HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 4b. Annual Community Needs Workshop Planning Item 4b
Human Relations Commission
Agenda Report
For Agenda of: 9/7/2022
Item Number: 4b
FROM: Beya Makekau, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager
Phone Number: (805) 781-7073
E-mail: bmakekau@slocity.org
SUBJECT: ANNUAL COMMUNITY NEEDS WORKSHOP PLANNING
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommend that the Commission hold the community workshop in its traditional
format, with a focus on alignment between community needs and grant funding priorities.
The City is preparing to engage in its financial planning process for FY 2023-25, which
includes a robust community engagement component. Following the financial planning
process, Commissioners can identify if a more robust community needs workshop should
be built into the grant process for Grants-in-Aid, Community Development Block Grant,
and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion High Impact Grants in the following year.
Commissioners may consider changing the name of this year’s workshop to depict the
focus of this engagement effort more appropriately.
BACKGROUND
Annually, the Human Relations Commission hosts their Community Needs Workshop.
This workshop allows the public to provide comments on current community development
and human service needs in our community as it pertains to current grant programs
offered by the City. This input is used by the HRC to review and update funding priorities
for the Grants-in-Aid (GIA) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs.
The primary function of this workshop is to inform the public and key stakeholders about
the grant process, provide an overview of eligible activities, and describe how activities
are selected to receive CDBG and GIA funding through the City of San Luis Obispo.
During the workshop, City staff will review, in detail, both grant programs and provide a
historical account of previous funding trends and priorities. The goal of engaging the
community is to ensure that current grant programs and funding priorities still reflect
community needs.
Given the primary focus of the workshop is to inform the community about current grant
program process and priorities, staff recommends that the Commission considers
renaming the workshop to provide clarity regarding the overall workshop scope.
Commissioners are asked to share workshop information with key stakeholders and
Commissioner liaison groups.
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