshops will be for approximately 30 individuals from the Equity Circle and Core Team, and potentially other members of the department with foundational training.
In addition to workshops, Equity & Results will provide support and coaching on methodology integration and application as well as develop strategies that will inform the Department’s strategic plan.
Part 2 of the agreement deliverables will be a series of AR-RBA Facilitators’ Train-the-Trainer (TtT) and integration sessions for up to 20 individuals from the Core Team and DHS Equity Circle that include:
• Session 1: Refresher on the Principles of Racially Equitable Impact and AR-RBA + Q&A
• Session 2: Leading the AR-RBA/Facilitation - Tactics, lessons learned, practice
• Session 3: Learn and Demonstrate session - Skillset: Root Cause Analysis
• Session 4: Learn and Demonstrate sessions - Skillset: Root Cause Analysis to Strategy Development
• Session 5: Learn and Demonstrate sessions - Skillset: Better off/Performance metric Development and Q&A
Part 2 will also include strategic plan integration sessions with lead staff (approximately 20 individuals), who will help to ensure and support the learnings and strategies from AR-RBA sessions are deeply integrated into the plan.
The proposed approach will ensure that DHS:
• Learns/reviews and internalizes Antiracist Results-Based Accountability process that helps DHS develop a team of experts of approximately 30 individuals, to apply the principles to program development, contract management, and program evaluation internally and with contracted partners
• Identify and provide recommended solutions for root causes of lingering challenges, both internally and with community members
• Meaningfully informs the Department-wide strategic plan to ensure that racial equity is centered in the work of DHS
• Builds the capacity or “muscle” to integrate and sustain AR-RBA into how DHS conducts data-informed racial equity work
Utilizing an Antiracist RBA approach to support the County’s racial equity work builds on the expertise and deep work between our safety net departments and our community-based partners who are also implementing RBA.
Strategic Plan:
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Racial Equity and Social Justice
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
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
On June 6, 2023 the Board authorized the Office of Equity Director to execute the second amendment to the agreement with Equity & Results to extend contract term from June 30, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
April 19, 2022 the Board authorized the Office of Equity Director to execute the first amendment to the agreement with Equity & Results to increase contract total to a not-to-exceed amount from $391,900 to $431,275.
On June 8, 2021 the Board delegated authority to the Director of the Office of Equity to execute a Professional Services Agreement with Equity & Results for consulting services for 3 years at $391,900.
Fiscal Summary
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Expenditures |
FY 23-24 Adopted |
FY 24-25 Projected |
FY 25-26 Projected |
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Budgeted Expenses |
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Additional Appropriation Requested |
$130,125 |
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Total Expenditures |
$130,125 |
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0 |
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Funding Sources |
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General Fund/WA GF |
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State/Federal |
$130,125 |
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Fees/Other |
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Use of Fund Balance |
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Contingencies |
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Total Sources |
$130,125 |
0 |
0 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
Contract expenditure of $130,125 will be funded via the California Equitable Recovery Initiative Funding through California Department of Public Health (CERI). The Department will add appropriations during Quarter 1 consolidated board adjustments.
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Staffing Impacts: |
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Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - Equity & Results, LLC Proposal to RFQ
Attachment 2 - Equity and Results Consulting, LLC Services Agreement
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None