Office of the City Manager
DATE: February 26, 2026
TO: Council Neighborhoods Committee
FROM: Laurel James, Principal Management Analyst
Parneet Dhindsa, Human Services Manager
SUBJECT: Approve the 2026 Council Neighborhoods Committee Work Plan and Grant Program
RECOMMENDATION
1. Adopt a work plan for 2026 that includes three committee business meetings and four neighborhood meetings.
2. Approve the Neighborhood Grant Program Guidelines for 2026.
BACKGROUND
The Council Neighborhoods Committee (CNC or Committee) oversees annual neighborhood meetings and the Neighborhood Grant Program. At its first meeting every calendar year, the Committee adopts an annual work plan consisting of a meeting and activities schedule and reviews and approves the Neighborhood Grant Program Guidelines in preparation for the next granting cycle.
WORK PLAN AND MEETING SCHEDULE
The Committee typically convenes for three business meetings each year. The proposed meeting schedule is shown below in Table 1.
Table 1: Proposed Committee Business Meetings
Meeting Topic Proposed Date
Work Plan and Grant Program Approval February 26
Grant Awards (followed by Networking Reception) April 30 Year-End Summary November/December TBD
Approve the 2026 Council Neighborhoods Committee Work Plan and Grant Program February 26, 2026
The C ommittee holds regular neighborhood meetings in seven areas in the City (six geographically defined areas mapped in Attachment 1 and one specific to mobile home park residents). Each area hosts a neighborhood meeting every two years. In 2026, the Committee is scheduled to hold four meetings as shown in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Proposed Neighborhood Meetings
Neighborhood Location Date
Grant Road/Sylvan Park MV Community Center May 28
San Antonio/Rengstorff/Del Medio MV Community Center June 25 Monta Loma/Farley/Rock Street Stevenson Elementary September 10 Mobile Home Parks MV Community Center October 15
FY 25-26 NEIGHBORHOOD GRANT PROGRAM
Since 1999, the C ommittee 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 organized by self -defined, self- organized neighborhood 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.
The ongoing grant program budget is $50,000. In Fiscal Year 2025 -26, the Council approved an additional $7,500 in pilot funding to allow the Committee to fund new groups without reducing funding for existing groups. At the November 6, 2025, Committee meeting, the Committee directed staff to continue the pilot funding in Fiscal Year 2026-27 (FY 26-27) and the request will be included in the proposed FY 26-27 budget.
The Committee also directed staff to consider an increased grant award limit specifically for larger-scale beautification projects in FY 26 -27. The grant guidelines currently allow groups to apply for funding to support neighborhood improvements like clean -ups, unspecified beautification projects and tree planting, and little free libraries. Larger-scale beautification projects that meet the program’s eligibility requirements would likely require a formal agreement with the City.
Staff has received feedback from smaller volunteer-run community groups that City policies and contracting requirements are prohibitive to this type of collaboration with the City. The Fiscal Year 2025-2027 Council Work Plan includes a project directing staff to create a framework to better support this type of partnership. S taff recommends revisiting funding for larger -scale beautification projects following the development of the framework, which is expected to go before the Council Policy and Procedures Committee in Q4 2026.
Approve the 2026 Council Neighborhoods Committee Work Plan and Grant Program February 26, 2026
Neighborhood groups are eligible for different maximum grant awards based on the number of households in the service area that they define in their grant applications. Table 3 shows the maximum grant awards for FY 26-27.
Table 3: Proposed FY 26-27 Maximum Grant Awards by Tier
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
The application period for the 2026 Neighborhood Grant Program will run from March 1 through March 31, 2026. Staff will notify the community of the program via publication in the Mountain View Voice, emails to the neighborhood e-mail list and 2025 grant recipients, and a post on the City’s webpage. Grant applications and guidelines will be available in Spanish, Mandarin, and English. Staff will host two grant program webinars for potential applicants on March 11 th from
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. and March 12th from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Interpretation will also be available upon request.
Proposed Modification to the Grant Program Guidelines: Alternate Projects
Based on feedback received from the Committee and community members during the 2025 grant program cycle and the November 6, 2025, Committee meeting, staff has drafted modifications to the grant program guidelines (Attachment 2) to allow grant recipients flexibility to request approval for projects other than the ones listed on their grant applications . An “Alternate Projects” section has been added to the guidelines which:
• Allows grant recipients to request approval for an alternate project in the event that they are not able to complete the project(s) listed on their application. • Limits the requests to once per grant cycle.
• Provides authority for staff to review the requests for compliance with program guidelines.
• Requires grant recipients to submit and receive approval for requests prior to beginning the alternate project to ensure eligibility for reimbursement.
These changes are recommended to allow flexible use of grant funding in the event of unanticipated changes to planned projects, to limit the administrative burden of processing requested changes, and to provide clarity about whether project activities are eligible for reimbursement.
Approve the 2026 Council Neighborhoods Committee Work Plan and Grant Program February 26, 2026
NEXT STEPS
Staff will incorporate Committee input into the recommended 2026 Neighborhood Grant Program Application and Guidelines and work with Committee members to select meeting dates, both of which will be presented to the Committee for approval at its first meeting in 2026.
Attachments: 1. CNC Neighborhood Meeting Map
2. Proposed 2026 Neighborhood Grant Program Guidelines