DATE: August 21, 2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM: Housing and Neighborhood Services Department
TITLE: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH VISTA COMMUNITY CLINIC FOR PROJECT REACH PROGRAM AT JOE BALDERRAMA RECREATION CENTER
RECOMMENDATION
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Staff recommends that the City Council approve a Professional Services Agreement (PSA) with Vista Community Clinic (VCC), in the amount of $72,052, for the Project REACH Program at the Joe Balderrama Recreation Center located at 709 San Diego Street; and authorize the City Manager to execute the agreement upon receipt of all supporting documents.
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BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
Established in 1995, Project REACH is one of the longest-running programs at VCC. Reaching adolescents through afterschool programs located in neighborhoods with a history of gang violence, Project REACH has served thousands of low-income middle- and high-school students, providing daily academic, social, and emotional support. Project REACH has helped to create a sense of community in the Eastside neighborhood, beginning with the youth.
Over the past year, youth activities related to nature and conservation were the most popular at REACH Balderrama. Young people from the Eastside neighborhood attended multiple forums hosted by guest speakers on topics including ocean pollution and its impact on marine life; the connection between human consumption on ocean pollution, looking at these environmental issues through a social lens; and the importance of recycling. Inspired by the curriculum, REACH youth, themselves, organized a clean-up of Joe Balderrama Park.
REACH youth at Balderrama have also made blankets for women living in a domestic violence shelter, treated younger children to face painting at Fiesta Patrias, visited Chicano Park to view the art, and participated in painting a children's wall mural at Joe Balderrama Park. The young women in the REACH program attended a Girls Conference where they learned more about...
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