DATE:
July 5, 2022
TO:
Christine Daniel, City Manager
FROM:
Charles S. Bryant, Community Development Director
SUBJECT:
Resolution Of The City Council Of The City Of Emeryville Authorizing The City Manager To Execute A Grant Recipient Contract With Emeryville Citizens Assistance Program (“ECAP”) In The Amount Of $74,782 To Support Food And Clothing Distribution To Persons Experiencing Homelessness And Those Near-Homelessness For Fiscal Year 2022-2023
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the above-entitled resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute a Grant Recipient Contract with Emeryville Citizens Assistance Program (ECAP) in the amount of $74,782 to support food and clothing distribution to persons experiencing homelessness and those near-homelessness.
BACKGROUND
ECAP provides support for at-risk families and individuals by providing a daily food give- away, clothing, counseling services, and resource referrals for housing and personal needs from a leased facility at 3610 San Pablo Avenue. The organization has provided these services in Emeryville since 1997, originally under the name “Emeryville Community Action Program”.
In the past, the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency provided approximately $50,000 per year to support the organization’s mission. Due to the dissolution of redevelopment, the City began providing direct support to ECAP in Fiscal Year 2012-13. In the ensuing years, the support amount increased annually, principally due to increases in rent and utility costs.
The current grant request for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 is $74,782, an increase of $825, or approximately 1%, above the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 amount of $73,957. Grant requests in prior years have generally increased between 2% and 4% per year. The current increase is associated with an increase in utility expenses for the coming year. The requested amount consists of $52,232 for rent (the same as last year) and $22,400 for utility costs including a $2,500 contingency to address estimated increases in costs and unexpected expenses. Previous grant amounts and the current request are summarized in the table below:
Year
Award Amount
FY 2012-13
$50,000
FY 2013-14
$53,436
FY 2014-15
$57,700
FY 2015-16
$57,500
FY 2016-17
$63,756
FY 2017-18
$66,885
FY 2018-19
$70,135
FY 2019-20
$74,000
FY 2020-21
$75,282
FY 2021-22
$73,957
Proposed FY 2022-23
$74,782
According to ECAP staff, ECAP continues to see an increase in need as the increase in homelessness and housing costs affects their low-income clients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ECAP increased their distribution of food, which continues to require pre-packaging and compliance with other COVID-19 related sanitation and social distancing requirements. This is a more staff-intensive process than the more open distribution previously allowed prior to the pandemic. Utility costs have also increased and are expected to remain elevated during the coming year. During Fiscal Year 2022-2023 ECAP will continue working with the City’s homelessness outreach provider and City staff to coordinate services to people experiencing homelessness.
In December 2019, ECAP’s location was purchased by Resources for Community Development (“RCD”), a nonprofit housing developer. RCD intends to develop a mixed-use affordable housing project at the property. The City assisted RCD with the purchase of the property through a loan that, among other things, requires RCD to lease commercial space in RCD’s proposed development to ECAP or, if ECAP is unable to enter into a lease with RCD, with another food security services provider. RCD is currently working to assist ECAP with temporary relocation during construction of RCD’s proposed affordable housing project, which is pending RCD’s securing of financing for the project.
DISCUSSION
Final Report for FY 21-22
The Community Grants Funding Agreement for FY 21-22 (the “FY 21-22 Funding Agreement”) required submittal of a final report for the period July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022 (the “Final Report”). The FY 2021-22 Funding Agreement required the Final Report to include the following elements:
A financial report as specified in Section Eight of the FY 21-22 Funding Agreement; The number of people and households served through all ECAP programs, including but not limited to the food pantry, clothing distribution, holiday drives, emergency shuttle transportation, Project 22, resource referrals, etc.; Copies of any promotional materials, newspaper articles, or other publicity; The current roster of ECAP’s Board of Directors;
Evidence that ECAP is an active California corporation with valid tax-exempt status.
Additional requirements for last year’s grant award included:
Evidence that ECAP attempted to apply for at least three grants to support program administration Production and adoption of a Strategic Plan
The Final Report was submitted to staff on May 1, 2022, and is provided as Attachment 1.
Performance Milestones
Grant Applications
ECAP has provided evidence of other funding sources including other public grants, private foundations, corporate contributions, and private donations, as follows:
Public Grants - $69,500
Private Foundations - $30,000
Corporate Contributions - $25,000
Private Donations - $52,250
Strategic Plan
ECAP has provided evidence of having developed a Strategic Plan. The Plan has not been adopted by their Board yet, but their efforts have shown significant progress toward the performance criterion. Staff would suggest that renewal of the grant award include a requirement for ECAP to demonstrate evidence that the Strategic Plan has been adopted, and an indication of how related implementation measures were addressed, with submittal of the FY 22-23 Final Report.
Funding Request for Fiscal Year 2022-2023
As shown in the Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Grant Application Narrative and Proposed Budget (Attachment 2), ECAP has requested $74,732 for the upcoming fiscal year. This request is based on their estimate of costs related to rent, utilities (PG&E, AT&T, Verizon and EBMUD), and costs for additional ongoing refrigeration and related repair needs. This estimate includes the following assumptions:
A 5% increase in utility costs
A general contingency budget of $2,500 to provide flexibility in addressing other, unforeseen cost increases The proposed Grant Recipient Contract for FY 22-23 (the “FY 22-23 Funding Agreement”) presented as Exhibit A to the attached Resolution provides for continued support to ECAP for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 in the amount of $74,782. Funding will be provided in 12 equal monthly installments of $6,231.83 ECAP is required to submit a Final Report by April 30, 2023.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for the FY 22-23 Funding Agreement is included in the City’s Fiscal Year 2022- 2023 Operating Budget for Social Programs (General Fund account 1800-87610).
STAFF COMMUNICATION WITH THE PUBLIC
Staff has had no communication with the public on this City Council item.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached resolution authorizing execution of the FY 22-23 Grant Recipient Contract with ECAP for continued support of ECAP’s food and clothing distribution programs.
PREPARED BY: Charles Harris, Community and Economic Development Coordinator II REVIEWED BY: Chadrick Smalley, Economic Development and Housing Manager
APPROVED AND FORWARDED TO THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EMERYVILLE:
Christine Daniel, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 - ECAP Annual Grant Report FY 21-22
Attachment 2 - ECAP Grant Application Narrative and Proposed Budget FY 22-23 Draft Resolution including Exhibit A – Grant Recipient Contract ECAP Funding Agreement FY 22-23
| July 5, 2022
City of Emeryville
CALIFORNIA
MEMORANDUM