$8.3M Earmarked For Contra Costa Including Theft Crackdowns, Trafficking Survivor Support

CONTRA COSTA, CA — The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office received $1.1 million in federal funding to fight organized retail theft and help labor trafficking survivors, with Rep. Mark DeSaulnier presenting two checks at Wednesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.

The awards include $600,000 for the Organized Retail Theft Prevention and Prosecution Pilot Project and $500,000 for the Healing and Justice for Labor Trafficking Survivors Project.

The retail theft funding will support the District Attorney’s Office’s Organized Retail Theft Prevention and Prosecution Unit, which plans to address increased retail theft.

Organized retail crimes often involve networks operating across cities, counties, and states, according to the California Attorney General’s Office.

The labor trafficking project will help the office reach vulnerable populations, provide comprehensive services, and build survivors’ confidence in service providers and the criminal justice system, according to a Feb. 9 county funding memorandum.

The two awards are among eight Contra Costa County projects that fueled by more than $8 million in appropriations.

DeSaulnier sponsored five projects, and Rep. John Garamendi sponsored three.

The other funded projects include:

• $2 million for the Bay Point Library and Community Resource Center. The funding will help furnish and equip a new 21,000-square-foot facility at Bailey Road and Maylard Avenue. Planned services include job training, youth enrichment activities, literacy tutoring, technology classes, and shelter from heat, cold, and smoky air.
• $1.9 million for East Bay Regional Communications System backup generators. The project will replace 11 older emergency generators and upgrade all 15 sites to accept trailer-mounted generators, helping keep first responders’ radio network operating during power outages.
• $1.2 million for the Marsh Drive Class I Bikeway Project in Pacheco. A separated path between Center Avenue and the Walnut Creek bridge will close a 1.3-mile gap in the county’s bicycle network.
• $1 million for Treat Boulevard corridor improvements in Contra Costa Centre. The project will improve safety, visibility, and connections to the Pleasant Hill/Contra Costa Centre BART station, Iron Horse Regional Trail, medical offices, businesses, and homes.
• $850,000 for the North Bailey Road Active Transportation Corridor in Bay Point. The project will add accessible sidewalks on both sides of Bailey Road and a two-way cycle track linking residents to the Delta de Anza Regional Trail and Pittsburg/Bay Point BART station.
• $250,000 for Pacifica Avenue Safe Routes to School in Bay Point. The project will reconfigure a half-mile stretch between Port Chicago Highway and Driftwood Drive with a two-way cycle track, sidewalk improvements, narrower travel lanes, bulb-outs, and raised crosswalks.

The House approved the spending package Feb. 3, and it was signed into law shortly afterward, ending a four-day partial government shutdown, according to the county memorandum.