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Home My WebLink AboutDraft ICG Action PlanDRAFT COVID-19 RECOVERY & RESILIENCY PLAN: DRAFT TO INTERGOVERNMENTAL COLLABORATIVE GROUP FOR INITIAL REVIEW ON 11/18 Port Townsend PORT OF PORT TOWNSEND PUD Jefferson County P.hlic utility osirin DRAFT COVID-19 RECOVERY & RESILIENCY PLAN: TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................ 3 AnInvitation to Action...........................................................................................................3 Purposeof This Plan...............................................................................................................4 OurShared Values.................................................................................................................5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................................................ 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................................8 COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT........................................................................................................................11 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTIONS.................................................................................................12 Investing in Our Physical Infrastructure.......................................................................................14 Weavingthe Social Fabric.............................................................................................................16 Designing Better Ways of Working Together...............................................................................19 Focusing Our Strategic Planning, Policy and Advocacy................................................................ 20 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES............................................................................................22 APPENDIX A: COMPLETE COMMUNITY WORKING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS..................................23 APPENDIX B: ISSUES IDENTIFIED BUT BEYOND SCOPE OF THIS PLAN......................................................24 APPENDIX C: ICG FORMATION AND COLLABORATION.............................................................................25 2 INTRODUCTION An Invitation to Action These are unprecedented, difficult times for our community. Organizations, businesses, governments, schools, and individuals are all struggling with wild uncertainty and new challenges almost every day. Our daily lives and livelihoods have irrevocably changed. The stories of pain and loss are insidious and overwhelming. Moreover, not only has COVID-19 added formidable new difficulties, it has exacerbated profound structural inequalities and vulnerabilities that existed before the pandemic — and threatens to perpetuate those for years to come. These times therefore call for deeply collaborative and fiercely courageous approaches from us and from our community. As elected leaders from four separate local governments, we instinctively came together in strength and unity to forge through the challenges ahead. We immediately recognized the power, passion and potential among our diverse and talented communities and quickly set up a new structure to embody, empower and embolden collective action. We issued a broad call to action for anyone and everyone to participate in creating a plan for immediate action on COVID recovery and one that supports long-term resiliency. The emphasis was on what organizations, businesses and individuals can all do together with our governments serving in convening, coordinating, supporting and enabling roles. Dedicated groups and individuals across all sectors in our region have answered that call. They've met regularly, worked tirelessly, engaged creatively and acted quickly. They've inspired and humbled us by their thoughtful, collaborative and powerful response. They've given us all a source of hope in otherwise dark times that our community has what it takes to get to the other side of the pandemic — and perhaps emerge even stronger and more resilient. This community -generated plan is the beginning of our recovery from COVID. Perhaps more importantly, this plan marks the beginning of a new era of community -led interagency collaboration whose sustained benefits are only starting to take shape. Please join us in reading this plan, finding your role in making it come alive, and committing to act together for our community's brighter future. Commissioner Kate Dean, Jefferson County Commissioner Pete Hanke, Port of Port Townsend Commissioner Jeff Randall, Jefferson Public Utility District #1 Councilmember Ariel Speser, City of Port Townsend Purpose of This Plan This Recovery and Resilience Plan is an action -oriented, community -driven and united blueprint for COVID recovery. Its purpose is to focus and prioritize our collaborative efforts, and to: • Communicate a common vision for our community and what recovery and resilience should look like locally in the coming months • Build the capacity of our partner agencies and of the wider community, growing an irresistible proposition for further, deeper and broader collaboration • Clearly signal our unified approach and priorities to regional, state and federal agencies in order to maximize speed and effectiveness of any forthcoming financial or policy assistance • Help to reshape how our local governments work, with a stronger focus on community participation and partnership, productive and informative civic dialogue and sustained progress toward shared prosperity The plan aims to achieve these things at three scales: 1. The Executive Summary tells a crisp and concise story. It weaves together a high-level synthesis of four focused areas of investment across many themes, demonstrating common areas of overlap and encapsulating the holistic and interdependent nature of the work and our collective path forward. 2. The Summary of Recommended Actions spells out priorities. It calls out top actions from each of the three focus areas and themes, drawing in greater detail including objectives, action steps, timeline, and partners to show how those actions will work and what the impact will be. 3. The Appendix is a deep dive. It contains each Community Group's full report across the seven themes, including a longer list of recommended actions in even greater detail. These reports are the quick and impressive work of individuals who volunteered a significant amount of time and professional expertise over a few short months. It represents their true, unedited work and serves as a resource to better understand the complexity of each issue and the robust thinking that sits behind the work. While this focused action plan has been carefully crafted by many and vetted by four local government agencies, it's important to note that it is a living document, meant to be adapted to anticipate or respond to changing needs. This action plan is meant to be used not just as a reference point in navigating the aftermath of COVID, but as a pragmatic first step in building resilience and wellbeing into the distant future. 4 Our Shared Values Jefferson County, the City of Port Townsend, the Port of Port Townsend and Jefferson Public Utilities District #1 are unified as organizations in a commitment to our community through robust collaboration now and into the future. Collaboration is foundational to why we entered into this new interagency partnership, foundational to how we've worked together on this plan, and foundational to our sustained success as organizations and as a community. But what does collaboration mean to us? In its simple essence, our collaborative model can be defined by five main shared values: 1. Vision We share a positive, lasting vision for a resilient, sustainable and equitable community. We believe that better times and better lives are possible for everyone if we work toward it together. 2. Service We share a common drive and commitment to service to our community. We believe in and practice accountability to ourselves and to each other as we strive for a fairer and more equitable society. 3. Courage We share an unflinching courage, galvanized by sustained energy and fearless determination in the face of adversity. We believe that challenges are better met with creative innovation and bold new thinking. 4. Honesty We share a pledge toward honesty in our communications and actions with each other and with the wider community. We believe in respectfully acting and speaking truth in the face of challenge no matter what the difficulty. 5. Agility We share boundless agility as situations unexpectedly and inevitably change. We believe in working with patience and calm to overcome challenges and to unlock new opportunities with open-mindedness and creativity. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This action plan would not have been possible without the generous support of our amazing community members whose talents, passion and dedication know no bounds. Those include members of six community working groups: 1) Events & Culture, 2) Economy & Jobs, 3) Children & Families, 4) Human Services, 5) Food System Resilience, and 6) Broadband. Individuals include: Karen Affeld Belinda Graham Kris Nelson Arlene Alen Ian Hannah Norm Norton Denise Banker Jaci Hoyle Jim Novelli Nathan Barnett Louise Huntingford John Nowak Wendy Bart Nat Jacob David Olsen Annie Bartos Diane Jones Cynthia Osterman Ben Bauermeister Maggie Kelley Gage Pacifera Trish Beathard David King Kelli Parcher Karen Bennett Beulah Kingsolver Brian Richardson Larry Berger Crystie Kisler Catharine Robinson Rob Birman Kathleen Kler Claire Roney Leo Boyd Cedar Knoll Kimber Rotchford Tom Brotherton Anne Koomen Gary Rowe Siobhan Canty Brian Kuh Jean Scarboro Barb Carr Pete Langley Celeste Schoenthaler Gabbie Caudill Laura Lewis David Seabrook Dave Codier Erika Lindholm Shelby Smith Elizabeth Court Marki Lockhart Deborah Stinson Cherish Cronmiller Natalie Maitland Dominic Svornich Frank DePalma Tina McCleese Tammy Tarsa Rick Dickinson Carol McCreary Barb Trailer Heather Dudley Nollette Anna McEnery Teresa Varraes Pete Duncan Tamara Meredith Jenny Vervynck Rich Durr Ciela Meyer Bob Wheeler Janette Force Lori Morris Jerry Wilson Kerry Hastings Amanda Milholland Denise Winter Daniel Heaton Danny Milholland Beau Young Rufina Garay Mari Mullen Dina Geiszler Gary Nelson All 16 elected officials representing the Intergovernmental Collaborative Group (ICG) —the four local jurisdictions of Jefferson County, the City of Port Townsend, the Port of Port Townsend, and Jefferson County Public Utility District #1— spent many hours actively engaged in public meetings, reviewing plans and documents as well as participating actively in many of the community working groups. They include: 0 City Councilmember/Mayor Michelle Sandoval County Commissioner Kate Dean City Councilmember/Deputy Mayor David Faber County Commissioner David Sullivan City Councilmember Pam Adams Port Commissioner/President Pete Hanke City Councilmember Amy Howard Port Commissioner Pam Petranek City Councilmember Monica MickHager Port Townsend Commissioner Bill Putney City Councilmember Owen Rowe PUD Commissioner/Chair Dan Toepper City Councilmember Ariel Speser PUD Commissioner Jeff Randall County Commissioner/Chair Greg Brotherton PUD Commissioner Kenneth Collins The following staff members from the four local jurisdictions represented by the Intergovernmental Collaborative Group (ICG) and Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee (ICC) also contributed time and energy: Eron Berg, Port of Port Townsend Patty Charnas, Jefferson County Wendy Davis, Port Townsend Police Department Judson Haynes, Port Townsend Police Department Tony Hillman, City of Port Townsend Steve King, City of Port Townsend Apple Martine, Jefferson County Public Health John Mauro, City of Port Townsend Mark McCauley, Jefferson County Pinky Mingo, Jefferson County Public Health Nora Mitchell, City of Port Townsend Cliff Moore, WSU Jefferson County Extension Philip Morley, Jefferson County Will O'Donnell, Jefferson PUD Kevin Streett, Jefferson PUD Finally, a gracious thank you to all those who contributed ideas, time and energy who are not mentioned here — and to those of you who are eager and willing to throw your strength and efforts to making this plan, its actions and a more resilient region come alive. 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The COVID pandemic has created significant stresses, challenges and disruption to all of us across all sectors, and drawn many of our pre-COVID structural vulnerabilities to the surface only to exacerbate them. It has also galvanized a courageous and coordinated set of responses across our community, as individuals and organizations step up their commitment, creativity and leadership in taking on the fundamental challenges to our collective wellbeing and future. One such response is the development of this plan. Developed over the course of a few short months, this plan was assembled by a new interagency collaboration, draws on a new partnership approach with the wider community, and was crafted under challenging new circumstances as a result of COVID restrictions and limitations. In short, it is a first bold step toward community recovery and resilience — but it is a living document, meant for heavy use so it can have maximum impact and frequent refinement so it can stay relevant in dynamic times. The community assessment helps tell the story of where we were before the pandemic, helping to orient ourselves through the hazy uncertainty of COVID and toward the future we want. It will ensure that the steps we take are the right ones and that we're measuring progress and staying on track. The core of this plan is a set of recommended actions developed and refined by community members, vetted by local government agencies and backed by all of us. Broadly defined, these actions are both short-term responses to the pandemic as well as a long-term investments in our future and collective wellbeing. Those investments include investments in physical infrastructure, building and maintaining the fundamentals of a robust local economy, a thriving and fair society, and a healthy natural environment. Those investments also include investments in social infrastructure, supporting strong human relationships and social cohesion to ensure we protect our most vulnerable and strengthen our local democratic system. They also help unlock our local economy to provide lasting prosperity for us all. Other investments include investing in our ability to do this work together — adapting our institutions to become more collaborative and inclusive and to be ready for the challenges of the future. Finally, these investments include investment in strategic capacity and advocacy to ensure we take deliberate steps to learn more about complex issues and work together to advocate for our collective needs and vision. Each of these four areas of focused investment range across many themes, demonstrate common areas of important overlap and encapsulate the interdependent nature of the work and our collective path forward. While integrated and important, these for areas of investment and actions aren't comprehensive or complete — they're meant as a bold starting point during a difficult time. As stated above, this is a living document that can evolve and change and one that needs our collective efforts to give it energy and make it come alive. This report concludes with an assessment of future opportunities, anticipating future work and collaboration and sizing up additional challenges and opportunities. Finally, a set of appendices round out the full set of community working group recommendations, identified issues that are currently beyond the direct scope of this plan, and information on the formation and collaborative process of the Intergovernmental Collaborative Group (ICG). 0 Investing in Our Physical Infrastructure Actifflqln000r Objective HYDRAULIC TRAILER Increase useable space within the Port by 20% to service more boats and grow the marine trades. ONSITE FOOD STORAGE AND POWER SUPPLY Enhance winter food production and storage of value-added goods for increased supply and emergency preparedness Wifi-HOTSPOTS, COMPUTERS AND INTERNET Connect underserved families and students to education and services as part SERVICES of the Connected Students Initiative AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND RELATED Provide needed entry-level affordable rental units through new funding INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS mechanisms. FEDERAL INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGE Funding and delivery of regional infrastructure priorities to unlock our Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. CREATE A NEW CHILDCARE FACILITY TO Provide working families safe, nurturing and affordable childcare options to SUPPORT WORKING FAMILIES better serve, recruit and retain qualified employees in our regional workforce. Weaving the Social Fabric ObjectiveAction DEVELOP A JEFFERSON COUNTY MENTAL Address urgent mental health priorities through suicide prevention, trauma - HEALTH COMMUNITY RESILIENCE PROJECT informed care, and social support for key groups to mitigate stress and prevent mental health crises. LEVERAGE A COALITION TO BOLSTER YOUTH Reduce youth isolation and continue sustained skill development in ENGAGEMENT, CONNECTION AND social/emotional relationship -building. MENTORSHIP SUSTAIN A FAMILY RESOURCES NAVIGATOR TO Support children and families, link them to provided services, and advocate on SUPPORT CHILDREN AND FAMILIES their behalf to ensure access to resources and improved self-reliance and the ability to thrive. * FROM PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: Provide working families safe, nurturing and affordable childcare options to CREATE A NEW CHILDCARE FACILITY TO better serve, recruit and retain qualified employees in our regional workforce. SUPPORT WORKING FAMILIES CREATE A START-UP FUND FOR COMMUNITY Effectively bring back community events post -pandemic by ensuring sufficient EVENTS and predictable funding for the planning and delivery of key programs and projects. OPEN AMERICAN LEGION SHELTER FULL-TIME Provide supportive emergency services to our most vulnerable populations. AND PROVIDE WEEKEND MEALS PROVIDE A COVID NAVIGATOR Proactively connect individuals to needed post -emergency services to ensure a greater chance of individual success and stability as well as reducing the burden on more reactive and expensive systems. PROVIDE UTILITY ASSISTANCE Provide direct assistance to households to avoid utility shut -offs. FACILITATE LINKAGES BETWEEN LOCAL Promote, incentivize and better understand opportunities to connect local FARMERS AND RESTAURANTS, SCHOOLS AND producers and local demand. BUSINESSES RESOURCE LOCAL FARM -BASED ENTERPRISES Provide professional business expertise to the local farming community to FOR GREATER SUCCESS successfully navigate and overcome business challenges. INVEST IN LOCAL CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS Deliver tangible and sustained local economic benefits by bolstering the collective network, brand and platforms of local creative entrepreneurs. Designing Better Ways of Working Together PARTNER, SUPPORT AND CLEARLY Address urgent mental health priorities through suicide prevention, trauma - COMMUNICATE AROUND EVENT PERMITTING informed care, and social support for key groups to mitigate stress and prevent mental health crises. DEEPEN COLLABORATIVE EVENT PLANNING Deliver a coordinated, clear and compelling event marketing approach that AND MARKETING drives community -wide event outcomes and maximizes investment from local resources. TARGET HOMEOWNERS WITH SPARE Help local homeowners become landlords to increase the supply of affordable ROOMS/ADUs TO HELP ALLEVIATE THE rental housing through a service center approach. CONSTRAINED SUPPLY OF AFFORDABLE RENTAL UNITS * FROM WEAVING THE SOCIAL FABRIC: Reduce youth isolation and continue sustained skill development in LEVERAGE A COALITION TO BOLSTER YOUTH social/emotional relationship -building. ENGAGEMENT, CONNECTION AND MENTORSHIP Focusing Our Strategic Planning, Policy and Advocacy Object ve LETE BROADBAND PLANNING AND 7IMPLPEMEMNTPILOT Build on existing strategic and business planning efforts to better understand PROGRAMS approaches to community specific and county wide broadband implementation. DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE SHARED Leverage and nurture strong partnerships to prioritize shared investment needs RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE and plan to deploy strategic shared use of new assets for the sector. CULTURE AND EVENTS SECTOR COMPLETE AN ARTS AND CULTURE PLAN FOR Develop a year-round economy through employment and entrepreneurship in JEFFERSON COUNTY the creative industries. EXAMINE REGULATORY BARRIERS TO Better understand and therefore reduce zoning, permitting and local health AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD ENTERPRISES regulatory barriers to local processing of agricultural products. DEVELOP AND RESOURCE A REGIONAL FOOD Focused strategic planning, policy -making and integrated coordination across SYSTEM RESILIENCE COMMISSION multiple agencies and organizations that promotes and creates an equitable and sustainable food system. IMPROVE BROADBAND ACCESS TO Provide more direct control to local governments and special purpose districts UNDERSERVED RURAL COMMUNITIES to serve rural communities and individuals with improved access to broadband. *COMMUNITY RESILIENCE PROJECT Better understand short- and long-term interventions for reducing suicide SUBCOMPONENT: DEVELOP A SUICIDE county -wide. PREVENTION STRATEGY *COMMUNITY EVENTS SUBCOMPONENT: Provide direct assistance to arts, culture and events organizations that have ALLOW FLEXIBILITY IN RELIEF FUNDING AND/OR suffered great losses during the pandemic. PROVIDE DIRECTLY TO CULTURE, ARTS AND EVENTS SECTOR 10 COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT Forthcoming — placeholder: labor Form now nfa Labor Force MjM IYi Enrptged IZIN B&M Employed is•1is M I lHrRloptl In Afned PoRR Tn 3% K IVe Unemployed n Artretl Fw+x� 95 SIN ul Fda Ndtn Lmdr F«ae tiers rva Nbtn Lan«wrce x�1Gs IYa lulls 7 luull. 7 Total DWel tinge 1= r6% 0 Total DWellinge 1%M rlfi Owner-0ccupled DWelMOB 11Di4 MM WOrmer-0ccup4ed DmIlingl 12.%5 7531 ltem»r4D0cupled DWellinge M)" M.54 H r-0ccuplen DwHIng1 4.092 ZLM ".0v 11nEe Dxupled Is;= 114E2 Houeing llntte Occupled ]G,W BL29 7.Sk Sk a.Sk - lek 7.Sk Sk Ok �rA • a� •sled rr� �� • 2.Sk ok � • a� •ned r+.w ■ rr•� �. ILIA w� • Grede9 1rL� 3K 1.15 t GraW 9 31• 1.15 Grede9-17 ton sm GraNS-12 1.1i1 3M HIS Zchocl ;AI7 s+e High 56hool Sim 20M `some College C'm ZM some College 7rJQ 2 07 Aieuc Degree ],Go 415 Aaeoc Degree Irm ,G Bscn Dipii fi29i ZL62 Gech Degree Grad Degree 47,1 5J= 23.3E 15DI Grid DRww S= rim 11 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTIONS Six community working groups identified Recommended Actions to address overwhelming needs and approaches to recovery and build resilience in the face of COVID. These Recommended Actions range from filling immediate, short-term needs such as utility assistance to long-term, stubborn, structural issues such as housing affordability. These recommendations sit in their original proposed form as received by the groups in Appendix A. The agencies vetted the ideas, asked each group to refine the recommendations and worked with group representatives to identify top priorities. Collectively, these priorities comprise this abbreviated action plan. The Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee (ICC), in their work to firm up a draft plan for review by the full Intergovernmental Collaborative Group (ICG), advised a more integrated approach to the original six categories given the overlap and synergies between groups. This synthesis is briefly described in the Executive Summary. Four new categories have emerged: 1. Investing in our Physical Infrastructure Investing in physical infrastructure is necessary to build and maintain the fundamentals of a healthy economy, society and natural environment. Capital projects can create and restore natural, physical and social capital and bolster prosperity far beyond COVID into the distant future. Delivering the list of physical infrastructure projects in this plan, while not exhaustive of our needs, is a start in how we collectively invest in infrastructure to recover and build resilience post-COVID. 2. Weaving the Social Fabric All communities, including ours, rely on social infrastructure, including networks of organizations and institutions that support health, human relationships and quality of life. Social infrastructure works to build social capital and cohesion, which acts as the glue for strong collaboration and proactive problem -solving. It also powers our local economy, long-term prosperity and ensures we build a fairer and more just society that takes care of all of us. Delivering the list of social infrastructure projects in this plan, while not exhaustive of our needs, is critical in rebuilding and strengthening social cohesion in our post-COVID recovery. 3. Designing Better Ways of Working Together While our institutions have stood the test of time and responded to many crises in the past, the world is changing and dynamic. Anticipating changes, innovating and redesigning ways of working together that are fit for the future can better serve our institutions and communities. This ICG community process is one such approach. The list of projects in this plan that design better ways of working together help build better capacity for positive change and push that philosophy forward intangible ways. 4. Focused Strategic Planning, Policy and Advocacy While this plan is the result of months of collaboration and deep thinking, some areas need further examination. Projects in this section are meant to do that work and to assemble the 12 necessary structures and processes to get that deeper understanding of needed policy direction. Projects also include elements of collective advocacy to regional, state or federal agencies to further our recovery and resilience. Many of the actions in this plan are already underway but will need additional capacity and support to continue. Some need champions to further develop and implement. Others will require years of collaboration, strategizing and fundraising in order to gain traction and make a meaningful difference. Regardless, the hope is that anyone reading this report can see themselves engaging in the important projects outlined here. Recovery and resilience will not be built solely by governments; instead, communities will need to work together to build a better future for Jefferson County. These projects are a starting point. 13 Investing in Our Physical Infrastructure HYDRAULIC TRAILER Objective: Increase useable space within the Port by 20% to service more boats and grow the marine trades. Summary: A hydraulically -operated trailer will locate boats more closely together with the current marine lifts, significantly increasing usable shoreline hard stand space within Boat Haven at the Port of Port Townsend. More boats serviced means more work for marine trades businesses, an important component of our regional economy. ONSITE FOOD STORAGE AND POWER SUPPLY Objective: Enhance winter food production and storage of value-added goods for increased supply and emergency preparedness Summary: Mobilize winter food production models and store winter supply of dry and value-added goods for increased production and emergency preparedness, to include: provide on -farm cold and cool storage, dry -good and general storage with alternative power source, green/hoop houses to extend growing season, offsite emergency regional dry storage and commercial processing equipment. Also, provide Food Banks with generators or alternative power supply for existing cold storage. Wifi-HOTSPOTS, COMPUTERS AND INTERNET SERVICES Objective: Connect underserved families and students to education and services as part of the Connected Students Initiative Summary: The Connected Students Initiative has put computers, portable Wi-Fi hotspots and internet services into the hands of families with children in the free and reduced school lunch program. Widening this support will reach additional families and allow for better access to school, work and healthcare from home. AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND RELATED INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS Objective: Provide needed entry-level affordable rental units through new funding mechanisms. Summary: Jefferson County has an affordable housing crisis. High cost and limited inventory of both owned and rental units is resulting in substandard living situations and homelessness and the forcing of local workers to find housing in neighboring counties with compounding impacts on local economic development. Using mechanisms like SB 1590 and others to provide entry-level permanent affordable housing will reduce the significant burden on emergency and transition shelters and help individuals and families progress on the housing continuum with subsequent benefits to their own situation and that our of wider region. FEDERAL INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGE Objective: Funding and delivery of regional infrastructure priorities to unlock our Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. Summary: Local governments and other partners have consolidated near -term infrastructure priorities and the North Olympic Development Council (NODC) pulls those priorities into the 5-year Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and submits them to the Economic Development Administration (EDA). The EDA requires grant funding to be consistent with the CEDS and Jefferson County uses this list to determine eligibility for PIF funds. An update to the project list was just 14 completed by the four ICG partner jurisdictions. The list can also be used to advocate for our collective funding needs to other federal and state agencies. CREATE A NEW CHILDCARE FACILITY TO SUPPORT WORKING FAMILIES Objective: Provide working families safe, nurturing and affordable childcare options to better serve, recruit and retain qualified employees in our regional workforce. Summary: Building on the planning funds received by existing partners from the State to develop new childcare programming, this effort will work toward the creation of at least one new childcare facility that accepts public assistance subsidy. Increased capacity of quality childcare will help recruit and retain employees, provide stability for parents and nurture healthier kids. 15 Weaving the Social Fabric DEVELOP A JEFFERSON COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH COMMUNITY RESILIENCE PROJECT Objective: Address urgent mental health priorities through suicide prevention, trauma -informed care, and social support for key groups to mitigate stress and prevent mental health crises. Summary: This multi -pronged program will include three main components: 1) suicide prevention, including the development of a suicide prevention strategy and community training in mental health first aid, 2) a trauma -informed approach, including a learning collaborative to help make trauma - informed care the norm for systems and services, and 3) social supports, including parent and youth support groups, and elderly and isolated community member connections. LEVERAGE A COALITION TO BOLSTER YOUTH ENGAGEMENT, CONNECTION AND MENTORSHIP Objective: Reduce youth isolation and continue sustained skill development in social/emotional relationship -building. Summary: A broad, community -based coalition of youth development organizations, sports & recreation providers, and individuals from diverse sectors will provide activities and programming for youth to engage with peers and adult mentors in order to reduce isolation and continue skill development in social/emotional relationship -building. SUSTAIN A FAMILY RESOURCES NAVIGATOR TO SUPPORT CHILDREN AND FAMILIES Objective: Support children and families, link them to provided services, and advocate on their behalf to ensure access to resources and improved self-reliance and the ability to thrive. Summary: Community agencies and health care providers are often unaware of services that are available to support the families they serve. Knowing that early intervention is critical in the continuum of care for vulnerable families, finding a way to connect families to all available resources can enable them to move from "in crisis" to "vulnerable" and from "vulnerable" to "thriving." The Family Resource Navigator will be responsible for developing an outcome -based, centralized approach to support children and families. *CROSS-REFERENCED WITH INVESTING IN OUR PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: CREATE ANEW CHILDCARE FACILITY TO SUPPORT WORKING FAMILIES Objective: Provide working families safe, nurturing and affordable childcare options to better serve, recruit and retain qualified employees in our regional workforce. Summary: Building on the planning funds received by existing partners from the State to develop new childcare programming, this effort will work toward the creation of at least one new childcare facility that accepts public assistance subsidy. Increased capacity of quality childcare will help recruit and retain employees, provide stability for parents and nurture healthier kids. CREATE A START-UP FUND FOR COMMUNITY EVENTS Objective: Effectively bring back community events post -pandemic by ensuring sufficient and predictable funding for the planning and delivery of key programs and projects. 16 Summary: Long-standing community events have suffered alongside other sectors but generally lack the direct federal -level support and will likely be among the last to reopen after the pandemic. This long and unsupported impact has stretched or depleted reserves, so restoring depleted capital for projects and programs once Phase 4/reopening is possible will jump-start those community events. This, in turn, will generate positive and widespread social and economic outcomes for the region through restored and enhanced visitation, sales, and tax revenues beyond the direct benefits of the events themselves. OPEN AMERICAN LEGION SHELTER FULL-TIME AND PROVIDE WEEKEND MEALS Objective: Provide supportive emergency services to our most vulnerable populations. Summary: Most places where unsheltered people congregate during the day are currently closed or have limited capacity; keeping the shelter open 24/7 would provide the unsheltered population a place to be during the day as well as accessible shower and laundry facilities to maintain personal hygiene. Adding weekend meals will help fill a gap left by the inability of providers to hold regular services to collect donations and sustain meal services. PROVIDE A COVID NAVIGATOR Objective: Proactively connect individuals to needed post -emergency services to ensure a greater chance of individual success and stability as well as reducing the burden on more reactive and expensive systems. Summary: Many residents struggle with complex and urgent mental, physical, and substance -related health needs, which have only grown more urgent in the COVID era. These individuals often interact with the criminal justice system and are disproportionately likely to have frequent contact with emergency services. A COVID Navigator employs a proactive and preventative approach to bridge the gap between emergency contact and ongoing care, reducing the burden on the justice and emergency service systems and/or reoffences and providing a more likely transition to stability and independence. PROVIDE UTILITY ASSISTANCE Objective: Provide direct assistance to households to avoid utility shut -offs. Summary: Household incomes are being negatively impacted by COVID and while shut -offs have been halted, community members are still accumulating past due accounts and will receive shut-off notices when the moratoriums expire. Vouchers for utility assistance are always paid directly to the utility providers on the customer's behalf. Beyond preventing shut -offs, direct utility assistance may help indirectly reduce overall household financial burden (mortgage, insurance, etc.) and challenges that some face in qualifying for assistance. FACILITATE LINKAGES BETWEEN LOCAL FARMERS AND RESTAURANTS, SCHOOLS AND BUSINESSES Objective: Promote, incentivize and better understand opportunities to connect local producers and local demand. Summary: Connecting local producers to local demand includes at least three mechanisms: 1) funding the annual Eat Local First Olympic Peninsula campaign to promote local food and its marketing campaign, 2) providing pandemic -responsive incentives and long-term incentives for regional stores to purchase regional food to support the revival and recovery of the agrarian economy and future local food supply, and 3) coalesce current research and identify additional topics and strategies to promote new linkages and distribution models as well as a comprehensive understanding of local food sources for aggregation of sales. 17 RESOURCE LOCAL FARM -BASED ENTERPRISES FOR GREATER SUCCESS Objective: Provide professional business expertise to the local farming community to successfully navigate and overcome business challenges. Summary: A resource or position with technical, farm -based enterprise experience will help local farmers navigate changing business laws and facilitate the cooperative purchasing of inputs like seeds, supplies and packaging. Mitigating such challenges and locally sharing best practice can lift up our local agrarian capacity, productivity and the sector's overall sustained success. INVEST IN LOCAL CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS Objective: Deliver tangible and sustained local economic benefits by bolstering the collective network, brand and platforms of local creative entrepreneurs. Summary: Building upon our strengths and creative identity can diversify our local economy and bring more sustained prosperity. Working together to connect, share and enhance what our creative entrepreneurs already have on offer can increase local production and sales, tourism draw, relocation of new creative talent, and viable training and employment pathways for local youth. This will be done through: 1) enhancing network connectivity through gatherings, apprenticeships, and shared information and knowledge, 2) developing sales platforms and support for shipping and delivery, 3) creating a brand and marketing program for local creative entrepreneurs. 18 Designing Better Ways of Working Together PARTNER, SUPPORT AND CLEARLY COMMUNICATE AROUND EVENT PERMITTING Objective: Ensure the smooth transition to resuming our robust community events scene by sharing information, providing flexibility and deepening collaboration and communication. Summary: Anticipating a variety of ongoing changes to events requirements and guidelines as a result of COVID, better partnership between groups and with local agencies will help make the restart of events more seamless. This includes: 1) front-end engagement with government permitting departments in partnership with the sector to help understand state or federal requirements, 2) flexibility from permitting departments to help bolster and sustain events, and 3) deeper collaboration and communication through the permitting process as a shared knowledge base. DEEPEN COLLABORATIVE EVENT PLANNING AND MARKETING Objective: Deliver a coordinated, clear and compelling event marketing approach that drives community -wide event outcomes and maximizes investment from local resources. Summary: Creative solutions to co -market and stretch marketing and advertising dollars will continue to be important as budgets remain constrained during recovery. A shared approach will ensure the toolsets and skillsets are in place across a diversity of non-profit partners, that connections are strengthened with local government agencies, that efforts are streamlined and creatively optimize available funding, and that a clear and focused marketing approach/campaign emerges to drive increased event participation and the local social and economic benefits it provides. TARGET HOMEOWNERS WITH SPARE ROOMS/ADUs TO HELP ALLEVIATE THE CONSTRAINED SUPPLY OF AFFORDABLE RENTAL UNITS Objective: Help local homeowners become landlords to increase the supply of affordable rental housing through a service center approach. Summary: While the region struggles with affordability and supply of housing, already -constructed units currently exist in the form of empty bedrooms and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Providing support, technical assistance and incentives for those rooms and units to be leased will provide some short-term relief to constrained supply. *CROSS-REFERENCED FROM WEAVING THE SOCIAL FABRIC: LEVERAGE A COALITION TO BOLSTER YOUTH ENGAGEMENT, CONNECTION AND MENTORSHIP Objective: Reduce youth isolation and continue sustained skill development in social/emotional relationship -building. Summary: A broad, community -based coalition of youth development organizations, sports & recreation providers, and individuals from diverse sectors will provide activities and programming for youth to engage with peers and adult mentors in order to reduce isolation and continue skill development in social/ emotional relationship -building. 19 Focusing Our Strategic Planning, Policy and Advocacy COMPLETE BROADBAND PLANNING AND IMPLEMENT PILOT PROGRAMS Objective: Build on existing strategic and business planning efforts to better understand approaches to community -specific and county -wide broadband implementation. Summary: Conduct business case studies and engineering design planning for the construction of expanded broadband infrastructure networks in Jefferson County. The study and planning will include options for the deployment of multiple technologies, such as fiber, wireless, cellular, or low -orbit satellite. Upon completion of the studies, a near -term list of targeted communities will be created for shovel ready pilot projects providing last -mile connections to end -users. DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE SHARED RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE CULTURE AND EVENTS SECTOR Objective: Leverage and nurture strong partnerships to prioritize shared investment needs and plan to deploy strategic shared use of new assets for the sector. Summary: A comprehensive shared resource management plan aims to sync up shared resource needs and plan for deployment of shared assets. This shared economy approach will drive down costs for local non -profits to rent, own and/or manage individual items and thus focus more resources on delivery of core missions and community benefits. A plan for sharing resources and assets for cooperative use by the sector complements collaborative event planning and marketing and will help sustain the vibrant arts and culture experiences in our county. COMPLETE AN ARTS AND CULTURE PLAN FOR JEFFERSON COUNTY Objective: Develop a year-round economy through employment and entrepreneurship in the creative industries. Summary: An Arts and Culture Plan for Jefferson County leverages the recently formed Creative District in Port Townsend and initial planning work underway. This 3-5 year plan aims to help stabilize the region's overall year-round economy, providing both the vision and the concrete steps to get there, including drawing in an artist registry and needs across various creative groups, developing a plan for sustainable funding and providing a single source of information between artist and for audiences. The plan will be divided into the following five areas: literary, culinary, performing, makers and visual arts. This planning syncs closely with the comprehensive shared resource management plan and the deepen collaborative event planning and marketing actions. EXAMINE REGULATORY BARRIERS TO AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD ENTERPRISES Objective: Better understand and therefore reduce zoning, permitting and local health regulatory barriers to local processing of agricultural products. Summary: Supporting local farmers and farm -based enterprises by better understanding their regulatory constraints will help foster a positive local environment for food -based local businesses. This action syncs closely with the resource local farm -based enterprises action. DEVELOP AND RESOURCE A REGIONAL FOOD SYSTEM RESILIENCE COMMISSION Objective: Focused strategic planning, policy -making and integrated coordination across multiple agencies and organizations that promotes and creates an equitable and sustainable food system. 20 Summary: A Food System Resilience Commission will create a powerful and unified strategic policy voice for our regional food system. Drawing on multiple agencies, organizations, businesses and groups from across the food system, it will prioritize policies and actions across a range of areas, including procurement, access and accessibility, production, processing, distribution, messaging and campaigns, education and land -use. A direct relationship with a supportive agency or agencies will harness, validate and amplify the voice of the commission and the agencies for the collective aim of a more just, resilient and sustainable food system. IMPROVE BROADBAND ACCESS TO UNDERSERVED RURAL COMMUNITIES Objective: Provide more direct control to local governments and special purpose districts to serve rural communities and individuals with improved access to broadband. Summary: Engagement with state and federal decision -makers and agencies is required to unlock local governments' and districts' abilities to serve rural communities with better broadband. Changes like allowing public agencies to serve as a retail internet service "provider of last resort," removing restrictions on broadband grant and loan programs and increasing funding for the construction of rural broadband infrastructure would allow us to serve our communities better. *CROSS-REFERENCED FROM WEAVING THE SOCIAL FABRIC. DEVELOP A JEFFERSON COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH COMMUNITY RESILIENCE PROJECT — SUBCOMPONENT: DEVELOP A SUICIDE PREVENTION STRATEGY Objective: Better understand short- and long-term interventions for reducing suicide county -wide. Summary: The development of a robust Suicide Prevention Strategy will be driven by a steering body of agencies, non -profits, clubs and groups to share objectives, avoid duplication and maximize resource utilization. With an emphasis on youth suicide, the Strategy will help identify the best interventions to reduce suicide county -wide. *CROSS-REFERENCED: FROM WEAVING THE SOCIAL FABRIC. CREATE A START-UP FUND FOR COMMUNITY EVENTS SUBCOMPONENT: ALLOW FLEXIBILITY IN RELIEF FUNDING AND/OR PROVIDE DIRECTLY TO CULTURE, ARTS AND EVENTS SECTOR Objective: Provide direct assistance to arts, culture and events organizations that have suffered great losses during the pandemic. Summary: Long-standing community events have suffered alongside other sectors but generally lack the direct federal -level support and will likely be among the last to reopen after the pandemic. This long and unsupported impact has stretched or depleted reserves, so restoring depleted capital for projects and programs once Phase 4/reopening is possible will jump-start those community events. This, in turn, will generate positive and widespread social and economic outcomes for the region through restored and enhanced visitation, sales, and tax revenues beyond the direct benefits of the events themselves. FORTHCOMING: additional agreed advocacy objectives (like .09 sales tax rebate for distressed rural counties) 21 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES Forthcoming 22 APPENDIX A: COMPLETE COMMUNITY WORKING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS Forthcoming — Not included in order to save space (available from previous ICC meeting documents) 23 APPENDIX B: ISSUES IDENTIFIED BUT BEYOND SCOPE OF THIS PLAN Forthcoming 24 APPENDIX C: ICG FORMATION AND COLLABORATION Forthcoming 25