In a significant shift for municipal engagement and service delivery, Ramsey County's Transforming Systems Together (TST) initiative is set to become a standard operational element across the county's service teams this summer. The integration embodies a strategic revision that brings together departments and the community to co-create more effective solutions.
Informed by the TST's approach, which advocates for collaborative systems change, county service teams in Health & Wellness and Safety & Justice are preparing to welcome TST work and personnel. As reported by Ramsey County's official news release, the goal is to capitalize on the lessons learned from TST, ensuring that staff benefit from its insights and that TST initiatives gain from being part of more resource-rich environments.
Municipal administration marks this development as a notable achievement, especially coinciding with the arrival of the new Deputy County Manager of Safety & Justice, Gloria Reyes. With over two decades of experience in public safety reform and community safety intervention, Reyes' expertise is expected to further TST's mission. Her immediate mandate includes the assimilation of the Youth Justice Transformation program and the Youth Advisory Council into the Safety & Justice Team.
Further enhancing community-focused initiatives, the Healing Streets Project—which considers gun violence a public health crisis—is returning to the Saint Paul-Ramsey County Public Health. Ramsey County extends gratitude to the array of partners and stakeholders that have supported the TST's journey, as iterated in their official news release.
Since its launch in August 2019, TST has been steered by a guiding principle: to collectively shape the policies, programs, and services of the county from inception to execution. A governance board, comprising both community members and county officials, was assembled to oversee these efforts. Central to its ethos, the TST has aimed to address systemic inequities, particularly within child welfare and foster care systems, historically detrimental to Black and American Indian communities.
Part of this work has resulted in leveraging significant funding towards community-based services and resource provision. Specifically, a total of $1,228,550 was allocated directly to 26 organizations, driving initiatives for child protection and foster care-impacted youth and families. Culturally competent services emanating from these grants ranged from elder training on child protection laws to trauma-informed counseling. A comprehensive list of TST grant recipients and their respective projects is accessible through the Ramsey County website.
