The City of Riverside Department of Housing and Human Services held the first meeting of the Non-Profit Collaborative, a formal partnership of the City and NPOs servicing city residents. The conference, held on Wednesday, April 10, at the Hunt Park community center, brought together City and non-profit leaders to identify local needs, who are servicing those needs, how to eliminate redundancies, where to access funds and resources, and to tie the newly charted Department of Housing and Human Services to facilitate private and public partnerships.
City Manager Mike Futrell opened the meeting by acknowledging the systemic advantages NPOs have in providing services outside the political system. He lauded their nimbleness, pinpoint focus, and ground-level access to residents as qualities that governments struggle to achieve. He closed his part of the presentation with a message from the City: “This meeting is a symbol of how much the City values what you all do.”
Michelle Decker, President and CEO of the Inland Empire Community Fund, was next to address the gathering. She announced that the revolving loan program, recently approved by the City, would be administered by the IECF. The program eliminates some of the restrictions of federal loan programs and focuses on organizations’ economic ability to repay loans.
The remainder of the meeting focused on networking activities. Over twenty organizations were present, including churches, hospitals, neighborhood health services, arts and education, and organizations for food security. Breakout sessions allowed time to describe services provided and identify needs specific to individual organizations and those that are common among all organizations.
The City has not announced the dates of future meetings, but quarterly meetings are expected. The City will also make a database of resources available for access between physical gatherings. More information is available at the Department of Housing and Human Services website.
A year-end financial review, approving drones for anti-illegal fireworks policing, and a one-year pilot project to reduce cut-through traffic on Redwood Drive are on the City Council's agenda.
