Partnership with Zencity will use ongoing surveys to better understand local concerns, priorities, and trust in public safety officers

By Allen D. Payton

After learning of and taking what’s labeled on Facebook as the “Antioch Winter Survey” on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, this reporter asked Antioch Police Lt. Michael Mellone if it was from the police department or the city manager’s office.

In response, Mellone issued the following press release:

“The Antioch Police Department is launching a new public survey tool to better understand local concerns, attitudes, and trust in their police officers. The tool will enable the Department to more holistically understand local neighborhood safety issues and enhance their responsiveness to community priorities. This is the latest effort by the Antioch Police Department to convey a strong commitment to transparency and community outreach initiatives.

“In this first of its kind survey, we are showing a dedication to work in partnership with our community by gauging their feelings about safety and our delivery of police service. This partnership with Zencity will be a great step toward understanding the needs and concerns of those we are privileged to serve. The Antioch Police Department is committed to fair, ethical, best practice policing, which includes building trust and legitimacy with our community, and leveraging technology to assist in those efforts” said Police Chief Steve Ford.

“I applaud forward-thinking leaders who understand that effective public safety in 2023 requires building trust with the community they serve as part of an overall effort to reduce crime,” said Eyal Feder-Levy, CEO of Zencity.

Zencity is proud to support the critical work the Antioch Police Department is doing to understand and prioritize the needs of community members.

The launch of the new public safety survey is in partnership with Zencity, the community input platform used by local governments to hear from more residents and get meaningful and actionable insights. Zencity works with hundreds of municipalities across the U.S., including Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle and San Diego, on issues ranging from public safety to American Rescue Plan Act implementation.

Beginning February 24, 2023, the survey will gather responses from community members in English and Spanish. The survey will appear through the use of digital ads in various locations such as social media platforms. Based on responses, the survey will measure satisfaction on feelings of safety and trust in police while also identifying key concerns community members want the Police Department to address.

In under five minutes, Antioch residents can help the Police Department know how they feel. Questions asked include:

• When it comes to the threat of crime, how safe do you feel in your neighborhood?
• To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement? In general, the police in my area…
• Treat everyone fairly regardless of who they are.
• Provide the same quality of service to all individuals.
• Would treat you with respect if you had contact with them for any reason.
• Treat local residents with respect.
• Are approachable.
• Listen to and take into account the concerns of local residents.
• How much access to information does the Antioch Police Department make available to the public about crime and arrest patterns in the community?
• What is the number one issue or problem on your block or in your neighborhood that you would like the police to deal with?
• Please provide specific details about this issue or problem. Location information can be acted on (ex. street / park / shopping center / school).

In keeping with the Department’s commitment to transparency and accountability, the survey results will be shared with the public as they become available.

Survey Methodology

Zencity’s community surveys incorporate voices from every corner of the community. To do so, Zencity sets response targets based on U.S. Census data about the municipality. Zencity ensures the security and privacy of its data and survey respondents. Survey responses are anonymous unless a respondent chooses to share their email address for follow-up purposes. Regardless, survey responses are kept confidential. Zencity does not collect a respondent’s name, address, or any other personal identifying information. Zencity’s weighting accounts for the responses of every single person who answered a question. The responses give a proportional voice to all demographics (e.g., by age, sex, race, education level, and income level) based on the makeup of the municipality.”

By Harlo Pippenger, Consultant, San Francisco Bay Ferry

San Francisco Bay Ferry is proud to sponsor the 6th Annual Black Joy Parade in Oakland, a hyper-positive celebration of the Black experience and community during Black History Month. Visit their booth at the festival to learn more about getting around the Bay Area and California by ferry.

San Francisco Bay Ferry offers daily service connecting San Francisco to Oakland’s Jack London Square, a short distance from the Black Joy Parade and Festival.

WHAT: The Black Joy Parade is an annual event featuring a festival and procession that brings together the community to highlight Black joy past, present, and future. The parade includes live music, art, vendors of all kinds, food, games, sponsor activations, dance, and more.

WHO: Black Joy Parade, sponsored by San Francisco Bay Ferry

WHEN: Sunday, February 26, 2023. Parade starts at 12:30pm, festival starts at 12pm.

WHERE: Downtown Oakland, CA. The parade begins at 14th and Franklin Streets in downtown Oakland. Festival entrance is at 19th and Franklin Streets.

Join Virtually

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84535737114?pwd=dlhiQXhCaW56cWhIMGozK1NFMTFhUT09

RSVP TODAY!

Celebrating Antioch’s Citizens of the Year, Businesses of the Year, Non-Profit of the Year and Youth of the Year and installation of the 2023 Antioch Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

The Antioch Chamber of Commerce will host our annual awards Gala on Friday March 24, 2023 at 6:00 pm.

Tickets are $80 per person.

The Gala will take place at Lone Tree Golf and Event Center, 4800 Golf Course Road, Antioch.

Purchase your tickets here.

Sponsors needed

The Bay Point Community All-N-One will once again be hosting one of our biggest events, “The Unity In The Community” event on Saturday, June 24th, 2023 from 10am – 2pm. This is a Health & Wellness program for the community to be held at the Ambrose Community Center, 3105 Willow Pass Road in Bay Point.

To be a SPONSOR for the Unity in the Community Event please call contact us.

To REGISTER your organization to participate or for a table at the Unity in the Community event, please download and complete the registration form and submit it to us before April 17, 2023. Unity in the Community Table Res

For questions, please call Mr. Delano Johnson at (925) 812-2939, Irving Joe (925) 858-2675 or Lovetta Tugbeh (925) 727-8291.

Please save the date and be on the lookout for more details to come in the near future.

 

From St. Vincent de Paul of Contra Costa and the Workforce Development Program

A new session of the Workforce Development Program at St. Vincent de Paul is gearing up to help people in need find gainful and meaningful employment. Participants from past sessions note that the program has transformed their lives – given them the training and confidence to enter the workplace. With introductory sessions in Pittsburg, Brentwood, and Pleasant Hill – the WFD program at St. Vincent de Paul is aiming to help the most vulnerable in Contra Costa County develop the personal tools they will need to find and keep a good job. Interested participants are asked to attend 2 introductory sessions, which will take place in:

• Pittsburg – at St. Vincent de Paul, 2210 Gladstone Drive, 2/22 & 2/27/23 from 2 – 5 pm
• Pleasant Hill –at Christ the King Church, 195 Brandon Road, 2/23 & 2/28/23 from 10 am – 1 pm
• Brentwood – at St. Vincent de Paul, 8890 Brentwood Blvd., 2/26 & 3/3/23 from 2 – 5 pm

The WFD program at St. Vincent de Paul is a job-training program which pairs paid on the job training at one of SVdP’s 3 thrift stores with transformative classroom instruction & 1-on-1 mentorship with dedicated community mentors to help people with barriers to employment find and maintain a good job. Compassionate community volunteers lead participants through paid classroom instruction geared toward helping them develop the interpersonal tools needed to navigate today’s working world and offer transformative 1-on-1 mentorship to help participants overcome the obstacles between them and meaningful employment. Many of the WFD program’s participants have overcome the barriers of homelessness, a criminal record, or the uncertainty of being a refugee in a foreign country.

Afghan refugee and WFD program graduate Ajmal Aria now works as the Director of Operations at Opening Doors, a Sacramento based non-profit that helps refugees acclimate to their new home.

“We were living in a small apartment in Concord, two bedrooms for the seven of us. I have a degree, but I had to support my family, so I was working for DoorDash and Uber to do what I could to feed my family,” Ajmal said. “The WFD program at SVdP gave me the breathing room I needed while making sure my family survives. The volunteers at SVdP helped me adjust to this country and find a job that truly utilizes my training and skills – and lets me provide a good income for my family.”

Today, WFD program graduate James Neitte works as a Shipping and Receiving Specialist for Lowe’s Home Improvement. A former construction worker, James found the WFD program after falling into a life of crime. At age 49 and facing multiple felony charges, he could not foresee a happy ending for himself.

“I was convinced I was going to jail for at least 10 year, I thought my story was over,” James said. “It was just so powerful to be surrounded by people who genuinely cared about seeing me succeed. No one in the program cared that I had a past, they just wanted to help me have a future. It taught me a lot. I’m really thankful for the volunteers at SVdP and for the WFD program.”

A senior citizen, Mary Turner was living in her car when she learned about the WFD program at SVdP. Dependent upon a fixed income between SSI and disability, Mary could not keep up with her rising rent. Today, a graduate from the WFD program, Mary not only works as an Advanced Medical Care Specialist with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, helping the county veterans, Mary was able to purchase her first home, and is no longer living in her car.

“I’ve lived a fairly hard life,” Mary said. “There were just certain things I never learned, because when I was young you just didn’t need to know those things to find a job. At SVdP they showed me how to do things I’ve never had to do before, like build a resume. It was a lot of hard work, but I was determined to turn my life around and they were there to help me.”

St. Vincent de Paul of Contra Costa County has provided safety-net services in the county for over 58 years, serving 100,000 people annually and distributing over $1.7 million in direct financial assistance and over $2.3 million of in-kind aid. Over 700 SVdP volunteers and a small staff lead operations in Contra Costa including the SVdP Family Resource Center in Pittsburg, 28 branches, and 3 Thrift Stores. One of the largest charitable organizations in the world, St. Vincent de Paul is an international, nonprofit, Catholic lay organization of more than 800,000 men and women who voluntarily join together to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to the needy and suffering in 155 countries on five continents.

Applicants are required to attend both a Part 1 and Part 2 session, at the location most convenient for them. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age. To learn more and download an application, visit svdp-cc.org. To RSVP for a session call (925) 439-5060 or email info@svdp-cc.org

Motts says Thorpe reached out to another organization; he, city manager, Wilson refuse to say why, who will organize it or how it will be funded; Johnson claims he was unaware, as do Ogorchock, Barbanica

By Allen D. Payton

According to the board members and officers of Celebrate Antioch Foundation (CAF) that has been organizing the annual Independence Day Celebration for the past decade, the organization will not be for this year’s event, as they’re claiming the City of Antioch wants to take it over. The city council also contracted with CAF to organize all of last year’s Sesquicentennial events, celebrating the 150th anniversary of cityhood.

But in an email from CAF’s Board President Joy Motts on behalf of the CAF Executive Board and Officers, on Friday, January 13 (at 11:39 am) to City Manager Con Johnson and copied to Thorpe, the other four city council members, and Parks and Recreation Director Brad Helfenberger, she claimed the “relationship has changed” between CAF and the City.

The relationship began to sour last year, as previously reported, when Thorpe, Johnson and District 1 Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker pushed to take over organizing of the annual Antioch Juneteenth event. Helfenberger withdrew the permit from organizer Claryssa Wilson, whose parents were supporting Thorpe’s recall, including her father Clarke who was the titular chairman of the effort. CAF was the fiscal agent for Claryssa Wilson and her committee, to accept donations to provide the funding, and the event was relocated to Brentwood. The City hosted the Antioch event and contracted with an Oakland-based motorcycle club, Makin’ Moves, whose leaders live in Antioch, to organize it.

The relationship was impacted further in October, when Motts, during her campaign for District 1 City Council seat, publicly called for Mayor Lamar Thorpe’s resignation following the county’s settlement of the sexual harassment lawsuit against Thorpe by two of his former female employees when he was executive director of the now defunct Los Medanos Community Healthcare District.

CAF’s Email to City

Motts’ Jan. 13th email reads:

Council and City Staff,

11 years ago, a group of citizens came together to help our city. During the great recession the City of Antioch, on the verge of bankruptcy, was unable to continue to bring the decades-long 4th of July fireworks and celebration to its citizens. After a two-year absence, this group of citizens, all volunteers, privately raised the monies needed and organized a great 4th of July celebration and fireworks show in 2012 where over 10,000  attended. The following year this group formed a nonprofit 501c3, the Celebrate Antioch Foundation and for the last 10 years has continued to volunteer and privately bring the 4th of July and other great community celebrations free to the residents and families of Antioch.

This has only been possible because of a great working relationship with the City of Antioch and the support of the City Council. Unfortunately, that relationship has changed, and it has become clear to our foundation that the mayor and city would like to go in a different direction. We have come to this conclusion because of the city’s actions toward our organization. Last year’s Juneteenth debacle, the lack of acknowledgement for our work on the Sesquicentennial and your most recent efforts to reach out to another organization, to organize and facilitate Antioch’s 4th of July festivities have spoken for you. For the City of Antioch to proceed in this manner, without the respect of a conversation with our foundation, has been very disappointing.

Planning and fundraising for the 4th of July is a massive undertaking and is a very expensive event for CAF. The preparation for this event starts the year prior in order to bring a safe and quality event to our community. And more importantly, this only happens because of the dedication of our volunteers who unselfishly offer hours and hours of their time and energy to CAF events and giving back to their community. It is impossible nor financially plausible for CAF to continue down this path of organizing an Antioch 4th of July celebration without having a willing partnership with the city.

Therefore, and considering what has transpired, it is the decision of the executive board, officers and members of the Celebrate Antioch Foundation to take a pause and we will not be organizing or sponsoring Antioch’s 4th of July fireworks and celebration this year. We want to be clear that this decision has absolutely nothing to do with Park and Recreation Director Brad Helfenberger or his department. Brad has been an exceptional and professional partner with our foundation, and we look forward to working with him on our foundation’s other upcoming community celebrations.

We wish you well.

Thank you,

Celebrate Antioch Foundation Executive Board and Officers

—————–

Motts Explains Why CAF Withdrew, Will Continue Organizing Other Community Events

Asked why she sent the email and who told her the City was taking over organizing the July 4th event Motts said, “The writing was kind of on the wall. It started with the Juneteenth event, last year.”

“There was no acknowledgement whatsoever for the Sesquicentennial events and our partnership,” she continued. “And then the last straw for the board and officers was when we found out the mayor had reached out to at least one other organization to take over the 4th of July. The City, the mayor, have never reached out to us to indicate they had any concern that they wanted to go in a different direction.”

About her board and volunteers not receiving recognition Motts shared, “These are people with full-time jobs, and they’ve given their heart and soul putting on events. We had great partnerships, too, like the Historical Society and Delta Veterans Group. I thought we did a good job pulling things together especially in such a short time. It’s really disappointing to the board to have the council never acknowledge the Sesquicentennial. We don’t do it because we need a pat on the back but because we care about our community and want it to thrive.”

“The reason it worked is because we had this wonderful partnership with the City. We no longer have that,” she said. “It’s not the staff. It’s the mayor and obviously he has the votes to do what he does. This was really to protect the foundation.”

“We want to work with people who want to work with us,” the CAF president continued. “We’ve proven ourselves in putting on events for 10 years. It’s a vendetta against me, Velma, whatever.”

“We’re still going to do our other events and just approved the list which we’ll be getting out, soon,” Motts added.

Councilwoman Wilson Serves on CAF’s Board

According to the organization’s website, the five-member CAF Board includes Motts and District 4 Councilwoman Monica Wilson. As previously reported, not only did Wilson have a conflict of interest voting for the $145,000 contract with CAF, her own organization, East Contra Costa Women‘s Leadership Initiative, is promoted on the CAF website and CAF has served as its fiscal agent. In addition, one of the directors for CAF is Velma Wilson, who was one of the 20 proponents of Thorpe’s recall along with her aforementioned husband, Clarke.

Questions for Johnson, Thorpe, Wilson

In a January 23rd email to Johnson, Thorpe and District 4 Councilwoman Monica Wilson who serves as one of CAF’s five board members were asked the following questions about CAF’s email: “Why is it happening with this year’s Antioch July 4th celebration and less than six months before? Do you think the City or another organization can do better than the Celebrate Antioch Foundation has been doing to organize it? Do you believe you have enough time to get it planned? Do you have a budget for it, yet? Or do you plan on raising funds through corporate and individual donations? If so, what non-profit will be receiving them? Does the budget need council approval? If so, when will it be placed on a meeting agenda? Then will it be sent out for any group to bid on organizing it or do you have a group in mind, already? Is it going to be Making Moves, the Oakland-based motorcycle club that organized last year’s Antioch Juneteenth event?”

Wilson was specifically asked, “what have you done to advocate on their (CAF’s) behalf, either with last year’s Juneteenth event and/or with this year’s July 4th event?”

Ogorchock, Barbanica Not Aware of City’s Efforts, Johnson Claims the Same

Asked if she was made aware of the City’s efforts District 3 Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock said, “No. I did reach out to Con in an email, asking why Joy felt that way.”

Her email was sent at 12:21 p.m. on January 13.

Ogorchock said Johnson responded at 4:03 p.m. that same day writing, “I haven’t heard anything pertaining to this issue.”

Asked if there had been any additional information about the City taking over organizing the July 4th event, she said, “None that I know of.”

Asked if the council will have to approve any support for the event, Ogorchock responded, “We’re going to have to. We used to provide a financial contribution and city services, including police and public works for the event, each year. That always required council approval.”

District 2 Councilman Mike Barbanica was asked the same question if he was aware of CAF’s allegations before receiving Motts’ email, to which he responded, “No, I was not.”

Asked if he had followed up with Johnson about it Barbanica responded, “Not yet.”

As of Saturday afternoon, Jan. 28 no responses were received from Johnson, Thorpe or Wilson.