TO: FROM: Interested Parties Dave Metz and Lucia Del Puppo Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates DATE: April 27, 2017 RE: Northern California Community Reinvestment Executive Summary Data Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates recently conducted a survey of 2,412 Northern California voters in,,, and counties. Interviews were conducted from March 4-16, 2017 on landlines and wireless phones, in English and in Spanish. The margin of error on the whole sample is +/-2.0% at the 95% confidence level and +/-4.9% for each county. This memo includes data for select questions from the survey that were referenced in the countylevel executive summaries. Next, some people have proposed that your county government spend more on community reinvestment, which includes emphasizing access to health care services including mental health; increased access to early education and after-school programs; and employment opportunities for the most vulnerable, including communities of color, foster youth, lowincome families, and the formerly incarcerated. Funding for these investments could come from reduced spending on law enforcement, jails, and the Sheriff s Department. Does this approach sound like something you would support or oppose? Total Strongly Figure 1: for Community Reinvestment Policies by All Counties 68% 69% 70% 68% 64% 40% 43% 42% 39% 36%
Page 2 All Counties Somewhat 28% 26% 28% 30% 28% Total 22% 20% 20% 23% 27% Strongly 13% 10% 12% 14% 15% Somewhat 10% 10% 8% 9% 12% Don t Know 10% 12% 10% 9% 9% Which of the following statements comes closer to your personal opinion? Statement The best way to make our community safer is to prevent crime and violence by improving our schools, increasing access to health care including mental health housing, and increasing economic opportunity. The best way to make our community safer is to invest in law enforcement and the jail system, and ensure that we carry out strong punishments to ensure that we are tough on crime. Both/Neither/Don t know/na Figure 2: Best Way to Improve Community Safety by All Counties 71% 81% 75% 66% 64% 16% 11% 13% 20% 20% 13% 8% 13% 15% 16%
Page 3 Next, I m going to read you a series of more specific ways that your county could spend money to help make your community safer. For each, please tell me if it sounds like something you would support or oppose. Increasing support for young people such as sports leagues, Boys & Girls Clubs and other programs that try to help young people stay in school and out of trouble Figure 3: for Specific Actions to Improve Safety All Voters 78% 95% 4% Expanding access to mental health care 68% 93% 5% Offering more job training programs for communities of color 69% 89% 8% Expanding access to quality pre-school programs 65% 89% 8% Increasing access to substance abuse treatment programs in communities 64% 91% 7% Offering more job training programs for the formerly incarcerated 64% 92% 6% Providing more opportunities for healthy community recreation 61% 89% 8% Cleaning up trash, improving street lighting, and other measures to improve the 61% 89% 8% appearance of local neighborhoods Increasing the number of police on the streets 36% 64% 29% Building more jails 12% 13% 69% Figure 4: for Specific Actions to Improve Safety Increasing support for young people such as 3% sports leagues, Boys & Girls Clubs and other programs that try to help young people stay in school and out of trouble 78% 95% Expanding access to mental health care 72% 94% 3% Offering more job training programs for the 3% 70% 94% formerly incarcerated Offering more job training programs for 6% 70% 91% communities of color Increasing access to substance abuse 4% 69% 93% treatment programs in communities Expanding access to quality pre-school 5% 69% 92% programs Providing more opportunities for healthy 5% 65% 92% community recreation Cleaning up trash, improving street lighting, 4% and other measures to improve the 63% 92% appearance of local neighborhoods
Page 4 Increasing the number of police on the 34% 29% 58% streets Building more jails 9% 21% 75% Figure 5: for Specific Actions to Improve Safety Increasing support for young people such as sports leagues, Boys & Girls Clubs and other programs that try to help young people stay 75% 95% 3% in school and out of trouble Expanding access to mental health care 69% 94% 5% Offering more job training programs for communities of color 69% 90% 7% Expanding access to quality pre-school programs 68% 91% 7% Offering more job training programs for the formerly incarcerated 66% 93% 5% Increasing access to substance abuse treatment programs in communities 63% 91% 8% Providing more opportunities for healthy community recreation 60% 91% 8% Cleaning up trash, improving street lighting, and other measures to improve the 60% 88% 10% appearance of local neighborhoods Increasing the number of police on the streets 37% 65% 29% Building more jails 10% 23% 72% Figure 6: for Specific Actions to Improve Safety Increasing support for young people such as sports leagues, Boys & Girls Clubs and other programs that try to help young people stay in school and out of trouble 75% 94% 26% Expanding access to mental health care 65% 92% 6% Offering more job training programs for communities of color 62% 86% 9% Increasing access to substance abuse treatment programs in communities 61% 90% 8% Expanding access to quality pre-school programs 61% 88% 9% Offering more job training programs for the formerly incarcerated 60% 92% 6% Providing more opportunities for healthy community recreation 60% 87% 8%
Page 5 Cleaning up trash, improving street lighting, and other measures to improve the appearance of local neighborhoods Increasing the number of police on the streets 59% 87% 9% 38% 68% 26% Building more jails 12% 24% 68% Figure 7: for Specific Actions to Improve Safety Increasing support for young people such as sports leagues, Boys & Girls Clubs and other programs that try to help young people stay 78% 94% 4% in school and out of trouble Expanding access to mental health care 67% 91% 5% Increasing access to substance abuse treatment programs in communities 64% 91% 7% Offering more job training programs for communities of color 63% 87% 9% Offering more job training programs for the formerly incarcerated 62% 88% 10% Cleaning up trash, improving street lighting, and other measures to improve the 61% 89% 8% appearance of local neighborhoods Expanding access to quality pre-school programs 60% 86% 12% Providing more opportunities for healthy community recreation 57% 87% 11% Increasing the number of police on the streets 38% 67% 27% Building more jails 16% 33% 61% Next, I'd like to read you some problems facing your area that other people have mentioned. For each one I read, please tell me whether you think it is an extremely serious problem, a very serious problem, somewhat serious problem, or not too serious a problem in your area. Figure 8: Perception of Problem Seriousness by (% Extremely/Very Serious) Problem All Voters Homelessness 72% 77% 59% 72% 78% The cost of housing 71% 87% 68% 75% 55% The cost of healthcare 64% 64% 63% 67% 63%
Page 6 Problem The number of people in prison and jail Traffic congestion All Voters 60% 62% 55% 61% 60% 58% 71% 67% 44% 48% Substance use 57% 52% 53% 60% 61% Lack of Access to Mental Healthcare 56% 57% 56% 60% 50% Quality public education 55% 60% 52% 53% 53% Gang violence 50% 45% 39% 74% 44% A lack of economic opportunity 46% 43% 47% 48% 44% Jobs and the economy Increased immigration enforcement The amount you pay in taxes Gentrification and displacement Violence committed by police Lack of access to public transportation 43% 38% 42% 46% 44% 42% 42% 39% 47% 41% 41% 37% 43% 42% 44% 37% 46% 34% 42% 27% 26% 36% 19% 23% 24% 25% 22% 26% 24% 29%
Page 7 Next, I am going to read you a series of positive changes that some people have suggested as goals for your community. For each one, please tell me how important you think this goal is for your community: extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or not important. Figure 9: Perception of Positive Change by (% Extremely/Very Important) Positive Change Improving the quality of public education Expanding access to health care, including mental health care Increasing opportunities for youth Increasing access to housing that working families can afford Increasing employment opportunities Increasing accountability and transparency in local government Reducing racial discrimination and inequality Reducing the length of prison and jail sentences for people convicted of nonviolent offenses Reducing income inequality Reducing the number of people in jail Reducing the length of prison and jail sentences All Voters 87% 90% 82% 87% 90% 83% 85% 81% 84% 81% 82% 85% 80% 79% 84% 81% 83% 84% 81% 76% 77% 78% 74% 77% 80% 77% 76% 79% 77% 74% 73% 78% 70% 68% 78% 61% 66% 65% 62% 49% 60% 65% 59% 59% 56% 55% 62% 58% 52% 46% 41% 47% 42% 38% 38%
Page 8 Which of the following statements comes closer to your personal opinion? Figure 10: Providing Mental Health Services in Community v. Jails by All Statement Counties Our county should place a higher priority on increasing access to mental health services in communities. Our county should place a higher priority on increasing access to mental health services in jails. Both/Neither/Don t know/na 57% 58% 58% 57% 54% 15% 16% 14% 18% 14% 29% 26% 28% 25% 32% Governor Brown s current proposed budget reinvests $29 million of Prop 47 savings into programs like mental health care, substance abuse treatment programs, and job opportunities. At the same time, his budget also allocates $250 million towards new jail construction. Figure 11: Perspectives on the Allocation of Prop 47 Funds by Statement Too much spending on jails and too little on community reinvestment All Counties 55% 62% 55% 50% 53% The right balance of spending Too much spending on community reinvestment and too little on jails 24% 20% 26% 25% 24% 10% 7% 11% 11% 10% Don t Know 11% 11% 9% 14% 12%
Page 9 Next, some counties in California have a relationship with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, where they work together to identify and detain undocumented immigrants. Other counties, instead, have ended this relationship and do not assist ICE in identifying and detaining undocumented immigrants. Having heard this, which of the following statements comes closer to your personal opinion: (ROTATE) Figure 12: for Sanctuary Counties by Statement All Counties Our county should be a sanctuary county for undocumented immigrants, and our sheriff s department should not collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants 54% 62% 54% 55% 47% Our county sheriff s department should collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants. Both/Neither/Don t know/na 31% 24% 31% 29% 40% 15% 14% 15% 16% 13%
Page 10 The federal government is advocating for policies that increase the detention, deportation, and criminalization of immigrants. Would you support or oppose your county taking a similar approach? Figure 13: for Detention of Immigrants by All Counties Total 33% 25% 33% 33% 39% Strongly 20% 16% 20% 19% 25% Somewhat 13% 10% 14% 14% 14% Total 61% 69% 61% 60% 55% Strongly 48% 55% 48% 47% 41% Somewhat 13% 14% 12% 14% 13% Don t Know 6% 6% 6% 6% % Next, as you may have heard, the Board of Supervisors recently voted to expand the West Jail. [ ] ers of the jail expansion say that it will allow them to offer more mental health services for people in jail. [ ] Opponents say that the jail expansion is not needed because research has shown that mentally ill patients don t get better in jail, and jails cannot provide the kind of treatment that patients need. Do you support or oppose expansion of the West Jail? Figure 14: for West Jail Expansion Total 37% Strongly 19% Somewhat 18% Total 48% Strongly 34% Somewhat 14% Don t Know 15%
Page 11 As you may have heard, the Sheriff s Department has a $3 million contract with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to detain 200 undocumented immigrants in West Detention Facility, who may subsequently be deported. Do you support or oppose the county sheriff s contract with federal authorities to detain undocumented immigrants? Figure 15: for Detention of Undocumented Immigrants in West Jail Total 37% Strongly 22% Somewhat 15% Total 53% Strongly 42% Somewhat 11% Don t Know 10% Last summer the Board of Supervisors approved a program to prioritize allocating 1,400 jobs to people who have been incarcerated and had felony convictions. To date the has not hired anyone into these jobs. Do you think this is acceptable or unacceptable? Figure 16: Acceptability of Delay in Allocating Jobs Total Acceptable 21% Very Acceptable 12% Somewhat Acceptable 9% Total Unacceptable 72% Very Unacceptable 55% Somewhat Unacceptable 17% Don t Know 7%