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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCORRESPONDENCE - 75A75A City Council Meeting Correspondence 5/15/2018 PUBLIC HEARING: APPROVE THE FISCAL YEAR 2018 — 2019 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANTPROGRAM Date of Name Correspondence 1 511412018 Sarah Steffen 2 5/15/2018 Chris Schmidt 3 5/15/2018 Kate Marr Representative of In Favor in Opposition of RA* of RA,* YMCA Orange County Yes Santa Ana Resident Yes Legal Aid Society of Orange County Yes 4 5/15/2018 Denise Y. Cato Fair Housing Council of OC 'IRA- Recommended Action Tuesday, May 15, 2018 Page 1 of 1 Orozco, Norma From: Sarah Steffen < Sent: Monday, May 14, 2018 2:56 PM To: eComment Cc: Perez, Daisy Subject: Letter from YMCA - request to be included in written comments for Attachments: Public Comment Letter - YMCA.pdf I would like to include a comment for the May 15`h City Council Meeting. Please see attached letter from the YMCA. Best, Sarah Steffen, CFRE Associate Development Director YMCA OF ORANGE COUNTY Serving Orange County, Riverside County, San Gabriel Valley and Pomona Valley The Y: We're for youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. the 1V This email and any files with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company. Finally, the recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The company accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. May 14, 2018 Clerk of City Council 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92702 Dear Clerk of City Council, The YMCA of Orange County would like to request $75,000 to support our financial assistance program in Santa Ana, This would benefit our afterschool obildcare program and youth and adults sports programs at our Santa Ana Sports and Aquatics Center. For afterschool childcare, this grant could allow us to serve twice as many children in our afterschool tutoring program, helping Santa Ana children like Suzette. "Suzette has been struggling for many years now. She has an unstable home environment as her father has experienced some emotional and financial crisis. Recently Grandma has taken over her care. Grandma is a single parent and is not able to provide additional help for Suzette. Because of the Santa Ana CDBG funding, the YMCA was able to provide Suzette not only with childcare help but also with afterschool Tutoring support. A big difference has been observed in Suzette's persona. Last week I spoke to her teacher and she told me that Suzette is now turning in completed homework assignments regularly, her school focus has improved tremendously and her reading level has jumped 2 levels in such a short time. Her tutor informed me that she is now able to focus on her work much better and is now completing a much as 3 math worksheets a day as opposed to the 2 problems she would complete before. It brings us great joy when Suzette comes in with a big smile, wanting us to let grandma know how much effort she has demonstrated during the day. The program has made such an impact on her that she now comes in asking for work to improve on her skills." - Elizabeth Medina, Child Care Director For the Sports and Aquatics Center, this grant could be the difference in the life of a young child who may otherwise drown due to lack of safety around water training, or the difference in opportunity for another child who may only be able to afford soccer with a scholarship program—like the one offered at the YMCA. Thank you to the City Council for taking the time to consider our proposal for funding. This funding will truly make a difference in the lives of people it touches. Best, —� S ah Steffen Associate Development Director ( YMCA OF ORANGE COUNTY a Orozco, Norma From: Chris S < Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2018 9:50 AM To: eComment Cc: Martinez, Michele; Councilmember Jose Solorio; Thomas Gordon Subject: 75A. PUBLIC HEARING: APPROVE THE FISCAL YEAR 2018-2019 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM Mayor and City Council Members, I fully support the allocation of $872,543 in CDBG funds to Public Service Organizations for programs with an emphasis on crime prevention, intervention, and/or suppression for children, youth, and families. Please ensure these CDBG funds will be used to provide services and programs for only Santa Ana residents. Kind regards, Chris Schmidt Windsor Village NA Orozco, Norma From: Yesenia Martinez < Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2018 10:45 AM To: eComment Cc: Kate Marr; Shelbie Knox Subject: Public Comment Submission Attachments: LASOC DV+Expungement public comment 5.18.pdf Dear Mayor Pulido and Members of the Santa Ana City Council, Please see attached letter from Kate Marr, Executive Director of the Legal Aid Society Orange County -Community Legal Services. Sincerely, Yesenia Martinez I Executive Assistant Legal Aid Society of Orange County & Community Legal Services in Southeast Los Angeles County Est. 1958 1 LEGAL AID � SOCIETY OF 0111 0 R A N G. F , C O U N T Y COMMUNITY LEGAL $ERV I C E S OF SOUTHEAST 1.09 ANGELES COUNTY May 15, 2018 Mayor Miguel Pulido Councilor Vicente Sarmiento, Ward 1 Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez, Ward 2 Councilor Jose Solorio, Ward 3 City of Santa Ana c/o Office of the Santa Ana City Clerk Councilor David Benavides, Ward 4 Councilor Juan Villegas, Ward 5 Councilor Sal Tinajero, Ward 6 ecomments @santa-ana.org Dear Mayor Pulido and Members of the Santa Ana City Council: On behalf of the board, staff and clients of the Legal Aid Society of Orange County - Community Legal Services, thank you and the City of Santa Ana for your consideration of continued CDBG funding for our Domestic Violence Prevention Program and Clean Slate Clinic. I hope that we will be able to continue these critical partnerships. As you know, domestic violence affects not only the target of the abuse, but everyone in a household. Many of the survivors we see in this program are young women with small children. While escape from their abusers is critical, the road to safety and security does not end with a restraining order. Funding from the City of Santa Ana in 2017-2018 for our Domestic Violence Prevention Project has allowed us to focus on providing "wraparound" legal services to Santa Ana victims and survivors - services that not only can help victims get temporary restraining orders, but can help our clients: • Permanently escape from an abuser through divorce; • gain custody of children, including full custody until an offender completes anger management classes, and can show a court that he/she is no longer a threat to his/her children or the other parent; • obtain immigration remedies available to victims of violence; ■ obtain tax and debt relief that resulted from financial control by the abuser. It's not only an important way to ensure the immediate and near-term safety and security of families, but this program plays a role in disrupting the cycle of homelessness in our Legal Aid Society of Oninge County 12101 North Tustin Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705 1714.571.5220 I legal-aid.coln An LSC Funded Organization I All grants and contributions will be expended in accordance with federal Legal Services Corporation Act, (i 42US.C.2996etseq. and Public Lav 104-134. SeeevJsceov foraddidonaloilbrmation. TII'ZSG.��. community as well. According to the 2017 Orange County Point -in -Time report, 1 in 4 homeless adults in Orange County answered that they have experienced domestic violence at the hands of a person with whom they lived. (Page 27) By giving survivors the legal tools to start again, these comprehensive legal services also disrupt the cycle of violence: domestice violence not only affects the abused, but being even a witness to this type of violence is the leading indicator of whether or not children will become either abusers or victims of abuse as adults. Our second program is the Clean Slate Clinic, which is the only free legal clinic in Santa Ana to provide comprehensive expungement services to city residents who have paid their legal debt to society - some for acts (such as possession of marijuana) that are no longer crimes. Our program is unique because it helps Santa Ana residents exunge their records, no matter the California county/ies in which the crimes were committed. The Clean Slate Clinic is about giving a new start to people who are working to change their lives for the better. Although these residents have served their sentences and/or completed probation, a criminal record can stay with an individual for decades. It can make it impossible for an individual to get a job, find housing, or attend school. Unfortunately for everyone in the community, these barriers to a productive life can quickly lead to negative outcomes if not dismantled. Thank you again for your support of these projects in 2017-2018; together we are malting a difference in the lives of dozens of Santa Ana families. I hope that you will vote to continue this meaningful partnership in 2018-2019. If you have any questions about this work, please do not hesitate to contact me at (714) 571-5233. Sincerely, Kate Marr Executive Director Orozco, Norma From: Fair Housing Council of Orange County < Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2018 2:55 PM To: eComment Subject: Public Comment - City Council Meeting 5-15-18 - Agenda Item 75A Attachments: Public Hearing Comment.docx The following comment is submitted both in the body of this e-mail and via an attached Word document. Written Comment — Santa Ana City Council Meeting 5/15/2018 Agenda Item 75A - PUBLIC HEARING: APPROVE THE FISCAL YEAR 2018-2019 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM We first wish to point out an error on page 75A-9 of the staff report which shows for "Administration & Planning — Fair Housing" that the FY 18-19 request by Orange County Fair Housing Council, Inc. (dba Fair Housing Council of Orange County) was $64,141. Fair Housing Council of Orange County (FHCOC), in its online application for funding, requested $66,000, not $64,141, which is the current FY 17-18 level of funding. We requested that amount as we believe it is the appropriate level of funding to provide effective fair housing and landlord -tenant counseling services to the City of Santa. We wish to remind the city council that the provision of fair housing services is what allows the City of Santa Ana to certify that it is taking actions to affirmatively further fair housing, an obligation that attaches to the receipt of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds. We wish to note that at the time of the recommendation for funding for fair housing services was made by the Community Redevelopment and Housing Commission (the Commission) on March 28, 2018 they were still working on the projection that the level of CDBG for FY 18 would be the same as that received for FY 2017, and perhaps even with concern that it might be possible there could in fact be a decrease in funding for FY 18. This assumption was used despite the fact that Congress, a week earlier on March 22, 2018, had passed an omnibus spending bill for FY 2018 that increased overall funding for the CDBG program from $3.0 billion to $3.3 billion, an increase of about 10%. While this knowledge in no way allowed for certainty in the amount of an increase to Santa Ana, it would have certainly been a reasonable assumption that rather than funding remaining flat or decreasing it would in fact increase. On or about May 2, 2018 HUD did in fact announce a 10.8% increase in Santa Ana's CDBG allocation, from $5,284,239 to $5,816,959. Despite the likely increase in CDBG funding, not only did the Commission not approve our requested funds, they did not approve even leaving our funding at its current level of $64,141, but instead recommended a cut of 3.0% to $62,241. We note that in light of the increase in FY 2018 funding, the amounts shown for recommended funding under the public service component, at page 75A-2 of the current staff report (dated May 15'h), show increases for the 17 funded programs of between 5.78% and 23.28°/x, while the funding for FHCOC's has not been adjusted upwards. While our online application, in answer to a required question for which no added explanation was possible, did state that the minimum funding we would accept in order to conduct fair housing services and landlord -tenant counseling for the City of Santa Ana would be $60,000, that answer should not in any way be used to infer that such a lower level of funding would allow for a complete and effective program anticipated with the receipt of the $66,000 requested. To put funding for these services in context, between FY 14 and the currently recommended funding for FY 18, there has been an inflation adjusted decrease in funding for our program of about 12% ($67,517 FY 14, adjusted to $70,720 FY 18 dollars). All the while the estimated population for Santa Ana has increased from 335,441 to 338,247 or about 0.8% [California Dept of Finance estimates, 1/1/2014 and 1/1/2018]. As during this period, with the exception of FY 18, CDBG allocations were shrinking, or at best were flat, FHCOC understood the funding constraints that led to our sub -recipient allocation being reduced. We must confess that we are not understanding of a further cut given the increase in allocation received by the City of Santa Ana. We respectfully request that the city council adjust FHCOC's funding upwards, so that current and potential residents of Santa Ana will receive a complete and effective fair housing service program. Thank you. Denise Y. Cato President/CEO jr)o Fair Housing Counc(l o Fostering Diversity In Housing Written Comment — Santa Ana City Council Meeting 5/15/2018 Agenda Item 75A - PUBLIC HEARING: APPROVE THE FISCAL YEAR 2018-2019 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM Members of the Santa Ana City Council: We first wish to point out an error on page 75A-9 of the staff report which shows for "Administration & Planning — Fair Housing" that the FY 18-19 request by Orange County Fair Housing Council, Inc. (dba Fair Housing Council of Orange County) was $64,141. Fair Housing Council of Orange County (FHCOC), in its online application for funding, requested $66,000, not $64,141, which is the current FY 17-18 level of funding. We requested that amount as we believe it is the appropriate level of funding to provide effective fair housing and landlord -tenant counseling services to the City of Santa. We wish to remind the city council that the provision of fair housing services is what allows the City of Santa Ana to certify that it is taking actions to affirmatively further fair housing, an obligation that attaches to the receipt of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds. We wish to note that at the time of the recommendation for funding for fair housing services was made by the Community Redevelopment and Housing Commission (the Commission) on March 28, 2018 they were still working on the projection that the level of CDBG for FY 18 would be the same as that received for FY 2017, and perhaps even with concern that it might be possible there could in fact be a decrease in funding for FY 18. This assumption was used despite the fact that Congress, a week earlier on March 22, 2018, had passed an omnibus spending bill for FY 2018 that increased overall funding for the CDBG program from $3.0 billion to $3.3 billion, an increase of about 10%. While this knowledge in no way allowed for certainty in the amount of an increase to Santa Ana, it would have certainly been a reasonable assumption that rather than funding remaining flat or decreasing it would in fact increase. On or about May 2, 2018 HUD did in fact announce a 10.8% increase in Santa Ana's CDBG allocation, from $5,284,239 to $5,816,959. 15166roohhollowDrive, Suite A,SontaAnaiA92705 Phone: 114.569,0823/Fox714,835,0282 website: wunufairhousingacorg Despite the likely increase in CDBG funding, not only did the Commission not approve our requested funds, they did not approve even leaving our funding at its current level of $64,141, but instead recommended a cut of 3.0% to $62,241. We note that in light of the increase in FY 2018 funding, the amounts shown for recommended funding under the public service component, at page 75A-2 of the current staff report (dated May 15th), show increases for the 17 funded programs of between 5.78% and 23.28%, while the funding for FHCOC's has not been adjusted upwards. While our online application, in answer to a required question for which no added explanation was possible, did state that the minimum funding we would accept in order to conduct fair housing services and landlord -tenant counseling for the City of Santa Ana would be $60,000, that answer should not in any way be used to infer that such a lower level of funding would allow for a complete and effective program anticipated with the receipt of the $66,000 requested. To put funding for these services in context, between FY 14 and the currently recommended funding for FY 18, there has been an inflation adjusted decrease in funding for our program of about 12% ($67,517 FY 14, adjusted to $70,720 FY 18 dollars). All the while the estimated population for Santa Ana has increased from 335,441 to 338,247 or about 0.8% [California Dept of Finance estimates, 1/1/2014 and 1/1/2018]. As during this period, with the exception of FY 18, CDBG allocations were shrinking, or at best were flat, FHCOC understood the funding constraints that led to our sub -recipient allocation being reduced. We must confess that we are not understanding of a further cut given the increase in allocation received by the City of Santa Ana. We respectfully request that the city council adjust FHCOC's funding upwards, so that current and potential residents of Santa Ana will receive a complete and effective fair housing service program. Thank you. Denise Y. Cato President/CEO