LA County Board

18. Coordinating Faith-Based Outreach in Los Angeles County\nRecommendation as submitted by Supervisors Barger and Hahn: Direct the\nChief Executive Officer, in consultation with the Center for Strategic\nPartnerships, and all other relevant Departments, to report back to the Board in\nwriting in 90 days with an analysis of establishing a Community Engagement\nOffice (Office) for the County’s internal coordination and external interfacing\nwith Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs)/Houses of Worship (HoW) and\nCommunity-Based Organizations (CBOs), with the analysis to also contain a\nrecommendation for the most appropriate Department for the Office to reside\nin, envisioning that this Office would include staffing, liaise between County\nDepartments and the Interfaith and Religious Partnership (I&RP), coordinate\noutreach efforts and initiatives across Departments, have common goals and\noutcomes, convene trainings, capacity building efforts and technical\nassistance, to better understand and engage with the County, monitor progress\nmade by County initiatives, with the Office to do the following:\nExplore coordinating the exchange of information and serving as a\nclearinghouse including, but not limited to, updated listings of County\nservices and resources, unmet community needs, service gaps,\ndemographic and other data, and best practices and lessons learned\nfrom across the County and other jurisdictions;\nExplore, in conjunction with County Counsel and with Equity in\nContracting, the establishment of uniform Countywide guidelines for\nDepartments to address questions raised regarding church/state\nseparation and clarify how CBOs/FBOs/HoW should be able to do\nbusiness with the County and/or compete for solicitations like any other\nbusiness vendor;\nExplore the standardization and feasibility of using master agreements\nacross all County Departments for a vendor approach to solicitations\nfrom CBOs/FBOs/HoW partnerships;\nExplore the feasibility of reimbursing CBOs/FBOs/HoW for their costs\nassociated with County collaboration, by reducing administrative burden,\ninsurance requirements, address contracting inefficiencies, and expand\naccess, similar to the model implemented in the City of Pasadena that\nreimburses their members for the Clergy Community Coalition when\nasked to open their facilities for individuals unhoused during inclement\nweather; and\nProvide landscape analysis or inventory of existing partnerships within\nCounty Departments and, additionally, explore piloting and expanding\npartnership programs that prove to be successful in different parts of\nSupervisorial Districts, in partnership with the I&RP;\nEncourage the convening of an independent network of interfaith councils as a\nbuilding block for establishing more formal working relationships, an\nindependent, Countywide I&RP structure can establish its own structure and\ntiming and help to ensure a coordinated entity to help ensure that the Office is a\nsuccess and connected to all FBOs/HoW and CBOs; and\nExplore the need for resources and reallocating existing County resources, as\nwell as the identification of non-County funding options that could help establish\na new Office and encourage support from philanthropy in the creation of a\nbackbone and assist the independent Countywide I&RP to help build new\nrelationships with the County. (24-0333)\nClergy Community Coalition Link