AGENDA CAPTION:
Title
Consider approval of Resolution 2024-252R, allocating to non-profit agencies Human Services Grant funding of $550,000.00 from the city’s general fund; authorizing the City Manager, or her designee, to act as the Official Representative of the city in matters related to said grant funds, including authorization to execute funding contracts with selected agencies on behalf of the city; and declaring an effective date.
Body
Meeting date: January 7, 2025
Department: Planning and Development Services
Amount & Source of Funding
Funds Required: $550,000
Account Number: 10001275-54249
Funds Available: $550,000 General Fund
Account Name: Outside Agency Funding
Fiscal Note:
Prior Council Action: On December 17, 2024 City Council postponed this item. Prior to postponement a motion to move $10,000 from ACCEYSS to Salvation Army was approved. A motion to move $15,000 from HOME Center to Salvation Army ($10,000) and Nosotros La Gente Emergency Assistance Program ($5,000) remains on the table for discussion.
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Background Information:
Annually the Human Services Advisory Board (HSAB), a Council-appointed board, reviews applications for funding allocated to the Human Services Grants through the City’s budget. This year applications for 37 programs and $1.1 million were received from 28 agencies.
Funding is for calendar year 2025. Funding is provided on a reimbursement basis.
The attached blank application form contains the evaluation and risk assessment criteria, and the funding restrictions.
At the Board orientation in August and again before the discussion meetings in November, staff reviewed with the Board some key principles of funding based on the City Council guidance and other feedback received last year. These include:
• The goal is to select the programs that will have the most impact on the highest priority needs of this community.
• Trying to identify highest priority needs for San Marcos using the information provided in the application.
• Reviewing for most impact for the dollar, which could include serving a few people in depth for lasting change or serving many people for a specific need.
• Realizing it does not make sense to fund all applicants for several reasons, including having to split the funding among more and more agencies into small pieces that will have less of an impact.
• Treating all applicants equally for consideration of this funding. It would take extensive review of agency financials to determine which agencies “need” the funding more than others. Actually, all agencies have to continually seek funding, so they all need this funding.
• Concentrating on the formal scoring system as the mechanism for making the decisions on which programs will receive funding, and how much. Discouraging assigning percentages across the board or referring to personal passions in the decision-making process.
Council approved Resolution 2023-25R providing guidance for the HSAB at the January 17, 2023, Council meeting. Amendments to the draft resolution made by City Council during the meeting were inadvertently left out of the exhibit. Corrections are shown as an attachment to this ARF.
Council Committee, Board/Commission Action:
Agencies presented information about each program to the board in weekly meetings August 29-October 10. All board members except the non-voting social work position scored each application. The Board met November 7 and 14 to discuss the scoring, application, and presentation for each program, and is pleased to provide the attached recommendation for funding allocations. The Board discussed each application individually, considering the scores, the allocations that had been proposed up front by each board member, and the impact of each program on the need for services in San Marcos. They held a thorough discussion of the merits of each. All board members actively participated in the discussion. The funding recommendation list and scoring are attached, along with each program's application.
Alternatives:
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Recommendation:
The Human Services Advisory Board recommends approval of the funding allocation as shown in the attached Funding Allocation List.