News for Nonprofits January 2007

• Senate Committee Chairmanship and Membership
• Where you can find me in the District: “Education Update” meetings
• The Governor’s proposed budget
• Brochures available from my office
• Regional announcements

As we begin the first year of our 2007/2008 session, I would like to give you an update regarding the committees which I chair and of which I am a member.

• Chair, Environmental Quality

• Member, Budget and Fiscal Review (Budget Subcommittee on Education)

• Member, Business, Professions and Economic Development

• Member, Education

• Member, Energy, Utilities and Communication

• Member, Transportation and Housing

In order for me to better serve our school communities, it’s important that I stay in touch with the education leaders and advocates in our region. As a member of the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education, and as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on California’s Master Plan for Education, I cordially invite you to an “Education Update” meeting to discuss the education aspects of the Governor’s budget proposal, and provide an update on K-12 policy proposals in California. I hope you’ll share your questions, concerns, and comments. This year, I will be holding two meetings as follows:

Palo Alto
Saturday, February 10, 2007
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Palo Alto Unified School District
Board Room
25 Churchill Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306

Santa Cruz
Thursday, February 15, 2007
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Santa Cruz County Government Center
Board of Supervisors’ Chambers
701 Ocean Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Please call (650) 688-6384 or (831) 425-0401 to RSVP or for more information.

On January 9th, the Governor’s State of the State speech highlighted an ambitious plan to address a broad range of issues. He proposed a first in the nation standard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and he discussed his proposal to provide health insurance to all Californian’s. The Governor laid out an aggressive plan to build more classrooms, two reservoirs and additional prisons through bond funding. He further pledged to work on a bipartisan basis with the Legislature.

I’m pleased that the Governor has committed himself to work with the Legislature on a bipartisan basis once again this year. His pledge to work together on a shared vision for the state was an encouraging sign. The issues he addressed in this speech are challenging, though – education, health care and prison overcrowding for example. My hope is that the willingness to find common ground will be sustainable through the push and shove that is an inevitable part of the process. I hope that we can take advantage of this window to address the serious issue of health care, an issue of great importance. Indeed one of my most satisfying votes on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors was to create the Children’s Health Initiative. It looks like we will have an opportunity to move forward on this issue in the coming year. I was a little surprised to hear the Governor raise the idea of more bonds so quickly. I think we have to be concerned that the voters, who just voted for close to $40 billion worth of bonds, may not be ready for more bond measures needed to support the Governor’s goals. We also have to be concerned decades ahead should the need to pay off bonded indebtedness limit our ability to fund important social services programs.

On January 10th, the Governor unveiled the 2007/2008 proposed budget of $143.4 billion in spending (general funds, special funds and bond funds). General fund spending makes up $104.1 billion of this budget, approximately $1 billion or a 1% increase in spending from the 2006/2007 revised budget of $102.1 billion. Categorically, Education (K-12/Community Colleges) and Health and Human Services remain relatively flat. Increases were reflected in the Higher Education (+7.6%) and Corrections and Rehabilitation (+8.8%) budgets.

Overall, I see this as a status quo, hold-the-line, budget with a little bit of money for cost-of-living adjustments and enrollment growth for education in K - 14. I am concerned, however about the proposed cuts in welfare money. These kinds of cuts have a significantly negative impact on our state’s kids, punishing them for their parent’s behavior. We will have to have a difficult conversation about these welfare cuts.

The following are specific areas included in the Governor’s proposal of interest to nonprofits:

• Reduces funding for CalWorks by $465 million in 2007-2008 and $566 million thereafter by modifying child-only benefits, eliminating the safety net for children and suspending a cost of living adjustment.

• Caps state participation for any additional IHSS salary increases.

• Funds $217 million for both state and federal COLA components of the SSI/SSP program.

• Eliminates $55 million in funding for Integrated Homeless Mentally Ill program (proposes Prop 63 funds for this).

• Includes $36 million to implement SB 4273–Healthy Families presumptive eligibility.

• Eliminates $60 million for Prop 36 and increases from $35 to $60 million the new performance and outcome program developed in 2006 under SB 1137.

Over the next few months, the Assembly and Senate Budget Committees will review the Governor’s budget proposal. In May, the Governor will issue a revised budget proposal, the “May Revise,” based on updated information regarding the State’s revenues and expenditures and feedback on the budget proposal. Your input is important to the success of this public process. I encourage you to contact the governor and your legislators to share your questions, suggestions, and priorities.

Additional information is available regarding the budget at two web sites:
Department of Finance: http://www.dof.ca.gov
California Budget Project: http://www.cbp.org

To write to any member of the California Legislature, address correspondence to their name at: California State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814. To email a member of the State Senate, the address is Senator.(enter last name)@sen.ca.gov. To email a member of the Assembly, the address is Assemblymember.(enter last name)@asm.ca.gov.

Listed below are the chairs of the Budget Subcommittee most related to your work. Committee members are not yet named, but you can find that information once posted by going to the Senate (http://www.sen.ca.gov) and Assembly (http://www.assembly.ca.gov) web sites and clicking through to the committee listings.

Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on Education
Chair: Senator Jack Scott (916) 651-4021

Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 3 on Health, Human Services
Chair: Senator Elaine Alquist (916) 651-4013

Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services
Chair: Assembly Member Patty Berg (916) 319-2001

Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
Chair: Assembly Member Julia Brownley (916) 319-2041

Privacy protection and elder financial abuse are the subjects of useful new pamphlets available free from my district offices:
Protect Your Privacy tells how to secure your personal information and how the State of California is taking steps to protect your privacy. California is the first state in the nation to establish a state agency dedicated to consumer privacy: the Office of Privacy Protection in the California Department of Consumer Affairs. The California Attorney General is setting up an Identity Theft Database to help an individual who has been wrongfully accused of crimes committed by another person using his or her name. The pamphlet spells out privacy laws and ways in which you protect yourself, and how to reach various resources for dealing with privacy issues.

Elder Financial Abuse is a senior fact sheet with contact information for state and area agencies and private organizations serving the elderly. It lists warning signs - such as banking/paying bills or telemarketing/investment fraud - that a senior citizen may be targeted for physical, emotional or financial abuse, and preventative measures that can be taken – including where to report elder abuse.

If you would like more information on these brochures or to order them without charge, please call either my District Office in Palo Alto at (650) 688-6384 or in Santa Cruz at (831) 425-0401.

• On February 11, the United Way Silicon Valley will launch 2-1-1 Santa Clara County (2-1-1 SCC), a health and human service information and referral service. Both the call center and web site will be accessible 24/7. 2-1-1 Santa Clara County will enable people to get or give help, offering information on a broad range of health and human services from nonprofits, governmental agencies, hospital and emergency services, certain membership organizations, and churches and public schools that provide direct health and human services. For more information on inclusion of your organization’s services in the 2-1-1 database, write to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call (408) 345-4336.

• For the past three years the Sobrato Foundation has provided more than two dozen nonprofits rent-free space at the Sobrato Center for Non-profits, an office park at 600 Valley Way off Interstate 880 in Milpitas. (As paying tenants move out, nonprofits are selected to fill the space.) Later this month the Foundation will open a 4,000-square-foot conference and training facility at the same location that any nonprofit in the area may use without charge to meet with volunteers, hold board meetings or schedule training conferences. The mix of small and larger meeting rooms can hold as many as 90 people. (In addition, CompassPoint, one of the Center tenants, will provide computers and technical training.) To reserve a meeting room, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); to learn more about the Foundation’s cash grants to nonprofits or to go on the short waiting list for office space, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

• Design Response, a nonprofit agency in San Jose, provides design and renovation services to nonprofits and schools serving those who are the neediest in the community. Since 1992 the award-winning agency has completed more than 250 facility renovation projects. It combines design and space-planning services with donated materials and recycled high-quality furniture from local corporations. For more information, contact Executive Director Jayne Booker, (408) 260-3220 or go to the website: http://www.designresponse.org.

• Weathering the Storm: The Role of Local Nonprofits in the Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort is a thought-provoking post-Katrina assessment by Tony Pipa (funded by the Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy Program of The Aspen Institute). It documents the efforts of local nonprofits and outlines concrete steps that policymakers and foundations need to take during future disasters. As Aspen Institute CEO Walter Isaacson concluded, “…we must find a way to better integrate all nonprofits into the response and ensure that they have the resources necessary to serve their communities.” The report is available by calling the Aspen Institute Publications office at (410) 820-5338 or by e-mailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

• In addition to making $59.7 million in five-digit grants last year, The San Francisco Foundation makes mini-grants from $500 to $7,500 to smaller organizations or special projects that may fall outside its normal grant cycle process. San Mateo County is one of the five Bay Area counties served by the foundation. The mini-grants, primarily for arts and culture, are designed for quick turnaround to help initiate rapid results and a nimble approach to special situations. They often involve collaboration between several programs. Grantees have access to technical assistance and programmatic training. For more information, call (415) 733-8500 or go to http://www.sff.org.

• A free copy of 99 Tips for Talking with Your Teenager published by Adolescent Counseling Services (ACS) is available by signing up for the ACS email newsletter. The Peninsula’s top mental health professionals and service leaders share their expertise for improving communications and building positive relationships with 11- through 19-year-olds. While the supply lasts, local parents can get the guidebook by sending their name, mailing address, email and phone number to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

• Kara will provide a program on “The Art of Compassion – Supporting Patients and Families through Grief and Loss” at Stanford Hospital on Tuesday, March 6, 2007. The training is targeted at therapists, counselors, nurses, hospice workers and chaplains. After Kara’s first successful training at Stanford last November, participants urged formation of an on-going support group where care-giving professionals can do their own grief work with peers. For more information, contact Jim Bronson at Kara (650) 321-5272 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

• Senior Housing:

  • Santa Clara County. After 27 years, Project Match has changed its name to Senior Housing Solutions to help identify its two primary focus areas: seniors and housing. It was the first non-profit organization in the nation to explore home sharing as a solution for seniors unable to afford housing but not wanting to live alone. The agency continued to develop affordable housing to help extremely low-income seniors in the county improve their quality of life. Call (408) 416-0271 or visit http://www.srhousingsolutions.org.

  • San Mateo County. The Home Sharing Program of HIP Housing continues to be the largest home-sharing program in the nation, and last year provided technical assistance about home sharing to nine programs throughout the country. In 2006 it offered services locally to 1,314 households and matched nearly 300 persons in affordable living arrangements. The average rent was $503. For more information, contact Judy Fong at (650) 348-6660.

  • Santa Cruz County. The Senior Shared Housing Program of Senior Network Housing matches people who have homes with those seeking affordable housing. A list of individual subsidized projects and other housing options is available at (831) 462-6788 in Santa Cruz or (831) 728-1751 in Watsonville.

• The Stanford Social Innovation Review is a publication of the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Its mission is “to provide the best in research- and practice-based knowledge for people working to improve society.” A lead feature in the Summer 2006 issue dealt with the leadership deficit facing nonprofits as the sector expands and baby-boom executives retire. Over the next decade nonprofits will need to find some 650,000 new executives, nearly 2 ½ times the number currently employed nationwide. The full text can be read at http://www.ssireview.org, where one can sign up for the free SSIR