03 Oct District 5 Community Impact Fund Grant Applications Open Through Oct. 31

District 5 Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston speaks Sept. 30 at Martinez City Hall about the Community Impact Fund.

Story and photos by Emily Tenorio Molina

Nonprofits serving family caregivers and East County teens are among those hoping to benefit from $1 million in new Contra Costa County community grants now open in District 5.

The Community Impact Fund is allocated from $14.7 million in remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds, and $1 million is allocated to each of the five districts to uplift their communities. 

The Board of Supervisors will determine the countywide use of the remaining money on Oct. 21. 

Each district has its own community grant application. Organizations can apply in any district they serve, but they must submit a separate application for each one, and any funds received can only be used in the given community.

During a Sept. 30 town hall at Martinez City Hall on how the money will be spent, Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston outlined eligibility for the program, which is open to 501(c)(3) nonprofits, 501(c)(6) organizations, and public agencies.

Applications to apply for the funds in District 5 are live until Oct. 31 at 5 p.m. At the supervisors’ meeting on Oct. 21, the board will outline the priority funding. The priorities will be influenced by the results of the Community Impact Fund Survey, which closed this week.

District 5 represents diverse communities across East and Central Contra Costa County, including unincorporated areas. 

Nikki Lopez, founder of Caregiver OneCall, which provides a 24/7 emotional support hotline to parents and adult caregivers throughout the county, hopes to receive the funding to increase services for family caregiver support. 

“West County has a huge need in the dementia space,” said Lopez, “and we serve different districts; we realize what the big need is, such as parents navigating special needs.”

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Pittsburg resident Alexander Finn, co-founder of the youth poetry organization In My Section, cited the need to continue providing a space for art and creativity to East County teens at a time when funding is scarce at the city level.

“There is a vacuum of arts space in Contra Costa County,” said Finn. “Our young people are the bloodline of the city. If you want them to come back, you got to have something to come back to.” 

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Although each supervisor decides how the funds will be distributed, the community survey will help the board determine where the money could best be spent. 

Instead of hiring a consultant to lead the survey, county supervisors opted to push the surveys themselves to save on costs. Engagement was low.

According to Scales-Preston on Sept. 30, residents had completed over 650 surveys in District 5, which serves about 300,000 residents. At that point, it had a higher completion rate than other districts. Across all five districts, about 2,600 surveys had been submitted then, a small percentage of the county’s population of about 1.3 million.

The low survey engagement raised concerns among the advocates and residents in attendance. Todos Santos Tenants Union organizer Betty Gabaldon addressed the lack of awareness about the survey within the Spanish-speaking immigrant communities, fearing their needs are glossed over. 

Other concerns centered on the online-exclusive survey, barriers for older adults and tech-disadvantaged residents, and survey questions being unclear and too individual-specific rather than community-centric. 

Hearing all the concerns, Scales-Preston encouraged residents to comment and advocate for their priorities at the next supervisor meeting, which is scheduled for Oct. 21 at 9 a.m. 

“Make sure your voice is heard, so the funds are going in this direction, ” said Scales-Preston. “Your voices are very important to us.”

Since Shanelle Scales-Preston and Supervisor Diane Burgis both represent parts of Antioch, they will host a joint town hall Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. at the Nick Rodriguez Community Center in Antioch.