Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Aguiar-Curry Secures Funds for Yolo County, the City of West Sacramento and the Clarksburg Fire Protection District

SACRAMENTO, CA- Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) secured an additional $1.1 million in the California State Budget for Yolo County. The funds include $487,484 to the County of Yolo for Meals on Wheels (MOW Yolo), $225,000 to the City of West Sacramento for the Recovery Café, and $378,539 to the Clarksburg Fire Protection District. This comes after her announcement earlier this year of having collaborated with Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa) to secure $1 million for the Yolo Crisis Nursery.

“I am proud to have been able to win State funding to help the neediest of my constituents in Yolo County and help make them safer,” said Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry. “These investments will help support seniors, provide a safe haven for vulnerable community members, and fire safety for the tri-county area in and around Clarksburg.”

Yolo County will utilize the budget funds to complete MOW Yolo’s Operation Accelerate to expand its kitchen capacity. Yolo will finalize their lease of a second kitchen in Winters, which will allow them to dramatically expand meal preparation from 350 to at least 1,250 meals every weekday for senior nutrition and socialization needs for food-insecure aging adults throughout Yolo County. The kitchen capacity expansion overall budget, including lease payments and costs for equipment, raw food, and personnel from February 2023 – December 2024, is just under $1.4 million. Yolo County and Agency on Aging Area 4 committed the funds from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to help complete the kitchen capacity project.

"This is a game-changing investment in Meals on Wheels Yolo County's ability to establish and sustain the meal production capacity required to nourish and engage more of the 8,000 seniors currently living in poverty in Yolo County. As many as 1,300 aging adults can be served -- a doubling of the status quo -- as a result of 'Operation Accelerate' initiative goals, and this fiscal commitment shepherded by the Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore ensures the initiative's success,” said Joy Cohan, Executive Director of Meals on Wheels Yolo County. “Because of this support, more Yolo County seniors, especially in rural and other underserved communities, can look forward to healthier outcomes and the opportunity to age in place longer. The Meals on Wheels team is honored and grateful for Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Aguiar-Curry's confidence in our readiness to create impact." 

In partnership with the City of West Sacramento, The West Sacramento Mercy Coalition, an interfaith nonprofit collaborative, they recently launched Recovery Café in West Sacramento. Recovery Café is a nationwide network providing a safe, warm, drug and alcohol-free space to support community members suffering from trauma, homelessness, addiction, and other mental health challenges. Using a proven model, the Mercy Coalition seeks to improve outcomes for these individuals through peer-driven accountability, belonging, and growth model. Supported by the City and charitable contributions, a one-time state budget expenditure of $225,000 would ensure that Recovery Café operations could remain sustainable through its startup phase.

“As a homegrown West Sacramento nonprofit, we couldn't be more grateful for the advocacy of Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Aguiar-Curry in securing this budget allocation,” said Don Bosley, Executive director for Mercy Coalition of West Sacramento. “Every weekday, Recovery Cafe West Sacramento wraps its arms around some of our city’s most fragile - those impacted by the trauma of substance-use disorders, homelessness, mental health disorders, domestic violence, grief, and poverty.”

“The cafe has quickly become more than just an evidence-based mental-health strategy; it's a healing space of visceral hope, inclusion, resilience, and belonging. It is a resonating pocket of restorative community, where the shared journey of recovery cuts across race, class, identity, age, and socioeconomic position,” emphasized Bosey. “We believe in its mission wholeheartedly, and we're overwhelmed that our state, county, and city leaders are so tangibly beside us in these efforts. Generations of West Sacramentans will reap the love and support that these dollars are seeding.”

Clarksburg Fire Protection District will use the $378,539 funds to procure a modern, National Fire Protection Association-approved water tender. Water tenders are essential firefighting equipment to allow water transportation from a water source to a fire scene. The current water tender from the District is 37 years old and relies on some “home-built” components. The District needs updated equipment to respond to wildfires to adequately honor automatic aid agreements with the rest of Yolo County and parts of Sacramento and Solano counties.

“The Clarksburg Fire Protection District (Clarksburg Fire) gratefully thanks Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguilar-Curry for leading the Legislature’s $378,539 investment in a new 3,000-gallon water tender for Clarksburg Fire,” said Mark Pruner, Board Chair for Clarksburg Fire Protection District. “The new water tender will enhance the operational capabilities of both in-District and mutual aid emergency responses.” Clarksburg Fire provides first responder services in southeastern rural Yolo County and through mutual aid agreements throughout Yolo County, the North Delta, and northern California. 

Aguiar-Curry represents the 4^th Assembly District, which includes all of Yolo, Napa, Colusa, Lake Counties, and parts of Sonoma County. www.asm.ca.gov/aguiar-curry

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