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Transforming Systems Together reaches milestone

Transforming Systems Together (TST) work to be fully integrated into Ramsey County service teams this summer.  

TST has taught the county that better outcomes occur when departments work together with community to co-create solutions. With this way of thinking now embedded into the core of the county, the organization is excited to fully embed the learnings of the transforming systems change work across its service teams, as we have operationalized and embedded racial and health equity work county-wide. 

To achieve this integration, over the upcoming months, TST work and team members will be embedded into the Health & Wellness Service Team and the Safety & Justice Service Team with like work.  

This move of TST’s work from the County Manager’s Office to the service teams, creates an opportunity for greater interaction among county staff working in similar areas to benefit from TST learnings, and provides staff working on TST initiatives to have increased support by working within a larger, more resourced service team while continuing to have countywide impact. 

The county is thrilled to have reached this milestone and at a time when new Deputy County Manager of Safety & Justice Gloria Reyes has joined the team. Deputy County Manager Reyes brings over 20 years of experience working in the criminal justice system, public safety reform and community safety intervention work. To leverage her leadership and experience working with community, TST’s Youth Justice Transformation program and the Youth Advisory Council will be embedded into the Safety & Justice Team. Additionally, a new advisory council to inform future Safety & Justice Service work will be formed. 

The Healing Streets Project will return to Saint Paul-Ramsey County Public Health where it originated as the county has always recognized that gun violence is a public health epidemic.  

Ramsey County is extremely grateful for our partnership with the original TST community catalyst members, the TST governance board, TST grantees and all the partners, contributors, funders, and other stakeholders who have helped us to get to this exciting point. The county looks forward to continuing critical partnerships and developing additional ones as this work grows and evolves as together, we meet the needs of our community.  

More about TST  

County commissioners approved the creation of TST In August 2019 as a way for county government and communities to share in decisions being made while activating the county’s strategic priorities of Putting Well-being and Community at the Center of Justice System Transformation and Advancing Racial & Health Equity & Shared Community Power. With input directly from community, including the TST Community Catalysts, the initiative created a formal process of engaging community to shape policy, program direction and decision-making from the earliest stages of design and development. 

Following TST’s launch, a governance board was formed with input by the TST Community Catalysts and Ramsey County staff to guide the next phase of this work. The TST Governance Board included an independent group of nine community members, nine county leaders and a slate of alternates or co-leaders and met regularly to study county policies, programs, and budgets and make decisions on how to redesign services to be more responsive to community needs.  

The TST governance board and the TST initiative intentionally focused on systems changes that advance race equity and address harm to historically impacted communities. As the work advanced, it became more intentionally focused on changing the child welfare and foster care systems that have historically resulted in disparate impacts to Black and American Indian communities. This intentional focus on the child welfare system and foster care system became TSTs “North Star.” 

As the county’s commitment to authentic co-creation with community and systems transformation grew so did the portfolio of work under the TST initiative. 

• The Healing Streets Project focused on disrupting long-term cycles of violence by working with residents to heal and work through their grief when group and gun violence occurs became part of the TST portfolio of work.  

• The Youth Advisory Council aimed to build an ecosystem that facilitates youth and young adults’ growth and development.  

• The Youth Justice Transformation program (based off the nationwide Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative) was launched to bring together diverse stakeholders to create meaningful change and better outcomes for young people and their families.  

• The county leveraged $1,228,550 directly in 26 community organizations and individuals by providing TST grants centered on services and resources for child protection and foster care impacted youth and families.  

These grants resulted in culturally competent community based services such as providing training for American Indian elders on child protection laws and how to form circles of support for families; provide young adults with mentors who have shared lived experiences to help with communication and problem solving; offer culturally competent counseling to process trauma; extend system support services to provide housing stability, independent living skills, system navigation and employment services to name a few examples.  

A full list of TST grant awardees and their projects supporting vulnerable children and families impacted by child protection and foster care can be found on the Ramsey County website.