20 Nov East County Supes Earmark Some Community Impact Funds; Gioia in West County Holds Off

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday discussed the spending of Community Impact Fund dollars, which it is set to consider again Dec. 16. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

Contra Costa County Supervisors Diane Burgis and Shanelle Scales-Preston spent portions of their Community Impact Funds on Tuesday to provide an additional $265,000 in services to East County residents.

The bulk of the spent money, which comes from leftover American Rescue Plan Act funding, is going to rental, utility and food assistance for Burgis’ District 3. Burgis and Scales-Preston, who both represent part of Antioch, also teamed up to each spend half of the $25,000 needed to establish the Antioch Police Department’s Sycamore Substation.

“We’re supporting Antioch for a police substation there in the Sycamore area, where it has been really high in crime,” said Scales-Preston about the substation. “In that particular area, families are afraid to come outside their doors and enjoy their community, so we hope the substation will help the community come out.”

Supervisors received $1 million each this year to fund services in their district after taking into account a survey and town hall meetings where community members shared their prioritized needs. Less than 1% of residents participated in the survey, according to data from the county, but supervisors say town halls were otherwise representative of their communities’ needs.

But Scales-Preston, Burgis, and District 1 Supervisor John Gioia are not done beefing up services for their districts just yet.

The three still have more than $2.7 million to spend on services across their individual districts, with $1 million of that belonging to Gioia’s district.

Burgis said she received 79 applications that totaled more than $5.3 million in funding.

Burgis said she’ll likely be holding onto most funding for some time because of uncertainties related to the federal administration but will likely bring a few allocations forward next month.

“I’m prepared to go forward and be able to respond to things that happen that I can’t even expect right now,” said Burgis. “My intention is to be able to respond next year and the year after.”

Scales-Preston said she plans to bring back some funding allocations to the next meeting.

“At this time, I’m going through the 225 applications, and I won’t be able to do it all at once,” said Scales-Preston.

For Gioia, he doesn’t believe he’ll start allocating his funding until 2026 and is also keeping an eye on what countywide services may be funded.

Supervisors heard about 80 public comments on the item, expressing support for allocating more funding to services, especially those related to housing and food assistance.

Residents across the county ranked having safe neighborhoods and quality schools and education as their top two priorities in the online survey.

Those priorities greatly differed compared with Gioia’s town halls, where more than 275 participated and most emphasized health, mental health and wellness, education and housing, according to a report. Youth in Gioia’s district expressed priorities in education, environment and housing.

Most survey participants in Scales-Preston’s district, which had the largest survey turnout, and Burgis and Gioia’s said that high housing costs was the biggest challenge their household was facing.

More than $9.73 million in leftover ARPA funding for the entire county is still not allocated, but supervisors on Dec. 16 plan to again discuss how to use those funds.