On June 10, Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors discussed how to spend $1.57 million in unallocated one-time Measure X Funds.
The item came before the Board after an April 16 meeting of the Measure X Community Advisory Board (MXCAB) voted unanimously on five recommendations which include:
- $200k: Early childhood and family support
- $400k: Increased Innovation Fund dollars for programs that specifically focus on African American males
- $200k: Mental health services for priority populations, including Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and school-aged youth.
- $200k: Resources to address youth and young adult homelessness, which may include housing vouchers, infrastructure investments, or other strategies,
- $200k: Rental assistance to support households at risk of eviction and housing insecurity.
The Board also agreed to $250k towards a needs assessment and evaluation of Measure X while contributing $221,362 towards food insecurity.
Prior to the meeting, Supervisor John Gioia included an email to the Board Packet which sought to allocate $500k to expand services to Black males. According to the email:
Allocate $500,000 to expand services to Black males to be folded into the African-American Wellness Hub Phase 1 of immediate supports. Work closely with Black male community members (as a core group of a Community Advisory Body dedicated to implementation/establishment of a Hub) to inform and guide these targeted interventions.
The proposed allocation of $500,000 would be added to the already allocated $7.5 million (approved by the Board on April 23, 2024 to establish an African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub and implement related services and activities) and be included in the first phase of the implementation plan which will consist of immediate, rapid-response efforts targeting high-need, hard-to-reach populations beginning in January 2026. These Phase 1 services will include leveraging existing County services and programs that serve and/or prioritize African American communities, as well as service provided by contracted community-based service provider organizations with proven experience, credibility, and relationships in African American communities.
The additional allocation of $500,000 should be added to and augment any investment towards these Phase 1 services, and the additional funds should focus on and prioritize the development and well-being of Black males, with 50% dedicated to prevention efforts serving young people ages 12-24 and 50% dedicated to intervention efforts for adults ages 21-35.
Gioia stated Tuesday the county had to continue to make investments.
“We’ve shown a commitment to invest, it’s still not sufficient, and if we really want to make good on our resolution [the recognition of Juneteenth] and really put action behind it, we have to make some investment,” Gioia said. “To just say we’re going to pass a resolution and not actually say we’re going to increase our investment, I think we build expectations in the public by passing all these resolutions but what the public wants to see is action and close the disparity gap that exists.”
Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston explained that the highest number of people being placed in the county jails are African American males.
“It’s a huge need that we need to focus on the black males,” Scales-Preston said. “And to go even further, our Job Corps was just paused by the federal government. The majority of the people there are people of color, over 300 youth with no solution of what’s going to happen to them. Where we have unhoused youth who were able to go to Job Corps, get a trade, and come out and have a job and have opportunity within our county, and now that’s gone. So this is something huge that we really need to be thinking about.”
After further discussion on the allocations, the board opted for a funding amount of $400k, a $100k less than the original ask.
Meanwhile, Supervisor Candace Andersen suggested the proposed $250K on an external consultant to provide and conduct services for a Measure X needs assessment be taken from the funding surplus, prior to allocating to other programs.
“This individual would be helping us gather information from the department heads, from where the money has been allocated, who is overseeing the grant, whatever date is available, pulling it together,” Andersen said. “The Measure X CAB does not have staff that is dedicated to doing that and while the Measure X CAB has different ways they want to evaluate data, I think it’s more important that we have a neutral person or organization presenting the information to us and to the CAB.”
According to Adam Nguyen, Contra Costa County’s Director of Finance, the third party consultant would include things such developing surveys, conduct town halls, post online surveys to enable anyone in the county to comment on priority funding needs, gather more data to determine the funding impacts, gather information from the departments, and incorporating all of this information into a package to provide an objective, third-party observation on what the needs are.
In addition to allocating funding for African American males, Gioia proposed that funding an increase of mental health services for the AAPI population, allocating additional funding to invest in parent peer support services, and allocating funding to expand family navigation services were of the top priorities for Measure X funding. Scales-Preston was also in support of the proposed allocations.
According to Gioia’s, the youth and children of the AAPI population are an underserved population and the one-time payment would increase mental health services provided by an established community based organization that is culturally competent to provide mental health services to the AAPI community.
Additionally, allocating funding to parent peer support services would add to an already existing contract with the Child Abuse Prevention Council to provide greater parent and caregiver support. For the expansion of family navigation services, additional funding would be used to expand the work CoCO Kids and First Five provide for any services needed by a family that they currently work with.
After determining the allocations, all additional Measure X funding was allocated towards food insecurity.
Measure X is a countywide 20-year, ½ cent sales tax approved by Contra Costa County voters on Nov. 3, 2020, with funding first allocated in November 2021. More information on Measure X and its funded programs can be found here.
Previous
- April 30, 2025 – SAFE Center: Carlson Champions $5 Million Investment to Support Immigrant Communities
- Nov 12, 2024 – Contra Costa County Supervisors to Get Measure X Report, Reallocate Funding
- Sept. 30, 2024 – Grant Opportunity to Provide Services to Increase and Expand African American Holistic Wellness
- April 30, 2024 – Contra Costa County Sets Aside $7.5 Million for African American Holistic Wellness Center
- Dec 18, 2023 – Burgis: Bringing Measure X Funds to East County
- Nov 28, 2023 – Contra Costa County to Receive Update on Measure X Spending
