Good afternoon and welcome to the Life Enrichment Committee meeting of Tuesday, September 30th, 2025.

The time is now 4.03 pm, and this meeting may come to order.

Spill one out and turn one into myself or a clerk representative no later than 10 minutes after the start of this meeting or before the item is read into record.

Registering to speak via Zoom is now due 24 hours prior to the start of this meeting time.

This meeting came to order at 4.03 p.m.

and speaker cards will no longer be accepted 10 minutes after, making that time 4 13 p.m.

We'll now proceed with taking roll.

Councilmember Guile.

Thank you.

Councilmember Houston.

Present.

Thank you.

Councilmember Wong.

Present.

And Chair Fife.

Present.

Thank you.

We have four members present.

Before we begin, Chair, do you have any announcements at this time?

Yeah.

I do not have any uh announcements at this time other than this is a very packed agenda, so I will be regulating time.

Uh but I want to go ahead and get us started so we can get along with the festivities.

Thank you.

Starting off with item one.

Since this is a special meeting, there are no minutes to be approved.

Item two, determination of schedule of outstanding committee items.

The district three office has no items at this time.

I would open it up to the city administrator.

We have no items to add at this time.

Thank you.

Council members.

I'll entertain a motion.

Second.

Okay.

That was a that was a motion made by Councilmember Guile, seconded by Councilmember Wong to approve the determination of schedule by standing committee items as is on roll.

Councilmember Guile.

Aye.

Council Member Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Five.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item number two passes with four eyes to accept the pending list as is.

Now reading in item number three, adopt a resolution honoring Creative Growth Arts Center upon their 50th anniversary for outstanding service to the city of Oakland and contemporary artists with develop developmental disabilities, and we have one speaker that signed up.

Wonderful.

I will ask the uh honorese to come up to the podium.

I want to uh along with our economic and workforce development department's cultural affairs team, honor this amazing organization who has now been in existence for 50 years engaged in impactful service to the city of Oakland and its residents.

Creative Growth Art Center was founded by Elias Katz and Florence Ludens Katz in 1974 as first as the first U.S.

organization dedicated to supporting artists with disabilities.

For decades, Creative Growth has helped people with disabilities to express themselves and exhibit their work professionally, helping advance inclusive creative development and artistic education for all.

Thank you to everyone at Creative Growth Arts Center for your impactful work and congratulations on this 50 years.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I will open up the microphone to hear from our honorees.

Thank you so much, Chair Fife and the City Council.

Um, good evening.

You said it all.

On behalf of Creative Growth Arts Center, I want to express our deepest gratitude to the Life Enrichment Committee and the City of Oakland for this recognition of our 50th anniversary as the first and largest progressive art studio in the United States.

Um for a half-century creative growth has been a pioneering force advancing the inclusion of artists with developmental disabilities in the contemporary art world.

Um, just like you said, Chair Fife, we were founded in 1974.

Um we provide a supportive art studio environment and gallery presentation for 140 artists, and that includes adults with disabilities and youth with disabilities that live here in Oakland, and throughout the Bay Area.

So Oakland's commitment to arts and culture is vital.

Creative growth believes that art is a fundamental human right and a powerful form of communication and accessible to all.

So we're more than just an art studio, it's a place where artists with disabilities can thrive.

And uh, you know, we've shown all over the world.

SF MOMA has acquired many works, and we've also shown work in the Smithsonian.

Um, we're we're really proud to be part of Oakland's vibrant and diverse art scene.

Thank you again for your support.

It's through these partnerships that Oakland continues to be a city where opportunities are available for art for all and where creativity and inclusion flourish.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I do want to present to you a resolution.

Because our rules of procedure have changed for the city of Oakland a number of times in the last few years.

We are now required to present our resolutions in committee.

And so I do want to let the committee know that I'm going to take a brief moment to hand the resolution to our honorees today and take a brief picture and then I will hear from our public speakers on.

Do we have any more public speakers?

Can you all three step to the microphone and share your names?

My name is Emilia.

My name is Alina.

And my name's Jen Cesario.

Thank you.

While I'm presenting this resolution to our honorees, I will entertain comments from our committee.

I'll entertain a motion.

For your service.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

And second, it's a fantastic program.

Thank you for everything.

I'm gonna take a moment of privilege as the chair of this committee and say I think it was very um poor form for us to change the rules of procedure because we can't appropriately honor our guests, but we will move forward and we will have to make amendments to our rules of procedure.

That stated, I want to bring up and thank you, everyone.

And if you were not able to check out this exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California, there was into the brightness, was an amazing exhibit by your organization.

Thank you so much for everything that you do for the city.

Thank you.

Go to the McGrath.

Yeah.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Councilmember Gaio, seconded by Council Member Wong to approve the recommendation of staff and support this item to the October 7th City Council Agenda on Consent.

On roll, Councilmember Gaio.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Council Member Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Fipe.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item number three passes with four eyes to forward the item to the October 7th City Council agenda on consent.

Reading in item four.

Adopt a resolution honoring Diamano Cura West African Dance Company upon their 50th anniversary for outstanding service to the city of Oakland through their presentation of traditional West African music, dance, theater, and culture.

We have two speakers that signed up for this item.

To give, yes, please come to the microphone.

Everyone is looking beautiful today.

As our honorees come to the microphone, I want to just express what an honor it is to recognize the Amano Cora for their amazing contributions to the city of Oakland.

This is a West African dance company that is celebrating their 50th anniversary in the city of Oakland.

And as one of the dance or yeah, go ahead and clap for that.

It's five decades.

As one of the dance organizations in the Malonga Center for the Arts, I've seen personally how much joy and cultural enrichment Diamond Cora brings to Oakland, especially our young people.

And we thank you for your dedicated work to advance belonging, inclusion, and expression through dance, and just the model that you are for resiliency in the city of Oakland because it has not been easy.

It has not been easy.

So I want to congratulate you and give you the opportunity to say a few words.

Well, on behalf of Jammanakura, on behalf of Jammanakura, we'd like to say thank you to the city of Oakland and all those who were a part of honoring us.

Um this honor is not just for us, it's for our community for the city of Oakland and those near and far.

Hello, uh, my name is Danielle Delane.

I'm a project manager and community liaison for Giamatokora, and so I just want to echo those same sentiments and um extend our heartfelt gratitude to the city of Oakland, the City of Oakland uh Council, the Life Enrichment Committee, and our D3 uh council member and committee chair five, thank you.

Um, as stated, we are dedicated to the preservation and education of traditional West African dance, theater, and culture, and so we do this through classes, through workshops, through lectures, through performances, and so it's been tireless work, but it's been uh rewarding work, and so we look forward to another 50 years of bringing traditional West African dance and drum culture to Oakland.

Um, we are more so appreciative of this recognition during our 50th year because it is a powerful acknowledgement of the meaningful contributions that Jaminokora has made to Oakland's community.

Um, we are concluding our 50-year anniversary um with our annual repertory concert, which will be held December 6th at the Valley Center for Performing Arts, and we invite you all to join us.

So here's another 50 years of dancing, drumming, teaching, sharing, and building community.

Thank you.

And the reason why I put the next generation forward, because it's my time to step back and move them forward into the next 50 years, and we all should be able to do that.

Recognize our young talents, our young brains, and whatnot.

And we want to thank the council very much.

Thank you.

Thank you for your wisdom as well.

I'll entertain a motion.

I second it.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Councilmember Guyles, seconded by Council Member Houston to approve the recommendation of staff and to forward this item to the October 7th.

City Council agenda on consent on rule, Councilmember Guile.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Five.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item number four passes with four eyes.

Four eyes to forward this item to the October 7th City Council agenda on consent.

Now reading in item number five.

Adopt a resolution amending resolution number 90767, CMS, which awarded Oakland Oakland Fund for Children and Youth OFCY, grants to 74 nonprofit and public agencies for 144 district grant programs providing district services for fiscal year 2025 to 2026.

To one, correct the total award awarded amount for 18,252,282 to 18 million 527,382.

And two, change to the lead lead agency without changes to the grant amounts for the following.

One, replace Asian Pacific Environmental Network with the Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund, and the fiscal sponsor for AYPAL, building API Community Power Youth Leadership and Development Programs.

Two, replace the Oakland Lee Foundation with Girls Inc.

of Alameda County as the grantee agency for learning without limits expanded learning programs, and we do have two speakers on this item.

We will hear a brief presentation and then move to the public speakers.

Good afternoon, Robin Levinson with Oakland Fund for Children and Youth within the Human Services Department.

Today we uh bring our request to amend resolution 90767 in three ways.

One to correct the total amount awarded uh to correct uh 90767, which incorrect incorrectly listed the total amount approved due to a staff calculation error.

The second change is to change that lead agency without any changes to the grant amounts for APAL, and also uh they're changing their fiscal sponsor.

And for Oakland, uh Leaf that will no longer be the agency lead for the Learning Without Limits Expanded Learning Program as Girls Inc.

will be the agency lead.

In both of these cases, there's no change to the total grant amounts, but we did receive word of both of these changes after the passage of resolution 90767.

That is all three changes today.

Thank you.

Moving to the public speakers that signed up for this item, Mrs.

Olabala and Johanna Macis.

You can come up to the podium.

Okay.

Um is it necessary to have some explanation for uh removal of agencies?

Was this voluntary on the part of the original agency, or is it required for some reason that they have to be removed?

And I address that because we have an item coming up.

We hit we had a nonprofit at McClimme and SPAT, and they were doing some mismanagement of funds, and so now they have to be removed, and it is very difficult to appreciate the effort to manage 144 programs, and it's very difficult to uh have an opportunity to look at the variety of programs because to manage them, there's so many different types of programs mental health programs, academic programs, youth employment leadership programs, uh, violence prevention program.

Look at the scope of all the different areas, okay.

So it's a lot, but there are things going on where we are not holding nonprofits, and it's happened all over the country.

You're seeing nonprofits with abuse issues, fiscal issues, mismanagement issues, people not being qualified, having sex offenders in the programs, and so forth and so on.

So we've got to do the best that we can to make sure that these programs are effective, efficiently, culturally competent because we have so many different groups of people uh that are participating that have different culture necessities that have to be addressed in order to meet their needs, and as I said before, could it be addressed?

What happened that we had to all people voluntarily uh submitted to not be able to do this work for whatever reason, and then the last thing is uh we have to focus, and you're saying you have in racial equity and social equity.

I totally agree.

Hi, my name is Johanna Massis.

I'm with Girls Inc.

of Alameda County.

I have been fortunate enough to be at service with Oakland Leaf.

I served there for eight years and now have been at Girls Inc.

for four years.

Um, I oversee compliance, so I get what you're saying, uh, because that's super important.

Um we need to be at service and use funds responsibly.

So I wholeheartedly hear you with that.

Um, I also oversee the evaluation and the training that happens at Girls Inc.

of Alameda County.

And so I wanted to share just some highlights from last year, and part of what happens is principals have a say towards the end of the school year as to which partner they want for their expanded learning service provider, and so because the needs of our young people and our behalf our families do change over time.

Principals make that decision, and so the principal at learning without limits wanted to have a provider who could focus more on literacy development, and that is our wheelhouse at Girls Inc.

of Alameda County.

So I wanted to just share some highlights that um from this past school year, 63% of our girls um were at grade level.

We met them where they were at, and they met at grade level by the end of the school year, and 68% of our boys also increased their literacy to their grade level.

Also, wanted to add that 60% of our English language learners met grade level by the end of the year, and 70% of our English only speakers were at grade level when they finished.

And so not only do we focus on literacy development in our elementary school programming, but we also do puberty and hygiene.

We cover sisterhood because we serve boys and young men.

We also um address what allyship looks like when they are in spaces with our girls.

And woven through everything is the social and emotional learning uh practices and trauma informed practices.

Um, and then the final last things I wanted to share were just that 91% of our caregivers saw increased confidence in reading in their young people, and 89% uh reported that their young people were motivated to read on their own.

So um looking forward to honor and be at service to learning without limits this coming year.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments and chair that concludes our speakers on this item.

Thank you for that, um, Madam City Clerk.

And there we did hear this item, and I appreciate the um updates that were made and clarified in today's item.

But there was a question from the public that I think is relevant to the conversation around whether the providers I I heard you in the presentation, but if you could just reiterate whether the providers are um having to leave because of external or other issues, like we will hear in the in one of the upcoming items.

Thank you for that question through the chair.

My name is Robin Love, and I'm the child and youth services manager for the human services department for uh thank you.

So for the first for uh APAL, that is a fiscal sponsorship, and that fiscal sponsorship ended, and because they still require fiscal sponsorship, we identified working with them, another fiscal sponsor.

There is no issues with performance there, and then as stated earlier, uh OUSD and principals have the right to uh look at the programming for the past year and then decide whether or not they want to proceed.

So we also have to get OUSD support, and there was a transition there, but there are no performance issues with either of the programs as identified in the agenda report.

Thank you for that clarification and welcome.

With that comment, um, I will entertain.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yes, uh I'll make a motion to approve Steph's recommendation.

And that's a second.

Thank you.

That was a motion made by Councilmember Guyos, seconded by council member Wang to approve the recommendation of staff and to forward this item to the October 7th City Council agenda on consent on roll.

Councilmember Guyo.

Councilmember Houston.

I did have a comment, but uh can I make a comment now?

So so what I see is it's a hundred and forty-four programs, right?

And on the result based on on results, um, let me just ask a question.

Did they have to lower their amount because of scope of work and did the scope of work change on many of these items?

The scope of work did not change, it's the same programming offered by different agencies, and there are 144 programs.

Those programs are rolled up in 74, 75 agencies.

So let's just look at like this through the looking glass for 125,000.

They had the same contract before, yes.

And it was the same scope of work for the same amount, yes.

So all of them have the same amount of work, um same amount of dollar amount with the same scope of work.

Yes, we are modifying the outcomes, though, so we'll come back to you at a later presentation to share with you the work that we've been doing around uh results-based accountability.

And is anyone better off?

And the outcomes, okay.

All right, I'm I'm good.

So I.

Okay, council member Wong.

Um, I thank you.

And Chair Five.

I thank you.

Item number five passes with four ayes to be forwarded to the October 7th city council agenda on consent.

Now reading in item number six.

Adopt the resolution one awarding and or amending grant agreements and professional services agreements to the homeless service providers, and for the terms and amounts identified in table two and table three using previously appropriated state and local funding, two, waiving the local/slash small local business enterprise requirements for the providers identified in table four for the provisions of hygiene services at encampments and homeless system support, three authorizing the city administrator to increase the agreements and move funding identified in table two and table three using funding that city council has appropriated for the programs during the term of such agreements and for appropriating funds from the Housing Fast Support Network, lease revenues received in fiscal year 2025-26 and amending resolution number 90420 CMS, which awarded a grant agreement to Bay Area Community Services for the HFSN program to change the funding from County of Alameda Social Services Agency to state permanent local housing allocations and five making CEQA findings, and we do have three members of the public that signed up to speak.

Thank you for that, Madam City Clerk.

I would like to ask Sasha Housewald to come to the mic.

I didn't see you over there.

Thank you.

We're gonna put 10 minutes on the clock for this presentation.

We hope to have a very robust conversation about this.

I do hope that through this presentation, some of the questions that the public has been emailing our offices get answered because there's some confusion around whether or not uh services and funds to some of the interventions in the city would be ending immediately.

So look forward to this presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair Fife.

Um, Sasha Housewell, Chief Homelessness Solutions Officer, and I am also serving as the interim community homelessness services manager.

So I'm in two temporary roles, and I wanted to thank you all for uh taking time to meet with me in advance of this meeting.

It I really uh I've appreciated the support that you've given to me as a new leader in homelessness in the city and also appreciated the hard questions that you all posed.

Um I think it really shows how engaged this council is and how much you're aware of the crisis of homelessness here in our city.

Um so I'm gonna start off with a presentation that has let's say oh yeah, the clicker works.

All right.

Uh a little bit of a high level overview about homelessness in Oakland, very, very brief, and then a little bit about our programs that we fund through the community homelessness services division of the human services department, and then I will talk about the specific questions coming to you in this agenda item.

So um, as you know, uh homelessness is is a top priority for all of us in the city.

For many of us in the city, and we have um five thousand four hundred and eighty-five Oakland residents experiencing homelessness according to the most recent pit count, which was an increase above the prior pit count.

We have a new pit count coming to us.

Um, we're currently working to organize the internal city team and collaborate with the county who manages the pit count to make sure that we have really robust outreach and engagement and an accurate count of what has been happening in unsheltered and sheltered homelessness, and that will take place in January of 26.

We also know that there are extreme racial disparities in terms of who experiences homelessness, and that 48% of unsheltered individuals here in Oakland identify as black or African American, while black and African American residents make up only 21.8% of Oakland's population.

So through the community homelessness services division, uh the city funds 37 total programs and three consultants to provide services to the unsheltered and to provide interim housing as well as rental support to people who are previously experiencing homelessness.

This has the total count of programs supported by CHS.

18 of these 37 are coming to you for discussion today.

And this is the breakdown, not in terms of the number of programs, but in terms of the number of beds or program slots, so that you can see the relative number of people who are currently served or housed in our community cabin sites, our emergency congregate shelter sites, our non-congregate interim shelter sites, our short-term rental assistance, or it's often called rapid rehousing programs, our safe RV parking programs, and our transitional, often longer-term specialized population programs called transitional housing.

Now, our current program capacity is 1,651 beds.

However, retaining all of those beds would be dependent upon a larger budget than we have currently.

In the current cycle, we have reductions in HAP funding as well as general fund and measure Q funding for a total shortfall of about 22 million dollars.

This slide is showing you the trajectory for HAP.

If the city receives HAP6 as we expect, we will receive 23 million dollars this year.

Well, actually, we'll receive half of it this year, but we'll receive 23 million dollars in total through HAP6.

And then we also anticipate that HAP 7 will be half that much.

And so if you project out for another fiscal year, we actually are gonna have more like 11 million dollars coming through HAP 7.

So while HAP has been in general following this upward trajectory since round two, we expect it to now quite dramatically fall into the future.

We also um experienced, oh okay.

So HAP, this is a little bit more about HAP.

HAP has served about 5,071 individuals in Oakland, 58% of which are black, and 49% of which are chronically homeless.

HAP also comprises about two-thirds of the current community homelessness services budget, so that decline in HAP, both HAP6 and potential HAP 7 is gonna have very significant impacts on our ability to sustain programs.

You have a little bit more detail here about the range of programs that are supported by HAP, it's essentially everything.

In addition to reductions in HAP, we also saw reductions in Measure Q dollars this year, which have also been a critical local resource for homelessness programs.

Our Measure Q funding in this fiscal year was about half of what it was last year.

And we also saw a reduction in study general fund.

The rest of these funds on this sheet, the community homelessness services division continues to receive and use and haven't seen dramatic drops, although, of course, we are still facing a lot of uncertainty around our federal funds, particularly our continuum of care funds.

So as I mentioned in total, CHS has received about 22 million dollars in fiscal year 25-26.

So we were forced to figure out how to align our programmatic spending with the available budget through the council approved biannual budget process.

And in order to do that, our proposal is to provide seven of the programs that are coming back for contract renewal with six months of funding rather than one full year of funding, and to use the six months as a planning period for what's next for those programs.

The selection for reduced funding was based on the program's measurable performance outcomes.

We had a lot of internal conversations as well as conversations with you and to the providers to try and figure out what would the best fairest way be of making these incredibly challenging cuts to programs that are inherently valuable to the people of Oakland.

Every program is offering significant value both to the people who are receiving direct benefits and to neighbors.

However, we had to make these difficult choices, and we felt that the most objective transparent way of doing that would be to base those reductions, meaning the six-month rather than one year contract renewal amount on measurable outcomes that we can see in the homelessness management information system, particularly looking at exits from homelessness to permanent housing and exits from homelessness to places unfit for human habitation, as well as a number of other performance measures that are included in our contracts.

Although the story is pretty um hard in terms of the funding that we have, we have actually a much more optimistic story for you in terms of our strategy.

So in this round, we significantly changed the way that we are going to do contracting with our providers to make sure that we are better partners moving forward.

You may have heard from providers that are in your district that sometimes it has been difficult for the city to contract timely and pay timely to the essential providers that are providing housing services and interim support to unhoused individuals.

And this is not acceptable, and we have tackled that with collaboration with our contracts division, our legal division, and made significant changes to the contract template to make it so that we can contract for a two-year cycle, even if we don't have funding already in our bank account essentially.

So we can use funds that city council appropriates and add them through tax task order to contracts without having to go through a full amendment process or a full new contract cycle, which should make our payments to our providers much more timely, and it also allows us the flexibility to be able to add funds into these contracts that you're seeing before you as soon as additional funding becomes available, such as the HOP $6, which we do anticipate hopefully receiving as a city in the end of in December or January.

We're not sure of the exact time frame, but it will be either December 2025 or January 2026, which would allow us to infuse funds into a share of the programs that currently only have six months of funding awards planned.

And in this six-month planning period, we are also working closely with providers to do two things.

One is to make sure that they are supported and that they are clear on what we are hoping to see in terms of outcomes for clients.

So, how can we support them to move more folks on into permanent housing solutions?

How can we support them to shorten terms of stay in cases where folks are essentially using interim housing as a permanent housing solution, which is not the program intent.

This is the list of all programs for which we can offer a full year of funding.

We also, I forgot to mention we moved the contract cycle so that we don't have contract renewals coming up during council recess or at the end of the fiscal year, which was also creating a lot of delays in terms of us being able to finalize contracts.

So everyone is moving to the extent that we possibly can to contracts that end either the end of September or later or shortly thereafter.

There are some contracts where we're bound in by something that was started in 2024.

So those contracts you're not going to see that shift in the cycle.

So we have 511 beds that we are supporting for a full year of funding in this agenda report, and that is for a total funding ask of 21,640, sorry, 21,640,317.

That would be for a two-year service cycle for those 511 beds.

What we actually currently have funding for is not what you're seeing in that not to exceed column.

Because again, that not to exceed column will allow us to renew these programs and to infuse funds into the programs as you uh as you approve the funding itself.

Um what is proposed to add into these contracts to sustain them for the next year is the $8,324 $107.

Okay, moving on.

Next slide, please.

Oh, that's me.

I can do it.

Um, so six months of funding awards are going to the chart in front of you.

There are 433 beds in these programs.

Um, and the total cost to sustain all of these beds for a two-year cycle would be $21,025,674.

So just a little bit less.

Sorry, it's a little bit more per bed for the programs that we're closing than it is on average per bed for the programs that are remaining open.

Um, sorry, I mistaken terminology there.

We are not closing these programs, but we are awarding them for a six-month cycle to be able to um figure out what the next step might be.

The proposed contract amount that we will be providing for these coming six months of planning is six million five hundred and sixty-three dollars, five hundred and sixty-three thousand dollars, four hundred and seven.

And that concludes my presentation.

I welcome your questions.

I will entertain the speakers, madam city clerk.

Thank you for the presentation.

Calling in the names that signed up to speak on item number six.

If you're here in chamber, you can come up to the podium, or if you're on Zoom, please raise your hand to be easily identified.

Rachel Cohen, Armando, and Asado Olavala.

Please state your name before you begin.

Armando.

So we can't be cutting hundreds of interim housing units in the midst of this unsheltered crisis.

If there are poor outcomes of these programs, empower community-based operators to help manage these sites.

Wood Street Commons, homefulness, the village.

They have a trauma-informed perspective.

They have cultural competency, they have experience.

We can't be putting more people out on the street and worsening the unsheltered crisis.

And that's what's happening on a daily basis, and it's ramping up in recent weeks.

The police captains are telling officers to tow all RVs with no notice, no shelter offer, no storage offer in violation of the EMP and the morale settlement.

They're implementing the encampment abatement policy before it's been passed by council with no transparency or accountability.

Putting someone out of their home onto the sidewalk with nothing just worsens the social crisis level and incurs downstream financial costs.

Increased calls for service, increased emergency room visits, increased overdoses, increased mortality risk.

There's a lot of data supporting that.

It's inhumane and ineffective.

If there are health and safety hazards, provide hygiene and sanitation support.

ACA Duffy said that the encampment residents are not necessarily committing serious crimes, but encampments are exploited by organized crime and used as cover by constantly tying people who live in RVs to crime to justify towing them.

You are collectively punishing a stigmatized group for the actions of a few.

This is criminalizing survival, it's getting harder to survive every day.

We need safe living sites with outreach and support solutions, not sweeps.

Good afternoon.

I'm Rachel Gunn, a resident of District Three, and I am here to offer my comment on item six about just raising some extreme concern for the proposed cuts to services.

As we all know, Oakland residents are currently facing facing rising costs of living that impact us all and have hit our neighbors that have the lease the hardest.

As encampments continue to be swept, evicting my neighbors in District three.

We can't afford to lose the limited options that we have now that currently exist for homeless residents.

Oakland leadership must listen to community-led solutions, open public lands for safe parking and sanctuary encampments, and maintain funding for the limited beds we currently have.

Every week in my district, almost every day, I feel like I see my homeless neighbors lose the small corners of the city that are currently afforded, and what we need are more housing options, not fewer.

I want to live in an Oakland that we can all live housed with safety and dignity.

Thank you.

This is just a living example what I've always said and continue to say.

You are not seriously committed to the homeless community here in Oakland.

You did it when you wouldn't allow the community to have free housing for people who are sick because you claim if the homeless people would come into your community, there would be violence on your neighbors.

No respect for the homeless community.

You have a partnership mentioned in this document with the Oakland Housing Authority.

You have never had the Oakland Housing Authority to come before you to see how they provide vouchers for the homeless because you don't care about the homeless.

Would you make in the statement that the money for the homeless would come from Measure W, Alameda County?

You took no responsibility except for homeless prevention.

You're saying in a document that you're not going to use any money for measure Q, uh 48, I'm sorry, a 48% reduction in the use of measure Q.

So you also say here that you have the Henry Robinson uh needing funding.

You list a whole lot of needs.

How could you all day long approve contracts where you extending the contracts for two years and you don't know where the money's coming from?

But here you're saying we have to have contracts for one year and six months because you don't know where the money's coming from, but you've done it for other contracts.

You've extended it, not knowing where the money's coming from.

You have no respect for this community.

You have no respect.

You even you don't even put it on the table to look at the homeless uh commission, advisory commission to say what do you think about what they're doing?

What's your recommendation?

That group hardly meets.

Show some evidence of how you are respecting this.

Thank you for your comments.

That concludes our all speakers on this item.

Thank you, Madam City Clerk, and thank you to our public speakers for um just lifting up your voices around these issues.

This is a really really complicated and very expensive um issue to address.

I do have questions and I do want to find out if there are questions from the body.

Um so I do see councilmember everyone, Councilmember Guyo.

So if we could go ahead and turn on your mics so I can recognize um each of you.

I I do have a couple questions uh to our staff to Sasha Housewald.

Um, number one, are the recommendations that are coming to us today to the Life Enrichment Committee coming from this new office that's been developed, or is it uh just the recommendations from the people who've been doing this work kind of every day for the last little while around uh community homeless services?

The recommendations are coming to you today from the Human Services Department.

So it's the community homelessness services division of the humeless services department.

I'm here before you today wearing my hat as the interim manager of the community homelessness services division.

And so, uh again, as I stated earlier, we're I I received personally several phone calls and emails about um nervousness from individuals thinking with this legislation once passed, we would be closing and shutting down interventions, the interventions that were mentioned in the presentation today.

Can you tell me if we are potentially shutting down most of the bids that are going to be used for encampment resolution?

So everything we prioritize making sure that there is a enough transition time and enough planning time to be able to hopefully not shut down anything.

So that's what the six-month awards were, right?

We just we chose not to make any shorter, more immediate closures.

Um and you know that has consequences as well, right?

Spreading out the funding for a little bit longer, but no, there are no beds that are closing today.

Um in terms of the question about encampment resolution.

We have in the funded by the community homelessness services division.

There are currently 915 total beds who can that can receive referrals directly from encampment resolution activities and don't have to take their referrals through the coordinated entry system.

Um there are a few programs that do have to take referrals from specific places like the coordinated entry system because they're serving a specific subpopulation, but that's not the case for most of our beds.

Um the programs that are slated for this six-month planning period uh come to a total of 350 beds out of those 915.

Okay, and so do the programs that will remain funded accept people from encampment resolution activity.

By and large, yes.

There are a total of 565 beds that will remain funded that accept unsheltered residents from encampment resolution and operations, including two of the programs that are coming before you in that gender report.

Okay, and then our lower performing bids to being closed or eliminated to serve high performing programs.

So, first of all, I want to acknowledge that all of our program providers are excellent and committed, and that there are multiple factors that lead to the performance outcomes that we see.

So, programs that have stretched funding, programs that have stretched staff, programs that are in difficult parts of town, programs that are outdoor solutions, programs that are seeing high acuity individuals, all of this will impact sort of the rate of graduation out of the program into a positive destination, which would be a permanent housing destination or another interim housing destination versus the rate of graduation back to the street, which is what we don't want to see because that continues to grow our unhoused population living outside.

Um with that context, the programs that we are closing actually on average have a slightly lower cost per bed, very slightly, as compared to the programs.

Sorry, those programs that we are, the programs that we are providing one year of funding for have a slightly lower cost per bed than the programs that we were proposing for six months of funding.

Thank you for that.

Um, just a couple more questions.

Uh, and I I do want to state for the record that a lot of these interventions are in district three, and I've heard from unsheltered folks as well as service providers themselves, specifically operation dignity, is that they're being asked to do a lot more without appropriate funding to serve the populations that they're working for.

And I I think it's important to acknowledge that some of these interventions are the most challenging populations to serve, and so I I appreciate the fact that you started saying that the city is going to do a better job and being a better partner to these service providers because it it's a lot, and for them to get paid late or not to get paid at all makes it impossible for any of this already fragile system to work.

So thank you for stating that earlier.

Um, so my my final question, I believe it'll be my final question for now, is around the metrics used to determine staff recommendations, the rate of returns to homelessness, the rate of exits.

So I wanted to understand if we are looking at the total number of people who stayed in these interventions and didn't return to the streets, as well as those who left to permanent or temporary housing.

How do lower performing programs compare to higher performing programs?

So on average, the higher performing programs will have a higher proportion of their residents exiting to permanent housing solutions.

So that could be living with family or friends, it could be living, you know, having your own rental apartment, it could be having a voucher or a short-term voucher to support your rent, or it could be moving into affordable housing.

It takes a lot of work, both for that individual and in terms of supportive services to help somebody pull together all of the documentation, the ID, the applications that it takes to get to take that step.

The programs that have stronger exits to those permanent housing solutions is one of the things that we looked at.

That is something that varies, as I said, by a lot of different things.

Program model does impact that those rates.

And so, for instance, in Oakland as well as other places, outdoor solutions like community cabins, a safe review parking are a little bit more difficult to ensure that you have folks transitioning from the program into permanent housing solutions, also because of the low barriers to entry that are common for those types of programs.

The programs that are planned for six month awards, we're gonna work with the providers to figure out what are some of the barriers that they feel they can tackle to increase their rate of exiting the program to a permanent housing destination.

And this does get into something that is very central in for the Office of Homelessness Solutions, which is that this city must increase our rate of flow through the homelessness system because right now what we have is people waiting on the streets for a referral, and we have people waiting in shelter for a home, and neither they're they're um bottlenecks in the system.

So, in order to create more flow through interim housing, we need to support our providers to move people into a better next step, um, and to uh then have that vacancy in their program into which new individuals can move, therefore reducing the rate of unsheltered homelessness in the city.

So it's not just about the number of beds that we have, it's about the number of people who are being served positively by those beds.

Thank you for that.

Thank you for answering those uh preliminary questions I have.

I know this is gonna be a pretty robust discussion, so I'll open it up to the committee.

Still blinking.

Okay, hi, Miss Sasha.

I have a question.

You had a bunch of questions.

You said 23 million dollars for beds.

Can you repeat that part?

You said 23 million dollars for beds.

How many beds was that?

Or did I miss that?

Um, I think are you looking at the let me look at the slide deck again?

And send me to a PowerPoint when you have time, okay.

All right, here we go.

So I think you're looking at these numbers.

So uh what I was trying to do is give uh the council a sense of cost, the cost that it that it takes to sustain these programs, right?

Which I think all of us in an ideal world with unlimited resources, we would want to be sustaining these programs just like we would want to be creating new excellent programs for unhoused people in Oakland.

Um this is what that price tag looks like.

So for programs that are currently we can only offer six months of funding.

If we were to be able to sustain that program over two years, um it would cost in total about 21 million dollars for 433 beds.

Now I don't have a calculator right here now, so I can't do the division, but in general it's um you know the the range of cost for a single interim bed is extremely variable.

Um so I just wanted to give you the average comparing those that are slated for six months of funding versus those that are slated for one year of funding.

Okay.

Can you go to the second page of your PowerPoint?

And when you got a chance through the chair, send me that PowerPoint.

Um they go out to right there, it says 500, I mean, 5,485 Oakland residents.

How do you what's your definition of residents?

What I'm saying is when they go out to do this count, they ask them for where they from ID.

How do you know and what's your definition of residence?

Six months, three months, one day here, because from my experience when I'm out there, it's many many people that aren't not from Oakland.

So uh in this case, this is actually referring to people who are living in Oakland as unhoused people.

So that 505,845 just refers to the number of people who are counted as unhoused in Oakland, either sheltered or unsheltered.

We know that 60 to 70 percent of the people who were surveyed in Oakland said that their last place of permanent residence was Oakland.

And we don't know that percentage for folks who are experiencing homelessness outside of Oakland right now.

So, for instance, we don't know the percentage of people who are experiencing homelessness in Berkeley or Alameda for whom their last place of residence was Oakland.

Yeah, because my my question was how do you define residents?

It was residents, so we should probably should change that.

Uh, it's their last permanent home.

So they're the last home, the last place where they had a uh a place to live rather than being homeless.

So the mayor had asked for my data on the RV count, and when I saw right here said that we have only two um safe RV parking, one is on 71st and one is on 66.

Before they was redistrict, they were all in district seven.

Now it's only in district six and seven.

We got five more districts that can actually um have safe RV parking.

Um, and it says 135 RVs in these two spaces.

Is that true?

I think that's right.

I would need to I would to be sure I would need to just double check the program data.

I can get back to you if you want absolute confirmation, but that does sound right.

So the only two RV safe parkings are in district six.

Uh 77 technically, I think 66th Avenue is in Councilmember Jenkins.

District 6.

Oh, yeah, that's right.

You so why isn't it counted?

Um, so um the chair.

Uh through the well, to me.

Sorry, I'm sorry, through the chair.

To Sasha.

To yourself.

And Councilmember Houston, I do, I am aware of one.

I don't think it receives money from the city of Oakland.

Through the through the chair, um, we have provided data in the past on the districts of look that the sort of district location of all of our interim housing programs, including the safe RV parking sites.

We'd be happy to provide that information again for for the council members as a follow-up.

So I so is it is through the chair.

Is it safe?

Is it RVs or is it trailers?

Because it's two different RVs and automobiles.

Because I got re um Trinity, can you come up and read that what came in from a question that I asked and who it came from?

Hi, Miss Sasha.

Um, so we have an email that is coming from Chrissy Love to our chief of staff, Victoria Check.

And the response in the email says, Hi, Victoria.

The city supports two RV safe parking sites.

One located at 71st Avenue, which is operated by housing Consultorium of the East Bay, and it has a 34 R V capacity space.

And another location at 66th Avenue, which is operated by Urban Alchemy, which has a capacity of 101 RVs.

The rest of the emails says I'm happy to answer any additional questions.

Any thanks.

Thank you.

Yeah, so it just says those two.

So we need to get that data for the others if one is in our chair vice district.

I need all RVs.

How many RV sites we have and how many RVs we have?

Through the chair.

Those are the only two safe RV parking sites that the city supports.

I will triple check, but I do not believe there are any other safe RV parking sites funded by any other entity.

Right.

So I'll I have a couple more questions, but I'm gonna pass it to my colleagues because I gotta talk to my staff.

Okay.

Okay.

Hi, Sasha.

Thanks for the presentation.

I and I really appreciate the updates.

I think one concern I had, and I can tell from the chair's questioning that we had some of the similar concerns was around encampment resolution as well as I think just to use the because I think it's important to go towards performance, but I was concerned that maybe just using exaggeration for the sake of illustration that we be, you know, you could preserve 20 of the highest performing beds, and let's say it's a hundred percent rate uh exit to permanent shelter or permanent housing, excuse me, but we're only helping 20 people versus helping like you know 500 people and maybe the performance, but um was overall lower.

But it looks like based off of the materials that you've provided, as well as um both in the presentation as well as in your email that what we're actually doing with this set of funds um just to confirm is it's actually per bed, the costs are actually lower for um the set of one-year contracts as well as um, and we're actually the absolute number of people that we're helping is actually going to be the highest with the set of beds that you've proposed for the one-year contract.

Uh through the sheriff, thank you for your questions in advance of this conversation.

I think it really um it spurred us to take a closer look uh at those questions and those data, and we did find confirmation that this proposal is the best that we can do in a difficult situation to move you know to serve our own house population as best as we possibly can with the limited funds, and that means preserving the programs that are serving the most people and serving them to move through into permanent housing and to work in this six-month period to retain and support the rest of our programs as well.

That makes sense.

There were a couple of programs that I don't see a direct connection to, like porter potties and mobile showers and laundry that um don't have a direct connection to those individuals being exiting to permanent housing, but is it fair to say because I noticed that those programs are not eligible for HAP 6, and that's the reason they're being included for the one year round versus um some of the six-month programs, so it's a strategic move.

We know it's not gonna qualify for HAPSIC, therefore let's fully fund it with the city funds, with our city funds.

Uh through the chair, we we consider those programs as essential services for the health safety and sanitation of Oakland residents to ensure that encampment uh residents have a place to do their private business and to be clean.

Um, and so we continued those contracts as they have been historically funded.

Okay.

And what about the consulting?

What services does consulting provide?

Since it's I would guess just by the label that they're not direct services to the house, so what how do they support our response system?

I had the same skepticism.

So our consultants actually help us use and and obtain more funding.

And so that is why we're recommending that those small consultant contracts remain.

One of the consultants is primarily supporting our family providers to draw down on HUD funds, which can be logistically very difficult.

And the another provider historically has done our applications for the HUD COC funds, allowing us to bring in that very significant source of funding, which we hope HUD will continue to fund.

Okay.

So I'm just wondering do you have your theories as to why these outdoor programs are both more expensive to operate on a per bed basis?

And as well as not delivering the outcomes that we need.

So all of our programs cost oh, through the chair.

Um all programs cost money to operate, right?

Every program needs security, every program needs staffing, every program needs cleaning, outdoor solutions can be more vulnerable to damage.

So fence breaches, um, portraying maintenance, generator damage, um, trespassing.

So there have been quite a number of unanticipated capital expenses for us to be able to keep our community cabin sites open, and that's I think that is one of the reasons that we're seeing those solutions being as expensive as some of the smaller indoor solutions and transitional housing programs.

Okay.

Sorry, another reason is that um the city does not always pay for the full cost of the program, and so some of our programs are able to leverage outdoor funds more effectively than others, and that is something that again we hope to support the existing providers to be able to identify outside funds.

So the city of Oakland isn't the sole funder, okay.

Great.

And my final thing is just a comment to my colleague, council member Houston.

Um, it was noted in Sasha's presentation that two-thirds of CHS's budget relies on the HHAP funds, and so as we review your draft EAP policy, I think that's why it's so critical that we get that component right.

It's a lot of funding at stake.

Thank you.

That the numbers they write.

I mean, I'll show you what you say, and is is is incorrect, but I'll show you through.

Oh, I'll show you.

Yes, thank you, and thank you for the information and certainly uh to the members of the council, members of the public.

I've spent a great deal of time reviewing with our staff the proposalist before us, and I appreciate the work that you're doing, and certainly we know this from the very beginning when we started having our homeless uh challenge throughout the city of Oakland, and it keeps escalating.

I see it daily, and yes, I see it on a daily basis because we're out there cleaning encampments and people showing up to the city of Oakland.

I saw over in front of Home Depot at five in the morning a bus unloading people.

And I say, hey, where were you from?

What are you doing?

Well, we're getting dropped off here, and they gave us four hundred dollars if we would come to Oakland.

So we're getting um, so the challenge for Oakland is one, it's a financial challenge.

The problem keeps growing, certainly we don't have the space, the land to be able to accommodate all the needs that are being presented to the city of Oakland, where there's where there's dealing with the RVs, is dealing with the in housing people, and so the reality is it's not only that the site locations, but the funding source, and that this is where the county is so important to be part of our you know our our um program to serve those that are in need because they do have land available and they do have funding available, and but we need to stay in Oakland has the greatest problem in the county in Alameda County.

So in saying that I based on uh the the proposal recommendations that our staff are delivering today.

I will support their their uh their recommendations, but at the same time for the council, we we have to deal with reality, and certainly, you know, even on Saturday and Sundays being out there at 5 30 in the morning, six in the morning.

And my first hey man, where you from?

I assume you're around.

I know you're not from Oakland.

That's what I'm talking about.

And there was uh young lady trying to, you know, she dropped off her mattress and dropped off her whatever to live right on Fruleville Avenue, and I'm so I said I'm sorry you can't be doing that here, right?

Because I need to respect the residents and the children and families that are trying to also make a living, and especially those who are on our schools for safety, and um, so with that members of the council, I know it's uh is it's not a you know, a is I think we need we need to do a lot more, but I will make a motion to approve staff's recommendations and continue to work together, and certainly I know some of these service providers, some are doing the providing, and some are not, and so I do want to accept that, and so thank you for the information and look forward to continuing to work with you, and I make a motion to approve the item.

Thank you.

Yes, through the chair, I have one more thing to say.

Um Councilmember Noel Guile just mentioned exactly why I pulled that second page up of residence.

What's the definition of residence, right?

And I don't remember what your percentages was about people that's from Oakland or not from Oakland.

Oakland is no longer gonna be a no longer a dumping ground, no longer.

No longer.

I had a meeting with supervisor, um, supervisor Nate Miley, and I said 58% of the homeless that are in Alameda County are here in Oakland, right?

We want 58% of that one point one billion four hundred million dollars.

He said it looks like you're gonna get it.

That's what I like to hear, right?

So the the the in my personal experience, the RV safe parking lots are critical.

It's two in council member Jenkins, President Jenkins district, that's unacceptable.

It was both of ours until it was redistrict.

Um I talked to Ivan Satterfield, which is one of the EMTs, he said one of the most important things here is beds.

He said he fills 98% of the beds.

Call him right now, he'll tell you if you give me the beds, they're filled.

What does that mean?

That means we're pulling individuals off the street.

What does it mean when we have what five other districts that don't have safe parking?

Really?

Six, because they're all in the president's council member Jenkins district.

So we all need to put one in our district, right?

And I'd have the count the mayor had asked me for my RV count, and I'll be getting that tour.

Um Trinity, I need to get that from um Nelly to get that tour to find out how many RVs are there.

We have the count, and I just seen here that these two um locations on 71st and 66 have a hundred and thirty five RVs in them, and we know we have more than that, and they need to be removed off our streets, period.

And I'm gonna say it one more time.

Our city is no longer dumping ground, no longer.

Thank you.

Um, so and Sasha, I just want to commend you because as you were on that meeting.

I was feeling very hesitant about the cuts and this pathword, but the extra data that you provided has really given me the assurances this is the right thing to do.

This absolutely makes sense.

So I wanted I want to second the motion.

Um I do want to just ask one final comment, just with measure W coming online, what can we as counselors help to prepare to take advantage of the funding as soon as it comes out?

I do want to address some of the public comments.

Yes, I had um opposed a shelter in my district because I knew it impede access for Medical, very low-income seniors and their access to food stamps in that corridor.

However, I've identified five other motels in my district that I would like converted into shelter.

And I I want to know what we can do as counselors to start um just taking advantage of the funding to make sure we can solve this crisis.

Thank you for that question.

So, as you know, through the chair, excuse me.

Um Measure W is administered by the county, and we do not yet know uh exactly when the Measure W dollars will become available to providers and applicants in the city of Oakland.

We have indications that the funds are not going to come directly to the city but are gonna come directly to applicants, such as they did in the in the past um letter of solicitation for new shelter programs and new interim programs.

So I think what council could do is to continue to support providers in uh in making those applications, making sure that if you learn from your colleagues on the board of supervisors that there's going to be a solicitation to make sure to share that with the providers in your district, that would be a good fit for measure w so that they can then uh submit their application, and then if there are letters of support that are required as they were last time to be engaged in that process as well.

Okay, thank you.

Before we wrap up this conversation, I just want you if you could um Sasha articulate why this needs to happen right now, and what would be the consequence if this legislation were not passed?

Because I still I don't I don't know if it's been clarified for the public what will happen if if this doesn't move forward.

Thank you, Chair Fife.

I appreciate that question, and I should have said that.

Because our contract, our providers are out of contract in some cases, we need to make sure to get contracts in place so that we can pay folks.

I mean, it's as simple as that.

So right now we actually have providers unfortunately who are continuing to house vulnerable folks who would otherwise be on the street.

Um, and your approval allows us to move forward with the contracting uh process to be able to pay those invoices as quickly as possible.

Now many of our providers do not have big bank accounts, they're small local organizations that cannot afford to front, you know, to front the funds for supporting the the interim shelters that they operate.

And so if we were not to move this forward, we would be jeopardizing the programs that we currently have running, potentially even forcing closure and pushing people out onto the street.

Thank you for that.

Thank and thank you for your presentation and your thorough answering of all of our questions.

I appreciate it.

This is not an easy solution, and it is not a solution.

And I just want to state for the public, like that's what I just said.

Um, but the the reality is, you know, I heard mention of other cities.

San Jose, San Jose, I believe spends hundreds of millions of dollars on their homelessness programs.

Um San Francisco, the same almost probably double what San Jose is spending.

And those San Francisco's a city and a county.

Our county is not um poised or have they don't have the resources to address some of the dumping.

That's an issue.

I heard um council member uh Houston mentioned our district attorney said that they're not going to prosecute illegal dumping because they don't have the resources, and I know that's one of the major issues that comes up around these encampments, but I just want to say I appreciate the work that you've done so far to get us to this point, and I know there are more resources coming with measure W and HAP6 and then HAP 7.

And I know the infrastructure that's being put in place and staffing that's on its way will help us come up with more robust solutions to address homelessness.

We do need support from the county when it comes to these issues.

So point taken.

So that doesn't make any sense, but I appreciate so if we can move forward with the motion in a second.

Thank you.

Through the chair to the maker of the motion, you'd like to forward this item to the October 7th City Council Agenda on consent.

Thank you.

That was a motion made by Council Member Guile, seconded by Councilmember Wong to approve the recommendation of staff and to forward this item to the October 7th City Council agenda on consent on roll, Councilmember Gaio.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

With a comment.

Is it okay, Chair?

I want to comment.

I'm a vote after.

I just want to make one comment.

I will accept it this time.

We ought to get these in during the debate portion, but yes, I will accept the comment.

Okay.

Um I'm gonna say yes on this because we cannot lose 641 shelter beds.

That's why I'm doing we need those beds.

So I say yes.

Thank you.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Five.

I thank you.

Item number six passes with four ayes to be forwarded to the October 7th City Council agenda on consent.

Now reading in item seven, adopt a resolution accepting and appropriating 341,071 for medical related activities through medical administrative activities program and accepting and appropriating any additional funds that may come available and authorize the city administrator to enter into a MAA memorandum of understanding with Alameda County Health to allow for administrative reimbursement to the City of Oakland for performing medical administrative activities for fiscal year 2025 to 2026 and every fiscal year thereafter.

And we do have one speaker that signed up to speak.

We'll put five minutes on the clock for our presentation from staff, and then we'll hear from the public.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you.

Council members.

I'd like to speak on this item.

My name is Anna Bagtus.

I am the manager, human services manager in uh human services and overseeing the aging and adult services division.

For over two decades since 2004, the City of Oakland Human Services Department has been participating in the Medi-Cal Administrative Activities Program, also known as MA, MAA.

By having a signed memorandum of understanding agreement between the city and the Alameda County Health, Oakland is able to receive reimbursement for outreach planning and policy development and administrative services that connect Medi-Cal eligible Oakland residents to health care.

Staff time spent on these MA activities may be claimed and reimbursed by the county based on a formula established by the state and the county.

This agenda item seeks city council's approval to adopt a resolution authorizing the city administrator to sign the memorandum of understanding MOU with Alameda County Health and enable the city of Oakland to continue participating in the MA program.

This fiscal year fiscal year uh 2526 and in the future for this fiscal year 2526.

The approximate reimbursement is around 341,071.

And in future years, this might increase.

Approval of this resolution provide city with an additional revenue source that will strengthen the city's ability to expand Medi-Cal related activities to Oakland residents without increasing reliance on the general fund.

Thank you for your presentation.

Are there any questions before we go to the public commenters?

Moving to the speaker that signed up for item number seven, Mrs.

Olawala.

So at some point, you have to come to a conclusion about who we are as an Oakland community and who we accept into this city.

So we accept certain groups who come from outside of the country, but if you come from outside of the state or outside of the city, but you are a citizen of this country, it may be problematic, particularly if you're homeless.

So MediCal, anybody, eligibility requirement is that you can be a residence.

You don't have to be a citizen, you can be a resident.

What does it take to be a residence?

According to what I've looked at, you only have to live in the city a couple of days.

I forget the number.

And once you live in the city a couple of days, you are officially a resident.

It's all screwed up.

So the officially, you work for anybody and everybody who steps into the city of Oakland.

And anybody and everybody who steps into the city of Oakland, whatever you produce in terms of services and resources, they have a right to have it, including Medicaid.

Now, when we wanted to have reparations for black people, your governor claimed it was too expensive.

But for Medi-Cal, he originally was going to fund it for everybody.

But now he's reduced it to one year, I think in the beginning, and then you have to pay a certain percentage.

What I'm saying in the bottom line is this.

Y'all got certain groups of people you will work for.

Certain groups of people you don't give a damn about.

And black people happen to be the ones you don't give a damn about.

So that's why I'm here all the time.

I'm 80 years old.

I'm tired of coming here, but I'll keep coming to say this.

Thank you for your comments.

Chair, that concludes all speakers on this item.

Thank you.

I will recognize Councilmember Houston.

I move the item.

I um I have heard from the uh constituents who have disabilities that are around paratransit, although let me start with a positive thing.

Actually, the Skogo grant parent program is awesome.

So I will definitely recommend this to um, yes, people in the district.

Put in that the next newsletter.

But um, I have heard um some criticism of our paratransit program of just the fact that they have to book it so far in advance, like they cannot just it's it's not as on demand as the program could be.

Is there is there opportunities where we could strengthen and improve the program so that those with disabilities can you know make a call and get the van within an hour instead of having to pre-plan so in advance?

Sure.

I can answer that question.

Actually, the next item is about the pair transit program that we provide in Oakland.

So I if you want me to answer that then or wait, because this is about the medical administrative um activities funding.

Oh, okay.

Sorry, all right.

That's a good second.

I jumped the gun.

Thank you.

That was the motion made by Councilmember Houston, seconded by Councilmember Guile to approve the recommendation of stop and to forward this item to the October 7th City Council agenda on consent on roll, Councilmember Guile.

Council Member Houston, aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Pipe.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item number seven passes with four ayes to be forwarded to the October 7th City Council agenda on consent.

Now reading in item number eight.

Adopt a resolution when accepting and appropriating direct local program distribution measure distribution measure BB funds in an amount of three million one hundred and ninety-seven thousand and sixty-eight dollars for fiscal years twenty twenty-five to twenty twenty-six from the Alameda County Transportation Commission for Oakland Paratransit for the elderly and disabled programs to provide access to specialized transportation services to awarding reimbursement agreements for paratransit services for fiscal year 2025 to 2026 in the amounts of $850,000, $600,000, sorry, f the $850,000 to Five Rivers Transit Solutions Inc., $600,000 to um quality Transit LLC, $350,000 to Bay Area Charters Inc., $25,000 to one access medical transportation and $75,000 to GoGo Technologies Inc., three, awarding grant agreements in amount of $50,000 City of Emoryville for paratransit services and $300,000 services opportunities for seniors for meal delivery services to isolated and dependent elderly and disabled persons, and four authorizing the city administrator to accept and appropriate any additional direct local distribution funds that may become available for fiscal year 2025 to 2026 and amend the aforementioned agreements to increase the amounts within the limits of the funding.

And we have one speaker that signed up.

Hello again.

Hello again, thank you so much.

So for this item, it's about the paratransit program.

So the Alameda County Transportation Commission, ACTC, allowed uh allow, allocates these direct local program distribution measure BB dollars or DLD measure BB funds to the City of Oakland to deliver non-mandated, it's non-mandated because it is not subject to federal regulations, Paris Transit Services to Oakland residents.

Each fiscal year, the human services department seeks city council's approval to adopt a resolution to accept and appropriate these DLD measure BB funds for the Oakland Paratransit for the disabled, for the elderly and disabled program, also known as OPED.

Through OPED, we deliver these paratransit services for Oakland residents 70 and over, and also disabled 69 uh 18 to uh 69.

So under 70, but with its ability or over 70, they're automatically qualified.

Approval of this resolution authorizes the city administrator to accept $3.197 million in DLD Measure BB funds for fiscal year 25-26 for these paratransit services.

Approval of this resolution will also allow the human services department to award these grants as mentioned.

And these grants are for services that include taxi scripts, wheelchair accessible vans, group trip buses, shuttle services, and we also have door-through-door, meaning like you don't just get dropped off at the curbside, but somebody actually comes with you inside your medical appointment or whatever through volunteers for people who really need support, uh, fulfilling some of these um necessities, medical necessities that they have to go to.

They also go to the senior centers, so it provides a really important lifeline and connection to the community.

Approval ensures continuity of paratransit services, the sustain mobility and independence for vulnerable residents, and leverages outside funding to minimize general fund impact.

This past year, and also early this 2025 year, the Mayor's Commission on Aging and the Human Services Department's aging and adult services division conducted a needs assessment so that we can put together another five-year plan as part of our age-friendly World Health Organization program here in Oakland.

And in this needs assessment process, we collected over 900 surveys.

We conducted 13 listening sessions throughout Oakland that covered all seven districts, and we also made sure that people who live in neighborhoods that are underserved are prioritized, and the marginalized populations are really part of this needs assessment survey.

And what we found is transportation, both in the listening sessions and also in the surveys, ranked very, very high.

In fact, in the survey, it was the number one need that people identified in the next five years.

In the listening sessions, we also found that it's not just about transportation, there's some nuances to transportation.

So, for instance, we conducted a listening session in partnership with Unity Council over at the Fruitvale District and they said we are happy with BART we have we they're happy with BART and they're also happy with uh AC transit however elderly people cannot carry bags of groceries from the bus stop or the BART station to their home so they needed some kind of bridge transportation to get them to their homes.

In East Oakland although people have the taxi scripts taxis drivers sometimes don't want to go to East Oakland.

Same thing with our go-go grandparents program which utilizes by telephone you can book your your Lyft and Uber appointments and when they see the address and it's in deep east Oakland the ride gets canceled so we need to figure out a better transportation system for some of these communities so yes we have these spare transit programs but we also need more to prepare for the future in the next five years and as Oakland residents age this is transportation access is really critical because it really provides them an opportunity to not only go to the senior centers and participate in programs but also medical appointments going to groceries so that they can get their meet and needs met you thank you moving to the public speaker that signed up for item number eight Missisada Ulabala just the same question I had before thanks.

To the chair um so I just want to clarify that the Oakland Paratrans for the disabled and elderly and disabled program or open program is a supplement of the East Bay Pair Transit and I think what you're referring to is the East Bay Paratransit program.

Yes there are some problems we're also hearing the same thing and this is why we have to work together and why our Oakland Paratrans for the elderly the OPED program is a supplement to East Bay Paratransit specifically serving the 70 plus population because a lot of our elderly folks can't be on a shuttle for an hour going you know dropping people off picking people up some of them are in a wheelchair a lot of them are going to the dialysis clinic three times a week and after dialysis you know you sit there for hours during your treatment and then you get on a paratransit bus it's you just want to get home.

So and as as I have mentioned there is um you know a large need for transportation and it's gonna be more so in the future so we need more we have we're just at the baseline and it's not even meeting all of the of all of the needs so we need more transportation and we need more options out there.

Great and then um this is more of a comment but it looks like on the race data that you provided which is super helpful that the Hispanic I don't know if it's a data issue but only 3.6% of the use usage is coming from the Hispanic population so it looks like you're aware of this issue but yeah like we could use some outreach in Spanish language and whatnot to the chair yes we are aware of this and I think our presence this past uh year and also early this year doing the needs assessment and really having that connection with the with Unity Council will really help a lot and we've done and we have done order in the chamber please and we have we have since that um that listening session we have done outreach over there.

We participated in their health fairs and we're and now they're connected to our group trip programs.

So their folks uh are now able to book uh buses so that they can go, you know, even outside of Oakland, Monterey, wherever they want to go, um, to be able to uh you know get their seniors out.

Um, great.

I uh move to accept the staff recommendation or motions.

Yep.

Thank you.

That was a motion made by council member wong, seconded by councilmember Guile to approve the recommendation of staff and support this item to the October 7th City Council agenda on consent.

On row, Councilmember Guile.

Councilmember Houston.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye, and Chair Fife?

Aye.

Thank you.

Item number eight passes with four eyes to forward to be forwarded to the October 7th City Council Agenda on Consent.

Moving on to open forum, and we have one public speaker that's signed up, Mrs.

Olawala.

Spanish speaking Unity Council of Alameda County.

I know why they're calling themselves the Unity Council.

Y'all know too.

So listen, we got a lot of opportunities to serve people in this city.

And you serve whoever you want to serve, but you gotta do it equitably.

And when it comes to your immigrant community, y'all doing a whole lot for them.

And keep it up.

It's great.

But let's get some help for us too.

So let me give you something that's happening with OUSD.

We got 20 people on staff to work with our newcomer and Spanish language community.

We got the secondary language specialist for newcomer, the elementary newcomer specialist, we got the elementary newcomer specialist director.

We have the newcomer wellness initiative director and program manager, the newcomer analysis, the executive director of unaccompanied minors and immigrants, all of that for our beautiful young newcomer students.

And we have newcomer schools.

We have four of them.

We have newcomer curriculums for our newcomers.

We don't have nothing for black children.

We have a reparations for black students committee that was supposed to meet.

Now, when they decided to help our beautiful newcomer students, they didn't have a committee, they just did it, and not only are we supposed to meet to find out how we help black children, we're supposed to come up with some funding related to that too.

So this is what I have issue with.

Anytime you come here to help anybody, when you're gonna help us, keep helping anybody you want, but don't twist that around to say, oh, you don't you're talking against immigrants.

I don't, I'm not talking against anybody.

I'm trying to help us.

And the way to help us is to identify how you help other people.

Okay?

So don't use that.

So when are we gonna see reparations for black people?

Solve this.

Thank you for your comments.

Chair that concludes all speakers.

Thank you all to who participated today, and thank you, madam city clerk.

This meeting is adjourned.