Meeting Time: April 30, 2024 at 3:30pm PDT
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    Vanessa Russell 6 months ago

    My name is Vanessa Russell. I am the Founding Executive Director of Love Never Fails and Chair of Oakland's Violence Prevention Coalition.

    Love Never Fails is the grateful recipient of one of the City of Oakland Violence Prevention grants.

    Unfortunately, we have not received almost $200k in grant funding for months and have reached a financial critical point which may impact our staffing levels and ability to continue services.

    At present we are owed $100k advance from October 2023 and $91k from a January 2024 invoice.

    Despite not receiving payment, we have continued to serve with love and compassion.

    We have housed 22 victims of gender-based violence (gbv), provided workforce development training for 29 individuals, served food, clothing, tents, and other resources to over 2000 individuals, and provided counseling and peer support to more than 100 persons.

    DVP staff have been very supportive to LNF and VPC but the city of Oakland's issue with contract staffing is no longer tolerable.

    Please help us to keep our staff employed and our city of Oakland violence impacted residents housed and cared for!!!