Delano homeless services group asks city for one-year sole-source funding to keep navigation center open

Flood Ministries asked the Delano City Council on June 16 to provide a one-year sole-source contract to keep the Delano Navigation Center open while the nonprofit seeks replacement funding.

The request came during the meeting’s public comment period from Joe Wheeler, executive director of Flood Ministries, who said the center opened in July 2021 and has since placed “over 100 people in shelters” and housed “over 47 people that were experiencing homelessness in Delano.” Wheeler said federal and state pandemic-era funds that supported the center — including ESG CARES funding and HAP funding — have ended and that Flood Ministries has reallocated other program money to remain open through June 30. “We were asking that the city of Delano, if possible, to provide us on a sole source contract funding for 1 year while we go out and try to… find some other funding,” Wheeler said.

Carlos Herrera of Hope in the Valley, a partner organization, described a recent client success and urged the council to continue supporting the navigation center’s street outreach and counseling work. “He actually got a job in LA and he took it,” Herrera said, describing a 21-year-old client who moved into employment after counseling and outreach.

Destiny Gary, who identified herself as working with Flood Ministries, spoke about clients’ immediate needs if services end. “Our clients are afraid. They don't know where they're gonna go after this,” she said, urging the council to consider the public-health and hygiene impacts if showers, laundry and meals are no longer available.

Wheeler said the navigation center has partnered with local providers such as Clinica Sierra Vista and that the organization is asking only for a single year of city funding while it pursues potential grants. He said, “I’m not asking for 3 years of funding. I'm just asking for another, the city to provide us funding so we can continue to provide services, through the next fiscal year.”

No formal motion or vote on the Flood Ministries funding request was recorded in the meeting transcript; council members did not make a funding decision during the June 16 meeting. Public comments included multiple appeals for the city to act quickly; speakers gave differing timelines for when services could end if funding is not secured — Wheeler said Flood had funding to stay open “till June 30,” and another speaker said their last day was “tentatively the 27th.”

The appeals came during the public comment period, which the council noted does not permit immediate council action but allows referrals to staff or placement on a future agenda. The council did not announce any immediate follow-up direction on the record at the June 16 meeting.