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SR-11-C (22) ~ J/-c' CNS:BJS:sc. Counc~l Meet~ng 6/28/83 ~qj.j I) ~ .....~.." ... 'I 4, " l"'" Santa Monlca, Callforn~a TO: Mayor and CL~Y Councll FROM: City Staff SUBJECT: Allocation of Emergency Food and Shelter Funds to Ocean Park Commun~ ty Center, ~'ies tSlG.e Food 3a:1.k, _an.d "':.he Ne~ghborhood Adult Particlpa~~on ProJect Introduct~on This report transm~ts fand~ng reco~~endat~ons for specif~c co~~un~ty organlzat~ons to ~mplement emergency food and shelter programs, to De funded from the Emergency Food and Shelter Fund, prevlously approved as a part of the 1983-84 Communlty Development Plan wlth adc~tlona1 allocat~ons as speclf~eG ln this report. 3ackarounc. r The 1983-84 Communlty Development Plan, approved by the C~ty counc~l on June 21, 1983, ~ncluced a fund ln the amount of $61,200 for un- s?ec~f~ed emergency food and shelter programs. As indicated lU the Plan, three proposals were sub~ltted for~mplementation of suc~ pro- grams and were ranked, uSlng fu~dlng select~on cr~terla, as follows; (1) Ocean Park corr~unlty Center Homeless ProJect, (2) Westslde Food 3ank, and (3) Kelghborhood Adult Partlc~pat~on ?roJect. Sum- mar~es of these proposals have been transm~tted to counCll prevlcusly. Dec~s~ons regard~ng specif~c agency func~ng amounts were delayed due to the need to assess the lillpact of Federal fund~ng for these pro- gr~~s through the Federa~ 3mergency Management Agency (FE~L~). Now that these allocatlons are known, sta:= has ?roceeded Nl~h a flJa~ a~alvs~s of these proposals. JI-c .J~~ 2 SK~ J~~ ~ayor and City counc~l -2- June 28, 1983 D~scuss~on (1) Ocean ?ark COITmun~ty Center Homeless ProJect - The HOffie:ess ProJect, sponsored by opec In conJunct~on with a number of churches and commun~ty organ~zat~ons, has successfully located a fac~l~ty at the First Chrlst~an Church and will beg~n opera- tlons ~n July of 1983. The request for 539,367 for operat~ng funds for 1983-84 represents 34% of ~he total operat~ng bud- get wlth the rema~nder com~ng from pr~vate donat~ons and fund- ra~s~ng. S~nce t~e subm~ss~on of th~s request, the C~ty has lnfor~ed opec that the facil~ty must be renovated to lncl~de a sprinkler system and I-hour fire wall In order to meet flre and bu~ld~ng codes. G~ven the already h~gh level of pr~vate sup9ort, It w~ll not be poss~ble to ra~se these addl- tlonal funds qu~ckly enough to meet the clty deadl~ne of August 1983 for lnstallat~on of the sprlnklers. Glven the cr~t~cal need for establlsh~ng an emergency shelter, the very pos~tive track record of the particlpating agenc~es ~n prov~ding these serVlces, and the current comm~tment ~o raise well over 50% of all funds from the prlvate sector, City staff recommends that addltlona1 funds ~n the amount of 520,000 be awarded, ~n add~tlon to the $39,567, for renovat~on of the facll~ty. {2) Wests~de Food Bank - The Food 3ank had or~g~nally requested $17,500 for an ~ncreased food d15tr~o~ton program. Slnce that tlme t~o factors resulted l~ an l~c~eased request of $35,000 co~~un~cated to the Counc~~ by tne Food Bank at t~e June 21st Ccu~c~: ~eetlng. These fac~ors lncluded the heed to Tove to leased warehouse space from currently free space , Mayor and City Council ~- June 28, 1983 wh~ch w~ll no longe~ be avallable, and the expressed need for addlt10nal staff to handle the $63,000 FEMA alloca~~on ~o ~e used for dlrect =ood purchase for d~stribut~on to co~~unity agenc1es. In assessing the ~ncreased request, C~ty sta=f reviewed comparable programs ln the Los Angeles area lncluGlng a deta~led analysls of sta~f~ng levels, volunteer usage, amount of food d~stributed and ~u~~er 0= partlc1pat~ng agenc~es for two programs - t~e Long Beach Food aank and commun~ty Food Resources wh~ch serves the entlre eastern portlon of Los Angeles County. The result of th~s analysis lndlcates the follow~ng: o The four =ull-t~me staff proposed by the WestSlde Food 3ank lS substant~ally h~gher than stafflng levels of the two other progr~ns analyzed by C~ty staff. The Long Beach ?~ogra~ d~strlbutes approximately 2 m~lllon pounds of food annually, w~th a full-tlme staff of flve, an operatlng budget of $110,000, (85% from prlvate sources), 1200 volunteer hours per month, and 80 partlc1patlng agenc~es. The East Los Angeles-Pasade~a program d~str~butes approxlmately 3.5 ffillllon pounce of food annually, w~th a full-tlme staff of 9, 700 volunteer hours per month, and an operat~ng budget of $300,000. 110 agenc~es part~c~pate ~n the dlstribution of food. The Westslde Food Bank, a new agency In the pas~ year, proposes an operat~ng budget of $72,000, 4 full-t~me staff, 17 part~c~patlng agencies and an est~mated food distr~butlon of 1 m~lllon pouLis (c~~rent yea~ an~ual~zed dls~r~but~on wlll be approximately 360,000 Ins. Wh~12 caut~on ~ust be exerclsed ~n nak~ng comparlsons between agencles, it appears that successful programs can be operatec wlth a lower level of staffing if volunteers are utllized effectlvely. o Currently, the Westslde Food 3ank utllizes four volunteers on an as needed bas~s. DlScuss~on wlth staff of the opec Homeless ProJect ludlcates that response to that program's volunteer recrU~L~ent has been overwhelmlng w~th more volunteers than ava~lable slots at the proJect. It appears, then, that the potential for recrultlng volunteers to f~ll both cler~cal and warehous~ng slots, on a part-tl~e basls, should be poss~ble. o It ~s lsportant to note that the need for lncreasea staff was Just~f~ed because of ~ncreased food to be d~stributed through FEMA fund~ng. Th~s food-must be purchased and d~strlbuted ~n a 6-month period. Therefore, staff~ng based on th~s level of act~v~ty requlres that the Fooe Bank 5usta1n that level after termlnatlon of Federal support through ltS own efforts. Wh~le donat~ons have lncreased ln ~he last several illon~hs, (26,000 pounds In A?r~l) it ~s st~ll not certa~n that th~5 hlgh level could be susta~ned In t~e long-term. Thus, f~nal Mayor and c~ty counc~l -4- June 28, 1983 staf~ analysls ~esulted In a ~f~xed stafflng level~ necessary to sustaln baslc and current levels of operatlon wlth ~he assumptlon ~~at, as ~n other programs ~n the area, lncreases ~n staff need can very effec~~vely be f~lled wlt~ volunteers or staff f~~ded from other sources. o DlSCUSSlon wlth Food Bank staff lnd~cates that the repor~ed pol~cy of charg~ng partlclpat~ng agenc~es $.05/1b. to ~elp defray operatlng costs has not be put lnto effect and has not been presented formally to t~e Board of D~rectors for d~Scusslon. ~h~s charge 1S of part~c~lar concern for those agencles who channeled thelr requests for FE~L~ funclng through the Food Bank lnstead of applYlng dlrectly to Un~ted Way for th~s fundlng. If a charge were requlred, these agenc~es would then be pay~ng for food tbat they could have purchasec dlrectly wlth the~r own FE~~ funds. It lS therefore ~mportant that Clty func~ng be made cont~ngent upon the Food Bank 30ard approv~ng a "no-charge" POllCY for all food d~strlbuted to part~c~patlng agenc~es. Wh~le thlS POllCY lS utll~zed by other food banks In the area, these progra~s do ~ot rece~ve su~stant~al local government support and the~efore requlre such a contrlbut~on. Based on th~s analysls, staff reco~~ends that the total C~ty contr~but~on to the Food 3ank be $26,238. 52,080 of thlS has be alloca~ed In the context of ~he Cow~unity Develop~ent ?lan. Therefore, an add~t~onal $24,158 lS reco~~ended from the 2mergency Food anc Stelter Fund. ~h~s represents ar. lncrease of $6/658 over the orlginal request to cover an adcltlonal 1/2 t~me ware- house poslt~on. (3) Nel9hborhood Adult partlCl?atlon ProJect - ~AppTS ?ro?osal for a Food Pantry, ln the a~ount of $67,296, ~ncl~ded a substantlal amount for adm~n~stratlve staff~ng, overhead and also food pur- chase. Based on fund~ng select~on crlterla, the proposal dld not ranx wlth the other two recorr~ended programs. However, ~ow that ?~K~ funds wlll ?rOVlCe add~t~onal food to ~APP'S Santa i1on~ca Center a..d g~ven the program's abl11ty to serve the P~co ~2lghborhood's lOW-1TICOne, mlnor~ty pO?Ulatlons, It ~s recoIT~ended that $4,200 In ~~ergency ~ood and Shelter funds be Mayor and C~ty Counc~l -~- June 28, 1983 allocated ~o NAPP to prov~de ~art-t~~e stafflng support for the diSt~lbut~on of food to lcw-lncome ~~dlvlduals. ThlS alloca- t~on should be ~ade cont~ngent on lts Use for d~rect serVlce staff and no~ for adm~~~strat~ve overheac and expenses. F~scal Impact These recorr~e~dat~ons do not result ~n an addltional ~nc~ease In approprlatlon fron the Gene~al Fund. The follow~ng appropr~at~ons have p~eviously been made by the City Counc~l, i~ the context of the 1983-84 Budget, for support of these programs: V~tale G~lp~n Reserves CDBG Jobs 3111 $39,567 21,633 $61,200 Recommended allocat~ons are as follows: opec Homeless ProJect opec Shelter Renov. Wests~de Food Bank ~APP Food Pantry Addlt~onal F~~ds ~eeded: Add~t. V~tale Gllpln GRS Interest Income Recomrnendatlons $39,567 20,uOO 24,158 4,200 $87,925 26,725 20,000 6,725 Cltv sta~f recoITmencs that t~e Clt7 Counc~: (1) transfer 520,000 from prevlouslyapp=oprlatedV~tale-Gllp~nreserves,~ncluded ~n ~he Redevelop- ~ent Agency b~dget, to the Emergency Food and Shelter Fund (COmMUnlty and Ne~ghborhooJ Services budget) i (2) approprlate an aCGltlonal 56,725 to Co~~unlty S~rvlces ?roJects from General ~evenue Sharlng l~~erest ~ncome ~o ~be Cowmun~ty Servlce ProJect budget; anc (3) allocate funds to opec l~ the amount of $59,367, Nests~de Food Bank In the aMount of $24,138 and NrlPP ~n the amOUjt of $4,200 for lmplementat~on ~ayor and Clty cauncll -6- June 28, 1983 ... of emergency ~ood and shelter programs. Prepared by: 3arbara Stlnchf~eld, Grants Adm~n1SLrator