REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: AARON AGUIRRE, Director Parks, After School, Recreation & Community Services Department ALDI RAMIREZ, Assistant Director Parks, After School, Recreation & Community Services Department BY: MAGGIE NAVARRO, Program Manager Parks, After School, Recreation & Community Services Department SUBJECT ..Title Actions pertaining to Memorandum of Understanding with Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission. 1. Approve Memorandum of Understanding with Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission (FEOC) for $950,000 for violence reduction services for the Fresno Advance Peace Program. 2. Authorize the Director of Parks, After School, Recreation, and Community Services (PARCS) to execute the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the City of Fresno (City). ...Body RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends Council approve the Memorandum of Understanding between the City and FEOC for the Advanced Peace Fresno Program for $950,000 effective March 1, 2022, through June 30, 2025. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Advance Peace Fresno Program (Advance Peace) is one of many programs under the FEOC umbrella. The goal of Advance Peace is to interrupt gun violence in urban neighborhoods by providing wrap-around services that result in life changing opportunities for youth and young adult males involved in lethal firearm offenses as part of an intensive, individualized fellowship program. Advanced Peace aligns at-risk community members with opportunities based on individual intake needs to include job readiness and education, job placement, supportive services, and anger management whose focus is to put an end to the cyclical and retaliatory gun violence in the community. FEOC will serve as the lead agency for program administration, implementation and oversight. The total agreement amount of $950,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act is effective March 1, 2022, through June 30, 2025. BACKGROUND Advanced Peace programming in Fresno concentrates on proactive outreach to prevent violence, particularly retaliatory gun violence. Advance Peace staff build trust, relationships, and influence in the community, identify community members that are at-risk of gun violence, respond to violent incidents to deescalate, provide crisis support to families impacted by incidents, and invite those most at-risk of gun violence into an 18-month fellowship program to help them leave the cycle of violence. What makes Advance Peace unique from other social services and crisis interventions is the trusted relationships developed, as well as the frequency and intensity of support provided to fellows. During the 18-month fellowship, a tailored "LifeMAP" is developed and implemented to help fellows set goals and support them to achieve those goals. For example, Fellows may receive assistance to obtain a driver's license, track down vital records to enable employment, restore parental rights or attend counseling and other services to process grief and trauma from chronic exposure to violence. The fellowship program enables individuals at-risk of, or with a history of violent behavior, to leave the trajectory of retaliation and build a peaceful path forward for themselves and their families. Advance Peace staff call and/or meet with fellows daily to provide support. They also work on a larger scale in neighborhoods to respond to violent incidents, and proactively broker truce between rival gangs to prevent violence. The City has previously funded work delivered by FEOC-Advance Peace. On October 22, 2020, the City awarded FEOC $125,000 for the Advanced Peace Program for a term that ran from October 1, 2020, through August 31, 2021. During the duration of the 2020-2021 agreement, FEOC-Fresno Advance Peace hired and trained one Program Manager, one Field Coordinator, four Neighborhood Change Agents, and one Peacekeeper for the Fresno Advance Peace Program. The Advance Peace Program progress reports achieved the following outcomes: enrolled 19 participant "Fellows" into the fellowship program; delivered 408 hours conflict response interventions; 849 hours of proactive street outreach; facilitated 60 Fellows attaining employment; assisted 40 grieving/distressed families to receive food assistance; helped to relocate 4 fellows; and 1,074 hours staff meetings and training. Program funds were expended on staff salaries and benefits, program consultant fees, office supplies, janitorial/repair services, utilities, liability/property insurance, staff training and advertisement. Additionally, City staff secured state and federal grants and subcontracted with FEOC Advance Peace Program to develop and implement the Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program in partnership with Fresno Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC) for youth and adults caught in a perpetual violence cycle. To combat this, a collaborative effort with the ONSCE was developed to recognize violence and intervene at the local medical trauma level. For example, if someone is injured because of gang violence, a referral can be made to Advance Peace staff who will connect with the victim to offer support and alternatives to retaliation. The federal grant Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)-Supporting Victims of Gang Violence targets youth, and the state grant, Board State of Community Corrections (BSCC) CalVIP20, targets adults. Under the past agreement and current grant agreements, the City worked closely with FEOC and Advance Peace to do the following: identify potential program participants; provide program technical assistance; share local service provider resource information; and support collaborative community partnerships such as the Hospital-Based Violence Intervention program with Community Regional Medical Center. Additionally, the program worked in partnership with the City-sponsored Fresno Summer Nights events; brokered collective partnerships with violence reduction and intervention agencies including Fresno Barrios Unidos - Project Restore street outreach program; and, identified ongoing violence reduction training opportunities beneficial to staff and community members. On December 9, 2021, council appropriated $950,000 to support Advance Peace efforts from the first tranche of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The proposed agreement is from March 1, 2022, through June 25, 2023, and will include the following scope of services: Goal: Interrupt gun violence in urban neighborhoods by providing transformational opportunities to youth and young adults males involved in lethal firearm offenses. By 2023, reduce firearm violence by 10% in the City to be achieved through the following objectives: 1. Engage and enroll 45 participants in 18-month Fellowship programming and create individual LifeMAPs for each participant. 2. Increase Neighborhood Change Agent staff to augment Fellow engagement. 3. Provide direct services and referrals to enrolled Fellows as identified in intake and needs assessment. 4. Advance Peace Fresno will execute the program through activities including street outreach, fellow engagement, social service referrals, conflict mediation, and responding to shootings. Under the Public Health and Services to Disproportionately Impacted Communities Category of ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) guidelines, Community Violence Intervention funding may be awarded to nonprofits such as Advance Peace Fresno that are preventing and responding to violence - specifically gun violence, which has increased in communities due to the pandemic. Funds may be used for referrals to trauma recovery services for victims of crime; community violence intervention programs including focused deterrence, with wraparound services such as behavioral therapy, trauma recovery, job training, education, housing and relocation services, and financial assistance. Under the SLFRF, funds must be used for costs incurred on or after March 3, 2021. Further, costs must be obligated by December 31, 2024, and expended by December 31, 2026. ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS This is not a "project" as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378. LOCAL PREFERENCE Local preference is not applicable since this item will not include a bid or award of a construction or services contract. FISCAL IMPACT The total agreement of $950,000 is funded by the ARPA dollars and is appropriated in the PARCS Department Budget. Attachments: Fresno Advance Peace MOU Exhibit A - Scope of Services Exhibit B - Reporting Schedule Exhibit C - Reporting Template Exhibit D - Program Budget Exhibit E - Disclosure Program Funding Award and Pending Applications Exhibit F - American Rescue Plan Act - Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Program Compliance and Reporting Guidance and Overview of the Final Rule