The City of Pleasanton and Tri-Valley region as a whole have much to offer those who live, work, and play in these communities. The sunny days and natural beauty are among the benefits of residing in the Tri-Valley, a region noted for its high quality of life, top-rated public schools, and highly educated workforce. Business leaders call it a hub of innovation, thanks to a variety of cutting-edge companies that have started here or moved to the area.

Areas of Need

Compared to other areas in the greater Bay Area, signs of poverty in the Tri-Valley are often less obvious in this largely prosperous region. But there are a variety of pressing social needs that remain unmet. As a result, the Cities of Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton have banded together to address these issues through the Eastern Alameda Human Services Needs Assessment.

“While the Tri-Valley is considered an affluent area, there is poverty here, and sometimes living in poverty in the suburbs is harder than other areas because there are fewer services,” says Josh Thurman, Human Services Program Manager for the City of Livermore. “We are working to address the gaps in services so our residents don’t have to leave the area to obtain those services.”

Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton developed a partnership to create a Needs Assessment report after the 2000 census information was released by the federal government. A second report was issued after the 2010 census, and the third report was recently completed in response to the 2020 census. The 2024 report, the most comprehensive yet, required nearly 19 months to complete, according to Thurman. “All three cities are going to tackle that issue together.”

“The Needs Assessment as a whole provides several benefits to the cities as we look at how we prioritize human services resources for the next five to ten years,” he notes. “It allows us to engage the community and, most importantly, portions of the community that may not typically engage with the City. The Needs Assessment engaged three hundred thirty-eight individuals who ranged from nonprofit organization staff, first responders, youth, and adults. We were also able to reach people who primarily spoke Spanish, Mandarin, Farsi, Hindi, and Cantonese.”

Jay Ingram, who led the Needs Assessment process as Recreation Manager - Human Services for the City of Pleasanton, agrees. “There is an energy with the three cities to support this Needs Assessment and the many nonprofits that do the daily work to support our Tri-Valley residents in need,” he says. “That support to me is an implementation action plan where the cities and many nonprofits can continue to work together, build capacity, and lift up the support networks for regional human services.”

The Needs Assessment process reflects the commitment of these three cities to improving life for the individuals who are struggling most. The 2024 Needs Assessment provides both quantitative and qualitative data. The information gathered will help identify new initiatives to address current needs and anticipate future ones. The City of Pleasanton took the lead on this project, which was jointly financed by Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton.

“There’s a real focus on the qualitative data, which was collected by talking with people and understanding their story and what issues they face on a day-to-day basis,” says Thurman. “The qualitative data is what separates this assessment from the previous assessments.”

The firm responsible for creating the report, JSI, has done needs assessment projects throughout the United States. It had never before worked with a partnership of three separate cities. While that may be unusual for the nation, it is not unusual for city governments and regional agencies in the Tri-Valley. They often collaborate in terms of social services as well as other areas.

“Our nonprofits provide the same services in all three cities, so we work together to try to solve some of these issues,” notes Thurman. “Because we don't have a ton of resources out here, we have to collectively come together to get things done.”

Thurman says Livermore, Dublin and Pleasanton have been good partners as they work to improve public services. To make it easier for nonprofits seeking support, for example, the three cities have aligned their grants processes and timelines. Dublin and Pleasanton have also financially contributed to the Livermore Multi-Service Center, which hosts a variety of nonprofits and social services, as well as other projects that benefit the area.

“The Needs Assessment validates many of the issues that all three cities have been working to address,” according to Thurman. “Some examples are the need for substance use disorder and mental health services, the need to revamp our grants process, affordable housing, and nonprofit capacity building. We are working on all of these issues but they are extremely complex. Ultimately it comes down to resources, and that’s the most challenging piece for us as a region.”

Next Steps

The 2024 Needs Assessment provides “how” and “what” recommendations on addressing community and organizational needs. The approach suggestions focus on how to do the work, while the actionable advice suggests what work should be done in terms of specific, targeted strategies to meet important needs. Now that the report is done, it has been shared with the Human Services Committees of each city for review, potential changes, and eventual referral to the individual City Councils.

After the report is approved, Thurman expects the cities to develop a list of five to ten priorities based on the evaluation. The first priority has already been established. Service providers have requested a simpler human services grants process that reduces the number of documents needed to apply or perhaps shortens the number of questions that require responses. That message has been heard and received, according to Thurman. “All three cities are going to tackle that issue together.”

The accomplishments of local governments and existing nonprofit institutions is a testament to the area's interest in solving these problems. Livermore’s Vineyard project, for example, just opened in late January and “was a collaborative effort between OHK (Open Heart Kitchen), the cities of Livermore, Dublin, and Pleasanton and the Housing Consortium of the East Bay along with other partners,” according to the Pleasanton Weekly.

The development offers 23 permanent supportive housing units for those who are unsheltered. Vineyard also includes a 20-bed, 7-day-per-week shelter that provides users with onsite meals and other services. Moreover, it now acts as the primary commercial kitchen for nonprofit Open Heart Kitchen, which offers the largest hot meal program in the Tri-Valley. In its first 30 days of operations, Vineyard served 426 unduplicated clients, prepared 11,824 meals in the kitchen, served 6,940 meals at Vineyard, provided 447 shelter stays, and 346 showers.

“This project is everything and more that we were hoping it would be,” says Thurman. “The Cities of Dublin and Pleasanton contributed funds to help with this project and continue to support it with resources. This is an example of us working as a region to provide valuable services in the community.”

The Tri-Valley Nonprofit Alliance (TVNPA) will play a key role in what happens next in response to the Needs Assessment report before it is sent to the City Councils. TVNPA will consult with its client nonprofits on their responses to the report. Then TVNPA officials can work with the cities to further refine priorities, according to Thurman.

“This Needs Assessment is not a report that’s meant to sit on a shelf, it’s meant to hold us accountable to address the community needs,” says Thurman. While it is not up to Thurman to determine what will happen in the wake of the report, he does have some preferences based on his work as Livermore’s Human Services Program Manager.

“I’d like to see us enhance the substance use disorder and mental health infrastructure in the Tri-Valley so our residents, especially low-income residents, don’t have to travel outside of the area to receive the services. I’d also like to see us continue to enhance the capacity of our nonprofits, as they are on the frontline doing the work on behalf of all of us.”

To read the 2024 Eastern Alameda Human Services Needs Assessment report, please visit www.pleasantonca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/115/files/attachment/190.

For more information about Livermore’s Housing and Human Service Department, please visit www.livermoreca.gov/departments/community-development/housing-human-services.

For more information about the Tri-Valley Nonprofit Alliance, please visit tvnpa.org.