Task force unveils proposals to engage, heal Sonoma County
Mental health counselors in every school, a dozen new murals in the Roseland neighborhood, a countywide student congress and more restorative justice options for at-risk students are just a fraction of the ideas proposed by a task force created by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to channel community unrest after 13-year-old Andy Lopez was killed.
The ambitious proposals, presented over two Mondays by the subcommittee on Community Engagement and Healing, would easily exceed $1.5 million, according to rough estimates provided for only some of the ideas.
The programs would dip into the budgets of schools, law enforcement agencies and county government. In some cases, the ideas seek to restore programs cut years ago during the height of the nation’s recession.
But bold ideas, even if costly, are what county supervisors wanted the task force to create, Supervisor Efren Carrillo said during a break in Monday’s presentation.
“They are not charged with formulating decisions on what they think we can afford and what we can’t,” Carrillo said. “I hope they prioritize recommendations that really help fulfill the board’s desire of creating community resiliency.”
Perhaps the most significant proposal - a model for independent citizen oversight of law enforcement - has yet to be presented. The subcommittee studying this issue will present its ideas Jan. 26 and Feb. 2.
More than a year ago, the Board of Supervisors formed the Community and Local Law Enforcement Task Force and asked its 21 members to develop an action plan aimed at building better relationships between local government and law enforcement and the communities - especially among Latino residents - they serve.
The Community Engagement and Healing subcommittee of the task force was asked to develop ideas about how to help the community talk and heal in the wake of traumatic events, such as the Oct. 22, 2013, shooting of Lopez by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy.
On Monday, about 15 children from El Verano Elementary School who participate in the Valley Vibes community music program started Monday’s meeting by playing some lines from a Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky composition for the group.
They were there in support of forming a countywide music resource center to help schools start orchestras and other music programs - costing an estimated a $691,000 - that is on the subcommittee’s list of 10 draft recommendations.
Another recommendation was to boost restorative justice programs for delinquent youth, which is currently only available to Santa Rosa students recommended by the probation department. Lopez was taking part in a 12-week restorative justice program when he died, subcommittee Chairwoman Judy Rice said during the meeting.
She pointed to statistics that show Santa Rosa’s program dramatically reduced expulsions - from 106 during the 2011-12 school year to only three in 2013-14.
“With a relatively small sum of $100,000, we could help an additional 150 youth annually,” Rice said.
Other ideas and their estimated costs include:
Mental health counselors in each middle and high school, $60,000 to $80,000 per counselor
Continuing community forums, no cost estimate
A dozen new murals in the Roseland neighborhood, $96,000
A countywide student congress and leadership program, $75,000 per year
Adding school resource officers, $280,000 per deputy sheriff
Establish a community service officer in Roseland, $125,000
$100,000 to help a local nonprofit develop a program to address a lack of belonging among some students, especially children of immigrants.
Pamphlets educating the public about how to interact with police, $12,000 to $24,000
Adding three “Citizen Academies” to train people about law enforcement practices, including youth and Spanish programs, $38,000
Several people questioned the county’s ability to pay for even a portion of the proposed programs or make sure they are built to be long-term.
“Will there ever be a budget for it? Who knows. Will it be remembered down the road? Who knows,” Eileen Morabito said.
But Oscar Chávez, assistant director for the department of human services, in his presentation to the task force said they plan to fold the ideas into the county’s ongoing strategic plans going forward, particularly how they stay connected with people as county demographics change.
“It is going to be long-term work because we don’t want it to be intermittent or episodic,” Chávez said.
Francisco Vázquez, subcommittee member and Sonoma State University history professor, said during the Jan. 5 meeting that the recommendations may seem “like Band-Aids, small compared to the issues they’re trying to address.”
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