Receive update on American Rescue Plan Food Security Recommendations and provide feedback. (No general fund impact) (Nunes/Sullivan/Will)

Receive update on American Rescue Plan Food Security Recommendations and provide feedback.

	Thriving Residents
	Flourishing Agriculture
	Robust Economy

Food Security Workgroup Recommendations
On November 23, 2021, staff provided an update to the Board regarding the five American Rescue Plan (ARP) priority category workgroups, including the Food Security workgroup. Since that meeting, staff has met with the workgroup and the board liaisons to discuss the recommendations that will be presented to the Board at the January 25, 2022 Board meeting. A summary of the workgroup's conclusions from the review of proposals may be found below. The workgroup is using three categories at this time to determine the next steps for each proposal, including supportive of the project, additional information requested, and not recommended. The ARP subcategories were generated using the list presented to the Board at the November 23, 2021 meeting.
 

Proposal	Funding Request	Match	ARP Subcategory	Workgroup Conclusion	Workgroup Recommendation	Workgroup Notes
Nurture Yolo - An Equitable, Sustainable Local Food System for the Health and Wellness of All Yolo County Residents	$3,000,000	Existing Fundraising	General Food Project	Supportive*	$1,178,000	Needs clearly defined outcomes and goals. Appears to get food out to those most impacted by COVID immediately. Need clarification on other funding sources and matches. Long-term sustainability also needs to be addressed.
Yolo County Senior and Persons with Disabilities Food Security Funding Pool	$1,290,000	NA	Senior Matching Funds	Supportive*	$300,000	Recommended matching pool funding for future or revised Senior Food Security Proposals at a later date.
Comida Digna + Yolo Farm to Fork Partnership Proposal	$1,032,341	$711,288	General Food Project	Not Recommended	$0	The group really loved the idea but the primary focus is on nutrition, not necessarily food access and almost all funds would benefit school districts. No school district participation, match, or endorsement is present currently, which presents serious concerns regarding long-term sustainability. The workgroup could possibly support this with a one-time if school district commitment was present.
Meals on Wheels Equipment Project	$200,000	Yes	Senior Projects	Supportive	$200,000	Group was supportive but would like to see exact quotes for equipment costs needed. One-time costs for infrastructure. In conversations with liaisons, there was a clear focus on reinforcing primary senior nutrition programs and limiting the splintering of new programs.
Yolo Healthy Aging Alliance - ARP Food Security Proposal	$200,000	Unclear	Senior Projects	Supportive	$200,00	Group was supportive but would like to see exact quotes for delivery costs and performance metrics (i.e., number of meals). The advisory body recommended focusing on the existing senior food security system and seeing if there could be existing partnerships. After discussions with staff and Meals on Wheels executive team would like to earmark an additional $200,000 for senior hot meal delivery funding. Staff recommends BOS direct YHAA, Meals on Wheels, and AAA4 to work together on a joint proposal for the $200,000 as a coordinated effort.
Strengthen and Grow the West Sacramento Urban Farm and Mobile Market Programs to Provide Food Access to Low-Income Communities in Yolo County	$588,212	$80,250	General Food Project	Supportive*	$222,000	The proposal has significant amounts of funding requested for personnel and administrative costs with the very limited match but no sustainability plan to maintain staffing past one-time ARP funds. The plan focuses on nutritional food access which is great but not necessarily food security. Group supportive of one-time infrastructure costs but would need to see if the proposal could still work without full support. Group and BOS advisory group are having further discussions with CLBL about submission, free food distribution, and overall program which could change this recommendation.
Yolo County Rural, Unincorporated and Agricultural Workforce Food Security Funding Pool	-	NA	Rural Matching Funds	Supportive*	$450,000	Recommended matching pool funding for future or revised Rural, Unincorporated, or Agricultural Food Security Proposals at a later date.
Yolo County Children's Food Security Funding Pool	-	NA	Children's Matching Funds	Supportive*	$450,000	Recommended matching pool funding for future or revised Children's Food Security Proposals at a later date.

*The asterisk indicates that the workgroup was supportive of the project but not at the full funding request. The funding request and workgroup recommendation are provided in the table above.

Before returning to the full Board, staff met with the Board Liaisons on January 4 and 19 to discuss the workgroup recommendations. The liaisons indicated support of this general recommendation with the caveat that staff continue conversations with organizations that may not be recommended for funding but could return to the Board with altered proposals. Staff plan to review the workgroup conclusions from their review of projects with the Board at the January 25, 2022 Board meeting. Staff is not proposing to fund any of these projects at the January 25th meeting but to receive an indication from the Board of those projects that staff should continue efforts on and bring back for a funding approval at a future Board of Supervisors meeting. The table above may be found as Attachment A to this staff report. Subsequently, staff has attached eligibility forms for each proposal to this staff report as Attachment B. This reflects a Board request to indicate how a project might qualify or not under ARP.

 

Many agencies