Board of Supervisors Approve $500k Community Grant Plan for Pittsburg

On Tuesday, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to approve a Los Medanos Health Advisory Committee Interim Grant Program Plan. The plan calls for approval $500k in grants with $90k  being made available for December 2022 programs.

Although the Board approved the items, it didn’t come without criticism citing the grants were meant for funding health related items, not Holiday performances. They also issued a warning to the advisory board when bringing future grants forward to make it health related or they might not get approved.

Shanelle Scales-Preston presented the advisory committee recommendations which included a Los Medanos health Advisory Committee 2022/23 interim grant plan, approve $500k in grants and approve $90k from the interim grant program to be used in December 2022 for CBO programs that provide food, shelter, clothing, or a Holiday event.

Supervisor Federal Glover clarified that the interim grant program was to ensure they did not have a gap in services for this time of year around the holidays.

“Yes, we are requesting for funding for December so that we can take care of that gap in service. We were actually put this together back in October and get this on the agenda so we can make sure we can provide services for Thanksgiving and December, but now that we have hit December, I know there is a lot of organizations that give out food and coats and other essential services, we just want to make sure the community gets those services to them this holiday season.”

Supervisor Diane Burgis asked for clarification that the grants were not following what county policy dictated and if they are putting something in place so that is not an issue in the future.

Ernest De La Torre, County Health Services, said they were looking at 9 programs that were outside the typical process and that going forward with the 2023-24 the grant program will present to the Board and will have a standard process for RFI & contracting.

Burgis confirmed that this was a one-time shift and that going forward they will be following what was stated to LAFCO with grant awards and allocation of funds.

Supervisor Candace Andersen question grant awards

Supervisor Candace Andersen asked about logistics and how they could get $90k out immediately due to processes in place.

De La Torre stated if they were providing grants under $10k, that process could be met rather quickly so they could get that funding out this month which would be a “tight process”.

Andersen called this a “long process” and one of the reasons they brought this to under county control was to ensure these programs were “health related” and the long-term process will be coming up with evaluation tools for health-related items.

De La Torre said in the future they will have evaluation tools and a plan based on data including community feedback and health needs to serve as a guide to the grant program.

“One of my concerns is if one of the first acts as the Board of Supervisors after now taking over the Los Medanos Healthcare District is we are spending that is directly not health related and I am really concerned we are deviating from what we expressed to the public. They went out and gathered signatures and opposition to us taking over what we represented to LAFCO,” explained Andersen. “I see some of these things you can see a direct nexus between health related and I don’t want to call out anything, In theory, I could say anything in the world is health related because it makes me happy and gives me greater mental health or something like that, but I am a little concerned with some things on the list.”

Andersen made reference to funding a Nutcracker Performance.

“While that may be beneficial to the community or helpful and I love the fact that things like this are being funded, I just don’t see that as being directly health related so I feel like we are being a little hypocritical in saying one of the reasons we needed to take over the Los Medanos Healthcare District was to ensure those taxpayer funds were only going to be used for truly health related benefits,” stated Andersen. “I am a little concerned we are just launching forward allocating $90k.”

She stated her concern as it sounds like they didn’t do a “true evaluation” as to whether or not each of the items has a nexus to health.

Scales-Preston stated the committee went through the list and gave a “yes” or “no” on things that were considered emergency items for the month of December or Christmas related.

“As for the nutcracker, this program serves underserved children here in the City of Pittsburg,” said Scales-Preston. “As you know, with the children being 2.5 years on zoom and through this Aspire Program… these youth were able to get out of there homes and learn these performances.”

She stated the program is helping their mental health and be adjusted back to what it used to be and taking away anxiety which is helping with mental health as to why its on the list.

Anderson then asked Scales-Preston if they went through the list to make sure it was truly health related or if they wanted to make sure everyone wanted a happy holiday.

Scales-Preston said they went through the list making sure people had their needs met during the holidays—food, coats, clothing and other services that include handouts.

Supervisor Karen Mitchoff expressed similar concerns as Andersen saying she could support this “short-term one-time but asked if the grants could submit in the future for same types of programs.

De La Torre shared the guidelines for future grants have not been created for future program.

“This county had to expend several million dollars when the Los Medonos Community Healthcare District should have recognized immediately that they had no standing. So now, we are being asked to fund the very same things the were funding for which we applied to dissolve the district,” stated Mitchoff. “I can support this at this time, I think it would be, as Supervisor Andersen said would be extremely hypocritical to allow this type of funding in future grant cycles.”

Mitchoff expressed that these grants need to benefit more in the community than just certain segments.

“I understand there are underserved individuals and disparity and we all want to have them have nice seasons but there are 11 other months where there are needs in this community and they have to been seen through the healthcare lens,” said Mitchoff who said if they come back with the same programs next year then “its wrong’.

“You can’t fund the same programs for why we dissolved the healthcare district,” said Mitchoff. “I think we need to be very firm in our comments today and send a strong message to the advisory committee that this is advisory, and we have sometimes done with Measure X we can overturn those decisions because they are not measures through a healthcare lens.”

Mitchoff said the advisory committee needed to look at everything through a healthcare lens and better define than holiday programs.

Andersen added that they want to make sure taxpayers’ money from this District were truly going to healthcare benefits in the community.

“If we had more time, I would ask this go back to the committee and evaluate it from a health lens rather than a holiday,” said Andersen. “I don’t want to be the Grinch this Christmas and this is the challenge I have got.”

Burgis stated she hoped the committee was hearing the feedback from the board of supervisors today.

“We would probably be more interested in funding dances classes where kids are getting exercise rather than facility rentals,” stated Burgis. “What we are trying to do is be responsible to what we said we were doing. This is a one-time thing and we want to remind you that you are a advisory and we have the discretion to override things. Hopefully you will hear the feedback from county staff that says this is not being done or is within the realm of what is expected.”

Glover said in speaking with the advisory committee that this was a “bridge over” as they complete the process that will be put in place.

“I would support this interim,” said Glover.

Mitchoff said she would support bridge funding, but this isn’t a bridge for Los Medanos Community Healthcare District, its so that these organizations can make plans next year to find other funding sources.

During public comments, Willie Mims, member of the East County NAACP, urged the board of supervisors to approve the recommendations. He explained with the Board of Supervisor assistance they could be more successful in the future.

“It is something that is needed this year, next year and probably the year after that,” stated Mims. “The current makeup of the committee itself, its not that same management that was there before when they took it over. So they are under new advisory so this committee serves as an advisory to you. So its new and there are some kinks that need to be worked out to meet real compliance to satisfy you. I urge you to be patient with them and not to scrutinize them because they are not the same folks.”

The Board then voted on the motion and it was approved in a 4-0 vote with Supervisor John Gioia who left the meeting due to another commitment.

Staff Report

FISCAL IMPACT:

Approval of these actions would allocate up to $500,000 of Los Medanos Community Health District (LMCHD) property tax revenues to community programs within the LMCHD boundaries. There is no fiscal impact to the County General Fund. (100% Los Medanos Community Healthcare District Funding)

BACKGROUND:

On July 10, 2018, the Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 2018/436 establishing the Los Medanos Health Advisory Committee to develop and implement the Los Medanos Area Health Plan Grant Program. The LMHAC is tasked with:

1. Developing an area health plan that identifies the major health disparities that impact residents of the former LMCHD service area and identifies priorities for improving health outcomes. The plan will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for review and will not be final unless adopted by the Board of Supervisors. The LMHAC may engage an outside consultant to assist in developing the plan. The LMHAC shall submit an updated plan for approval by the Board of Supervisors no less than every five years.
2. Soliciting proposals from service providers that are interested in participating in the Los Medanos Area Health Plan Grant Program (the “Grant Program”) and are capable of addressing the priorities outlined in the adopted plan. Funding for grants will be provided from (i) a special fund established by the Auditor-Controller, at the direction of the Board of Supervisors, that is used to segregate the property tax revenue received by the County as a result of the dissolution of the District, and (ii) any other funds made available to the grant program (e.g. through restricted donations, grants, etc.).
3. The advisory committee will recommend a list of proposed grantees to the Board of Supervisors for approval.
4. Monitor the efficacy of the programs funded by the grant program.
5. Report to the Board of Supervisors no less than once per year on the execution of the adopted plan, the grants provided under the grant program, the results achieved through the adopted plan and the grant program, and other matters that relate to the LMHAC’s purpose and duties.

When LMCHD was dissolved all previous grants were closed. The initial dissolution timeline stated that a new grant program would be available 15 months after dissolution (June 2023).

At its July 12, 2022 meeting, the LMHAC discussed an interim grant program to cover major health disparity needs prior to the new grant program, and approved a subcommittee to develop an Interim Grant Program.

At its October 11, 2022 meeting, the LMHAC unanimously approved the attached Los Medanos Health Advisory Committee Interim Grant Program, which lists community programs that would be eligible for funding as a single cycle allocation approach to provide transitionary, one-time grants exclusively to those Community-Based Organizations (CBO) who previously received grants from LMCHD during the 2021/22 grant cycles, pursuant to a Request for Information (RFI) process managed by the Health Services Department. The LMCHD 2021/22 grant cycle provided $486,124 in grant funding as detailed in the attached Interim Grant Program document.

The LMHAC’s proposed Interim Grant Program continues the mission of the Los Medanos Community Health Care District to, ‘Advance solutions to health disparities within the Los Medanos Health Area’. The Interim Grant Program’s goal is to support the programs that previously received grants so that interim services can be provided to the Los Medanos Health Area community until the final Grant Program is approved. During the proposed interim grant window of December 2022 through June 2023, recipients of the Interim Grant Program will be informed of the single cycle nature of the interim plan and receive guidance on the new grant program, including the County RFI process that will be implemented in the final Grant Program.

The following are the proposed terms of the Interim Grant Program, as approved by the LMHAC:

•  Type of Grant: Project support grant: This grant funds a particular program or project.
• Interim Grant Budget: Up to $500k allocated for the interim grant program
• Grants: Up to 25 transitional grants available, Minimum grant amount, $10,000, One year grant period
• Reporting requirements: Interim grant program – midterm (6mo) and final report (12mo)
• Grant restrictions: Types of organizations – must be 501 (c)(3) or in partnership with a fiduciary agency, No fundraising activities, Application limited to previous grantees from 2021 to 2022, Cannot be used for capital improvements.

It was also agreed that Health Services will manage the RFI processes for the Interim Grant Program, which will only be available for programs that received grants during the LMCHD 2021/22 grant cycle.

A letter dated November 10, 2022 (attached), from the City of Pittsburg Mayor, was received by Supervisor Federal Glover and County staff, urging Board action on funding local community programs being considered by the LMHAC since July of 2022 as part of a Transitional Grant Funding Program that would fund programs “during the holiday season”. The urgency to fund Aspire’s Youth Engagement Program – Joy the Urban Nutcracker was specifically mentioned due to potential delays a lack of funding would present for a program with a performance date of December 10th in Pittsburg.

At the November 22, 2022 LMHAC meeting, there was discussion about the need for grants to support holiday programs in December. Committee members determined that there was an immediate need to support organizations and programs providing services during the holiday season. County Staff confirmed that Aspire’s Youth Engagement Program – Joy the Urban Nutcracker had received funding from LMCHD in 2021/2022 and was providing a holiday event in the Los Medanos Health Area in December 2022.

In addition, the LMHAC reviewed previous LMCHD grants and determined that there were other programs that previously provided food, shelter, clothing, or holiday events. The LMHAC voted unanimously to recommend to the Board of Supervisors that nine CBOs receive expedited funding of up to $10,000 each (total $90,000) for their December programs that provide food, shelter, clothing or a Holiday event. The nine CBOs included in the LMHAC’s recommendation, which are highlighted in the attached LMHAC Interim Grant Program Plan document, were confirmed to have previously received funding in 2021/22 LMCHD grant cycles. If approved as requested, the proposed $90,000 expedited allocation for December would exclude a competitive solicitation process. Should the entire $90,000 expedited allocation be approved and awarded, the remaining $410,000 of funding would include a competitive bidding process in the form of a RFI. The allocation recommendations for the community programs included in the attached Interim Grant Program that have not been identified for expedited funding will complete a competitive solicitation process conducted by Health Services staff. The LMHAC will also receive support from Health Services staff to conduct a competitive solicitation process for the 2023/24 fiscal year final “Grant Program”, which is planned for June/July of 2023 and as approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Though the LMHAC has identified nine programs with an immediate need for funding beginning the month of December, staff have determined that LMHAC recommendation does not comply with County competitive solicitation processes, the requirement of execution of a service contract for expenditure, and the spirit of the terms and conditions imposed by LAFCO as part of the dissolution of the former district (LAFCO Resolution No. 17-13B), and is therefore being included as a separate action item for Board consideration, as requested by the LMHAC.