Livingston Rec-Plex Prop #68

Prop 68 Grant History
by Jacquelyn Benoit, Recreation Superintendent

 Prop 68 was announced in  late spring early summer of 2018(thank you California senators and congressional representatives for passing this proposition)

In October of 2018 the Department of Recreation Grants Management contacted Livingston Recreation to encourage us to apply for the Prop 68 grant. The Recreation Department Superintendent to note of this opportunity with not much more thought other than "I wonder how I would go about this?"  A week later the department received a call from PHA Advocates telling us they had received grant funding to help low income communities to write grant proposals for Prop 68. We started to feel like this was a sign.

Things started rolling around in my head what could be the project as our needs were really great and where do we start. Then within the next couple of weeks I got a call from  a friend at im over at LFA and he said “Hey Jacquie do you think the city would be interested in buying our buildings! The building was a 25,000 square foot warehouse and 1.25 acre lot across the street.

Well There it was!  A meeting was held with the City Manager at the time and he got the ball rolling. One of the first things we had to do is to see if we even qualified for the grant. We used a tool called the community fact finder and it works by placing a marker on the map as to the location of the project and it will tell you the median income to qualify. Literally this building location is the only location within Livingston that qualified for this grant!

 A meeting was held with PHA and they started putting a plan together, Surveys were taken with hundreds and hundreds of Livingston participants, workshops were held with dedicated community members. It was really quite amazing as with 35 plus workshop participants everyone was on the same page. It was extraordinary.

Once the project was identified the group made 3 different layout suggestions for the project. Drawings were made of each layout and the Public was asked for their input. The Downtown Farmers Market provided a platform for these plan reviews and survey. With the lead from PHA and Gabriel Salazar a resident, contract planner and city leadership the grant was submitted in 2019. We found out in early 2020 we did not get the award. WE called  our grant contact at the state who had actually come for an onsite visit and asked why we did not get the award. "Was there something wrong with the project?"  She said no it was a fantastic project there were just more communities that had a greater need than we did. However she encouraged to apply for round 4 and we did!!!

In March of 2021 we submitted our proposal again, and in December we were awarded the 7.390 million for the project. The journey has been a wild ride and we are so grateful that LFA has been so patient with us on the property purchase. They held on to this building for almost 4 years waiting on the grant outcome. Thank you does not even cover our gratitude to them.

On July 21, 2022 a "Passing of the Keys or Completion" Ceremony was held on the site and the Livingston Farmers Association passed the building keys to the city with several hundered in attendance. At this Ceremony the Project Manager was announced, "Dahlin".

We will try to keep the community updated on this project as we progress. Information will be provided in links below.

The City/Project Manager (Dahlin) will be going out for RFP's on this project. Please click on this link for RFP Information.