Monument Crisis Center

Programs: Food distribution programour food distribution program is the heart of monument crisis center and is an essential part of our mission; providing stability for low income and at-risk individuals and families in contra costa county. The center supplies food to approximately 4,000 different households annually and serves between 80-120 individuals and families per distribution, distributing more than 25,000 food boxes per year. These food boxes provide over one million nutritious meals each year. Monument crisis 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 pounds of food every month from the 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, physical and mental health issues.

youth enrichment:children make up more than 40% 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. Some large challenges 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 includes educational and prevention resources for youth, including four key programs: (1) after school cafe, (2) mcc teens, (3) summer camp, and (4) csjo program. (1) after school cafe is a reading, writing, and math skills tutoring and mentoring program for pre-kindergarten through 5th grade students with active and retired resource teachers serving as the mentors, and one-on-one high school/college age tutors. (2) mcc teens is an after school program for junior high youth that offers math, english, and science tutoring, cooking, pool, games, and leadership activities. (3) summer camp is an 8-week program in june, july, and august for k-8th grade students, with high school counselors and summer college interns (including interns from students rising above). Enrichment activities include cooking, gardening, dance and exercise, sports, field trips, computers, science, arts, & crafts. (4) the community service for juvenile offenders program (csjo) offers help and mentorship to youth ages 12-18 who have court ordered or school mandated community service hours. The program includes a signed contract, specific duties & responsibilities, and has an amazing success rate. Kids not only stay on after service is complete, many bring their peers to get involved. Resource & referralthrough our resource and referral program, we provide health and wellness programs (including stress reduction, cooking, and nutrition), and financial literacy, employment, literacy, computer, and community education workshops. Additionally, we provide rental application assistance, shelter referrals, low-income housing information, and we 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, and 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, monument crisis center is a refuge, a bustling community and education center, and an inspiration for thousands in contra costa county.

community engagementall 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 31,000 volunteer hours/year through our community engagement program. The heart of the monument crisis center is our volunteer base. With 7 full-time staff members, the center relies heavily on volunteers assisting in every program throughout the organization. Our volunteers give more than 3,000 hours each month. Many of those volunteers reside or work in contra costa county and come from schools, faith communities, corporate, civic andcommunity 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 reside in concord.

resource & referralthrough our resource and referral program, we provide health and wellness programs (including stress reduction, cooking, and nutrition), and financial literacy, employment, literacy, computer, and community education workshops. Additionally, we provide rental application assistance, shelter referrals, low-income housing information, and we 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, and 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, monument crisis center is a refuge, a bustling community and education center, and an inspiration for thousands in contra costa county. Seniorssenior moments engages, educates, and serves as a vital connection for low-income seniors in contra costa county. This comprehensive program, held on the 1st and 3rd fridays of the month, provides critical resources including well-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 clients in need in our country every day. Our center is committed to preparedness to address area-wide emergencies knowing that the volume of need will increase even more significantly. The center has worked diligently over the last 10+ years to be disaster ready with finances, staff, volunteers, clients and have created memorandum of understanding's with foundations, partner agencies, as well as, city, county and federal offices of emergency preparedness. Mcc 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 referral for clients who are in need, and re-establish food pantry program for clients in need as soon as possible. In case of an areawide disaster, the center requests donations of non-perishable food and bottled water. Outreachbroad inclusiveness through our "all ages, all abilities" community engagement programs and internships. We conduct outreach presentations to service groups, schools/colleges, businesses, faith groups. We have a fully accessible facility, ada compliant, braille signage, and elevator. We also provide increased awareness of the complexities of suburban poverty and reduction efforts through educational presentations to service groups, schools/colleges, businesses, and faith groups.