Title
Resolution to Approve and Appropriate FY 23 Budget and Allocations for 5-Year Safety Net Grants as Part of the New Human Service Partnership - $712,442 Budgeted (General Fund) (8 Votes Required)
Memorandum
In 2021, the Washtenaw Coordinated Funding Partnership ended. In 2022, Washtenaw County, the City of Ann Arbor and the Washtenaw Urban County created the New Human Services Partnership to replace Washtenaw Coordinated Funding.
The Washtenaw County and City of Ann Arbor Leadership team have been integral to the development of the New Human Services Partnership, which is working to integrate equity throughout the process, and shift the focus of human services funding to address issues of poverty, racism, and trauma as the root cause of institutional inequities.
As a reminder, the overall goals of this funding program include:
• Desire to make impact and move the needle for those facing institutional inequities, while also supporting the safety net
• Incorporate Equity throughout the process including
o Accessibility to the application process
o Community-inclusive review process
o Equity review of applicants prior to award / contracting
o Equity in service delivery
• Focus on addressing institutional racism, poverty, and trauma as root causes of institutional inequity
• Redevelop strategic framework for investing resources to be focused on an Equitable grant making and process while achieving high impact outcomes
o Outcomes/goals co-created with experts and community
o Incorporate lessons learned from COVID-19 response and previous COFU model
o Accessibility for grantees - allow for under-represented, new, or growing groups to access funding
o Ease of process - for applicants and staff
o Flexibility in funding/programming to allow for pivots and learning, including emerging needs
• Partnership continues to allow for shared communication, links to community partners, ongoing need, support in place, etc.
The New Human Services Partnership will be adding an enhanced evaluation and equity assessment component. A subset of the Leadership team reviewed proposals from evaluators and selected the University of Michigan School of Social Work Program Evaluation Group. The U of M Program Evaluation Group (PEG) will help each grantee conduct an equity self-assessment and will provide feedback and other forms of support to help grantees take steps to create practices that promote equity, such as developing board members and staff that represent the communities being served. All New Human Services Partnership grantees will receive intentional support that allows them to build capacity so that they can sustain the equitable practices they start during the grant period. Additionally, grantees will need to make progress on the DEI goals set in this action plan and improve the equity practices of the organization in order to continue being funded throughout the five-year funding period. This accountability measure helps prevent grantees from neglecting their identified areas of growth and helps ensure that human services in Washtenaw County continually improve at promoting equity.
In addition to the support around equity and DEI, the U of M Program Evaluation Group will be working with all grantees around data collection, outcome creation and regular reporting on data, metrics and evaluations. PEG will also be able to provide capacity building to agencies related to data collection and reporting as well.
Detailed information on the equity framework and overall timeline can be found on the webpage here: <https://www.washtenaw.org/3422/New-Human-Services-Partnership-Planning>
As part of the process, three different funding rounds are planned for 2022:
• Safety Net Grants:
o 5-year commitments in the range of $200,000-300,000 per grantee per year (Current funding round)
• Mini- grants:
o 1-year grants to support trying new ideas, and/or supporting newer agencies up to $40,000 (Summer)
• High-Impact grants:
o 5-year commitments with an expectation of positive outcomes showing real change for households served. Funding at $200,000-300,000 per grantee per year (Fall/winter)
Several funding sources have been identified for the overall New Human Services Partnership including the following:
• Washtenaw County General Fund (annual) - $1,015,000
• City of Ann Arbor General Fund (annual) - $1,207,529
• City of Ann Arbor American Rescue Plan Funds (one-time) - $1,682,630 to be administered through a separate subrecipient agreement with OCED
• Washtenaw Urban County (annual)- 15% of Annual Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) (estimated at $316,385)
• Washtenaw Urban County Community Development Block COVID grant (CDBG-CV) one-time - $608,347
Additional funding requests are pending, so as additional funding comes available, additional grants can be provided. OCED is coordinating with the County and City departments related to the balancing some of the more unique funding sources such as ARPA, including eligibility and reporting. Combined, the current available funding for the New Human Services Partnership for 2022 is $2,871,696. The funding will be distributed among the funding rounds in the following ways:
• Safety Net Grants Program
o $1,694,301.07 (59% of overall budget)
• Mini-Grants Program
o $344,603.61 (12% of overall budget)
• High Impact Grants Program
o $832,792.05 (29% of overall budge)
Safety Net Funding Round
The first of the three funding rounds is intended to provide operating support to agencies delivering safety net services broadly to the county and/or to fill in any gaps to demographic groups or geographies in the four safety net services areas defined by our leadership team:
1. Emergency Food System: These supports can include:
• Food pantries
• Home delivered meals
• Mass food distribution (food warehouse and supply chain for emergency food system)
2. Housing and Homelessness: These supports should come from service providers of
• Permanent supportive housing (PSH) services, Rapid Rehousing and/or
• Shelter or other short term and transitional housing, with emphasis on supporting individuals and families with supports to improve housing stability, including case management
3. Health and Basic Medical Needs: These supports should come from service providers providing:
• Payment for medical bills for uninsured or underinsured and low-income medical providers
• Low-income Health care providers or clinics providing dental, medical, mental health care
• Medical case management services (supporting insurance applicants, WIC, MIHP, etc.)
4. Childcare:
• Childcare scholarships for low-income households and/or childcare provision for low-income households
The Request for Proposals was released on March 27, 2022. The Request for Proposals were due on April 25, 2022, and we received thirty-four (34) submissions. Thirty-one (31) were eligible for review with total requests over $8 million.
• 10 applications in Emergency Food System
• 9 applications in Housing and Homelessness
• 8 applications in Health and Basic Medical Needs
• 4 applications in Childcare
During this application period OCED recruited and trained members of the community to review applications and provide feedback on which applicants should be awarded funding. Community reviewers were recruited through various channels including existing elected officials, community board members and residents. The goal of the recruitment was to provide broad demographic and geographic representation. The outreach resulted in a diverse mix of reviewers:
• 10 residents of color, 6 identifying as white
• Age ranges:
o 36-45 - 3
o 46-55 -7
o 56-65 - 4
o Over 65 - 2
• Geography
o Ann Arbor - 8
o Ypsilanti - 5
o Milan - 1
o Pittsfield - 1
o Gregory - 1
• Gender - 15 identify as women and 1 as male
• Income
o <$50,000 annually - 3
o Between $50,000-100,000 - 5
o >$100,000 - 8
OCED staff reviewed the proposals for basic eligibility including financial risk; however, staff did not score the proposals. OCED staff facilitated the community review process, but the final recommendations were made by a diverse group from throughout the County who represented different perspectives and provided valuable context and personal experiences about the applicants. Standardized evaluations and lived experiences were combined in a robust dialogue that covered nuanced ways to promote equity. For example, the community reviewers discussed how certain agencies demonstrated a clear understanding of how their work is equitable and where the agency has room for improvement, while other agencies used buzzwords connected to equity-work without showing a meaningful understanding of how to promote equity. Additionally, community reviewers discussed grant applications in ways that centered equity. Rather than discussing which applications were the best written, the community review conversation focused on which agencies indicated that they will best provide essential services to bolster the safety net for residents who have less access to opportunity and are in the most need. Centering equity within the community review process helped ensure that the final funding recommendations will lead to services that address existing inequities.
All reviewers participated in training, which included review of the New Human Services Partnership, the Safety Net Funding Round, the scoring rubric, and training on the biases reviewers can bring to scoring. The reviewers then scored approximately 7 applications, with each application receiving about 4 individual reviews. Scores were tallied, and then two discussion sessions held to carefully deliberate on the recommendations. The reviewers were incredibly thoughtful in their discussion and consideration, working to bring in equity considerations as well as local knowledge. We want to express our sincere thanks and appreciation for their commitment to this process. The community review process ran from April 28 through May 9, 2022, culminating in recommendations for seven agencies to receive safety net grants. Those recommendations follow in the section below.
Staff
Prepared by: Teresa Gillotti, Director, Office of Community & Economic Development
Reviewed by: Derek Delacourt, Community Services Area Administrator
Approved by: Milton Dohoney Jr., City Administrator
Body
Whereas, in the past, Ann Arbor City Council has allocated funding to community-based organizations for the purpose of delivering important human services to Ann Arbor and County residents;
Whereas, the Coordinated Funding partnership was the previous means by which this funding was allocated, and this process ended on June 30, 2021, and the New Human Services Partnership was created to fill the gap in collaborative human services funding;
Whereas, there will be three funding rounds for the New Human Services Partnership, and the first, Safety Net Funding round, represents 59% of combined funding from all partners and sources;
Whereas, the Ann Arbor City Council approved distributing funding based on its previous budgeted allocation of $1,207,529 annually for all three funding rounds of the New Human Services Partnership;
Whereas, the Ann Arbor City Council approved American Rescue Plan Funds for the Coordinated Funding/New Human Services Partnership in the amount of $1,682,630 as part of resolution R-22-096 at the April 4, 2022 Council meeting, which will be utilized for funding for the Safety Net Funding round;
Whereas, the New Human Services Partnership is funded by Washtenaw County general funds, City of Ann Arbor general funds, City of Ann Arbor American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, Washtenaw Urban County CDBG and CDBG-CV funds;
Whereas, of the total funding allocated, the anticipated amount of funding to be used for the Safety Net Grants program is $1,694,301 annually;
Whereas, the organizations listed below were selected by volunteer community reviewers, who are representative of the diversity of our community; and
Whereas, the Ann Arbor City Council approves the funding recommendation made by the Office of Community and Economic Development based on the community review process for RFP 8311;
RESOLVED, that the Ann Arbor City Council hereby approve funding recommendations for the New Human Services Partnership Safety Net Funding Round to Child Care Network, Corner Health Center, Food Gatherers, Michigan Ability Partners, Packard Health, Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, and Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels for RFP 8311 safety net grant funding in the amounts listed below:
Organization Name Safety Net Grant Funding (Annual)
Child Care Network $250,000
Corner Health Center $244,301
Food Gatherers $250,000
Michigan Ability Partners $250,000
Packard Health, Inc. $250,000
Shelter Association of Washtenaw County $250,000
Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels $200,000
Total $1,694,301
RESOLVED, that the Ann Arbor City Council hereby approve funding up to $712,442 of the $1,207,529 allocated to the New Human Services Partnership for the Safety Net Funding Round to the above listed agencies contingent on the approval of the 2023-2027 budget reaffirmation and subsequent fiscal year budget approvals, for the five-year period July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2027;
RESOLVED, that the City will utilize $560,877 of ARPA funds each year for three years for the grantees listed above in accordance with the spending requirements of American Rescue Plan Act;
RESOLVED, that the City supports to the use of partner funds through Washtenaw County General Fund, Washtenaw Urban County Community Development Block Grant and Community Development Block Grant COVID (CDBG-CV) to provide the remainder of the grants funds annually to the recommended agencies the grant amounts listed above;
RESOLVED, that the Mayor and City Council authorize the City Administrator to direct the Washtenaw County Office of Community & Economic Development to negotiate contractual agreements with funded entities subject to approval as to substance by the City Administrator and subject to approval as to form by the City Attorney;
RESOLVED, that these agreements may be achieved through delegation of contracts and administration of funds to Washtenaw County on the City’s behalf;
RESOLVED, that the Mayor and Council accepts the recommendations for funding the Tier Two applications, and approves funding of these Safety Net Grants contingent on the remainder of necessary funds being made available by non-City or City ARPA sources;
Tier Two Agency Applicants
(to be awarded if additional funds are available)
Organization Name Safety Net Grant Funding (Annual)
Avalon Housing, Inc. $250,000
Foundations Preschool of Washtenaw County $250,000
Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County $250,000
Washtenaw Health Plan $250,000
Total $1,000,000