It was David Mering’s turn to share. On a conference call in March 2020 with a group of independent advertising agencies, he looked a bunch of other CEOs in their virtual eyes and confessed that COVID-19 put Mering, the Sacramento-based branding company he founded in 1985, in a chokehold. It was tough to admit. Other owners had shared minor updates, nothing catastrophic. But most of Mering’s clients came from the travel industry, so the agency (whose motto is “We move people”) found itself at the mercy of a pandemic. “You can imagine, when everything went into lockdown, we were hit
Stockton City Council discussions at its regular meeting Tuesday evening included issues such as additional federal COVID-19 funding, a homeless housing grant and the renovation of McKinley Park.
A resolution to accept an Enterprise Community Partners philanthropic grant of more than $680,000 to cover the operating costs of Town Center Studios, new housing for chronically homeless Stockton and San Joaquin County residents, was included in the meeting s consent agenda.
The city received a $4.3 million state grant, which included the philanthropic funding, in September through Project Homekey. The $600 million program gives funding for purchasing and rehabilitate housing, including hotels, motels, vacant apartment buildings and other properties, and convert them into permanent, long-term housing for people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness.