𝐁𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 "𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝" 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 “𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡” 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

May 21

It's Solutions Month, and we would be remiss if we didn't address organizations with troubling practices and highlight alternatives. There are a couple of troubling groups in Chico fundraising for purported “solutions” to environmental problems and homelessness that are extremely problematic.

**The first "organization" is Rob Berry's latest racket:**

"Chico Stewards for Parks and Waterways." Sounds great, right? We all love our parks and waterways and want to take care of them. Dig into this though, and it's another money grab by Berry. He is running this faux environmental organization, and money donated is for his personal use. It is in fact registered as a Fictitious Business Name to Rob - not a charity. He is raising money to pay himself to bring legal action against the city and local organizations. Rob is feathering his nest with assaults on the city and local service providers; most notably the lawsuit to stop a tiny home village that would have housed 60 elderly homeless people. The city has not yet made final details available, but he and his co-counsel were asking for $110k from the city for that "service."
Rob moved here from the Bay Area several years ago and has since made a living harassing the city and service providers, and obstructing actual solutions.
𝑾𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒑 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 20+ 𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑺𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑽𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒆?
If you are truly invested in the stewardship of our parks and waterways, donate to Butte Environmental Council. They have been working in our community since 1975, organizing cleanups, providing education and advocating for policies that protect our community.

The second concern is a new local homeless “outreach” group, Point of Contact.

We want to lead with this: a few of the folks involved in this group have been longtime volunteers in the community and are well-intentioned, if misguided about the principles of effective outreach. Because of this we are particularly saddened at the lack of professionalism and adherence to best-practices from this group. One of the founding members is known for his harassment and videotaping of unhoused people, even when asked/told to stop. He posts videos of folks who are struggling without their permission, sometimes going back late at night to harass people after dark when they are "home" in their tents and can't avoid him.
Also troubling is the way this group uses all the local conservative dog whistles - people and organizations who provide services to the homeless are “enabling,” "encouraging drug use," and making people live in "horrible conditions." The reality is of course that local service providers and volunteers are working mightily to address those very issues with limited resources, lawsuits, and NIMBY preventing the advancement of solutions. In line with the disproven conservative talking point that people aren't from the area, they also have a heavy focus on bussing them elsewhere - no matter if they are from here. Kind of like they say happens to Chico.

Outreach is important and laudable. However, the behavior of Point of Contact is alarming; The way they treat people on the streets is often callous, out of touch and disrespectful. Topping it off, their openly political pandering to conservatives, and lack of clarity around best practices means we simply cannot support them.

We hope this group will consider engaging with social workers and service providers to learn best-practices and become an asset to the community at some point. For now, if you are interested in donating to those providing real solutions, there are a number of better organizations, including CHAT - Chico Housing Action Team and Crisis Care Advocacy & Triage.

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐔𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐔𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐨

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