Santa Clara Co. Names New Cultural Competency Director

News from the County of Santa Clara:

County Executive Jeffrey V. Smith, County of Santa Clara announced the appointment of Arcel V. Blume, Ph.D., to the position of Cultural Competency Director for Children Services. Blume who holds a doctorate degree in human development and family studies, has worked for county governments for the past 10 years supporting child welfare systems and the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems in the areas of research and evaluation.

For eight of those years, she has worked for Santa Clara County. In her role as Director, Research and Outcome Measurement with the Santa Clara County Probation Department, Blume leads the development of analytic reports to evaluate the effectiveness of key programmatic interventions and services. These reports track successful completion of services, recidivism, incremental change, and factors that may impact outcome goals. Prior to joining Probation, Blume serves as Evaluation and Planning Manager for the Department of Family and

Children’s Services in the Social Services Agency.

“We have just begun to get our arms around the issue of the over-representation of children of color in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems,” said Smith. “Arcel Blume’s experience working for both agencies and her professional research credentials will help to advance the dialogue and shape policy recommendations that produce measurable results.”

When Blume worked for the Santa Clara County Social Services Agency for five years, she served as Evaluation Liaison on a large federal grant aimed at reducing lengths of placement episodes and increasing permanency outcomes for African Ancestry children and youths in foster care. She also was responsible for reporting on child welfare outcomes. She also managed special

projects with multidisciplinary teams to develop logic models to evaluate programs and develop business requirements for process and outcome evaluation reporting.

“Together with families, partners, and stakeholders, I look forward to defining, crafting, and implementing a vision with measurable process and outcomes goals that support and enhance children’s and youths’ healthy development and well-being,” said Blume. “I am excited to work collaboratively with community and system partners in coordinated efforts to reduce the disproportionate representation of children of color in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.”

Blume earned her Doctorate Degree and Master’s Degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University. Her Doctorate was awarded in August 2004, Master’s Degree in 2000. Blume earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from California State University, Long Beach, 1997.

Blume grew up in Southern California and became a transplant to the bay area after completing her doctorate requirements. She is married to Thomas Blume and has two lovely and happy children, Catherine, a second grader, and Andrew, a Kindergartener. Her appointment is effective on September 28, 2015. Her salary will be $141,245.