Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: John L. Maltbie, County Manager
Subject: Use of Measure K Funds: Home for All Community Engagement Projects
RECOMMENDATION:
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Measure K: Adopt a resolution approving Measure K funding to amend the agreement with Common Knowledge Plus to extend the term through December 31, 2018 and increase the total amount payable to $299,425.body
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BACKGROUND:
Since 2010, over 19 new jobs have been created for every new housing unit in San Mateo County. To address this gap, in the fall of 2015, Supervisors Don Horsley and Warren Slocum invited 54 community leaders to join the Closing the Jobs/Housing Gap Task Force. The Task Force met for a year, adopted an action plan supporting development of all types of housing and launched the Home for All initiative to implement their action plan.
To develop specific projects, Home for All established four work groups, including one focused on outreach and education. This work group focused on building community support for housing through education, social media and enhanced community engagement. One of the work group’s project ideas was to give cities grants to do community engagement work around housing. To determine if cities were interested in this idea, the County, on behalf of Home for All, contracted with Common Knowledge Plus (CKP), a consulting firm known for its community engagement and cultural competency expertise. This contract was executed by the County Manager and it was for an original term running through February 28, 2018, and the maximum amount authorized to be expended under the agreement was $99,860.
The CKP team interviewed over 50 city managers, city council members and local housing stakeholders about housing issues. The consultants found that most city managers and many local elected officials generally supported new housing, especially workforce and affordable housing. They also learned that city staff and elected officials weren’t aware of what other cities were doing about housing but wanted this information. These city representatives also stated that they were interested in funding and technical assistance with community engagement related to housing.
Based on the interview results, Home for All worked with CKP to design two related projects; specifically, a competitive grant program for cities interested in working on specific community engagement projects, as well as a Learning Network where city staff and councilmembers can share information about housing and also learn about engagement techniques and strategies. Fifteen cities plus the County participated in the first Learning Network meeting held on August 24, 2017.
DISCUSSION:
Six cities submitted grant proposals and Burlingame, Half Moon Bay, Portola Valley and Redwood City were selected for full funding. The four cities will receive grants through Measure K for their costs associated with the engagement project and also consultant support from CKP, funded through a single county contract.
CKP will meet with each city to understand their project goals and work with city staff to develop a comprehensive engagement strategy and associated work plan. CKP will then assist the cities with engagement activities and provide training on engagement tools and techniques. All cities have asked for assistance with meeting facilitation and CKP will also help the pilot cities connect with new constituencies and community partners.
In addition to working with the pilot cities, CKP will also offer the two cities that were not selected for the pilot project, Belmont and South San Francisco, one strategy meeting and an engagement recommendation memo.
For the Learning Network, CKP will present their engagement framework and tool kit at the September 28, 2017 meeting. They will also facilitate pilot project report backs throughout the year and contribute to the case study write-ups of each pilot which will be completed by September of 2018. The consultants will also assist with the online platform of engagement tools available to all Learning Network member cities.
Pilot project success will be measured by community participation in the outreach activities and through interviews with elected officials and city staff. The interviews will focus on changes in the community “climate” toward housing prior to and after the engagement pilot work.
We recommend that the County amend its existing agreement with CKP to expand its scope of work as described in this memorandum, to extend the term of the agreement through December 31, 2018 and to increase the maximum amount to be expended by $199,565, to $299,425. We also recommend that the Board waive the request for proposal (“RFP”) process for this agreement. As described above, the County initially contracted with CKP for services that were below the RFP dollar threshold. The work contemplated in this agreement is closely linked to the work initially done by CKP and staff believes that the best interest of the County would be served by waiving the RFP process.
The Home for All community engagement pilot program supports the County vision of a collaborative community by increasing community participation in housing decisions.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The FY 2017-19 recommended Measure K budget includes $ 300,000 for community engagement work, which is sufficient to cover all the pilot project grants and the CKP contract for technical support.