EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: September 6, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Patrick Heisinger, Interim City Manager
BY: Azalea Renfield, Assistant to the City Manager
Maurice Baker, Acting Community Services Manager
SUBJECT: Results from 2022 Summer Park Activation & Request to Extend Programming for Elder Community
Recommendation
Adopt a Resolution to accomplish the following actions:
1. Receive the report on the City’s 2022 Summer Park Activation Program; and
2. Direct the City Manager to extend agreements with two service providers through May 2023 to provide enhanced services to members of the elder community, as further described in the staff report; and
3. Allocate $55,200 in Transit Occupancy Tax (TOT) to provide funding for two programs that will serve the elder community through May 2013.
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
Priority No. 4: Improve Public Facilities and Infrastructure Priority No. 5: Improve Communication and Enhance Community Engagement Priority No. 6: Create a Healthy and Safe Community
Background
On June 18, 2019, City Council tasked the Community Services Division with activating East Palo Alto city-owned parks and facilities with recreation programs and services for children so that they are engaged during the summer months. This direction was accompanied by an allocation of $65,000 from the General Fund to support recreation programs. After a successful launch, City Council renewed the commitment to Summer Programming by authorizing budget increases in the amounts of $80,000 for FY 2020-21, and $110,000 for FY 2021-22.
The table below provides a summary of Summer Programming inputs and outputs over the last three fiscal years:
TABLE 1
CITY SUMMER PROGRAMS 2019-2022
Year City Investment # Service Providers # Residents Served 2019-2020 $65,000 5 382
2020-2021 $80,000 7 108*
2021-2022 $110,000 14 320**
On December 21, 2021, the City Council again tasked the Community Services Division with providing programs and services to the public during the summer months. To assist with the effort, the City Council allocated $110,000 and directed staff to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to identify eligible individuals or entities to provide Summer Programming services to East Palo Alto residents. On April 10, 2022, staff returned with recommendations to Council and received an additional $44,000 from Transit Occupancy Tax to support the full 2022 Summer Park Activation program.
The purpose of this staff report is to: 1) provide the City Council with an update on the City's Summer Programming efforts, and 2) seek an extension of two agreements to offer programs specifically for seniors.
Analysis
2022 Summer Programming Results
As indicated in Table 1 above, especially when considering the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the City’s 2022 Summer Programming effort was extremely successful. Some key successes included:
· 815 residents (non-duplicated) participated in the Summer Programming - this is a 254% increase from 2021
· 17 organizations provided services
The results of 2022 Summer Programming are detailed in Table 2, below.
TABLE 2
2022 SUMMER PROGRAMMING RESULTS
Vendor Activity Amount # Sessions Unique
Participants
StreetCode
Academy
Tech and Engineering
activities in the Park
$10,000 Three Pop Up
Events and 20
daily sessions
308
Hope Horizon/BCM Holistic youth camp
catering to Westside
community
$10,000 21 Half Day
Sessions (Six
weeks)
40 EPA T-Ball &
Pitching Machine
Host partner for Junior
Giants program
$10,000 32 two-hour
sessions (Eight
weeks)
87 Bottletree Culture West African dance $10,000 15 three-hour 24 instruction for all ages sessions
Step It Up Dance Contemporary, Hip Hop,
Modern, Praise Dance
$10,000 Nine half day
sessions
29 My Gym Gymnastics and Fitness
training at Joel Davis
Park
$9,000 14 two-hour
sessions
10 Camp Doza Multisport camp
featuring Basketball,
Soccer, and Nature
$10,000 10 Full Day
sessions (Two
weeks)
42 The Process
Academy**
High level Basketball
instruction for youth up
to 18
$4,000 Nine two-hour
sessions
7 Paxton Sports
Academy**
Expert Basketball
instruction and sports
challenges
$7,000 17 two-hour
sessions
10 East Palo Alto Tennis
& Tutoring
Youth focused Tennis
camps and Academic
instruction
$10,000 30 three-hour
sessions
27 Live in Peace Youth Super
Conditioning Camp (All
land Sports)
$10,000 15 Full Day
sessions (Three
weeks)
78 Sign Gypsies Multigenerational
activities such as
meditation, bingo, paint
by numbers
$8,000 10 one-hour
sessions
12 MPAA Mastodons
Football
Youth competitive
football training with
holistic approach
$10,000 15 two-hour
sessions (Three
weeks)
26 Fit To the Core Multigenerational group
fitness activities
$10,000 22 two-hour
sessions (MWF)
38 UEHL Literacy and homework
assistance for youth
$10,000 20 Half Day
Sessions (Four
weeks)
13 GG Leagues First time eSports
programming
$7,000 15 weekday
sessions
18 Razorhawks Youth
Rugby
Competitive youth rugby
Summer Sevens
$9,000 21 two-hour
sessions
46 TOTAL $154,000 815
In addition to those described above, the City also experienced successes in the administrative aspects of Summer Programming. For example, the Community Services Division issued the RFP to identify eligible entities to provide Summer Programming options in January 2022. By doing this in advance, staff had time to work with potential service providers to better understand the City’s contracting requirements (e.g. business license, insurance, etc.).
Furthermore, staff developed a mechanism for compensating the service providers in an improved, efficient manner. To date, the City has made final payments to 10 of the 17 organizations that provided services during the Summer 2022.
Request for Activity Extension for Seniors
Upon completion of a successful season of Summer Programming, City staff learned there is demand for continued services to one of our most vulnerable populations. While youth are returning to school and have access to normal enrichment activities, the elders of our community will not have access to beneficial programming during the fall and winter months.
Based on requests from residents, City staff requests that the following activities for the elder community be continued through May 2023:
1. Fit to the Core provides fitness classes for the intergenerational community at Joel Davis Park, utilizing the new outdoor exercise equipment that was donated by the San Francisco 49ers. Fit to the Core would provide at least two fitness sessions per week.
The cost of extending this program through May 2023 is $27,700.
2. BottleTree Culture reaches a wide variety of participants by teaching different cultural dances, from West African to Afro-Peruvian styles, at Bell Street Park. BottleTree would provide at least two session per week. The cost of extending this program through May 2023 is $27,500.
The total requested funding amount for these programs is $55,200.
Fiscal Impact
There is adequate funding available in the City’s Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) fund to account for the requested funding outlined in the staff report.
Public Notice
The City was provided notice of this agenda item by posting the City Council agenda on the City’s official bulletin board outside City Hall and making the agenda and report available at the City’s website and at the San Mateo County Library located at 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto.
Environmental
The action being considered by the City Council is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is not a “project” pursuant to 15378(b)(4) because it is a fiscal activity which does not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant impact on the environment.
The action being considered does not constitute a “Project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to CEQA Guideline section 15378 (b)(5), in that it is a government administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
Awarding this contract is not a project under The California Environmental Quality Act (Section 21000, et. seq. of the California Public Resources Code, hereafter CEQA) because the action has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
Attachments
A. Senior Program Extension Resolution