Kern supervisors approve $8.5 million Community Corrections Partnership awards after debate over loss of New Life beds

The Kern County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday approved the Community Corrections Partnership’s (CCP) recommendations for the county’s community‑based organization (CBO) funding cycle for calendar years 2026–2028, allocating $8.5 million for housing, supportive services and other programs aimed at people involved in the criminal justice system.

The vote followed hours of presentations, a summary by Chief Probation Officer Bill Dickinson and about a dozen public speakers — many of them program graduates and religious leaders — urging the board to preserve funding for New Life Recovery and Training Center, which faces the loss of 54 sober‑living beds under the CCP evaluation committee’s recommendations.

The CCP recommendation, developed after a competitive request‑for‑proposal process, was the product of a multi‑agency evaluation committee that rated 13 proposals requesting a combined $21.96 million. The evaluation committee reported that 11 proposals scored above the county’s minimum threshold and that the county had only $8.5 million available for awards. Chief Probation Officer Bill Dickinson told supervisors the committee focused on increasing housing bed days while staying within the available funds.

"To fund the full amounts of all the requests would require a 158% increase in allocated funds," Dickinson said during his presentation. He also explained the committee’s priorities: "Providing people needing treatment and other services a place to live and a supportive environment within the…