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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-07-22 City Council Study SessionSTUDY SESSION AGENDA CITY COUNCIL CITY OF WHEAT RIDGE, COLORADO 7500 W. 29th Ave. Wheat Ridge CO March 7, 2022 6:30 p.m. This meeting will be conducted as a virtual meeting and in person at 7500 West 29th Avenue, Municipal Building, if allowed to meet on that date per COVID-19 restrictions. Some members of the City Council or City staff will be physically present at the Municipal building for this meeting. The public may participate in these ways: 1.Provide comment in advance at www.wheatridgespeaks.org (comment by noon onMarch 7, 2022) 2.Virtually attend and participate in the meeting through a device or phone: •Click here to join and provide public comment •Or call +1-669-900-6833 with Access Code: 816 2520 8775 •Passcode: 911076 3.View the meeting live or later at www.wheatridgespeaks.org, Channel 8, or YouTube Liveat https://www.ci.wheatridge.co.us/view Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to participate in all public meetings sponsored by the City of Wheat Ridge. Contact the Public Information Officer at 303-235-2877 or wrpio@ci.wheatridge.co.us with as much notice as possible if you are interested in participating in a meeting and need inclusion assistance. Public Comment on Agenda Items 1.Community First Foundation 2.Race and Equity Task Force Update 3.Staff Report(s) 4.Elected Officials’ Report(s) Memorandum TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Patrick Goff, City Manager DATE: February 26, 2022 SUBJECT: Community First Foundation ISSUE: Community First Foundation has been connecting donors and innovative Colorado nonprofits since 1975. As the community foundation serving Jefferson County, they are committed to connecting ideas, people and nonprofits so that all Jeffco communities have the opportunity to thrive. They help donors with philanthropic planning, support nonprofits with grants and resources, and together, build resilient and connected communities. Community First Foundation makes good happen in three ways: 1. They help donors and businesses across the state with giving; 2. They provide grants and support community building in Jeffco; 3. They are the creators of ColoradoGives.org and Colorado Gives Day. In 2021, Community First Foundation provided grants to the following organizations in Wheat Ridge: •Outdoor Lab Foundation ($2,500) •City of Wheat Ridge ($2,500) •Carnation Festival ($5,000) •Jefferson Center for Mental Health ($170,465) •Advancing Warriors Intl ($18,620) •Localworks ($15,000) Kelly Dunkin, President/CEO of Community First Foundation, will provide an update to the Mayor and City Council on the Foundations current purpose, vision, values and work in Jefferson County. ATTACHMENTS: 1. Community First Foundation presentation Item No. 1 ATTACHMENT 1 Our Purpose To Make Good Happen Our Vision All of Jeffco is thriving. We connect ideas, people and nonprofits to make good happen. Mission: How we accomplish our work Purpose Ideas People Nonprofits ++= Mission Values Our values are foundational to everything we do. They guide our daily interactions with each other and our community. They serve as anchors and connect our actions to our ideals. Be empathetic Keep learning Help each other thrive Do the right thing Make something better,today Donor Services Giving Tools Donor-advised Funds Employee Giving Corporate Sponsorships Corporate Giving Funds ColoradoGives.org Educational events Nonprofit Services Capacity Building Grants (Jeffco) Endowments Long-term Designated Funds Fundraising tools ColoradoGives.org Colorado Gives Day Educational events Access to unique partnerships We Connect People, Nonprofits and Ideas IDEAS Fundraising Benefits •Access to investment expertise •Create efficiencies •Access to planned giving advice & services •Advice on complex gifts •Incentive grants Where we aim to have impact 2021 grants madein Wheat Ridge Outdoor Lab Foundation ($2500) City of Wheat Ridge ($2500) Carnation Festival ($5000) Jefferson Center for Mental Health ($10,000) Advancing Warriors Intl ($18,620) Jefferson Center for Mental Health ($160,465) LocalWorks ($15,000) $9.4 Million in 2022 (250% increase from 2019) $6 Million in 2021 Making Good Happen Do you work with or know a nonprofit? Do you know a business who may want to partner? Are you a donor who wants to give back or give more? Nonprofit Share what you are seeing in the community Apply for a grant Enroll on ColoradoGives.org Participate in Colorado Gives Day Open an Endowment or Long-Term Designated Fund Individual Giving Support a nonprofit on ColoradoGives.org Be a philanthropist –open a Giving Account Ask your company to participate in corporate giving Organizations & Businesses Support a nonprofit on ColoradoGives.org Be a philanthropist –open a Giving Account for your company Ask your company to get participate in corporate giving A preview into work we are planning Career Impact Bonds Computer User Support Housing Study underway –report late spring Impact Investing Pay for Success: Fostering Opportunity Metro Denver Nonprofit Loan Fund How can we work together? 5855 Wadsworth Bypass, Unit A | Arvada, CO 80003 CommunityFirstFoundation.org | 720.898.5900 Thank you! Find Us Online @CommunityFirstFoundation Memorandum TO: Mayor and City Council THROUGH: Patrick Goff, City Manager FROM: Marianne Schilling, Assistant to the City Manager DATE: March 7, 2022 SUBJECT: Race and Equity Task Force Update ISSUE: The Race and Equity Task Force co-chairs will be presenting to City Council an update of the progress that has been made to date and the plan moving forward. PRIOR ACTION: City Council appointed the Race and Equity Task Force on February 8, 2021. The Task Force presented the last update to City Council on August 2, 2021. FINANCIAL IMPACT: N/A BACKGROUND: The Race and Equity Task Force has been directed to carry out a thorough review of City policies, services, and ordinances to identify policies and practices that may contribute to discrimination. The Task Force will provide updates to City Council and will report recommendations, including ways in which success will be measured toward becoming a more inclusive and responsive community. DISCUSSION: The Race and Equity Task Force has been meeting on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month since March 25, 2021. The meetings were first entirely virtual and have now moved to a hybrid approach beginning in June. The volunteer chairs have also been meeting on Mondays following the Task Force meetings. The Chairs are Terry Gale, Jenny Snell, and Jeff Richards. The group spent the first several months getting organized and gaining information about the City of Wheat Ridge prior to determining the priority list of topic areas for the group to review. Additionally, Dr. Dwinita Mosby Tyler and Monica D. Williams facilitated the meetings focusing on race and equity and how the group might structure itself, focus efforts, define goals and outcomes, and overall mission. In doing so, the Task Force developed an Equity Lens as a Item No. 2 Staff Report – Race and Equity Task Force Update March 7, 2022 Page 2 protocol for evaluating policies, programs, practices, and decisions which will result in equitable outcomes and a more welcoming and inclusive city. The group also worked to develop meeting bylaws and reviewed the City Charter. Task Force Overview Since the update to Council in August 2021, the Task Force has continued to use its meeting time by spending the first meeting of the month meeting with City staff and learning about specific topic areas of interest. The second meeting of the month is used as a working session for the three focus area groups to work on their research. Below is the comprehensive list of staff presentations to date, with Economic Development, City Clerk, Human Resources and Public Works scheduled for the upcoming months. Staff Presentations Date Name and Title Topic 4/22/21 Patrick Goff, City Manager Gerry Dahl, City Attorney City overview 5/13/21 Sara Spaulding, Communications Manager/PIO Bridget Dvorak, Digital Media Specialist Communications, Outreach and City Engagement 5/27/21 Jeff Hirt, Senior Neighborhood Planner Ashley Holland, Community Engagement Specialist Let’s Talk Program 6/10/21 Gerry Dahl, City Attorney City Code/Charter 8/26/21 Darryl Guadnola, Division Chief Police 10/14/21 Chris Randall, Municipal Judge Municipal Court 11/4/21 Rebekah Raudabaugh, Homeless Navigator Homeless Navigation Program 12/9/21 Scott Cutler, Senior Planner Community Development 1/13/22 Rana Razzaque, Arianne Rivera, Dave Kollar Jeffco Public Schools 2/10/22 Zach Lovato, Manager of Parks, Forestry and Open Space Parks and Recreation Staff Report – Race and Equity Task Force Update March 7, 2022 Page 3 Work Accomplished Focus Areas Together, the categories from the City Charter and the defined areas of interest yielded this list of priorities and topics. From there, the first three areas for review were determined by the Task Force and are listed in bold. • Election • Process • Court/Judiciary • Human Resources • Property/Development • Tax/Money • Infrastructure • Police Department • Religious Freedom • Economic Opportunity • Health (Mental, Physical, etc.) • City Charter • Homelessness • Education Summary of First Three Topics Areas to Date Court/Judiciary The Courts/Judiciary Subcommittee met to address possible biases that may have directly or indirectly affected judgment, sentencing, and services offered to “everyone” within the Wheat Ridge community. The group looked at practices within the municipal court to assure fairness from a race and equity lens. They held bi-monthly meetings as a group and were able to meet with a broad range of legal professionals with various backgrounds and expertise. The list included; Shandea Sergent, Public Defender of the city of Golden; Brian Mason, Adams County District Attorney; Madeline Champ, Wheat Ridge Probation Officer; and Chris Randall, Wheat Ridge Municipal Court Judge. Additional references for guidelines for this work includes: The observation of several Wheat Ridge Municipal Court proceedings, a review of Wheat Ridge’s Municipal Court 2022 proposed budget, and the court-ordered class list, reading “Justice Derailed,” an ACLU of Colorado case study of abuse in the Colorado Court system. The group also participated in a Community DEI summit and a Jefferson County Criminal Justice Reform Virtual Town Hall meeting. After carefully considering the possible biases that exist within our community, the subcommittee narrowed its focus and recommendations in order to address the following areas: Fairness in pre-trial procedures, reduction in recidivism rates, support structures around reintegration after incarceration, adding additional layers of reminders for adults and juveniles, diversion, and restorative justice practices. Police Department The Police Subcommittee is currently working to finish its review of the Police policies and its recommendations in the next week. This group broke the Police Policies down into five sets of sections, effectively giving the initial five members equal page counts to review and compile comments on. In the interim, one member had to leave the Task Force and that person’s Staff Report – Race and Equity Task Force Update March 7, 2022 Page 4 assignment was taken on by another member. The final review document will include general areas of observed ideas and issues, specific recommendations based on the Police Department policies and recommendations based on the activities of similar groups in other cities that are doing similar work. This focus group will also dovetail its efforts with the two other subcommittees and provide recommendations that are common to all three focus areas. Education The Education Subcommittee has been in contact and working with the schools that serve Wheat Ridge: Prospect Valley, Kullerstrand, Stevens, Wilmore-Davis, PEAK, Everitt, WRHS, Jefferson HS, and Golden HS. The subcommittee has five members, including a teacher and a JeffCo student, so they felt well-equipped to work on this subject matter. The subcommittee is currently working to finalize our report, which covers both individual school and district-wide work on the topics of everything from family services, addressing inequities in schools, mental health, transportation, and safe spaces for all. The subcommittee has been able to access district-wide enrollment data, which is broken down by race, minority status, and free or reduced lunch status. JeffCo schools has also supplied the group with some of their policy work around treatment of families and community, treatment of staff, treatment of students, and school safety. This work has been impacted by the challenging climate the pandemic has created for all educators and school staff, and the subcommittee is certainly most grateful to them for their time and dedication to their students in such a trying time. The group has gotten some great insights from the various school teams, and will continue to work with them as they are able to return to a more normal school environment. Next Steps Future Topic Areas The Race and Equity Task Force will soon be closing out the first three topics areas and initiating the next three. The group has determined that the next three topic areas will be: Property/Development, Health and Homelessness. The Task Force plans to return to City Council with an update once the next group of focus areas is reviewed. The goal is to finalize the review and present the report and overall recommendations to City Council by late 2022. The Task Force has also worked to develop a template for the final report to City Council, and they are continuing to build the report as they review each focus area topic. The recommendations for each topic will include: • Summary of Research • What’s Working Staff Report – Race and Equity Task Force Update March 7, 2022 Page 5 • What’s Not Working • Recommendations and Timelines • Stakeholders Task Force Members At this time, the original task force group size has reduced from the original 20 members to about 13 active members. This reduction is due to individuals moving out of the area as well as general attrition from meeting twice a month for one year. The Task Force is interested in re-opening the application process for individuals who may be interested in joining the Task Force to help to speed along the research and recommendation process. The areas where the Task Force has lost members include: • District I: 2 lost - 2 remaining • District II: 1 lost - 3 remaining • District III: 1 lost - 3 remaining • District IV: 2 lost - 2 remaining • At-Large: 1 lost - 3 remaining The original direction from City Council was for the group to be 12-20 in size, so Council may provide direction to re-grow the group, or maintain the Task Force at its current size. RECOMMENDATION: Staff is looking for direction on re-opening the Task Force application process.