Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,
This week Christ Church reached a tentative agreement with Alameda Head Start to expand care for low-income babies. The availability of child care has reached a crisis in our community, so this will make a huge difference to some struggling families. This plan will require compromise on space use at the church, but it comes with the substantial benefit of additional rent. I'd be grateful for your feedback as we sketch out further details of the plan. Here is a summary:
Head Start's new five-year lease will begin on September 1 at an annual rate of $59,940 (up $28,000 from last year), which will rise by four percent each year to $70,121 in 2026.
Christ Church and Head Start will share the Guild Room. During daytime hours, Monday through Friday, Head Start will run an infant care program in that space. On evenings and weekends Christ Church will use the space. To make the Guild Room fully convertible, Head Start will keep supplies to a minimum. They'll store items on mobile credenzas that will be painted to match the trim of the room, which can be turned around every evening to serve as credenzas against the wall. Sleeping mats and furniture will be removed from the Guild Room each night.
Head Start will also lease the restroom on the first floor of the Parish Hall during business hours. We're still negotiating whether or not it can be available to parishioners with mobility challenges.
Head Start will lease Will Scott's current office for use as an office and meeting room. Will is going to move into the small chapel next to my office. For years the chapel has functioned as a storage room. Head Start will pay to completely refurbish the space for Will's use.
Head Start's new program will not begin until January, 2023, or possibly later, because the licensing process is very slow.
This is a substantial change for Christ Church, and change is always hard for a church. We'll have to be more intentional about space we've been able to take for granted. Recently the vestry weighed the pros and cons of this arrangement and, after a lengthy conversation, concluded that the expanded service to low-income families and the increased rent outweighed the inconvenience, but we realize that not everyone will agree. If you have feedback, please feel free to speak to me or to any vestry member.
In other rental news, Christ Church will welcome new tenants in our rectory on August 1. They are two teachers and one tech worker, and they will pay $4,500 per month/$54,000 per year in rent.
Here's one further update that concerns property at Christ Church. The City of Alameda has let us know that it is unlikely to provide future funding for the Homeless Warming Shelter which we've hosted for the past few years. The City is diverting that money to transitional housing. Our Social Justice Ministry is meeting soon to discuss how we can best use our creativity, energy and volunteer base to continue supporting our marginalized neighbors. We're currently talking to the
City about funding to expand our shower program into the middle of the week.
In response to all of this, I'm going on vacation! On Sunday night my family and I fly to England for my cousin's wedding. Our Associate Rector, Will Scott, our Parish Administrator, Ashley Jackson and our Vestry, led by Janet Kornegay and Harrison Hamill, have these issues well in hand. Feel free to reach out to any of them about these developments until I return on August 3. Until then, stay safe and may God bless you.
Peace,
Stephen