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Politics Aug 08, 2024
| Photo courtesy of San Bernardino County Children and Family Services
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Current and former foster youth will soon lend their perspectives to child welfare policies, programs and practices in San Bernardino County following approval Tuesday from the Board of Supervisors.
The board approved an agreement with the nonprofit Child and Family Policy Institute of California, or CFPIC, to participate in the Youth Engagement Project. The initiative connects current and former participants in county child welfare system — youth ambassadors — with local child welfare leaders.
The goal of the program “is to utilize the lived experience of current and former foster youth for local projects designed to improve child welfare systems,” according to a county statement.
San Bernardino County Children and Family Services will oversee the program.
“Services are provided in the least intrusive manner with a family-centered focus,” county officials said. “This mission is accomplished in collaboration with the family, a wide variety of public and private agencies, and members of the community.”
CFPIC’s task will be to recruit youth ambassadors and match them with counties based on factors that include the young person’s skill set, project details and county need, officials said.
“(Children and Family Services) will be responsible for designating a project that would benefit from a youth ambassador’s perspective, as well as providing guidance and support to the youth ambassador while engaged in the project,” according to the county.
Youth ambassadors might assist in reviewing and providing feedback on county policies that directly impact young people in the county’s care, help improve a website for current and former foster youth or take part in Independent Learning Program meetings to help develop and expand the program.
Through collaboration with Youth Engagement Project, “CFS will have the opportunity to engage a subsection of the community with direct experience in the child welfare system and utilize their perspective to identify areas where CFS can develop and improve programs and practices in alignment with its mission,” officials said.
Zoo shade structures
Supervisors approved $1 million in county funding for shade structures at the Big Bear Alpine Zoo.
The nonprofit Friends of the Big Bear Alpine Zoo started a fundraising campaign in 2022 for the shades and will contribute $256,100.
“The shade structures will improve animal welfare and would offer a more comfortable experience for guests as hotter days become more frequent,” according to a county statement.
The new shade structures will be able to withstand the storms and high winds that are typical for the Big Bear Lake area and provide protection from weather elements for zoo animals. The shelters will be integrated into the zoo’s main buildings and animal enclosures.
“Hosting grizzly bears, mountain lions, snow leopards, wolves, eagles, bobcats and more, the Big Bear Alpine Zoo is a rehabilitation facility offering injured, orphaned and imprinted wild animals a second chance,” county officials said. “The vast majority of animals brought to the zoo for rehabilitation are successfully released back into their native environment. Those that remain are either too injured or have been imprinted by humans and cannot be released back into the wild to care for themselves.”
Public art
The board OK’d a proposal by 2nd District Supervisor Jesse Armendarez to provide up to $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars to Rancho Cucamonga for the Art Program Integration Project.
The project supports public art and promotes local and regional artists through expanded access for disadvantaged communities and youth, officials said. The funding is for building the city’s Victoria Gardens Civic Plaza project, which takes “a primarily passive, outdoor space with little shade and seating” and reshapes the area “to encourage greater pedestrian access and use and facilitate live entertainment.”
ARPA has a $350 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund to distribute resources to state and local governments.
The San Bernardino County ARPA Team reviews all proposed county projects to determine eligibility for ARPA funding and whether the project complies with the board-approved spending plan, officials said.
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