Good afternoon everyone.

The second Minister of City Council would please come to order with a clerk call the roll

please to establish a quorum.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Member Tao.

Council Member Valenzuela.

Here.

Vice Mayor Maple.

Here.

Council Member Gatta.

Here.

Council Member Jennings.

Here.

Council Member Vang.

Here.

I expect Council Member Kaplan and Mayor Pro Temt element is momentarily.

Mayor Steinberg.

I am here.

If it's okay I will lead us tonight in the landing knowledge been in the pledge of allegiance.

Or would you like to do with Council Member Tao?

Why don't you do it?

Yes please.

Thank you.

Please rise for the opening acknowledgments in honor of Sacramento's indigenous people

and tribal lands.

To the original people of this land, the Nisanan people, the southern Maidu valley, and

plains mewap put with wind to people in the people of the Wulton Renteria Sacramento's

only federally recognized tribe, may we acknowledge and honor the native people who

came before us and still walk beside us today on these ancestral lands by choosing to gather

today.

And the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation of Sacramento's indigenous

people's history, contribution and lives.

Thank you.

Please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance.

Salute pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic

for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, and with liberty and Jeopardy.

Well, very good afternoon to everyone.

Thank you for those of you who are here, those of you watching either online or on the

cable television.

We have a very important agenda tonight.

Thank you, Lani.

Okay.

I understand there are about 50 people still waiting to get inside.

And so we will make sure, of course, that anyone who is trying to get in and is not in

yet gets a chance to participate and speak.

I know there is one item that I want to item 16 that I want to make sure is continued

one week, please.

And then ask my colleagues here on the consent calendar.

Are there any items you either want to vote on separately or speak about separately?

I'm calling number nine.

Number nine.

Right.

Any other Councilmember Valenzuela?

Yes, I have a question on item eight and I'd like to pull item 14.

I believe it's supposed to be pulled by staff but I'd like to make a comment before

it's pulled.

That's appropriate.

Okay.

Yes, Mayor.

I request, staff is requested.

Item 14 is pulled.

Okay, but it's appropriate for the Councilmember, of course, to make a comment.

Councilmember Kaplan.

Just a quick comment on item 13.

On 13.

Okay.

Let's go then back in.

Well, do we have public testimony on the consent calendar?

We do not.

Let us go in order.

Councilmember Valenzuela, comment on item eight.

A question really for staff if they're available.

I don't see anyone from fire or fire, or I guess fire.

This whole person cares.

Yeah, this is, I just wanted to know how much annual estimated annual net gain to the city.

This item would bring.

It wasn't super clear from the staff report, so.

This was the whole person care pilot back from 2018 that we, the only city in the state

other than Berkeley, that got engaged in partnership with the federal government to draw

down money to combat homelessness.

And it, and it helped a lot of people.

Chief, do you want to count?

Chief Castamania?

I didn't mean to put him on this, but I thought finance may be.

Good evening, Mayor Council.

I don't have the item in front of me.

I was trying to pull it up real quick, so I can get back to you.

Okay, that's fine.

With the number actuals.

Right, thank you.

I would just entreat when it said we were paying for this out of general fund, and that

this would be an increased reimbursement of what the net gain would be to the general fund.

Net gain, I'll get for you.

Thank you, Chief.

All right, thank you.

Okay, thank you, Chief.

Councilmember Gettah on item number nine.

Thank you very much, Mayor.

Appreciate the time here.

One, I just wanted to thank our city staff and their partnership with California Rural

Legal Assistance Foundation and the renewal of the fuel contract, the Sacramento Family

Unity Education and Legal Network that's worked with over 49 profits to help our immigrant

refugees in the Psy-Lease.

Not only is this core to our history of Sacramento and creating opportunities from so many who've

come to Sacramento for an opportunity, but most importantly, the rights that we are

afforded to by our Constitution, by our state law, and by our local municipal law aren't

there if we can't legally access them, have them accessible.

And so the fact that we have legal services to help folks, I just wanted to put out a few

steps for my colleagues and thank them again for their past support.

But through the Know Your Rights program, over 17,000 individuals here in the city of

Sacramento have received the education and training, including our educators and school officials.

And over 208 individual Sacramento residents have received legal consultation for their

particular status or questions on immigration.

And whether it be that is a refugee or that is an Psy-Lease.

And unlike other cities that unfortunately have not focused on this, we have helped transition

people into status making sure that they were prepared for their court hearing.

And with other states sent folks over here with no information, we were able to help people

find a path forward.

So I just wanted to thank all of the providers that have been partnering with this and I think

the city manager for moving through this also to remind folks that when we did ask for

an audit of the contract, it came out with another glowing recommendation about how high

quality of services and how we're providing a service to our Sacramento residents.

And with that mayor, I'm just very glad about where we're going today.

I know there's going to be a lot of conversation about that in another debate.

But tonight Sacramento has no debate about what is the right thing to do for all of its residents,

regardless of their legal status.

I want to thank you for your leadership on this council member, Getta, really not only helping to bring this to

council in the first place, but also for your continuing insistence that whether it's been traditionally a core function

of city government, a lot of the people who live in our city are scared in some ways and depend on

this really relatively modest investment in making sure that their rights are protected as well.

Thank you to the city manager as well for working so closely with the council member and the community to see this all through.

Appreciate it.

Okay, let's go to item number 13, that's council member Kaplan.

Thank you mayor.

I'm just going to do a brief pause because I know people are coming in and many might be here for item 18.

Don't forget to put your speaker card in up front.

If you're just showing up, I too, council member, Getta, I learned about this in your advocacy for fuel.

So I just want to say, hooray, I'm really proud that the city of Sacramento invests in this program because I think it does so much work and

in area people don't talk about and they don't talk about it enough.

But on item 13, I am using discussion of the old Sacramento parking garage painting to bring up something that I know mayor.

You are passionate about and I want to tell you I am just as passionate about because we need to invest in old Sacramento.

We need to and I know that you're in discussions with the city manager and I look forward to the A's are coming next year.

And while they are in West Sacramento, old sack is a significant tourist destination and I would like to see us a multi phase because I know prior to me getting on the council in 2019.

There was an amazing kind of plan of an vision for how do we reinvest in old Sacramento and that has changed a little bit pandemic and what it looks like.

And I think we're going to have to take a multi phase approach because it's not as cost effective as it was in 2019.

But city manager look forward to how do we how do we use our TOT funding for phase one phase two approach to really invest in old Sacramento and make it ready for the A's.

So I know I'm pivoting on the old Sacramento garage, but I think this is a great opportunity.

Thank you.

I know you are working on this and I just want to say publicly I am very supportive because this is a chance to highlight the old city of Sacramento.

I mean, 1849 and invest it so it is a economic driver for us.

So I know that's coming in the month in the month of October.

I think it can fairly say right probably.

Yeah.

Sometime before December.

It is going to come forward and this is a long realized dream envision for our city to begin modernizing the waterfront starting in old Sacramento.

And yes, it's a different plan than what we envision back in 2019 prior to COVID, but it is still public money.

TOT, measure N allows it the use of our tourism tax for broader tourism functions.

And we're going to engage the private sector and do something spectacular and can't wait.

We got too sooner rather than later the A's are coming and we're going to have increased traffic and that's where it's going to be regional partnership.

Not only on this side of the river, but the other side.

Well, and I'll piggyback on what the mayor said.

I think it was Councilman Garrett that asked us to take a look at connectivity between here and West Sac in preparation for the A's.

We're working with our team, working with our team, the kings and the ownership group to make sure that we're ready for the A's when they come to town.

So yeah, all systems are go.

Perfect.

I'm just lending my support of continued reinvestment to make sure that we highlight the city of Sacramento the way it deserves.

That's the eyes have it one and nothing so far.

By the way, okay.

Thank you.

I'll make a motion.

Is there anything else?

I think Councilman Valenzuela had item 14.

I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar.

Continuing removing 14 and continuing item 16 for a week, please.

Absolutely.

Okay. That's the motion.

That was the motion I was prepared to make.

So thank you, mayor. I'll second that motion.

I wanted to give the colleagues a little context on item 14 and I want to first thank the city Treasures Office and the city real estate team for jumping on a call with me yesterday.

The colleagues you may recall that when we purchased a building on Kay Street, there were some questions about the quality of the appraisal that we were given for that building.

The same appraiser vendor was the on this list of I believe five that the Treasures Office was seeking to enter into contract with.

So I raised questions of whether we fully resolved the questions about that appraisal and what happened in that context.

So I wanted to use this opportunity to ensure my colleagues were aware of that and also to request the city manager, whatever the appropriate venue is, whether it's closed session or open session for us to just debrief that report.

I don't think we've talked about it since the article the SACB investigation came out and I think it would warrant some further discussion, especially because the Treasures Office informs me that there aren't a lot of vendors who do what this firm does.

So it's really an important thing for them to keep working with them and I wasn't comfortable with that until we had a broader discussion.

I'm happy to take that back into closed session as you know this was part of a litigation settlement.

Yes.

And so I think it's appropriate to have an enclosed session.

Okay, I agree.

Okay, that's what we'll do then.

Okay, the content calendar has been moved with 14 and 16 being off, 16 coming back next week.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

abstain.

Thank you.

We now move to the heart of the meeting and we begin with item 17 relating to the meeting.

We begin to move to the heart of the meeting.

I'm going to move to the heart of the meeting to our department of community response.

Okay, just got to.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

I have a brief discussion on item 17.

This item is listed as a discussion item because government code 54953 requires that we must

orally report a summary of the recommendation for final action on salaries, salary schedules,

and compensation paid in the form of fringe benefits of a local agency executive.

Item 3.1D applies to all unrepresented staff, staff eligible for benefits, including all

local agency executives, which includes charter officers and department heads, and is the

only item in the report that falls under government code 54953 requiring a normal report.

This item is being added to the unrep-res0 to ensure consistent language and benefits

citywide.

Item 3.1D states effective the first paycheck of 2025 for plan year 2025.

The city shall contribute 50% of the first $50 of premium increases up to a total city

dollar maximum contribution of $25 per month, rounded up to the nearest whole dollar towards

the cumulative total increase in premiums from plan year 2024 to plan year 2025 of the

benchmark plans $25 for Kaiser HMO, Delta Dental PPO, and BSP Basic Vision plans.

The employee shall be responsible for any premium increases which exceed this amount.

This is the end of my presentation.

Thank you very much.

Vice mayor on this?

After.

Let's hear the public comment on this item please.

I have no speakers on this item.

Okay.

I just want to move the item and hope this is a wonderful addition to the Department of

Community Response that does amazing work in our community.

Okay.

Move them second.

Did all in favor please say aye.

Opposed?

abstain?

Now you can cheer.

Thank you.

Okay.

Excellent.

That's excellent.

Okay.

We now move to I think the lead item for the night and that is item 18 which is the

Secretary of Children's Fund Strategic Investment Plan.

We have the Measure L commission here and Monica are you going to present with other commissioners?

City staff.

So we're going to start with city staff.

Go ahead.

Why don't you kick us off for not everybody is in so that's a good question.

Maybe if we wait just one moment I'm told there are about 40 people still outside.

Can the people outside here what's going here the debate and the testimony on the inside?

Okay.

So I'm torn hold on to maybe recess for five ten minutes and allow everybody to come in.

This is an important item to a lot of folks in our community so that everyone can hear.

And it sounds orderly it's just taking taking a little bit of time.

Is that okay?

So why don't we take 15 minutes 20 minutes to six we will reconvene and we'll make sure that everybody is here in the chambers who wants to listen and participate.

540.

We're in recess.

Thank you.

Yeah if you're here stay here don't go.

Thank you we're in recess.

All right.

I'm going to go back to the city Tapi.

I'm going to go back to the city council.

I'm told that everyone who was waiting in line wants to participate in this discussion tonight is now in the chambers.

So that is great.

Let us begin again with the city staff then we're going to hear from the commission.

I'm looking at you.

I'll make it much shorter.

I just there's going to be a lot of good robust discussion tonight about so many needs on behalf of our young people in the community.

And a new and exciting but finite resource.

And the city staff and the Yipsey department works tirelessly on behalf of young people in our community.

And this commission this new commission born out of the community led effort to pass a youth measure,

and work in their hearts out.

And so I just want this to be a really good community discussion where we really listen to each other.

And we find ways to get as far as we can to help as many young people as we can in our community.

That's the point here.

The how to is what the people voted on and what we're going to talk about here tonight.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay.

Well, thank you for having us.

I am Renee Koston.

I'm the program manager within Yipsey and overseeing the Sacramento Children's Fund team.

Thank you for having us here.

I'm actually going to invite our chair, Monica Ruelas-Mates,

SAC Children's Fund, planning and oversight commission chair up here with me.

And I'm also going to invite chair Rea's Rea's Sacramento Youth Commission.

We will be presenting as a joint group.

So it's going to be a little bit of back and forth, and we're happy to do so.

So to get started,

just a brief overview of what we're going to be talking about today.

So an overview on Measure L.

Our chair is going to talk about the historical context piece of it, community engagement,

the strategic investment plan, some key decision points under that plan,

and then strategies and solutions that the commission has brought forth as a recommendation

to you all as city council.

And then we have time for some question answers or direction from city council.

So as we know, Measure L was passed in November of 2022.

It is a local cannabis business tax revenue from the General Fund is utilized

to determine the allocation for the Sacramento Children's Fund.

But I do want to reiterate it's a general fund dollars.

It supports the youth development and violence prevention programs within our community.

The funds are restricted to qualified nonprofits and public agencies.

We have qualified organizations that must receive funds through an open, transparent, and competitive process.

We are guided by a strategic plan adopted by city council and developed by our commission.

And we have an administrative cost cap within the strategic investment plan that starts at 20%

and is reduced down to 10%.

I also just want to take this time to make some acknowledgements to our community.

As you can see, our community played an intricate part in the process of developing the strategic investment plan.

They are here in numbers tonight.

So thank you all for being here and being a part of the process.

Our commissioners.

Yes.

Our commissioners, both the Sacramento Children's Fund planning and oversight commission as well as the Sacramento Youth Commission,

are also here representing themselves and all the work that they did and put forth.

And the many hours that I will tell you about that they put in to work on this strategic investment plan, which was a lot.

Third plateau, our strategic investment plan consultant that worked tirelessly alongside our commission and city staff.

City council, thank you all for being here and helping us get to the next step in this process.

And our executive of City of Sacramento, we've had immense support from our city manager, assistant city managers, our director of many departments.

ODE has been a great collaborator in this process.

Our auditor's office has worked tirelessly on the baseline expenditures.

And many, many more who've played a pivotal role in developing this plan.

I am now going to pass it off to our chair, Reles Motes, to talk about our historical context.

Good evening council members.

Good evening community that is here present today.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak in front of you today, specifically on behalf of the commission.

I did want to speak a little bit about the historical context of measure L and how we ended up getting here.

As many of you know on July 2022, the city council approved the proposal for the Sacramento Children's Fund to be on the November ballot.

And in November of 2022 voters approved measure L.

As you all can tell, we are about two years after that.

And so we're really eager to be in front of you here today presenting this plan so that the funds can be allocated to community.

I do just want to note that the coalition that put this together was diverse and intergenerational.

Many of us started volunteering with measure Y, measure G and measure L when we were youth.

And some of those youth had have graduated into being parents of their own raising their own kids here in Sacramento.

And we believe in the potential of the fund to really have a positive generational impact.

And so we're really excited to be here in front of you today.

Thank you.

All right. Moving on to our development and approval process.

So it started with establishing a nine member Sacramento Children's Fund planning and oversight commission.

We then moved on to the SIP development by the commission in collaboration with Sacramento Youth Commission, Third Plateau and City staff.

The final approval and adoption will be by mayor and city council.

And the daily implementation is going to be overseen by the Sacramento Children's Fund team which consists of myself, Julie, Andrew.

And tomorrow who are in the audience today.

Just to give a little background of how much work that this group has put in.

We had 15, I think maybe 16 commission meetings from February until August 22nd of 2024 to get this done.

So I think it's just been an immense effort from the clerk's office who's taken on many special meetings for us in Sacramento Youth Commission, City Attorney's Office,

who's also helped us and guide us through the process along with the commission members who have worked endlessly and spent time outside of their work and their families to contribute to what you're all are going to be seeing today.

So this is the timeline that we followed commission appointment happened in July of 2023.

The strategic planning consultant was selected third plateau in September of 2023.

And the first Sacramento Children's Fund orientation commission meeting happened in December of 2023.

We conducted community engagement February to June 2024.

But I will say that the community engagement has gone through August as we've had a few town halls that we will talk about.

And updating the community on what's in the strategic investment plan itself.

We started drafting the strategic investment plan from May to August of 2024 very quickly about four month turnaround.

And on August 22nd, 2024, as I mentioned prior, the commission approved the strategic investment plan with their recommendations to come to council.

We are now here September 10th.

And our plan for October through June of 2029 is to implement the strategic investment plan itself.

I'm also just going to briefly overview our fun goals that are outlined in the measure itself.

So supporting the mental health and emotional wellness of children and youth, preventing and reducing homelessness among children and youth, including youth transitioning out of foster care, preventing and reducing youth substance abuse, prevent and reduce youth violence, and supporting the healthy development of children's age 0 to 5.

I just want to mention that there's no hierarchy to the fun goals.

All the opportunities for funding need to be received and reviewed overall, not as one through four or one through five, etc.

So now moving on to our community engagement.

We conducted community engagement from February, as I said, to August 2024 in collaboration between Sacramento Children's Fund and the Sacramento Youth Commissioners and Third Plateau are consultant and included this included surveys, interviews, community listening sessions with youth parents and other care holders.

The draft zip was presented at four town halls, which included Colonial Heights Library, South Natomas Community Center, Haginwood Community Center and Penel Community Center.

I'm going to pass it off to Chair Willis-Marras and Chair Rios to talk about how the commission was involved in community engagement and the Sacramento Youth Commission was also involved in community engagement.

Okay, so just a little bit about the different phases of community engagement.

We had one phase in which community engagement involved the survey, the interviews and community listening sessions, and this phase specifically informed the research and landscape analysis, which is a supporting document to the strategic investment plan itself.

And so from this phase, we specifically gathered barriers, challenges and strategies to address the priority issue areas from youth directly, as well as parents and care holders.

Phase two of community engagement involved informational town halls, the SAC Children's Fund Commissioners in collaboration with City staff and Third Plateau presented the draft strategic investment plan at four town halls at the community center's name on the presentation.

But I just want to give a shout out to our commissioners and if they would please stand up.

So we have eight commissioners.

Eight commissioners on the SAC Children's Fund planning and oversight commission who were pointed by all of you to represent your districts.

I just want to shout out specifically Council Member Kaplan's appointee, Gina Richardson, because our commissioner, Gina Richardson, because I know that when we asked who from our commission wanted to lead the community engagement efforts, you really stood up and kind of took those efforts on.

And we had a couple of other commissioners leading community engagement efforts in their respective districts.

District three council commissioner, Volma Bolsey, District six commissioner, Lily and Gafari, District five commissioner, Davont Thomas and District eight commissioner, Colledin Moutalki, and other community engagement efforts.

I know we're done by District four commissioner, Shannon Williams as well.

So just really excited that we were able to get our entire commission to engage their community members as we all know you all are really busy.

And so it's really nice to have commissioners that you can lean on for that engagement.

And I'm going to pass it over to Chair Rhea Sereo, so that he can talk about his experience.

I had the privilege of myself of going to a measure L town hall meeting.

It was held at the San Antonio Community Center, and it was really nice to see that it was really nice to see that there weren't even enough seats for how many people intended.

And that stuff that you really love to see at community engagement events.

You want to see as many amount of community members engaging in policies as possible.

And so that was very nice to see.

I'd also like to highlight the work of the Sacramento Youth Commission.

So far this year we've dedicated half of our total meetings to joint meetings with the Sacramento Children's Planning Fund.

This exactly shows how much we were committed to the strategic investment plan and drafting it, and making sure that youth themselves were heard in the implementation of it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So because we all love data, we have some community engagement data for, I just want to point out we did pretty much targeted community engagement, right?

So we wanted to be really intentional about who we were interacting with and who we were hearing from and the feedback that we received.

So for that first phase that Chair Ruraliz Mata has talked about, we had interviews and focus groups.

About 57% of them were youth, 4% from county, 14% parents, 5% city, 7% educators, 1% expert interviews, 8% CBOs, and 4% commissioners.

For a total of 213 individuals engaged through our interview and focus group process.

Simultaneously we put out a questionnaire in April of this year and we had a total of 262 respondents for that questionnaire.

And then we also had four town halls with 101 participants at those town halls.

41% South Natomas Queenie Center, 11% Higamon Community Center, 24% Colonial Heights Library, and 25% Penelmet of View Community Center.

I think South Natomas got the biggest bang for their buck at their town halls, so great job.

Just moving on to individual individuals engaged by district.

So we broke it out by district 6% for district 1, 11% for district 2, 16% for district 3, 5% for district 4, 9% for district 5, 16% for district 6, 5% for district 7, 15% district 8, the non applicable 13%

were for individuals that were from county, city, and or field experts that spoke from a broader perspective and may have not put in their specific zip code for us to align the district.

Just to put that piece out there for our non applicable and then 3% were outside of sack, 1% was unincorporated sack, and 6% was district 1.

So just going through some of the community's perspectives or challenges that we heard throughout this community engagement process.

I'm not going to read off the quotes for you all, but I am just going to kind of summarize the substance use mental health and age 0 to 5 need that was outlined.

So what we heard from the community is there's a need for increased accessibility and use of vaping fentanyl and marijuana with low awareness of associated dangers.

Usage linked to mental health issues and trauma, youth identify this as a top issue with the post pandemic rise and depression and anxiety.

There's a need for more providers better access referrals and creative approaches beyond traditional counseling and there's a lack of affordable childcare.

Here's some of the community perspectives for the barriers that families and youth are facing that could benefit from the Sacramento Children's Fund itself.

So just a low awareness of services accessibility, housing availability, childcare, a need for trusting consistent services.

I will say you'll see in the strategies itself that that need is not only from adults but from peers as well. That was a big emphasis that we heard, especially from our youth.

And culturally responsive services and lastly transportation.

And I'll give you a moment to read that quote if you so choose.

And these are some of the strategies that came out of our community perspectives.

As I had mentioned youth led peer led approaches were really important to our community, emotional safety and support through relationships, safe and welcoming spaces outside of school and home.

So there's third spaces for our families and our youth and enrichment and skill building opportunities.

So now we're into the best part, the strategic investment plan overview.

That is our commissioner Thomas that I think we surprised him that he's the face of the plan tonight.

But I'm going to pass it back to both of our chairs to talk a little bit about equity before we get into our key decision points.

So obviously we know that the city of Sacramento has its own equity statement but chair Rio and I kind of want to give a little bit of perspective both from the measure itself as well as our own personal perspective growing up in Sacramento.

So the measure states that the funds should be used to support children specifically most impacted by poverty violence and trauma.

And to identify these children we in the investment plan we will actually recommend utilizing tools like the Sacramento equity explore design, seed tool and the child opportunity index the COI.

These two tools each aimed to identify the quality of resources and specific conditions that influence healthy development and life chances of children in the city's 152 census track.

So it does give us data at the city level.

We also include high priority populations which are listed on page 27 of the strategic investment plan.

And this means that programs that support children and youth are eligible to apply regardless of their place on this map.

So again regardless of the place on the map if you know youth are experiencing all the indicators that meet that need then they would of course qualify for funding.

But equity is important because although data is data and of course numbers are really nice to look at these numbers actually represent real young people and I just want you to all to acknowledge that there are young people literally here in this room today that are going through some of these things that they need support with.

Young people with their own experiences and voices we cannot discount the individual and complex experience that youth of this generation have had from a historical context being born into a low income community or underserved neighborhood is not a child's choice.

Okay and so we should be really acknowledging that when we're looking at specific neighborhoods to target.

Young people make up over 35% of the population and across districts the experience of growing up in Sacramento isn't homogenous.

I know this because as I was growing up in South Sacramento I never knew that my family was low income until I went to my undergrad at UCLA and started to recognize that there are people that are more privileged than I am.

But the one thing that I did have was community and family that loved me and so that's what built me up into the person that I am today.

It's important to hear directly from families and youth their experiences and solutions that they propose for the problems that they face because we as individuals do not know people's everyday problems and what they're going through and so how can we know exactly what solutions to pose so.

Important to hear community voice and so passing it off to chair for you to talk a little bit more about equity.

So first of all I would like all the youth to give themselves around the applause for all being here today.

I think I believe it's very monumental that we have this much of youth presence in city hall.

It's really important that youth are getting involved in the policies that directly affect them and so with that I'll have a little message about equity.

So I want to talk about how equity played a vital role in the base of the strategic investment plan.

This was done after careful review of thorough data that can be referred to in the strategic investment plan.

Keep in mind that this was a unanimous decision by the Sacramento Youth Commission and the Sacramento Children's Planning Commission.

Yes, you heard that right. Over 10 extremely knowledgeable and active youth who were appointed by you all who collectively represent all eight districts of Sacramento decided to choose equity.

Not to mention the countless number of community members who agreed with equity as well.

I know there are some people at home asking themselves, well what about my district?

Well, we can all assure you that there is no doubt in any of our minds that each district will get a piece of the pie.

The question is, are we giving those in dire need their true fair share?

An old educator of mine used to say, you cannot feed a field of flowers, a spoonful of water and expect them to survive.

I say that because that is exactly the situation we are in now.

It is essential that we are ensure that the most underserved areas in Sacramento are not getting spoonfuls of resources but the buckets that they deserve.

Because the last thing we want to tell the youth of Sacramento is to just deal with it.

That is something I've been told many times and it is exactly what propelled me to get active in my community.

Because I realize that it isn't youth who had to deal with the inequitable distribution of resources is the decision makers.

It is their job to ensure that funding is being equitably distributed and that means approving the strategic investment plan.

Because every day that money from the Sacramento Children's Fund is not being distributed,

there are youth in Sacramento suffering with their mental health, using and being addicted to harmful substances, getting involved in violence,

and not knowing how much longer they will be living on the streets.

All of these issues I just named are issues that are in the strategic investment plan and that they intend to believe.

We cannot wait for another youth suicide, youth overdose, or youth death caused by violence to do something.

We need to act now.

But I'll be honest, I see the light bulb at the end of the tunnel for youth and I know this light can be turned on so easily if we collectively unite around the strategic investment plan and move it forward.

But regardless of what happens tonight, I can assure everybody in all the youth here that the Sacramento Youth Commission and I will always fight for the youth of Sacramento.

Mayor, can I just say, Reyes, for president?

You can.

There's a debate going on.

I think we just throw them on the debate stage.

I want to know if you want to deliver my state of the city speech next week.

Thank you so much, chairs, for sharing those impactful message to the group.

So moving on to our key decision points.

So these are some of the key recommendations that we wanted to highlight that will be coming out of the strategic investment plan as a recommendation.

So starting out with our fungles and outcomes, these strategies are to achieve the needs and experiences of youth most impacted by poverty trauma and violence.

I think that's probably the third or fourth time we've heard that tonight, but it really is the basis of measure L.

Investment recommendations include data sources and indicator tools to inform and identify target populations, sustained funding to support positive youth development and violence prevention outside of measure L.

Funding structures prioritizing sustainable and cross cutting programs.

For implementation, the Commission oversight and public accountability measures for equitable and transparent processes.

Annual service performance reporting aligned with Yipsey standards and youth impact evaluation reporting and commission review.

So within the measure itself, we do have to provide an annual report on some of the outcomes that we're outlining here and some of the strategies that we're hoping to achieve.

As well as a three year review, comprehensive review of the strategic investment plan and then at the five year mark, we do another review of the strategic investment plan.

So funding overview.

This is a brief estimated annual funds of eight to ten million dollars.

The Commission decide to decide for the SIP itself to utilize our 2324 fiscal year amount of 8.7 and some change million dollars.

20% of administrative expenses come off the top of that for city staff and other entities that will be contributing to the strategic investment plan and implementation at 1.7 and some change million dollars.

And the rest is for program investment at $7 million approximately $7 million.

This will vary over time depending on what is determined what the determined allocation is from our cannabis business tax at 40%.

So I'll give you a chance to review that.

And we are doing it by fiscal year just to provide clarification beforehand because that's what will be funding the program investment years.

So for our fund allocation, these are some of the recommendations that came down from our commission and are included in the strategic investment plan.

So it's all time your funding. So two to three year contracts for stability through quarterly and annual reviews.

So the plan is to do a initial 3.5 year contract and do another RFP process to do another two years to round out our five years.

So the planning breakdown of 65% of programmatic funding allocated to CBOs, via an open competitive process, a grant cap, a minimum of 25,000 and a maximum of 500,000 to accommodate larger applicants and programs annually.

And for guaranteed basic income, it's set aside 20% of program funding to support transition age foster youth.

So what that means for the overall program investment, I'm just going to go back to it really quickly.

So for program investment, 20% is coming out for guaranteed basic income off the top.

So it's around $1.5 million for that piece.

With the remainder, approximately $5.5 to $6 million, 65% of it included in the current SIP, going directly to CBOs and the remainder going to city programming.

So just to give a little background on the guaranteed basic income and what it is and who's eligible to apply.

It provides current and former transitional age foster youth with cash assistance to support basic needs, who's eligible to apply current or former foster youth between the ages of 18 and 24.

Current or former foster youth also experiencing homelessness receiving homeless services.

Income is at or below the 200% of the federal poverty level may not be receiving guaranteed income from another program and must be considered a resident of the city of Sacramento.

A program model example would be to serve 100 youth with three years of monthly cash payments of $1,000 and that is currently what's included in the strategic investment plan and you could refer to page 28 and 32 for more information on the guaranteed basic income program that's being proposed in the strategic investment plan.

So I'm going to pass it back off to Chair Relez Modes to close this out with our priority populations and then we'll review our strategies and we'll be all done.

I'll try to get this through this a little bit quickly because I know it's up there already but we have recommended the following priority populations be considered by demographic group and so you'll see them named up there.

And just to name a few that are also included in the strategic investment plan, children and youth and families who are low income.

Children, youth and families who are black, indigenous, Latino, Southeast Asian and from other marginalized identities, youth or families who are un house.

Children and youth who identify as LGBTQ, youth in or transitioning out of foster care, youth who are not currently in school or working.

involved in the juvenile or criminal legal systems, children and youth who are first generation,

immigrants or refugees, children and youth with disabilities.

However, as you can see, we also saw a data-informed way to measure important the differences in

the landscape of opportunity for children and youth across neighborhoods in Sacramento.

And this is why we recommend using the COI and the seed equity index tool, which each

aim to identify the quality of resources, as I mentioned before, in the city's 152 census

tracks.

So these composite indices use more than 40 indicators and multiple domains to provide

comparable measures of inequity across neighborhoods.

I'll just name a few in case folks are interested in knowing what the indicators are.

The availability and quality of neighborhood institutions such as quality schools and

on profits, peer and adult influences that help shape children's norms and expectations,

neighborhood social structure and economic resources such as the poverty rate, broadband,

internet access and mobility enhancing French networks.

And the environmental quality as well, among many more.

And I believe we are on to the next slide.

So again, as you can see, this map here is showing the seed tool at a zero to 20 equity index

level with an overlay of the child opportunity index.

This is used to support the notion that there are youth that are most impacted by poverty

trial and trauma and violence in specific neighborhoods in Sacramento.

And so these areas would be considered priority consideration.

However, it is encouraged for all entities proposing to serve youth, particularly youth

that are most impacted to apply.

So it's not limited to these areas, but these are considered the priority areas because historically,

these are showing where youth are most impacted by what was just stated again, poverty violence

and trauma.

And so we like, we encourage the use of this tool because we think that from a data perspective,

it does give us kind of a landscape and place-based analysis to include when we are seeking funding.

Thank you.

All right.

So just to briefly overview our strategies that the commission decided upon and agreed upon

and approved for the strategic investment plan.

So for our first fun goal, support the mental health and emotional wellness of youth, I'm

not going to read every single one off, but increased mental health literacy, enhancing

social emotional and behavioral learning for prevent and reduce youth homelessness.

We have direct and unrestricted cash assistance as a strategy, expanding housing programs, providing

street outreach for prevent and reduce youth substance abuse, substance abuse screening,

options, brief intervention, integrating harm reduction, and others for preventing and

reducing youth violence.

We have community-based violence intervention, workforce development and employment.

For supporting the healthy development of children's ages 0 to 5, we have promoting early

learning and school readiness, being a champion of positive parenting skills and peer support,

and expanding childcare access overall.

And then for our guaranteed basic income for foster youth, it's those unconditional cash

transfers to current and former foster youth ages 18 to 24 and also providing public benefits

and case management through counseling to ensure informed youth participation and accountability

as well.

And you can refer to pages of 14 to 22 to see a broader outline of the strategies that are

being proposed by the Sacramento Children's Fund Commission.

So just looking ahead, here's a tentative implementation timeline tentative because

it's going to be very much based on how we move forward.

So City Council adoption, we have slated for September of 2024, a request for proposals

and applications.

We're hoping to have out by October 2024, probably late October.

The application review and award process will be happening during November to December

of 2024.

Funding awards will be announced hopefully by December of 2024.

I apologize there's an incorrect date there.

And then contract negotiation and execution, we plan to conduct during December, January,

probably into February, just depending on how responsive people are and how fast we get

the process going of 2025.

The first round of funding cycle will be from January 2025 to June of 2028 and the year

three evaluation report will be happening in September of 2028.

And that rounds out our presentation that we all had for you today.

Thank you so much for listening and thank you to the community and to other city members

for listening to us today and all the work that we've done.

It's been a long road but we traveled that road extremely quickly.

And it's amazing that we are able to put together a well-rounded sip to you all within the

last seven months or so.

So thank you.

An excellent collaborative presentation, really thorough all around the Staff and Commission.

Thank you very, very much in youth commission.

You might have been the highlight but I'm just saying.

No, no favorites.

No, no favorites.

So I want to, we have a lot of people saying that to test for everyone here from every

one and usually take the public testimony first but I want to actually turn it over to Council

member Van.

Well, I think we can fairly say it's been the Council leader to talk a little bit about what

we've talked about process and how we might proceed tonight and in the days weeks ahead.

Yeah, thanks Mayor.

I appreciate that.

I know we're going to have a robust conversation tonight.

Really just want to make some remarks and we can then open up to public comment and then

hear from our colleagues.

First, I really just want to thank all the youth that came out today.

I know we're going to get to hear from you briefly and really looking forward to hearing

all of you speak.

Just really inspired and proud of each and every one of you for coming out but especially

Chair Reyes for your story and really on behalf of all of the young people fighting the

fight.

Everything we do in the city is really to ensure we create the best opportunities for you

for all of you to thrive but it's got to be led by young people and it's got to be led

by each and every one of you.

I want to thank City staff, Renee and also Sarah for their heart work in staffing both

of the Sacramento Children's Fund Planning Commission and the Youth Commission to really

get us here, especially Renee who hit the ground running to support the commission.

I also want to thank all the commissioners who are sitting next to each other in one

aisle right now.

Shout out to my commissioner, Kali Motaki, Chair Reyes and Chair Monica and everyone on

the commission.

Thank you for your hard work.

And to all the allies in the room, I want to just recognize you and our young people

and also shout out to those that worked really hard in 2022 on the Measure L campaign.

That got us to this moment.

I just want to uplift you and thank the voters who's watching this for passing this measure

because you knew that we got to get these dollars to our most vulnerable youth.

So tonight, I am prepared to vote on this recommendation.

I've watched the commission meetings.

I've attended several of the town halls outside of my district led by the commissioners.

I met with numerous community members, our youth and I know they've put in the heart

work, the heart work and the hard work for this plan and the funding allocation to be

voted on tonight.

At the same time, I have heard from several of my colleagues within my Brown Act bubble

that they may not be ready to vote on the recommendations tonight.

But maybe after they hear from you, they may change their mind.

I don't know.

So before putting a motion on the table, I do genuinely want to hear from my colleagues

this evening and I want to engage in robust public discussion on the recommendation presented

from the commission, from both youth commission.

But I'm not ready to make a motion yet because I think engaging in that conversation is going

to be really important and I want to hear from my colleagues tonight.

As I shared nearly eight months, I've watched y'all debate each other, right, discuss about

the investment plan and its allocation, way longer that this may hearing council has,

right?

I think Chair Ray is in Renee and Monica's here that over 15 commission meetings was used

just to develop these recommendations.

And so I just really want to center that, right?

Is that the other day, this is about a plan led by youth and the people and this is

what we have that was presented today.

I do believe personally that this plan, this recommended plan and the funding allocation

before us does put us on the path to get us there.

It may not be perfect, but it put us on the path to get there.

It's both equity focus, play space and people base to ensure that we can reach all of our

young people, but especially those that's impacted by poverty, violence and trauma.

I look forward to the discussions tonight with my colleagues after public comment.

Yeah, and thank you.

I just want to say council member, thank you for your opening comments and for acknowledging

that, paraphrasing, that this is really important that there's been a lot of engagement and that

this is the first time that the city council will have heard this and that these are now

my words.

Whether or not we actually cast a vote tonight is less important, I think, than hearing from

all of us and I think that was the intent of what I heard council member Van Gsay hearing

from everyone and making sure that if it takes another week or two, that we take the input

of the colleagues and that we craft a motion and I'm just, this is my bias, that as much

difference as possible, be given to the commission because of the hard work that they did and

because of, I think, the soundness of a lot of what they put forward, but that's for us

to discuss and debate and that's the nature of the way measure L was written and so I'd

rather get it right and I know council member Van Gsay feels the same way than do it quickly.

So just in terms of expectations here tonight, let's have a great discussion and listen to

all the input.

Thank you.

Chair from the public.

Thank you, Mary.

I have 47 speakers lined up to speak so please do line up in the aisle if you can.

Julie Roten, Serieta Cox, Crystal Harding, Nikaia Bell, Ignacio Taylor.

Please proceed.

Please proceed.

Good evening, Mary and council.

I'm Julie Roten, Executive Director of Stanford Settlement Neighborhood Center, serving

residents of District 1, 2 and 3 here with my colleague Heather Hate from the greenhouse,

also located in District 3.

I want to take a moment to appreciate all the hard work of the commission, the city staff,

the consultants and most especially the youth commissioners.

They've worked tirelessly to put this plan together and it's quite impressive.

During lean financial times in this city, I've born and raised here, prevention services

always get cut first.

Services for children and youth always get cut first.

It's exciting to be able to see the city have the opportunity to invest for a change.

Please keep equity in mind as you deliberate this evening.

Our city is diverse, our neighborhood needs are unique.

The solutions that we come to must also be unique.

To add on top of that, kids need different things at different times and seasons in their

lives.

And we hope that however you deliberate and your decisions are made, that is reflected

in your decision.

Finally, measure L passed almost two years ago.

As youth commissioner Reyes made quite clear in his comments, there are needs in the community

that require some urgency.

So I appreciate your consideration about wanting to get it right, but let's get it right

in an urgent manner.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Therida Cox.

Good evening.

My name is Therida Cox.

I am the CEO and co-founder of IFAWster, which is the largest foster youth serving agency

in the nation.

I'm also a former foster youth.

Our organization is the program administrator for the statewide guaranteed income for

foster youth pilot under CDSS.

So I'm here to support the overall strategic plan, but in particular the 20% allocation

for guaranteed income fund for Sacramento foster youth.

This is a long meeting, so I'm going to keep it short three points.

Number one, foster youth are the most vulnerable youth population you all serve.

There are 1100 children and youth in foster care in Sacramento County.

The majority are in your districts.

Approximately 200 will age out this year, and a third of them will be homeless upon

aging out.

Within four years, 50% will experience homelessness, 50% will be unemployed, and those employed

will only be earning 7,500 a year.

In their entire lifetime, only 8% will achieve a post-secondary degree.

Number two, guaranteed income for foster youth works.

As the statewide administrator, we've seen firsthand how just $750 a month given up the

exit of foster care can change lives.

And to quote actually one of the youth who is a recipient.

The guaranteed income pilot program has provided me with the financial stability, helping

me cover essential needs like housing food and healthcare.

The stability has improved my mental health by reducing financial stress and fostering

a greater sense of well-being.

Additionally, I now have more time and resources for personal development enabling me to pursue

education training.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Crystal Harding.

Thank you.

Yay!

Great job, Crystal.

Thank you.

Oh, that's right.

Peace and love, everyone.

Peace and love.

It's so cool.

We showed up tonight.

Didn't we?

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, okay, I only got two minutes.

Okay, I'm just kidding.

Shout out to the youth commissioners.

I'm not sure if they're all here, but I really wanna recognize their time and their effort

and expertise and leadership.

And because I do the most, I'm going to ask that we participate in some call and response.

Okay?

Okay.

Now, say it like you mean it and say it loud and proud.

Okay?

So when I say who run the world, you're gonna say youth.

Who run the world?

Youth.

Who run the world?

Youth.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

And then when I say youth, you say power.

Youth.

Youth.

Okay, I think you're meant that.

All right.

So my name is Crystal.

First generation immigrant.

Former youth of promise.

Okay.

Vice principal's office so much they actually gave me the TA position.

And honestly, I really just need one-on-one mentorship in my vice principal recognize that and

took that as an opportunity.

I'm part of the 1% of the unincorporated county folks who work and play all throughout Sacramento.

As a policy campaign coach with public health advocates, all children thrive.

Hashtag Act.

Community led movement launched throughout California to transform, connect and build.

We imagine a city designed with child well being at its center that fosters healing and resilience

so that all children of all backgrounds can thrive.

In my role of Act Coach, I was, I have the privilege to serve as an active part of change.

We will see in Sacramento.

I joined the youth focused, sat kids first coalition to organize, collaborate, mobilize, amplify youth voice,

and recommendations to create our immediate and future requests.

Dare I say demands.

Okay.

Glad by you, Basie, with support from Act and UCLA partners.

We curated youth listening sessions in a citywide youth survey.

Ooh, my time.

So I remix the famous quote, a tad bit.

Everything about us with us.

And.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you for your comments.

Your next speaker is Nikaia.

Is this Ignacio?

Yep.

Thank you for being Ignacio is Nikaia Bell.

Hello city council members.

My name is Ignacio Taylor and I am from the Wichitao in confederated tribes.

I am the tribal student organizer for the Native American Resource Center at American River College.

I spent 18 years within the foster care system and since this, myself and my siblings have experienced the hardships that come with this.

I support the passing of the commissioners recommendation because it brings a positive path forward for my siblings that are experiencing the hardships of tribal transitional foster youth.

There are no resources for us and as tribal people we often go unseen within this community.

My siblings will be able to directly benefit from the universal income piece.

We do not have the luxury of waiting more time for this to be moved into the next steps.

I'm here today as a little brother, asking you to make the right decision and support this as is.

I resided in all of your districts as a foster youth so I ask you all for your support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for helping out baby.

Next speaker is Nikaia Bell following Nikaia's Angelina.

You got that?

I'm sorry, everybody, I know everyone's enthusiastic and that's great.

We just need to make sure please that the next speaker can come up promptly and speak.

I really appreciate it.

Nikaia, thank you.

I'm gonna be very prompt.

Nikaia's Angelina.

Thank you.

I'm gonna go for it next time now.

All right. Good evening.

Second time up here, I'm nervous.

But I'm representing these amazing young folks behind me.

My name is Nikaia Bell.

Rep and area three. Hi, Lisa Kammell.

And I'm the executive director for Sister Bees, a local, non-profit.

I'm taking up space for girls, women and women of color across Sacramento period.

I want to first express my deep appreciation and gratitude for Monica's leadership.

And the amazing youth leaders and adult allies with Sac Kids First, Sac Fund and the Youth Commission.

You did that, sir.

We need to invest in our youth.

We need to make this happen.

I speak on behalf of the Sister Bees, amazing youth, young women and women and women sisters and families who stand here behind me.

And at home, we are in support to pass this thing.

All right.

We actually move swiftly and get in this path to support our youth.

And these community-based organizations that stand shoulder to shoulder with us, who work tirelessly,

with limited resources to provide safe spaces and programs for our amazing youth across Sacramento.

All right.

Let's invest in our youth.

It's not delay the process further, Mayor, and give this pass.

Give the fun, so our young people.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Angelina Hirujosa, Amani Durum, Valley Armenta.

Sintamonononononkni Makkasha, hello friends, my name is Angelina Hirosa.

I'm here as a youth leader from Native Sister Circle representing tribal youth who are facing significant disparities in our community.

We have had ongoing talking circles in South Sacramento and have been serving in our community since 2018.

We are one of the few community-based grassroots organizations in Sacramento serving tribal youth in which gives us an advantage to provide rapid direct services.

As a tribal youth, I have seen firsthand that many disparities our systems have impacted on our youth.

Today, I urge you to approve Sacramento Children's Fund without further delay.

Too much time has passed and our youth cannot afford any more setbacks.

We have put in and supported years of work advocating for this fund because we see every day the lack of resources are impacting the mental, physical, and cultural well-being of our youth,

including our youth that have no visibility within our communities.

We have been actively supporting Measure L pushing for equity at the heart of these initiatives, but with equity comes responsibility.

To remember those who are often forgotten, our tribal youth need a proper consistent funding streaming to address the systemic barriers we face.

The Sacramento Children's Fund will provide these vital resources, allowing us to develop the programs and services that can close the gaps and uplift our people.

Let's not miss this moment. Please pass the Sacramento Children's Fund strategic plan to time in a timely manner so we can start supporting the youth who need it the most.

Thank you.

Fickers, Amonnie, then Valerie?

Good evening, Council members. My name is Imani Durham and I am a member of the Sisiqa Nation of the Black Food Tribe.

I am here today also representing Native Sisiqa Nation as a youth leader.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share today.

Native Sisiqa has been giving an opportunity for young Indigenous women to connect with our culture and traditions while also serving our communities.

I am not only here today to represent Native Sisiqa, but also the youth across all districts whose lives are dependent on the many nonprofit organizations that is Sacramento, California.

It is important that these organizations receive the proper funding to keep our youth engaged in the community and creating our current and future generations of leaders.

The more delays we have in the disbursement of funding, the more our youth are struggling.

I've spent my entire childhood in Sacramento and I was a part of the education system and I first handed watch those who needed the support that these organizations give our youth.

These organizations are meant to provide support for our youth and also keep them off of the streets.

Youth, my age and younger are daily going through gun violence, gangs, domestic violence and substance abuse.

I firsthand seen how much of our youth have had great potential to become the leaders that we see today.

But instead have fallen in the wrong direction because of the lack of funding that we are asking for today.

Today we ask you not to only approve this Sacramento's shelter fund the way that it was, but to do so quickly.

As more time passes our youth are struggling with mental illnesses, homelessness, substance abuse and much more.

And with that I thank you for allowing me this opportunity. Our time is now.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Valerie Armenta, a Ligertaler and Chanel Patterson.

Good evening, Mayor Steinberg, Council and community members. My name is Valerie Armenta and I work with Foster Hope Sacramento.

We serve children in transition age youth who have been highly impacted by their circumstances including their interactions with CPS and criminalization systems.

I've talked youth down from suicide. I've driven around with youth to help them find safe places to stay after our system of housing tells them that there is nothing to appropriately accommodate them.

And I've explained to them that they can't qualify for AB 12 funding because they were incarcerated for stealing and lost their opportunity to be placed in foster care before their 18th birthday.

So now there's no housing help for them or most vulnerable youth. Few young people can successfully participate in society if their basic needs are not met.

My name is Valerie Armenta and I work with Foster Hope Sacramento.

We serve children in transition age youth who have been affected by their circumstances including their interactions with CPS and criminalization systems.

I've talked to youth to help them find safe places to stay after our system of housing.

by this sponge, by the sponge, by this sponge, by this sponge, they have been very active in the community and they had been very active in the community and they have been very active in the community and they have been very active in the community and they have been very active in the community and they have known the providers in their community and they have been very active in the community.

Thanks for those reasons for many more. We urge your vote to support our First stones teamxts thesaichanments.

recommendations for how to use our Sacramento Children's Fund.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Applause.

Next speaker is Allegra Taylor, the Chanel Patterson.

Yes, no, Allegra Taylor, founder, co-founder, and CEO of the Village Advocates.

Listen, this has been a long fight.

And we have boots on the ground back to get Measure L voted.

Yes, we are so glad that they did vote Yes on Measure L.

And now we're depending on you.

So I'm here standing in proxy for our youth rights of passage members that are unable

to be here because of extra curriculum activities.

We do have a couple of them here that we'll speak.

I don't like what I heard you say, Mr. Mayor, about waiting two more weeks for the vote.

To see, we came here tonight to hear you guys vote.

So there's been a two year waiting period.

These kids all know what's going on because they've all been involved in the political process.

So as we teach our children about the political process, one of the things that we teach them

is being on time, being prompt, and being about their business.

This is their business.

And so I'm going to stand in the gap for them.

And I'm going to ask you guys, don't wait two weeks.

What do you guys need to discuss?

Everything has already been hashed out.

They've made a recommendation.

We stand 100% in solidarity with the recommendations of the commission.

We are members of SAC Kids first, and we are here for a vote tonight.

And we ask you all to stand in solidarity with those youth leaders of today,

which are also our don't leaders of the future.

They want to yes vote, and so do we.

So I'm just pleading with you all to reconsider that waiting two weeks because we was planning

on sitting here so we can hear you guys give a yes or no on the vote.

Because we want to see if in fact this city council, each and every one of you,

and this mayor stand with our youth or you don't.

You've already made us wait two years.

We need a yes vote on the recommendations, and we really do need it today.

Mayor, I see you shaking head.

I know me.

I'm sorry.

I just would like to respond.

We have not made anybody wait two years.

The commission, the community, and the team have been working very collaboratively

to develop a very intelligent approach, and you heard it reflected, I think, here tonight

with the presentation.

And so it's okay.

I understand the urgency, and I feel it too.

I was a strong supporter of Measure L and continue to be.

But I also, I just want to say, especially as I'm leaving, want to make sure that there

is a large majority of members reflecting the community who support the eventual plans.

So I'm thinking about tonight.

I'm thinking about three months from now.

I'm thinking a year from now, and I'm thinking five years from now.

So I'm on your side.

That's all.

Thank you.

No, please.

Yeah.

I don't need the extensive.

Listen here.

Go ahead.

I'm in solidarity with the commission's recommendations.

And we ask you all to stand in solidarity with the youth of Sacramento and the rest of us

that are fighting for this fight.

And vote yes.

Thank you.

Here's comments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Aile Patterson, the Dustin Barrow.

Good evening mayor, Stuyng Byrd, Council and Community Members.

My name is Chanel Patterson.

I am the supervisor of foster hopes, youth trauma response scene, and oversee the mentoring

and community based connections for almost 100 youth.

More than 70% of our youth of color, and most of them are black.

I also serve on the county's juvenile justice coordinating committee.

I can tell you firsthand that we have failed to appropriately care for our most vulnerable

children and transition age youth.

Some have been criminally impacted as the early age of 11 years old, almost always after

first being CPS impacted.

My role in our community is to help you receive services that build natural supports to help

each youth thrive through community-based organizations that keep them as far away as possible

from the criminal legal system.

Once they've been criminalized, it becomes even harder to help them move through their

added trauma.

That also means providing help to keep youth close to their bonded families and systems

of cancer support.

Foster Hope is a part of a Sacramento CBO's ecosystem and we know better than anyone

how essential this funding is to our kids and our communities.

One important thing we learn in doing this work is that our impacted youth have learned

to rely on each other because adults have felt them.

So they learn survival skills from each other, like which cars are easy to unlock and sleep

in and which parts of the town have the best vacancies where police won't find them.

As a city, we are only as good as how we treat our most vulnerable.

We're here today to advocate for the part of that population our youth.

I urge you to support for the Sacramento First Strategic Investor Plan expeditiously.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Destin Barrow, then Conrad Crump, then Elijah Crump, then Sarah Weber,

General and Pan, or Pond.

Is Destin here?

Okay, I'm going to keep the shortened leads.

Hi, my name is Destin Barrow, student at Merrilloma High School in San Juan Unified School District.

I'm also a youth leader.

Sorry, I'm also a youth leader with the village advocates.

We thank you for this heat at the table.

We've waited a long time for this opportunity and recognition.

We hope that you vote yes with what the commission has recommended for students.

Thank you.

Come in.

Conrad, then Elijah.

And that's Elijah, my daughter.

Elijah, hi Conrad.

Hey, good evening, Mayor, City Manager, City Council Members.

My name is Conrad Crump and today I'm just here as dad.

You know, when I think about the many of my peers growing up, I realize many of them needed

counselors, they needed tutors, they needed adults who would be positive role models in their

life for them as they grew.

And as I grow and have grown into the father that I am today, I allow myself to think about

what these resources in our lives would have been like if they were as plentiful as trees.

The City of Sacramento was once affectionately known as the City of Trees.

And I imagine that for the landscape of youth, what that might look like if we have

all of those resources, I can only imagine what my peers could have been.

As we look up at the youth who are here with us in the room today, just know that your

decisions are shaping their future.

You're looking at future college graduates, future doctors, future scientists, mathematicians,

and community leaders.

And I know at time City Council, you guys face decisions that are really tough and you

have a scarcity of resources and I can recall a conversation I had with a friend who said,

Conrad, you know, growing up in the neighborhood that we grew up in, there were many pitfalls

and traps man and it was like navigating through quicksand.

It seemed like on every block they had shovels for us, shovels for us to dig ourselves

deeper into a hole.

And many of our peers unfortunately did.

But I imagine if on every block there were letters.

Eventually, City Council members, you're going to have a conversation about the budget and

you're going to have a conversation about the strategic plan and it involves a lot of

money, so much money that is mind blowing.

And I know there's a lot of letters that you could build with that money.

A young man spoke earlier about buckets being distributed equitably.

Well your decisions can pay for letters like access to mental health resources, violence

prevention programs, skills building for youth, social emotional support programs, substance

and drug prevention and intervention programs and more.

I remember being in elementary school with a teacher said, what do we want to be?

A lot of times those doctors and lawyers and whatever, those thoughts and dreams will

get beaten out of us.

Thank you for your comments, your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Leia.

Hi, my name is Alayja Crump.

Student at McClatchee High School within the Sacramento City School District.

I am here at the Village Advocates, standing in solidarity with the commission's recommendations

on the strategic planning funds for our city and the Children's Fund.

Mayor and City Council members, it is vital that we take the measures to support the well-being

of youth because the youth are ultimately the future of our city.

The people you see here today in this room, the youth, the people all around us are the

people that will be sitting at the panel that you are sitting at today.

Within the Village Advocates, I wanted to give a huge shout out to the brothers and sisters

who have their boots on the ground knocking on doors, trying to get people to vote for

measure L.

I also wanted to thank the commissioners for the strategic investment plan.

And it is necessary that action starts today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And next speaker is Sarah Weber, then Jenelyn Pawn, then Marbella Salah.

Good evening.

My name is Sarah Weber and I am the Harm Reduction Community Organizer at the Sacramento LGBT Community

Center.

I also reside in Council District 4.

The Center works to create a region where all LGBTQ plus people thrive.

LGBTQ support health and wellness advocate for equity and justice and work to uplift our

diverse and culturally rich LGBTQ plus community.

The Center serves hundreds of youth each year through our youth drop-in center, Q spot,

and our two housing programs where we provide shelter for unhoused transitional H.D.

The Center provides mental health support, life skills workshops, education, resources,

health services, community building activities, and housing for LGBTQ plus youth and allies.

We are grateful to the City of Sacramento for their partnership as a funder of SACtown

Youth Nights, a program that provides an opportunity for social connection and support, and

for their ongoing partnership in funding our shelter and transitional living programs,

which are vital to the most vulnerable in the LGBTQ plus community.

Research shows that cultivating meaningful community relationships is critical to long-term

emotional resilience for marginalized youth and we see firsthand the positive impact

that a supportive and affirming space can have on LGBTQ plus youth.

We also see the harms that can occur when you can't access affirming support and services,

including housing and mental health services.

The Sacramento Children Fund Planning and Oversight Commission's five-year strategic investment

plan offers a way forward that can reduce youth homelessness, prevent the development

of unhealthy coping strategies, and support leadership and employment opportunities for

our youth.

The plan's focus on equity, community involvement, and transparency are critical to ensuring

that our youth have a voice in the policies that impact them.

The plan will positively impact LGBTQ plus youth in Sacramento through targeted data-informed

strategies.

Together, we can create a community that uplifts and strengthens our youth and give them

the tools they need to live fulfilled and vibrant lives.

Thank you.

Thanks here, Tom.

Thank you, Tom.

I'm Emily Pond.

I like your pants.

The gentleman Pond, Margaret Fowler, and Matthew Grant.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on agenda item 18 regarding the Sacramento Children's

Fund.

My name is Jenel and Pond and I'm a resident of District 5, specifically Oak Park.

Throughout my life, I have experienced youth homelessness, rape, and youth violence.

I graduated from Hiram Johnson High School in 2022 and started youth organizing shortly

after.

I had no idea where this would lead me, but nowadays, I wonder who I would be if I wasn't

surrounded by community.

I was raised to normalize mental and physical abuse.

I was raised to be quiet and listen.

The last time I was here was also the first time I made a public comment.

I was so afraid as I approached this podium, but I told myself this matters.

I observe generations of youth unable to change their narratives.

My friends and peers are challenged every day.

We don't have loving moms to go home to.

We simply don't have enough resources as everyone has been saying.

If any of us gave up today, we would lose everything we have when we barely have anything.

It is so easy to take the easy route, but it is extremely hard to change yourself

for the better.

How can we break systemic barriers when we don't have the tools to do it?

The Sacramento Children's Fund will help change and heal the issues that exist in the status

quo.

It will save lives and it will give hope to families.

I urge you all to please sympathize with us and vote to adopt this plan tonight.

Coming from my heart and everybody in this room.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

This is very hopeful.

I feel very hopeful and energized by what I am experiencing right now.

I am here in Marbella Salah as a measure U Commissioner for District 3.

And I have been watching Measure L and their commission.

And first I want to applaud you all for making such outstanding appointments on that commission

because every single one of your commissioners are smart, dedicated, understand their community,

did their homework, research and put together amazing report.

It was very thorough.

You don't need to look at it any closer.

Trust your commissioners because you have an amazing group of commissioners.

If you want to tweak it a little bit, do it now.

This is the time.

Tweak it.

Refine it.

But major changes is not needed because that's why you appointed those commissioners to do

the heavy lift for all of you.

And it's in front of you now until I urge you to vote and vote yes on it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Matthew Brandt.

Thank you.

I'm a mirror.

So the council members.

My former council member, my van, my current council member, James, is my pleasure to

be here.

As I looked at the plan, and I think, Collie, I'm talking from coming out to our group and

presenting it to the group of men that we meet every Wednesday about 20 of us and we

talk about what's going on.

And I look at the need for trusted and consistent services that the group had said is needed.

That's so critical that it's consistent and is trusted.

I know you remember back when Advanced Peace was one of the models that we instituted and

these services were not consistent.

And some of the people that we dealt with, the young people didn't trust them.

We didn't build the trust with them.

I see that happening and hopefully that will happen this time.

Consistent services.

We talked about consistent services because we knew that one of the lessons we learned

from the previous models was that it took time for results to appear.

And the time should be measured not in months, but perhaps in years because the problem

didn't create itself in months.

And so the fact that you've, and the commission is recommending that the funding go for two

to three years, gives that time now for results to take place.

That's very important.

It's a recognition of what needs to happen for success to occur.

Also, we, as we look at this, one of the things that we are asking, we didn't see.

I'm talking about the group that meets on Wednesday, is the technical assistance for

these groups.

What are the groups that are going to be applying?

Know how to do the job.

They've been doing the job.

What they need help in is the technical and administrative aspects.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Kaira Blackman, following Kaira's Gina Richardson and Zahara.

Next speaker is Kaira Blackman, Gina Richardson, Zahara Marshall, Josiah Talbot and Jaden Talbot.

Good afternoon, Mayor Counsel.

I'm sorry, good afternoon, Mayor, City Manager and Council members.

My name is Kaira Blackman and I'm here today to express my strong support for the Sacramento

Children's Fund's Committee's thoughtful recommendation of the five-year strategic

investment plan.

First and foremost, I want to commend the committee for its diligent efforts in identifying

the most impactful areas to allocate these resources.

The focus of prioritizing youth who are the farthest away from services and resources

to ensure they receive maximum access to the benefit from funded programs is not only

timely but essential for the full-well-being and future success of our youth.

Investing in these critical areas to focus on the youth who are most impacted by poverty,

trauma and violence will not only provide immediate support to families but will also

help break the cycle of poverty, remove, reduce inequities and create stronger, healthier

communities for the long term.

The committee's approach demonstrates a deep understanding of the challenges that many

youth in our community face and reflects a commitment to addressing their needs holistically.

I especially appreciate that this is not just an expenditure of funds but it's an investment

in our future.

Therefore, I urge the council to adopt the Children's Fund Committee's recommendations and to continue

prioritizing our youngest residents in all future budget decisions.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing these essential programs come to life

in support of our community's youth.

Thank you.

All right.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Gina Richardson.

I am District 1's Measure Aile Commissioner and I just want to first thank Lisa Kaplan for

pointing me but I am here today as a community member and I've been very outspoken on our

commission and I'm so I'm going to be an outspoken constituent as well.

So I also want to just thank my commission members because we have, we've worked so hard

third plateau in the city so I do want to say that.

So I've lived in District 1 for almost 10 years now and for the majority of those years

I've been a low income divorce single mother barely getting by.

I understand firsthand the challenges that come with economic survival and the emotional

toll of being just one paycheck away from poverty.

The purpose of the Sacramento Children's Fund is to create development of programs for youth

as I understand it to ultimately strengthen young people sense of identity, belief in the

future, self-regulation and self-efficity.

While enhancing their social emotional cognitive and behavior competence and I fully support

that mission but as a parent and as a single mother in my district in this community I

know how difficult it can be for families like mine to access services making too much

to access public assistance but not enough to live especially in our community.

The emotional distress alone of trying to raise a child with limited resources is overwhelming.

I want to ensure that the unique equity needs of youth in my district and other communities

that are sorry and other communities are heard and not overlooked even if they aren't

represented in the priority areas of the commission's recommended areas.

District 1 doesn't have the same access community based organizations as other parts of the city.

We rarely rely heavily on city programs supporting to our youth and that must be kept in

mind as we're rendering our funding allocations.

So I fully support us having the Children's Fund but I want to make sure that those voices

of youth that are underrepresented are heard like communities like mine.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sarah.

The hair remarsal, Josiah Talbick.

First thing I want to say is that it's an honor to be up here and to speak for my youth as a community representative of Impact Sack and I'm 16.

I'm side-solving it and I just want to say that I stand here in full commitment ready to make a change in for a stand for our youth and community as a.

I have a youth member here so I'm nervous but I just want to say that the importance of funding this is going to be of the importance of funding is going to build us a future of the youth community and going to build us as families and help us to save and change lives.

This opportunity is huge for us youth ready to start changing people and building community around us and.

Lastly, I would like to say the lives won't change without making a change you can't make a difference.

You can't make a difference without putting in the working commitment and I put my foot down and I stand and full.

I'm here and I'm ready to make a change in difference for our community and I'm ready to say that without the commitment you cannot have to change.

You can without can work in commitment will not be able to stand on business.

Joanne Thalbot, Jaden Thalbot, Veronica Ferris.

Oh, and Paige Thalbot.

That's us.

Oh, hello.

Hi, my name is Zaraia Marshall. I am Project Manager at Impact Sack Violence Prevention Program.

At Impact Sack, our mission is to connect people to their power but my mission personally is to do for youth what Paris and Veronica did for me when I first joined the organization four years ago.

They catered to my needs, giving me the extra space and support that I needed to become the leader that I am today.

Growing up, I grew up in CV Circle, otherwise known as the Projects of Sack.

I grew up seeing a lot of violence and substance abuse and often felt powerless, which a youth should never feel.

I then joined Impact Sack and gained a sense of hope, now believing that I could do something to change this about my community.

And I hope that I can instill this feeling in the youth to come and show them that you are not what you go through.

You are much more than that.

Now, I run the Heart Violence Prevention Program where we hear people out, empower families, advocate for youth, restore hope, and take action while working with the DA to bring real authentic solutions to the office to really reduce violence.

I just want to say thank you to all of the youth here.

These are all the youth that do the hard work to put in all of the time and they serve their communities.

Sorry, I'm a little nervous to that.

These are the youth that push for reducing violence in our communities and we would not be anything without them.

I wouldn't be anything without them.

So I want to say thank you and I'm incredibly proud of all of you guys.

And thank you for being here and support youth needs.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you for your comments.

And if you'll let me know your name so I can remove your speaker's phone.

James.

My followers told me go out there and do something that changed the world and that helped change and better your community.

That's what I'm here doing today.

My name is Jim Legettaba and I have a vision.

My vision is to create a better future for me and my youth around me.

I want to show that our voices have power.

Here at ImpactSack we give the youth a voice and we put power to it.

We need to show that we matter in this community and that we have a voice that needs to be heard.

It has not been heard enough.

They're not people that die from suicide.

The amount of youth that are dying from suicide a day is up to 1,499 people.

That is 17,988 people of our youth dying every single day.

Because we don't have the resources.

This is something that I care about.

Not only do you care about it but I stand here before all of you.

I just saw that we all care about it and that the people behind me care about it.

We are not here to wait.

We are here to change to...

We are here to change to...

I'm here for you.

You're good.

So you got it, man.

You got it.

We are here to change tomorrow today.

And this is not only my vision but this is my dream.

And we are the difference.

I support Project Cosmic.

Thank you very much for your time.

The next speaker from ImpactSack.

I think I have Josiah, Veronica, Paris.

Hey Lee.

Lauren.

Somebody get up there.

Just say your name.

Hello.

My name is Veronica, Paris.

I don't think I can top that.

That was so good.

I'm going to say my name is Veronica.

I don't think I can top that.

That was so great.

But I am the program director here at ImpactSack.

I just want to share a small part of my journey that was made possible due to ImpactSack believing

in youth and empowering youth and having the resources to do so.

I'm an immigrant from Egypt.

I started off as an intern at Sac State and I started working with ImpactSack.

I got my degree in social work.

I have a passion in mental health.

I'm now 26 years old.

The lead director for our Youth Suicide Prevention Program.

I'm also compliance officer for our organization.

My journey was made possible because ImpactSack had the resources and drive to empower youth

and believe in youth for a future.

Young people are the future and the experts we need to hear from and to continue funding for.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, your name.

Good evening.

My name is Inshra.

I'm currently a senior in high school and here today with ImpactSack.

As we consider helping youth, I believe it is fundamental and highly essential to invest in project initiatives

and organizations that are designed to help teenagers in different aspects of their life.

All my life, I have been passionate about advocating for mental health.

I have been passionate about my own mental health initiative called project positive.

Project positive aims to spread mental health awareness, destigmatize mental health and create a safe space for youth.

Projects similar to mine are only possible through investment.

And such projects will motivate other youth to take action for themselves as well.

Such resources are what will help our youth and action for them needs to be taken and taken in a quick manner.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, hi, I'm Haley and I am a youth with ImpactSack as well as a leader.

And so, I think it's important to fund young people because we are searching for adult guidances, AK, the adults.

And many of us are determined on the people around us to actually set a good example for us.

And so, many of us face the lack of supervision, guidance, parental participation, safe spaces where we can go to different safety regulations and schools,

resources such as mental health, substance use, as well as having guidance counselors in our schools.

And so, many of us would like to have different mentors and counselors that we can actually go to since we can't go to any of the people that we would like to go to but can't.

So, our youth voices need to be heard and we won't be silenced.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Caitlin Kirkland and today I'm here with ImpactSack.

It is important to invest money in the youth of today and tomorrow because children need resources and we are not provided with the ones that we need on a daily basis.

There is so much violence in our communities and that needs to be stopped.

Investing money in youth gives the youth opportunities to brighten their futures and become the better tomorrow for today.

ImpactSack has given me a place to feel safe and has given me many opportunities to better my future.

We will not be silenced and I stand with project positives.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Do we have another speaker?

I think I have Josiah, Paris, Lauren.

Hi, my name is Lauren.

I've grown up in a park and I'm a first generation college graduate.

I graduate next year.

Yay!

And I'm just thinking of ways of giving back to the community.

I work with ImpactSack.

I'm a alumni.

I actually, oh, oh my god.

And a youth later.

And as a community, we should all come together as one and help the youth, especially under privileged communities and our neighborhoods to make it safer.

We should have the youth develop the life skills that they need such as self-care, personal responsibility, help them on financial literacy to support personal financial management.

And as for our youth and young adults, we should be able to have more shelters, more resources for them to succeed and provide them opportunities others have and be a home away from homes for the youth and provide them to provide them with to create a safe space and to support project positives.

Thank you.

Yay!

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Did we get everybody from ImpactSack?

Yes. This is it.

So Josiah Paris?

Yes.

I'm Paris.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye, next speaker.

Hi, I'm Blake Willadonna.

She or her, lay them.

And a freshman in Consumer Server College.

And I'm here to talk about how the program would help mainly also with LGBTQ youth because, well, every time my parents always kick them out because they're not.

They're not going to get any help because they're not going to get any help because they're not going to get them out because they never really accept them or anything like that.

So they always have to go homeless and not really get any help because their parents just kicking them out because they're trying to be them.

Good to know.

Did you got this?

I don't know.

You can say thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You can say thank you.

For what?

For listening to you.

And I ask, thanks for listening.

Thank you.

And I'm here.

Thank you for sharing.

Okay.

I'm going to be brief.

I'm Paris and this is wrapping up ImpactSack.

I really just want to thank you all and show you what city, what investing in city programs can do.

Our mission is to connect people to power and the first thing we work on is connecting young people to the power of their voice.

I know that you all appreciate hearing from young people, probably brightens your day to see young faces and people connecting and understanding.

So your support and your passing the measures and making sure that this goes through.

Let's youth know that their voice does have power.

So we're looking forward to you passing this and would love that to happen tonight.

And I also support Entra and Project Positive.

Thank you for your comments.

Grace Longmeyer, Nancy Ziong, Cassie Thor, Cassidy Vang, Athena Tau, and Nicholas Moe.

Please proceed.

Hi, my name is Grace Longmeyer.

I am the recently appointed District Eight Youth Commissioner under Council Member Mai Vang.

And I am here today to talk about the Secondary School of Fun.

I come from a long generation of community advocates and I'm proud to say that I'm a community advocate myself.

I'm, um, greatly, sorry, I'm a loner, say now.

But I would just like to say that I know firsthand being a youth leader in the community and on my campus.

That there are many backgrounds, races, genders, all that that are all come together and share the same struggle.

Now with that struggle being like mental health, like domestic violence, mental abuse, all that.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry that many like come to me and they like some have even cry to me, saying like they don't know what they don't know what resource to get and some have thanked me for pointing them out to like certain resources that are in the community.

And those resources need to be invested in too, so I'm really asking that you vote yes on the I'm so sorry.

to do the investment plan and I see myself solidarity with my council member.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nancy and the Cassie.

Perfect.

Good evening, Mayor Steinberg, members of the Sacramento City Council.

My name is Nancy Zhang and I'm the Executive Director for Mong Innovating Politics.

And I'm proud resident of District 7 in the pocket.

I am speaking to nine on behalf of any single community based organization, but rather

the immensely diverse versatile committed ecosystem of community based organizations that

have signed on to a letter supporting the full recommendations from the Sacramento

Children's Fund Planning Commission.

We stand united because this decision is not about anyone non-profit CBO, but rather

the collective ecosystem that serves as a critical safety net and a accelerator for

youth leadership throughout our city.

And truth, for some of us, the recommendation to limit resources for CBOs at 65% came as

a surprise.

Our community based organizations and young people worked tirelessly to talk to our

neighbors and walked communities to garner the support of nearly two-thirds of voters

to approve and establish the Sacramento Children's Fund.

It is a credit to the commission for that ability to acknowledge the incredible contributions

of Sacramento's community based organizations while also recognizing that there are areas

where city programs continue to play a significant role in supporting young people.

Both efforts are meant to complement one another and amplify the ecosystem of support for

young people.

We understand that this process requires compromise and thoughtful crafting to be effective.

The commissioners' recommendations is an important effort in that direction.

We are incredibly grateful for the council's appointed commission for their tireless and

thinkless work.

We applaud your efforts for bearing towards a compromise so that recommendations were

supported unanimously.

We understand that the council needs time to consider and take a closer look at these

recommendations.

We don't need to rush you, but understand that we also have Helen Zahide about these

resources.

Mayor Steinberg, you can understand our uncertainty because we are comments.

Please, your time is complete.

Thank you for your comments, your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Cassie Thor and then Cassidy Vang.

Thank you for your comments, your time is complete.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have Cassie Thor than Cassidy Vang.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Cassie Thor and I am a million adult with long-innovating politics.

I am here to show support in the City Council to adopt the strategic investment plan that

was unanimously approved by other commissioners who represented your respective council districts.

As one of the strategies to support the fund school is outlined, supporting the mental

health and emotional wellness of youth.

This really resonated with me.

As a youth, I face significant mental health challenges related to an advocating life

after high school.

Decisions about career paths, college and achieving independence about overwhelming and I often

struggled with the lack of purpose.

These issues end with high school as they persisted into my young adult life.

I believe it is important for our community to address these concerns and provide better

support for youth facing similar challenges.

While the city provides valuable spaces like libraries and community pools, it is clear

that these alone cannot meet all needs.

Community-based organizations such as HIP and others present today put a crucial role in

offering spaces where youth can develop skills and enhance well-being.

These organizations are essential for providing mental health support and programs that inspire

young people to pursue their dreams and passions.

By supporting the strategic investment plan, the city and CBOs can help co-create a healthy

environment where our young people can truly thrive.

I urge you all to support and adopt the strategic investment plan presented to you all by the

chair and commissioners.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Cassidy Beng.

I have 17 more speakers.

Cassidy?

I have a speaker.

I have 17 more speakers.

Cassidy?

I have a speaker.

Good evening, Mayor Steinberg and City Council members.

My name is Athena Tao and I am a youth representative among many politics.

I am here tonight to express my strong support for adopting the strategic investment plan.

Going up another low-income environment, I often wonder why I couldn't help things that

other children seem to easily receive.

You are doing great, by the way.

For example, instead of receiving new clothes on new shoes, I received hand-me-downs.

I used to think it was because my parents didn't want to provide for me.

But as I grew older, I realized that I wasn't about the design.

It was about the financial change of carbon-based bills.

This understanding has high and my concern for both my future and the future of the next

generation.

Many of my parents, I have had to drop out of school to help support their families.

They are still very young and should not be a significant burden.

They love the chance to pursue their education and join the youth.

Some of these individuals have expressed regret over their choices to leave school,

doing that they had no choice.

But no child should ever have to throw that away.

As these circumstances are not there for.

Before I urge you to adopt the strategic investment plan, I'm pro-forward by the Chair and

Commissioners.

This plan will provide much needed support to help stabilize families and ensure that

children can focus their education and future without overwhelming pressures.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Steinberg and Council members.

My name is Nicholas Moa, a young adult with mongent evading politics, and I reside in

Sacramento's District 5.

I'm here today to express my strong support for adopting the Strategic Investment Plan

proposed by the Chair and Commission.

During my formative years, I faced many challenges that no young person should have to endure,

such as economic hardship.

While these experience has shaped who I am today, I deeply believe that no one else should

have to go through these similar hardships.

As a youth, I had the privilege of working with East Bay Asian Youth Center.

An experience that was profoundly rewarding on multiple levels.

This opportunity not only provided me with a steady source of sustainability, which was

crucial for my financial independence, but it also had a direct positive impact on my

family.

I was involved in creating films that received grants, which was both a creative and financial

accomplishment.

These projects allowed me to hone my skills in filmmaking while also contributing to important

community initiatives.

In fact, I also got the opportunity to work on the measure itself when we passed in 2022.

With the Rocky Foundation, I am now a transition in young adult, confronted with the reality

and struggles of managing essential expenses and miss the ever-creencing cost of living.

I have so much love for the City of Sacramento, where I have built a strong network of friends

and family.

It would be disheartening to think about leaving the city I cherish simply because I cannot

afford to stay.

To ensure a financial stability and prevent future generations from facing the same struggles,

I strongly advocate for the City Council to adopt the strategic investment plan as

promptly as possible.

This fund would not only provide critical support for necessities that assure our young

people are set up for success, but if passed in a timely manner would also allocate funds

to address immediate needs and long-term goals.

Thank you for your consideration and time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Cassie the Natalie McGee.

Good evening, Mayor Steinberg and City Council members.

My name is Cassidy Ving.

I am a young adult with Hmong innovating politics.

I was born and raised in South Sacramento growing up predominantly in District 5.

I am here to vocalize my support in the city to adopt the strategic investment plan brought

forward by the Chair and unanimously approved by the other commissioners who represented

your respective Council Districts.

According to the U.S. Census Barrow, in the 2016 American Community Survey of California's

Hmong profile, 27.4% of Hmong families lived in poverty and 31.5% living in poverty

were under 18 years old.

As a Hmong American who grew up in poverty, being part of the 31.5%, I faced numerous challenges

including gang violence, substance abuse, and a lack of mental and emotional support.

Despite these obstacles, I was able to earn a bachelor's degree.

This achievement was greatly supported by my involvement in employment and internship programs

provided by community-based organizations like Asian Resources Incorporated, AAPI,

Equity Alliance, and Hmong Innovating Politics.

These programs not only kept me grounded, but also connected me with successful role

models who share my background and experiences.

Today, I stand alongside our young people in hopes that the Sacramento Children's Fund

will support their well-being and prevent or reduce dangers of negative influence on

them.

I believe the strategic investment plan for the Sacramento Children's Fund will afford

our youth the chance to access the privileges of good education, financial stability, health,

and wellness.

I urge you all again to support and adopt the strategic investment plan presented to

you all by the Chair and Commissioners.

Thank you for your time.

Our next speaker is Natalie McGee, Dan Mack, and Heidi Kaiser.

Good evening, Council is an honor and privilege to stand before you this evening as District

1 under Lisa Kaplan, a Measure You Commissioner.

I want to start by applauding the Measure You Commission.

Let me be clear, I stand in full support of the Sacramento Children's Fund Measure

L Strategic Investment Plan.

But my concern is in regards to the SEED tool, which is used as a lens to inform how we distribute

equity and funding.

Specific to the District 1 lens, SEED as a top level analysis does not necessarily show

District 1 need, but that changes when you drill down.

The average person unfamiliar with manipulating data will not drill down enough to see District

1 hidden challenges.

During the COVID period, I found myself unemployed through no fault of my own.

We were making just enough to be ineligible for support programs, yet the loss of my income

hit our family hard.

No longer able to afford fourth R, I had to take my child, my fifth grader, current fifth

grader to another district to access Sacramento City services in after school free programming,

which is problematic in itself.

I feel like the SEED tool needs to also incorporate other data lenses other than the 10 year census

data that it currently uses.

For me, a better data tool would be looking at free and reduced lunches and looking at

that as that's updated yearly.

In District 1 at Paso Verde Elementary School, where my daughter attends out of 911 enrolled

students, 466 students, over 51% participated in the free and reduced lunch programming for

the 2324 school year.

This is real time data, and that is a true need in District 1.

All eight districts have youth that fall between the cracks.

We must use the most accurate real time data to ensure that City spending, measure

out and other measure spending reflects the actual needs across all districts for all

our youth.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Mack.

Our next speaker is Mack, then Heidi Kaiser, then Jean Peterson, then Keyondless.

Hi y'all.

Shout out to every person who has worked on this, and I appreciated it being named that these

folks and organizers have been fighting for the creation of this fund non-stop for years,

even against and in opposition to this council.

This is what tenacity, fire and community power looks like.

Thank you to the person who said that these are demands, because I have not forgotten that

this initiative took people collecting signatures and forcing this to come to a vote in this community

due to inaction of elected officials.

They are to the people always and power to the young people who have come in as the experts

that they are to tell you what they need, not just what they want, but what they need.

Their lived experiences and then knowing the struggles they face make them the experts

on how to solve their problems, not y'all, no offense.

I think it should also be named that the solutions they came up with are the same solutions

that we as organizers have been talking to you about for years on how to make a healthier,

safer and therefore freer Sacramento for adults and youth alike.

These young people are on fire and they are coming for what is theirs to have.

Invest in their future, give them choice and opportunity and do not debate with them about

what they say they need.

But yes, on the strategic plan, because anything else is just you thinking you know better

than they do about what they need and deserve.

I'll end with a quote.

The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel it's warmth and

you should be thankful that they came in asking you nicely first.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Heidi Kaiser?

Good evening.

May you and council members.

My name is Heidi Kaiser.

I'm here on behalf of Child Action.

Firstly, I'd like to thank the City of Sacramento for his commitments for an act.

We appreciate your allocation of one-time funds which assisted us in caring for Sacramento's

littlest learners.

While their parents went to work, rebuilding our local economy.

We thank you for spotlighting early education as a potential recipient of the needs of

the children's fund.

On behalf of Child Action, I'd like to recommend the following child care proposals for the

children's fund.

In addition, upon the City Child Care Managers' work supporting retention and expansion of

child care providers with the ARPA funds now expanded, we recommend a continuous allocation

of funding to sustain this work as the need for child care continues.

Increased quality of care by implementing training and coaching support for child care

providers around topics like social emotional development and challenging behaviors.

And increased services for families to access care by adopting a model similar to San

Francisco's by covering the cost of child care for families with incomes up to 110% of

the state median income.

As of 2021, SAC County only had enough licensed child care slots to accommodate 29% of children

with work in parents.

Economic security continues to be one of the biggest concerns for families.

And greater access to stable quality early education programs are much needed for our children.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Dean Peterson, Keon Bliss, Asia Matson.

Good evening, Council Members.

My name is Jean Peterson.

I'm a long-term resident of District 8, and I'm a member of Parkside Community Church.

One time ago, a group of Parksideers became interested in learning more about youth

and the foster care system and youth transitioning out of the foster care system.

What opportunities they have, what services are available to them, and in particular,

what can be done to prevent homelessness amongst this vulnerable and too often overlooked

group of young people in our community?

We are here as allies of all Sacramento youth tonight, those here and those not here.

Through our relationship with SAC Act, we became familiar with the Children's Commission,

attended some of its hearings, participated in discussions about its recommendations,

and are here tonight to wholeheartedly support all of those recommendations, especially the

guaranteed income proposal, and to urge you to adopt these recommendations as they've

been presented to you this very night.

Thank you.

Mayor and City Council, I just hope you all bear witness to what the difference

can be when you actually invest staffing and resources into our commissions.

Because these folks, especially the young folks who put together this plan, did an amazing

job and it deserves your full attention and deserves a vote tonight and at minimum two

weeks later, or at minimum two weeks later.

It deserves it tonight because, frankly, these are no, like these are no brainers.

They've given you the data, pre-lite, pure and simple.

One in five of our children live in poverty.

The rates of youth homelessness, substance abuse, and violence are absolutely staggering.

Black and brown youth, like disproportionately deal with these crisis level situations,

and they are not some natural phenomenon.

They are completely policy generated.

Nobody, like poverty, is not a natural phenomenon.

It is a choice.

It is a policy choice.

This plan offers a different path, one that invests in mental health support, housing stability,

substance abuse, prevention, key word, and violence intervention programs.

This is about actually giving youth a genuine say and not just patronizing them into thinking

that the only adult who know better are at one sitting on that bias.

There's no reason to delay this vote.

And frankly, if you all have half the progressive values that you claim to have, then you shouldn't

be shy about really talking about this, engaging in a difficult conversation tonight.

And if you're not ready, and if you still can't come to a consensus, okay, bring it up

two weeks later.

But stay true to your word, and actually be consistent about that.

Because as I personally experienced, we have sat too long on your volunteer commissioners

work.

Comments, your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Aja Mattson, Satara Murphy, and Jalen Joyce.

Aja Mattson, Satara Murphy, Jalen Joyce, the land in DaVintka, Dremon Edwards,

and I have Aja, Satara, Jalen, Landon.

I'm sorry.

Are the folks people you just called actually still here or not?

Are you here to be pleased to proceed in your name?

Okay.

Satara Murphy.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

So I just want to speak directly to you, Mayor Steinberg, because I don't see why it's

a problem for you to decide whether you're going to help these young kids in these poverty

districts.

But I know personally how you feel about the homeless, which is your displaced homeless

people who built a situation for themselves.

I stand here today before you, someone who was a foster youth, someone who has been through

things, someone who has been through the juvenile system, someone who had no way.

And then I built a way for myself building camp resolution.

And you guys came for us like some, y'all haven't even came for nobody that had murdered

somebody in my neighborhood.

I was born in District 2, okay?

I never lived nowhere else.

But you kicked us out and displaced us.

And now me and my dogs are struggling, suffering.

And I came here to talk about myself today.

But these young people inspired me to tell you something different.

You displaced us.

Get these kids' day money.

What they deserve.

What else do black and brown and by-palking indigenous people have to do for you to understand

that y'all on stolen land?

Y'all don't care about us.

We got to care about ourselves and we are tired of being treated the way y'all treat us.

We are tired of being left out and undergiven things and no resources.

You don't, you want to help them for real because you sure didn't help us.

Help these kids.

That's the least you could do.

That's the least you could do.

Because you shit on us while you said in our face and lied to us.

You know?

I'm just saying.

I have speakers for Aja Matson.

I don't see movement.

Jalen Joyce.

Good evening.

My name is Jalen Joyce.

And I'm with Improver Tomorrow, which is a program specifically for young men of color.

I'm here to tell you about my experience with the program.

I joined my junior right after COVID and that's when I didn't care about nothing else except

for football.

That's all I cared about.

And now going through the program being helped by all my mentors, my program manager,

they're the first people to tell me about college.

They're the first people that told me everything that is ahead of me and gave me the opportunity

to learn from them.

Now I'm in college.

Improver Tomorrow gave me three internships.

They allowed me to lobby.

They allowed me to work on accounting.

They allowed me to help with programming for advocacy.

So that gave me a lot of experience and it gave me the knowledge I have today to know

that the work that I do today is going to help my future.

So now I've decided to come back.

Well, I got the honor and blessing to come back to my own community, my own high school,

to serve as the lead mentor for college access.

So now I'm helping my brothers that I grew up with get to college and work toward it.

The people that I serve, they don't, they're just like me.

They don't know nothing about college.

They don't know nothing about no careers.

They don't know nothing that's out there.

They don't know what's ahead of them.

All they know is their area.

So now I have the blessing to teach them about everything.

I only been working at my high school for three weeks and I only talked to so far, certain

of my students.

And just from the students I talked to so far, they're already lit up.

They're already fired up ready to go after the world.

They already know what they want.

They're finally telling me their dreams.

Now I'm helping them.

Now I'm trying to figure out how are we going to get there?

Now we're working together.

This is what the money is going to go towards.

We're working to really improve our tomorrow.

Every day, every time I talk to them, we're always trying to figure out what's going to

be, make us better.

What's going to take us to the next level.

And now I have the resources to help them with improving them all.

I got all the resources that helped me so now I'm helping them.

So thank you guys for the time.

I am for the plan.

Thank you for your comments.

Landon is in Dremont.

So I have Landon, then Dremont, then Jillio Baker.

Good evening everyone.

My name is Landon Devanesha, a rising junior at UCLA studying computer science and linguistics.

As well, I'm a proud member of the community-based organization and prove your tomorrow for over

six years now.

I want to begin by sharing a part of my life to highlight the importance of community-based

organizations that the SIP will be supporting.

If you were to tell me six years ago that I would be attending college, let alone the

number one public university in America, or even currently in-turn for the Sacramento

Kings doing technology operations, I wouldn't believe you.

Prior to enroll into high school, I had been expelled twice for my terrible actions.

I was in desperate need of help.

How are things to get turned for the best my freshman year of high school, where I discovered

IYT through a friend.

I was hooked from the jump, but what reeled me in and sparked a change in me was the college

tours.

My first trip, we visited Stanford, a place where I met extraordinary people.

A place where once in my life realized I must go to college.

The college tours showed me just how much I was close off to my little community, unaware

of the good beyond my community.

From that day forward, I wanted to do better so I can experience the good life and meet

something in this world.

IYT has changed my life for the better and is doing it for thousands of other young

men of color across the nation.

That is why I believe in the power of nonprofit organizations and their work.

I urge the council today to support the Strategic Investment Plan and vote yes.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Draymone Edwards, then Jillio Baker.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Draymone Edwards.

I'm 19 years old, second year at Sac State with the interest of a business.

I'm born and raised in Sacramento and I'm also a proud member of IYT and prove your tomorrow.

I am also in strong support for the Strategic Investment Plan because just to use IYT

as an example, ever since joining this nonprofit organization, they have gave me nothing

by opportunities like getting and helping me to college and even took me places I will

have never been on a regular basis.

They have even connected me with more programs within their own and money opportunities like

internships and even becoming a mentor myself and serving to other youth.

I think the city should invest into more nonprofit organizations to better reach our communities

because young people like me need that push to help that push and help to be set up right

for our future, especially since we are the next ones up.

Do you believe in wanting to set up a way for your upcoming generation and more generations

to come so that they can have a good future?

If so, I strongly suggest supporting this plan as is and invest in nonprofit organizations

through our Sacramento.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

I have four more speakers.

Jillio Baker, Jose Crabber, Perez, Dave Verma, then Susan Alcope.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Jillio Baker and I'm a long time city of Sacramento resident and also a staff

member with improved here tomorrow.

I'm a proud staff member.

I get to work with these youth and teach them about how to be civically engaged, how

to be advocates and leaders in their communities.

I think they do a great job today and we have a couple more youth speakers with IYT here

as well.

Today I'm in here and strong support of the SAC Children's Fund Strategic Investment

Plan as it is written.

As you all know, this investment plan outlines a great strategy to invest in local nonprofit

organizations that serve our most vulnerable communities here in Sacramento.

Many of the organizations that you've heard from today have a great relationship with the

community, have a proven track record of serving our communities, even in the communities

where there may be considerations about mending this plan.

So there are great relationships that exist and these nonprofits are professional service

providers and have a proven track record of doing so.

Like IYT we provide wraparound services including place-based mentorship, college tours,

parent engagement and so much more and as you can hear, it really does change lives and

that's what the SAC Children's Fund is about, right?

And our nonprofits should be considered partners in the city's work.

You guys should consider us as partners who can execute and help out not an opportunity

to take away from the funding and opportunities that you all provide through city programming,

but partners with city programming.

And so that's why we want to urge the council to continue to support the plan as it is

written.

If you guys didn't know, this is a community process that many folks have spoken out

about over 1,000 people talked about how they wanted this money to be spent and it included

calling out nonprofits that look like them, that already serve them, bolstering up those

nonprofits.

So let's continue to do that and give the community what they want and not do any back

door political dealings.

Thank you.

I'll make sure time is complete.

Jose Capperella Perez.

Thank you.

The good evening, council.

I'm here today with the Sacramento Kids First Coalition and Strong Support of the Strategic

Investment Plan that was drafted by local commissioners.

The Strategic Investment Plan set out lines the essential steps to guide Sacramento to

start investing in the future of our young people.

Sacramento only uses 1.5% of the budget on young people when they make up over 35% of the

population.

That's only $350 per young people.

We know our young people that serve more especially after the impacts of living through

a global pandemic.

The CBOs empowered youth by building self-confidence and essential life skills through mentorship

and programs.

Such was my experience with IIT as a mentor fellow helping young people graduate high school

in the 10th College.

That is why I strongly urge the council to support funding the nonprofits.

Thank you for your comments.

Dave Verma.

Dave Verma is our final speaker on this item.

Good evening, council.

My name is Dave Verma.

I'm a senior at value high school.

I've been a member of IIT for about six years and I wholeheartedly support measure L.

And with measure L, we could offer more resources to programs such as IIT that help me get

opportunities such as an interest with council member Maiveng that I otherwise would not

have got.

And I think it limits a negative influence on youth, such as drugs.

It helps keep youth busy in a program where you're doing homework, you're actively going

to college tours, you're doing things where you're not getting such as a negative influence

on yourself.

Throughout value high school and I also have been my dad as a store in Oak Park.

And I witness a lot of drug abuse from minors.

People will go to extent to get it.

And I feel like if they have these programs where they're actively going to college tours

and just keeping the youth busy, it will limit the impact of drugs on our youth and it

will influence them to go to college and support IIT's mission, help people of color to get

into college and just hire that rate of success.

Thank you.

No more speakers.

Wow.

I want to one behalf of the entire city council.

Thank all the people who came out tonight.

Especially the young people for your passion, for your smarts and for your commitment.

And now what we're going to do is turn it over to the city council for a discussion because

as I said earlier, we want to hear from our colleagues and hear their comments about

the commission's report and then decide tonight or as I said in two weeks, what direction

the city council wants to take.

So let's start with Council Member Valenzuela.

I hope we do hear from everyone tonight.

I'm sorry if anyone is shouting out, just please, thank you.

I may have missed.

I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

Council Member Valenzuela.

Thank you, Mayor.

It's a privilege to go first right now after my colleague, Council Member Vangs comments.

And I just have to say wow.

I'm trying not to tear up here.

I've been a part of a lot of special moments since taking this diet, but I can hands down

and say that nothing compares to what I just heard from these young people and from their

allies.

I just, I cannot.

For you all to be so courageous in sharing your story and talking about, I mean, it was

both heartbreaking but in a really good way, right?

It's like heartbreaking because you've used that vein to turn it into something good.

And so I just want to thank you for that because that's powerful.

That's not, a lot of people couldn't do that.

And so I just want to thank you for that.

My commissioner, Dr. William Shoutout, Data Queen from Zach State.

My commissioner will tell you that when she took the seat, when I appointed her, I had

four words for her.

Marina Vista Aldergrove, right?

Otherwise known as Newholl, Visha, a CV circle to those of us in the know, right?

Because that area, a few square city blocks equivalent is home to over 1,000 young people

who live in some of the biggest public housing complexes in the city of Sacramento.

And from day one, I said, you cannot forget these kids, right?

Like where I will go get on board with anything you've proposed to me, just do not forget these

kids.

Everybody forgets these kids.

Don't forget these kids.

An area where there's all too much like low academics isolated.

They're totally segregated in their public schools.

There's way more violence and tragedy there than I can even say without actually crying.

And I can tell you that it's interesting because that neighborhood is actually not on this

map.

And I'm not worried.

I'm not worried because I know the map is not meant to be exclusionary.

I know the map is meant to be just one part of how we look at how we prioritize these

communities.

I know that the areas on that map need this.

As much as I know, CV circle, New Hope, you should need this.

I also know that the areas on that map real need this.

But it's layered with priority populations, right?

It's layered with so my kids and my district who live in public housing, who experience

homelessness, who experience violence, they're still going to benefit from this program even

though they don't live in that map area.

That's the part of this, right?

Like you don't target upper-land park saying, hey, there's need over here.

We're going to target upper-land park because most of those kids in upper-land park don't

have those challenges.

You're going to target the kids within that area.

That's why they're not on the map, right?

It's the difference between a geographic program, like I'm going to do a program in Del Paso Heights

because this has an area of need.

There's a system of need up here versus I'm going to target specific kids in these neighborhoods

that I know exist everywhere in our city because they will exist everywhere.

That's my specialty, right?

When they come to the city, they're going to be telling me how they prioritize public housing

kids, right?

What is their experience working with kids who live in these types of communities who have

these experiences and that's how they will be judged?

I want to thank the commission for being really thoughtful about that because it's a

storm of trouble that I've had, right?

It's hard to look at a map when you represent a district and not see that neighborhood in

there that you're like, oh, I really want them to get the priority that they need, but

the reality is they're still included in this plan.

And that's the fundamental understanding that Dr. Williams, as all the updates we had,

I'm nothing in this plan was a surprise to me.

She told me every step of the way, all the disagreements we all worked through.

Can I just say the fact that this was a unanimous decision by this commission is a huge, huge

achievement.

You all come from different parts of the city.

You have different experiences, but I also have to tell you that if we had to pay this

commission a consultant rate based on their personal and professional experience, there

would be no more money left in this fund because you all really put your personal capital

on the line.

You put your relationships on the line, your experience, your skills to make this the

plan.

And I know that every single detail in this plan was debated.

There is nothing in here that is arbitrary.

You didn't just come up with a thousand bucks a month, right?

You didn't just come up with 20%.

Everything here was debated and argued and researched and looked at.

And this was developed so thoughtfully.

And so I want to thank you for that because I can see a path forward for every young person

in my district that has had struggles in this plan.

So I'm incredibly grateful for that.

I have to also say that frankly, I'm ready to go right now.

I've been ready to go.

And I say that because, and that's just me personally, I haven't been in a lot of other

discussions that happened.

I was out of the bound act bubble.

I think probably because my colleague knows how I feel about these things.

But I will tell you that right now, I want to think the foster youth providers who came

and spoke because all I could think about was how many kids in this city are in foster

youth care right now who are foster young people who are about to turn 18.

And when I think back to when I turned 18 and what that meant to me, how excited I was

right, like I was 18, I was an adult, I was looking forward to it.

It never really occurred to me that for those young people in our city, the sense of dread,

right, like the sense of knowing that when I turn 18, the bottom falls out.

When I turn 18, suddenly I don't got a place to go.

They won't get, and it's not because my foster parents don't care about me.

It's going to be because the system has decided I can fit for myself.

I think about how many kids in our city are going to turn 18 this month.

I think about the number of kids in our city who would have benefited from these programs,

frankly, I think about Sophia, who's a little eight year old girl in CV circle and

New Halevisha area who was shot in the head two months ago.

And what this program would event for her.

What it still would mean for her family and her brothers and sisters to see here comes

six years again.

A lot of you got those tear calls on this because I was like, what can we do?

What can we do?

This is what every single person said when I called them.

Every single person said we need multiyear funding, we need funding to target these kids.

We need it now, we need it yesterday, please, please, please, we need to get these funds

on the street.

And so I'm ready to go right now.

I was ready to go a few months ago.

I appreciate that you took a deliberative process, but I just have to say that I've never

seen the city put forward something this thoughtfully and intentionally designed.

And to the folks who might be concerned about how this, like I have to say, some of this

is going to be better served by city programs.

Frankly, we know that.

We do some of this stuff already.

Some of it isn't.

And I think what's going to be so important for us as we implement this is the rubric we

use to judge who gets money and who doesn't.

So we can justify to the public why certain choices were made.

How we're evaluating people, are they financially stable?

What is their history serving this population?

All of that work is going to be so, so important.

But I take it to heart that this needs to move as quickly as we possibly can.

And that's my personal feeling, Mr. Mayor, and happy to hear my colleagues that.

Very good, of course.

Council Member Chao.

Thank you, Mayor Steinberg.

And for a staff of elected think all speakers and you for coming out tonight, I myself

once was with you.

And I myself grew up in the city of Sacramento.

And guess what?

I grew up in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods.

When I look at this map and I look at the disadvantaged area, I was in one of those marginalized

community where I didn't know I grew up in a very, very low income neighborhood.

I see myself in you all tonight.

I think you offer coming out to advocate because we need our voices, youth voices to be heard,

especially our neighborhoods.

I don't want tonight to be a discussion on backfilling city funding or supporting the youth.

I think this is something that we can all collaborate and work together and

definitely support youth funding and programming for the city of Sacramento.

There's a lot of things to realize about my district and I'm so torn on this.

And I truly believe that in order to serve our most marginalized communities,

we need that trusted messenger, that trusted nonprofit, that trusted.

We've seen it over and over the past 40, 30, 50 years.

Our neighborhoods aren't changing or the dynamics, social economics status, and

our neighborhoods aren't changing.

And it's time that we work with the people of the neighborhoods to definitely work to reach those youth.

And I think the commissions for definitely working on this for the past couple years.

I know my commissioner is no longer on the commission, but

then he has always worked really hard on it verbal items and

also kept my office updated on the work that you guys all do on the commission and

the discussion, robust discussion that you have.

And so, again, I was also out of the round and bubble with my colleagues, but

I just wanted to say that we're ready to move forward for a vote tonight as well.

I realized that district two,

just on the first 30 zip codes on the child opportunity index, 12 of my health index or

12 of my senses, 12 of my area senses is on there.

I only have two zip codes.

My area really, really needs help.

From infrastructure improvement, parks improvement, we have a community center,

Johnston Park, and I really want this funding to go to activate it.

But I also see that I wanted to be a public and private partnership to really

activate that community center so that marginalized communities, homeless youth.

Communities that usually don't get highlighted,

an access to the center as well.

And so I really see this as an opportunity for the city and

the community to work together.

I really believe that, again, last year I realized the city put out an RFP for

one of my community centers, Johnston Center.

It's been vacant for the past six, seven years.

And we actually have no bidders that bid it to utilize the community center.

And that is something that I want to point out to CBOs too.

Because I realized as I grew up in North Sacramento, I worked for

Council, I run my own CBO now, other than what I do on a diet.

I realized that a lot of services do stop north of the river.

And doesn't go into communities like Del Paso Heights,

Ben Ali, Haganwood, Strawberry Manners, Norato, Old North Sacramento.

And these are the areas that are highlighted.

And so I want us to consider strategic and

well-intended programs and plan to really get my community involved,

the community in North Sacramento involved in all this process.

And so I want to hear from all my colleagues as well.

Very good, thank you, Council Member Tau.

Council Member Kathleen.

Thank you, Mayor.

It goes without saying for everybody that showed up in the youth that left,

because they have school tomorrow.

And everybody who took time to be here to express your thoughts in your opinion,

it's important that we listen and

thank our Measure L for their service, our commissioners, our city staff,

our youth voice for being here.

I look at this from, I spent 20 years of my life as a school board member.

I grew up with my mom having run a daycare out of our house.

And knowing that she was the neighborhood daycare center that,

though she never told me, I knew even as a kid the families that were struggling to pay,

where my mom would make deals with them so that there was,

that high quality daycare,

provideorship, especially for our zero to one.

I am proud that Natomas Unified was one of the first districts to bring in IYT.

And I've seen year over year what it has done for our students.

But I will concur with Council Member Tau.

A lot of things stop and don't come north of the river for all of our children.

As a board member, I saw the need, and professionally.

I worked in and around our foster kids and know that generally like 1%,

sometimes attend some version of college.

And a majority touch our criminal justice system.

But we, and I, as a school board member,

increased those services and those access for our foster kids.

Because I knew if we could get them to graduate high school and have a support service for them,

there was hope.

And we had summer at City Hall was just presented to us, our youth program.

And there was an overarching theme of the need for mental health.

And I say all these things as background because we look at what are we doing for measure L?

And what are the overarching goals of well,

one of them is to support the mental health that our youth talk about.

And it's sad because today, or this month is suicide awareness.

An appreciation month.

Hashtag 988.

That's a number we all need to know and educate people on.

Because suicide rate for youth in Sacramento is 8% higher than the overall state average.

So how we thoughtfully invest these funds is something that we need to look at.

And on to look at how we goal reduce homelessness among youth

and foster care.

Without a doubt, I will just tell you now, I will fight.

It better be 20% for universal basic income for foster kids.

I will call one of y'all outside.

I think we all agree.

But there has got to be.

I have worked in this area.

I have seen what it has done for our kids.

This is the population where we can make the greatest change.

We have 1,100 of these kids.

There is no consistency.

They don't have the love that my children have.

They don't have the support services.

So let's be the big hug.

If we could solve this, I think we're changing lives forever.

But finding a way with foster youth to support and invest our youth so they see hope.

And especially with our foster youth where life and adults have failed them.

And that one, I will just tell you where I'm at.

Plain and simple there.

We got to reduce substance abuse.

Fentanyl and deaths for youth under 25 have tripled since 2019 in Sacramento County.

That's an alarming statistic.

And I will go back to what are you told us at Summer at City Hall?

They're going to listen to each other.

So we need to listen to our youth when we also do strategic investment of how do we support youth organizations

who are the ones leading in the voice in educating and doing that here to peer support.

And preventing youth violence that comes to how do we have that overarching support?

And how do we have something when we look at I can tell you, North of the River,

we have I.Y.T. at our high school.

But we don't have a lot of additional CBOs.

It's because Natomas Unified is bringing in additional support services for our youth.

But I have a my own council office run one youth program for teens to sign up just to do something.

Because there aren't those services.

So how do we reduce violence?

It's creating community.

It's creating partnerships.

It's creating a sense of a family that they may not have.

But it's also creating a safe space for all of our kids to go.

And it's remember not every youth has that safe place to go.

And we need to be mindful while I look at the seed and I appreciate the tool,

because we all know I talk about data.

One of the things that I'm going to call out, you know, of which council member Talamontes and I share,

is we share a huge multi-family apartment complexes in Natomas,

where a significant amount of our low income youth reside.

That doesn't show up on any map.

So I'm speaking for the kids at Atrium Court,

Natomas Park, North Point Park, Tarasena Gold, Tarasena Meadows,

the law Valencia Point, Westview Ranch, and Willow Glen apartments.

Because we don't have the services those kids deserve.

And then it's the funding of the Healthy Development from 0 to 5.

Do you know on average if you send your child to daycare at cost $10,000 a year, one child?

If you send them privately, $17,000.

What are we doing when we're not supporting our working families?

And when we talk about equity is important and equity comes with responsibility,

it's also acknowledging child care is a crisis.

And how do we support?

Because I can tell you I really appreciate the city's partnership with Natomas Unified and Fourth R.

We have invested money such that 800 families in Natomas can have free or reduced

fourth R payments so that there are safe places for our kids, but that's elementary school.

What about our 0 to 5?

So I do support increasing and how do we look for those family providers?

I'm going to say it.

My zip code, a majority of D1 is 95835.

When you look at it, it tends to assume that it's a high wealth district and a high wealth

zip code.

But you know what measure Alice for?

It is for all youth impacted by trauma, violence, and other areas.

So I want to remember that I truly do believe there's been some areas of the city that haven't

been invested in, like they're supposed to, but this is about all kids.

And I want to make sure that we keep that in mind when we're looking at this, that we're

looking at all kids, and we don't just say you have to be of the lowest income.

Because one of the things I do know from the ARPA funding that this council invested

in before I was able to join it is was looking at how do we make sure that we keep people

in their homes?

And one of the most successful programs was working with SHRA and paying the rent and

others to keep them in their home.

When I told you the name of all of those apartment complexes, they are not even a paycheck

away from becoming homeless.

And those are more kids on our streets.

So I want to be mindful that we don't rely on the seed equity tool for that is the basis

of how we decide things.

I think it's good data, but I want to see as we look at investing, that we're also investing

in all kids in all areas of our city.

I am interested in hearing about where the rest of my council is on how we split apart

the funding specifically, you know, looking at a, probably a more equitable split because

the city has some amazing programs that we've already set up, that we are already talking

about we know the kids use these and we need to expand them and that maybe just keeping

15% of the funding for city is not enough to expand programs that we already know are

successful.

And I also say that because I'm concerned as we go out of a significant amount goes

to outside entities, I'm always going to bring this up.

We've got to have transparency, we've got to have accountability, I have to know the data

as the money that we're spending and what the taxpayers asked us to spend on youth,

are they spending it on youth as it's being spent on administration.

So being very thoughtful of the mechanism for accountability and I'm not even sure

we have city staff to truly monitor for that oversight of a significant money right away

goes out to CBOs instead of a thoughtful approach of what we have and maybe what we need

to expand.

Especially if you look at our Sacramento Police Department and the CBOs they are working

with with youth in addressing violence, what is already successful and how can we expand

that.

So a couple items I do want to just look at and I am mindful and thoughtful that I know

a rush decision generally leaves somebody behind.

A thoughtful discussion or delay that no more than two weeks that comes back that we make

sure that we are this is the first time I've seen it while I've watched all the measure

al commissions reviewing it and having this conversation as a council and hearing from

all of us I'm okay with the delay.

One of the can we clarify the definition of out-risk youth to me to ensure that we are

funding program and policies tailored to address the specific needs and challenged

faced by our at-risk youth I think we just need a little bit of clarification.

I also want to touched and clarified the memo that was provided by our diversity and

equity manager.

I mean Barnes regarding how the implementation of the C tool was intended because it was

intended to be used as a baseline for how we allocate this funding.

On guaranteed basic income if this council goes forward with this one of the things I'd

like to be considered as part of which I think is essential is that youth who also designate

and get this funding that they get I don't know financial training and awareness training

because a lot of the times our youth don't understand budgeting and financial awareness

that I think is very important.

I am supportive of the two to slash three year contract but I think we need to have something

where we are giving two year contracts with the option of a one year extension because

what if we realize a CBO after two years is not doing what we need to do and we need to

tweak it.

I want to provide a little bit of an incentive that if this is bumpy but if we find that

you know it's easy to just do we do this all the time on consent but it gives a little

bit of a flexibility of accountability and oversight that I think is really important

and I agree tonight is about getting it right in an urgent manner but I'm okay in an

urgent manner of two weeks still doesn't do anything to us getting our money out because

I know the decision we make tonight which I'm already a yes on this plan with tweaks

but we're making decision now that is going to forever change the lives of the youth coming

now and we got to do that right so thank you.

Thank you thank you so much councilmember Kepel very thoughtful.

Thank you.

Councilmember Jennings.

Thank you Mayor.

I want to thank the hard work of the commissioners.

It was a very well written strategic investment plan.

Very well done.

I heard about we've talked about some tweaks and I'm sure we can talk about that all day

long.

My tweak is real simple.

I'm fine with two to three year contracts but with one year evaluations where we are

evaluating on a more frequent basis.

That doesn't mean we take the money away unless that person is not getting the contract

done in a way that we expect but that's really the main tweak that I want but I just wanted

to thank you for your hard work on the strategic action plan.

I have a saying that I mentioned to a couple of you fail you plan is planning to fail and

you have a plan that I don't believe is destined to fail.

I think it is a very good plan so I just want to let you know that and it's also a plan

that was developed for youth who most impacted by poverty, by violence and by trauma.

So what you set out to do you were able to get it done so I just want to give you hands

up for a great job on doing that.

Also want to thank the youth who showed up and can I say they also showed out because

they had something to say tonight.

Couple of things I heard them say very clearly is that their time is right now that they

have waited too long.

They said that it is necessary that action starts today, not tomorrow but today.

They heard them say we simply don't have enough resources but they feel that measure

L is the opportunity to change that.

We wanted to make sure that we heard their voices and that we knew that their potential

is unlimited and it's only limited by the resources that they don't have today.

If you open the door and give them unlimited resources they can achieve anything.

They wanted us to hear that we need to invest in our youth and that yes their voice does

matter.

One thing that a person said that was really important to me is that positive generational

impact today tomorrow will affect us for all of our futures.

Positive generational impact.

So I'm really impressed with the work that's been done.

I could go through this thing and try to figure out how to change it but what I want to do

is I want to get it started and then I want to work with the commission on ways that

we can figure out how to tweak it so that we can make it even better.

Can I say more better?

More better.

More better.

We can make it more better.

I want to get it moving forward.

I'm actually I'm ready tonight because I've heard enough from the commission.

I've heard enough from our youth.

I've heard enough from our parents.

I've heard enough from our community based organizations.

I was one of those kids that a community based organization that had a person working

in it touched me on my shoulder and told me you know you got what it takes.

For whatever reason I believe that person and it changed my whole life.

It sent me in a whole different direction.

So I know the impact and the power that community based organizations, people working in the

schools, people working in the out of school, people working in the summer programs.

I know the impact that those programs have on young people.

It hurts me to my heart that we have a community based, not a community based but a center

that's not being utilized in ways that it should be.

We have to make sure that those programs go into that center so that community is completely

affected and positively affected.

So we have to make sure that we can't have buildings that are unused and not properly

utilized in any area of the city.

So I am interested in trying to make sure that we serve.

It was somebody who's talking about more equity.

I want to make sure that the whole city is served.

I definitely want to go to areas that are the highest risk.

I want to go there first but at some point in time we need to touch the whole city because

today's areas that are at risk may be tomorrow's areas that are okay but then you've neglected

the areas that weren't at risk and now they are at risk.

So we have to make sure that we take care of that as well.

So I'm good and I'm ready to go tonight.

You're ready to go tonight.

I want to listen to every member and then I'm going to weigh in on this controversial

question of tonight versus two weeks.

I know it's the greatest shoe of the night and I appreciate it but I am going to listen

to everybody and then I'm going to try as your mayor to put this into context and again

recommend a decision that is not only the right thing tonight but the right thing for

the next two to three to five years.

So let's see what my other colleagues have to say because we haven't heard from everybody

yet.

All right.

Vice mayor and maple.

Thank you mayor and I will try to keep this fairly brief.

You might have noticed me coughing.

I have a cough but it's not COVID.

I just want to let everybody know.

I know people are looking at me like is she okay?

I'm okay.

I want to start with thank yous because I know that everybody has done that but I think

it's really important to start there.

First of all with our commission some incredible people shout out Dave on.

DeFi commissioner great work but just really heard wonderful things about all of you and

the work that you put into this.

As councilman were Jennings said it's an incredible plan.

There's a lot of detail.

It's based in data and evidence and a lot of passion and a lot of community input.

So I just want to lift that up.

I want to lift up our EFC staffers.

Renee and Sarah thank you for all of your work.

Third plateau.

Um I'm really excited.

I poured a bit of attention.

So I feel a health barrier.

сотрудans that went into this our u.

commission.

On all these who showed up.

It's just I was saying earlier tonight before we even started that is really cool to have

something pactos and have it be about something really positive, right?

We're getting money out to the community and to our youth open.

And we're talking about how do we do that?

Um that's a really good place to be.

I just heard tonight from a lot of young people

that there are unique challenges

that young people are facing in our city,

around mental health, around violence in the community

and beyond.

And I heard that there's a lot of organizations

that are doing great work.

And it's important to uplift those organizations.

I, you know, you might have noticed on the map

that District Five is incredibly impacted

in both the COI and the C tool.

I do want to acknowledge my colleagues

to say, you know, the state doesn't show everything you're right.

There are kids in neighborhoods all over the city of Sacramento

that might not show up on these tools,

but it is a really good guiding light

to at least start the conversation.

You know, I'd be remiss if I wasn't advocating for District Five.

It's clearly one of the places that needs the most love

and District Two, of course.

And so, you know, I do think that we should focus on that equity.

Where do we need to focus our energy first?

It's not that we're not going to focus everywhere we are.

It's that we're going to focus on the places

that really have been left behind.

And a lot of those places are in District Five and in District Two.

And so, I would love to see that as we move forward

is making sure that we're focusing using that data,

finding other ways.

I really appreciated one of the commenters who talked about

there are lots of ways to look at data and to manipulate it

so that we can see all the layers.

I think we should do that.

We should spend a lot of time and energy focusing on that

because I don't want anyone to be left behind.

And I know there are certainly kids that live in neighborhoods

even in some of the areas that are not on the map

who really need the help.

So, we need to make sure that we're hitting everywhere

and everyone.

I'm going to focus on just a couple of process issues

that I think are important.

So, one of the things that has come to me,

I think it was Councillor Valenzuela

who brought this up about the rubric.

I think the scoring process is going to be crucial.

How we take a look at these applications,

how we're looking at these programs,

how we're constantly assessing them,

figuring out what's working, what's not.

And being willing to say, okay, we give this a try

for a couple of years, maybe we're not meeting our goals,

why are we not meeting our goals?

Is there something else that could be working?

Because I think we have a really high bar to meet here,

which is it's the public money.

And these are public dollars that could be used

for a variety of other things serving the community.

So, we need to make sure that everything

that we're putting towards it is uplifting our commitment

to fiscal responsibility and that we're ensuring

that we're doing things well.

So, I know that we can do that

because we find a lot of different programs

through the City of Sacramento and we have for years.

It's just top of mind for me that we have that rubric

and that it's very transparent.

Because I know there's been a lot of people

who have been involved in this, a lot of people

who also have an interest.

And those interests might be very good,

but it also means that you have an interest.

And so, I just want to make sure that it's transparent.

The people who are part of the selection committee,

for example, are people that are not involved in the process,

maybe not connected to any of the organizations

who might get funding.

Because I don't even want the remote possibility

that someone might look at this and say,

oh, they're pick and favorite, so the City of Sacramento.

I know that's not true.

But we have to make sure that we're upholding

that responsibility of the public.

So, that's something of interest to me.

So, I want to make sure that that process is there.

Another thing that got brought to my attention

from our community cabinet

and some of the constituents who reached out about this

is about duplication.

So, we know I've seen a lot in the neighborhood that I live in

and the district that a lot of times we have nonprofits

that will pop up and are actually serving

sometimes the same communities doing the same work

and are sometimes even replicating the work of one another.

And so, I just wanted to be really conscious in that process

that we're taking a look and seeing where areas served,

we're being strategic, and we're making sure that we're,

we're not just funding really good ideas,

but those ideas make sense in the context of the maps

that we're looking at and the work that we need to get done

based on the rubric.

And then I already mentioned this efficacy,

and I think Councilor Jennings also mentioned this.

We need to constantly be taking a look

what's working, what's not.

That's the way that we're gonna stay nimble

and I'm sure this money is spent well.

That's very important to me.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned that has been

in the back of my mind and the front of my mind

actually is around the workforce.

So, one of the things that has been brought to my attention

by, you know, help some of our employees

even here at the city of Sacramento

is right now our youth programs that are served by the city

are done by workers that are often in a union

that make a living wage that have healthcare

and have those benefits that come along

with being in a union.

I know, because I used to work in the nonprofit world,

that it's not always common to have a living wage

in that space or to have healthcare.

And I think that that is something

that we need to be thoughtful of.

And so, I know, you know, not,

there are not many nonprofits that are unionized.

I recognize that.

And so I certainly wouldn't want it to be a requirement,

but I do want us to think about as a city

during the selection process that we are prioritizing

organizations that at a bare minimum

have a labor peace agreement.

So they're saying, hey, for those who aren't aware,

a labor peace agreement basically says,

I'm an employer, I am not going to get in the way

if union wants to come in here and talk to my employees

and they choose to unionize.

Doesn't mean that it's going to be union,

does it mean that they have to be,

but it at least says,

hey, I'm not going to get in the way.

To me, that's a bare minimum.

Like, I'm willing to do this because I care

about my workers and their decision

to decide to be in a union or not.

So I would certainly like staff to consider that

in their process.

And then let me see.

Oh, and one other thing is on the size of organizations.

So I want to make sure that we're also being

considerate of large versus small versus medium size

organizations.

There's a variety that serve our communities.

I have a lot of like what I was a micro organizations

and then they put that I live in and beyond

and they do incredible work.

You give them $5,000 and they'll do work

that you can't even imagine.

Versus if you get $5,000 to a very large organization,

you might not see anything come out of that.

And it doesn't mean that they're bad.

It just means that you have different sizes

and their different abilities to pivot and move.

And so I think we need to invest in all sizes

because the big ones do their work

because they have gotten capitalized

to do really major transformative things.

That matters.

But I also think that there's a lot of boots

on the ground organizations that hardly ever get access

to this kind of grant funding

and we need to think about them too.

So just making sure that we're kind of spreading the love

across the map, ensuring that these organizations

that don't always get access to resources

have the ability to at least be considered in that.

And with that, I will end my comments

and just really want to appreciate everyone

for all their advocacy.

I am okay with voting tonight,

but also if my colleagues would prefer to wait,

I'm okay with that too.

I'm really either way because I think if it's two weeks

to get something right and we have colleagues

that have concerns, then I don't,

two weeks as I understand it,

Mr. City Manager is not going to delay the process

of getting our peace out, is that correct?

Can you speak to that Mr. City Manager for a second?

No, if we look at the timeline,

I'm going to ask for Nate to pull that up maybe

but us delaying this two weeks

does not change the RFP process and the timelines

for submittals and reviews.

So it will virtually have no impact

on our ability to get that out.

So I know just enough to be dangerous for Nate.

Yeah, that's correct.

Okay, great.

Oh, sorry.

That's okay.

I'll just pull it up so you can look at it while you're speaking.

Okay.

So with that knowledge, then I'm okay with waiting,

knowing that there's at least a handful of my colleagues

that want to wait.

I don't, and it's not going to impact the timeline

of getting our peace out to the community.

I think it's, to me, it's better to get it right.

So I'll put me down for two weeks.

Thank you.

Okay.

Let's turn it over to Mayor Prattem, Telemontos.

Thank you, Mayor.

It's been a day.

I know a lot of our youth are no longer here.

And I'm glad to see everyone's probably at home

watching eagerly.

I do see my Commissioner Reyes,

future president of the United States of America.