HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 3a. 2024-25 Human Services Grant Funding Item 3a
Human Relations Commission
Agenda Report
For Agenda of: 5/29/2024
Item Number: 3a
FROM: Nestor Veloz-Passalacqua, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager
Phone Number: (805) 781-7073
E-mail: nveloz@slocity.org
SUBJECT: 2024-25 HUMAN SERVICES GRANT FUNDING
RECOMMENDATION
Provide a funding recommendation to City Council for the 2024 -25 Human Services
Grants based on direction from the City Council.
BACKGROUND
The Human Services Grant (HSG) program, formerly referred to as Grants -in-Aid, had a
Council approved name changed in 2022 to best reflect the objectives of the grant
program. The HSG’s purpose is to provide financial support to non -profit organizations
that promote the economic and social well-being of the community members of San Luis
Obispo. Grants are made to local organizations or agencies based in neighboring
communities whose services contribute to the quality of life of City residents. The 2024-
25 HSG application cycle opened on January 22, 2024, and closed on March 1, 2024. A
total of 37 applications were received requesting a total of $495,243.
The HSG Program has a total of $150,000 to distribute and a main funding priority, which
reads:
Homelessness prevention, including affordable and alternate housing, support
services, and transitional housing.
To allow maximum flexibility for funding recommendations dependent upon the received
applications, the following priorities were also approved but were not ranked:
Hunger and malnutrition prevention.
Supportive physical and mental health services for those in need.
Services for seniors, veterans and/or people with disabilities in need.
Supportive, developmental, and care services for children and youth in need.
Services encouraging diversity, equity, and inclusivity in marginalized
communities, including language access services.
HRC held a regular meeting April 3, 2024, which included a public hearing about the HSG
program and its final funding recommendations. During this process, the Grant Review
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Item 3a
Subcommittee provided its preliminary recommendations to the entire HRC, which was
followed by public comment and deliberation. Upon completion of the HRC deliberation,
the entire commission voted in providing a recommendation to City Council.
The 2024-25 Human Services Grant Final Recommendations were before Council May
21, 2024. Council referred the grant funding recommendations back to HRC with direction
to first fund all qualified applications that meet the homelessness prevention main funding
priority. After qualified homelessness prevention applications are funded , the
Commission should consider applications for the additional priorities.
Attachment A includes the entire list of applications, their project/program title, project
description, requested amount, the previous HRC Grant Review Subcommittee
recommendations, and previous HRC recommendations.
NEXT STEPS
After completing the review of the grants applying the guidance and direction from City
Council, HRC is to finalize funding recommendations for the 2024 -25 Human Services
Grant cycle.
ATTACHMENTS
A – 2024-25 Human Services Grant Applications and HRC Funding Recommendations
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2024-25 Human Services Grant Applications and HRC Funding Recommendations
Organization Project or
Program Description of Project/Program Requested
Amount
Previous HRC
Grant Review
Subcommittee
Recommended
Amounts
Previous HRC
Final
Recommended
Amounts
1 5 Cities Homeless
Coalition
Homeless
Prevention &
Rapid Re-
Housing
This program provides wrap-around services
including case management and direct financial
assistance with a special emphasis on the housing
support program. It will ensure services are low-
barrier and accessible and assist them to resolve
their housing crisis before focusing on other non-
housing related services. The use of the funds will be
for rental assistance and relocation stabilization (staff
& application fees and deposit).
$20,000 $10,000 $10,000
2
Big Brothers Big
Sisters of San
Luis Obispo
County
Mentoring to
Help
Disadvantaged
Youth Meet
their Full
Potential
This program provides professional caseworkers to
pair and sustain mentoring relationships for
disadvantaged youth residing SLO. Caseworkers
(bilingual) will screen, train, pair with a mentor,
support, assess, and provide referrals to address
physical, mental health, and developmental service
needs, including connections to hunger prevention
programs. The funds will be used for local
government/schools and for staff salaries.
$10,000 $0 $0
3
CASA of San Luis
Obispo County,
Inc.
General SLO
CASA Program
Support
This program advocates for the best interests of
abused and neglected children within the court
system. CASA recruits, trains, and supervises
volunteers who advocate for this vulnerable
population with the goal of ensuring that each and
every child grows up in a safe, nurturing, and
permanent home. The funds will be used for rent and
utilities.
$20,000 $10,000 $10,000
4 City Farm
2025 Youth
Empowerment
Program
This program supports the Summer of 2025, City
Farm SLO’s Youth Empowerment Program (YEP)
will provide 1,500 individual instruction hours to 35
teens. 5,000 pounds of produce will be delivered to
the SLO Food Bank as a result of programming,
impacting thousands of residents. The funds will be
used for two facilitators, a farmer, food and
beverage, tools and materials, and liability insurance.
$15,000 $6,974 $8,948
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5
Community
Action
Partnership of
SLO County
Homeless
Prevention/Sta
ble Housing
Services
This program will provide emergency financial
assistance to residents in households in SLO that
are at risk of being evicted and need help with a
rental payment, or who need support securing
housing with first month’s rent and/or a security
deposit. The funds will be used for financial
assistance payments and "indirect expenses @8%".
$10,000 $10,000 $0
6
Community
Action
Partnership of
SLO County
Families in
Transition (FIT)
This program is a long-standing program and
partnership with SLCUSD focused on supporting
homeless students and their families. This project is
intended to support 10 families with children (five
homeless, five at risk for eviction) enrolled in
SLCUSD that reside in the city. The funds will be
used for housing-related case management services
(described above) and direct financial support to
secure and maintain permanent housing for these
youth and their families.
$10,000 $0 $0
7
Community
Counseling
Center
Sharing the
Therapeutic
Space:
Professional
and Affordable
Psychotherapy
Options for
Underprivileged
Populations in
the City of San
Luis Obispo
This program supports the small collective of
volunteer therapists and coordinators of a flourishing
organization that serves thousands of low-income
residents, students, and unhoused individuals and
provides training opportunities to current and future
mental health professionals. The funds will be used
towards 3 salaries, telehealth annual fee,
rent/mortgage, and operating expenses.
$5,000 $0 $0
8 Corazon Latino
Support
Groups -
Corazon Latino
Central Coast
This program will have reoccurring focus groups
where marginalized communities will have access to
multiple agencies providing information and support
regarding homeless prevention, hunger and
malnutrition prevention, language services, and
physical/mental health services. It also aims to
provide childcare, food, and ongoing rotation of
partner agencies at these support groups. The funds
will be used towards 5 salaries and food & beverage.
$20,000 $0 $0
9 Diversity
Coalition
BIPOC Board
Leadership
Training
Program
This project supports the ongoing efforts of the
BIPOC Board Leadership program that conducts 2
trainings per year with 12-15 diverse BIPOC
participants, that is followed by board placement
assistance for BIPOC individuals with nonprofit
boards. It also supports their partnership with
$10,000 $0 $0
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Spokes in providing DEI trainings to agencies aiming
to diversify their boards. The funds will be used for
staff salary, training materials, and meals for cohort.
10 Family Matters
Consulting
Circle of
Security -
Prevention
Program
This program aims to address the systematic
injustices marginalized children experience in the
education system. This is done by addressing the
challenges by implementing evidence-based
interventions with Circle of Security focused on
promoting equity and inclusion in early childhood
education. The funds will be used for two facilitators
and one program coordinator who will provide
accessible support groups.
$15,000 $0 $0
11 Food Bank of SLO
County
No-Cook Bags
for SLO County
Residents
Experiencing
Homelessness
This program will provide continued funding for our
No-Cook Bags program, bags of portable foods
designed for homeless residents who do not have
access to a kitchen and cannot benefit from typical
Food Bank distribution items. This program has
proven to be very successful in the City of San Luis
Obispo, with approximately 1,500 No-Cook Bags
distributed each month to homeless residents of the
city to ensure access to nutritious meals. The funds
will be used to purchase food for program.
$20,000.0
0 $0 $0
12 Hospice of SLO
County
Caregiver
Support and
Grief
Counseling
This program is meant to offer a variety of services
to help keep home caregivers healthy and well as
they care for a loved one with a life-limiting
diagnosis. The funds for this program will be to
support the personnel costs associated with
sustaining the Caregiver Support and Grief
Counseling program so that they can meet the
community’s ongoing need for in-home caregiver
support and grief counseling services.
$20,000 $0 $0
13 Housing Authority
San Luis Obispo
Housing
Stability with
Supportive
Housing
Program
This program's objectives include housing stability,
transitioning from homelessness and rapid-rehoused
and evection prevention. The funds will be focused
on 4 areas including transportation, hunger,
transitional housing, and incentives and this program
intends to serve 1,099 residents in the city.
$20,000 $10,000 $10,000
14
Independent
Living Resource
Center
Disability
Rights and
Cultural
Awareness in
The program will focus on providing a series of
workshops to community members in two key areas
Workshop Focus #1: Advocacy Skill Development
and Workshop Focus #2: Disability Inclusion in the
Workplace, followed by a Disability Culture Night.
$8,691 $0 $0
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San Luis
Obispo
The funds will be for workshop consultant, travel,
lodging, space, supplies, support, and access
accommodations.
15 Jack's Helping
Hand
Assistance for
Single Mothers
of Children with
Special Needs
in the City of
San Luis
Obispo
This program is designed to empower and enable
families, professionals, and the broader community
to meet the unique physical, mental, and medical
needs of special children and young adults under the
age of 21 within SLO County. There are currently 35
children receiving direct assisted, 54% of whom are
being cared for by a single or divorced parent. The
funds will be used for food gift cards, lodging for out-
of -town medical appointments, transportation/fuel
expenses, medical equipment, medical bills and
emergency needs.
$10,000 $0 $5,000
16
Jewish Family
Services of San
Luis Obispo
Homeless
Support
Services
This program will provide necessary support services
to the homeless population by offering services such
as: DMV registration, vehicle insurance, car repair,
and gas cards; additional needed assistance for
items such as: storage, food, impound fees,
propane, rent and deposits, medical and legal
expenses. The grant will be used for operating (90%
direct services) and administrative (10%) costs.
$7,300 $7,300 $7,300
17 Literacy for Life The Literacy
Program
This program's mission is to recruit and train
community members to become volunteer tutors to
work one-on-one with learners and guide them to set
and meet their individual literacy learning goal (s).
The goals can be as vary by the needs of the
student. The funds will be used for general operating
expenses.
$10,000 $10,000 $10,000
18
Long Term Care
Ombudsman
Services of San
Luis Obispo
County
Ombudsman
Services
This program has services for people who live in
long term care facilities (skilled nursing or residential
care facilities for the elderly) or who are seeking
information about facilities. Services include resident
advocacy, facility monitoring visits, complaint
investigations and resolution, information and
assistance, and systemic advocacy. The funds will
be used for staff salaries.
$5,000 $5,000 $5,000
19 Lumina Alliance
Emergency
Shelter
Program for
Sexual Assault
and Intimate
This program is the only agency on the Central
Coast that operates a rape crisis center and has
shelters that are consistently at capacity and receive
an ever-increasing number of requests for services
$20,000 $0 $10,000
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Partner
Violence
Survivors
and calls to the 24/7 Crisis & Information Line. The
funds will be used for utilities, equipment, repair, and
food to support general operating costs, as well as
any necessary repairs, for our shelters that arise.
20 One Cool Earth
Garden
Education
Program
The project will support our programming at four (4)
SLO school gardens, providing year-long nutrition
learning for 1669 students. A Garden Educator is
provided to school campuses who teach a series of
108 seasonally aligned, hands-on, and standard-
based lessons per school per year. The Garden
Educator will also hold two (2) community garden
workdays and one family cooking night per school.
The funds will be used for educator wages, garden
supplies, and cooking supplies.
$5,000 $0 $0
21 PathPoint
Independent
Living
Technology for
People with
I/DD
This program will provide independent living
technology that will enable people with intellectual
disabilities and developmental disabilities served in
the Independent Living Services (ILS) and
Coordinated Family Supports (CFS) to learn the
skills necessary to retain stable housing, live
productive lives, and achieve maximum
independence. The funds will be used for smart
home hubs, automated medication dispensers,
tablets, visual alert systems, livescribe pens, smart
cooking devices, smart televisions, smartwatches,
and electric lift desks.
$15,000 $0 $0
22
People's Self-Help
Housing
Corporation
SLO
Supportive
Housing
Program for
Low-Income
Households
This program will provide an average of 16 hours of
service every week benefitting PSHH’s San Luis
Obispo residents. New residents receive information
about SHP services upon move-in from Residence
Managers, who live onsite. Managers also provide
additional outreach whenever a resident speaks to
them about a particular difficulty with which social
workers could assist.
$20,000 $0 $0
23
Pregnancy and
Parenting Support
of SLO County
Nurture SLO
Families
This program provides local families with emotional
support, practical assistance, and connections to
community resources from pregnancy through early
childhood. They offer free psychotherapy with trained
clinicians through partnership with Community
Counseling Center. The funds will be used for 3 staff
positions, rent, program supplies and staff training.
$15,000 $0 $0
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24 RACE MATTERS
SLO Shop Talk
This project seeks funds to support 12 monthly
programs centered on Black wellness and healing,
as well as wellness and healing for other
communities of color, through our program, “Shop
Talk,” which advances health equity and wellbeing
through clinician-led discussion groups. The funds
will be used for all costs (staff, honoraria, facility
rental, admin, cleaning, marking, food, and supplies.
$10,000 $0 $0
25 Restorative
Partners, Inc.
Opportunity to
Fund
These programs designed to assist individuals facing
financial barriers, mental health issues, and
substance abuse challenges as they reintegrate into
our community. This year, they expect to assist 80
individuals as they work to overcome homelessness,
unemployment, and stigma. The funds will be used
for client's emergency needs.
$10,000 $6,974 $0
26
San Luis Obispo
Child
Development
Resource Center
Child and
Family Play
Therapy
Program
This program will fund the therapy team in providing
additional counseling and rehabilitation services.
Grant funds will expand services, accommodating 20
additional therapy clients annually. The funds will be
used to provide 325 therapy hours and 8 hours of
professional development, focusing on cultural
competencies.
$10,000 $0 $0
27
San Luis Obispo
Committee for
Education on
Alcoholism, dba
Middle House
Alumni Housing
This project seeks to help clients of Middle House to
relocate to independent living after a satisfactory
stay at Middle House, which is difficult to find
housing due the extreme expense of pre-rental
requirements (i.e.., security deposit, first & last
months’ rent, etc.).
$6,250 $6,250 $6,250
28
San Luis Obispo
Committee for
Education on
Alcoholism, dba
Middle House
Homeless
Prevention
This project seeks to help clients of Middle House
with the opportunity to continue and improve their
path of recovery and wellness in a safe, healthy, and
appropriate environment.
$5,600 $5,600 $5,600
29
San Luis Obispo
County Bicycle
Coalition, dba
Bike SLO County
Cycling Without
Age
The new Bike SLO County program, Cycling Without
Age, addresses social isolation for seniors by
offering bicycle rides for those who can no longer
cycle. The funds will be used for materials,
marketing, insurance, and background checks to
increase volunteer efforts.
$5,500 $0 $0
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30
San Luis Obispo
Legal Assistance
Foundation
Senior Legal
Services
This program provides assistance to approximately
2,000 SLO County residents in need of legal
assistance or referrals to other resources, 700+
being seniors. SLSP’s resulting caseload of 250+
clients each year includes civil matters such as
homelessness prevention, elder abuse, consumer
finance, government benefits appeals, and preparing
for incapacity/end-of-life. The funds will be used for
all operating costs.
$20,000 $0 $0
31 Senior Nutrition
Program
Meals that
Connect
This program strives to meet the growing needs to
feed the senior population, especially those who are
at or below the poverty level. The funds will be used
to cover food costs, kitchen staff labor, supplies,
rent, transportation cost for our San Luis Obispo
dining site at the United Church of Christ
Congregational.
$15,000 $7,500 $7,500
32 Shower the
People
Shower the
People
The program will continue to provide access to a free
shower to the homeless at our current four (4) sites
in San Luis Obispo. It provides clients with a shower
as well as a new pair of underwear, socks, t-shirts, a
comb, and hand sanitizer.
$20,000 $20,000 $20,000
33 SLO County
UndocuSupport
Direct Housing
Aid for
Immigrant
Families
This program is intended to provide aid to local
undocumented focused community-based-
organizations that directly interface with the
undocumented population to provide direct housing
aid in the form of rental assistance, security deposit,
and/or utility payment to avoid shut-off. The funds
will be used for grants, staff, and administrative fees.
$7,442 $7,442 $7,442
34 SLO Noor
Foundation
Whole
Community
Care Project
This program will open a solely owned and operated
mobile health clinic in addition to expanding capacity
at its existing two clinic sites in San Luis Obispo. It
will provide new and existing clinical programs, a
new care coordination program, and a new
community outreach campaign to better reach and
serve “hard-to-reach” populations in the City of San
Luis Obispo. The funds will be used for staffing and
program services.
$20,000 $0 $0
35
Smart Share
Housing
Solutions
Community
Housing
Provisions/Hom
eless
Prevention
The program is a two-pronged approach, providing
immediate direct housing to City residents and
planning for broader longer term housing support in
upcoming years through the Waterman Village
Residency Plan. The funds will be used for research,
$14,460 $5,960 $5,960
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training, stakeholder input, draft review and final
draft.
36
Transitions
Mental Health
Association
Growing
Grounds
Downtown
This program is one of three Growing Grounds social
enterprises that provides vocational training and paid
employment to 20 TMHA clients with the hopes of
adding 4 clients, with a focus on individuals who are
at risk of homelessness. The funds will be used for
staff salaries, client wages, PR taxes, credit
card/service charges, insurance, and
telecommunication.
$20,000 $10,000 $10,000
37 United Way of
San Luis Obispo
Community -
Driven Initiative
in San Luis
Obispo:
Preventing
Poverty and
Building a
Sustainable
Community
This program focuses on two primary areas of
impact that include community collaboration and
poverty prevention by providing tax resources, a
resource fair, a financial literacy program, and by
increasing volunteer engagement. The funds will be
used for staff salaries, administrative costs,
advertising, "miscellaneous," and platform
subscriptions.
$20,000 $11,000 $11,000
TOTAL $495,243 $150,000 $150,000
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