Healthy and Safe Communities

Summary of objective implementation status

Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability

The Office of Equity in partnership with Upstream Investments have launched the transition from Results Based Accountability (RBA) to Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability (AR-RBA), which is an actionable anti-racist accountability system that prioritizes humanistic demographic data collection, analysis, and reporting of outcomes, using a framework and principles centered in racial equity. The training team delivered 13 AR-RBA trainings and workshops, reaching over 230 individuals, both county staff and external community partners.

The OOE AR RBA Analyst plans, leads, and coordinates convenings of participating Safety Net departments (Health Services, Human Services, Housing, Probation) to support the transition from traditional Results-Based Accountability. In addition to capacity building for County employees, supporting implementation across County departmental initiatives requires technical assistance and structured collaboration.

Also, the AR RBA Analyst is developing a baseline assessment of program-level demographic data collection criteria and methodologies across Safety Net departments to better understand the current status of demographic data collection across systems. The Human Services Department and Probation department have completed a baseline assessment report with ongoing updates of their department demographic data collection systems and criterion. The Department of Health Services hired a new analyst in October 2024 to begin the baseline assessment.

Data in Disaster Response

The Office of Equity also supports the implementation of the Universal Disaster Intake Process (UDIP), which closes gaps in data related to disaster response and recovery with an equitable frame. The UDIP was developed with community partners to connect long-term recovery systems with emergency service delivery through a streamlined single intake and data management system to improve client recovery outcomes.  The data management software is managed by our partners at Upstream Investments, who operate in collaboration with the OOE and the Department of Emergency Management, DEM.  Some of the challenges experienced this year included limited funding to streamline and accelerate the coordination and implementation of relevant upgrades to the UDIP, including creating the capability to have the electronic form available in several languages outside of English.  

Key milestone update 

Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability

The Office of Equity in collaboration with Upstream Investments, have delivered 13 Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability trainings and workshops. As of November 2024, Over 230 individuals both county staff and external partners were trained with over 82 training hours (not including preparation time) dedicated to Anti-Racist Results Based Accountability. An AR-RBA toolkit and assessment template have been developed and implemented in 2024 to support staff and programs in AR-RBA implementation. A cross-over resource guide was also created to integrate the steps of the board directed Racial Equity Analyses (REA) for significant board items to the work of AR RBA.

Data in Disaster Response

The Office of Equity (OOE) in partnership with the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) implemented the Universal Disaster Intake Process (UDIP), which includes an extensive demographic data collection initiative (race/ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, gender, disability etc.) and they collaborated with DEM to conduct a UDIP training with 30 community partners. This UDIP form has been translated into 7 different languages, beyond English.

Coordination and partnership update

The Office of Equity works in close partnership with the Human Services Department’s Upstream Investments, the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), to provide racial equity technical assistance and capacity building, specific to data collection, analysis, and reporting, and to hone, strengthen, and create long-term infrastructure and skillsets.

There are major pieces of connectivity to the Racial Equity & Social Justice Pillar, and this data infrastructure and analysis work will ensure that the County and its partners have the disaggregated data to support focused and intentional investments with common metrics and clear performance measures across the systems.

Community, equity and climate update

The Office of Equity is grounded in the data, and data gaps, highlighted through A Portrait of Sonoma County: 2021 Update, which helps illuminate historical and ongoing issues of inequity across Sonoma County communities using disaggregated data. The disparities that Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and immigrant and undocumented community members have and continue to experience should be critically examined so that the policies and systems that have led to disparate outcomes can be remedied.

Objective funding

The Office of Equity received funding for one, time-limited (FTE 1.0) Anti-Racist Results-Based Accountability PPEA (AR RBA Analyst), funded through October 2026.