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San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox was sworn in as the 2018-19 President of the National Association of Counties (NACo) on Monday.

When I first got involved in NACo more than 15 years ago, I never would have thought that I would be serving years later as NACo’s President.

But this week, I was honored and humbled to be sworn in to lead this outstanding organization in the year ahead.

Melissa Sierra had hit “rock bottom.” She had lost her job and home, and was out of money.  Life was becoming increasingly difficult for Sierra and her six children. That’s when she turned to San Bernardino County for help and was referred to a collaborative program that provides rapid re-housing assistance to CalWORKs-eligible homeless families with children.

For foster children, the challenges are many, including often having to move from residence to residence – which can mean moving from school to school. This can result in school district officials not being completely aware of the foster youth in their classroom. Communication between a school district and county overseeing the foster youth can be sporadic and delayed. 

How do you improve responsiveness after seeing a significant reduction in your work force? For the Ventura County Health Care Plan leadership, the first step was a call to their IT department. The end result of this collaborative effort was the development of a desktop application that saves time and improves service for customers.

As in most counties across the country, the vast majority of individuals incarcerated in the Santa Clara County Jail are pretrial. And as in most counties, the majority of these individuals are low-income and many would be considered low-risk.  Bail reform has been a hot topic lately; while there has been a lot of discussion but little action, things are different in Santa Clara County.

Manuel Cisneros and his son Adan gently package fruits and vegetables for the week’s veggie boxes. Broccoli, green onions, oranges, grapefruits and avocados are just a few of the items filling the boxes destined for local kitchens. Minutes earlier, the father and son team were picking the fruit and pulling the vegetables out of the rich soil. Fresh indeed – and organic. They are meant for Los Angeles County residents who often don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

In a perfect world, people suffering from a mental or emotional health issue would be able to access treatment before they were in crisis, but it doesn’t always work that way. They often end up in the hospital emergency department. That’s why a partnership between the Sutter Yuba Behavioral Health Department and Adventist Health/Rideout Hospital in Marysville is making such a big difference. They found a way to significantly reduce the time it takes to evaluate and treat these patients.

Sonoma County was dealing with a housing crisis well before the October 2017 firestorms. Rental occupancy was at 99 percent and people who worked in hospitality and agriculture were traveling longer and longer distances to find housing they could afford. Then came the fires that destroyed more than 5,000 homes in Sonoma County alone.