Good afternoon, and welcome to the life enrichment committee meeting of today, July fourteenth.

The time is now four oh two PM, and this meeting has come to order.

Before taking roll, I will provide instructions on how to submit a speaker's card for items on this agenda.

If you are here with us in chambers and you would like to submit your speaker card, please fill one out and turn it into a clerk representative to my left your right before the item is read into record.

Yes, we will be changing the speaking time for public speakers on all items due to the impact of public safety calendar, and we want to make sure that we get out of here on time.

So I just want to make the announcement that we will be changing our commentary to one minute.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Thank you, Chair Five.

We're expecting a large group.

Moving to item one, approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting on June 23rd, 2026.

I'll move approval.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Chair Five, seconded by Councilmember Gallo to accept the draft minutes from the committee meeting on June 23rd, 2026 as is on rural councilmember Gaio.

Councilmember Houston is excused.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

Thank you.

And Chair Five.

Aye.

The motion passes with four three eyes, excuse me, and one it's used Houston to accept the draft minutes from the committee meeting on June 23rd, 2026, as is moving to item two, determination of scheduled outstanding committee items.

This is also known as your pending list.

Yes, the uh count the office, the V3 office has no changes to the pending list at this time.

Are there any changes from the administration?

No changes.

Thank you.

I'll make you notice noting Councilmember Houston at four or five p.m.

Thank you.

I'll entertain a motion.

I'll second.

We do have a motion made by Councilmember Guyo, seconded by Chair Five to accept the termination schedule standing committee items as is on a rural councilmember guillot.

Councilmember Houston.

I've got staying.

I don't know.

Yeah, just what we're at the pending list item two.

Oh, yeah.

I thank you.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

Thank you.

And Chair Five.

Aye.

This motion does pass one for ayes to accept the termination schedule standing committee items as is.

Moving to item three.

Adopt a resolution awarding a grant of construction resource center in an amount not to exceed 100,000 for fiscal year 26 through 27 to support the development and implementation of the City of Oakland's mentor protege program in partnership with the National Association of Minority Contractors, Northern California, NORCAL.

And you do have three speakers for this item.

Thank you, Madam City Clerk.

We will hear a presentation with five minutes on the clock from Maleen Espia.

Okay.

Good afternoon, Chair Fife and committee members.

I am Emma Leen Aspia, and I'm the director of the Department of Workplace and Employment Standards, also known as Dwess.

Thank you for the opportunity to present this item today.

Dwess is requesting approval of a 100,000 dollar grant with Construction Resource Center, also known as CRC, in partnership with the Northern California chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors, also known as NAMAC NORCAL, to support the city's first full implementation of the mentor protege program on a public works project, specifically the MLK Junior Way Streetscapes Improvement Project.

It is very exciting to be able to support both this innovative Department of Transportation project and this important mentor protege partnership with this grant.

Mentor Protege partnerships have been a component of the LSLBE, local small local business enterprise program for many years, but this is the first time it's being deployed on a public works project.

To ensure we get this partnership set up for success, this grant will allow us to provide structured technical assistance, trade-specific training, and business capacity development to small local and minority contractors.

Meaningful mentorship, including regular coaching, site visits, and project management guidance requires trade-specific expertise that the city does not currently have in-house.

CRC and NAMAC NORCAL bring decades of contractor development experience, strong technical assistance infrastructure, and deep access to minority contractor networks.

They fill a gap the city cannot fill internally, and their work will allow us to deliver a high quality accountable program.

The grant funds a structured set of activities, including a program management plan that sets expectations for mentors and proteges, onboarding for the mentor and protege, a tailored support plan based on the protege specific needs, trade-specific technical assistance, as well as back office support.

We expect several programmatic outcomes, including a strong replicable mentor protege model and strong mentor participation because expectations and oversight will be clear.

We also expect that over time mentor protege partnerships will result in measurable reductions in contracting disparities as proteges will have greater capacity to compete for city contracts as both primes and subs.

This work directly supports Oakland's equity goals by expanding access to contracting opportunities for small and minority owned firms that have historically been underrepresented in the city's contracting.

Twist will track progress indicators and will also work to refine the mentor protege program as needed based on the work of this grant.

The fiscal impact is a one-time 100,000 dollar grant, fully funded in the fiscal year 25-27 adopted budget.

Funding comes from Measure B B local streets and roads, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Are there any questions, comments?

Councilmember Houston.

Yes, through the chair.

I don't I just have a few comments.

I you saw me get up.

Sorry for being late.

Somebody's in my parking space.

Happens to me all the time.

We got to do something about that.

Um so you saw me get up, I went and spoke to the city attorney's office, and I just called Ryan Richardson.

So I just wanted to be transparent because in this world you got to be transparent.

Um and I asked them would it be any kind of conflict of interest because I know CRC.

Uh I was raised by their father when my father died.

They father helped me fix up cars and learn to learn how to um um uh do carburetors and things like that.

And I trained under that company.

They taught me so much.

I mean, my success was on the book and the structure of that, right?

So I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't a conflict of interest.

So I just asked this.

They said if you have any financial, no, I don't have none of it, but I have learning experience from being trained under this great, great organization with the structure with CRC.

So I just wanted to be transparent, so I know I always ask everybody.

I'm I'm just gonna be me transparent, so everybody knows.

So it's a great um organization.

The people that actually work for me right now that was unhoused and justice impact in my prior life, trained under that.

Now they work for the city.

So it's a great opportunity to change lives.

It has structure, um, everything you need for success.

So I just wanted to share that.

I appreciate that um level of transparency for the record.

And so I I gather that you were asking if you will have to recuse yourself from this vote based on past previous relationships, Councilmember Houston is at it.

Yes, and they said no, because it's is is no problem there.

Yes, no problem at all.

I just wanted to say, and I'm glad I was able to say this because I have personal and I share this all the time.

If I don't know something, I'm gonna follow your lead, Councilmember Fife.

I'm gonna follow your need, Councilmember Wine.

I'm gonna follow the lead of the of the committee.

But if I know something, I'm gonna I'm gonna speak on it.

Thank you for sharing that.

And um, if there are no comments, oh I I apologize, Councilmember Wong.

Oh, thank you.

And thank you so much for your work on this.

I was just wondering since I was doing a quick Google search.

It looks like there's a number of federal programs, like through the small business administration, uh the Department of Transportation and other federal programs that are available.

Are you planning to uh set us up to be able to either encourage some of those relationships or uh entrance into some of these federal programs?

Yeah, the idea is to learn from the best programs that are out there.

So certainly the federal level has the mentor protege programs.

We also know that locally there's some other jurisdictions that have it.

Um, and so that this is a first time for us.

We want to get it right, and we also want to make sure that our program evolves to incorporate what we learn from this, but also what are some of the best practices from those other programs.

We do want to have the best mentor protege program here in the city of Oakland, and we also want to set up both our primes and our our mentors and proteges to be able to participate in these other ones, and hopefully that experience here helps open up more opportunities for them.

Great.

Thank you so much.

I will move the item.

And I just want to say, Director Aspia, it has been a pleasure working with you on this project.

I know your passion for ensuring that we are doing what we can in terms of moving the ball forward when it comes to programs like the mentor protege program, and um, you've been a very good partner in making sure that my desire to um just move the disparity study results forward in a way that can be done administratively, but done um cohesively can actually happen.

And you've been a very good partner in making sure that my desire to just move the disparity study results forward in a way that can be done administratively, but done cohesively can actually happen.

So I just wanted to thank you because you've been a really good partner for me with your expertise and your knowledge on these topics.

So I wanted to appreciate you for that.

Thank you.

And I do want to state that I'm also very proud that the first time that this will be realized is on the MLK Streetscapes project in my district with an Oakland born and raised native Stanley Cooper, who will be the um protege in this in this uh project.

And I hope to see that even with the buy-monthly, I believe, reviews that will come back from how this project goes, that we can also bring back to this committee maybe a couple times a year, how the concretization of this program is is working so that it can be applied to other businesses.

I would like to see this mentor protege program where it has this type of technical assistance for small businesses applied across the board in the city of Oakland for other small businesses who need support with back end office or uh support applying for um their different permits or whatever that I just feel like minority businesses would be so much better served if we had the type of uh support that CRC will be providing in this program to other businesses.

So I appreciate you all for being here, and we can go to our public speakers, Madam City Clerk.

Thank you, Chair Five.

Moving to our public speakers, want to call your name, please approach the podium, state your name for the record.

If you are participating via Zoom, please raise your hand so you're easily identified.

Thank you, Jeremiah Jackson, Lynn Turner, Blair Beekman, and Mrs.

Sada.

Hello, thank you, esteemed members of the council.

My name is Jeremiah Jackson.

I serve as a consultant to the National Association of Minority Contractors here in Oakland.

And we really deeply deeply want to express our deep uh appreciation for this opportunity, but also our support for this particular grant opportunity.

Uh, one of the things that we know as folks who have served the area for over 60 years is that this is critical for the development of small businesses, for contractors, and for helping people to really be able to address the needs of the region and particularly the city of Oakland.

Uh, we have worked diligently working with tremendous experts and people with deep expertise, as well as looking at best practice methods and methodologies for ensuring success and being able to categorize a success in such a way that the city of Oakland will be able to not only repeat our success in the future but also then to grow it in a sustainable way.

And so we really do recognize that this does address a number of needs that the region has that contractors have and that our organization has, as well as making sure the city of Oakland is able to address some of the some of its own priorities, particularly with those coming out of the 2026 disparity study.

So we good afternoon.

Uh, thank you guys for allowing me to speak.

I really uh appreciate this grant as well, and it's much needed.

My name is Lynn Turner, co-founder of Construction Resource Center, and we teach the business side of construction.

We get into weeds, most of these companies teach from the 50,000 foot level because we're contractors, being contractors, understand the good, bad, and ugly of construction.

We teach you how to build your foundation, set up your back office, and build a sustainable company.

And so this will help us move these things forward.

And considering the disparity study, I mean, this is a small drop in a bucket of what we need, but is headed in the right direction, and so we appreciate it and ask that you guys move this forward.

Thank you.

It says in the report that this project was codified in February of 2021, and for the first time we are moving the project forward in 2026.

Any reason for that?

Oh no, it's black people that's gonna be impacted a whole lot.

Maybe that's it.

It says also in the report the city lacks a standardized financial monitoring tool and technical assistance uh to ensure that the mentor project prodigy relationship deliverables can build meaningful capacity and benefit the project.

I mean, what does that mean?

We don't have the tools to assess the the project.

Come on, guys, we got to do a little bit better, a whole lot better.

And a hundred thousand dollars will allow for what?

What limit what is it limited?

Is that the maximum?

How did y'all come up with the hundred thousand?

Thank you for your comments, Asada moving to our Zoom speakers, Blair Bigman.

I do not see Blair, and that concludes your public speakers for item three.

Thank you for the public speakers coming out to speak on this agenda item.

We have a motion on the item.

I'll make the second.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Councilmember Wong, seconded by Chair Five to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the July 21st, 2026 City Council agenda on role.

Councilmember Guyo.

Thank you.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

I and Chair Five.

Aye.

The motion does pass with four ayes to approve the recommendations of staff and the forward decidem to the July 21st.

City Council agenda and through the body would that be on consent?

On consent, please.

Thank you.

Moving to item four.

Adopt a resolution one, accepting and appropriating and authorizing agreements for the receipt of contendum of care supportive housing program renewal funds from the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development in the amount not to exceed $5,650,302, awarding and or amending the grant agreements to the nonprofit agencies of the terms and the in the amounts identified in Table One using COC funds and other state and local funds, and three authorizing the city administrator to identify backup fund from state and local sources that have been appropriated for homelessness programs and to allocate or reallocate such funds to the programs identified in table one to continue operation through the grant terms in the event COC funding is delayed, and four accepting and appropriating additional COC funds that become available for the same purposes through both fiscal year 26 through 27 and fiscal year 27 through 28, and authorizing the city administrator to amend the grant agreements to adjust the term just the grant terms and the amounts within the limits of the awards.

And you do have two speakers for this item.

Thank you.

We will put five minutes on the clock for Shalon Keener.

And you have the floor.

Thank you, and good afternoon, Chair Fife and committee members of the Life Enrichment Committee.

My name is Shalon Keener, and I'm the manager of community homelessness services.

And I'm here today to present a resolution authorizing the acceptance and appropriation of up to 5.65 million in federal continuum of care or COC funding from the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development, better known as HUD.

The Continuum of Care Program has been a critical component of Oakland's homelessness response system for more than three decades.

These federal funds support housing interventions that help individuals, families, and transition age youth move from homelessness to stable housing.

Today's action would allow the city to renew funding for four established programs.

The Housing Fast Support Network, operated by Bay Area Community Services, or BACS, the North County Homeless Families Rapid Rehousing Collective, operated by Building Futures with Women and Children, the North County Homeless Youth Rapid Rehousing Collaborative, operated by Covet in House California, and ECE Oakland Community Project.

And then the additional one is the Oakland Homeless Youth Housing Collaborative, operated by Coveted House California and East Oakland Community Project.

Collectively, these programs provide transitional housing, rapid rehousing, rental rental assistance, case management, and supportive services that help some of our most vulnerable residents achieve long-term housing stability.

This item is particularly time-sensitive.

One of the time one of the existing agreements expires July 31st.

And while the city has received informal notification from HUD that these grants have been renewed, formal grant agreements have not yet been executed.

This resolution ensures that we can accept the funds when they become available and maintain uninterrupted services for residents currently enrolled in these programs.

The resolution also authorizes the city administrator to utilize previously appropriated state and local homelessness funding as a temporary bridge should there be any delay in the federal award process.

This flexibility is essential because without it, programs would be forced to suspend operations while awaiting federal contract execution.

Homelessness continues to be one of the most significant challenges facing Oakland, primarily, excuse me, preliminary results from the 2026 point time count indicated that homelessness did decrease by approximately 20% since 2024.

While that progress is encouraging, more than 4,400 Oakland residents continue to experience homelessness.

And the need for effective housing interventions remains urgent.

These continuum of care programs are producing measurable results.

During the most recent reporting period of fiscal year 24-25, the funded program served 484 individuals across 334 households, including 129 children.

More than half of the individuals served identified as black or African American, reflecting the disapproportionate impact homelessness continues to have on Oakland's black community.

Collectively, the programs achieved a 73% rate to exits to permanent housing.

Several programs significantly exceeded that benchmark, including Building Futures Family Rapid Rehousing Program, which achieves a 97% permanent housing placement rate, and East Oakland Community Project's Youth Rapid Rehousing Program, which achieved a hundred percent permanent housing placement rate.

These outcomes are the results of intentional performance management and accountability.

The city closely monitors all HUD Continuum of Care funded programs through monthly invoice and expenditure reviews, quarterly data and performance reviews, and ongoing contract monitoring.

Performance measures include exits to permanent housing, housing retention, income growth, utilization of supportive services, length of stay, and timely and accurate data entry into HMIS or homelessness management information system.

The city reserves the option to make changes in HUD continuum of care sub-reciprient agreements, including ending subcontracts with agencies whose programs do not meet contracted performance outcomes.

The oversight ensures that public funds are directed toward programs that demonstrate results and advance the city's strategic goals.

In total, these programs support 186 housing beds in units throughout the Oakland's homelessness response system.

If this resolution is not approved and funding is not renewed, those beds and services could be lost, resulting in hundreds of Oakland residents from returning to homelessness.

The loss of these programs would significantly impact our ability to maintain progress toward reducing unsheltered homelessness in Oakland.

This recommendation is also directly aligned with Oakland's recently adopted homeless strategic action plan.

The programs support key components of that plan, including interim housing, permanent housing, prevention of returns to homelessness, and increased access to coordinated supportive services.

Through transitional housing and rapid rehousing interventions, participants receive assistance, securing permanent housing, increasing income, accessing benefits, improving health outcomes, and achieving long-term stability.

In addition, these programs advance the city's commitment to racial equity.

Homelessness continues to disproportionately affect black Oaklanders due to long-standing structural inequities, including historic housing discrimination, redlining, and barriers to economic opportunity.

Sustaining proving housing interventions is one of the most effective ways we can address these disparities and improve outcomes for residents experiencing homelessness.

For those reasons, staff respectfully recommends approving of the resolution to accept and appropriate the continuum of care funding, authorize the associated grants agreements, establish contingency funding authority in the event of federal delays, and authorizing acceptance of any additional COC funding awards during the term grant, the grant term.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and I am of course available to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Do we have any initial questions from the committee?

Councilmember Houston through the chair, just a couple.

Um I see Covenant House, that's in Covenant California.

I see Western Ave, Hollywood, I see San Leandro, I see Hollywood.

And in this just question through the chair.

There's no local companies that could do this work that that's like in Oakland or because I see Covenant House, that's Covenant California.

See San Leandro.

I know you did your thorough research and things like that, but it's similar to what just happened in the meeting prior to this.

That we are going to out of Oakland and out of the Bay Area, hiring people that can do body work on cars in Oakland and we go on in San Leandro, we're going in Hayward.

So is it any um for next time?

Is it any companies that could take the place of these companies that's doing work in because that's $674,000?

Another one is 500 and that's over a million dollars to the place in Hollywood.

Uh if I'm yeah, if I'm correct, Covenant House is in my district.

Um they had a grand reopening this year there in near Jack London Square, I believe, on Harrison.

Um regarding that particular location.

I know that's based in Oakland.

Right.

But um Shallan, if you have through the chair, um, they do have places throughout the state of California, but this particular um location isn't Oakland, they are housed in Oakland.

Okay.

They do business out of Oakland.

Okay, so where am I getting this at 1325 Northwest Av?

And then we got one as selling actual headquarters on Fairway.

Okay.

I must have got the wrong addresses here.

I have to do some more research.

I believe what we heard from Shallon was that they serve um people throughout the state of California.

But I know they they do really good work around young people in the city of Oakland for Covenant House.

Um if if there are no other questions, we'll go to public speakers.

Thank you.

Wanna call your name?

I apologize, Madam City Clerk.

Uh we do have questions from Councilmember Wong.

Thank you.

Uh through the chair, and thank you for your critical work on this.

I'm just wondering, I think it's a double-edged sword that our pit count uh sh demonstrated a 20% reduction.

Are we seeing a similar reduction in our grant amount from HUD as a result?

Or are they maintaining through the chair to council member Wong?

Um there is a slight decrease in funding that came through for the HUD COC as it was not as significant as others, but it was a decrease of sorts.

Okay.

Um and I have been following the news somewhat, but I know that there is a preliminary injunction that was issued by a federal judge because this administration wants to move away from housing first.

Are you now?

I noted that you have already pre-planned for any gaps for uh just a delay in this grant.

But um, do we have any plans for what may happen if beyond this uh this set of grants if there may need to be planning in case this moves uh the Trump administration is successful in moving away from housing first?

Through the chair.

Um, this particular uh funding source has already received the award for it, but for the next iteration, we're currently working on the application.

Um there have been some changes, for example, they're um prioritizing permanent housing and transitional housing and moving away from somewhat of rehab rapid rehousing.

Um and with our consultant, we're working closely with our providers to potentially either transition or start new programs or figure out a way to maintain those beds.

So to answer your question, um we are working actively on ensuring that those beds do not go offline and or we can continue in another capacity.

Okay, great.

Thank you for that.

Um and then finally, I just um wanted to know.

I find the metric like exit like percent exits to permanent housing to be actually pretty opaque, just because I think the term permanent housing covers such a broad spectrum of um placements, and so can you just describe like qualitative qualitatively what that means?

I think what's important for me to distinguish, and that this may not be data that's available at a quantitative level, but whether we are actually placing or these providers are placing people into are they in a market rental house with a rental assistant?

Is it short term?

Are they in PSH, which requires ongoing opex, you know, just because I think it is important and I distinguish a measure of success of someone who's actually able to be in a market rate housing simply because then it opens up a spot for somebody who has like a disability to be into in into PSH.

And then finally, I think uh just a metric that's important to capture is also just the length of time that they're in these uh transitional units since uh they may have an a hundred percent exit to permanent housing, but maybe the length of time is five years, you know.

So just to exaggerate, but I think it would just be important to get that data.

Thank you.

Sure.

Were those questions that you're requesting a response to on the dais, or just something you would like to see in upcoming reports.

I think it would be good to hear a response, but yes, we'd be good to see that in uh future reporting.

And I know that the metrics, this is an ongoing conversation that we've had, um, can be difficult to capture, but to the extent that we can, it'd be great to see that and would love to hear your thoughts on whether that those are metrics that can be captured.

Through the chair, yes.

So we leverage HMIS, and so to your point as it relates to permanent housing, it does vary.

There's different categories in which a provider can select, including the ones that you mentioned.

Um, and so it does allow us to go into the HMIS and pull which ones were placed where.

Um, so it is very broad to answer your question.

Um and then as it relates to um your second question, which I think was around like numbers, I'd have to get back to you on that.

Um, but I think for the most part, it is a little difficult to measure or be able to give you like a full detail because there's so many categories, but ultimately if someone is removed from homelessness as it relates to being in the housing queue and or no longer um considered unhoused in that particular way in which they became a part of the queue, they are now removed from it and in permanent housing, assuming they're no longer unhoused.

I hope that answers your question.

And then in terms of the measurement of length of time, just because throughput is an ongoing conversation, right?

Of increasing that through the chair, that actually is a metric that we can track.

Um, and I can give that data to you via.

Yeah, that'd be great.

Thank you so much.

Well, what we can do is we can work together with the city administrator's office and your office to figure out where these metrics should show up in reports so that they're um timely and responsive to what the council members are saying, but also in alignment with the work that you're already producing to bring to committee.

So thank you for all your work on this.

Thank you.

And we can move to our public speakers.

Want to call your name, please approach the podium.

If you are participating via Zoom, please raise your hands you're easily identified, Blair Beekman and Ms.

Sada.

I'm still waiting for the room to fill up.

But anyway.

So when I heard that the Oakland Housing Authority had a list of five waiting lists of 5,000, what's the waiting list for all of these different entities?

So the uh Harry Robinson Center only can accommodate 137 people at a time, the Hollands, 150 to 180, Covenant House, 60 at a time, East Oakland Community Project, 60 youth, 18 to 24 at a time, uh East Oakland Community Project, uh seven youth and 23 families.

So we uh and then the Oakland Homeless Youth Collaboration, 31 slots.

So we have very limited capacities for service.

So what's the waiting list?

What's the waiting list?

How many people need to get accommodations and a waiting to get it?

And what's the solution for thank you, Mrs.

Sada.

Moving to our Zoom speaker, and I don't see Bill Blair, and that concludes your public speakers.

Thank you.

Um to the speaker and for our staff for the presentation.

I will entertain a motion on this item.

We have a motion on the floor from Councilmember Guy on a second from Council Member Wong.

Okay, yes.

We have a motion made from Councilmember Gallo, second from Councilmember Wong to approve the recommendations of staff and the fourth decided to July 24 city council agenda on role, Councilmember Gaio.

Aye.

Thank you, Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Thank you, Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

Thank you.

And Chair Fife.

Aye.

Thank you.

The motion passes with four ayes to approve the recommendations of staff and afford this item to the July 21st city council agenda and through the body that would be on consent.

That is on consent.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Moving to item five.

Adopt the resolution.

One accepting and appropriating anti-provity community services block grant in the amount not to exceed in the amount of 1,319,745 awarded by the California Department of Community Services and Development of the January 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2026 program year 2026 CSBG program and discretionary funds as it becomes available to authorizing the city administrator to accept and appropriate any additional grant funds from CSD for the same purpose within the 2026 CSBG program year.

Three, authorizing the use of general funds to the pay to pay the Human Services Department Internal Services Fund changes in the estimated amount of 56,692 and central services overhead charges for 2026 programs in the estimated amount of 178,968.

And you do have two speakers.

Thank you.

We will put five minutes on the clock for Ms.

Ashley Jamont, and you have the floor.

Thank you so much.

So good afternoon to our esteemed council members and our council chair council number five, as well as our other elected officials.

It is good to see you all here.

So I wanted to give you all an overview of my division.

So ACOCAP is our Alameda County Oakland Community Action Partnership.

And in within that division, you will find my program, which is our CSBG grant, which we'll be talking about.

You'll also find our sugar sweetened beverage program.

You'll find our volunteer tax assistance program, and you'll also find our recast program.

So our recast program holds majority of our SAMHSA funding around our mental health programs working with trauma and resiliency, our VITA program, as we call it, our volunteer tax assistance program is our program that we have throughout the city, which supports our residents in conducting their taxes annually.

Our sugar sweetened beverage program and our summer foods program.

Um our summer foods program.

We have over 55 sites throughout the city of Oakland that feed our youth and young adults snack and lunch every single day.

Um so we're excited about that.

And a press release was done about that before the beginning of the summer, and our sugar sweetened beverage program, which also subsidized and supports that program, um, and that also has an advisory board.

You'll see ACOCAP, which has 18 board members.

We have four committees, our executive committee, advocacy committee, our fund development, and our program planning committee, which then drops down to overseeing our CSBG funds, which we have 17 grantees throughout the city of Oakland in which we uh partner with them.

So, just a little bit of an overview of what our um what our CSBG and ACO CAP does.

So ACO CAP directly supports the City of Oakland's Economic Development Action Plan.

We also support the strategic work that we are doing throughout the City of Oakland by making sure that we work with our training and employment.

We work with organizations that support low-income housing.

We also do a lot of work around community development, civic engagement and advocacy, and um community building.

So we reduce poverty and promote economic opportunity by supporting programs and services that help our low-income residents here in the city of Oakland.

We have community-based organizations, public agencies, educational institutions, and residents, and we help them identify and develop community-driven solutions to the root causes of poverty.

So, what is the community service block grant?

So, the community service block grant is a federally funded anti-proverty program administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the California Department of Community Services.

Our CSBG provides flexible funding and enables community action agencies to respond to local needs through services such as, like I said, workforce development, housing stability, emergency assistance, uh, financial empowerment programs, civic engagement opportunities, and community development.

All of this, of course, is guided by our comprehensive community needs assessment as well as our strategic plan.

So here's our strategic plan for 2020 to 2025.

As we all know, it is 2026, and we are working on creating our new five-year strategic plan from 2026 to 2031.

That again will be informed by our community needs assessment and our strategic plan.

So, as well as in your packet, you will find our community action plan for 2026 through 2027.

That was also a um a flyer or an attachment within the within your agenda.

Um, so I did want to put it up there with one of our clickable links so you all can have it.

Um, Miss Meadows, not gonna scroll through it.

It is 112 pages, so please at your leisure take the time to look at some of our data and some of our graphs and charts around poverty, where it is localized within the city, and what are some things that we are doing to combat that?

Also, you can find more information on our website.

Um, and I am happy for any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you for your presentation and your service, your continued service to the city of Oakland.

And if there are no questions from the committee, I will go to public speakers.

Thank you so much, Chair Five, and thank you, Ashley.

It was a great report.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Blair Beekman and Missisada.

So this says a resolution for grant January the 1st, 2026 through December the 31st, 2026.

Is that what we seeking approval for?

Something that was started in January.

Okay.

So the board is supposed to be one-third elected officials, one-third representatives of the low-income community, one-third of the private sector leaders.

Who selects this board?

How are they selected?

Okay, going on to the next concern.

The next concern is I notice uh when I've been a couple of y'all meetings, y'all spent a lot of time traveling and going to conferences.

Uh, how much money is spent on that?

Okay.

All right, no answers to that one.

No, no, you're not supposed to answer me.

I just like this.

I like this moment when everybody says nothing.

It uh is funny uh to me.

Okay, and then the last thing is uh what is the breakdown?

Thank you for your comment, Mr.

Sada.

Moving to our Zoom speakers, Carmen Beltran.

Did you fill out a speaker's card?

Carmen Bell Tran.

Hi, excuse me.

Did you fill out a speaker's card?

Um, no.

Okay, I'm sorry.

Unfortunately, unfortunately, it will be up to discretion for the chair.

I will speak to you after this meeting.

You've you've been here several times before, so because you need translation, we will have our city administrator come in uh work with you on answering any questions that you have.

And I'll also be available after the meeting.

She will translate for me.

Thank you.

Thank you, Blur Beekman.

And I do not see you in the queue.

So that concludes our public speakers for item three.

Item five.

Thank you.

And um Mr.

Mont, if you could respond to a couple of the questions and I will lay them out just in terms of how the board is selected.

And I do want to say for uh the public, there are people who come to these meetings frequently that um understand what the rules of procedure are, but there's some people who don't know that unless an item is agendized, the committee nor staff can respond to questions unless it is the uh purview of the chair.

So I'm asking as the chair for you to respond to how boards um how the board is selected with the tripartite um makeup of the individuals that sit on the board.

If you can answer that question.

So from my knowledge, there is an application process in which the um prospective board members are allowed to apply, and some of our board members have been on our board for many a years.

Um, and that then is reviewed by our I would assume our CSBG team as well as potentially at the state level.

Um, and then we are given the opportunity to review and weigh in on those um those selections based off of the recommendations from the state and from the city.

I believe I chose my representative.

I have a representative that serves on the board, Tanya Love, who consults with me on the meetings, gives me updates, and um tells me what I need to do as a representative.

Um, and so I know as a council member I was able to make that selection.

So um I I hope that answer the the answers the question.

And at this time, I want to thank you for your presentation and entertain a motion on this item.

We have a motion made by councilmember Houston, seconded by Councilmember Wong to approve the recommendations of the staff and the forward this item to July 21st, City Council agenda on consent on road, Councilmember McGayo.

Thank you, Councilmember Houston.

Thank you, Ms.

Ashley.

Aye.

Thank you.

Councilmember Wong.

Yes, thank you.

I and Chair Fox.

Aye.

This motion does pass with four eye to approve the recommendations of staff and the forward is item to the July 21st, City Council agenda and through the body, would that be on consent?

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Moving to item six.

Thank you.

Adopt a resolution one, accepting and appropriating direct local program distribution measure BB funds in the amount of three million two hundred and two thousand two hundred and ninety-eight for fiscal year 26 through 27 from the Alameda County Transit Commission for Oakland Paratransit for the Elderly and Disabled Program to provide access to specialized transportation services to awarding reimbursement agreements for paratransit services for fiscal year 26 through 27 and the amounts of 900,000.

Five Rivers Transit Solutions, $600,000, and quality transit for $350,000, Bay Area Charters for $25,000, one access medical transportation, and $75,000 for Go Go Technologies.

Three awarding grant agreements in the amount of $50,000 to City of Imoryville for paratransit services and $300,000 for services opportunity 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 26 through 27 and amend the aforementioned agreements to the increased amounts within the limits of funding.

And you do have two speakers for this item.

Thank you, Madam City Clerk.

We will put five minutes on the clock for Annabactis and Ms.

Bactus, you have the floor.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon, Chair Faiff and members of the Life Enrichment Committee, Anna Bagtis, Human Services Manager in the Human Services Department overseeing aging and adult services division.

Today's staff is presenting the 2627 fiscal year Oakland Paratransit for the Elderly and Disabled program, also known as OPED, our plan for the coming year, or we're in the fiscal year now, and the accompanying resolution.

Staff respectfully requests that the life enrichment committee approve this item and forward it to the full city council for approval on the consent calendar.

On April 27th, the Alameda County Transportation Commission's Pair Transit Advisory and Planning Committee approved this plan.

The proposed resolution will accept and appropriate the city's fiscal year 2627 Measure BB direct local distribution allocation of approximately three point a little bit over $3.02 million.

Authorize the agreements necessary to deliver Oakland's paratransit services, continued transportation related meal delivery and regional partnerships, and authorized acceptance of any additional measure BB funds that may become available during the fiscal year.

This year's program plan reflects extensive community engagement and is grounded in what Oakland residents told us they need and they need most in terms of transportation.

To inform this plan, we completed 923 24 community surveys, 13 community listening sessions, 458 OPED customer satisfaction surveys last year.

Across every engagement effort, one message was very clear.

Transportation is the number one priority for Oakland older adults and persons with disabilities over the next five years.

Residents consistently told us that transportation is essential for accessing health care, food, housing stability, social connection, and remaining independent in their communities.

What the fiscal year 2627 plan delivers based on what community from the community input, this plan continues a comprehensive suite of transportation services, including same-day transportation, specialized wheelchair accessible van services, group trips, door-through-door volunteer transportation, transportation-related meal delivery, customer service, and community outreach.

During fiscal year 26-27, OPED anticipates providing approximately 19,000 taxi script rides, 7,500 go-go grandparents' rides, nearly 12,000 wheelchair accessible trips, 16,500 group trips, and approximately 260,000 home delivered meals.

These services help older adults and people with disabilities access medical appointments, grocery stores, senior centers, pharmacies, and other destinations that support healthy independent living.

Customer satisfactions remain high.

Participants can certainly tell us that OPED helps them maintain independence and age safely in the community.

At the same time, they identified opportunities for improvement, including better on-time performance, expanded accessible transportation, improved communication, and easier access to services.

This input will be part of our ongoing quality improvement conversations.

Staff will have with our service providers.

Looking ahead, one of our priorities this year is improving new how residents access open services.

Last year, we piloted a relocation of our customer service desk from down here, downtown Oakland Senior Center, uh, downtown Oakland 150, our office here at 150 Frank Ogawa Plaza, and moved it to the downtown Oakland Senior Center.

We have seen an uptick in the number of new enrollees and people who are seeing the downtown Oakland senior for the first time become members because they've never been there before.

This expansion brings enrollment, eligibility, determination, transportation information, and other individualized customer assistance closer to where residents lives.

And we are going to be replicating this model for East Oakland this fiscal year.

And transportation is one of the highest uh need that was identified in our needs assessment as had mentioned, and the mayor's commission on aging developed and had uh stood up a transportation subcommittee that started meeting two months ago.

This subcommittee will inform what's going on in the community and will help us identify strategies to fill the gaps in services, especially based on what we have heard from the community members in East Oakland, Deep East Oakland.

We may have transportation services available, but these services are not reaching East Oakland residents.

In closing, the fiscal year 2627 program plan reflects the voices of Oakland residents, response directly to the transportation priorities identified through the city's age-friendly 2.0 planning process in positions oped to continue delivering equitable, accessible and responsive transportation services to older adults and persons with disabilities.

Therefore, staff respectfully requests that the life enrichment committee approves the proposed resolution and forward this item to the full city council for consideration and approval on the consent calendar.

Thank you.

And um, happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for your presentation.

Are there comments or questions from the body?

Uh, Councilmember Houston.

Duty Chair.

Um, how are you?

Good.

You said something a little troubling to me.

You said not reaching East Oakland residents.

Can you explain that a little deeper?

And I had a couple of questions on I might have this wrong too about these addresses, because that's the first thing I look at is addresses of our providers.

So when you said not reaching my East Oakland residents, can you explain that and elaborate on that?

Sure.

Through the chair and to uh council member Houston.

When we did our listening sessions, and also um when we did the surveys, what we found from our residents is that we have transportation such as example taxi and go go grandparents, which is being able to access Uber and Lyft without having an app.

So you just call a phone number.

So it's very easy for older adults to be able to schedule these rides through Uber and Lyft.

What we have found is that when they call for a service, suddenly their order gets canceled without any reason.

And repeatedly that happens.

So we know that gap, even though these services are available, some of our providers, maybe it's perception of the unsafe neighborhoods that you know people think Oakland is, they don't go.

And um we need to think outside the box, you know, these transportation Uber Lyft and other um services we have available.

We need to think outside of the box and figure out a different way of filling that gap.

We actually have testimonially, one of our commissioners got off the airport in um in East Oakland.

She was trying to get Uber and Lyft, and she had her um her ride canceled several times and was not able to get a ride.

So, you know, anecdotally, that's what we are hearing.

So I think what we need to do is really figure out through other input from the community what may be other strategies that we can implement uh in working with the subcommittee of the transportation of the mayor's commission on aging.

We hope to be able to identify some of these strategies to fill those gaps.

You hear that?

Yeah, that's that's pretty heart wrenching to me that my seniors and my folks ain't benefiting from this indeed, East Oakland.

So, what's your suggestion?

How can I help?

How can the council help?

How can the public what can we do?

Because my seniors are one of the most important things to me.

What can we do?

Yeah.

Through the chair, um, one of the things that we're thinking about working with the subcommittee on transportation is issue a request for qualifications or some kind of an RFP this year before the closing of the calendar year and entertain any ideas.

It could be from a nonprofit who wanna run program, for instance, just for East Oakland.

Anything we're happy to hear any ideas from the community, and we're hoping that through this RFQ process that we will find um other ways of filling that gap.

And it could be community-based.

That sounds positive.

Um let me ask one more question, then I'm gonna move on.

Um I'm not sure if I got this right.

I got it wrong just a minute ago when it came to the locations of these companies, New Jersey, Davenport, Tibberon, Newark, San Francisco, Five Rivers, Transit is in New Jersey, quality transit is in Florida.

Am I getting this wrong?

Yeah, it's uh the some of these are local, some of these are not.

So um Five Rivers is a local Oakland.

This is our taxi service company, they've been around for 30, 40 years here in Oakland.

Um, and so that's local.

Um, so it's corporate.

Oh, so it's corporate headquarters is in New Jersey.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Um I'm gonna talk to my colleagues to see how we can do to help, you know, help me out.

I need some help, so I'm gonna talk to everyone to see how we can get my seniors to get to care of, okay?

Thank you.

All right.

So um, Ms.

Bactus, I wanna I want to get an understanding.

So is it just East Oakland where these challenges are happening for our seniors with their transportation?

And to to be clear, the senior that was not able to get a ride from the airport was using a private ride share service, not one of our contractors, correct?

Correct, that's correct.

And do our contractors work after hours and then finally is is East Oakland the only place that's having these challenges?

Um not necessarily.

So when we went to the Fruitvale area, we talked to the folks over at um Spanish speaking Unity Council through one of our 13 listening sessions.

What we found from that community is that they have a high utilization of public transit.

However, it's that last mile where they get off the Bart or you know, AC transit, and then they're carrying groceries that they are not able to carry all the way home because these routes, the these public transit systems are on a fixed route system, it doesn't go to go door through door.

And what we were told was that during COVID, they had a van and it was stolen, and they have never been able to replace that van.

And that van was helping seniors for that last mile ride.

So that was an identified need, and again, we're hoping to be able to work with the community uh and um figure out how to address that that kind of needs still East Oakland, correct?

So are these uh are these organizations funded through these funds?

So we have funds available, we just don't have the organizations don't have the resources to maybe uh reacquire vehicles or uh uh maybe hire what it what is the exact issue here?

We have had some conversation with the vendors uh about this issue, and one of the strategies they actually presented to us was perhaps we can give a premium rate for those who will go to East Oakland for the driver.

So taxi drivers who are gonna be going on rides that are um East Local East Oakland address can get a higher reimbursement rate than what's you know what's our base rate?

So that's one strategy that we have tossed around.

Um the challenge we have currently is that they're also increasing the fares this year.

So we have we need to have enough data to be able to understand how the fare just in general, this new fare increase that they want to uh impose on us is gonna impact the program, and then if we're gonna provide an additional sort of incentive for drivers to go to East Oakland, again, how much money will that cost?

Is there any information or data to back up their fear, or is it just a perception?

It's a perception, unfortunately.

And are these hours that they're concerned about going to East Oakland after hours, after five, around midnight?

And do the other services that serve other parts of the city operate 24-7.

I am not sure that it has to do with the hours.

I believe it's really just the general perception and going to East Oakland uh is unsafe.

We did hear hear from one of our when we were doing the the listening sessions that one of the things that they heard from the Uber Lyft drivers, and it may not be related to our contractor, but just Uber and Lyft drivers was there was an incident where they were in Deep East Oakland and one of the cars got um uh what is that called car car nap, car jacks.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, they're trying to pick up a passenger in East Oakland.

So you know, these kinds of stories they spread to other drivers, and and it becomes sort of this new way of thinking, uh unfounded, but uh but yeah, it gets it it spreads out.

Do you know, and this is my last question?

Do you know if the vehicles that are used to pick up seniors have to be outfitted for seniors with lifts and other equipment to service uh maybe assisted walking vehicles, scooters, things like that?

Not necessarily.

So a lot of the um vehicles that are sent to um to seniors' homes are sedans.

Um they've had drivers like taxi drivers using their own vehicles because the the old-fashioned yellow cabs are no longer in existence in Oakland, so they're using uh SUVs and sedans, and um we are also educating our seniors that if they need if they cannot get on a SUV, for instance, so during dispatch when they're calling their order to make sure to let them know that.

Um they do have limited numbers of wheelchair accessible vans that are available, but very limited, but we do have a specialized um van service for people who need wheelchair accessibility with another contract or not our taxi driver program.

Okay, thank you for that.

And I I will speak with you offline about some potential solutions to address this gap.

Thank you.

I have some ideas.

Uh Councilmember Houston and then Councilmember Wong, and then I'll entertain a motion.

Yeah, I'll move it, um, but I want to move it forward non-consent.

Um, because I want to speak a little bit more because I have some good ideas also.

So we got to keep the money in the community, right?

And if you keep the money in the community and you build community um nonprofits that that know the terrain, know the neighborhoods, and aren't scared, then know how to move, then you can move safely.

So I got some good ideas.

So what I want to do is I want to sit down with two and the council member five.

We could do it together.

Um, because I have some ideas.

If we build individuals in our own community to take care of ourselves, right?

Keep the money in our community, we can make it safe.

Um I I know a good fix on that, so I'll move this.

Clerk.

Oh, never mind.

All good.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

Um I I have to say that anecdotally I have also heard some just complaints about the paratransit system.

And uh a lot of it has to do with the delays or the wait time really is a key thing that that uh comes out, and I am deeply concerned around this idea that as a provider that is getting money, including public money, that you don't have to actually pick up somebody.

Um so I I uh we just encourage whatever ways that we can hold these uh vendors accountable is really important.

Um I also was looking at one of the attachments, and um I reading this correctly.

This is the pair transit program plan staff summary.

I see there's a listing of the cost per trip uh that some of our vendors is this how much they're getting reimbursed by the city, or is this how much they're charging since I'm seeing rates as high up to is $74 per trip?

And is that being charged to the residents?

Through the chair, um council member Wong.

So the the way it works is that we highly subsidize these rides through the measure BB dollars.

So an example, one booklet of taxi scripts gets you 28 dollars worth of rides.

We pay 25 dollars for measure B B, the consumers only pay $3, and they can buy up to 12 booklets per quarter.

Um so that's an equivalent of about you know three, four hundred dollars that we highly subsidized on on taxi scripts.

Um so what you saw on the report are averages per ride because especially for taxi, it depends on the mileage, right?

You know, where you go, but on average it's about $75 per per ride.

Okay, that's good to know.

Um and why is it that GoGo grandparent is down at they they seem to be asking for a much less subsidy compared to the other providers?

Why not expand the service with them?

Or is it because the quality or they have limits with their capacity?

Just so then we can provide more rides with the same amount of money.

Uh through the chair, um, this is a good question.

When we started with GoGo grandparents, it was the pilot, because we're not sure how readily adaptable our seniors are when it comes to these kinds of new new services, new technology.

So we pilot it with a very small amount of grant with a very limited number of subsidies that we can provide.

And what we've seen is a huge uptick.

Uh they're considered, you know, GoGo and Lyft considered um hailing services, um, not like taxi.

And they um we have seen a huge uptick in services.

So one of the things that we're gonna do during the the request for qualifications when we issue that is to make these services comparable to each other, so consumers would have choices.

Right now, the way our program is modeled, uh, it's driven towards taxi because that's our bread and butter for many, many years now.

And then as these new uh approaches to transportation are coming online, we want to take a look at these and pilot new ones and also grow the ones that we know are really successful, like GoGo grandparents and possibly increase the number of number of rides that you can get with GoGo as well as the amount of subsidy that we provide.

Okay, great.

That makes a lot of sense to me.

I'll second the item.

Moving to our public speakers, Blair Beekman and Missisada.

So the report says this is uh for fragile seniors.

So what who qualifies as a senior?

Just being a senior is not enough.

You say fragile seniors.

So who does that include?

Does that include, for instance, an individual who's just had surgery on their knee temporarily will need this transportation for a period of time but not long term?

Uh does this include an individual who has failed the uh DNV and cannot drive, and now they have to depend on some other form of transportation.

Um do you have an uh a space, an area that is limited for travel.

So we have seniors that have to go to Stanford Hospital.

Can they be transported to that distance?

Is there a distance like 20 miles, 30 miles?

Uh that's the limit.

Um thank you, Mrs.

Sada, and I do not see Blair in the queue, so that concludes your public speakers for item six.

Thank you, Miss Baxis.

If you could speak to the length of a travel uh a travel trip that is covered under these services, I'd appreciate that.

Sure, thank you, Chair Fife.

That's a very good question.

And we know that especially for medical appointments that are specialized, they go outside of Oakland.

And the taxi service can go anywhere outside of Oakland.

The problem though is you know, because they can only purchase 12 scripts per quarter, a lot of folks who are going to these specialty uh medical appointments outside of Oakland tend to use up their allocation rather quickly.

We do listen to folks' needs for a request on a case-by-case basis.

And that's another area that I think we need to address because as people become more and more frail, we should be able, we should see an uh again an increase in these kinds of medical specialty uh rides for transportation.

The other thing that we've been doing is we are looking into whether or not their insurance actually pays for transportation, especially if they are under Medi-Cal.

If they're under Medical and Medical covers uh their transportation, they should be paying for those and not our programs.

So another education and getting more information from our seniors as as we get more and more requests, you know, repeated requests for more and more scripts than than the normal allocation.

In terms of qualification, if you're over 70, 70 or over, you automatically qualify.

You don't have to have a disability or you know, a need, it's not means tested.

Um if you're under 70, so anywhere from 18 to 69, you have to have a disability and registered with the Alameda with the East Bay Paratransit, because a lot of folks think that this is sort of the first resort for transportation, is actually the second or supplemental to the ADA transportation through East Bay Paratransit.

So it's a gap, a stop gap for a lot of folks who are not able to get on the East Bay Paratransit van, or they just got off the you know, emergency room and riding in a in a in a van that goes all over the city may not be something that they want to do.

So this is really filling the gap.

So that's another education that we have to tell our consumers when they keep asking for more scripts because they want to ride the taxi rather than then uh east pay paratransit van sometimes.

Okay.

Yes.

Uh I know this is easier said than done, but I think if there's any way to withhold the subsidy when one of our providers does not deliver on a trip, you know, we should do that because looking at some of these subsidy costs, they could be getting subsidized.

I mean, if a c the cost of a trip is 74 dollars, and then they don't even go to that household in East Oakland, you know, they shouldn't be getting the 74 dollars from us.

So easier said than done.

I know that.

So thanks.

Thank you so much.

Just one brief you you're good, Councilmember Houston.

Okay, I believe we have a motion or second on the floor.

We do have a motion made by Councilmember Houston, seconded by Councilmember Wong, to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the July 21st, City Council agenda on roll, Councilmember Gaio.

All right, thank you.

Councilman Eastern.

Aye, Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Five.

Aye.

This motion does pass with four eyes to approve the recommendations of staff and afford this item to the July 21st, 2026, City Council agenda and through the body that would be consent.

Thank you.

Moving to open forum, Mr.

Soder and Blur Bigman.

So Sanctuary City, like I said before, is not a legal term.

So how do we apply it in any documentation related to city attorney?

If there's no legal term for how do you have an ordinance using the term sanctuary city when there is no legal term with that definition.

So I don't know how y'all do that.

Um the idea of understanding that you have an opportunity to weigh in on the impact of your sanctuary city status as it relates to jobs, who's getting jobs, who's not getting jobs, housing, who's getting housing, who's not getting housing.

And my position is there's a strong possibility.

Thank you, Mrs.

Sada.

And I do not see Blair, so that concludes open forum.

Thank you.

It is 517, and this meeting is adjourned.