CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
title
Approve the proposed 2024 Stub Year Mental Health and Opioid Remediation Grant funding allocations
body
DEPARTMENT: Community Services
SUBMITTED BY: Miranda Barfuss, Community Grants Coordinator
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
In response to the community’s growing need for mental health resources, the 2024 Annual Operating Budget included an additional $250,000 in Social Service Grant (SSG) funding restricted to mental health service providers.
Additionally, as a result of a national opioid lawsuit brought by state and local governments, the City began receiving settlement payments last year. The City anticipates receiving annual payments totaling more than $650,000 through 2038. These funds must be used for substance abuse response and prevention efforts. The 2024 Annual Operating Budget designated $100,000 to fund grants to community partners focused on substance abuse and addiction.
Since the 2024 Annual Operating Budget approval occurred after the annual 2024 SSG application process was closed, a special six-month grant process or “stub year” was established to allocate and award the funding. In coordination with Mental Health Awareness month, a call for applications for both the $250,000 mental health funding and $100,000 opioid remediation funding was launched May 1, 2024 and applications closed May 31, 2024.
Application requirements
In order to maximize impact on Naperville’s mental health and substance use needs, organizations applying were not required to be a non-profit 501(c)3. School districts, medical providers, coalitions, and faith communities were welcome to apply, as well as non-profit and for-profit organizations and providers. Projects for mental health funding were required to impact mental health needs and serve Naperville residents. Projects for opioid remediation funding were required to qualify as an approved abatement program, meeting the terms of the opioid settlement.
DISCUSSION:
The City received 23 applications requesting a total of $815,523 for the mental health grant program. The City received five applications requesting a total of $122,517 for the opioid remediation grant program.
Due to the need for an accelerated approval and award, applications for the 2024 six- month program were reviewed and scored by members of the Community Services Department using the same 100-point scale of the SSG scoring matrix. Applications for the 2025 grant year, as well as subsequent years, will be reviewed and scored by the multi-disciplinary group that reviews the Social Services Grants.
This process is in accordance with Resolution 24-06 that holds that the City Council will retain final allocation authority of Social Services grants but will no longer review applications or individually recommend funding prior to approval.
After the 2024 applications were reviewed, funding recommendations were decided based on the resulting point scores according to the following criteria:
SSG Scoring Criteria
1) Project goals and objectives are clear, measurable, realistic and address the program priorities and documented community need
2) Project need and community benefit are justified and fully documented
3) Project provides a new or improved service to the target population that does not duplicate existing services and encourages collaboration with other organizations
4) Project provides services to Naperville residents conveniently and in sufficient numbers or provides crucial services to a subset of Naperville residents
5) The applicant has sufficient experience, resources and staffing to successfully implement the project within a one-year timeframe and can manage the grant, including documentation of benefits, compliance and reporting
6) The applicant has made efforts to secure other funding for the activity
7) Application is complete, with all required attachments
FISCAL IMPACT:
$100,000 from national opioid lawsuit settlement payments will be awarded to four applicants.
$251,300 from annual Food and Beverage tax revenue will be awarded to 19 grant recipients. The calculation used to allocate the City Council portion of the CY2024 SSG Final Awards (File 23-1497, passed on 01/16/2024) resulted in $1,300 in SSG funds remaining unallocated. Those remaining funds were added to the $250,000 allocated for mental health in order to fully expend all SSG funds for 2024.