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Agenda Item 3.1 and June 9 Council Agenda Items 3.3 and 3.4.
SVCN submits this letter in its role as co-convenor of the REAL Coalition, together with Sacred Heart Community Service.
We appreciate your consideration of our recommendations and comments on next year's budget. Please contact me with any questions.
Best,
Kyra
Kyra Kazantzis | CEO
Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits
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1 June 8, 2026
San José City Council
San José City Hall
200 E. Santa Clara Street
San José, CA 95113
Sent via electronic mail
RE: FY 2026–27 Proposed Budget, June Budget Message, and Related Council Memoranda
Dear Mayor Mahan, Vice Mayor Foley, and Members of the San José City Council:
On behalf of the Race Equity Action Leadership (REAL) Coalition, we write regarding the FY 2026–27 Proposed Budget, the Mayor’s June Budget Message, and several Council memoranda currently before the City Council.
We recognize that the City is navigating a difficult fiscal environment marked by a significant budget shortfall and growing uncertainty regarding future federal, state, and local revenues. We appreciate the efforts of the Mayor, City Council, and City staff to preserve critical community investments while balancing the budget.
Earlier this year, REAL advanced the STAY in San José framework, which called on the City to center affordability, racial equity, prevention, and community stability in its budget decisions. We are encouraged that several priorities championed by REAL and many community partners have been reflected in the June Budget Message and related Council memoranda. We write both to express our support for those proposals and to identify several areas where additional action remains necessary.
Letter from REAL to San Jose City Council re FY27 Budget, June 7, 2026, Page 2 Support for a New Affordability Focus Area
REAL strongly supports the memorandum from Councilmembers Campos, Ortiz, Doan, Candelas, and Casey establishing a new Council Focus Area dedicated to reducing the cost of living.
San José residents consistently identify affordability as the defining challenge facing our city. Housing costs, childcare costs, transportation expenses, healthcare costs, and economic insecurity are deeply interconnected and shape whether residents can remain in the communities they call home. Yet affordability has not had a dedicated place within the City's existing focus area framework.
The proposed focus area represents an important step toward institutionalizing accountability around affordability and ensuring that City departments regularly evaluate how policies and investments affect household stability. This proposal closely aligns with the goals of REAL’s STAY in San José framework and reflects the reality that affordability must be treated as a core City priority rather than a secondary outcome of housing production or economic growth alone.
REAL also encourages the City to view affordability broadly. While reducing costs is essential, affordability is also shaped by wages, economic mobility, wealth-building opportunities, and access to good jobs. Should the City develop this new focus area, we encourage robust community engagement throughout the process and, wherever possible, co-creation with residents and community organizations most affected by affordability challenges. The people most impacted by rising costs should help shape how success is defined and measured.
Homelessness Prevention
REAL appreciates the Mayor’s proposal to invest $1 million in homelessness prevention services and to maintain the Measure E set-aside supporting homelessness prevention assistance.
Preventing homelessness remains one of the most humane and cost-effective investments available to the City. Every household that remains stably housed avoids the far greater costs associated with shelter, healthcare, law enforcement intervention, and long-term housing instability. We appreciate the City’s continued recognition that reducing inflow into homelessness must remain a central strategy.
Letter from REAL to San Jose City Council re FY27 Budget, June 7, 2026, Page 3 Children, Youth, and Families
REAL appreciates the City’s continued commitment to the Children and Youth Services Master Plan, including the preservation of funding for the Santee and Mayfair/Poco Way demonstration sites and the broader commitment of approximately $3.4 million toward implementation efforts.
These investments represent meaningful progress from earlier budget discussions and acknowledge the importance of supporting children, youth, and families before crises occur. The demonstration sites offer an important opportunity to build cradle-to-career systems of support that strengthen family stability, educational outcomes, and long-term community well-being.
At the same time, we encourage the City to continue moving toward a durable and ongoing funding commitment for implementation of the Children and Youth Services Master Plan. Even in difficult fiscal years, investments in children and families should be viewed as foundational infrastructure for a healthy and equitable city.
We also encourage continued coordination with Santa Clara County, school districts, community-based organizations, philanthropy, and families themselves to maximize impact and ensure that investments are aligned across systems serving children and youth.
REAL also strongly supports the preservation of BEST funding and other community-based violence prevention and intervention programs. We appreciate the efforts of Councilmembers and City staff to protect these investments during a difficult budget year. Prevention and intervention services help young people and families navigate challenges before they escalate into more serious crises, improving community safety while reducing long-term public costs.
As REAL and numerous community partners emphasized in recent advocacy regarding BEST, the City should not simply seek to preserve these programs. It should continue moving toward a strategy that expands and strengthens prevention and intervention services over time. San José cannot arrest, shelter, or enforce its way out of challenges rooted in trauma, poverty, disconnection, and lack of opportunity. Community-based prevention and intervention programs are among the most effective tools available to improve public safety, strengthen neighborhoods, and support positive outcomes for young people and families.
Letter from REAL to San Jose City Council re FY27 Budget, June 7, 2026, Page 4 REAL has also long supported the creation of a City office dedicated to coordinating community-based safety approaches. As the City continues investing in youth development, violence prevention, intervention, behavioral health response, and neighborhood stabilization, there is a growing opportunity to better coordinate these efforts through a dedicated community safety infrastructure that complements traditional public safety systems.
Older Adult Services
REAL appreciates the inclusion of $300,000 in funding for the Older Adult Health and Wellness Grant Program. REAL stands in solidarity with the providers, advocates, and older adults who have worked tirelessly to preserve these critical programs that often serve those from historically marginalized and underserved communities.
This funding will help maintain legal services, healthcare navigation, wellness supports, and programs that reduce social isolation among older adults – many of whom live on fixed incomes and face heightened risks of housing instability, poor health outcomes, and economic hardship. We appreciate the City's willingness to work with providers and advocates to identify a path forward and encourage continued attention to the needs of older adults.
Support for Immigrant Protection and Community Stability REAL appreciates the City’s continued recognition of the importance of immigrant protection services during a period of heightened fear and uncertainty for many immigrant families.
We offer this support in solidarity with immigrant-led organizations and coalitions, including Amigos de Guadalupe, the Immigrant Protection and Empowerment Network (IPEN), Rapid Response Network, SIREN, and the many community-based organizations leading this work every day. REAL does not lead immigrant defense efforts; rather, we stand alongside the organizations and community leaders who have long protected and advocated for immigrant communities.
We strongly support the memorandum from Councilmembers Campos, Ortiz, Candelas, and Casey calling for the full $1 million allocation for immigrant protection services to be available at the beginning of the fiscal year rather than partially contingent on future events.
Letter from REAL to San Jose City Council re FY27 Budget, June 7, 2026, Page 5 Community organizations cannot wait until a crisis escalates to build legal capacity, outreach infrastructure, staffing, volunteer networks, and rapid response systems. The need already exists.
Immigrant families are essential to San José’s economic, civic, and cultural life.
These investments help ensure that residents can continue to access schools, healthcare, employment, and public services without fear.
Community Safety Through Prevention and Community-Based Services In addition to youth development, violence prevention, and intervention strategies such as SJYEA and BEST, San José must continue investing in community-based approaches that respond to crises when they occur. Prevention and intervention are strongest when paired with systems that connect residents to care, support, and stabilization rather than relying solely on emergency or law enforcement responses.
REAL continues to support community-based crisis response services such as TRUST.
TRUST emerged from community demands – particularly from Black community leaders and youth leaders – in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the broader Black Lives Matter movement. It reflects years of work by community members, behavioral health advocates, and public agencies to develop alternatives to emergency room and law-enforcement-centered responses to behavioral health crises.
The City previously made a modest but important investment in this partnership with Santa Clara County, and we encourage continued City participation especially as County resources remain constrained.
REAL also supports continued investments in violence prevention and intervention strategies that strengthen neighborhoods, support young people, and address the root causes of harm before crises occur.
Letter from REAL to San Jose City Council re FY27 Budget, June 7, 2026, Page 6 Revenue, Economic Equity, and Long-Term Stability
REAL supports the memorandum from Councilmembers Campos, Ortiz, Candelas, and Casey restoring $90,000 for business impact research associated with future revenue measure exploration.
San José’s affordability challenges cannot be solved through service reductions alone. The City must continue exploring equitable and sustainable revenue strategies that can preserve investments in housing stability, immigrant protection, youth services, violence prevention, older adults, and other essential community priorities.
We also appreciate that the City continues to advance the Working Families Housing concept first elevated during the March budget process. The inclusion of a workforce housing demonstration project in the Building More Housing workplan reflects continued movement toward innovative financing models that can create permanently affordable homes for working families while leveraging regional, labor, and institutional partnerships.
Continued Priorities
While we appreciate the progress reflected in the June Budget Message and Council memoranda, several important priorities remain worthy of future consideration.
REAL supports tenant calls for the exploration of an eviction representation pilot targeted toward residents facing the greatest risk of displacement. Eviction prevention remains one of the most direct and cost-effective strategies available to preserve housing stability and reduce homelessness.
Throughout this budget process, REAL has consistently emphasized that budget decisions are not race-neutral. Cuts to prevention, stabilization, and community-based services disproportionately affect Black residents, Latino residents, immigrant communities, older adults, people with disabilities, low-income families, and residents of historically underinvested neighborhoods.
Consistent with the City’s Racial and Social Equity Ordinance and Equity Values and Standards Policy, budget choices should be evaluated based on whether they reduce or deepen those disparities.
Letter from REAL to San Jose City Council re FY27 Budget, June 7, 2026, Page 7 Conclusion
REAL appreciates the meaningful movement reflected in the June Budget Message and the Council memoranda currently under consideration. We are encouraged that many community priorities advanced over the past several months have been incorporated into the City's budget discussions.
As the Council moves toward final budget adoption, we respectfully urge you to:
● Adopt the proposed Council Focus Area on reducing the cost of living; ● Increase immigrant protection funding to the full $1 million level, up-front; ● Maintain and strengthen homelessness prevention investments; ● Continue investing in the Children and Youth Services Master Plan and community-based violence prevention programs;
● Sustain community-based crisis response services such as TRUST; ● Protect older adult services; and
● Continue exploring equitable long-term revenue solutions that support affordability and community stability.
Thank you for your leadership and consideration. We look forward to continuing to work together to ensure that San José remains a place where all residents can stay, belong, and thrive.
Sincerely,
Vaughn Villaverde
Co-Chair, REAL Coalition
Kathy Cordova
Co-Chair, REAL Coalition
Kyra Kazantzis
Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits
Co-Convenor, REAL Coalition
Poncho Guevara
Sacred Heart Community Service
Co-Convenor, REAL Coalition
Letter from REAL to San Jose City Council re FY27 Budget, June 7, 2026, Page 8 About the Racial Equity Action Leadership (REAL) Coalition REAL Coalition, a community of Santa Clara County-based nonprofit leaders and allies, has been meeting since June 2020 to use our positional power to advocate for a more racially-just and equitable society; to establish a peer network of leaders committed to fighting white supremacy and systemic racism in ourselves and our institutions; and to hold each other accountable to the promises we made in the Nonprofit Racial Equity Pledge. REAL Coalition is broadly representative of the nonprofit community, including human and community services, behavioral health and health, arts and culture, domestic violence, older adults, food security, education, environmental, farming, legal, disability rights, LGBTQ+ rights, ethnic, immigrant rights, housing and homelessness, criminal justice reform, urban planning, intermediary organizations, and others. REAL has 50 core nonprofit members, numerous individual members, and hundreds of active participants in the nonprofit community. Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits and Sacred Heart Community Service are proud co-conveners of REAL Coalition.