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Angie:Hello Alameda welcome to the Island City Beat podcast I'm your host Angie Watson-Hajjem. In 1999, the Alameda Point Collaborative, also known as APC, took over the site of the former Alameda Naval Air Station and began the work of providing housing and services for people who were homeless. Today, more than 500 residents call APC their home. I have Adrea Urton with me, who is the new executive director of APC, and she's going to be joining me to talk about the mission of our organization and the life transforming work that they do, as well as what the vision is of this agency as it moves forward in the future. Andrea, welcome to the Island City Beat podcast.
Andrea:Hi, Angie. Thank you so much for having me today.
Angie:So happy to have you here. You know, many people in Alameda, especially those of us who've been here for a while, we are somewhat familiar with the Alameda Point Collaborative. We know that, you know, there's this housing on the base where the Navy used to be, and they do some good stuff over there, but we definitely know the full story of all things that you do. So definitely want to hear, an overview of all the great programs and services that you have here at APC. But before we get into that, please tell us how did APC come to be?
Angie:How did it come to make Alameda its home back in 1999?
Andrea:Well, that is, I think, one of my favorite homegrown kind of stories about nonprofits. And we are a five zero one(three) nonprofit. We get all of our money from donations, fundraising, grant writing, and then federal grants. So back before 1999, a group of entities, nonprofits, individuals, politicians gathered as this former Navy base was being decommissioned and said, You know, we want to save some of this beautiful land for affordable housing, and how do we do that? So they created Alameda Point Collaborative in the hopes that we would continue to be collaborative in our community moving forward.
Andrea:And so that's how we came to be. We were granted 33 acres of land here on the former Navy base and some of the former Navy housing. What we have done is we have repurposed as many units as we can, and they are now available to formerly homeless residents of Alameda County. All of our referrals come through what's called the coordinated entry system in the county. So if you would like a referral to housing here at APC or any of the resources in the area, you can go ahead and call the Alameda County Homeless hotline, and they will be able to assess you, figure out what you qualify for, and help get
Angie:you on the list for services, including housing. So as I mentioned, there's about 500 residents that you have I wanna say that we are actually here at Alameda Pointe Club. We're not in a studio, we are right here on the grounds of where you
Andrea:do your work. Tell me about the people that you serve here. Who lives here? Well, we're really lucky to have an extremely diverse group of people. The people here were formerly homeless individuals, and the people on our streets in San Francisco Bay Area across the Bay are former techies, they're former people of power, they're housewives, they're people struggling, they're construction workers, they're all different kinds of people.
Andrea:So those are the people we have here. We've got this really diverse community. The trick is they have to be formerly homeless in order to qualify for housing, and then they have to have certain income requirements. So definitely low income. And tell me about the services and the programs that you have here for the people.
Andrea:Well, that's where my big love for this agency really comes into play, is at what we do on the ground level. And so all of our residents have access to case management and program services. Our folks are assigned residents and they work diligently with our residents to make sure they have resources, budgeting, food, whatever their need is, is that they have that in place and they know how to access that. So a lot of it is around education. And those services come with every unit if you want them, we don't mandate services.
Andrea:We also have a workforce development training program. This is for youth and adults, the people who live here. We're able to give them life skills in terms of workforce development skills, how to do a resume, how to look for work, how to keep a job once you've got a job. Important. Yes.
Andrea:And then we're also partnering with other entities on the island Of Alameda to make sure our residents have access to important internships. So I know there's been talks with Safeway and Target and some other entities. So we're still in the process of talking through some of those, what those agreements could look like, but that's super exciting for us. We also have two social enterprises as an organization. One is called Plowshares, and we are a local nursery that sells plants to the community.
Andrea:So if any of you island people would like to come and purchase some plants, come to Plowshares. We have our hours posted on the website, and we are often open on the weekends and during the week from ten to four. We also have what's called Farm to Market, and this is program where we are funded by volunteers and donors. We have it staffed with full time employees and we grow food. We have orchards, we have herb gardens, we have fruit, we've got vegetables.
Andrea:And what we do is we grow, it's all organic, we grow healthy food and then we do our best to make sure that the people living in our housing have access to this food. So every Friday morning, if you care to volunteer, you can come out and we put together food bags. We partner with the Alameda Food Bag. We gather, we order food from them every week. And then we look at what food do we have to add to these bags.
Andrea:Today, we did 119 bags. Wow. For 119 households here on the point who are food insecure. Yeah. And then we deliver it to their front door.
Andrea:So if they're challenged for whatever reasons to access what they need, we'll make sure that they get it. So those are some of the really, I think, special things about APC that brought me here.
Angie:Oh, that's wonderful. Great, great work that you guys are doing here with your services that you offer people. Now I would like for you to, if you could give us an update on the respite, center that's supposed to be opening up on McKay at some time in the near future, there was a lot of controversy about getting this site, you know, built for people who, homeless, singers who need a place to go after they were released from the hospital. And so there's space for them on McKay. It's supposed to be built, but what's happening with that?
Andrea:So that's a really exciting And that is the brainchild of Doug Biggs, our former executive director. He was here for twenty five years, twenty years, amazing individual. And he really brought that project to fruition for us. It will be finished in August. So we're very excited.
Andrea:We'd like to have you at the grand opening Oh, definitely.
Angie:I would love to come.
Andrea:And you're right. The McKay Resource and Respite Center is a place where anybody who's struggling with homelessness can come and receive medical care. If there's a homeless individual in the hospital who needs to leave the hospital, but they're not ready to care for themselves yet because they don't have a safe place to be, they can go to this respite center. Downstairs, we will have a resource center staffed by APC. We will provide resources to anybody in the community who is homeless or needs support or is in fear of becoming homeless.
Andrea:They can come to the resource center and receive referrals, resources, in the moment resources around accessing food or clothing, whatever that might be. And then eventually there will also be senior housing on this site. So the respite center is phase one, phase two would be affordable senior housing. We're very excited about that.
Angie:That sounds great. So if people are in the respite center, they could possibly go into senior housing, permanent housing. Yes, absolutely. That's wonderful.
Andrea:Yeah, the whole goal would be to keep somebody who is medically fragile from becoming homeless. You know, the county spends so much money on emergency services, including emergency rooms for people who are medically fragile. We can actually save a lot of money if we just house people first. Absolutely, absolutely.
Angie:Let's talk a little bit about that. You know, I always feel like, you know, in California, we have some of the brightest, most creative people, especially here in the Bay Area, but we have not been able to grapple homelessness, you know, it just eludes us. And so I'm just wondering, just in your experience, what do you think is the, what are those barriers and how can we, as people who advocate for our neighbors who don't have homes, that care about our neighbors who don't have homes, who wanna see people house, you know, what do we need to do that we're not doing?
Andrea:Well, that's a great question, Angie, and I am not an expert in this arena, and I can tell you it's a historical issue. So back in Reagan's administration, we had to close a lot of what we felt was institutionalizing our mentally ill people who were severely mentally ill. Those people were released to the streets, and many of those people stayed homeless. At the same time, cities and counties had not been building enough housing to stay up with the market as their populations expanded. And as the need for affordable housing became greater and greater, instead of putting more of our resources toward that, we continued to ratchet back.
Andrea:And so we did away with the redevelopment agencies, which were the entities really responsible for building affordable housing in many developments. And so, our ability to do this became smaller and smaller over time. And then on top of that, our state really wasn't holding anybody accountable to the housing plan that they submitted to them. So now we've got entities, various cities and counties, not providing the housing they said they were going to, to begin with. And so instead of ever catching up, we're ever falling behind because we never got to a place where we caught up with the demand in the first place.
Andrea:And so people complain about spending all this money and yet we wouldn't be doing it if we didn't create the issue ourselves. And so once we start to own that, we can then take action to mitigate those challenges. And much of that comes down to voting and using your voice. So the challenge is people say, I don't want affordable housing in my neighborhood. Not in my backyard.
Andrea:Well, I've spoken to many tax experts and assessors over the years. Guess what? It does not lower your property values in any way. So there are many folks who live in affordable housing who are perfectly responsible, respectful, kind, upstanding citizens. People like you and me
Angie:and people you see every day, you know? Yeah.
Andrea:It's it's very, very true. And so many people say things like, well, know, if homeless people were like you, and I say, I was homeless as a teenager growing up on the streets of LA. You were. Yeah, I was. So what about me?
Andrea:Is it because I'm white? Is it because I'm articulate? Is it because I got a master's degree? What is it about me that you don't believe I was homeless? Interesting.
Andrea:Yes. And so if it can happen to me, it can happen to your children. Yeah. So, you know, that's what I tell them. So use your voice and, you know, vote responsibly when somebody wants to build something in your neighborhood.
Andrea:Say yes. Yes. Vote. Yes. Be a Yinbeh before it.
Andrea:And also hold them accountable to what they say they're going to do. So of course we want all neighborhoods to be safe and clean for everyone. Yeah, exactly. So I mentioned at the top
Angie:of the show that you are the new executive director. Of course, Sussex had this position for over a couple of decades. And now you're in this new role as leadership. I'm just curious, what is your vision for APC, this great organization that you're leading?
Andrea:Well, my hope is, is that we continue on the wonderful work that Doug started for us, and that we make our founders proud, we make our staff proud, and we continue to serve the residents to the best of our ability. And I know we're doing that. I am really looking at taking our business practices into best practice standards. So we can start doing things in a way, using more technology to become more efficient. And if we're more efficient, then we're going to cost less to provide services.
Andrea:If we cost less to provide services, then more of our money actually goes to serving our residents and direct services, which means I can now give our employees a 3% cost of living raise, which they deserve so much. We can invest in our infrastructure, which means if you're food insecure, we cannot just give you a bag, we can make sure you have a healthy, powerful meal every day to set you up for success and your children. So I wanna do more of collaborating with community partners, expanding our reach
Angie:and doing more housing, doing more services across the board. Great. What are the challenges that you see APC having right now? I know with the government funding and people in nonprofits are just really terrified of what is coming down the pipeline. Are you fearful about any of the effects of the government having on your organization?
Andrea:Absolutely. And I think I'd be silly if I wasn't afraid, at least a little bit. You know, we don't know what's happening with our current administration. I'm not saying that's good or bad. I'm just saying we're in flux and we don't know.
Andrea:We are HUD funded. And as a result, we know that there has been talks about wanting to decrease and do away with some of the HUD programs and funding. And so that's a huge concern to us.
Angie:Yeah.
Andrea:We have been told our funding is secure through 2026, which is great. We are very happy with that. And that's another reason why we are looking to diversify our grant writing and our revenue stream for providing services. And so if something does happen to the HUD programs, although it would be devastating for the people we serve, hopefully, we would be strong enough to continue to support them through that challenge. Yeah.
Andrea:Yeah. Andrea, what what do you love about your job? What inspires you? I was at our nursery and farm this morning giving a tour with Bay Area Green Tours in the Bay Area and talking to young adults and professionals and just about who we are and what we do. And so being at the farm and the nursery always inspire me.
Andrea:And then I got a chance to go to our youth center and hang out with some of our fabulous program specialists and talk about the people we're serving and who needs what and how can we get, you know, Miss Jones what she needs for her baby. And, you know, I have to tell you, being of service, I think, is the greatest gift you can be given. And I take it very seriously. I take that role, and I'm honored to do it. And it makes me happy at the end of the day because when I go to sleep, I'm like, Miss Jones got the baby carrot she needed, you know?
Andrea:Or somebody's eating today that needed to eat, or, you know, my staff got a hug when they needed it. You know, somebody had a bad day and I could listen to them. And so, yeah, I think that's what I love about my job. And working for in a community like Alameda, we're small. I'm really enjoying that aspect.
Andrea:You get to know people at the heart level. You make these really profound connections. And so many people want to do so much for you and with you. So I'm just really, I'm feeling embraced by the community and I'm just so happy to be here.
Angie:Oh, we are a pretty special community, I think, here in Alameda. And Andrea, it has been an absolute pleasure to sit with you here at APC, and talk to you about your organization and things that you're doing here. I just wish you the very best, in your new leadership role here.
Andrea:Thank you so much, Angie. I appreciate it. Oh, thank you.
Angie:And thank you for joining us for this segment of the Island City Beat podcast. Please come back and join us for our next episode. Until then, I'm your host, Angie Watson-Hajjem , take care. Goodbye.