Title
Resolution authorizing the City Manager or his designee to pursue the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Guaranteed Income Pilot grant program and to allocate $1,500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds as required matching funds.
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WHEREAS, poverty disproportionately affects our most vulnerable populations - children and families of color. The majority of our Latinx community lives in the two lowest income census tracts in South San Francisco, in the Downtown and Old Town neighborhoods. The Latinx community in South San Francisco consists of many frontline and service industry workers who have been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic; and
WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) labeled South San Francisco as a Community of Concern. A diverse city with pockets of low income, high need neighborhoods vulnerable to displacement, many families struggle to meet basic needs due to the high cost of living and low wages; and
WHEREAS, the City Council stepped up in big ways to provide financial and other assistance for our residents during the Covid-19 pandemic. As emergency shelter-in-place orders were put in place and businesses shuttered, residents struggled to meet the basic needs of their families including rent, food security, employment, and remote learning. The City provides a multi-pronged approach to attempt to address our community’s needs as well as contributors to and impacts of poverty; and
WHEREAS, Guaranteed Income is a tool implemented in other communities that the City Council desires to evaluate as part of the City’s multi-pronged approach to addressing the community’s financial needs, including combatting poverty, and as a response to the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic; and
WHEREAS, in July 2021, City Council approved the South San Francisco Guaranteed Income Pilot Program, serving 166 households and providing them each with $500 per month for 12 months.; and
WHEREAS, successful evaluation of the South San Francisco Guaranteed Income pilot meets the City’s intended goals to provide immediate financial assistance in response to COVID-19, and to provide the financial stability necessary for our most vulnerable residents to pursue opportunities like furthering education, obtaining a new job, working one job rather than two, and being able to spend more time with their children; and
WHEREAS, there is a desire to pursue a second round of the Guaranteed Income Pilot Program with support from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Guaranteed Income Pilot program funding; and
WHEREAS, the second round of the South San Francisco Guaranteed Income Pilot Program will use $1,500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds; and
WHEREAS, Guaranteed Income is not a singular solution to poverty, but a part of a larger plan to help alleviate poverty for our poorest and most vulnerable residents.NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the City Council of the City of South San Francisco that the City Manager or his designee is authorized to pursue the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Guaranteed Income Pilot grant program and to allocate $1,500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds as required matching funds as described in the accompanying staff report presented to the City Council on August 17, 2022.