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HomeMy WebLinkAboutagenda.council.worksession.202002181 AGENDA CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION February 18, 2020 4:00 PM, City Council Chambers 130 S Galena Street, Aspen I.WORK SESSION I.A.Tobacco Tax / Prevention Program 1 MEMORANDUM TO:Mayor and City Council FROM:CJ Oliver, Environmental Health and Sustainability Director THROUGH:Sara Ott, City Manager MEETING DATE:February 20, 2020 RE:Use of Tobacco Tax Revenues REQUEST OF COUNCIL: Staff is presenting a plan to allocate a portion of the sales tax revenues from the City of Aspen’s tobacco tax to help youth-based prevention efforts for Council consideration. The proposed plan would be used to create an IGA with the Aspen School District for the provision of the described services and activities. SUMMARY: Beginning in 2018, the City of Aspen has collected a 40% sales tax on non- cigarette tobacco and nicotine products and a $3 (+.10/year) per pack tax on cigarettes. During its first year (2018), the City collected $436,622 from this tax. Ballot language to initiate the tax in 2017 set parameters that the money could only be spent on financing health and human services, tobacco related health issues, and addiction and substance abuse education and mitigation. Staff is recommending a plan wherein these funds would be spent in the coming years on a partnership with the Aspen School District to address identified gaps in community wide services geared towards universal prevention services. This plan came about after numerous local organizations, who are experts and interested in public health topics, identified that there is currently very little work being done directly with youth in the schools and other settings to prevent the use of tobacco and particularly vaping products. This gap in services is especially impactful because vaping products have become a significant health and safety issue for students in the Aspen School District according to recent statewide survey data. Because of this information staff is working with the Aspen School District and other key stakeholders to find ways to enhance programs that will address substance use and mental health with a focus on prevention and use the tax funds to be as impactful as possible in the community BACKGROUND: Prior to creating the spending plan, staff worked with interested parties including the Aspen School District, Pitkin County, Aspen Youth Center, Buddy Program, Kids First and others to better understand the needs in the community around tobacco and substance use as well as mental health. During these planning sessions it was clear that the two key themes that should be a priority in the Aspen community were: A focus on youth programming in the schools and community An emphasis on prevention 2 It was the City of Aspen’s intent not to initiate any new programs within the organization with the funds collected from the local tobacco tax but rather to use the new money to enhance existing programs to be able to make a greater impact on the areas specified in the ballot language. After working with numerous stakeholders, the City identified the Aspen School District as the best existing partner to conduct this work/ use these funds. Due to their extensive opportunities for contact with youth and their families, the City has focused conversations with the Aspen School District about the funding and asked them to put together a plan for how to create maximum impact for youth nicotine and substance use and mental health. DISCUSSION: The flow chart which is attached as Attachment B shows the continuum of services from universal prevention down to crisis intervention and treatment in Pitkin County. The additional funding that the tobacco tax can provide presents a much-needed opportunity to focus efforts on enhancing the top of the flow chart with better prevention services, resources and activities. Work done in the top section of the continuum can go far in alleviating pressures at the bottom of the continuum and begin to shift the need for service away from reactive interventions. Making this type of shift can be challenging without an opportunity like the one presented by the tobacco tax funds. There is a consistent need for services at the bottom end of the continuum so moving time and resources away is often not an option. However, these additional funds present an opportunity to enhance the top of this chart without negatively impacting the services provided at the bottom. Phase 1 Partnership: The Aspen School District, in conjunction with Aspen Family Connections (AFC) has prepared a plan (Attachment A) to address the key areas identified in the ballot language throughout the Aspen community in a way that focuses on youth and prevention in a wholistic manner. The scope ranges from teaching young people key life skills and educating them on the dangers of substance use to teaching parents the skills that will help them to effectively navigate parenting a child through a maze endless temptations and risky situations they may face. In addition, there is a component that will create a youth advisory group, which was a key deficit identified for the Aspen community and is a best practice across the country. This will empower youth with a voice on these important topics and facilitate peer to peer interactions and messaging which is shown to be an effective means of behavior change, often much more so than that which comes from adult and parent sources alone. The plan is designed with inclusion and equity in mind to help ensure that these services and programs are available to all who can use them in our area. The plan focuses on the Aspen School District but is also available to those involved in home school settings as well as informal childcare arrangements. Phase 2 Partnership: In addition to this plan, the City is working with Mind Springs Health, the provider of mental health services for the district, to explore funding additional staff hours at the Aspen School District for a mental health clinician. This position is currently a .6 FTE position, 3 and the additional funding would be to bring it up to a full-time role. The cost to provide this additional staffing would cost approximately $36,400 per year. Information to assess the effectiveness of these programs will be available through the recurring school-based survey system which provides data on attitudes and use patterns for nicotine and other substances. This is a statewide survey that is conducted every two years. The combination of additional staff time and funding for prevention services, represents a path forward that adheres to the principals of the tobacco tax ballot language and stands to make significant impact over the course of time. NEXT STEPS: If Council approves the proposed plan, staff will develop an Intergovernmental Agreement for working with the Aspen School District to administer the tobacco tax dollars in accordance with the 2017 ballot language, reflecting the proposed plan. Following the approval of an IGA, the provision of initial services would ideally begin in the Spring of 2020. Staff will present options for how to allocate the remaining annual tobacco tax funds in accordance with Council preference, related to adult mental health services in the near future. FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPACTS: The City has a 2018 tobacco tax fund balance of $436,662 which needs to be used for financing health and human services, tobacco related health issues, and addiction and substance abuse education and mitigation per voter approval. The overall cost for the schools-based program outlined above is $286,400 per year. ($250,000 for AFC activities plus $36,400 for mental heal clinical services) This represents 66% of the overall available budget from the 2018 tobacco tax revenues. The additional funds will be directed towards adult mental health service as directed by council at the August 2019 work session. Options for how to best apply those funds will be presented to city council soon. These expenditures would be a general fund expense. The preliminary calculations of 2019 tobacco tax collections show a slight decline, coming in at $403,589.32. ATTACHMENTS: Exhibit A- Aspen School District and Aspen Family Connections Prevention Program Plan Exhibit B- Pitkin County Continuum of Support, Resource Sharing and Collaborative Work for At-Risk Youth and Families. 4 5 The Aspen School District/Aspen Family Connection Prevention Program Executive Summary: An opportunity to invest a part of the City of Aspen Tobacco Tax revenues in the development and promotion of a targeted, prevention-oriented approach to substance use and mental health concerns in families and children in the Aspen community; the Program to be based on a common understanding of risk and protective factors. Risk and Protective factors Many factors influence a person’s chance of developing a mental and/or substance use disorder. Effective prevention focuses on reducing those risk factors, and strengthening protective factors, and resilience in relation to the problems being addressed. ●Risk factors are characteristics at the biological, psychological, family, community, or cultural level that precede and are associated with a higher likelihood of negative outcomes. ●Protective factors are characteristics associated with a lower likelihood of negative outcomes or that reduce a risk factor’s impact. Protective factors may be seen as positive countering events. ●Some risk and protective factors are fixed over time, others are considered variable. Variable risk factors include income level, peer group, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and employment status. Individual-level risk factors may include a person’s genetic predisposition to addiction or exposure to alcohol prenatally. Individual-level protective factors might include positive self-image, self-control, or social competency The underlying values of the ASD/AFC Prevention Program ●Innovation ●Collaboration ●Excellence ●Tenacity for growth ●Equity ●Accountability 6 Key elements of the Prevention Program ●An integrated and inclusive vision for prevention activities in Aspen, focusing on our key area of influence: family, school, peers and community ●Universal projects that impact the general population - (e.g. families with preschool children) as well as groups with recognized or high risks of substance use (e.g. middle/high schoolers) ●Responsive to the voices of community residents ●Collaborative: taking activities into the community and using the power of our collaborative partnerships ●Communicate and promote shared values around prevention for children, youth and families in creating positive long-term impacts on substance use, mental health and other risk factors and behaviors ●Build skills, competencies and cohesion in children, youth and families ●Start early - support our youngest families ●Maximizing our community’s existing resources, collaborating to build capacity and effectiveness, and address gaps in the provision of services and other resources ●Based on proven practices within systems that work and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Strategic Prevention Framework ●Uses all available data relating to youth and substances (School Based Data and Healthy Kids Colorado Survey) as well as survey data generated by the Program itself, to establish benchmark data, targets and performance evaluation measures Project Outline, Timeline Overview ACTIVITIES School Year 1 (current) School Year 2 School Year 3 Coordination begins, including preparation of detailed budget Establish Steering Group with Key Partners to develop priorities for injection of revenue Early Childhood Connector position activated within the community Continuing evaluation of all programs and adjustment of priorities as necessary to match funding/need and effectiveness Establish Teen Voice Program to provide additional advisory capacity for the Program and hire/train connector Injection of funds into key prevention programs selected by the School District and Steering Group participants Develop data and survey feedback from early childhood families to create the Early Childhood Connector frame of reference and hire/train 1 7 The Aspen School District/Aspen Family Connection Prevention Program Detailed White Paper What is prevention? Prevention of tobacco and substance use in youth requires a wide-ranging and long-term strategy and investment. Effective prevention takes aim at how people think, feel and act, by focusing activities on areas of influence, such as the individual, family or community. We now know that simply communicating messages about the negative consequences of substance use is not in itself, an effective way to change behaviors and may even prove counterproductive. Successful prevention frames the issue in terms of health and mental health - already key community priorities - and, in doing so, invests in building up the positive ​protective factors​ that support child and youth success. These protective factors are already the focus of activity within the Aspen community, schools and nonprofits, relating to conditions found in everyday life. The prevention activities might include extracurricular activities, mentoring, parenting and family education and are all designed to support positive family attachment, and, for children and youth, positive social orientation, coping skills, good decision-making, resilience, engagement at school and mental wellbeing. Best practice in prevention is programming that starts as early as possible, that builds on strengths and also addresses multiple risk and protective factors in multiple contexts and settings. How the ASD/AFC Prevention Program complements what is already happening in our schools and in the wider Aspen community Schools are an ideal venue to promote and coordinate prevention activities, and in the Aspen School District, Aspen Family Connections which is a family resource center within the District, has already made progress in developing a number of strands of prevention activity, in a way that is fundamentally collaborative, working closely with many other local organizations. These local partners include Kids First, the Aspen Youth Center, the Buddy Program, the Aspen Recreation Department, Aspen Police Department and many others. It is important to note that the School District’s main prevention partner is actually the City of Aspen, through the important work undertaken by Kids First, the City’s of Aspen Day Camp and after-school program, the Red Brick Center for the Arts, the Recreation and Parks Departments and Aspen Police Department’s school resource officer. Aspen Family Connections was created as a collaborative hub, to harness and maximize existing community resources in order to support children, youth and their families - but the organization has had to prioritize intervention with families and not been sufficiently resourced to take on the major task of prevention, apart from our highly successful year-round, free program of events, 2 8 speaker and parenting education opportunities. The City of Aspen Tobacco Tax funded Prevention Program will enable this vision to be realized even more fully. The new Aspen School District Strategic Plan, which is well advanced in its process, places family, community and collaboration at the heart of its work, recognizing that without harmony in these three elements, the academic mission of the School District simply cannot be realized. This is an essential and progressive new element in the way that the District views and articulates its purpose within our community. The District has also adopted the CASEL Framework of ​Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). SEL enhances students’ capacity to integrate skills, attitudes, and behaviors to deal effectively and ethically with daily tasks and challenges. Like many similar frameworks,​ CASEL’s​ integrated framework promotes intrapersonal, interpersonal, and cognitive competence. There are five core competencies that can be taught in many ​ways​ across many ​settings and of these settings, ​Homes and Communities are identified as the foundational element - our first, and arguably the fundamental opportunity to effect positive change in children’s lives. A number of other important initiatives and investments will also be considered when developing a picture of prevention within the Aspen community, including the recent,incorporation of mental health support within schools funded, training in mental health first aid, adoption of trauma-focused and restorative practices, among a number of other activities taking place in and around the schools. Healthy Kids Colorado Survey already underway: essential baseline data The School (grades 5-12) is currently participating in the Healthy Kids Colorado survey (HKCS)- last undertaken in 2017 & 2015 and created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Colorado Departments of Education (CDE), Human Services (CDHS), and Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). These groups provide funding to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to conduct the survey in schools.   The purpose of the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey is to better understand youth health and what  factors support youth to make healthy choices and asks ​students about topics including exercise, diet, alcohol, tobacco, drug use, mental health, suicide, bullying, healthcare, and sexual behaviors (high school only). The survey also asks students about school-life, school safety, trusted adult relationships, and other things known to be connected with healthy choices (​CLICK HERE for statewide trend data and survey model​). The extensive information from the 2017 survey has been hugely influential in developing Aspen Family Connections, as well as in-school approaches to social/emotional learning, and this data, arriving at the start of the ASD/AFC Prevention Program, is perfectly timed to ensure that our activities are correctly targeted to specific local needs, as well as providing baseline data for evaluation of success 3 9 The key importance of understanding and prioritizing community needs and gaps We already know that even within our well-developed continuum of services and resources, there are some significant gaps, most of which could figure within funding priorities for the ASD/AFC Prevention Program. The HKCS, combined with local surveys of families’ perceptions and prevention needs, will give us a clear sight of how resources will be most effectively targeted. The goal of the program is to augment and enhance prevention programming and local centers of excellence and expertise, using ASD/AFC as a hub, rather than create a new infrastructure. Some Phase 1 funding for staffing and coordination will be needed immediately to activate the program but the intention should be to direct funding to new activities, not already funded, targeting youth, families and programs and risk/protective factors. 4 10 PROJECT OUTLINE The ASD/AFC Prevention Program is dynamic, data-driven and will take effect in phases PHASE 1 - Remainder of 2019-20 school year 1.Collaboration Steering Group established ASD/AFC has already begun to convene a small and engaged group of active community partners, including all the key City of Aspen partners to help advise and steer the process of building the Prevention Program and maximize collaboration. The group is likely to be broadened as the Program develops. Organizations initially included: Kids First, the Aspen Youth Center, the Buddy Program,, and the Aspen Recreation Department The role of the partners will be to advise the School District both on the partnerships and activities that should be prioritized in the spending plan, and on the implementation and delivery of the projects selected. Risk/Protective Factors addressed TASK/ACTIVITY Timeframe Cost ALL Steering group meets Has already begun District-wide survey of families to assess the scale of prevention needs, barriers and attitudes, including ●Parenting education ●Access to after-school activities ●Access to summer activities Spring 2020 $5,000 Steering group assimilates early data from HKCS and family survey to establish Ongoing 5 11 targeted activities Establish data points from HKCS to direct work of the Youth Voice and Teen Connector Ongoing 2.Youth Voice/ Teen Connector ASD/AFC will contract with a Youth Voice/Teen Connector who will undertake key work, not currently staffed within our systems to establish a Youth Voice structure, involving extensive training and support for a group of middle and high schoolers to participate, as well as a restorative justice coordination and training component. The key significance of the Teen Connector element of the Project, is to create a Youth Voice advisory structure that will help inform and steer the priorities and content of the entire project. LINK TO PROJECT DETAIL Positive Youth Development​ (CDPHE) Risk/Protective Factors addressed TASK/ACTIVITY Timeframe Cost Risk Factors: Absenteeism/low commitment to school, poor community engagement, favorable attitudes to tobacco and other substances and availability of substances, lack of supervision and pro-social activities for teens, peer pressure and Hire Youth Voice/Teen Connector to work within Aspen School District (Middle and High Schools). Initial 3-year contract. Spring 2020 $80,000 Youth Voice/Teen Connector training and program build March - Youth Voice participant recruitment (targeting 8/9/10/11 grades for the 2020/21 school year and 6 12 relationships etc. establishment of initial work plan Youth Voice training and meeting with local agencies: resources needed for training, activity budgets etc. ongoing $20,000 Youth Advisory Council (name TBC by group) meets with Social norming campaign and a range of other activities established in schools and community-wide selected and implemented by the Youth Advisory Council 2.Element #2 Early Childhood Family Connector Prevention is the Key- Prevention can be effective at any age. It can have particularly strong effects when applied early in a person’s life, when development is most easily shaped and the child’s life is most easily set on a positive course. The Early Childhood Family Connector will provide a much-needed link between Kids First/area preschools and preschool families, to provide and coordinate a menu of prevention activities and options Risk/Protective Factors addressed TASK/ACTIVITY Timeframe Cost Promotion of protective factors: Parental resilience (connection to supports to weather economic, mental health relationship conflict and other hardships), social connections (peer and other parenting Hire Early Childhood Family Connector(s) possibly two contract positions, to conduct outreach within the Aspen Community Spring 2020 $60,000 Develop extensive collaborative program of protective factors initiatives to build on existing activity 7 13 support groups), concrete support (connection and understanding of access to resources, access to childcare and activities at times when families need it), knowledge of parenting and child development through parenting education, including social and emotional learning and address gaps 3.Element #3 Program Coordination Additional staffing/contract time for Prevention Program management, though not new staff - subsidy of existing staffing capacity: including adding to parenting education coordination, new events, coaching, in-home and community-based parenting education opportunities Immediate and ongoing $35,000.00 8 14 4.Element #4 Prevention Program - Directed Funding to Programs One that promotes ●Building on existing services and excellence ●Mental wellbeing ●Activities for children and families ●Social Connections ●School and community connection ●Inclusion over alienation ●Opportunities for young people to have a voice and a say ●Social norming ●Restorative practices, opportunities to succeed This element of the program supports new/supplementary programs addressing important gaps in prevention provision. The Aspen School District and AFC have already identified a number of significant gaps to be addressed in our systems and in January 2020, the Prevention Program Steering Group, including key City of Aspen partners, began to work on prioritizing, and assessing for Program funding, the gaps in provision. Note, that these should be ​new​ or ​supplementary​ activities, rather than those already funded and subject to a process of application from existing providers. Inclusion of special populations is a major consideration, including the needs of Latino families, children and youth, children with disabilities and others. Illustrative examples of areas to be considered as possible priorities for funding by the ASD/AFC Prevention Program Steering Group, Risk/Protective Factors addressed ALL TASK/ACTIVITY Timeframe Cost When schools are closed... supporting families’ ability to work, harnessed to essential early childhood education for most vulnerable kids and families. There is a mismatch of funding for early childcare families who receive support from the Colorado Preschool 9 15 Program (CPP) whereby there is no funding for our most at-risk families on a large number of days when the School District is closed Summer stress:​ Many lower and middle income working families cannot afford to keep their children (of all ages) productively occupied in activities during 3-month summer and school vacations and scholarships do not meet needs. After-school stress​: need for additional funding in the City of Aspen/ASD after-school program (City of Aspen Day Camp) to pay for extra para-professional and other staff so that parents of children with special needs can access the program (mostly not possible at present), and to build the after-school program’s ability to reduce their waiting list and admit even more children, allowing parents to work, and more children to be engaged in essential after-school activities Extra-curricular supports: ​funds to further support families in accessing extra-curricular activities for their children, including tutoring and executive function coaching - to supplement 10 16 financial assistance and other scholarship programs already available - at present funding can be found for counseling/therapy but for children and youth, funding to support out-of-school activities and academic catch up (available to wealthier families) can be as beneficial. Parenting and family coaching​: ability for AFC to contract with providers to deliver more parenting education opportunities and classes, including in-home coaching, not presently available Social norming campaign activities ​- this assumes that most individuals tend to conform to the perceived norms of the social groups in which they belong, bct that in actuality these norms are often misperceived. In situations concerning high-risk health behaviors designing a social norms campaign to correct misperceptions can prove highly effective in lowering the prevalence of such behaviors . Pro-social opportunities for local teens who do not use the Youth Center Mentoring​ support for older teens 11 17 Targeted prevention activities ​for Latino families, children and youth Supports for coping with family conflict:​ support groups, resources for maximizing mediation for families dealing with separation, and divorce/ post-divorce/custody issues - incentivizing mediation can reduce family conflict which is a major risk factor for children in this community 5.SUMMARY OF FUNDING PLANS (annually for 3 years) DRAFT Element Activity #1 Steering Group $500.00 #2 Youth Voice/Teen Connector $80,000.00 #2 Youth Voice Program Costs $20,000.00 #2 Early Childhood Family Connector $60,000.00 #3 ASD/AFC Prevention Program Coordination $35,000.00 #4 Directed directed support to programs $54.500.00 subtotal $250,000.00 2/14/2020 12 18 PITKIN COUNTY CONTINUUM OF SUPPORT, RESOURCE-SHARING AND COLLABORATIVE WORK FOR AT-RISK YOUTH AND FAMILIES UNIVERSAL PREVENTION SERVICES, RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES •School-based supports, social/emotional curriculums, counseling, school-based health center and substance abuse prevention activity •Community based programs provided by partner organizations such as The Buddy Program, Response, Aspen Youth Center, Aspen Recreation Department, and many others •Family/parenting prevention/support programs including AFC's program of parenting education and support, KidsFirst programs, Family Visitor support for new families etc. ASPEN FAMILY CONNECTIONS (AFC) AND FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER OF RFSD CMP Services for referred families •Family meetings and Individualized Service and Support teams •Case management •Colorado Community Response (CCR) •Connection/referral to a wide range of community resources and providers focused on youth and needs and goals, funding support DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES Services for referred families: •Case management •PA3 Prevention •Core Services providing funding and referral to providers •CMP Family Engagement Meetings (individualized service and support teams for families. •Economic Services •Therapeutic, parenting support, life skills and substance services JUVENILE JUSTICE/YOUTHZONE Services for referred families •Diversion/deferred sentencing •SB 94 Services and Assessment Meetings (SAMS) for which delinquent youth are screened in as eligible. Standing team meets monthly or as needed •Case Management and SB94 funding support COLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM (CMP) MULTI-AGENCY FAMILY MEETINGS AND PROGRAMS OVERSEEN BY THE PITKIN COUNTY INTER-AGENCY OVERSIGHT GROUP (IOG) REFERRAL PATHWAY Child Welfare referral: 1-844-264-5437 Prevention referral: (970)-429-6122 MORE INTENSIVE SCHOOL-BASED INTERVENTION AND SERVICES •Wide range of Special Education support services •Programs and groups to support at-risk children, prevent truancy, provide academic support, substance abuse counseling etc. •Referrals for mental health concerns to school-based counselors and therapists and outside providers REFERRAL PATHWAY AFC: (970) 205 7025 and via schools/partners/community REFERRAL PATHWAY Via law enforcement/judicial process 19 PITKIN COUNTY IOG PARTNERS IN THE COLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM (CMP) •Pitkin County Department of Health and Human Services •9th Judicial District •9th Judicial District Department of Probation •Colorado Department of Youth Services •Aspen School District •Roaring Fork School District •Pitkin County Department of Public Health •Mind Springs Health •RESPONSE •The Buddy Program •Kids First •YouthZone •S.B.94 •Mountain Family Health Centers •Aspen Police Department GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS CMP: The Collaborative Management Program is a State-funded, collective community approach to serving children/youth with complex needs through a tailored integrated approach and with child, youth and family engagement in planning, services and solutions. SB 94: is a statewide grant initiative that provides alternatives to detention for youth, ages 10 to 17, involved in the juvenile ju stice system PA3: Program Area 3 allows the Department of Human Services to provide preventative services to prevent abuse/neglect or alleviate the need for involvement/further involvement in the Child Welfare system. IOG: Interagency Oversight Group consists of all the agency partners (listed above) that oversee the CMP P rogram. 20 21