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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 14863 City of Palo Alto (ID # 14863) Policy and Services Committee Staff Report Meeting Date: 10/11/2022 Report Type: Action Items City of Palo Alto Page 1 Title: Race and Equity Quarterly Update From: City Manager Lead Department: City Manager Recommendation Staff recommends that the Policy and Services Committee receive this informational update on the City’s Recent Race and Equity Work. Background As part of the City’s ongoing Race and Equity work, the City Council adopted a list of directives in November 2020 (link to Action Minutes (pages 4 and 5); Report CMR #11754). Progress on each of the November 2020 directives, as well as other efforts since June 2022, are shared in this report. Additionally, the City Council took action in September 2022 to rename the second Monday of October from “Columbus Day” to “Indigenous People’s Day and Italian Americans Heritage Day.” Previous quarterly updates to the Policy and Services Committee include: - June 14, 2022 Update (CMR #14497) - February 8, 2022 Update (CMR #13997) - September 2021 Update (CMR #13568) - June 2021 Update (CMR #12342) - March 2021 Update (CMR #12053) Discussion In addition to the City Council actions in November 2020, the City has been actively engaged in many community initiatives, conversations, and events related to race, equity, and culture. These updates are provided at the end of this memo. The City issued a blog update in July to share information about updates included in the June 2022 update report. Staff will continue to share information about race and equity efforts through the City’s communications channels and will continue to maintain a Race and Equity webpage at www.cityofpaloalto.org/raceandequity. City of Palo Alto Page 2 Update on Work Assignments The table below provides the remaining three assignments from the original 17 assignments given by the City Council in November 2020 pertaining to the City’s Race and Equity efforts. The status updates included outline the most recent action as staff continues to work on these three assignments. The assignments already completed are listed with detail in the June 2022 report in Attachment A (PDF page 47). There are further updates below the table for Assignment C and Completed Assignment D (related to mental health response programs). Updates on Remaining Assignments Assignment Work Assignment Status C Starting after the full implementation of the Records Management System (RMS) and the first data collection period, direct Staff to resume annual data collection and analysis of police contact data similar to the previous Stop Data reports; Partially completed as this item requires a full year of data which won’t be complete until the end of December 2022. Small update provided below this table. K Return in the fall of 2021 with parameters, proposals, and strategies prior to engaging in Palo Alto Peace Officers’ Association (PAPOA) negotiations; The City's negotiators have received initial bargaining authority in closed session and are ready to begin the bargaining process, throughout the process the City's team and department will continue to review and evaluate any provision which needs revision to align with the City's overall goals. L Direct Staff, in coordination with the City’s overall diversity and inclusion efforts, to conduct a workforce demographic assessment as baseline information and to pursue an employee assessment to measure City workforce culture; Staff is working on updated employee demographic information and will report back when this is completed. Staff completed the Board/Commission demographic survey in 2021 and will the align survey period with the Board/Commission annual recruitment cycle so new members can more easily be accounted for. The survey is anonymous and not linked to specific Board/ Commission members. Staff continues to work on a citywide climate survey anticipated to be distributed this year. Staff contracted with Ivy Planning Group to help with an organizational assessment. Ivy has started this work. CircleUp Education also started conducting the implicit bias and microaggression trainings with Board/Commission members, the City Council, and City of Palo Alto Page 3 Assignment Work Assignment Status staff liaisons. Staff is working to offer a similar training on Conscious Conversations available in early 2023 through this vendor for other staff including the Police Department’s command staff and supervisors. Lastly, staff started developing the recruitment materials for the Equity and Inclusion Official who will help move this work forward. Staff is gathering insight from other cities with similar positions and anticipates posting the recruitment this Fall. Further Details Assignment C: Starting after the full implementation of the RMS and the first data collection period, direct Staff to resume annual data collection and analysis of police contact data similar to the previous Stop Data reports The Police Chief and select staff will be attending a local November 1, 2022, RIPA (Racial and Identity Profiling Act) Summit, sponsored by the California Police Chief’s Association to gain information on how the RIPA Board interprets that data. This summit will also provide suggestions on how agencies can prepare for the release of their data and how to apply for reimbursement under SB 90 for the expenses associated with RIPA. The Police Department continues to report all stop data directly to the California Department of Justice (Cal DOJ) through the Cal DOJ web portal. The first year of stop data collection ends at midnight on December 31, 2022. The final completed and approved 2022 data submissions must be sent to the Cal DOJ by April 1, 2023. PD staff are continuing to work with the City’s Information Technology Department to develop methods to report out the 2022 collected data in advance of the annual DOJ comprehensive report. Update on Alternative Response Mental Health Programs (linked to Completed Assignment D): 1. Santa Clara County’s new Community Mobile Response Program (branded the Trusted Response Urgent Support Team (TRUST) Program): Santa Clara County’s Behavioral Health Department made a presentation to the Policy and Services Committee in March 2021 (CMR #12051) about their new alternative response program. As discussed then, the TRUST program is a non-law enforcement response resource for lower-level mental health crises based on Eugene, Oregon’s CAHOOTS program and other alternative response programs. Following that presentation, Palo Alto successfully advocated for inclusion of a third site to serve north county in addition to the two originally proposed in East San Jose and Gilroy. City of Palo Alto Page 4 The overview for the program can be found here: https://mhsoac.ca.gov/sites/default/files/MHSOAC_Materials_05272021_0.pdf beginning on page 101. Update: The County has awarded a contract to Momentum for Health to be the TRUST service provider in north county. Momentum is very eager to do the work and to develop relationships in north county. City Staff is tracking the program implementation and looking for ways to help promote it in Palo Alto. 2. Federal funds for an alternative mental health response program: In order to ensure adequate coverage of a mental health alternative response program for Palo Alto, the City in 2021 submitted for federal Community Project Funding (earmark) for financial support for this type of program in partnership with the Cities of Mountain View and Los Altos. With the leadership of Congresswoman Eshoo, the City received notification that the funding would be awarded to the City. Update: The City just received the formal award notification from the federal agency assigned to administer these funds to the City (the City completed a formal application process in June and the award notice arrived in September). Staff continues to move this effort forward with the goal of linking the funding to a sustainable program. 3. The Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT) program also continues to be successful in Palo Alto as another resource, in addition to the Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT). Other Citywide Race and Equity/Diversity Updates • Based on the demand for Children’s Theatre Magical Series Spectrum and Sensory Friendly Program offerings (classes and camps which are enrolled based on developmental age, rather than chronological ages like most City programs) – developed in collaboration with the Magical Bridge Foundation in summer 2022 – the theatre expanded the series to include Free Magical Series Music Therapy classes. These classes focus on accessibility for neurodivergent participants, as well as host a Magical Day Program for differently abled young adults who have aged out of most available day programs. In Fall 2022, the Magical Series programming will also include dance classes focused on participants with different learning needs. • With support from the Friends of the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre, Children’s Theatre staff work with PAUSD family services specialists to identify students who will benefit from full scholarships for Summer Camps and Classes. In Summer 2022, the theatre had more students participating in programs on full scholarships than any previous year. City of Palo Alto Page 5 • In Summer 2022, the Children’s Theatre participated in an annual collaboration with the Stanford University Compression Forum (the theatre's 4th year in the program), offering paid internships to rising high school seniors and incoming college freshman. The participants, almost all of whom come from under-represented/under-served backgrounds, take part in a research project that explores the use of advanced technology in theatre. • Also over the summer, the Children’s Theatre development of the Reparations Project, a national collaboration with The Breath Project and the Friends of Palo Alto Children’s Theatre, to encourage conversations around the topic of slavery reparations in educational and performing arts institutions, with the goal of developing an original theatrical work in Fiscal Year 2024 – 2025. • The Art Center and Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo will conclude their last year of collaboration on “Working Together” in this current fiscal year (FY 2023). This program provides paid teen opportunities, paid undergraduate internships, and paid graduate fellowships to diversify the museum field. The Art Center Foundation received an IMLS American Rescue Fund grant in 2022 to support a project “Centering Accessibility” intended to continue the Art Center’s focus on inclusion. This grant provided training for Art Center staff and will help to purchase accessible artmaking equipment for our studio programs. The Art Center continues to provide QR codes with visual descriptions and large-print labels for constituents in exhibitions. • The Art Center continues its Project Look school tour scholarships for East Palo Alto classrooms this fiscal year. The Cultural Kaleidoscope arts integration program continues in underserved school sites in East Palo Alto as well. The Art Center continues its Dreamcatchers partnership in offering scholarships to Art Center classes to their low- income constituents. Last fiscal year (FY 2022), as part of the Creative Attention initiative, the Art Center started a program of scholarships for art classes for low-income seniors. In addition, the Art Center offered onsite art therapy sessions for low-income seniors at Stevenson House and Palo Alto Housing. This year, the Art Center continues to offer scholarships for low-income seniors and will offer monthly artmaking sessions at both Stevenson House and Palo Alto Housing. These programs referenced above are funded by the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation. • In FY 2023, the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo will deliver in-person and virtual science lessons to children and adults from First 5 Family Resource Centers. These families represent multiple ethnicities and languages. • King Artist Residency: Artist-in-Residence Rayos Magos led six community engagement workshops (in English and Spanish) as part of his King Artist Residency outreach. Overall, between February and August, the artist led over 35 art workshops and engagements City of Palo Alto Page 6 about culture, identity, belonging, and resilience in Palo Alto, with the special focus on amplifying voices of Latinx and BIPOC community members and mental health service providers. These conversations informed Magos’ temporary artwork that will be displayed in King Plaza later in Fall 2022. (The artwork is in fabrication now). • ArtLift Microgrant projects: Aug – Sep: New media artist and film maker Miguel Novelo Cruz let 10 pop-up events as part of his project called Cinetero across various parks in Palo Alto to engage park goers in candid conversations about equity and belonging in Palo Alto. Interviews with project participants (in English and Spanish) can be viewed here: https://cinetero.org/. In addition, Mapping Palo Alto Together by artist Perry Meigs. Between June – September Perry Meigs led a series of free public workshops for youth, adults, and seniors of diverse backgrounds to engage participants in conversations about their daily travel paths across Palo Alto. Participants were invited to create neighborhood maps visualizing how their daily patterns have changed during the pandemic. The project will conclude with a temporary mural displayed at the Rinconada Library. • Public Art Commission Workplan: The Public Art Commission held its Annual Retreat on September 17. Commissioners reviewed and outlined its 2022/2023 work plan guided by the PAC fundamental priorities including the Social Justice Priority: Develop public art projects that will continue to advance cultural inclusion and social, racial, and gender equity. Library Updates from October 22 – November 19 The following list provides programming that the Library has accomplished from June-August: • Summer Reading Program 2022: All Together Now! This summer’s theme allowed the Library to provide a unique opportunity read for a cause. “All Together Now!” and perfectly captured our desire to support our community in any way we could. We selected the Palo Alto Community Fund (PACF), an organization which provides grants to non-profits that improve the quality of life for everyone in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park. For every participant who completed the program, the Library would donate $1 to PACF. In 2021 PACF distributed annual grants to 70 local nonprofit that help families, uplift the vulnerable, improve education opportunities, and enhance community life. We were excited to see our participants give toward these important causes, by doing something they enjoy—reading! In total, 777 participants completed the program, and the Library (with support of the Friends of the Palo Alto Library) will donate a check to PACF for that amount. • Reboot Room Launch: This new space at the Mitchell Park Library provides access to and training of various technical equipment for AV filming and recording; gaming; and City of Palo Alto Page 7 digitizing old formats. Classes, eHelp and other learning services will be provided to all community members of all ages. • Library efforts in June 2022: o Pride Storytimes o SRP Events (introduced art and activities from other cultures): ▪ “Colors of India” Dholrhythms Dance Company Performance ▪ Mexican Tin Art Craft ▪ Solving Fun Sodoku & More! o Web Content: Booklists, blogposts, social media posts on Pride Month & Juneteenth • Library efforts in July 2022: o SRP Events (introduced art and activities from other cultures): ▪ Village Rhythms with Onye Oneymaechi Performance ▪ TaiChi Workshop ▪ Make a Zine Workshop (taught all ages the art of zine making and personal expression) ▪ Mapping Palo Alto (worked with PA Public Artist on workshop for mapping your travel patterns through your community before, during and after the pandemic) • Library efforts in August 2022: o Author Visit: Joanna Ho discussed writing children’s books about the Asian American experience • Ongoing Library programming: o Bi-Monthly Sensory Storytime o Monthly ESL Book Club o Monthly Stay Woke Book Club o Weekly ESL Conversation Group Timeline, Resource Impact, Policy Implications The work described within this report is being accomplished within current budgets unless otherwise noted. Stakeholder Engagement Community engagement is an integral part of Palo Alto’s race and equity work. Engaging the community at large to provide feedback for the City’s Race and Equity strategy has been a priority throughout this process as shown in the Framework. The City continues to engage the community through a series of Race and Equity conversations. Updates on the City’s ongoing efforts can be found on the Race and Equity webpage on the City website (www.cityofpaloalto.org/raceandequity). Staff is also planning an updated Community blog City of Palo Alto Page 8 with the information contained within this report. The blog will be posted on the City’s Medium page at: https://medium.com/paloaltoconnect.