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PAGE 71 “There’s a lot of shame in some people for drug usage. I don’t know how they got into it or the fact they’re using or whatever it is. There should be…drug support groups where people can talk about why. A lot of it is kind of a healing process for people who consciously or subconscious are doing something not good to their body. Having a resource for people where it’s more open and it’s not as stigmatized I think would be an amazing thing.” Organizational-Level Challenges and Opportunity Areas Interviews and focus groups with nonprofit executives and staff, service providers, and leadership across the region resulted in several findings that were parallel to those identified by community members. However, these challenges are distinct in that they represent organizational-level challenges. Service Awareness and Duplication As community members identified a need for service awareness and navigation, nonprofit staff reflected the same at the organizational level. They wanted to know what other nonprofits were focusing on and funding so that they could more efficiently partner and refer clients and minimize funding inefficiencies. One nonprofit participant offered an anecdote illustrating this challenge: “Using energy as an example [of a need for nonprofit alignment and communication]… Spectrum can pay that PG&E bill. Now, CityServe can take that money and pay a rent rather than paying for energy. In the past, some might have called CityServe to help with everything. We’ve also been doing it for a long time but if they didn’t know that they can call us, they would call CityServe and they would help with some of the bill. Now that piece of the pie is gone from [CityServe’s] monies. But I still got this money here….It’s like I have these programs that we get all this money to take care of this, but I can’t take that money and put it in this other pot. And so many of us [nonprofits] do many things other than what the one program that we might be doing in the city, or the one piece that we talked about.” This was more broadly reflected by nonprofits and other providers expressing a need for greater ongoing connection between organizations. This could also reduce what some participants saw as redundancies in certain service types: “One of the things that I see cycle—and it kind of gets resolved, and then it surfaces again—is over-duplication of…certain types of services, in particular on the food side of things. There’s probably about…17 different food services that I could name so there’s probably 25, you know, that I don’t know about. And so the duplication of services would be a challenge that I’m seeing.” Workforce RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION Nonprofit organizations highlighted workforce concerns frequently, again related back to such structural factors as the cost of living, rising inflation, and the need to be able to provide a living wage. One nonprofit participant said: “Could I just get actual livable wages for my staff? I mean, you want to live in the Bay Area at $40/ hour? Good luck, right? And I mean, we’ve raised [salaries] in the last couple of years. Through tooth and nail we’ve gotten one or two staff from less than $15/hour to $20 an hour, but…this is not livable or sustainable.” This is directly connected to funding and challenges to receiving financial support that can be allocated to operational costs. While this was a challenge in all three cities, some participants indicated city-specific differences, depending on the job. For example, one participant indicated that teacher salaries in Livermore were lower than elsewhere in the region. Challenges in hiring and retaining staff were named and connected to a broader workforce shortage. Participants were concerned about how essential workers—including health care and mental health professionals—might not be able to afford to live in the region. The workforce shortage was directly linked to long wait times for appointments and/ or insufficient staff to provide high-quality care, which can have devastating consequences on some community members. Several organizations cited EASTERN ALAMEDA COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES NEEDS ASSESSMENTSS Page 129 of 554