BACKGROUND:
In the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023/2024 adopted budget, City Council approved a General Fund Community Assistance Grant Program to comprehensively support requests for grants and sponsorships from community non-profit organizations and other governmental jurisdictions. The program combines $40,000, (formerly funded by the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program and is now being funded through the General Fund) and $30,000 supporting smaller grants in the $1,000 to $3,000 range. While these programs were previously separate because of the different requirements under CDBG, staff is recommending they be combined because the criteria will be the same for all funding requests. Staff recommends grant applications can be submitted for projects with funding requests between $1,000 and $15,000.
DISCUSSION:
Staff is requesting that City Council appoin an Ad Hoc subcommittee to review the applications and make a recommendation to the full Council for formal action. Staff plans to advertise the program on Saturday, July 1, 2023 and request grant applications be submitted by 5:00 pm PDT on Thursday, July 31, 2023. Staff will then provide the applications for subcommittee review and convene a review no later than Friday, August 18, 2023. The subcommittee will then meet to review and make recommendations on which grants to fund. Once the subcommittee recommendations are finalized, the proposed grant awards will be presented to City Council for review and approval at the September 13, 2023 meeting.
Program Guidelines: To be considered for funding:
1. Applicants must be a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization or a tribal or governmental agency.
2. Applicants must be based in Cathedral City or demonstrate they provide services to residents or businesses of Cathedral City.
3. Applicants must be able to demonstrate 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.
5. If funded, the applicant will also need to provide the City a report on how the funding was utilized.
The grant program and grant application will be sent to local media and advertised on the City’s website, social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Nextdoor), and will be included on the Discover Cathedral City website -- See the attached Public Service Grant Application and the Notice of Publication for Grant Applications.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Once grant applications are approved, these grants will be funded from the FY 2023/2024 General Fund budget, budgeted at $70,000. Funding for this program was approved in the adopted budget.
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN:
This action will further Goal C – Fiscal Stability and Sustainability Objective - Cathedral City has economically prospered by facilitating the investment of private dollars in high quality development which benefits the community. We remain financially solvent by instituting prudent fiscal policies and transparent financial practices.