DATE:
July 5, 2023
TO:
Paul Buddenhagen, 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 $87,800 To Support Food And Clothing Distribution To Persons Experiencing Homelessness And Those Near-Homelessness For Fiscal Year 2023-2024.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute a Grant Recipient Contract with Emeryville Citizens Assistance Program (ECAP) in the amount of $87,800 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. 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 has increased annually, principally due to increases in rent and utility costs.
The current grant request for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 is $87,800, an increase of $13,018, or approximately 17%, above the Fiscal Year 2022-2023 amount of $74,782. Grant requests in prior years have generally increased between 2% and 4% per year. The current increase is principally due to an increase in vehicle insurance costs and the need for vector control for the coming year. The requested amount includes $45,500 for rent and $17,292 for utility costs. Previous grant amounts and the current request are summarized in the table below:
Year
Award Amount
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 2022-23
$73,957
FY 2022-23
$74,782
FY 2023-24
$87,800
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. Utility costs are expected to remain elevated during the coming year. During Fiscal Year 2023-2024, 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 at 3610 San Pablo was purchased by Resources for Community Development (“RCD”), a nonprofit housing developer. RCD will develop a 90-unit, mixed-use affordable housing project at the property named the “Nellie Hannon Gateway” in honor of ECAP founder Nellie Hannon. 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. On April 18, 2023, the City Council authorized execution of an Amended and Restated Loan Agreement with RCD, wherein the City agreed to provide a total of $16,747,486 (inclusive of the acquisition loan) to support development of the Nellie Hannon Gateway Project, and financing was closed on April 21, 2023. A building permit for the project was issued on May 9, 2023. To accommodate the development of the project, RCD has arranged for the temporary relocation of ECAP to 2628 San Pablo Avenue in Oakland.
DISCUSSION
Final Report for FY 22-23
The Community Grants Funding Agreement for FY 22-23 (the “FY 22-23 Funding Agreement”) required submittal of a final report for the period July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 (the “Final Report”). The FY 2022-23 Funding Agreement required the Final Report to include the following elements:
A financial report as specified in Section Eight of the FY 22-23 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.
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, 2023. The Final Report is provided as Attachment 1.
Performance Milestones
Grant Applications
ECAP has provided evidence of other funding services including other public grants, private foundations, corporate contributions, and private donations:
Public Grants - $80,000
Private Foundations - $15,000
Corporate Contributions - $35,000
Private Donations - $18,500
Strategic Plan
ECAP has provided evidence of having developed and adopted a Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan was adopted by the ECAP Board in 2022. The implementation of the Strategic Plan will allow ECAP to build organizational capacity to assist with expanding their funding sources as well as increasing distributions of food, as outlined in the Final Report.
Funding Request for Fiscal Year 2023-2024
As shown in the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Grant Application Narrative and Proposed Budget (Attachment 2), ECAP has requested $87,800 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), vehicle insurance, vector control and costs for refrigeration and related repair needs.
The proposed Grant Recipient Contract for FY 23-24 (the “FY 23-24 Funding Agreement”) presented as Exhibit A to the attached Resolution provides for continued support to ECAP for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 in the amount of $87,800. Funding will be provided in 12 equal monthly installments of $7,316.66. The FY 23-24 Funding Agreement also requires ECAP to submit a Final Report by April 30, 2024.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for the FY 23-24 Funding Agreement is included in the City’s Fiscal Year 2023- 2024 Operating Budget for Social Programs (General Fund account 1800-87610).
STAFF COMMUNICATION WITH THE PUBLIC
None.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached resolution authorizing execution of the FY 23-24 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, Deputy Director of Community Development
APPROVED AND FORWARDED TO THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EMERYVILLE:
Paul Buddenhagen, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 - ECAP Annual Grant Report FY 22-23
Attachment 2 - ECAP Grant Application Narrative and Proposed Budget FY 23-24 Draft Resolution including Exhibit A – Grant Recipient Contract ECAP Funding Agreement FY 23-24
| July 5, 2023
City of Emeryville
CALIFORNIA
MEMORANDUM