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A COMMUNITY-DRIVEN STRATEGY TO SAVE LIVES AND BUILD OPPORTUNITY IN RICHMOND BY REDUCING GUN VIOLENCE AND ENDING MASS INCARCERATION & MASS DEPORTATION

Prepared by Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO); Safe Return Project; and the Pacific Institute. MAY 2012

Dedicated to the Mothers of Richmond and Contra Costa County who stand for peace, love and unity

ALIVE, FREE &UNITED

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Table of Contents:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATIONS 3

Alive, Free, and United Proposals for Change 4Who We Are 6

THE CHALLENGE OF OUR MOMENT 8

The Cost of Violence 8

Mass Incarceration & the Broken Road Home 10

(IN)Secure Communities & Mass Deportation 13

OUR RESPONSE 14

Ceasefire Lifelines to Healing 14Ban the Box & Build a Bridge Home 15

Evidence Based Strategies to Reduce Recidivism 16

Ending Mass Deportations in Contra Costa County 16

Shared Prosperity: Community Benefits Agreement with BLNL 17

Protect Adult Education 17Make Democracy Work 17

CLOSING SUMMARY 18

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ALIVE, FREE & UNITEDA COMMUNITY-DRIVEN STRATEGY TO SAVE LIVES AND BUILD OPPORTUNITY IN RICHMOND BY REDUCING GUN VIOLENCE AND ENDING MASS INCARCERATION & MASS DEPORTATION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATIONS

We stand at a watershed moment in the history of

the city of Richmond. A once proud and purposeful

city that was a model for the country, Richmond has

been burdened in recent times by the scourge of

disinvestment and violence. In recent years, a new

spirit of hope and resilience has taken root.

Richmond is once again being looked at as a model

for progressive and innovative strategies to expand

opportunity. However, the fiscal and economic

pressures of the Great Recession threaten to pull the

City back into the old narrative of division and

turmoil.

Gun-related homicides and firearm related injuries from shootings are steadily declining because of powerful strategies such as the Peace Fellowship, new strategic policing efforts and the Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing movement, which has mobilized community energy around embracing these types of innovative solutions. However, there are some who would insist that we turn back, despite the staggering realities that the residents of Richmond and Contra Costa County face on a daily basis. Some of these issues include: Nearly 80% of Richmond residents who are formerly incarcerated are unemployed, yet there are some who insist we should build more prison beds before providing employment assistance. Contra Costa is one

ALIVE, FREE & UNITEDA COMMUNITY-DRIVEN STRATEGY TO SAVE LIVES AND BUILD OPPORTUNITY IN RICHMOND BY REDUCING GUN VIOLENCE AND ENDING MASS INCARCERATION & MASS DEPORTATION

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of the most diverse counties in the region and has benefited greatly from the contributions of immigrants, yet we have the highest rate of immigrant arrest and deportations in the Bay Area. There have been more American lives lost to gun violence in the past ten years than in the Korean, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars combined (“Clergy Lay People Urge Faith Based Push for Nonviolent Initiatives”). Mass incarceration on a scale never seen in human history is one of the fundamental facts of our country today as there are more African-Americans under “correctional control” in 2012 than were enslaved in 1850 (Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow). Deportations have surged in recent years and private immigrant prisons make over $5 billion in annual profit (Peter Rothberg, “Immigrants for Sale”). Difficult times call for prophetic vision and bold action. CCISCO and the Safe Return Project have developed an ambitious set of proposals and strategies to propel the transformation of Richmond into a place of freedom and opportunity, where diversity is celebrated and life is sacred. Our agenda for transformation is inspired by our unwavering belief in a God of abundance that has provided us with more than enough for what we need. Rather than succumbing to a mentality of fear, driven by scarcity, we need to live into the reality of the abundance

that we have. This belief requires us to critically examine our priorities and investments and focus on strategies that expand opportunity. It also requires us to dismantle systems that would exploit and oppress our communities. We believe that the threats of the epidemic of gun violence, mass incarceration and mass deportations are three of the greatest challenges to the future of Richmond and to America as a Land of Opportunity. Our proposals are simple. Invest in people—value life and freedom—keep families united. We have a set of very concrete proposals that would propel Richmond and Contra Costa County on a path that would honor our deepest values and put us on a road to real economic vitality.

ALIVE, FREE & UNITED PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE:

SAVE LIVES

• The City of Richmond and Contra Costa County should support funding for the services component of the groundbreaking Richmond Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing initiative;

• The Contra Costa Sheriff ’s Department should join the Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing initiative to encourage regional law enforcement collaboration.

SAFE RETURN

• Fund the “first stop welcoming center” as an evidence-based pilot-program to promote unified re-entry services for Contra Costa County;

• Provide funding for job training and transitional employment through AB109 realignment funding; Incorporate bail reform strategies into the realignment policies to reduce unnecessary detention.

KEEP FAMILIES UNITED

• Contra Costa County should join a growing number of counties, which include Santa Clara and San Francisco that are no longer honoring Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers at a county level.

BUILD OPPORTUNITY

• The City of Richmond should promote the development of a community benefits agreement that connects disadvantaged workers to employment opportunities and aligns with the linked learning academies in high schools throughout West Contra Costa County.

• The City of Richmond should expand its ‘ban the box’ hiring policy to ensure city vendors do not discriminate against applicants with a past conviction, and Contra Costa County should pass legislation making this change to its own hiring

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PROTECT EDUCATION:• The West Contra Costa Unified School District should protect baseline funding for adult education programs.

MAKE DEMOCRACY WORK• CCISCO leaders are prepared to embark on an ambitious civic engagement strategy to contact 10,000

Richmond voters around this agenda for peace and opportunity. • CCISCO and PICO California have also endorsed the statewide revenue measure to support education and

public safety and will be encouraging faith voters to vote their values in November 2012.

Mass incarceration on a scale never seen in human history is one of the fundamental facts of our country today as there are more African-Americans under “correctional control” in 2012 than were enslaved in 1850.

ALIVE, FREE & UNITED

SAVE LIVES SAFE RETURN KEEP FAMILIES UNITED

BUILD OPPORTUNITY

PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE

Support funding for services component of Richmond Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing

Fund the “first stop welcoming center.”

Provide Job training and transitional employment through AB109

Contra Costa should no longer honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers at a county level.

Richmond should promote the development of a CBA that connects disadvantaged workers to employment opportunities

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WHO WE ARE:

CCISCO: Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organizing

CCISCO is a multi-ethnic, multi-generational,

interfaith federation of 22 congregations representing

over 38,000 families across the county. Since 1996, we

have been organizing a voice for justice and equity in

Contra Costa. CCISCO is a part of the PICO

National Network which is made of up 53 faith-based

community organizations in 18 states representing

nearly 1 million families.

OUR IMPACTOver the past year, CCISCO leaders have been hard at work in helping to transform our community and country.

CEASEFIRE-LIFELINES TO HEALING: We are helping to our community ALIVE and FREE and build pathways to opportunity through our work with the Richmond Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing movement. We have helped to engage hundreds of Richmond residents in this movement. Every week CCISCO clergy and community leaders walk the streets to promote peace and healing.

KEEPING FAMILIES UNITED: We have helped to pass policies to help newcomers to integrate and keep families united. We worked hard with the Richmond City Council to unanimously pass a Municipal ID card to show that we value everyone in Richmond and we worked with the Richmond Police Department to pass a new policy to stop the confiscation of people’s vehicles.

MAKING DEMOCRACY WORK: We have helped over 100 residents become new citizens; registered

hundreds of new voters and are planning to contact 10,000 Richmond voters this November about our agenda for peace and opportunity.

THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE

The Pacific Institute is an Oakland-based independent non-profit that works to create a healthier planet and sustainable communities. Founded in 1987, we conduct interdisciplinary research and partner with stakeholders to produce solutions that advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity—in California, nationally and internationally. Our Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice Program works to build community power to create and sustain healthy neighborhood environments. Since 1995 this program has worked to overcome the common root causes to economic, environmental, and community health challenges in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color through action research that advances innovative, cross-cutting solutions developed by impacted residents. We believe that communities have the right to excellent research support and that a participatory research process can support many aspects of community organizing and advocacy campaigns to win healthy neighborhood environments, a thriving economy, and social justice. The Pacific Institute is a founding partner of the Safe Return Project and provides capacity building and technical assistance to the Safe Return Team. We are committed to support the leadership of formerly incarcerated community leaders engaged in research and advocacy to improve community reintegration.

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SAFE RETURN PROJECT

WHO WE ARE:

The Safe Return Team is a group of formerly incarcerated Richmond residents working to strengthen the relationship of people coming home from incarceration with the broader community. We understand that breaking the cycle of incarceration and crime will take changes in the way our community relates to members coming home, and positive leadership by formerly incarcerated residents contributing to the greater community. We are carrying out research, community organizing, and policy advocacy to build our community’s power to make this change. We work with fellow formerly incarcerated residents, their families, service providers, public officials and agencies, and employers and others to develop strategies and taken action. Our supporting organizations are CCISCO, Pacific Institute, and Richmond Office of Neighborhood Safety.  

WHATE WE DO:

We are carrying out research, community organizing and education, and policy development and advocacy to support leadership in our community and create the right conditions for people to successfully reintegrate. Our accomplishments and ongoing work since 2010 are: • Interviewed more than 600

residents about their perspectives on how Richmond can become safer, healthier and more powerful.

• Designed an extensive survey using scientific methods and surveyed 104 adults on probation and parole to fill a major gap in information about the needs and experiences of this population.

• Met with more than 15 organizations from the Bay Area and throughout the US to learn from successful models of community organizing, violence

prevention, economic development, and reentry services.

• Held two major events on reentry in Richmond drawing together nearly 200 residents to advocate policy changes to improve opportunities for formerly incarcerated people.

• Got the City of Richmond to ‘ban the box’, removing questions about employment applicants’ conviction history from the city’s application, with the support of a majority of city council.

• Got the Community Corrections Partnership to create a Community Advisory Group – a formal way for community members to engage in major decisions about “realignment” in Contra Costa County.

• Worked with the City of Richmond and reentry service providers to identify a site and develop plans for programming at a First-Stop Welcoming Center that will provide information, referrals, and a peer support group to Richmond residents returning home.

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One in five Americans has struggled to put food on the table in the past year and nearly half of all

households in American lack basic economic security (Living Below the Line: Economic Insecurity and America’s

Families).

THE COST OF VIOLENCE

The City of Richmond has been decimated by the epidemic of gun violence over the past fifteen years. Criminally involved group members make up less than 0.5% of Richmond’s population and were responsible for 56% of all homicides between 2008 and 2010. Gun violence is concentrated in an area of less than 1.5 square miles in the City. These are areas of highly concentrated poverty.

EGESTA QUIS SET AHMETMalesuada eleifend, tortor molestie, a fusce a vel et. Aliquam amet est class.

THE CHALLENGE OF OUR MOMENT“When  the  truth  of  the  ma-er  is  that  the  rich  are  ge2ng  richer,  the  poor  are  ge2ng  poorer,  and  years  ago  I  used  to  say  that  the  middle  class  is  going  to  disappear,  the  middle  class  has  disappeared.    Today  as  I  sit  here  there  is  a  highway  into  poverty  and  there  is  not  even  a  sidewalk  anymore  to  get  out.”  Suze  Orman  on  Meet  the  Press,  January  15,  2012

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The loss of life has had a profound and traumatizing impact on all sectors of the city. It has also exacted a significant toll on the economic and fiscal vitality of Richmond. The Center for Disease Control estimates that each homicide by firearm costs an estimated $1,387,382. This does not include associated law enforcement costs such as investigation, prosecution and potential incarceration. The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office estimates that it costs $500,000 alone to prosecute a homicide.

Table 1. Center for Disease Control estimates of cost of gunshot deaths and injury

Death/Injury Avg.  Medical  Costs  (2005  dollars)

Avg.  Medical  Costs  est.  2012  dollars*

Avg.  Work  Loss  Costs  (2005  dollars)  

Avg.  Work  Loss  Costs  est.  2012  dollars*  

Avg.  Total  Cost  (2005  dollars)

Avg.  Total  Cost  est.  2012  dollars*

Homicide  by  firearm

$4914 $5772 $1,176,277 1,381,610 $1,181,191 1,387,382

Youth  homicide  by  firearm†

5,688 6681 1,666,981 1,957,973 1,672,669 1,964,654

Nonfatal  Hospitalized  injury  due  to  firearm  

13,980 16,420 79,154 92,  971 93,134 109,  392

Youth  nonfatal  hospitalized  injury  due  to  firearm†

13,425 15,769 78,462 92,159 91,887 107,  927

*Estimated using Consumer Price Index inflation calculator at http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl†Youth defined as age 10-24Citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Online]. (2003). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (producer). Available from: URL: www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars. [2012 May 8]Homicide by firearm costs available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/violentdeaths/table6.html

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MASS INCARCERATION & THE BROKEN ROAD HOME

There are about 2,000 residents in Richmond, North Richmond and San Pablo that are currently on parole or probation. Thousands more are no longer on probation or parole but still face challenges when accessing employment, housing, and critical services. In recent years, about two thirds of residents going to prison had already been incarcerated before. To break this cycle, we must more effectively support our brothers and sisters to rebuild their lives.

Getting off BART with nothing more than a paper bag and the clothes on your back is the harsh reality of arriving home to Richmond after being incarcerated. The questions that cross your mind: Where am I going to sleep tonight? How do I reconnect with my kids and family? How do I refill my prescription? How am I going to get back into the workforce? Everyone’s needs are different, but this transition home is often one of the most vulnerable moments for formerly incarcerated people.

When the transition home goes right, someone gains a father, a neighbor, a scholar, an employee, a volunteer, and more. When the transition goes wrong, there may be shattered hopes, suffering, and far reaching effects and costs. How well the transition goes for people coming home matters not just to the individuals returning, but to our families, neighborhoods, businesses and community.

The services currently available to people coming home are a disconnected patchwork with large gaps and no overarching coordination. There is not a single place or network whose sole purpose is to maintain accurate information and make referrals to the complete range of reentry-related services. The more than 2,000 people on probation and parole in Richmond rely on informal networks, officers, and individual program providers to connect with these essential services.

The Facts: Reentry Needs and Services

• More than half of the recently returned Richmond residents did not benefit from a single training or support program while they were incarcerated.

• Nearly half of the people surveyed had no health insurance and seventy percent said they had wanted to see a doctor but did not because of the cost.

• 7 out of 10 of recently returned Richmond residents do not have housing of their own, 34% stay with friends or family, 11% in short-term shelters, and 25% in residential recovery programs.

• Three quarters of those who do not drive said they also do not have a bus pass or bus tickets, and less than half said they had never been late or missed a commitment because of transportation problems.

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Today in Richmond, formerly incarcerated

people are directors of organizations, are running

successful businesses, and leading community

change efforts, yet as a whole, almost 4 out of 5

are currently unemployed. While the

unemployment rate in Richmond overall is around

16%, the rate for formerly incarcerated Richmond

residents last year was more than four times

higher: 78% (Safe Return Project Survey). Beyond

the common problems for low-income residents

searching for a job, such as transportation and

childcare, people coming home have an added

layer of hurdles, such as years away from the

workforce and employers’ negative attitudes

towards individuals with past convictions (“The

New Challenge of Employment in the Age of

Criminal Background Checks,” 191). US

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis has stated that

“Stable employment helps ex-offenders stay out of

the legal system… It makes sense for local

communities and our economy as a whole” (US

Department of Labor announces grant competition to help

former offenders gain career skills and rejoin community

life).

More than a third of people coming home to Richmond from incarceration have children under age 18, many of whom rely on their parents as providers, so the barriers to these mothers and fathers being employed not only affect them but their children as well.

Figure  2.  Employment  of  101  Richmond  residents  released  within  the  last  3-­‐18  months  (Pacific  InsFtute,  2011)

“More than half of all black men without a high-school diploma go to prison at some time in their lives. Mass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our country today—perhaps the fundamental fact, as slavery was the fundamental fact of 1850. In truth, there are more black men in the grip of the criminal-justice system—in prison, on probation, or on parole—than were in slavery then. Over all, there are now more people under “correctional supervision” in America—more than six million—than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height.”

“The Caging of America: Why do we lock up so many people?” Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, January 30, 2012

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The Facts - Employment and Reentry

• Approximately eight out of ten formerly incarcerated Richmond residents do not have a job.

• Only 2% of the 101 formerly incarcerated residents surveyed by the Safe Return Project had full-time employment.

• More than half of those surveyed stated that having a criminal record affected their job search

Russian novelist Dostoyevsky once wrote that “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” It could also be stated that the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by how it treats those who exit its prisons. The failure to create a safe return for returning Richmond residents is not only a moral crisis, but it is a fundamental challenge to the future health and economic vitality of the city.

SAFE RETURN

The Safe Return Project The Safe Return Team is a group of formerly incarcerated Richmond residents working to strengthen the relationship of people coming home from incarceration with the broader community. We work with fellow formerly incarcerated residents, their families, service providers, public officials and agencies, and employers and others to develop strategies and taken action.

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(IN)SECURE COMMUNITIES AND MASS DEPORTATION

Since the inception of the Secure Communities

program in 2008, 226,000 undocumented immigrants

have been deported under the program, out of a total 1

million deportations that have taken place since 2009.

Last year, the Obama Administration deported a record

397,000 people. Designed to deport those with serious

criminal records, Secure Communities has transformed

minor infractions into a source of immigrant

surveillance. This has resulted in heightened fear in the

immigrant community and has eroded trust with law

enforcement. It has resulted in alarmingly high numbers

of non-criminal deportations and even several

documented incidences of detention and deportation of

United States citizens. As of March 2011, Contra Costa

was 30th in the country for their rate of non-criminal

deportations under S-Comm.

"It  is  not  a  program  I'm  enthusiasAc  about  because  an  arrest  is  not  a  convicAon.    It  is  clear  there  is  a  very,  very  broad  net  of  people  who  are  ge2ng  swept  up."    Richmond  Police  Chief  Chris  Magnus  on  the  Secure  CommuniFes  Program.  

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Ceasefire-Lifelines to HealingThe Richmond Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing movement is part of a broader national movement to transform the epidemic of gun violence and the national tragedy which has resulted in more than 200,000 deaths since September 11, 2001. This toll is greater than the combined American casualties from the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. “Ceasefire” is a proven strategy that has worked to both save lives and reduce recidivism. Born from the “Boston Miracle” in the 1990s, the Ceasefire model is “communications strategy” that focuses on impacting group behavior. In Richmond, the Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing movement is a community-driven collaboration between congregations, community members, formerly incarcerated residents, city agencies, service providers and law enforcement agencies. The three core goals of the movement are to: 1) Save lives; 2) Reduce recidivism; and 3) Build pathways to opportunity for those most impacted by gun violence.

In Richmond, less than 200 people are responsible for 97% of all gun-related homicides and injury shootings. That is less than .5% of the entire population. This small group is the focus of the Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing movement. Through strong communication, relationship-building, accountability and building opportunity, the goal is to shift the behavior of this group and radically reduce gun violence in Richmond. This is a model that has been proven to work through innovative strategies such as the Operation Peace Fellowship developed by the Office of Neighborhood Safety.

Over the past eight months, more than 40 small group meetings have been held across Richmond engaging nearly 800 community residents in a dialogue about the “cost of violence.” Over 300 residents have participated in ongoing training to understand and help shape the Richmond Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing initiative. There have been 40 night walks in ten targeted neighborhoods most impacted by gun violence with volunteers from 8 to 88 years old. Clergy and community leaders conducted 42 home visits alongside law enforcement representatives to invite individuals to the first two call-ins in Richmond. The first two call-ins were held in North and Central Richmond with a total of 42 participants. 17 community advocates have received Life Skills training and have been building relationships with call-in participants and helping to connect them to opportunities. After a recent gun homicide, law enforcement responded with a series of targeted enforcement activities to hold the initiating group accountable and to prevent a cycle of retaliation.

The development of the Richmond Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing has revealed a critical need for a more coordinated and strategic service intervention. During ongoing engagement with call-in participants, the need for accessible job training and employment has been the top priority. Call-in participants have expressed a repeated need for access to basic services, such as GED preparation; access to Driver’s Licenses, and most consistently, they have expressed the desire and need for job training and sustainable employment. It is clear that with a relatively small and targeted infusion of resources for sustained mentoring; life skills development; and “sheltered” employment that the Richmond Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing movement would promote radical transformation in the gun violence epidemic that has plagued Richmond for decades.

EGESTA QUIS SET AHMET

OUR RESPONSE • Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing

• Ban the Box and Build a Bridge Home

• Evidence Based Justice Strategies to Reduce Recidivism

• End Mass Deportation in Contra Costa County

• Shared Prosperity: Community Benefits Agreement with Berkeley Lawrence Labs

• Protect Adult Education

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• The City of Richmond and Contra Costa County should support funding for the services component of the groundbreaking Richmond Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing initiative.

• The Contra Costa Sheriff ’s Department should join the Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing initiative to encourage regional law enforcement collaboration.

Citation - The Partnership for Safe Communities

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS

Ban the Box and Build a Bridge Home

In 2011, the City of Richmond joined a growing number of cities and states around the country that are removing barriers to employment for formerly incarcerated residents when they passed the “ban the box” policy, removing the question regarding prior felony convictions from city employment applications. By unanimously passing a policy to “ban the box” city officials sent a clear signal that they are leveling the playing field for formerly incarcerated residents.

It is critical that Richmond continue to build on this success and expand their policy to include all city vendors. Contra Costa County is one of the largest employers in the region and it is vital that they introduce “ban the box” legislation. In addition to removing barriers to employment discrimination, it is critical that the Community Corrections Partnership prioritize funding for job training and transition employment. Only 4% of Contra Costa residents who have been released through AB109 realignment have full-time employment.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS• The City of Richmond should expand its ‘ban the box’ hiring policy to ensure city vendors do not

discriminate against applicants with a past conviction

• Contra Costa County should introduce and pass ‘ban the box’ legislation to ensure that formerly incarcerated job seekers have equal access to county employment  

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Evidence-­‐Based  Justice  Strategies  to  Reduce  RecidivismThe “first stop welcoming center” is a critical element in developing an effective and coordinated re-entry strategy in Contra Costa County. Safe Return Project members have conducted case studies on similar programs across the region and identified the No Violence Alliance (NoVA) Project as one of the most successful initiatives in the region. The program is funded by the Board of Supervisors and is administered through a partnership with the San Francisco Sheriff ’s Department. An independent evaluation of the NoVA Project conducted in 2010 found that out of 259 NoVA participants, only 55% were rearrested while 85% of the comparison group was rearrested. Comparison group members were 300% more likely to be rearrested for a violent charge and only 1% of NoVA participants were convicted of new violent crime. Half reported working more than in previous times of their lives and more than half reported having higher income. Although the study did not include a cost-benefit analysis, the funding was approximately $6,900 per client per year which compared very favorably with the cost of incarceration, which averaged $140/day or nearly $51,100 per prisoner per year.

NoVA provides clients with a case manager whose duty is to work hand in hand on a personal level with each client and provide housing, referrals, work resources, guidance, assessments, and weekly group meetings to discuss and work on issues. Each case manager is assigned to no more than 15 clients. NoVA case managers are placed at various organizations, each of which receives funding to pay the case manager salary. NoVA has a “Flex Fund” that sets aside funding for each client, which the case manager can spend to meet client needs like clothing, housing, driver’s license, transportation, education, and others. NoVA also provides transitional housing and involves 13 community and agency partners.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS• Fund the “first stop welcoming center” as an evidence-based pilot-program to promote unified re-entry

services for Contra Costa County;

• Provide funding for job training and transitional employment through AB109 realignment funding;

• Incorporate bail reform strategies into the realignment policies to reduce unnecessary detention.

Ending  Mass  Deportations  in  Contra  Costa  County  

Across the country, counties are realizing that the Secure Communities makes them less secure. It erodes public trust with law enforcement and has devastating consequences for families and communities. Contra Costa is further burdened with having the highest rate of deportations in the region. It is imperative that Contra Costa Sheriff David Livingston “do the right thing” and follow the lead of places such as Santa Clara County, California and Cook County, Illinois and no longer honor the Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds.

RECOMMENDED ACTION• Contra Costa County should join a growing number of counties that are no longer honoring Immigration and

Customs Enforcement detainers at a county level.

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Shared  Prosperity:    Community  Bene>its  Agreement                                                                                                                    With  Lawrence  Berkeley  National  Lab

The decision by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) to build its new research facility on the Richmond shoreline is one of the biggest developments in a generation. The lab's new campus will bring in more than 800 jobs, attract spin-off enterprises and generate millions of dollars in tax revenue. It is imperative that the Richmond City Council support the development of a community benefits agreement that will assist disadvantaged workers gain access to living wage employment through the development and operation of the lab. It is also vital that LBNL partner with the Linked Learning Academies at the West Contra Costa Unified School District to promote effective work-based learning opportunities to prepare the workforce of the future.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

• The  City  of  Richmond  should  promote  the  development  of  a  community  benefits  agreement  to  ensure  that  connects  disadvantaged  workers  to  employment  opportuniXes  and  aligns  with  the  linked  learning  academies  in  high  schools  throughout  West  Contra  Costa  County.

Protect  Adult  EducationIt  is  vital  that  the  West  Contra  Costa  Unified  School  District  protect  adult  educaXon  to  ensure  that  low-­‐income  families  have  access  to  GED  classes  and  immigrant  parents  can  conXnue  to  learn  English  and  integrate  into  the  broader  community.    

RECOMMENDED ACTION

• The  West  Contra  Costa  Unified  School  District  should  protect  baseline  funding  for  adult  educaXon  programs.

Make  Democracy  WorkCCISCO leaders are prepared to embark on an ambitious civic engagement strategy to contact 10,000 Richmond voters around this agenda for peace and opportunity. CCISCO and PICO California have also endorsed the statewide revenue measure to support education and public safety and will be encouraging faith voters to vote their values in November 2012.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

• CCISCO  leaders  are  prepared  to  embark  on  an  ambiXous  civic  engagement  strategy  to  contact  10,000  Richmond  voters  around  this  agenda  for  peace  and  opportunity.    CCISCO  and  PICO  California  have  also  endorsed  the  statewide  revenue  measure  to  support  educaXon  and  public  safety  and  will  be  encouraging  faith  voters  to  vote  their  values  in  November  2012.  

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Our proposals are simple. Invest in people—value life and freedom—keep families united. We have a set of very concrete proposals that would propel Richmond and Contra Costa County on a path that would honor our deepest values and put us on a road to real economic vitality. We look forward to continued partnership with public officials, service providers, allied community organizations, and the powerful leaders that are directing our communities toward a future where all are alive, free, and united.

Closing  Summary

CCISCOContra Costa Interfaith

Supporting Community

Organizing

1000 Macdonald Ave., Suite B

Richmond, CA. 94801

www.ccisco.org

SAFE RETURN PROJECT

1000 Macdonald Ave., Suite B

Richmond, CA. 94801

PACIFIC

INSTITUTE 654 13th St. Preservation

Park, Oakland, CA.

www.pacinstitute.org

ALIVE, FREE & UNITED