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Community members invited to apply for 9-1-1 Appropriate Responses Initiative Co-Design Circle

Updated Feb. 14: The application period closed on Feb. 14, 2022 at 8 a.m.

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Jan. 14 update:

As a key project within Ramsey County’s Violence Prevention American Rescue Plan Act Priority, the Appropriate Responses Initiative (ARI) enhances 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Center (ECC) dispatch processes, expands public wellness systems (Social Services and Public Health) and develops community institutions to provide a wider range of options in responding to people in need. It recognizes that although in some cases a traditional response is most appropriate there are limitations of these responses to address certain types of requests for assistance.  

Ramsey County seeks community members to join county and city leadership in co-designing* and shaping community-based and wellness system-based responses to 9-1-1 calls and dispatch processes.

We wish to welcome you to be a part of this planning process! In order to ensure we design in partnership with our diverse community, we are inviting you to participate in the Appropriate Responses Co-Design Circle. This circle will be responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluating the 9-1-1 response programming within Appropriate Responses. 

Commitment

Participants are invited to join meetings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. across twelve Mondays and Wednesdays this spring:

  • March: 7, 9, 21, 23.
  • April: 4, 6, 20.
  • May: 2, 4, 16, 18, 25.

Compensation

All community members will be compensated for each meeting and relevant pre-work.

Community support

We will work with you to provide any support necessary for your full participation. 

Community representation

As we know, Black and American Indian populations to have the highest disparities across our public safety system, across all perspectives we wish to prioritize representation from Black and American Indian communities in Ramsey County. We're seeking participants especially with the following backgrounds

Lived Experience

  • Individuals who live in, work in, or frequent Ramsey County spaces who have engaged with the public safety system as a defendant, survivor, or any other form of participant.
  • Individuals who represent the communities most harmed by the public safety system in Ramsey County, which include those who identify as Black or American Indian.
  • Individuals who identify as survivors or victims of the public safety system in Ramsey County (have direct proximity to harmful experiences with the public safety system).

Cultural

  • Individuals who represent different racial and ethnic cultural populations across Ramsey County, with an emphasis on communities most harmed by the public safety system in Ramsey County (Black and American Indian populations).

Youth

  • Individuals who identify as and represent youth who live in, work in, attend school in and/or otherwise spend time in Ramsey County.

Advocacy

  • Individuals who identify as an advocate and are in partnerships with advocacy organizations and/or movements. Organizations and movements may be specific to localities within Ramsey County or state/nationwide.

Faith

  • Individuals who represent faith organizations within Ramsey County.

Service provision organizations

  • Individuals representing non-profit organizations providing services within Ramsey County.

​Your recommendations

If you know anyone else who might be interested in participating, please let us know. We will reach out directly and encourage them to apply!

​System partners

Alongside community participation, we hope to have representation from partners around in government, non-profit and private sectors across the county. Below is a list of system perspectives within Ramsey County we hope to include at the table alongside community leadership.

  • Ramsey County Government Administration.
  • Ramsey County Emergency Communications Center.
  • Saint Paul /Ramsey County Public Health.
  • Ramsey County Social Services.
  • County, Saint Paul and suburban cities law enforcement partners.
  • Saint Paul and suburban city Fire Department partners.
  • Education partners.
  • Hospital partners.
  • City of Saint Paul Office of Neighborhood Safety.
  • Suburban city leadership.

Contact

Jenn Hamrick, Appropriate Responses Initiative Planning Specialist, 612-257-3339, [email protected].  

Additional information 

This initiative will develop response policies and protocols that use three additional approaches to 9-1-1 call response options:    

Co-responder response – Including both wellness/community response and public safety system agencies. These will partner together to coordinate a response most appropriate to the information available at the time of dispatch and the needs of the individuals requesting service.  

Non-traditional response – Calls where wellness system and community institutions can respond without the need for dispatching public safety personnel.   

Community Response – Community only response that is both dispatched and preventative.  

ARI establishes and expands wellness system response for the entire county, identifying and collaborating with key wellness departments to expand existing services or invest in new service models that can be deployed in response to requests that come into the 9-1-1 center or other contact points 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It also expands and institutionalizes community-based emergency response, building partnerships with key community organizations and supporting community infrastructure. Additionally, ARI will actively coordinate with public safety system partners across city and county government and engage the greater community implementing a co-design approach to the development of this new structure and ensuring new practices are communicated across all stakeholders.  

Resources:

*Co-Design prioritizes collaboration between community members and system stakeholders to jointly create, improve, implement and evaluate policies, practices and service delivery in a way that centers the experience of those who will use the services or be impacted by the particular system(s) at issue. Central to this work is participation, inclusion, collaboration, and a broad representation from community across Ramsey County, including those who have been impacted by the systems in focus for transformation. Ramsey County uses the guiding principles of sharing power, prioritizing relationships, building capacity and using participatory means.

Posted on Monday, January 31, 2022 - 8:35 a.m.