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Our Mission
“Magnify the influence and contribution of
nonprofit business in Santa Clara County.”
| News - August 2007 News - July 2007 News - June 2007 News Events Current SVCN Position Statements - SVCN Position Regarding the County Budget - SVCN Position on the RFP Process - Request for Nonprofit Access to the Mental Health Department - SVCN Statement on the City of San Jose Community Center ReUse Strategy |
SVCN Statement on the City of
San Jose Community Center ReUse Strategy October 16, 2006 To City Manager and PRNS Atten: Angel Rios, Mark Linder, Albert Balagso Cc: Rick Doyle, Gerald Silva, Mayor and City Council From the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits Re: City of San Jose Community Center Facility Re-Use Strategy Throughout the month of September, SVCN held a number of focus groups related to the City of San Jose nonprofit issues. Over 85 organizations were part of these discussions. This report reflects those agencies perspectives and focuses on the major themes and issues that most nonprofits agree the City needs to take into consideration related to the community center reuse plan. There are many key ingredients that nonprofits are seeking in the community center re-use plan; however, the main themes are the criteria of center usage (unrestricted or program specific) and how to finance the center use (maintenance and operating, multi-year, fees and cost recovery). We request the City develop solid criteria for Community Center usage The City has conducted a variety of community meetings to discuss community center reuse in the neighborhoods. These meetings provide some glimpse into the programs and services these neighborhoods are seeking for services within their community centers. Some needs may rise to the top in these meetings but in our experience some basic needs for our community may not be gathered in such a needs assessment since it is attendance based. Domestic violence services, early childhood education, foster care, housing assistance, mental health, senior services, drug prevention, youth in transition, emerging ethnic group needs and other services may not emerge but may be real needs within those communities based on other statistical data. So when determining the services needs for a community center, issues beyond the neighborhood meetings must be considered. However, what needs to be clear is the intended use for each of the proposed community centers. The City must determine, prior to designating a community center for reuse, if the center is envisioned as unrestricted community space or program-specific space. Unrestricted Community Space Nonprofits may outgrow space, need to expand programs and free programming space would be an attractive incentive. New and emerging nonprofits that serve new ethnic or underserved populations may benefit from community center space for their programming. Community Center buildings may provide much needed space for these nonprofits. We view this as unrestricted space free from programming restrictions. This Community Space would allow a nonprofit or group of nonprofits to propose a range of specific programs to be provided. However, if the City plans to determine the space usage and the program services to be delivered, this is a totally different concept. Program Specific Use The City may want to have certain programs or range of services provided at a community center. Those services need to be clearly articulated so that organizations can apply or partner with multiple agencies to provide the services at a community center. Community Centers can partner with nonprofits to offer services, continue existing services and more, but on-going funding needs for programming will be a persistent issue and concern. Combined City –Nonprofit Services The City could consider a blended use of community centers with some services and programming offered by the City and some programming offered by nonprofits. This would clearly need to be articulated in the RFP. A model where the City retains the management of the centers, covers facility costs, and minimally staffs each one with a coordinator or manager. The City could retain some services and contract out for additional and specific services or a range of services. Finances The financing has many facets: maintenance and operating, multi-year contracts, fees and cost recovery. Nonprofits are community businesses and must be concerned with the financial bottom-line, balancing operations, employee benefits, and the cost of doing business in San Jose while also being mindful of needs of their clients and costs to properly provide services. The City can not expect to salvage their fiscal difficulties at the expense of nonprofit providers. Maintenance Costs for Community Centers Nonprofits have clearly told us that it is a major priority for the community center re-use plan to have the City fund the maintenance and operating costs of these facilities. Many of these buildings are older and have significant maintenance and facility costs. Facility upgrades and repairs are usually long term in nature i.e. repairing a roof, heating and air conditioning maybe a 10-20 year upgrade while the nonprofit may have only a short term agreement for the space. Therefore the cost for maintenance and deferred maintenance must be covered by the owner of the building which is the City of San Jose. Multi-year funding Most of our nonprofits believed that five (5) year agreements for community centers would be the minimum requirement. Fees and Cost Recovery Nonprofits need to be allowed to charge fees for their services. Nonprofits have a range of fees, some offer a sliding scale, some flat fees etc. However, to restrict a nonprofit from charging fees or using the City fee schedule is not acceptable. Ongoing Operating Costs Nonprofits and the City will need to closely look at how the ongoing program costs will be funded at Community Centers. The Community Foundation Silicon Valley has already reported a decrease in private funding and philanthropic giving in our community. SVCN has reported that government funding has dropped over 15% over the last 5 years and we anticipate greater funding cuts from the County, HNVF, CDBG and other government funding streams. The development of the RFP We strongly encourage the City to develop a clear and concise RFP. The Northside Community Center RFP was designed and released three times. Lack of staff response to questions and concerns was mentioned several times by our agencies and deterred agencies from applying because they did not receive timely and adequate information. Many potentially qualified nonprofits are still unsure whether they can feasibly bid if many of the above questions and considerations are not addressed by the City. Focus groups with potential qualified providers need to be held when the City determines the final list of centers and re-use strategy. Together we need to create a viable concept that organizations will be willing to respond to an RFP: an approach where Everybody Wins. We encourage the city to look at pilot sites, perhaps phase in this concept instead of all at once. SVCN looks forward to continuing to be a resource to the City and to continuing the dialogue with the City Council, PRNS staff and other key policy leaders for the implementation of the Facility Re-Use RFQ Process and strategy. |
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