Larry Klein
Mayor
Omar Din
Vice Mayor
Russ Melton
Councilmember
Alysa Cisneros
Councilmember
Richard Mehlinger
Councilmember
Murali Srinivasan
Councilmember
Linda Sell
Councilmember
May 18, 2023
Mr. Clinton Duerksen
Office of the County Executive
140 Asbury Street, Suite 101
San Jose, CA 95110
RE: Letter of Support for Sunnyvale Community Services Food Assistance Grant Program Application
Dear Mr. Duerksen:
On behalf of the City of Sunnyvale, we strongly support the application of Sunnyvale Community Services (SCS) for the County of Santa Clara Direct Food Assistance Grant Program (RFGA Number: ERFGA-CEO-FY23-0330).
SCS has worked to prevent homelessness and hunger in our local community since 1970 and serves as one of the seven Emergency Assistance Network (EAN) agencies in Santa Clara County. Their mission is to prevent homelessness and hunger in our local community and their vision is a community where everyone has a home with food on the table.
Sunnyvale Community Services is one of the lead nonprofits in CA-10 and CA-13, annually serving over 10,000 low-income children, adults, and seniors with rent assistance, food, and wrap-around safety-net services. Sunnyvale Community Services (SCS) is a safety net in Sunnyvale’s backyard. Founded more than 50 years ago, SCS provides emergency financial aid, rental assistance, groceries, case management and other resources to help Sunnyvale residents, as well as Alviso residents.
Last year, SCS served 10,595 of our neighbors, a 53 percent increase since 2015. They expect this number to increase to over 13,000 by 2026. SCS is a major hub for providing human services locally and regionally by stabilizing families with financial aid and food assistance, connecting people to benefits and services, and building skills to increase resiliency.
Attachment 2
~'~ ,_., Sunnyvale
Heart of Silicon Valley~
456 West Olive Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3707
408-730-7473
TDD/TYY 408-730-7501
sunnyvale.ca.gov
Clinton Duerksen, Office of the County Executive
May 18, 2023
As one of the County’s EAN agencies, SCS works hard to remove time and location constraints to make it easy for people to access their services, engaging in their clients’ preferred language, and encouraging client feedback. SCS practices “no wrong door” for food as well as financial assistance programs. Their goal is that no one coming for emergency food will go away hungry.
With rising food costs, the demand for food has already increased by 21% since last year. At this critical time, SCS is now facing drastic reductions in food donations needed to meet this demand. As the leading source of food and groceries in Sunnyvale for low-income residents, these reductions will impact thousands of the most vulnerable of our neighbors.
We strongly urge the County of Santa Clara County to support SCS’s request for Food Grant Funding to serve low-income residents in our local community.
Thank you for your consideration of this request. Please do not hesitate to contact me or Teri Silva, Assistant City Manager, at [email protected] if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Larry Klein
Mayor
cc: Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
City Council
Kent Steffens, City Manager
Teri Silva, Assistant City Manager
Attachment 2
~"~ V Sunnyvale