Report 2021-616 Recommendation 7 Responses
Report 2021-616: Board of State and Community Corrections: Its Administration of Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funds Has Been Marred by Delays, Unfair Awards, and Insufficient Monitoring (Release Date: October 2021)
Recommendation #7 To: State and Community Corrections, Board of
To effectively notify potential applicants of funding opportunities, by December 2021, Community Corrections should take steps to ensure that its email distribution list includes accurate and complete information for key local government officials.
The BSCC email distribution list is one tool that is used to inform interest parties about key BSCC activities. For more targeted outreach, the BSCC coordinates with representatives from various associations, organizations, and agencies that represent local government officials to share grant specific information. We are confident that these email lists are accurate and complete. In addition to targeted outreach activities, the BSCC distributes information via an email distribution list that any interested person may add their name to. These are some of the many tools we use to provide notice of funding opportunities.
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Will Not Implement
Although Community Corrections states that it coordinates with representatives from various associations, organizations, and agencies that represent local government officials to share grant specific information, during our audit, Community Corrections could only demonstrate that it sent an email to a single representative of one county organization. Further, we are perplexed by Community Corrections' statement that it is confident that its email lists are accurate and complete. As we describe on page 17 of the report, we found that the county email distribution list—which Community Corrections stated was its standard method of notifying potential applicants of funding opportunities—was outdated. Specifically, we found this list did not include key officials for the five counties we reviewed. It is therefore likely that Community Corrections excluded key officials for some of the other counties that did not apply for funds. It is unfortunate that Community Corrections' fails to recognize its shortcomings and will not take steps to ensure that its email distribution list includes accurate and complete information for key local government officials.
All Recommendations in 2021-616
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.