Rethinking Community Engagement Practices

In recent years, Pomona has seen many positive changes regarding policy, budget, and renewed vision. It has struggled, however, to sustain engagement with the community. 

During the pandemic, this issue was made even more evident.  Recently retired Neighborhood Services Director, Benita DeFrank-Castellano, addressed this major issue in the Mayor’s COVID Action Committee. She wanted to provide greater access to resources, to our more difficult to reach residents, many of whom were in life or death situations. The City had been utilizing social media, an electronic billboard, notices in water bills, and more, however these communication streams were limited and a vast majority of our residents were unaware or disengaged. The solution was to find a way to build trust, word of mouth, and organic engagement practices. After an extensive application and bidding process, Pomona Connect was created. 

Pomona Connect, managed by me and my husband, found additional funding to support a jobs program to canvas and walk neighborhoods that felt disconnected. We hired transitional aged youth from God’s Pantry to walk and talk with residents about resources like rent relief, food programs, utility support, physical and mental health resources, and more. The program focused on areas like Abbey/Karesh, Cordova, Del Rosa, Barjud, Angela/Chanslor, and the many mobile home parks throughout Pomona. Later, Pomona Connect began working with Community-based Organizations to bring large Resources Fairs to the City directly impacting the needs of our families, like grocery gift cards, job placement, vaccines, utility bill support, and more. This effort eventually led to partnering with Project Hope, Councilmember Victor Preciado, and TVW Director Carlos Goytia to bring Community Pull Ups, smaller targeted resources fairs that rotate to needed areas throughout the City. These monthly Community Pull Ups are still continuing to this day.

Through the efforts of Pomona Connect, the City was able to award over $2,300,000 in rent relief during the pandemic. A food delivery service was created with Councilmember Victor Preciado partnering with God’s Pantry and has delivered close to 80,000 bags of groceries to Pomona residents at their doorsteps over the past 3 years. This has been instrumental for families who are unable to access food drive-thru resources because of illness, lack of transportation, or schedule. 

Last year, Benita DeFrank-Castallano’s team set up at the annual Pomona Children’s Festival, a community event I founded in 2018 with a team of volunteers. They surveyed families to find out who they most trusted to get access to community information. Most participants selected teachers, after school leaders, and neighbors as their top resource for obtaining community information, while a several also indicated their church, social media, and City Hall. This survey led to a restrategizing of streams of communication. 

Late last year, a new website was announced at the COVID Action Committee meeting. An extension of Pomona Connect, this website will allow local organizations the ability to provide service information and direct contact information to residents looking for assistance with a vast array of issues. Set to launch this Spring, this connection effort will be coupled with Pomona’s first Resource Center, located at the existing Volunteers of America office on North Garey Ave. The information at the Resource Center will be provided to partnering organizations, so ease of access can be shared throughout the City from multiple physical locations. 

This has also led to conversations regarding how we survey residents for things like CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funding priorities. In the past, surveys have only resulted in 200-400 responses, less than 0.25% of Pomona’s residents. Rethinking how we engage our community is imperative.  We must continue the work to ensure our residents are engaged and supported.