Concrete steps to address poverty and racial disparities. It’s a start. Gotta give him credit once again. Pains me to say so, but at least its something moving forward. I’d have preferred public input to determine where to start and what the biggest priorities are . . . seems like this is a county board committee function, but if it gets something moving, I’m not complaining.
February 25, 2015,
Dear Community Ally and Friend,As you know, Dane County is repeatedly ranked as one of the best places to live in America – with practically limitless opportunity. However, not all of our residents have access to all our community has to offer. The reasons for this are complicated and in many cases deep-rooted.
My top priority as County Executive is to work with our entire community to ensure that every single resident has access to opportunity. Reaching this goal will require vigilance and participation from all levels of government, the community, the private sector and non-profit organizations.
Working together, each assuming responsibility for our piece of the solution, we can work toward the day when everyone in our community has the ability to reach their full potential.
People face many forks in the road they traverse from being a toddler to a young adult. Bumps or barriers in that road, like poverty, mental health, and non-violent, often one-time offenses are unnecessarily setting people back, forcing individuals to play from behind or “catch-up” to their peers. These barriers drive disparities in employment, opportunity, and criminal justice. As you may have read in this week’s paper, I am unveiling a comprehensive plan begin addressing some of the challenges in our community. My plan is one that focuses on everyday nut-and-bolt action steps we can, collectively, take right now to begin turning things around in our county.
We know that the most reliable vehicle out of poverty and toward upward mobility is accessing and maintaining family sustaining employment. All of my efforts will support our residents in accomplishing that goal by addressing barriers that they may face along the way.
Having access to a Driver’s License is a critical piece to qualifying for certain jobs, getting to work and avoiding interface with the criminal justice system down the line. For some of our residents, this becomes a major barrier to employment. Lower income youth can no longer receive drivers licenses in school so they begin their career path at a disadvantage – simply because they cannot afford the cost. Others lose their licenses for various reasons (often non-driving related) and are never able to recover them due to legal and financial hardships. Also fines and penalties for low-level non-violent violations often result in the loss of driving privileges due to an inability to pay the forfeitures.
To begin to address some of these very real barriers to work, the County Executive plans to work with the community, businesses, other levels of government including the state to:
· Provide county funds to fund a pilot with the Madison School District to help students afford to take driver’s education.
· Provide county funds to assist those who have lost their driver’s license, regain their licenses . through the highly successful “Driver’s License Recovery Program” at the YWCA.
· Ask the Criminal Justice Council to recommend that the County Board reduce fines for certain low level infractions – like the simple possession of marijuana to just $10. This still would amount to a court cost of $140 or more due to court fees. All Dane County municipalities would be asked to do the same.People re-entering society after conviction and incarceration face a unique set of barriers that make it extremely difficult to achieve success outside of the prison walls. Challenges such as lack of affordable housing, mental health and other support services, and employment make it difficult, if not impossible, for many of these individuals to successfully reintegrate back into the community and avoid recidivism. I would like to:
· Dedicate a substantial allocation from Dane County budget for re-entry housing
· Create a new Dane County re-entry work group consisting of staff from the Department of Human Services and the Sheriff’s Office to coordinate services for those looking to leave jail and re-enter the workforce and locate stable housing.
· Request Dane County communities and employers adopt “Ban the Box” similar to Dane County and the City of Madison, in order to prevent employers from discriminating solely based on acts that occurred many years previously.
· Request Dane County law enforcement agencies voluntarily track traffic stop data contacts to monitor for disproportionate policing.It goes without saying that gainful employment is the most effective vehicle out of poverty and towards upward mobility. All efforts to achieve prosperity for all must begin with access to a family sustaining job. My efforts will aim to help put people directly into jobs while addressing many of the barriers they face in becoming ready for employment.
Provide funding to support an evidence based, successful, transitional jobs program based on the highly regarded model started at the Southwest Joining Forces for Families office. Collaborators include the City of Madison, the County, local businesses, churches and community volunteers.
· Bring the newly established BIG STEP Program (modeled off of the successful program in Milwaukee) to full scale. Supported by public, private, and philanthropic investments, BIG STEP’s mission is to assist economically disadvantaged minorities, women, and youth develop the skills needed to participate in the construction trades while ensuring that companies have the skilled workers needed to prosper and grow.
· Direct the Director of Dane County Human Services to report back a plan to assess all Juvenile Delinquency referrals for dyslexia by September 1, 2015. Dyslexia is a highly underreported problem that leads to poor educational outcomes, disruptive behaviors and oftentimes entrance into the criminal justice system. An estimated 50% of all prison inmates are dyslexic.
· Direct the Director of Dane County Human Services to conduct a comprehensive review and make recommendations to the County Executive prior to September 1st on how the County can most effectively enhance mental health services. This review will include assessing the feasibility of expanding the “School Mental Health Crisis Intervention Teams” Parisi created in 2014 Dane County budgetWe are embarking on challenging, yet exciting, work in our efforts to make Dane County a better place to work, play and live for all its residents. I am optimistically hopeful that some of my proposed initiatives will go a long way towards addressing some of the longstanding issues of inequity and racial disparity we face in this community. There is much work to be done and this is only the beginning. However the work must begin somewhere. We no longer have the luxury of discussing the problems without taking bold and meaningful action steps towards addressing them. That’s what my plan attempts to do. Please see the newspaper WSJ article link at
I cannot, however, do any of these things alone. I am leading by example to demonstrate my true commitment towards equity. In the coming weeks, I will be calling on you, your churches, your businesses and your neighborhoods to be a part of a movement to improve conditions in Dane County. Everyone can play his or her role to be a part of the solution. Collective input, work and responsibility is the only way we will see improved outcomes for all Dane County residents, When we ensure that everyone has access to opportunities, it improves racial disparities and creates a better place to live for everyone.
If you have an organization or group that would like to further discuss how we can work together, please do not hesitate to contact my office. Community involvement and buy-in is one of the key strategies for success in our efforts!
Please see the link to this week’s Wisconsin State Journal article below:
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/drivers-license-access-lower-pot-fines-among-joe-parisi-s/article_191c6101-a30e-551e-b82c-3040283496c9.html
and an editorial from Neil Heinen: http://www.channel3000.com/news/opinion/parisis-proposals-will-reduce-disparities-and-help-build-trust/31448260Sincerely,
Joseph T. Parisi
Dane County Executive
Room 421, City-County Building
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
(608) 266-4114
(608) 266-9138 TDD
(608) 266-2643 Fax
parisi@countyofdane.com
www.countyofdane.com
