Ready to Rise Townhall Q&A

Ready to Rise Town Hall Q&A Thank you for joining Ready to Rise’s Town Hall on January 12th, 2022. We are so grateful for the participation and support we received during the event. We appreciate your interest in the initiative and are taking all questions and feedback into consideration as we think of the future of Ready to Rise. Below you will find the written answers to the questions that we received for your reference.

These questions came directly from the participants; duplicate questions were not included. If you have any additional questions or thoughts please do not hesitate to send them to surauchi@libertyhill.org.

Question and Answers Will the slide deck be shared with participants?

Yes, they will be! The recording will also be available.

How many orgs are in R2R and how much funding do you have?

There are 49 orgs in R2R. Ready to Rise has received a cumulative total of $38 million over three years.

Why is the amount of funding declining next year?

Currently the JJCC is recommending a lower budget. To find out more, and to voice any concerns, please attend the February 3rd JJCC meeting at 2pm, where they will discuss and vote on the current budget recommendations. Use the link below to join the meeting: https://lacountyprobation.webex.com/lacountyprobation/j.php?MTID=m6199d2a1306c6f9c9fa1a9d96f7112b e How many trans-led organizations have received funding over the last 4 years?

We haven't asked grantee leaders to state their gender identity, but I don't believe there was a trans-led org among the grantees so far. There are definitely grantees that have trans and non-binary staff.

Why are we putting two white men in comparison to a young person?

Thank you for your question! And great observation!

Just to clarify— we included the images of the respective founders of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Botvin LifeSkills Training to highlight that an important question that must be asked about evidence-based programs and services is: Who was this evidence-base built on? How did the lived experience of the developers of these models align with the lived experience of the youth who are subjected to their intervention? Who was included AND NOT included in the development of these practices?

Sometimes conventionally lauded programs are not effective or meaningful for youth of color, despite their evidence-base— because youth of color were not included in the development of the program or the evidence base.

R2R programs privilege the goals, values, and systems of meaning around which youth of color construct their lives— and in doing so provide meaningful support."

How can we help to re-route Probation dollars, in particular funds from School based probation towards supporting Ready to Rise?

You can support R2R by attending and participating in the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Committee (JJCC) meetings to call for the full funding of Ready to Rise. The next meeting is February 3rd, 2021 from 2-4pm. It can be accessed here. You can also call in at with the following information: +1-213-306-3065 United States Toll (Los Angeles) Join by phone +1-213-306-3065 Access Code/Webinar Number/Event Code 2558 327 7532 Password 5522 (5522 from phones) You can stay up to date with JJCC by emailing Sharon Hawkins <Sharon.Hawkins@probation.lacounty.gov> and PROB-JJCC-Admin <PROB.JJCCAdmin@probation.lacounty.gov> to ask to be added to the mailing list.

Community offering from live chat: “If folks would like support in engaging JJCC meetings, we do that at the Los Angeles Youth Uprising Coalition, I am available to prep folks: kparekh@childrensdefense.org or 323490-0601.” - Kruti Parekh What does EBP stand for?

Evidence-based Practices If you do this again, can you commit to doing more up front to ensure that orgs that don’t qualify can be identified before writing a full RFP & a site visit, or even better, allow smaller CBOs to apply please?

Thank you for your feedback. The R2R team is committed to creating a transparent and equitable opportunity.

Is this adapted pre/post survey available publicly anywhere? Would love to learn more about how the adaptation went and the survey itself!

Our Pre/Post Youth Outcome Tool is not yet publicly available, but please feel free to follow up with us and we’d be happy to chat with you about that process!

Older studies show the key to the relationship building outcome was duration and frequency of relationship with a consistent individual; due to the nature of yd orgs, often high turnover... What did you find? Did length of relationship impact outcomes?

Great question! We are not collecting data around the duration of supportive relationships at this time— though it is something we will definitely consider for the Y4 evaluation. Currently, our focus is on how the composition of the youth’s supportive networks change (I.e., who they are listing) from pre to post/after intervention, as well as how the quality of these new and established relationships change after exposure to grantee programming. Both of these, along with a series of secondary analyses, we plan to explore in full once we have the full sample from the youth, which should be in the late Spring.

Are there any trans identified individuals who are coaches or part of the team?

We don't have any trans identified coaches right now, but we're definitely open if you know any great candidates! There are gender nonconforming and nonbinary consulants that serve as a part of our training and administrative team.

Can you share what are the deliverables that funded organizations need to comply with or address?

Like many county contracts, there are program deliverables and fiscal deliverables (audit), too. A lot of the data you saw Imoyase presented (like # served, demographics, type of intervention) were data collected by grantees. Hope this helps.

Can you share in what ways you are working with the probation department?

The Probation Department is the custodian of R2R’s funds. We work with them to ensure that administrative requirements are met for our grantee partners. Probation provides spending oversight and enforces accountability measures necessary for public funding.

Are you accepting new grantees? If yes, when are you accepting applications?

R2R is currently not accepting new grantees. More details to follow in summer/fall of 2022.

How were the capacity building areas and coffee talk topics identified?

We did a literature review initially to identify the 14 capacity building areas and then worked with each grantee to prioritize which one(s) are most important for their growth. With coffee talks, it's really feedback from grantees and coaches about what's emerging both as needs and innovations.

Can you share what the required budget & organization size was to qualify for the grant?

The Grant Guidelines were listed as follows:

• Nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (fiscal sponsorship allowed).

• Organizations with current service delivery/programmatic experience.

• Permanent, full-time program staff.

• Staff capacity to manage evaluation and capacity building engagement expectations.

• Organizations currently serving youth impacted by the justice system (including family system involvement), crossover/foster care youth, or youth exhibit the following: chronic absenteeism, behavioral issues, or poor course grades.

• Program uses measurable indicators of success.

• Organizations with a track record of youth-focused educational, recreational, vocational, and/or cultural programming interested in or currently serving high needs youth. Program activities may be focused on arts, wellness, educational attainment, leadership, workforce development, mentorship, youth organizing, or another engagement area.

I would like to know how Aquil, James, Roberta, and Jennifer are feeling about the futures of their organization?

Roberta Shintani: “They are amazing, again, it's like my grandpa or grandma-you know. “Help me with my board, I need help” no other funder would ever want to fund something for me that works with my board to build capacity. I was able, through Destiny Coaching, find and diversify my board. They helped coach me throughout this process of how to get them engaged, you know they're pretty deadbeat I'm sorry, but my Board was pretty relaxed. But they helped me, you know, use the right methods and engagement and tools, so that I could involve my board and now they're joining committees. I mean it's just amazing they're transforming not only our youth, but me, and the Board, and the organization.

So I have to tell you it's been a blessing, I am so fortunate we're so lucky we got chosen, but you know we've been doing this work for over 16 years - and we want to continue to expand and it's because of Ready to Rise not asking me for all these check boxes. Not putting me through 18 months of RFP and questionnaires and follow up meetings, like probation which we didn't get the contract. It’s something about Ready to Rise that comes in and gets us.”

James Breedlove: “Basically it's helped us become stronger, but more importantly because we still partner and support other emerging nonprofits. It's allowed us to provide training and support for those other organizations that were in the field with us working prior to this, but did not get an opportunity to be one of the selected cohort, but we are able to provide them with some of the supports and best practices that we've benefited from. So it has been just a tremendous opportunity for us, we have grown our our youth served by over 100% and plan to continue to grow and we're just excited and very thankful.”

Jennifer Quiones: “ With the information that we pulled from Ready to Rise and the support from the coaches from Ready to Rise. I was able to go back and promote the idea with my board that I needed some help with development and getting someone to take this on.

That changed everything for us in terms of development. This year we're looking at a planned out schedule for our grants. We're looking at ensuring that we do everything that's necessary to reach out to our grantors and make sure that we are always in compliance with all of our grants. But not only that, in being able to sort all of that out it made it possible for us to open up and apply to other possible avenues of revenue that we had never been able to tap into because we didn't have the capacity to do so.

That kind of support, and I know you know, as Community based organizations we're spread thin most of the time, but that kind of support and that experience is the world of difference. That's going to be the decision on whether you're going to have the funding to continue next year. And if we really think about that, that's vital- that's the existence of your organization.

So I'm personally indebted to Ready to Rise for helping me with that and I know that my organization will continue to move forward, because now we have the training. And we know what we need to do every single year in order to ensure that we are not only applying with our partners that we've had relationships with for a long time, but we're also able to expand our capacity in terms of fundraising so thank you guys so much.”

Dr. Aquil Basheer “We have had to back away from numerous organizations, and this is where R2R comes in so effectively.

Not numerous organizations, but numerous funding organizations- because they attempted to tell us what we need to do and how we need to do it in terms of getting the effective outcomes we need.

We don't have time for that, so we have backed up. what R2R’s been able to do, and this is what I have so much respect for the Organization for, is it allowed us to operate within our normality.

It allowed us to use our expertise and our capacity and said, ‘we will be augments to what you need to do, but we want you to lead the process we want you to be effective in what you do and how you do it, and we will create for you that capacity to deal with some of your own internal trauma while you try to deal with everyone else’s trauma.”

Is there interest in scaling this to other regions (SF Bay area, etc)?

We are currently not dedicating effort to scaling to other areas, however we do feel like the R2R model is broadly replicable. We are open to and welcome offering guidance and lessons learned to groups looking to adopt a similar model in their communities.

Did the 49 organizations also receive cash to invest in their own needs?

In the last couple of years, the 49 grantees did receive some funding to spend as they see fit, but not in the current year. We are not able to supply capacity building grants due to contract restrictions, but Liberty Hill is raising the funds separately in hopes of supplying these resources in the future.

Has R2R requested that probation put this type of presentation on the JJCC’s agenda?

Yes, on several occasions.

What’s the root cause of the consideration of the rerouting of funding?

The JJCC is petitioned to allocate funds for many programs, the cause of funding rerouting was not specified.

If the Build Back Better act is passed, there is 5 Billion dollars that will be allocated to violence intervention. Can a public private partnership be best to distribute funds to areas where they will be needed? How was R2R experience doing this with Probation funds?

We believe that R2R offers evidence of the success of a Third Party Administrator (TPA) model for expediting funds and support into the community. TPA experience can vary widely between County departments depending on their contracting practices. Administering funds from the Probation Department has led to growth in understanding between sectors and progress in identifying contracting equity areas of improvement.

Can the county Board of Supervisors influence funding decisions?

Ready to Rise is funded through the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act by the State of California.

Probation is named as the custodian of these funds statewide. Funding decisions are ultimately drafted and voted on by the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Committee (JCCC).

How is this a town hall and people are not able to provide their experiences, opinions and recommendations on the chat? Town halls are listening sessions. I do not think this is a community inclusive process.

Thank you for this feedback. We recognize that the agenda was centered on information sharing rather than the community engagement that is expected during a town hall format. We are exploring ways to incorporate and elevate community voice in our next public meetings.