Good afternoon and welcome to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors Social Services Committee meeting for Monday, November the 24th, 2025.

May I have a roll call, please?

Supervisor Fortunato Bass present.

Supervisor TAM.

Present.

We have a quorum.

Thank you.

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Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Before we get started on the first informational item uh on the board agenda on the county's veteran services officer, could we um just get a brief update on um the activities that the social service agency had completed as a result of the government shutdown?

And are there any like follow-up that we need to uh consider?

Good afternoon, Supervisor Tam Andrea Ford Agency Director for Social Services.

Um, in terms of the government shutdown, um the activity um that was in place was a partnership with the Alameda County Community Food Bank to distribute food at four of our self-sufficiency centers in a form of pop-up sites.

Um the one office enterprise self-sufficiency center operated as a food truck concept.

Umperations ended on November 14th.

That was the last day of the pop-ups because the government shutdown ended.

I understand at least some uh some of the uh correspondence that uh the one over at Eastmont Mall had the most activity.

Was that the self-service center?

Yeah, actually, it was the one at Enterprise, the food truck.

Oh, enter the most activity, yes.

Thank you for for each one of their um distributions, uh, they had about 10,000 pounds of food that was distributed per day, including um the day that it rained pretty heavily.

Uh, I think they had just shy of 10,000 pounds.

It was 9,000 and something, but so each one of their days was very successful.

Okay, and thank you for your agency and your staff support in um coordinating with the food bank and immediately trying to get alternative sites to make sure uh people were not impacted because of their interruption with the SNAP benefits.

Um, I know we've also been getting a lot of questions about well, what we did with LIHEAP and uh also uh when the funding uh would come to that agency, what the state's gonna be doing uh in in light of the government shutdown as well.

Can you just give us a brief update so that the public can hear about this as well?

Yeah, so it was um item number 16 on last Tuesday's board agenda.

Um, and it was regarding measure W funding, and because the federal government had restored complete funding to on the light heap program, we're gonna come back to your board on December the 9th with a plan for Spectrum Community Services.

Um their plan for spending the additional three million dollars in measure w funds.

We'll be asking your board to approve the measure w funding allocation, the spectrum community center for um three three million dollars.

Spectrum is currently working with our finance department to submit a revised scope of work that will outline um the spending.

As far as I'm aware, uh the federal government still has not sent funding to the state as updated last Tuesday.

The plan was to try to get money out the door by the end of this month to the state.

Thank you.

And I know we're gonna be looking forward to um more updates, probably in the next month or so on HR1 in terms of not just um what we've been talking about with Medi-Cal, but also with a lot of the services that social service administers for our residents.

Yeah, I think the most immediate impact um as it relates to HR1, the social services would be the ABOD work requirement for the CalFresh program.

Uh, we still have not implemented that in the state of California because we haven't received guidance from the federal government, so that's still on hold, and the other one would be Medi-Cal for the UIS population, which takes effect in January.

Those are the two more immediate impacts of HR1.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate that update.

This is our annual update.

So thank you.

Good afternoon.

That's much better for me as well.

Again, thank the I like to thank the board first and foremost for allowing me to entertain you this afternoon with my presentation.

In addition, I want to thank Ms.

Ford for giving me an opportunity to be your county veteran service officer.

As she mentioned, my name is Anthony Simpson.

I am the Alameda County Veterans Service Officer.

What I like to do is focus on a couple of things this afternoon.

All right.

Initially, I want to focus on our purpose as well as our mission.

Again, our purpose is to serve the Alameda County veterans and their families with integrity and with care.

Mission statement, very clear, deliver high quality, efficient, and empathetic service, ensuring that every one of our veterans within our county, within our community, receive the BA benefits that they rightly earn as well as deserve.

How do I go about accomplishing this task?

Well, I want to talk about our table of organization.

Again, starting with Faith Battle.

Again, on behalf of Jennifer Stevens Pearson, who's my direct supervisor, I stand before you, and the other individuals that is outlined on that chart is my team.

Without them, it wouldn't, it would be no me.

And without them, we would have not been able to accomplish the things that we were able to accomplish this past year.

Accomplishments, renewed reputation and impact with Alameda County veteran service officers, as well, what do we have to look forward to?

Specialized training.

Before I came on board, or before I came to the county, we were focusing on some very rudimentary procedures and processes to serve our county veterans.

However, with the experience that I have and what I was able to bring to the county, was let's expand the services that we were providing and provide some additional services.

Those additional services are.

The VA is simply saying because of your injuries, diseases, or disabilities, you're going to we're going to keep you at that 60% of that 70%, but we're going to pay you at the 100% rate.

That is about a $1,500 difference between receiving 60% or receiving 100%.

Special monthly compensation.

Special monthly compensation is additional compensation paid to a veteran beyond 100%.

A good example of that would be aid in attendance.

The definition for aid and attendance for VA purposes is different from aiding the tenants within the county and this type of services that they provide.

For VA purposes, aiding the tenants is simply paying an additional stipend above the 100% rate to a veteran and or his spouse.

And the beauty of that particular benefit is that a veteran must be rated at 100% to receive special monthly compensation for aid in attendance.

However, if that veteran is rated 30% or greater and have a spouse, that spouse is entitled to aid in attendance as well.

Simply aid and attendance is in the name.

Does the veteran or his spouse need assistance from another with bathing, going to use the restroom, or simply being able to get around and or to feed him or herself.

We hear a lot about mental disorders.

A veteran in receipt of special monthly compensation can also get this benefit if he or she is in danger or harming himself.

So that is a benefit that we're providing and we're delivering that information to the clients and the family that we serve, excuse me.

DD 214.

We know that this is the official document that every service member must produce in order to get VA services.

What I inclemented when I came on board, let's talk about the type of discharges and the types of benefits that is derived from that DD 214.

Debt management and waivers, an opportunity to assist veterans and their families if they potentially have an overpayment, and if they are hit with an overpayment, the opportunity to assist them with filing a waiver.

The VA will work with veterans in their family.

If we can show mitigating circumstances of why that particular debt should be waived, or either a compromise is uh is utilized to joinle down that debt.

Dependency indemnity compensation, we call it DIC, survivor's pension or accrued benefits.

We have seen a lot of success with this particular program and services.

DIC is simply helping a widow of a veteran who happened to pass away of an injury, disease, or disability relating to his or her military experience, and that particular widow, if she's unmarried, can file for those benefits.

Now keeping in mind, VA benefit is for the veteran.

So if that veteran was in receipt of 30, 3,800 at 100%, of course the VA would not pay the full $3,800.

However, a widow, as of this state, is entitled to roughly $1,648 continuously, if the VA can prove that the injury, disease, or disability was a part of the veteran cause of death, an opportunity for veterans and their family to utilize vocational readiness and employment.

We call it V RE.

It's an additional education program within the VA, whereas a veteran can go to school.

He or she can go to school based on that character of discharge.

And the beauty of using, we call it chapter 31, if that veteran is at least 20% disabling, he can enroll in VOC Rehab for short.

Volk rehab would not only help provide a stipend, but they can go as far as if the veteran is taking online courses, that they'll be willing to pay for his or her internet in order for him or her to be able to pursue his or her education.

Last but not least, apportionment.

Apportionment is a great opportunity for veteran who may have run into a little trouble with the law.

If he or she is in receipt of VA compensation at 20% or greater, and he or she's happened to have a little legal problem and get put in the system for 61 days or more, a portion of his VA check can be given to his spouse and his kids.

That would be a tremendous burden off the county, so that family would not have to use county services to be taken care of.

That benefit that the veteran earned, and just because he or she may have made a mistake, get put in the legal system, it shouldn't mean that his family shouldn't be entitled to that money.

That's what we're doing in Alameda.

That's what we're doing to help not only our veterans, but to help the county as a whole.

Again, teaching the clients what he or she deserves, what they earn, what they may simply be entitled to.

With the additional training, our veteran service officers or our VSRs, they're able to sit with those clients and say, this is how we can help you.

Excellent customer service.

Returning phone calls within 48 hours.

We have a very limited staff, and we have an influx of phone calls, emails, but we want to provide that service to our clients as soon as possible.

I already talked about the specialized training.

That is another form of good customer service, providing them with an opportunity to know about benefits that they did not know about before.

We talked about or I spoke about community relations.

And I also mentioned that we have a very limited staff.

But that does not prevent us from going out into the communities.

This past year, we have participated in more outreach programs and seminars that we did in the past.

What does that do for us, the county, as far as the community?

We're simply letting the people know that we're out there to serve them.

Just recently, I attended an event in Pleasanton out in Union City.

I participated in an information seminar, an opportunity for me to assist a veteran that simply stated that he or she had been looking and seeking for services that he was previously denied.

Because of that interview, because I was able to get out into the community, not only was I able to assist that veteran, but the veteran was able to get the type of services that he had been looking for.

Well, Anthony, that's all as sound good.

But that particular customer service led to a letter that he actually sent to my supervisor, Jennifer, who also forwarded it up to faith, a thank you, simply saying, but thank you, Mr.

Simpson.

Without that information, without you being here, I will have never been entitled to these hearing aids.

Not only do I thank you, but so do my family.

In the future, we want to move forward with a countywide newsletter.

I think it's important if we can inform our veteran population what we're doing, inform them about new VA regulations, the new laws that may be entitled to, like the PAC Act of 2022, information that we can put in a newsletter to our veteran community, to also to highlight some of the accomplishments within our own staff.

I think it's good for morale, and it also sold the community exactly what we're doing.

Virtual appointments and interviews.

An opportunity to interview veterans that may not have the transportation or the mobility to come to East Mont or perhaps the new Hayward location or currently our satellite location in Fremont to allow that veteran from the comfort of his or her home to call a toll-free number, speak to a veteran service representative and get the type of services virtually as he or she would if they were in the office.

Again, targeted outreach.

We don't want to limit ourselves just going to Union City Library or the Pleasanton Library.

We want to expand.

There are times where we want to get out to talk to those veterans in those not so desirable locations because they deserve to be heard.

And they also deserve to get the benefits that they rightfully deserve.

I personally work with the Paliato VA Healthcare Administration.

Dual, a double teening going out to assist veterans, not with claim works, but also an opportunity for them to enroll in VA Healthcare Services.

Let's talk about some of our accomplishments.

Again, the Matrix speaks for itself.

We have done an outstanding job compared to our other county veteran service officers.

We're a small county.

We are small force.

Again, I like to emphasize the fact that we're only working with a group of five veteran service officers.

But with those five service officers, it is the quality of service that we are providing, although not reflected on the screen.

But I just want to give you a little information of what we did just last month.

We had 138 contacts, in-person contact.

We were able to respond to over 42 telephone calls and emails.

We were able to complete two outreach.

That's on the backbone of five National Service Officers.

Again, these are more stats as it relates to what we were able to accomplish within the last five years up to the present.

Community impact.

As I stated earlier, good training is going to produce good quality service and customer service.

I want to highlight two things that I think that should gain recognition.

I mentioned earlier about the veteran that I met in Hayward at an outreach.

That veteran, as I mentioned, went several years without hearing aids.

We were able to assist that veteran with getting to the right VA facility, getting that particular veteran, top of the line hearing aids.

We're talking five, six thousand dollars hearing aid for veteran that has been missing an opportunity to hear his grandkids, to hear his wife, but as he put it, just overall quality of life.

I mentioned a little bit about DIC earlier.

DIC is that dependency dignity compensation provided to a widow.

In this particular case, this widow came into our office in March.

She had been previously denied a VA DIC claim based on her husband's service in Vietnam.

Because of the PAC Act of 2022, the VA sent that widow an invitation to refile.

That widow found her way to 69 55 Foothill, where she had the pleasure of meeting with a veteran service officer.

And because of our effort and because of our work, because of the knowledge and skills that we employ, we were able to get that veteran or that particular widow a retro check of 228,005 and eighteen dollars.

That's a lump sum.

We're talking about a lottery ticket winner without paying any taxes.

In addition to getting that one time lump sum, she will continue to get 1648 each month until there's a change in the cola.

That's what we're doing in Alameda.

What do we have to look forward to?

I'll keep this simple and sweet.

Again, continuous enhanced community outreach.

We're constantly trying to find ways to partner up with others to let our name be known, our service be known.

I'm currently working with the Santa Rita jail, working with their employees who I happen to find out employed 168 veterans.

Just because they're employed, it does not mean that they don't deserve the benefits that they too also deserve.

I spoke about the virtual desk, and I spoke briefly about the standalone office in Hayward that is forthcoming.

I honestly believe that when we get our own place, where veterans can feel like they're at home, then we will see our numbers increase, our services increase, enhance community partnerships and relationships.

Once again, working with other outside entities to let them know that we exist, that we want to be a vital part of a community.

As a part of that enhanced community partnership, I have started a program with Allen Temple Community Church of Allen Temple Baptist Church, where I want to reach out to assist all the veterans within the local communities about VA services.

At this time, Supervisor Tam, as well as Supervisor Bass, as well as Ms.

Ford.

I have no further uh presentation to provide you.

If there's any questions you would like me to entertain, then I'm available.

Thank you so much for that update.

Let me start with Supervisor Fortunato Bass.

Questions, comments.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Simpson.

Really appreciate your work here with the county as well as your service in this annual report.

It's very comprehensive.

So it looks like Alameda County's veteran population is about 40,000.

Is that correct?

Roughly, yes, ma'am.

And we're having a fair uh a pretty significant proportion of visitors to the office, and it looks like it's been growing each year.

So that's really positive.

Um I think you did a great job explaining the services.

I'm curious how much you might have to refer veterans to other departments for services.

For example, if someone's looking for housing or needs assistance with health care or food assistance, do you also do a lot of referrals?

Uh yes, ma'am, to answer your question.

We want to work again in partnerships with not only our community, even within our own agencies.

If there we know that that veterans that may need special housing, we also partnership with SOARs and Plow Shares to assist them with housing.

Also, even working within the VA, we also have an opportunity to work with the regional office at 1301 Clay Street.

Also, they have a list of uh resources that we could assist veterans like the domaciary.

So we work constantly because of my relationship and coming from that particular place, we have opened up a pipeline where if we can assist the veterans simply with filing the claims, but as you mentioned with housing, we know how to direct them within our social services community as well as contacting our point of contacts within the Department of Veteran Affairs again, located at 1301 Clay Street.

Thank you.

And you also mentioned a countywide newsletter.

Um I just want to make sure I heard correctly.

Is that newsletter already available or is it something that's coming in the future?

Yes, ma'am.

That's a great question.

That is something that we want to re-establish.

Um, I was told before I got here that we used to have that newsletter because uh there was a disconnect in having a uh service officer now that I'm on board, and once we relocate to the new location, we're going to re-inclement that.

I think by putting out that newsletter, as I mentioned before, I think it's a great opportunity for those that don't come to our office, we'll still be able to see the great work that we're doing.

Terrific.

Well, in the meantime, please feel free to reach out to your offices or our offices with any um ways that we can assist you with sharing information.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Um Diddle for that, uh, make sure because we all have newsletters, we can all send out some information that you want us to announce through your office as well.

Um I appreciate the response that you gave to Survivors or Fortunatabas on the coordination with the other departments like the in-home service workers or medical or um the questions around uh access and facilities.

You mentioned that once your new office is at in Hayward uh is up and running.

I thought that's been going on for the last year.

The renovations and remodeling.

When is that slated to open?

Yeah, so we had an update from the Veterans Affairs Commission last month.

At that time, I said that we should be open by the end of this year.

Right.

Um, so the renovations have taken place.

We're waiting on technological equipment.

How long is that gonna take?

Um, the last update I had from our county ITD is that um they configured and installed some equipment last on Friday, November 14th.

So after that, it shouldn't, it should not have be much longer to open.

So I'll get an update from ITD about that.

Okay.

So you mentioned that uh you also go to Pleasanton uh and other locations in the county to provide services, or and you're hoping to reach some of the more disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities.

Are you talking about like are these satellite offices or how are you doing this outreach?

And is there an opportunity through the new ITD infrastructure and this new office in Hayward to do maybe more like telecommunication type casework?

Okay.

That's a great question, Supervisor Tamp.

What we were able to do or been able to do is we work with again Palo Alto Hospital, and there's a couple of people that actually got my name and my card.

So I have been able to coordinate with the Pleasanton Library.

That is not a satellite location, nor is the Union City Library.

The beauty of being able to simply say that we don't want to remain stagnant.

We know that again, there's a lot of veterans may not uh feel comfortable, unfortunately, coming to Oakland or going to our actual satellite location in Fremont.

Anytime there's an opportunity for us to go out to the community, and it's a safe place for them to come and still provide the same quality of care and service, then we want to do that.

Just last week, I was able to coordinate with the Pleasanton Librarian.

So we're going to have two events in January to bring the county veteran service officer to their locations.

Again, there's an opportunity that we had been in the works with Supervisor Hubbard to try to get a satellite in Livermore as soon as we're in a position staff-wise to do so.

We will love to go out to establish a satellite at that location as well.

I think just the fact that the community know that we're willing to come to them to bring our services to their location to serve the veterans of this county, then we'll do our best to try to make that happen.

I appreciate that clarification.

So when you go to Pleasanton at the Pleasanton Library or the Union City Library, what kind of resource, what kind of setting do you have, and would it make more sense maybe from a cost-benefit standpoint to like have a mobile truck or something like, you know, blood draw donation type trucks and then go to different locations that may not be like libraries?

Well, yes, ma'am, that'd be great if we had that mobile service that was provided to us, but in the interim, being able to being able to utilize those library facilities and where those librarians allow us to have space where we can interview clients and we can still process claims, that's a great benefit.

And those two locations that I mentioned with Union City Library as well as Pleasanton, we were able to work in partnership with the Palace VA Healthcare Administration, we bring out a mobile uh unit.

So now those veterans have an opportunity to file a claim with the Veterans Benefit Administration, which would be our team, as well as get enrolled in the VA Healthcare uh administration.

Sonia.

Hi, good afternoon, Sonia Frost.

So I'm the division director and the county veteran service office is one of the programs that sits under my division.

I heard you mention virtual, so I did want to bring forth that we are actually just um secured a contract with QMATIC so that we will be able to do the virtual offices.

And so uh once we move in, we'll be phasing that in where we can do like video calls and uh get um a system where there's like a waiting room when veterans and their families call in, they'll be in queue to talk to a veteran service officer and get claims processed uh virtually as well.

So yeah.

And then if I can add on the importance also of operating in the libraries in a satellite type format, is that a lot of veterans have complained at this month that they don't have confidential spaces for confidentiality.

So the libraries will offer that opportunity to be in a closed um location, and there could be confidentiality.

Um their confidentiality can be insured as well.

Okay, I just veterans are very passionate about having um space where it could just be them and do they have privacy when they go to the Pleasanton library, for example?

I think I heard Anthony say they you identified offices.

I apologize, I do have a little comeback hearing loss.

So by leaning in that way, I'm trying to hear.

We were just trying to find out what the accommodations are at the libraries, especially for veterans that might want some privacy when it talks about their claims and some other um personal issues.

Yes, Supervisor Tammit.

The libraries that we've been working with uh in out in Union City as well as the Pleasanton, they have accommodated not only us but the veteran as well.

So we they give us two spaces.

First space is the lobby, they give us a lobby area for we can check in veterans when they get to the library, and then second, they give us individual spots within the library so that privacy is a not only a concern for us, but for the veteran can speak freely.

So they have done everything they need to accommodate not only our services but the veteran as well in terms of privacy.

Do you uh experience pretty high usage at these at the libraries?

Uh yes, ma'am.

Um the Union City Library um was great.

Um we had a great turnout, more than what we expected, being so close to the Freemont office.

The Pleasanton experience wasn't that great of an experience.

And the reason being, and I just spoke to the facilitator, um, because of the shutdown, we happened to go during the period of the shutdown, and they would they were not able to get out the PSAs and the flyers to facilitate us in that regard.

But um I spoke with her again just last week.

The government is up and running.

That's why we were able to schedule uh a couple of meetings in January, again, putting the word out to the veterans in the community.

So hopefully this time around, the turnout will be much greater than the last.

Okay, that's good to know.

Did um any of the veterans in our county get any of their benefits interrupted because of the shutdown?

No, ma'am.

Um again with the shutdown and the VA process is more than just an overnight process.

So even if we assist a veteran or when a veteran did file a claim, it is about a 90 to 120 days process, although part of the government was shut down, but the VA continuously to accept claims, review claims, develop claims, as well as adjudicate claims.

So they were not affected whatsoever.

Okay, that's good to know.

Um the last question I had is uh it's been a long time.

I was when I was on the president of the Alamia Healthcare District Board of Directors, and then subsequently, even on the Alameda City Council, we had worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs to try to locate a veteran uh a VA clinic at Alameda Point and a columnarium next door.

And I just recently heard from the um the the leadership uh on the city council in Alameda that under this current administration, those plans got uh wiped off.

Do you have any insights on what happened?

This has been in the works for gosh, like 15, 16 years.

Uh no, ma'am, but what I can do, I can provide you with a follow-up to your questions.

So I don't want to speak out of turn or speak about things that I'm not um familiar with.

Uh again, I think I would be negligence if I try to provide you with an answer that I'm not a hundred percent certain.

So if I can get that question from you before I leave, and then I can do some research and be able to provide not only you but the board with a very solid answer.

I appreciate that.

I mean that would have been a great uh health care facility for um our local veterans that's closer than going down to Palo Alto or you know up in Oakland.

May I add some um supervisors Tam?

I think we can't overlook the VA outpatient clinic right here in Oakland.

There is a clinic in O in Oakland that we need to take advantage of.

And again, no fault of this board or anyone here.

I think the VA as a whole, if they can be a little bit more proactive with their PA PS PSA announcement to let people know that the Oakland facility is an excellent facility, and I think we all know here that the less that location of that facility is utilized, the more their funds may be um taken away.

So we just like anything else, if we can get the word out that it exists, that the Oakland facility also provide good quality care and service.

Then our veterans within the Oakland neighborhood don't have to go across the bridge to San Francisco or go to Contra Costa County to the VA Martinez facility.

There's a great and excellent location right here in Oakland.

I hear you, and and I'm sure um that would be an ideal situation.

Um, but I that at that time my recollection was it was a cost-benefit uh discussion on updating the the VA hospital in Oakland and the usage of it now.

I don't know what the situation is.

Uh it I don't know whether the veterans that have expressed concerns to me at least about using uh the East Mont Mall site whether they were also expressing similar concerns about using the Oakland hospital facility.

Yes, ma'am.

As I mentioned earlier, um, if I can get that question from you, um I think collectively we're trying to get an answer that would be appeasing to everyone here.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

Um do we have any public comments on this item?

There are no speakers.

Thank you.

Are there any public comments on items that are not on today's agenda but within the preview of the Social Services Committee?

There are no speakers.

Thank you.

Thank you everyone for your time.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Well, thank you.

And once again, on behalf of my office and my staff and Ms.

Ford, Ms.

Frost, um, I thank you for the opportunity to let you guys know, which you ladies know, what we've been doing this past year.

Again, thank you for the opportunity.

Have a good evening.