The annual address, hosted in partnership with the Murrieta/Wildomar Chamber of Commerce, was held at the Jean Hayman Training Center on Lemon Street. The event opened with a ticketed lunch reception at 11 a.m., followed by the mayor’s remarks at noon, which were free and open to the public.

DePhillippo’s State of the City presentation highlighted key accomplishments over the past year, including ongoing development efforts, community investment initiatives and progress on local infrastructure. She also outlined the city’s priorities for 2025, emphasizing the importance of economic growth, public safety and continued partnerships with regional agencies.

The gathering also served as an opportunity for residents to connect with local officials and business leaders. Chamber representatives noted that the annual program is intended to bring together Wildomar’s civic and business communities.

Rep. Young Kim, who attended the event, praised the program and the city’s momentum. “Great to join the City of Wildomar for their 2025 State of the City hosted by the Murrieta/Wildomar Chamber of Commerce,” Kim wrote on social media. “Amazing time full of hometown spirit and exciting plans for Wildomar’s future. Congratulations to Mayor Ashlee DePhillippo on a successful address!”

The mayor’s address was open to all residents interested in learning more about Wildomar’s direction for the coming year.

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City officials say the program is part of Hemet’s ongoing commitment to partnering with organizations that deliver essential services in areas such as housing, youth development, public safety, mental health, and community engagement.

Building on Past Success

Over the years, Hemet’s Community Grant Funding has provided resources to a variety of nonprofits, from food distribution networks and youth mentorship programs to local cultural organizations. These grants often serve as a lifeline for small, community-based groups that lack access to larger state or federal funding.

“This program gives our nonprofits the boost they need to continue serving our most vulnerable residents,” said a city spokesperson. “Whether it’s providing meals, safe after-school programs, or access to mental health resources, the impact of these grants can be felt across Hemet.”

A Critical Time for Nonprofits

The announcement comes at a time when many nonprofits are facing increased demand for services due to rising housing costs, economic challenges, and growing community needs. Leaders say that even modest grants can help sustain programs that make daily life better for Hemet families.

Raynesha Belvins, CEO of a local nonprofit focused on family services, noted that small city grants can have an outsized effect:

“One grant might cover a year of mentoring sessions for local teens, or allow us to hire part-time staff who connect families to housing and healthcare resources. These dollars stretch a long way in communities like ours.”

Application Process

Nonprofits interested in applying can find full details and eligibility requirements on the city’s website, hemetca.gov. Applications must be submitted by the posted deadline, after which city staff and councilmembers will review submissions and determine award recipients.

Priority will be given to organizations that demonstrate measurable outcomes, strong community partnerships, and a clear plan for using the funds to benefit Hemet residents.

Investing in the Future

City leaders emphasize that the program is not just about funding projects, but about building long-term partnerships between government and the nonprofit sector.

“By supporting organizations that are already doing meaningful work, we multiply our impact,” said the spokesperson. “These grants are an investment in Hemet’s future.”

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The two-day event drew nearly 500 nonprofit leaders, policymakers, and advocates from across Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and even beyond, under the theme “Common Ground for the Common Good.” Conversations throughout the summit were framed by the “vital conditions” — seven interconnected pillars for building thriving communities: basic needs for health and safety, humane housing, meaningful work and wealth, lifelong learning, reliable transportation, belonging and civic muscle, and a thriving natural world.

During a humane housing panel, California Assemblymembers Dr. Corey Jackson and Robert Garcia tackled the Inland Empire’s affordability crisis head-on. Jackson stressed the need for government, nonprofits, and the private sector to end siloed work and coordinate strategies. 

“There isn’t a single report, study, or recommendation that doesn’t say we have to stop operating in silos,” Jackson said. “If we’re all serving the same population, we should be coordinating, sharing information, and creating spaces where nonprofits, government, and business can hear the same message and work together. That’s when we can truly call ourselves a community and deliver for the people we profess to care about.”

Pressed on why developers continue building larger, costlier homes, Jackson pointed to the economics of land value and profit margins. He highlighted his bill, AB 317, which incentivizes smaller, more affordable homes so younger generations can buy in the communities where they grew up. 

Garcia said decades of underbuilding are a key driver of high housing costs. “Housing is the issue of our time right now. It is increasingly more and more unaffordable for many families,” Garcia said. “One of the solutions is the supply side — the reason housing is so expensive is because we do not have the units that should have been built decades prior. But, with the recent legislation that was passed is to streamline the development for rental housing and single family homes. The Inland Empire is definitely a place where we can build more housing and make it affordable.”

Jackson pushed back on the stigma surrounding affordable housing. “The biggest misconception is that affordable housing is going to lead to crime and all kinds of other things that you should be afraid of. And it’s absolutely not true. If you want a safe community, you want to make sure everyone has housing they can afford,” he said. He also placed responsibility on bad actors in the housing market, singling out slumlords for failing to make repairs, ignoring sewage issues, and allowing infestations and mold to persist. “Anyone doing business in the housing market… has a responsibility, and those are not negotiable,” he said.

He also addressed “not in my backyard” opposition. “We need to stop saying we want housing, but I don’t want ‘that type of housing near me’ because that type of housing is going to ‘bring those kinds of people,’” Jackson said. “To be honest, those kinds of people don’t want to live near you anyway.”

The discussion expanded beyond housing to food insecurity, with Jackson noting recent federal cuts to SNAP benefits. He said he hosted a statewide listening session to prepare for the impact and secured funding to keep California’s food bank support at $60 million instead of dropping to $6 million. He also addressed environmental concerns about streamlined housing legislation potentially paving the way for unchecked warehouse or industrial development, saying, “We’re in a crisis. The status quo is no longer acceptable. If we see people taking advantage of it, there’ll be bills to close those holes — but we cannot be afraid to act.”

Following the panel, Inland Empire Community News sat down with Jackson one-on-one. He reiterated his call for coordinated, cross-sector action, stressing that housing, homelessness, and food insecurity are deeply interconnected. “We have to stop working in isolation,” he said. “Government, nonprofits, and business all need to be hearing the same message and working from the same plan.”

Throughout the summit, speakers linked humane housing to the broader vital conditions, arguing that neglect in one area — whether transportation, education, jobs, or environmental health — can cascade into others. The event challenged leaders to align policy, funding, and grassroots efforts to reinforce one another, rather than work in silos.

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A county investment to the Inland Empire Community Foundation established the program that offers “flexible, affordable loans” to local nonprofits, officials said. The loans seek to address the financial stress organizations often experience when traditional funding is difficult to acquire.

Established by a one-time allocation from the county, the IECF will manage the revolving loan fund that will start with $2.5 million for loan capitalization and $500,000 for startup and administrative costs during the initial two years, according to the county. After the first phase, interest earnings and loan repayments will replenish the fund to sustain it as a lasting resource for local agencies.

“The revolving loan fund represents an exciting opportunity to empower local nonprofits and significantly enhance their ability to serve our communities,” Dawn Rowe, San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman and 3rd District Supervisor, said in a statement. “Because these funds revolve back into the program, we can continually reinvest in even more organizations, magnifying the long-term positive impacts across our county.”

According to the county, nonprofits often face difficulty getting timely funding because of delays in reimbursement from state or federal grants. As a result organizations often have to postpone facility upgrades, equipment purchases or the hiring of critical personnel.

The revolving loan fund provides a financial buffer that can enable nonprofits to quickly qualify for larger state and federal grants by providing the upfront capital needed for matching-fund obligations or to do “necessary capacity-building projects,” according to the county statement. As a new perpetual resource, organizations’ loan repayments to the loan fund create new lending opportunities that sets the stage for continuous growth and resilience in the nonprofit sector.

“By directly investing in our nonprofit community, we’re ensuring critical services reach residents when and where they’re most needed,” Board of Supervisors Vice Chair and 5th District Supervisor Joe Baca Jr. said in a statement. “These loans will allow organizations to expand and improve services, creating stronger communities throughout San Bernardino County.”

Loans will be awarded based on an applying organization’s operational strength, financial stability and repayment capacity, officials said. Priority goes to nonprofits that significantly improve the delivery of services and address pressing local challenges, particularly in underserved and low-income communities. The funding priority is for services to the county’s most underserved “vulnerable populations,” such as seniors, children 5 years old and younger, foster children and youth, people experiencing homelessness and residents of low-income communities.

“We are delighted and grateful that the county has approved this investment for our nonprofits,” Inland Empire Community Foundation CEO and President Michelle Decker said in a statement. “A revolving loan fund for working capital to help nonprofits grow is an innovative idea and new for the Inland Empire, so the board has done something special and we look forward to partnering with county to help build nonprofit capacity to meet more needs of county residents.”

The county will also provide technical assistance to loan fund applicants and loan borrowers, officials said.

The IECF intends to actively market the loan fund in an effort to attract further private investment to make the fund more robust, according to the county.

Information on loan terms, how to apply and other loan details were not immediately available.

The IECF was founded in 1941 and is the oldest philanthropic organization serving Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

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“We hope to have this project completed by the end of the year,” VRS Executive Director Javier H. Lopez said. “It’s been a long process but we’re looking forward to completing it soon.”

A Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) with the county is helping the nonprofit organization with the costs associated with this necessary project.

“We need to keep our families safe, including the children and seniors that we serve,” Lopez said. “Also, there are many times when we shelter women experiencing domestic violence and having a fence will help deter anyone from trying to walk in and cause trouble.”

He said that there have been recent thefts with items stolen from the property in broad daylight since the parking lot is currently accessible from a public street. Lopez said they are hoping to install more security cameras in the near future as funding becomes available.

Bids will be accepted until noon on Nov. 15, 2024. A bid package that must be submitted with each bid can be picked up at 200 E. Menlo St. in Hemet by contacting Chet Kassotis, who is handling questions and bid walks. He can be reached at 909-725-3489. Text is the preferred method of communication.

For more information about VRS, please visit www.valleyrestartshelter.org.

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Riverside County government’s income will be higher than originally expected — by almost $100 million — as the current fiscal year draws to a close, but “financial pressure” continues to build as priorities demand more outlays, according to a report that the Board of Supervisors will review Tuesday.

The Executive Office’s 2023-24 third-quarter budget report will be among the top items on the board’s agenda. It will be the final analysis of existing finances prior to the start of 2024-25 budget hearings next month.

“While the near-term financial outlook appears stable, challenges are looming in the years to come,” the EO stated in the 50-page report. “While we are projecting increases this fiscal year and next, it should be noted that the pace of growth is slowing, while costs continue to rise to maintain the status quo, let alone increase service levels. Additionally, the need to maintain or replace our aging facilities adds financial pressure.”

Aggregate discretionary revenue is projected to reach $1.224 billion, just over $80 million more than first estimated at the beginning of the current fiscal year, when officials expected inflows by June to total $1.14 billion.

According to the report, property tax revenue, motor vehicle in lieu of property taxes and interest earnings on county treasury pool investments are all coming in at higher levels, driven in part by inflation.

There was no reference in the third-quarter update to the state’s sizable budget deficit, which the California Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated to be $68 billion, and how that may impact funding levels for a number of state-supported programs countywide going into 2024-25.

The board generally has a free hand in allocating discretionary funds, as opposed to programmed, or non-discretionary, appropriations, which are earmarked for a range of social, health and other budget mechanisms.

The 2023-24 budget is roughly 15% larger than 2022-23’s, which was about $7.45 billion.

A bright line in the midyear budget report issued in February was that aggregate reserves would likely reach $677 million, as opposed to the initial prediction of $555 million, by June.

The county received almost $500 million in 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act allocations and another $480 million in 2021 American Rescue Plan Act money. Just under 10% of the federal infusions have been applied to “budget stabilization.” Some of the revenue remains available and is being allocated to community development and related programs.

The funds were previously used for homeless and rental assistance programs, along with other social welfare efforts, but they’ve also been appropriated for capital improvement projects.

Hearings on the proposed 2024-25 fiscal year budget are slated for June 10-11.

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HEMET, CA — Riverside County supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved the allocation of $796,680 in federal relief funds to support a Hemet youth program aimed at encouraging participants to pursue fire service or related careers.

“I applaud (county Housing & Workforce Solutions) for making this happen,” Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said. “A community fire cadet program is something we don’t have much of in the county for young men and women looking for a public safety career. I thank everybody for making this happen.”

Housing & Workforce Solutions sought the allotment of American Rescue Plan Act funds for expansion and further development of the existing Hemet Community Fire Cadet Program.

Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez, whose Fifth District encompasses Hemet and San Jacinto, is a major supporter of the program, which he described as an effort to encourage high schoolers and college-age residents to “explore opportunities in public safety.”

“The program will impact the county as a whole, as the youth (who) complete it will have the opportunity to … become viable candidates to fill vacant public safety positions throughout the county,” according to an HWS statement.

The county will enter into a roughly 30-month contract with the Hemet Fire Department to expand its Community Fire Cadet Program, offering up to 60 participants paid internship training opportunities, in courses that run about eight weeks long.

The contract will expire in December 2026.

“The partnership with the (fire department) will provide vocational training assistance and direct connection to established vocational training programs that offer further training and preparation to become an emergency medical technician, firefighter or paramedic,” HWS said.

The amounts slated to be paid to those who qualify for the program were not specified.

The board appropriated $6.2 million in ARPA funds to HWS for a range of uses.

In 2021, the county received $480 million in ARPA money and almost $500 million in 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act allocations.

The funds have been used for homeless and rental assistance programs, along with other social welfare efforts, but they’ve also been appropriated for capital improvement projects.

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