February 1, 2024

Cohort II Virtual Kickoff Meeting Material Available Online

As reported in a prior CSAC bulletin, county behavioral health agencies were invited to a Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act Cohort II Behavioral Health Agency virtual kickoff meeting on Thursday, January 25. For those who were unable to attend, copies of the presentation deck and recording are now available.

Attendance was intended for those who will be part of the CARE Act implementation teams including leadership, behavioral health clinical staff, data analysts, accounting/finance, and administration. Information shared includes the Cohort II timeline, lessons learned from Cohort I, an overview of the CARE process and roles (including the Judicial Council of California), available training and technical assistance opportunities, and data collection and reporting requirements.

Next steps identified during the presentation are outlined in the slides/recording and are listed below:

• Stay connected:
  • Sign up for the listserv on the CARE Act Resource Center to receive newsletters with training, resource, and technical assistance opportunities.
  • Go to the CARE-Act.org site to look for new FAQs, Trainings and Resources. 
• Meet with your county liaison (they will be reaching out soon) and review training and technical assistance (TTA) resources.
• Provide your county CARE Act point of contact(s) to info@CARE-Act.org.
• Look out for Upcoming TTA: Considerations for Petitioning in the CARE Process (2/28 & 2/29)
• Data Collection & Reporting next steps:
  • Submit questions/concerns or request technical assistance specific to Request Data Collection & Reporting TTA here.
  • Familiarize yourself with the CARE Act Data Dictionary, CARE Act Data Flowchart, and Data Collection and Reporting FAQs.
  • Review the series of trainings specific to Data Collection and Reporting:
    • Part 1: Data Dictionary Walkthrough
    • Part 2: Mechanisms for Data Submission and SurveyMonkey Demonstration
    • Part 3: Data File Submission and Quality Assurance Process Overview
    • Individualized technical assistance with your county data teams and vendors is available upon request.

Office of the State Public Defender Awarded Grant Funds

The Office of the State Public Defender Indigent Defense Improvement Division (IDID) was awarded nearly $255,000 in grant funding by the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission CARE Courts Grants Committee to provide training and technical assistance to public defenders representing respondents in the first cohort of CARE Court counties. The following resources are now available for CARE court practitioners:

• A dedicated SharePoint page featuring a library of CARE Court focused resources
• Practice guide
• CARE Court specific trainings, including a dedicated CARE COURT Webinar series
• A listserv for CARE Court practitioners

More information on connecting with CARE Court resources is available HERE. For public defenders who do not yet have access to IDID Training SharePoint resources, you can Register Here.

We will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.