City Manager’s Office
DATE: February 27, 2025
TO: Council Neighborhoods Committee
FROM: Laurel James, Principal Management Analyst
Kimberly S. Thomas, Deputy City Manager
SUBJECT: Council Neighborhoods Committee Work Plan for the 2025 Calendar Year
PURPOSE
The purpose of this meeting is for the Council Neighborhoods Committee (CNC) to approve a program of work and schedule for the year.
RECOMMENDATION
1. Receive an update on the transition of the Council Neighborhoods Committee from the Housing Department to the City Manager’s Office.
2. Adopt a work plan consisting of three Council Neighborhoods Committee meetings and three neighborhood meetings for the 2025 calendar year.
3. Approve the Neighborhood Grant Program Guidelines for 2025.
BACKGROUND
The Council Neighborhoods Committee (CNC or Committee ) was established to oversee programs and activities intended to improve and enhance the City’s neighborhoods. The primary work of the CNC is to hold neighborhood meetings and implement the Neighborhood Grant Program. Through these efforts, the CNC aims to foster community engagement, enhance neighborhood vitality, and facilitate collaboration among residents and C ommittee members to enrich the fabric of Mountain View.
Initially, the CNC was staffed and its activities were administered by the Housing and Neighborhood Services Division of the Community Development Department. In 2023-24, the City established a stand-alone Housing Department, including the divisions of Affordable Housing and Rent Stabilization. Housing Department staff continued to staff the CNC.
Council Neighborhoods Committee Work Plan for the 2025 Calendar Year February 27, 2025
DISCUSSION
CNC Transition and Support
Starting in 2025, as part of the City’s continuous improvement efforts, staffing for the CNC has transitioned from the Housing Department to the City Manager’s Office. The intent is to realize efficiencies and draw from the expertise and existing efforts of the City Manager’s Office , including communications, multicultural engagement, and human services . This transition will also free up capacity within the Housing Department to focus on their core objectives of facilitating progress on the City’s affordable housing pipeline, developing housing policy, implementing Housing Element programs, and administering the Rent Stabilization Program.
The City Manager’s Office team will carry on the CNC’s successful traditions and offer enhancements, including reformatting and streamlining the development of the update document shared at neighborhood meetings , updating the CNC webpage, clarifying the grants award process, streamlining the grants management process, and enhancing tabling at the neighborhood meetings to increase information sharing. There will be a procedural change to the minutes to align the meetings with City policy, no longer providing the verbatim transcript for the Neighborhood Meetings that was provided last year. Staff will provide a high- level summary of the topics raised.
Work Plan and Meeting Schedules
CNC Committee Meetings
There are three CNC meetings scheduled for 2025, as shown below in Table 1.
Table 1: CNC Committee Meetings
Committee Meeting Date/
Recommended Date
CNC Work Plan and Grant Application Process February 27, 2025 CNC Committee Meeting and Grants Approval and
Networking Reception
April 17, 2025
CNC Year-End Summary November 6, 2025
This first CNC meeting provides for a presentation and discussion of the CNC’s program of work and schedule for the year.
Council Neighborhoods Committee Work Plan for the 2025 Calendar Year February 27, 2025
CNC Neighborhood Meetings
A total of seven neighborhood meetings are held over a two-year cycle, covering each of the six neighborhood areas, as shown on the attached map (Attachment 1), and also including a meeting for mobile home park residents , with each neighborhood/ mobile home group meeting every other year. This year, 2025, is the first year in the two -year meeting cycle, during which three neighborhood meetings will be held, as shown in Table 2. In 2026, there will be meetings for the other three neighborhoods and for mobile home residents.
Table 2: CNC Neighborhood Meetings
Neighborhood
Meeting
Date/
Recommended Date Location*
Moffett Whisman
Neighborhood Area
May 29, 2025 German International School
310 Easy Street, Mountain View,
CA
Central Neighborhood Area June 12, 2025 S.F.V. Portuguese Hall 361 Villa Street, Mountain View,
CA
Springer Cuesta Phyllis Area September 11, 2025 Benjamin Bubb Elementary School 525 Hans Avenue, Mountain View,
CA
____________________
* Locations are subject to change. Staff will provide updates before the meeting should the location change.
Meeting Locations and Format
Meetings are held within the neighborhoods to encourage attendance. Neighborhood meetings are held in person since neighborhood-based venues, such as school auditoriums , do not have the technology to support a hybrid virtual meeting format. To be consistent, Committee meetings are also held in person.
Neighborhood Grant Program
Since 1999, the CNC has supported existing neighborhood groups and encouraged the formation of new groups in Mountain View through the Neighborhood Grant Program. This program provides financial support for activities and events carried out by the groups. Eligible activities and events for the neighborhood grants include, but are not limited to, activities that encourage participation, strengthen neighborhoods, and improve neighborhood conditions.
There is no formal process for establishing groups. Rather, the City recognizes groups or associations once they apply for and are granted Neighborhood Grant Program funds.
Council Neighborhoods Committee Work Plan for the 2025 Calendar Year February 27, 2025
Until Fiscal Year 2021-22, the grant program had a budget of $30,000. Due to Council’s interest in enhancing support for neighborhood groups, Council increased the budget over the past three fiscal years. A preliminary budget request for $50,000 in Fiscal Year 2025 -26 grant funding is being considered to fund the current level of group participation . Staff is recommending an additional $7,500 in pilot funding to create space for the Committee to fund new groups that may apply without a need to reduce the funding for existing groups or to place existing groups and new groups into competition with each o ther. The maximum grant tier awards have been updated proportionately to reflect the increased budget.
Table 3 below shows the tiers for 2025-26.
Table 3: 2025-26 Maximum Grant Awards by Tier
Maximum Award
Tier A: <500 households $1,333
Tier B: 501-1,000 households $2,000
Tier C: 1,001-1,500 households $2,667
Tier D: >1,501 households $3,333
For this year’s program, g rant applications can be submitted March 1 through March 3 1, 2025.
The public will be informed of this funding opportunity via publication in the Mountain View Voice, email blasts to the CNC interest list and current grant recipients, and a post on the City’s CNC webpage. Both the guidelines and application will be available in Spanish, Mandarin , and English. Interpretation will be provided during the two grant information Zoom sessions scheduled from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on March 4 and March 5, 2025.
Modifications to Grant Program Guidelines
During the Fiscal Year 2024-25 grants cycle, previously unencountered issues surfaced regarding the grant program eligibility requirements. These issues were detailed in the December 12, 2024 CNC memo and are summarized below:
• Clarification on specific geographic location;
• “Special-interest” groups;
• Overlapping geographic boundaries; and
• New group bonus.
At the December 12, 2024 CNC meeting, staff proposed potential modifications to the Neighborhood Grant Program to clarify criteria and seek Committee input on the aforementioned items . The Committee approved staff’s recommendations and provided direction, resulting in modifications to the Neighborhood Grant Program, which are summarized Council Neighborhoods Committee Work Plan for the 2025 Calendar Year February 27, 2025
below and include d as Attachment 2. These modified gran t guidelines are pr esented for the Committee’s adoption and will be effective for the Fiscal Year 2025-26 grants cycle.
• Clarify that applicants must identify a specific geographic boundary. Groups may not be Citywide or a group that is of a general nature not tied to a specific location within Mountain View.
The application includes a section for applicants to indicate the geographic area.
• Specify that special-interest groups are not eligible for the Neighborhood Grant Program.
The Guidelines have been modified to clarify this and include an example of “special- interest groups.”
• Allow overlapping geographic boundaries and establish an additional $7,500 as a pilot budget to support the formation of new groups.
Grant Award and Networking Event
The second CNC Committee Meeting will focus on the neighborhood grant awards followed by a networking event. This will be held on April 17, 2025.
This year, the networking event will be held at the Mountain View Community Center or Senior Center. Up to four members from each applying neighborhood group may attend. The purpose of this social event is for groups to get to know each other , share ideas and best practices , and engage with the Committee. Building on the existing practice, staff will evaluate options to enhance the networking event program.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends the Committee adopt a work plan consisting of three CNC meetings and three neighborhood meetings for the 2025 calendar year and approve the Neighborhood Grant Program Guidelines for 2025.
LJ-KST/MS/6/MGR
625-02-27-25M
Attachments: 1. CNC Neighborhood Map and Groups Map
2. Neighborhood Grant Guidelines and Application