Policy Priorities for Public Safety, Health, the Economy and Government Operations

Transcription

1 Policy Priorities for Public Safety, Health, the Economy and Government Operations The following is one of a series of working policy documents crafted in a collaborative process of Community Conversations, door-to-door canvassing, community office hours and input from issue-area experts. Overview I believe that residents and business owners in the District should expect adequate public safety services, health care options, access to jobs with a living wage and a government that is efficient and effective. As the District s economy changes, we need to continue to diversify our economy and attract more businesses. We need to capitalize not just on our proximity to the Federal government, but also on our highly educated workforce. By making a real investment in the Business Development Office in the Mayor s Office, and reform of the Department of Small and Local Business Development and the Certified Business Enterprise program, we can create a much stronger focus on connecting and building companies in the District. As Councilmember, I am working with residents to identify priorities in these areas, understand what data and evidence exists regarding models that address these challenges, build and implement interventions tailored to those needs, continuously assess what works and what does not and invest accordingly. I am committed to examining common themes I m hearing from residents, business owners and non-profits and developing strategies that resolve systemic challenges in the long term instead of only addressing each individual request. Brianne K. Nadeau Councilmember, Ward 1

2 How the District and Ward 1 can achieve these goals The following are strategies and policy, both through oversight and legislative action, Councilmember Nadeau will employ to address the areas of public safety, health, economic development and jobs, and government operations to improve the quality of life and the quality of government services delivered to residents of Ward 1 and across the District of Columbia. Core Issue: Departments of the D.C. Government dedicated to public safety need more resources and structure to improve operations. Opportunity: The Office of Unified Communications (OUC) needs additional resources to be more effective. Dispatchers are working mandatory 12 hour shifts, and have been for too long. OUC continues to be severely understaffed, which takes a major toll on the quality of services and its ability to effectively and safely dispatch emergency calls and non-emergency services. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) needs additional support to invest in community policing models that allow officers to build long-term connections with the neighborhoods they police instead of continually cycling new officers through, or reassigning officers when they re promoted. These types of community outreach and engagement programs will help rebuild trust and improve the self-policing of areas by residents and businesses. Oversight and Legislative Action: (1) Advocate for a review of OUC operations so that response times and protocols are more efficient; (2) Support full and proper funding of the OUC office to provide additional staff and professional development; (3) Call for the strengthening of OUC hiring standards; (4) Advocate for adequate budgeting and training support for MPD to improve deployments that support community relations development; (6) Call for a review of MPD processes related to promotions to ensure that advancing officers are not removed from the communities with which they have formed relationships. Core Issue: The health of residents can be significantly improved by providing access to affordable, fresh food. Opportunity: Large swaths of food deserts areas in which affordable or good-quality fresh food is difficult to access can be found throughout the District. We must increase healthy food access and fresh food affordability. Oversight and Legislative Action: Ensure adequate incentives exist to encourage grocery stores and markets that provide fresh, affordable food to locate in current food deserts. Core Issue: The health of residents can be significantly improved by ensuring access to existing health services to immigrant communities. Opportunity: Health services must be augmented to more fully serve immigrant communities. Those who do not speak English as a primary language are not receiving information about the options of DC Health Link. The Department of Human Services (DHS) struggles to adequately provide services particularly continuing Medicaid and Alliance coverage to immigrant families. Community members stand in line for hours at the Taylor Street and H Street service Policy Priorities for Public Safety, Health, Economy & Government Operations Page 2 of 5

3 center locations to renew/register for new Medicaid/Alliance coverage. When they are actually seen by the front line staff, they receive notices about Medicaid renewal that are not in their native language. The Office of Human Rights (OHR) and related Language Access program partners need to fully integrate across District government. Oversight and Legislative Action: (1) Enact legislation to ensure that all DC government services and resources are available in the languages of the primary immigrant communities throughout the city; (2) Advocate for resources for additional staff for the OHR to serve as investigators for language access violations by DC government agencies that prevent residents from accessing public benefits; (3) Promote opportunities for OHR to contract with community-based organizations that can provide technical assistance to agencies serving immigrant communities; (4) Advocate for a review of DHS operations and promote strategies to ensure adequate staff and resourcing. Core Issue: The future of economic development and jobs within the District is dependent upon the availability of workforce development opportunities and a living wage. Opportunity: Through the Certified Business Enterprise program and the Department of Employment Services, the District government can support internship and professional development opportunities for local students for example, through the University of the District of Columbia or the Community College of the District of Columbia and connect them to the new technology and data-intensive jobs emerging in the city. While internship experiences are often how young people break into these fields, too often low- and middle-income students are locked out of these opportunities because unlike their wealthier counterparts, they lack the financial security to work for free or for extremely low wages for as long as six months to a year. Many residents are seeking opportunities to be securely employed and earn an income that allows them to afford housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and education without running a deficit each month. Continued increases in the minimum wage would contribute to a rise in the ability of the families and individuals to cover their expenses and achieve their own vision of success. Additionally, the lack of affordable quality child care in DC impacts both the ability of working parents to make work pay and the ability of low-income children to compete with their peers from higher income families. Oversight and Legislative Action: (1) Advocate for the Certified Business Enterprise program to create genuine employment training opportunities; (2) Lead the creation of a pipeline for lowincome residents to move into the professional workforce and new economy jobs; (3) Support increases in the minimum wage; (4) Advocate to increase subsidies from the Office of the State Superintendent for Education for low-income families and universal Pre-K and for additional strategies that ensure affordability, accessibility and quality of day care programs. Core Issue: Government processes (constituent requests, budgeting, procurement, etc.) need to be improved, streamlined and easily accessible. Opportunity: The DC government must operate in ways that promote rather than stifle engagement, accessibility, efficiency and impact. Residents need to be encouraged both in outreach and interactions to access city services directly from District agencies rather than Policy Priorities for Public Safety, Health, Economy & Government Operations Page 3 of 5

4 through the individual offices of Councilmembers. While Councilmembers must be responsive to their constituents, every Councilmember s office would not need their own constituent service request process if the Mayor s 311 Call Center worked consistently and included all service request options with better collaboration between agencies. Additionally, the role of city agencies and the Council itself should be clear and appropriate. For example, the Council currently reviews any District government procurement contract over $1 million or approximately.01% of the District s budget in the name of oversight. However, the Council already holds full oversight responsibility for the Office of Contracting and Procurement and review and oversight should be completed through that process. It is also inappropriate for serving Councilmembers to solicit outside donations for a Constituent Service Fund that is then spent on office needs or given as donations to outside community groups, non-profits, political groups, or their own campaigns. If a Councilmember wants to make these expenditures or donations, they should do so from their personal funds or office budgets. Oversight and Legislative Action: (1) Ensure regular briefings by key agency heads and office directors that fall under the Councilmember s committee assignments Committee on Health and Human Services; Committee on Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs; and Committee on Housing and Community Development as well as key district agencies and offices that maintain significant presences in Ward 1; (2) Identify areas of District Code and Legislation that need to be improved or eliminated, and understand why portions of laws and regulations are not being implemented or are not being implemented as intended; (3) Change Council contract review procedures to eliminate individual review of contracts and instead focus on standard oversight of the Office of Contracting and Procurement; (4) Develop and follow a standard intake process for handling constituent requests that aligns with District agencies; (5) Ensure that all staff receive constituent services training including guidelines on educating constituents about how to request District services directly; (6) Advocate for the elimination of Constituent Service Funds; (7) Explore a new role for the Office of Partnerships and Grant Services, which has access to access District-wide public and private resources; (8) Advocate for the development of clear guidelines for Council expenses that should (or should not) be included in the Council budget (review items such as office supplies, computer expenses, printing, catering, refreshments, local travel, water services, season tickets to DC professional sports teams, etc.) Core Issue: The important role of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions needs to clarified and standardized across the city. Opportunity: Today, 41 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions operate across the District at widely different levels of services and capabilities, with the net effect of 41 differently operating legislative bodies serving residents. With limited support from the Office of ANCs, they serve as a primary interface with city residents and consider a wide range of policies and programs affecting their neighborhoods, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection and the District's annual budget. By standardizing and strengthening management practices, ANCs can become more effective. Policy Priorities for Public Safety, Health, Economy & Government Operations Page 4 of 5

5 Oversight and Legislative Action: (1) Institute and enforce a standard Code of Conduct including transparency, accountability and training for ANCs; (2) Review and advocate for the redistribution of funding so ANCs in each ward have adequate and relative funding; (3) Identify and promote efficiencies such as shared office space or staff for ANCs in a single ward; (4) Examine the role of ANCs in grantmaking; (5) Ensure the participation of ANCs in legislative and regulatory development and review. Policy Priorities for Public Safety, Health, Economy & Government Operations Page 5 of 5