CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the proposed FY 2021 Social Services Grant funding allocations
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DEPARTMENT: City Clerk’s Office
SUBMITTED BY: Ruth Broder, Community Grants Coordinator
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The City Council established a $250,000 Social Services Grant (SSG) program in 2005 to enhance the ability of local not-for-profit agencies to provide needed services to the community. In 2012, the Council increased funding to $300,000 to allow for a set-aside for projects that target current community needs. Grant funding was increased to $500,000 in FY 2015, and remains today, using a portion of the Food and Beverage Tax funds. The total allocation is divided into three separate amounts as follows:
$400,000
Of the total allocation, $400,000 is set aside for agencies that provide services that address one of the program’s five general funding priorities below:
1. Emergency Services
Emergency shelter, food and personal care items, and emergency assistance
2. Seniors
Respite care, meal delivery, home sharing, mental health counseling
3. Self-Sufficiency
Financial counseling, education, childcare, employment services, and substance abuse services
4. Special Populations
Persons with physical, developmental or mental health disabilities
5. Youth
Mentoring, counseling, pregnancy prevention/education
This year, staff allocated $3,000 of the $400,000 to the Sidewalk Assistance Program. These funds will be used to pay the homeowners’ share of replacement costs for low and moderate-income residents whose sidewalks have been identified for replacement by the TED Business Group.
$50,000
A total of $50,000 is allocated to programs that address a particular community issue as identified by the City Council. For FY2021, the Council selected mental health community awareness and prescription drug abuse prevention programs.
$50,000
The remaining $50,000 is reserved for the City Council to allocate to initiatives of their choice.
Applications are evaluated based on the extent to which they meet the following seven criteria:
1. Project goals and objectives are clear, measurable, realistic and address the SSG 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. Agency has sufficient experience, resources and staffing to successfully implement the project within a one-year timeframe and manage the grant, including documentation of benefits, compliance and reporting.
6. Applicants has made efforts to secure other funding for the activity.
7. Completeness of the application.
DISCUSSION:
The City received 42 requests totaling $1,099,100 for FY 2021. Thirty-five applications totaling $973,800 were for programs addressing the five general funding priorities. Seven applications totaling $125,300 requested funding for Mental Health Community Awareness/Prescription Drug Abuse. Of the 42 applications, 30 projects had previously received funding and 12 were new requests.
An eight-person evaluation team of representatives from the City Clerk’s Office, TED Business Group, Advisory Council on Disabilities, Housing Advisory Commission, Naperville Police Department, and Senior Task Force reviewed and scored the applications based on the criteria described above. Of the 35 SSG applications, 20 had mean scores ranging from 90-99. Returning applicants demonstrated success in achieving their goals and requested higher levels of funding.
The evaluation team applied the following methodology for funding allocations:
• Prioritize existing grantees with high scores, demonstrated success, and maintain existing funding.
• Scores of 95 or more received funding $2,000-$3,000 higher than prior year funding rounded to the nearest $100, with the highest scoring application receiving $5,000 more; scores of 90-94 were funded at approximately 90% of prior year funding; scores of 85-89 received at least 50% of prior year’s funding; applications with scores below 85 were not funded.
Of the seven Mental Health Community Awareness/Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention applications, the top four had mean scores of 91, 90, 89, and 88. The highest scoring project was awarded the full amount of its request. The next three projects were awarded funds within $900 of their prior year award. The remaining projects were not funded by the committee.
The $50,000 reserved for Council award was allocated as follows:
• When more than one councilman recommended a funding amount for a project, the mean funding was calculated and awarded. If a single councilman recommended an increase, that figure was used.
• The resulting increase was multiplied by a factor based on the number of councilmembers who allocated funding.
• The factor was determined by dividing the number of councilmembers recommending the funding increase by the total number participating in the allocations.
• The resulting number was rounded to the nearest hundred dollars and added to the committee’s recommendation.
The recommendations of the evaluation committee and the City Council resulted in $431,000 in funding for Social Services programs and $66,000 in funding for Community Mental Health Awareness/Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention programs.
FISCAL IMPACT:
$500,000 from annual Food and Beverage Tax revenue will be allocated to Social Services Grant recipients.