By Lisa Renner
This spring, mushroom farmer Dominic Soderstrom took a free 12-week metal fabrication course at the Curious Forge. Now he doesn’t have to pay a welder $100 an hour to make improvements on his property.
“It’s allowed me to use my problem-solving skills that I’ve gained over the last three years as an entrepreneur to come up with new solutions,” said the Grass Valley resident, adding that he uses what he learned in the class daily.
The course was funded through a $148,000 grant recommended by the Nevada County’s Adult and Family Services Commission. A volunteer group, the Adult and Family Services Commission has a lofty mission of striving to alleviate poverty. It’s currently looking for up to four new members, especially those from east county.
The nine-member commission meets 1-2:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of most months with the majority of meetings held at the Government Center in Nevada City. The next meeting is Sept. 10 at Sierra Community House in Truckee.
The commission’s main task is to make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors on funding allocations for grants from two sources: federal Community Services Block Grants and the County’s Community Initiative Fund, which comes from General Fund dollars.
“The amount of funding that we have put back in the community to serve low-income people has been amazing,” said Dena Malakian, who has served as commission chair for the last four years and has served on the commission the last decade. “It’s been millions of dollars in the time I’ve been there.”
The Community Services Block Grant money, which funded the Curious Forge grant, must go to a nonprofit that provides with priority going to job development and training. The commission issues a request for proposals and nonprofits apply for funding. A committee from the commission reviews proposals and scores them according to a rubric.
The Community Initiative Fund provides money for two $15,000 grants awarded each year to nonprofits for one-time projects that help alleviate poverty. Bright Futures for Youth was awarded a grant to get a laundry facility for youth experiencing homelessness (Malakian abstained from reviewing or voting for this award). Interfaith Food Ministry also received a grant to expand its freezer capacity food distribution program.
The commission is a “Community Action Agency,” a type of group established across the country under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 to fight America’s War on Poverty. At least one third of the board’s members must represent the low-income community, one-third must be represent elected officials and one-third can be from the private sector. New members from all three sectors are welcome to apply to join the board.
“We don’t have anyone from Truckee representing the low-income needs of people in that area,” Malakian said. “We could also use someone with expertise in low-income veterans. Another under-represented group is people with disabilities.”
Liam Ellerby, co-founder of the Curious Forge, said he is grateful for the funding for the metal fabrication course. The course covered welding, equipment safety, math, fabrication techniques, material attributes, efficient use of materials, forklift skills and many other topics. “We also taught soft skills that the employers desired like communication skills, initiative and thinking like an owner," he said.
So far, he has trained a total of 14 students in two cohorts. Six out of eight students in the first cohort got jobs. “I surveyed eight fabrication shops in our area to develop the course based on their needs to develop entry level fabricators that could be productive and safe on their first day," he said.
Malakian said a great benefit of being on the commission is getting to learn the wonderful things happening in the community. “The reason I’ve stayed on so long is I get to learn what else is going on in the community to help low-income people,” she said. “You get to help identify where there are gaps in service that we need to advocate for on behalf of that community.”
To apply for the Adult & Family Services Commissions, visit www.NevadaCountyCa.gov/Commissions.
