2016 ALL IN ANNUAL REPORT

1

2016 ALL IN

ANNUAL REPORT

ABOUT ALL IN ALAMEDA COUNTY

On the 50th Anniversary of President Johnson’s War on Poverty, Supervisor Wilma Chan launched the New War on Poverty in Alameda County, resulting in the creation of ALL IN Alameda County.

ALL IN Alameda County is a multi-stakeholder collaborative including people living in Alameda County communities, business owners, nonprofit leaders, government agency staff, and elected officials, all working together to end poverty.

ALL IN’s vision and goals are rooted in the belief that all families in Alameda County have a right to:

Meet their basic needs for shelter, food, and safety, Earn an income that allows for self-sufficiency and asset

building, Obtain a quality education that positions the next

generation for academic and economic success.

WHAT MAKES ALL IN ALAMEDA COUNTY

UNIQUE?

ALL IN Alameda County is an innovation incubator within county

government. People who sit on all sides of a social issue – including

community residents– come together to design new solutions, and

apply creative thinking to remove barriers and take advantage of

opportunities for progress.

GUIDING

PRINCIPLES

The Best Anti-Poverty

Program is A

Community

We believe communities

know what they need to

thrive; our job is to put

wind in their sails

A Local Economy

Grows Jobs &

Prosperity

We work to create a

virtuous circle of local

investment in local

businesses owned by

and employing local

residents to produce

local products and

services for local

consumers.

Poverty is a Racial

Justice Issue

We include an analysis

of racial disparities and

systemic structural

racism in our work to

eliminate poverty.

Government Can (and

Must) Innovate

At its best, government

provides infrastructure

and incentives for

innovation – both inside

public agencies and

within communities.

2

2016 INITIATIVES/ACCOMPLISHMENTS

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

SOCIAL INNOVATION FAIR

On February 5, 2016, ALL IN hosted a Social Innovation Fair that brought almost 300 people together to explore solutions for seven different critical issue areas called “Challenge Tracks.” Using guidance from community residents’ responses during the listening session process, ALL IN offered the following objectives to guide participants in developing action plans:

Food Recovery: Develop a comprehensive county-wide food recovery system

Food as Medicine: Provide food prescriptions for families at risk of diet-based illnesses; offer food “farmacies” in County healthcare centers

CalFresh: Enroll 100 percent of eligible County residents in CalFresh

Youth Career Pathways: Develop career pathways and skills for system-involved youth

Affordable Housing: Increase the number of residents securing affordable housing and amount of affordable housing available to low-income residents

Entrepreneurship: Build a comprehensive guide for local entrepreneurs looking to start or grow a business

Advocacy: Support efforts to raise the living wage, increase the SSI cap, and expand early childcare and education

Following the Social Innovation Fair, ALL IN formed action teams around each Challenge Track, with potential pilots for Food as Medicine, Food Recovery, and CalFresh emerging as priority programs. Following a collaborative development and refinement stage, the pilots officially commenced during the fall of 2016.

2016 Listening Sessions

Building off of its inaugural listening sessions in 2015, ALL IN conducted its second round of Listening Sessions in November and December of 2016. In total, the 74 individuals, organizations, and local businesses received mini grants from ALL IN to host over 100 Listening Sessions, reaching over 1,700 people. Sessions took place in seven municipalities and the unincorporated areas of the County, with the majority of participants attending Sessions in Oakland, followed by San Leandro, Fremont/Union City, and Hayward. Key themes that emerged from the 2016 sessions included:

Lack of affordable housing/high rental costs

Need for more living-wage jobs

Desire for more affordable healthy food options

Community members and advocates attend the 2016 Social Innovation Fair

3

Barriers to adult education and job/skills training

Difficulty accessing public assistance programs and services

The benefits of community diversity

Cultural discrimination and language barriers

The full results and analysis of the 2016 Listening Sessions can be found at http://www.acgov.org/allin/docs/2016ListeningSessionsReport.pdf. ALL IN has utilized listening session feedback to guide programs in 2017, and is also working to establish the listening session process as a cohort model for grantees to build their professional networks. Listening Sessions have been held throughout the County with many diverse populations including formerly incarcerated individuals and their families, refugees, and transition aged youth. A complete list of grantees, locations, and populations reached is available on the ALL IN website.

In addition to Listening Sessions, ALL IN staff worked with community leaders to provide voter education town halls and voter registration events throughout October 2016. The town halls focused on state and local initiatives that addressed issues relating to economic inequality, while providing residents with information on how these measures can affect their communities.

MEETING THE NEEDS OF ALAMEDA COUNTY

END HUNGER BY 2020 CAMPAIGN

FOOD AS MEDICINE

Medical providers and nutritionists know that good food promotes good health, and that chronic diseases from diabetes to heart disease to obesity can be dramatically improved through healthy eating. However, many Alameda County residents who could benefit from good nutrition lack access to the fresh, healthy food necessary to foster healthful eating habits.

2016 Community Listening Session Grantees

4

Food as Medicine unites medical providers with urban growers and food distributors to provide “food prescriptions” to families that can be “filled” by local farmers’ markets, community gardens, food stands, or through bags of fresh produce delivered straight to their doorstep.

2016 Accomplishments

Last year, the Food as Medicine team partnered with Dr. June Tester and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland to develop a study examining the effects of providing low-income, pre-diabetic pediatric patients with “food prescriptions,” which will be filled by Dig Deep Farms and the Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB). This pilot will also include cooking classes and nutrition education provided by the County Department of Public Health to ensure families know how to prepare the produce they receive. The study started with children who were identified by pediatricians at Children’s Hospital living in one of five high-poverty zip codes (two in Hayward and three in Oakland). Both health outcomes and behavioral changes are being assessed to determine what is possible when families are provided with both the ingredients and know-how to prepare fresh and healthy food. Families began receiving food in the fall of 2016, with the study scheduled to run for approximately a year. ALL IN is currently in the process of seeking other opportunities to partner with federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs) to develop on-site food “farmacies,” where patients can access produce, whole grains, and healthy shelf-stable proteins.

FOOD RECOVERY

Food recovery diverts useable surplus food from landfill and compost and redistributes it to people in need. Although Alameda County possesses a great deal of unused food and high levels of food insecurity (defined as not knowing where one’s next meal is coming from), the County lacks a reliable infrastructure for transporting surplus food. Several jurisdictions outside of Alameda County have developed full-scale food recovery efforts, with many incorporating technology that links food donors, distributors, and recipients. ALL IN’s efforts aim to implement a similar system while recognizing community diversity by matching donations to recipients with cultural sensitivity.

Local Pilot Programs

In 2016, the Food Recovery team developed pilots in Berkeley and South Hayward/Union City brought forward by community food justice advocates. The two neighborhood-level pilots will launch volunteer-based food running operations that prioritize nutritious items – especially fresh produce – and serving residents vulnerable to food insecurity. Both pilots included a research component by conducting pre- and post-food insecurity surveys to measure the program’s impact on food insecurity. The team also laid the groundwork for a countywide service sector that involves developing a paid workforce of food recovery professionals.

(l-r) ALL IN Director Melanie Moore, Supervisor

Wilma Chan, and Jenny Wang (Public Health

Nutrition Services) present on Food as Medicine at

the American Association of Pediatrics conference

5

During the summer, Berkeley’s Satellite Affordable Housing Associates (SAHA) entered the evaluation and program design phase of their pilot. The evaluation work focused on developing a survey to measure how SAHA residents may experience food insecurity. Surveys were distributed at September Town Hall meetings by Service Coordinators for the three sites. All surveys were compared to post-pilot surveys to determine if the food recovery programs had an impact on resident food insecurity. The SAHA pilot then entered the design phase and launched on November 1st.

DESIGNING A COUNTY-WIDE FOOD RECOVERY SYSTEM

The next step for the Food Recovery initiative is to create a countywide enterprise that employs Food Recovery Specialists (FRS) who are hired and trained to operate refrigerated vehicles to pick up and deliver nutritious surplus foods. Through this model, thousands of pounds of food will be recovered from locations throughout Alameda County and delivered to organizations that serve food insecure individuals and families. To build toward this food recovery enterprise, ALL IN will launch trial food runs where Food Recovery Specialists will pick up recovered produce and other

prepared foods and deliver it to two Satellite Affordable Housing Associates’ (SAHA) communities located in Oakland. Initial goals include delivering roughly 5,600 pounds of food per month to the 100 residents expected to sign up for the program. Food deliveries are expected to take place twice a month on the second and fourth weeks.

CALFRESH

CalFresh is California’s version of the federal Supplemental Assistance to Needy Families (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. Many people eligible for CalFresh do not participate due to lack of awareness, misconceptions, or associated stigmas. Other barriers include application form length, high Social Services Agency (SSA) caseload, and wait times for processing CalFresh cases. Because Alameda County has one of the lowest CalFresh enrollment in the state, Supervisor Chan has made increasing the number of residents signed up for the program as one of her top priorities. SSA is currently working with ALL IN, the Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB), and other community partners to develop innovative ways to engage the community and increase enrollment numbers.

2016 Accomplishments

The SSA and ACCFB will continue their efforts to enroll into CalFresh thousands of families already enrolled in Medi-Cal. This increased engagement would result in thousands of additional federal dollars coming in to the County to be spent at local retail outlets and farmers’ markets. In October, the Alameda County Social Services Agency (SSA) began mailing 20,000 pre-filled CalFresh applications to Medi-Cal recipients not currently enrolled in CalFresh. SSA estimates

SAHA residents “shop” for food at the ALL IN

Food Recovery pilot launch

6

roughly 220,000 Medi-Cal recipients are not enrolled in CalFresh and approximately 80 percent are eligible for CalFresh. The pilot will start with 10,000 families with children and 10,000 seniors, is expected to increase SNAP enrollment by streamlining the application process.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

2016 Accomplishments

Alameda County is facing a crisis in housing availability and affordability. Median rents and home prices have skyrocketed, and low-income residents are being displaced from their homes and priced out of other housing. The County offers services ranging from shelter services to Section 8 housing vouchers, but even those with vouchers have trouble finding landlords willing to rent. There are a lack of incentives for landlords to accept subsidies, and tenants who receive them are often unfairly stigmatized. Landlord engagement aimed at building relationships has not been done to scale, while absentee and corporate landlords have proven difficult to engage. ALL IN’s goal is to increase landlord incentives by streamlining the process, formalizing relationships, and providing recognition to participants in voucher programs. Tenant goals include training and workshops on finding and retaining housing through “one-stop housing shops” that assist tenants with credit reports, application processes, interviews, and appeals. ALL IN will support these goals through advocacy for funding and increased affordable housing.

Measure A1 Passage

In 2016, Supervisor Chan and the Board of Supervisors drafted a ballot measure asking voters to approve a general obligation bond to promote affordable housing countywide. The initiative, Measure A1, would create and protect affordable housing options for people who need it most — seniors, veterans, the disabled, homeless residents, teachers, and first responders – by introducing programs focused on home ownership and rental housing access. Requiring a two-thirds supermajority to pass, the Measure was approved with over 73 percent of the vote on Election Day 2016. Guided by Supervisor Chan’s leadership and advocacy, the Affordable Housing action team focused its efforts on voter education around Measure A1, which included presentations to City Councils to inform local elected officials on the County’s housing crisis. ALL IN staff also participated on a planning team for the Interagency Children’s Policy Council (ICPC)’s fall forum, which focused on housing stability for transition-aged youth.

Supervisor Chan presents on the need for affordable

housing at a town hall for developing Measure A1

7

ALL IN GOVERNANCE AND PARTNERSHIPS

TRANSITION TO BOARD COMMITTEE

In late 2016, ALL IN Alameda County prepared to become a Committee of the Board of Supervisors and began drafting official bylaws to define the powers of ALL IN and its Committee, which will serve as the group’s community-based governing body to oversee and set policy for ALL IN.

The Committee will work cooperatively with the Board to support and guide ALL IN in its mission to eradicate poverty in the County. The Committee will ensure that ALL IN fulfills its vision and goals, which are to allow all families in the County to meet their basic needs for shelter, food, and safety; to earn income that allows for self-sufficiency and asset building; and to obtain a quality education.

NEW PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

In 2016, ALL IN engaged in several new partnerships with organizations and initiatives whose work in Alameda County overlaps with ALL IN’s mission of innovating solutions to poverty.

YOUTH VENTURES

The Youth Ventures Joint Powers Authority (JPA)

is a collaboration of Alameda County, the

Oakland Unified School District, and the City of

Oakland to combine and coordinate efforts to

secure and leverage resources to improve

outcomes for vulnerable children and youth. The

JPA advocates for children, youth and families in

Oakland with a special emphasis on vulnerable

populations.

The JPA works with the most disadvantaged communities in Oakland with broader reach to

cities across of Alameda County. The communities are home to families where 64 percent of

children live in poverty and contain the highest levels of health disparities including the highest

rates of hospitalization for asthma, teen births, and hospitalization for assault among youth.

Students in these communities rank among the lowest on academic tests and have high rates

of school suspension, drop-outs and truancy.

To address this, JPA’s member organizations have focused on building collaborative

partnerships to leverage resources, eliminate duplication of services, and deliver accessible

services to the most disadvantaged and vulnerable populations.

INTERAGENCY CHILDREN’S POLICY COUNCIL

Alameda County Interagency Children’s Policy Council (ICPC) engages in cross system

collaboration, developing child-friendly policies and initiating systems changes that result in

A representative from the Korean Community Center

of the East Bay presents their Community Listening

Session findings at the Grantee Poster Session

8

healthy, safe and thriving children. ICPC prioritizes positive and equitable outcomes for

children and youth, including educational preparedness, access to positive health outcomes,

and freedom from abuse and neglect.

Over the last 18 months, ICPC and ALL IN have developed a strong working relationship

based on complementary strengths and approaches of each collaborative. A more consistent

and intentional working relationship between ICPC and ALL IN will enable the County to get

more accomplished that actually improves the outcomes for low-income children, youth, and

families. ICPC brings ideas and diverse county and nonprofit stakeholders, and ALL IN brings

community stakeholders, and a blueprint for action.

BRILLIANT BABY

Oakland’s Brilliant Baby pilot, spearheaded by Mayor Libby Schaaf, is a two-generational

approach that provides $500 college savings accounts to babies born into poverty. In addition,

new parents can also receive parenting support, financial coaching and the opportunity to earn

financial awards as they take steps to promote their child’s wellbeing. Brilliant Baby will serve

250 families in the fall of 2016, with the goal of piloting 1,500 low-income and low-wealth

families in Oakland over the next three years. Over time, the program seeks to ensure that all

babies born into poverty in Oakland – and eventually throughout Alameda County – will have

access to Brilliant Baby, giving families critical tools to interrupt cycles of inter-generational

poverty and poor health.

By embedding Brilliant Baby in key services addressing the health and development of babies

– pediatric practices and infant home visiting programs – the program seeks to strengthen and

integrate the systems of support for low-income families in our community. UCSF Benioff

Children’s Hospital Pediatric Services and the Family Health Services Division of the Alameda

County Public Health Department are core partners in implementing Brilliant Baby, and ALL IN

Executive Director Melanie Moore serves on Brilliant Baby’s Steering Committee.

STAFFING ADDITIONS

Deputy Director

In late 2016, ALL IN was proud to

appoint Brittaney Carter as Deputy

Director. Brittaney is a Legislative Aide

for Supervisor Chan focusing primarily

on ALL IN while also covering policy

for public protection and seniors for the

Supervisor’s office. Brittaney

graduated from UC Berkeley's

Goldman School of Public Policy in 2015 and previously worked as economic justice campaign

manager at Color of Change, as well as a financial security intern at PolicyLink.

ALL IN Staff and volunteers at the SAHA food recovery launch

9

Policy Analyst

ALL IN recently expanded its staff with the hiring of Jared Savas as Policy Analyst. In this

capacity, he is responsible for policy research, budgetary matters, and several focus areas

including food security and homelessness. Jared previously worked as a Senate Committee

Clerk for the Connecticut General Assembly and before that served as Policy Director and

Speechwriter for the Massachusetts State Treasury. Jared is a graduate of Yale University’s

Class of 2003.

ALL IN FUNDERS

ALL IN thanks our generous funders who make our work possible: