Monument Crisis Center

Food distribution programour food distribution program is the heart of the Center and is an essential part of our mission, which is to provide stability for low-income and at-risk individuals and families in contra costa county. The Center supplies food to approximately 9,000 unique individuals annually and serves between 80-120 individuals and families per distribution, distributing more than 30,000 food boxes per year. These food boxes provide over one million nutritious meals each year. The Center is open five times a week for food distribution and relies on monetary and food donations from the community to sustain its operations. The Center purchases 40,000 (continued on schedule o...)...food distribution program continuedpounds of food every month from the food bank of contra costa and solano ("food bank") and other distributors and receives an average of 140,000 pounds of food donations from the community. The food boxes include perishable and non-perishable items such as whole wheat pastas, low-salt vegetables and tomatoes, canned tuna and chicken, soups, cereal, peanut butter, garden fresh produce, and milk. Hunger is a critical problem as well as a sign and symptom of underlying issues. We first address the immediate needs with groceries or ready-to-eat, baby diapers for infants, and essential toiletries for overall well being and then move forward in a stabilizing direction confronting housing, homelessness, education, finances, domestic violence, and physical and mental health issues.

Youth enrichmentchildren make up more than 35% of our clients and we work hard to provide them with the needed nutrition and support services to help them in their studies, understand the value of their education and encourage them to graduate from high school. Large challenges that our youth children face include an unacceptable dropout rate from high school, easy access to drugs and alcohol, and a high level of street and family violence. Our youth need a safe place to grow in their creativity, confidence and improve their academic performance. Youth programming provides education and prevention resources for youth through 4 key programs - after school caf, (continued on schedule o...)...youth enrichment continuedmcc teens, summer camp, and csjo program. (1) after school cafe includes reading, writing and math skills, tutoring and mentoring for pre- kindergarten through 5th grade with high school students providing one on one tutoring while current and retired teachers serve as mentors. (2) mcc teens is an after school program for junior high youth, including tutoring in math, english and science, nutrition, games, leadership activities and teen book club. (3) summer camp is an 8 week summer camp program held in june, july and august for k-8th grade, supervised by staff, led by college interns and high school counselors with enrichment activities including stem, cooking, gardening, dance, exercise, sports, field trips, computers, science, and arts and crafts. (4) csjo program - restorative justice program for youth to prepare and mentor youth aged 12 to 18 who have court ordered or school mandated hours. This supportive program includes a signed agreement with teen, parent and the Center, clear objectives, goals and responsibilities for the youth, daily check-ins with staff/teen and has an amazing success rate. Teens often stay on after service is complete and bring their peers to get involved.

Resource & referralthrough our resource & referral program we provide health and wellness programs (including stress reduction, cooking, and nutrition), financial literacy, employment, literacy, computer, and community education workshops. Additionally, we provide rental application assistance, shelter referrals, low income housing information, and host nonprofit housing providers. We also host a variety of health-related nonprofit partner agencies providing pro bono services including routine health care screenings, a mobile urgent care clinic, parenting classes, and legal aid. Our application assistance clinics include signups for medi-cal, cal fresh, (continued on schedule o...)...resource & referral continuedand energy assistance programs. Our safety net of services reach thousands of people each month providing critical relief, community education, and long-term solutions. In a one-stop fashion with a true heartfelt twist, the Center is a refuge, a bustling community and education Center, and an inspiration for thousands in contra costa county.

Senior momentssenior moments engages, educates and serves as a vital connection for low-income seniors in contra costa county. This comprehensive program, held on the first and third fridays of the month, provides vital resources and includes wellness-checks, blood pressure screenings, a nutritious meal, educational presentations, legal aid consultations, bilingual bingo, seated exercise, music, and entertainment. The morning is lighthearted, themed, and brimming with fun and camaraderie. The day concludes with an additional grocery distribution, providing these fragile seniors with good food and essential nourishment for another week.disaster preparationthe Center works with thousands of extreme low-income and at-risk clients in our county every year. Our Center is committed to preparedness planning to address area-wide emergencies knowing that the volume of need will increase even more significantly as formerly stable households are added to the mix. The Center has worked diligently over more than 15+ years to be "disaster-ready" for staff, volunteers, and clients collaborating on multiple levels with foundations, agencies, city, county and federal offices of emergency preparedness.the Center's disaster mission statement is to ensure the safety of staff, volunteers, and clients on-site at the time of the disaster, provide informational resources and referrals for clients who are in need, and re-establish food pantry program for clients in need as soon as possible. In case of an area-wide disaster, the Center requests donations of non-perishable food and bottled water. Community engagement and outreachall wrap-around services are fashioned through intense collaborative efforts of our staff and partners and are carried out through the collective efforts of our staff managing and leveraging 30,000 volunteer hours per year through our community engagement program.the heart of the Center is our volunteer base. With 8 full-time staff members, the Center relies heavily on volunteers assisting in every program throughout the organization. Our volunteers give more than 2,500 hours each month. Many of those volunteers reside or work in contra costa county and come from schools, colleges, faith, corporate and civic and community groups.our Center is a welcomed resource Center for the community, offering a plethora of on-site resources and is a focal point for families, seniors and youth. We serve clients from throughout central and east contra costa county, however, the majority of our clients reside in concord.broad inclusiveness extends throughout the Center and with our "all ages, all abilities" community engagement programs and internships. We conduct outreach presentations to service groups, schools/colleges, businesses and faith groups.we have a fully accessible facility - 2014 ada compliant facility, braille signage, and elevator.we also provide increased awareness and education around the complexities of suburban poverty, the social determinants of health, and the challenges in a low income community through tours, panel discussions, and educational presentations to service groups, academic institutions, civic, health and corporate and faith groups.covid-19 response from the centermonument Crisis Center continues to assist the most vulnerable in our community. With rising health concerns, stay-at-home directives and skyrocketing unemployment, the situation became dire for many, some who never faced these kinds of challenges before. Many people were dealing with significant stress and uncertainty, especially about how to feed their family, pay their bills, and keep a roof over their heads. To compound the issue, they joined thousands already struggling. Monument Crisis Center, in response to this medical & economic catastrophe, activated our disaster plan for emergency food distribution providing groceries and basic necessities to those in need. Monument Crisis Center serves directly in the community as a safety net organization and family resource Center for the most vulnerable. We have our doors open to "all in need" especially due to the explosion of unemployed /covid-19 health related issues.we host 3 food distributions a week and 1 saturday a month. Each emergency food distribution assists an average of 200 households (800 individuals) with vital groceries including nonperishable food, fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, eggs, beans & rice, "ready to eat" groceries for homeless or for those without kitchen facilities or privileges.also available: toiletries (shampoo, soap, deodorant, new socks, hand sanitizer); hand sanitizers, cloth masks (handsewn by community members); baby diapers & wipes; adult diapers; feminine products, new socks, pet food (dog/cat food) and more.our resource & referral/health & wellness program operated under a tent across from food distribution. All types of resources and knowledgeable staff were available to assist. Bilingual information station focused on current needs - unemployment assistance, public benefits, eviction moratoriums, domestic violence referral assistance, shelter referrals, school lunch locations, covid-19 county and state guidelines, protocols, and testing sites. Mcc served throughout the year as a liaison with city, county and state officials keeping them informed of the situation on the ground, numbers served, met and emerging needs.in addition, all front windows panels were repurposed as bilingual information panels with news, announcements, community and partner info, and flyers posted.all youth programming was held virtually and successfully throughout the year including summer camp! Senior services were reimagined into weekly calls and check-ins during food distribution with our senior population as well as letters, information and calendars of onsite and offsite resources mailed to them on a regular basis.