Monument Impact is seeking to expand its ability to help low-income residents, often immigrants, prosper in the Bay Area.
It only took minutes for Marvin Saravia to go from budding entrepreneur to unemployed handyman.
His business was among 13 last year to receive grants from the nonprofit, which totaled slightly more than $13,000. More grants are being awarded this year, and they typically amount to $1,000 to $3,700. The organization also provides reimbursements for certain business fees, which can prove a challenge to companies getting off the ground.“I was so depressed,” he added in Spanish, through an interpreter. “My business would have ended there.
A decade ago, the organization merged with another Contra Costa County nonprofit, Monument Community Partnership, that had been focused on community organizing and health-related issues. It was then that it took on its current name, Monument Impact, which harkens to the Concord street along which its main offices exist, Monument Boulevard.
“Economically, they want to be self-sufficient,” said Judith Ortiz, Monument Impact’s executive director. “And housing is just such a great need. And if housing is not stable, then everything else seems to also fall apart.” Much of the nonprofit’s work remains focused on connecting day laborers with prospective employers. Every weekday morning, usually before the break of dawn, dozens of people assemble at the organization’s nondescript storefront in Concord, sipping coffee and waiting for someone from the nonprofit’s list of employers to walk in requesting help.
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