08.07.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
August 07, 2020
Live Stream - Briefing Live stream
10:00am PT

Larry Little: Hi everybody thank you for joining us i'm larry little public information officer here at the county's emergency operations center today we are talking about COVID-19 and how it continues to exacerbate existing housing and food insecurity challenges here in the county this morning executive director of west valley community service Josh cello joins me to share information about resources and his organization's role during this global pandemic but first we have and are removing our facial coverings for this segment so everyone including our american sign language interpreters can clearly understand and communicate the information we will be sharing this morning. Also from time to time and throughout this broadcast you will see information from our data dashboard at the bottom of your screen to keep you updated on it Josh thank you for being here.

Josh Selo: Thank you larry i'm it's a pleasure to be here today.

LL: So if life was not already difficult enough here in the county you know we're facing food insecurity and housing issues uh we have a global pandemic what are you seeing in the comm in the community.

JS: So over the past five years since i've been at west valley community services we've seen a steady increase in demand for assistance particularly the area of food and rental assistance. We all are familiar with the housing crisis and the impact it's had not only on low-income communities but that nexus between low-income communities and communities of color who were already struggling going into the pandemic. What we've seen now is another concern we've been raising for some time it's the working poor folks who've been on the edges mostly being able to pay their rent holding multiple jobs but have no savings or under 400 in savings. Many of those folks work in the service sector so they were in the hotel industry or they were in the car or taxi industry one of those who all those industries were decimated in march at the start of the pandemic when we had the shelter in place. Those folks began to struggle almost immediately and so our response has been the focus on two major areas that are necessary for those families and that has been food assistance so food insecurity and rental assistance to keep people housed.

LL: So you've always been assisting people here in the county talk about how it was uh pre-COVID up to now.

JS: sure so west valley community services has been serving the west valley communities of saratoga los gatos cupertino west san jose and monte cerino for more than 48 years we're part of a network that covers the entire county it's called the emergency assistance network so we are a partnership of seven agencies that provide a similar basket of services what we've been seeing is that steady increase in demand because of the widening gap between rich and poor in silicon valley. We've also been seeing a steady stream of people leaving the area workers that were are essential to our economy because they couldn't afford to live here anymore the cost of housing got too high we also had large delays in the development of affordable housing in the region which made it really hard for families to survive. We've also we also know if we've been following the um every two year point in time studies that are uh that are done in this county and across the country a steady increase in homelessness we see it now very clearly in cupertino where our office is based with with encampments that just a few years ago didn't exist it was more hidden in cupertino so we're seeing a steady increase in people who need help more families really pushed to the edge unable to afford their their monthly bills so just to give you an example a data point so the self-sufficiency income for a family of four in Santa Clara county what they need to cover their basic needs is 96 000 a year which is well above what a family would earn with even living wage jobs. So families who work in the service sector in the hotel industry they can't afford to live here and what we're starting to see is our community becoming less and less economically diverse and what we need is we need economic diversity in order for our community to function at full capacity for all the things we all love and care about doing and the culture that we value here in the silicon valley we need economically diverse communities but we're making it hard for families who don't earn you know triple digit incomes to survive here.

 LL: Let's talk about some of the services that you all offer at your organization starting with the mobile food pantry

JS: Yes so our we brought our mobile food pantry online in 2016 through a partnership with second harvest of silicon valley who donated to us our first rv it's a it's a 38 foot uh fleetwood bounder we had this vision of taking our services to folks where they are one of the things we don't often think about is people who are uh fall into what we normally think of as low low income or less resourced they have jobs often that have less flexibility they can't just take off time to come to a food pantry that may not be close to them there also could be transportation issues people might not have cars or access to the bus they often also have families that are depending on them and so they wouldn't come to us for resources and services. So we felt we needed to make this less of a stumbling block by bringing the resources out into the community and i'll be honest mobile food pantry is a little bit of a misnomer because yes we do provide food on the mobile food pantry but you can access all of our other services from that resource so rental assistance financial coaching case management signing up for special programs all of those things are available from the mobile food pantry in your community at a location that is much easier for you to get to than maybe going across town.

LL: So let's talk about case management because when some people offer assistance for example local charitable feeding organizations they go out they feed the food insecure and that's the end of the relationship talk about case management and also are you offering assistance for uh for mental health.

JS: So case management is the heart of west valley community services it's really at the core of the experience because we realize every person has different challenges every person has different struggles and there's no one-size-fits-all approach the way case management works is a client comes in and we work with them on developing a case plan tailored to the specific crises that they're facing and then we can refer them to resources both internal in our agency but also external in the community that they could benefit from so really they get their own for lack of a better word prescription for how best to address the challenges they're facing i want to be clear our clients are active participants in addressing the situation that they're in but often they don't know what resources are available to them in the community and we do that's our core competence so we can connect them with those resources so it might be food resources it might be rental resources and it might be mental health we do not offer mental health at our agency but we're part of this incredible network in santa clara county of non-profits and county agencies so we know exactly where to help this person and can navigate that referral so that they don't fall through the cracks

LL: So how can people get help

JS: So if you're living in the west valley and need assistance with food or rent the best way is to visit us either online at wvcommunityservices.org and you'll find all the information or you can give us a call at now if you're not living in the west valley we can also be of assistance to you so we know each agency and all the different zip codes in the county and who they help so give us a call and we can connect you with your home agency and they'll be able to provide you with assistance.

LL: So people have been put in very uncomfortable situations because of COVID and some people are ashamed of getting help what is your message to them?

JS: So shame is a big part of the experience in general when coming to an agency like ours there have been several studies about why people who are eligible for food pantry assistance don't go and shame is a  big one. I think there's often a misconception that that people might want to take advantage or use resources that are not meant for them and nothing could be further from the truth it's so hard to ask for help it's so hard not to feel that you can be self-sufficient with your family and we understand that and for us at west valley community services the dignity and compassion of each of the clients that come to us is part of our core agency values. In normal times our food pantry is set up in a way that the clients actually shop for the foods themselves we don't provide them with the resources they choose what  they're going to feed their families as if they were going to a supermarket where they were paying for the resources and we feel like that's an important part of maintaining the dignity of every person who comes to us. We're living in unprecedented times and i would say if you are struggling if you need help while it's hard to ask for help that is why we're here we are here to provide you dignified support in the most challenging of times and hopefully you can find your way to a agency like ours or one of our partners so that you don't have to face the risk of hunger or homelessness alone. I'll i'll tell you larry we're really concerned about the potential end of the eviction moratoriums and the anticipated large-scale eviction of folks who are struggling in silicon valley i think the law foundation indicated that 46 000 people are at risk of homelessness we we hope that clients don't wait until that moment to come for help come now we are here to assist you.

LL: Now are you expecting an increase of people needing assistance and are you ready prepared to handle the demand.

JS: So we are we have already experienced triple digit increases in requests for rental assistance and food as has all of the agencies in our  network and all of our partners so everyone has been stretched to capacity at a time when they have fewer employees in the office  and fewer volunteers because many of us are agencies our volunteers are over the age of 60 so they have not been coming because we need to keep them safe. We're doing the best we can do I anticipate that we will struggle with resources while at a time when the county is likely to run into budget gaps yes a lot of us are heavily county funded we also know that at some point donors are going to be looking at other things like the upcoming election and they're going to want to shift their resources in that way but i i wouldn't want the message to be don't come because of concerns about capacity we're doing our very best to reach out to the community and express the needs that we have and i also want to share we live in an incredibly compassionate region and community. I have seen an outpouring of support and love and assistance from our neighbors and our friends  people who've never supported us before who want to help and it gives me a lot of hope for the months ahead. I think should the eviction moratorium go away we're going to see a huge spike in interest and also as long as people can't get back to work which is what people want people want to get back to work we will continue to see these spikes in in need for help.

LL: So i want to go back to something you said earlier because we know the need of our community members living in south county uh in gilroy and morgan hill but there is a misconception about the areas that you serve could you just talk about that?

JS: Yeah so um pre-COVID when i first  started at west valley community services one of the things that i would do when I had gotten to present to the community  is i would show the data from the business journal about the most affluent zip codes in silicon valley of which some of the most affluent zip codes fall in our service area so los gatos uh cupertino saratoga but the message i think that is important for us to know and and i think we know now more than we did five years ago is that poverty doesn't know a zip code poverty exists everywhere does it look the same in every community no there's less affordable housing in the west valley we see more car dwellers and now we see more outdoor dwellers. We see there's an encampment on wolf road by the old balco site and we're seeing it more visibly. When i first started i had to convice people that there was a problem that there was a challenge that this existed at all. But uh all the all the stories that have been in the paper over the last five years about the housing crisis have really lifted the scales from people's eyes and raised greater awareness about the need in this community and now even more so that we're seeing the physical impacts the real physical impacts. It does concern me though about a compassion gap that i think might exist for some folks we've heard really troubling stories about folks at the encampment at wolf being harassed um things thrown at their tents people shouting at them flashing lights at them you know this is a an awful time but if we lose our compassion for each other we have nothing and i really want to want to recommend to all the viewers and to our whole region please draw on the depths of your compassion we need to take care of each other now more than ever. How can community members assist west valley community services so i would recommend first of all if you're living in the west valley and want to help you can find us online again at wbcommunityservices.org and 408.255.8033 we we do have need for volunteers although not the volume we used to need because of uh physical distancing and of course donations are always helpful but we can also connect you if you do not know the EAN agency the emergency assistance agency in your community and you want to help them i'd highly encourage that and we're happy to connect you to your home agency i think there's something magical and special about a community that rises around their home community service agency so feel free to be in touch with us and we'll point you in the right direction.

LL: Any closing thoughts.

JS: No i think that as i said at this time the most important thing is to reach out find out how you can help how you can be of service know that there are people that are struggling and if you're one of those people struggling find us find one of our sister agencies we're here to help you and see you through this crisis.

LL: Josh thank you for being here great information we'll have you back because i'm sure COVID is going to be around for a while. So thanks so much for being here and sharing all the important information today.

JS: Thanks larry

LL: All right facebook live in spanish comes up at 11 o'clock today and our facebook live in vietnamese is at 10 a.m every thursday be sure to check those out. As we come to a close i want to share  this sign with you where is it  no technology we'll have it up in just a moment here so all right there it is as we come to close i want to share this sign with you i see it every night when i'm out walking my dogs and at a san jose business and every time i see it i think it speaks to this  moment that we are currently living in uh and no matter how many times i see it it renews my hope that we will definitely get through this together. Thanks for watching everybody have a great weekend be safe we will see you back here for facebook live in english on monday at 10 a.m.