City Council
MEETING DATE: 1/13/2016
TITLE:
Title
Community Assistance Grant Program
End
FROM:
Charlie McClendon, City Manager
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council approve the program guidelines, application, and program schedule, authorize Council discretionary funds and authorize the necessary budget transfer.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The City Council has historically provided support to some community non-profits by way of an appropriation in the budget. Recent Council discussions involved considering additional requests from both the Cathedral Center and the Boys and Girls Club. Additionally, throughout the year requests are received from non-profits for sponsorships or other contributions; often these are small dollar requests. Council discussed the proposed Community Assistance program at study session on December 9, 2015 and directed staff to come back with program guidelines and a plan to implement the grant program.
DISCUSSION:
The City currently provides support to non-profits through the FY 15-16 budget as follows:
Agency Name General Fund Support CDBG Support
Boys and Girls Club $45,000 0
Cathedral Center $18,500 $21,500
CVAG Bus Program $ 3,000 0
Shelter from the Storm $ 3,000 0
Roy's Desert Resource $ 0 $51,500
Due to Federal guidelines, CDBG funding is restricted to programs serving low and moderate income persons so not all non-profits qualify. CDBG procedures also require a new application and funding decision each year. CDBG will continue to be allocated according to current procedures and will not be a part of the Community Assistance Program.
In addition to the contributions listed above, there is a $7,500 line item in the general fund which is used for sponsorships primarily and some contributions. This year, so far, the City has provided a sponsorship to the ACBCI for the Dinner in the Canyon and for the Legacy Hike for Humanity. Other recent sponsorships from this line item included the Cathedral City Historical Society, the Mayor's scholarship awards to High School seniors, the Palm Springs Equality Awards, the Coachella Valley Symphony and the Valley Crime Stoppers.
Staff was asked to try to design a more comprehensive program, where non-profits and governmental agencies would be asked to apply once a year, for the upcoming fiscal year, and funding decisions could be made with all applications on the table. A total funding allocation of $20,000 per year is recommended to fund a comprehensive small award program with all recipients being required to reapply each year and awards capped at $3,000 per organization per year. The Boys and Girls Club and the Cathedral Center, due to the amounts allocated to them and because they are providing services in lieu of the City providing them, will continue to be handled separately in the budget.
Program Guidelines: It is recommended that the Council establish the following guidelines for the program:
1. Applicants must be a non-profit 501c-3 organization or a tribal or governmental agency.
2. Applicants must be based in Cathedral City or demonstrate that they provide services to residents or businesses of Cathedral City.
3. Applicants must be able to demonstrate that they receive funding from other sources and are not relying only on City support.
4. Preference will be given to applicants meeting health and human service needs of underserved populations.
It is further recommended that the program operate under the following schedule to make awards available for the FY16-17 funding year:
February 2016 - Advertise the application process, send letters to existing recipients.
March 2016 - Application submittal period with a deadline of 3-31-16.
April 2016 - Council subcommittee will review the applications and make a funding recommendation to the full Council.
April 27, 2016 - Council approves the funding awards for FY16-17.
Any funding requests received outside of this process and applications not funded or only partially funded due to all the funds being allocated to others will be required to wait and apply in 2017.
Council Discretionary Awards: A final recommendation is that an allocation of $3,000 per year per Councilmember be provided for Councilmembers to make discretionary awards to eligible organizations or to sponsor events not otherwise funded. The guidelines for the award of discretionary funds will be less restrictive, but awards must be made to non-profits or governmental agencies and may not go to private businesses or organizations or to individuals.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Community Assistance Grant program of $20,000 and the Council discretionary awards fund of $3,000 per Councilmember or $15,000 total will require a budget amendment of $21,500 for FY 16-17. Funds of $13,500 are already included in the budget as outlined above.
ATTACHMENTS:
Community Assistance Program Application