20210127-13940-36

Priority Area 1: Convene oversight committee to develop and administer IMPACTS program.
Background: SB 973 established a 19-member Grant Review Committee (GRC) co-chaired by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to oversee the IMPACTS program. The bill also created two subcommittees, the Quality Improvement (QI) Subcommittee to develop and monitor program reporting and outcome measures and the Policy Recommendation Subcommittee to explore further policy discussions relevant to the intersection of criminal justice and behavioral health.

The GRC is responsible for the overall administration of the IMPACTS program, including defining a set of approved supports and services that are authorized for IMPACTS funding, determining the application and selection process, administering fiscal and data reporting, and monitoring grantee progress and outcomes. OHA and CJC are tasked with jointly staffing the committee, developing long-term implementation strategies, and leading data collection and program evaluation efforts.

The GRC and the QI Subcommittee meet monthly. The Policy Recommendation Subcommittee will begin meeting further into IMPACTS program implementation.

Update: The GRC met twice in December to approve grantee reporting and outcome measures, a grant budget modification process, and their first implementation report to the legislature. CSG Justice Center staff worked with the core implementation team to develop agendas and meeting materials, including iterative drafts of grantee reporting and outcome measures.

Priority Area 2: Equitably include tribal governments in IMPACTS program planning and administration.
Background: At least one IMPACTS grant award is prioritized for tribal nations in statute. In addition, Oregon has a strong government-to-government relationship with the nine federally recognized tribes in the state that includes a formal engagement process when state programs and policies have a significant impact on tribal members and interests. This process is referred to as “consultation” and includes formal written notification to tribal leadership and the opportunity for tribes to collectively or individually provide either written or in-person input. The IMPACTS administrative rules, application, and tribal set-aside funding amount are all expected to go through consultation to incorporate input from the tribes.

Update: In December, CSG Justice Center staff engaged OHA to assist in reaching out to tribal government representatives to inform next steps in the tribal-specific subcontractor selection process.
Priority Area 3: Establish program data collection, monitoring, and evaluation processes.
Background: The GRC is required by statute to create a QI Subcommittee, which will establish clear, meaningful outcome measures and reporting metrics to demonstrate how pilot sites meet program goals; create a state-level system for collecting information about people who are high utilizers; and develop a program evaluation to understand how IMPACTS is working and improving public safety and health outcomes in Oregon communities.

Update: In December, the GRC finalized grantee reporting and outcome measures. CSG Justice Center staff continued to provide feedback on iterative drafts of the measures and facilitate team conversations to resolve outstanding concerns and challenges. CSG Justice Center staff also continued helping grantees troubleshoot data collection challenges, including information sharing between criminal justice and health care systems.
Priority Area 4: Implement county and tribal government programs funded by IMPACTS
Background: The purpose of the IMPACTS grant program is to increase community supports and services for people with behavioral health issues who are also high utilizers of criminal justice resources with the goal of improving individual outcomes and reducing jail, emergency room, and state hospital usage. For the 2020 - 2022 grant cycle, five tribal governments and eleven counties applied for over $21 million in grant funding. As the Oregon Legislature only allocated $9.7 million to the IMPACTS program the application process was highly competitive. After two days of review and deliberation, the GRC awarded IMPACTS funding on July 9 to all five tribal government applicants and six county applicants of varying geography and size.

Funded programs engage the target population across the sequential intercept model, but primarily focus on increasing community supports and services at intercepts 0-2. Examples of IMPACTS-funded programming include crisis stabilization, law enforcement diversion, forensic response teams, supportive housing, reentry programming, culturally specific services, telehealth, and jail diversion. Grantees receive two years of funding and must provide regular progress and financial reports to CJC, OHA, and the GRC to monitor program implementation and evaluate outcomes.

Update: No update.

Other Updates and Next Steps:
In December, CSG Justice Center staff continued to work with the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to execute their subaward contract. Due to recent changes in the agency’s leadership structure and other communication challenges, there have been delays in getting OHA to identify the appropriate person to sign the contract and then actually complete the process. OHA made an initial attempt to sign the contract on December 22, but they missed key sections in the document, which resulted in CSG Justice Center staff having to re-initiate the signing process. It is anticipated that this issue will be resolved and the contract will be executed in January.
In addition, CSG Justice Center staff have been working with OHA to draft a modification to their initial subaward request. OHA’s original application was for a full-time new hire to manage all aspects of coordinating the IMPACTS program on behalf of OHA. This person would take the place of a current part-time staff person who would also be funded through the subaward until they transition off the project once the new hire is in place. However, due to ongoing budget and hiring challenges, including a statewide hiring freeze, it has become less likely that this remains a viable option for OHA.
Instead, the agency is exploring modifying their request to support a broader IMPACTS project team composed of existing experts across several departments. OHA would propose funding several of their existing specialists to devote a portion of their time to IMPACTS data collection and analysis, as well as technical assistance for grantees. This team would be coordinated by the current part-time staff hire who would remain on the project. Due to budget limitations, subaward funding would be necessary to allow full project team participation at a level that is sufficient to support the launch of the first year of the grant program. CSG Justice Center staff are continuing to work through the details of this modification with OHA, which will be completed as soon as possible in 2021.