LA County Board

21. Expanding Breathe: Los Angeles County’s Guaranteed Income Program\nto Foster Youth\nRecommendation as submitted by Supervisor Mitchell: Authorize the Chief\nExecutive Officer to expand Breathe: Los Angeles County’s Guaranteed Income\nProgram (Breathe), with the expansion to include the following:\nUsing Board-allocated existing Breathe program funding and Department\nof Children and Family Services (DCFS) funds for a program expansion\nto serve a minimum additional 2,000 nonminor dependents in foster care\nbetween the ages of 18 and 21 across two cohorts as follows:\nCohort One - nonminor dependents in foster care between the\nages of 18 and 19 and not anticipated to age out of care during\nthe 18-months of stipend issuance, with this cohort of\napproximately 1,000 youth to receive $500 monthly stipends for\n18-months with access to career and education counseling,\nfinancial empowerment training, and other supportive services;\nand\nCohort Two - nonminor dependents in foster care between the\nages of 19 and 21 and anticipated to age out of care during the\n18-months of stipend issuance, with this cohort of approximately\n1,000 youth to receive $1,500 quarterly stipends for up to\n18-months, or six quarters, with final stipends issued during the\nquarter in which the youth turn 21, and to have access to career\nand education counseling, financial empowerment training, and\nother supportive services;\nUsing the data available through DCFS to determine eligibility, which shall\ninclude all nonminor dependents who are in foster care and between the\nages of 18 and 21 at the time of program launch and therefore eligible\nand encouraged to participate in the program;\nUsing the existing program mechanism for disbursing funds to Breathe\nparticipants; and\nUsing a program research design that meets the requirements of the\nState and determines other appropriate metrics that may be unique to\nthis population;\nAuthorize the Chief Executive Officer to amend the existing contract with\nStrength Based Community Change, to increase the contract amount by an\nadditional amount up to $4,427,151 that covers the operational and\nprogrammatic implementation of services to more than 2,000 eligible foster\nyouth through the expansion of Breathe, and perform an evaluation of the\nimpact and use of the expansion stipends towards the goals of the Flexible\nFamily Support funding; and amend the agreement, as needed, to update the\nstatement of work and/or pricing, increase/decrease the contract amount up to\n10%, extend the term of the agreement, make changes to the terms and\nconditions, or terminate the agreement; and\nAuthorize the Director of Consumer and Business Affairs to amend the existing\ncontract with MoCaFi to increase the contract amount to include the additional\n$15,040,000 in monthly and quarterly stipend payments for the additional\nparticipants and for additional administrative costs up to $180,000, for debit\ncard distribution, reporting, and funding services to serve the additional\nprogram participants; and amend the agreement, as needed, to update the\nstatement of work and/or pricing, increase/decrease the contract amount up to\n10%, extend the term of the agreement, make changes to the terms and\nconditions, or terminate the agreement. (24-3167)