[0:02] now. And, uh Good evening,

[0:05] Rockville. We are beginning our

[0:07] meeting on AUGUST 3rd, 2026,

[0:09] and all virtual, and we thank

[0:11] you for joining us here today.

[0:12] I

[0:13] m gonna start with the pledge

[0:22] of Allegiance. I pledge

[0:23] allegiance to the flag of the

[0:26] United States of America. Into

[0:28] the Republic for which it

[0:30] stands, one nation under GOD,

[0:32] indivisible, with liberty and

[0:38] justice for all. Thank you,

[0:39] MISS Sarah Taylor Farrell, uh,

[0:41] have there been any changes to

[0:46] the agenda. MADAM Mayor and

[0:48] council members, there are no

[0:49] changes to this evening

[0:49] s

[0:52] agenda. Thank you. Excellent.

[0:53] Thank you. We

[0:54] ll now have the

[0:54] city manager

[0:55] s report, MR. Jeff

[0:59] Mahalik. Mayor Ash and members

[1:00] of city council, ladies and

[1:01] gentlemen, good evening. I only

[1:03] have 1 item tonight, and that

[1:03] s

[1:05] just to invite people to

[1:07] participate with our economic

[1:08] development strategic plan.

[1:08] We

[1:09] re just starting that

[1:11] process right now. We

[1:11] ve loaded

[1:13] that project up onto engage

[1:14] Rockville and we have the new

[1:15] survey also show you a hard

[1:18] copy of it. There it is. The

[1:20] surveys available for people to

[1:21] go online or to hit the qr code,

[1:24] they pick it up live and please

[1:25] provide their comments. They

[1:27] can track the progress of the

[1:28] of the economic development

[1:30] plan, strategic plan

[1:31] development and provide other

[1:32] comments, we would appreciate

[1:34] it. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you

[1:36] very much, and I just wanted to

[1:37] flag 1 thing between the city

[1:37] manager

[1:38] s office and the city

[1:38] clerk

[1:40] s office, we did have

[1:43] several agenda items added on

[1:44] Thursday for consent, uh, they

[1:45] were trying to get busy and

[1:47] make sure that we get a lot

[1:48] done before the recess. I just

[1:49] wanted to flag that if you

[1:50] downloaded your agenda earlier

[1:51] in the week to please feel free

[1:54] to check that out. Excellent.

[1:55] Thank you, MR. City Manager.

[1:59] Thank you, uh, city clerk.

[1:59] We

[2:02] re now moving on to boards

[2:03] and commissions appointments

[2:05] and reappointments, we do have

[2:07] a few, and I wanted to make

[2:09] sure that, um, uh, it

[2:10] s at

[2:11] least for the human rights

[2:12] commission that we can move

[2:14] forward. Would anyone like to

[2:15] make the motion, Council member

[2:20] Valeri. Sorry, MADAM Mayor, I

[2:21] just had, uh, I was raising my

[2:24] hand, um, for the previous, um

[2:26] Section, I just wanted to, no,

[2:26] it

[2:28] s ok. I just wanted to, I

[2:30] just wanted to remind folks

[2:32] that tomorrow night is National

[2:33] Night Out. So that if they

[2:33] don

[2:35] t know of a gathering, um,

[2:37] you know, you can, you can, uh,

[2:40] check it out. Um, apologies, I

[2:40] don

[2:41] t know what

[2:41] s going on here.

[2:45] Um, we do have, I, I will just

[2:46] note that we are gonna have a

[2:47] proclamation for that and we

[2:47] ll

[2:48] speak to that a little bit more,

[2:49] but please feel free to go

[2:51] ahead if you have any, no, that,

[2:51] that

[2:52] s totally fine. I, I

[2:54] forgot we had a proclamation.

[2:54] That

[2:55] s great. Thank you. No

[2:58] problem. Thank you. Teamwork.

[3:01] Does anyone want to make the

[3:03] motion for our human rights

[3:09] commission appointees. MADAM

[3:09] Mayor, I

[3:11] m happy to do that as

[3:12] well if that

[3:12] s helpful. Please

[3:16] do thank you. Not a problem.

[3:18] Let me just pull it up real

[3:22] quick. I apologize. I

[3:23] m having

[3:28] some slow connectivity issues.

[3:29] And I can as as you

[3:29] re doing

[3:31] that, ok, perfect. Thank you.

[3:34] Yup, not a problem. Um, MADAM

[3:38] Mayor, I would like to Uh, Why

[3:40] I moved the appointment of Anna

[3:44] De Leon. To serve an expiring

[3:45] in 3-year term, a new

[3:47] appointment to serve an

[3:49] expiring 3-year term until

[3:52] APRIL 1st, 2027. And Richard

[3:54] Kaufman, a new appointment to

[3:56] serve an expiring 3-year term

[4:01] until JULY 1st, 2028. Excellent.

[4:04] Do we have a second? Second,

[4:05] Thank you. All those in favor,

[4:06] please raise your hand and say

[4:09] aye. Hi. Alright, thank you.

[4:10] Thank you all very much. Ok,

[4:10] we

[4:13] ll now move back to our

[4:15] proclamations, and we have 2

[4:17] for this evening, uh, 1 is for

[4:19] National Night Out, and the

[4:21] other one is for SEPTEMBER 11th

[4:23] as National Day of Service and

[4:27] remembrance. Um, I will get

[4:29] started with the first, uh,

[4:30] National Night Out, and I see

[4:33] Chief West is on here. I want

[4:35] to just echo and say thank you

[4:36] to all the previous thanks that

[4:36] we

[4:37] ve given to the Rockwell

[4:38] City Police Department. Here is

[4:42] another one, there are. Over 20

[4:44] events across the city that are

[4:46] happening, uh, on every corner

[4:48] of the city, uh, some are large

[4:49] events, some are block parties,

[4:51] and I want to encourage

[4:52] everyone to get out and meet

[4:55] your neighbors. Uh, this is an

[4:57] event that is designed to have

[4:58] neighbors meet each other, talk

[4:59] about what, what we

[4:59] re doing

[5:01] for safety, but also our police

[5:02] department is going to be

[5:04] getting out to all of these

[5:07] events, uh, to meet folks and

[5:08] just to create more

[5:09] opportunities for uh community

[5:12] trust. Trust, partnership and

[5:12] relationship building, uh,

[5:14] there, like, as I said, more

[5:16] than 20 events across the city

[5:18] tomorrow. It will be starting

[5:19] somewhere around 5 o

[5:20] clock

[5:21] until 9, so feel free to get

[5:22] your running shoes on with all

[5:24] of us as we try to crisscross

[5:27] the city. I do want to say the

[5:29] following, we try to get out to

[5:32] as many as we can, uh, but

[5:32] because we have to get all

[5:34] across the city, we are not

[5:36] able to get to all of them, so

[5:37] please know that every single

[5:38] community is in our hearts and

[5:40] our minds, and we appreciate.

[5:41] Every community member that

[5:41] s

[5:43] helping to plan this event. Uh,

[5:43] with that, I

[5:44] m going to, uh,

[5:50] read the proclamation. Whereas

[5:51] the National Association of

[5:53] Town Watch is sponsoring a

[5:55] unique nationwide crime and

[5:56] drug prevention program on

[5:58] AUGUST 4th, 2026 called

[6:01] National Night Out, and whereas

[6:02] the 43rd annual Nationalite

[6:04] provides an opportunity for

[6:05] Rockville residents to join

[6:07] with thousands of other

[6:09] communities across the country

[6:10] to promote cooperative police

[6:11] community crime and drug

[6:14] prevention efforts. The city of

[6:16] Rockville will be celebrating

[6:17] National Night Out 2026, and

[6:18] all residents of Rockville must

[6:20] be aware of the importance of

[6:21] crime prevention programs and

[6:23] the impact that their

[6:24] participation has on reducing

[6:25] crime and drug abuse in the

[6:27] community. Now, therefore, the

[6:29] mayor and council of Rockville,

[6:31] Maryland, do hereby proclaim

[6:34] AUGUST 4th, 2026 as National

[6:36] Night Out and encouraged the

[6:36] entire Rockville community to

[6:38] be a part of this special event

[6:40] and participate in the fight

[6:43] against crime and drugs. And

[6:44] someone moved the proclamation,

[6:44] COUNCILMAN Valeri moves the

[6:45] proclamation, do we have a

[6:47] second? Councilor Van Grak

[6:48] seconds. All those in favor,

[6:51] please raise your hand and say

[6:53] aye. All right. Excellent. And

[6:55] we have a recipient here with

[6:55] Chief West. Chief West, please

[7:01] proceed. Uh, MADAM Mayor, thank

[7:02] you very much, uh, our

[7:05] department. Um, plans for this

[7:07] all year long, uh, the entire

[7:08] department will be out tomorrow

[7:10] night. Uh, we look forward to

[7:11] connecting with all the

[7:13] residents of the city, and we

[7:14] will hit just as many of those

[7:15] parties, the, the police

[7:17] department will be at every one

[7:18] of them, so it

[7:18] s a great

[7:20] opportunity for us to get out,

[7:22] uh, let our residents, uh, meet

[7:23] our police officers and and

[7:25] know us on a personal level, so

[7:26] thank you for all your support

[7:28] and we look forward to it.

[7:29] Excellent. Thank you so much

[7:30] and thank you to the entire

[7:31] team. I know there

[7:32] s a lot of

[7:33] coordination that goes around

[7:34] with reaching out to residents

[7:35] and helping them to plan for a

[7:37] great national night out. And

[7:38] thank you to our community

[7:40] partners. This would not be

[7:41] possible without you. Please

[7:46] join us tomorrow. Ok, we have

[7:48] our next proclamation, which is

[7:49] to recognize SEPTEMBER 11th,

[7:51] and that will be by Council

[7:52] member Jackson. Thank you, uh,

[7:55] mayor. Uh, so this is, uh,

[7:56] proclamation that needs no

[7:57] really introduction. So let me

[8:00] jump right into it. Whereas

[8:02] people of all ages and walks of

[8:04] life across America and around

[8:05] the world collectively

[8:08] witnessed an immense tragedy on

[8:09] SEPTEMBER 11th, 2001, and the

[8:13] events of that day instantly

[8:14] transformed nearly everyone

[8:14] s

[8:15] lives through some through

[8:17] personal loss and many through

[8:19] an unfamiliar sense of

[8:21] individual and national

[8:23] vulnerability and whereas an

[8:24] unprecedented historic bonding

[8:26] of Americans arose from the

[8:27] collective shock, unifying the

[8:28] country in an outpouring of

[8:33] natural. Spirit, fried,

[8:33] selflessness, generosity,

[8:36] courage, and service, and now,

[8:37] therefore, the mayor and

[8:38] council of the city of

[8:41] Rockville, Maryland, do herero

[8:45] proclaim SEPTEMBER 11th, 2026

[8:47] As 9/11, day of service and

[8:49] remembrance in Sherbert to the

[8:51] victims of the 9/11 terrorist

[8:53] attacks, and to the many who

[8:54] rose in service in response to

[8:56] the attacks, and we urge the

[8:59] Rockville community to reserve

[9:01] SEPTEMBER 11th, 2026, as a

[9:03] voluntary day of service and

[9:04] remember, Madamir, I moved the

[9:07] proclamation. Thank you. Do we

[9:10] have a second? I

[9:11] ll second.

[9:12] Thank you. All those in favor,

[9:13] please raise your hand and say

[9:17] aye. Hi, bye, thank you. Uh,

[9:20] just to note, uh, we do still

[9:21] not only do a proclamation but

[9:23] have an event, so please join

[9:25] us on SEPTEMBER 11th from 9 to

[9:26] 10 at Courthouse Square Park,

[9:28] and if you didn

[9:29] t know we have

[9:31] a bench for each person, uh,

[9:34] that is from the Rockville area,

[9:36] uh, who has, uh, passed away as

[9:37] a result of that event and in

[9:39] remembrance of them, so please

[9:43] join us on that day. Ok. MADAM

[9:44] City Clerk, I think that we

[9:45] didn

[9:46] t have anyone signed up

[9:47] for community forum, can you

[9:51] just please confirm? At a mayor

[9:52] and council members, that is

[9:54] correct. There is no signups

[9:56] for community forum so we can

[9:58] move forward. Excellent. Thank

[9:58] you. We

[10:01] re now moving on to our

[10:03] consent agenda item 9, we have

[10:05] several on the list for today.

[10:09] I will read the titles. 9a is a

[10:11] award and authorize the city

[10:13] manager to execute a contract

[10:14] with Ferguson Enterprises of

[10:14] Tyson

[10:17] s, Virginia for request

[10:19] for proposal 30-25. This is, uh,

[10:22] in relation to the advanced

[10:23] metering infrastructure project

[10:25] associated with our water

[10:26] system, and everything is safe.

[10:26] It

[10:28] s just a system upgrade and

[10:29] that is what we

[10:30] re talking

[10:33] about in that item. B. A proven

[10:34] authorize the city manager to

[10:36] execute a change order for

[10:38] contract with Boulevard

[10:40] Contractors Corp of Owings Mill,

[10:41] Maryland for the Lincoln Park

[10:42] Community Center renovation

[10:45] project in the amount not to

[10:47] exceed 316,000 on, on or about,

[10:48] uh, just to note there we will

[10:50] be opening up that Lincoln Park

[10:51] Community Center very soon and

[10:53] that supports that project.

[10:55] Item c, approval of an

[10:57] authorization for the city

[10:59] manager to execute a moderately

[11:00] priced dwelling unit rental

[11:01] program agreements and approval

[11:04] and authorization of the city

[11:06] manager to execute the

[11:07] declaration of restrictive

[11:08] covenants for Twinbrook Place

[11:09] between the mayor and council

[11:11] of Rockville and Twinard

[11:12] Limited Partnership, subject to

[11:14] approval as to legal form by

[11:16] the acting city attorney. This

[11:17] is new housing that is being

[11:19] developed in Rockville and with

[11:21] projects of this size, there

[11:22] are new, uh, Molly Price

[11:24] dwelling units. That are for

[11:27] rents coming online. D.

[11:28] Authorization for the city

[11:30] manager to execute a grants

[11:31] agreement with the us

[11:33] Department of Transportation,

[11:35] Federal Highway Administration

[11:38] for fr 2023, active

[11:39] transportation infrastructure

[11:40] Investment Program for the

[11:43] Maryvale Park to Red Gate Park

[11:44] shared youth Path study. This

[11:46] is in alignment with our Vision

[11:48] Zero plan and we have been

[11:49] working to create this

[11:50] connectivity and this study

[11:52] will help us advance those

[11:54] efforts. E is an award at the

[11:55] Metropolitan Washington Council

[11:58] of Government s, Montgomery

[11:59] County, Maryland cooperative

[12:01] led in invitation, lead

[12:04] invitation forbid, uh, for road

[12:06] deicing to more in salt of

[12:07] Chicago, Illinois, and the

[12:08] amount not to exceed 1 million

[12:10] each year with no arrogate, not

[12:13] to exceed 5 million.

[12:15] Authorization for the city

[12:17] manager to execute a settlement

[12:18] agreement with Engineering

[12:21] Corporation. This is related to

[12:22] water infrastructure as well.

[12:24] Colleagues, does anyone have

[12:25] any questions about these

[12:26] consent agenda items, or shall

[12:31] we move to your proof? Ok. Who

[12:33] can make the motion? Councilor

[12:38] Van Gra. MADAM Mayor, I move to

[12:40] approve consent agenda items a,

[12:44] b, c, d, e, and f. Excellent.

[12:46] Thank you. Do we have a second?

[12:48] Seconds. Councilor Jackson

[12:49] seconds, all those in favor,

[12:51] please raise your hand and say

[12:56] aye. Aye. Aye. Ok. Thank you

[13:04] very much. That Uh. We will now

[13:07] move on to our work session, a

[13:08] work session for grants to

[13:11] nonprofits. I would like to

[13:14] welcome Nick Shushka. She is a

[13:15] collective impact manager in

[13:16] the Department of Housing and

[13:18] Community Development, as well

[13:19] as Sarah Maisel, Program and

[13:21] grant specialist from the

[13:22] Housing Community Development

[13:24] Department and we also have a

[13:26] panelist, Ryan Trout, who will

[13:28] be supporting. He is the

[13:30] director of housing Community

[13:31] Development. Welcome. We look

[13:34] forward to your presentation.

[13:36] Good evening, everyone. Thank

[13:39] you for having Sarah and myself,

[13:41] Nick Suka, tonight we are

[13:44] looking forward to our grants

[13:46] work session about our city

[13:46] s

[13:47] grants nonprofits. As you said,

[13:49] my name is Nick Sushka. I am

[13:50] our collective impact manager

[13:52] here in the city of Rockville.

[13:54] I work in the Department of

[13:55] Housing and Community

[13:56] Development, where I support

[13:57] the city

[13:58] s grants to nonprofits

[14:00] as well as partnership work

[14:02] such as our Bank on Rockville

[14:03] Coalition and our Rockville

[14:05] goes. Efforts. I

[14:05] m joined this

[14:07] evening by my colleague Sarah

[14:08] Mizell, who will introduce

[14:13] herself. Good evening. My name

[14:14] is Sarah Meisel. I

[14:15] m the

[14:17] programs and grant specialists

[14:19] under the Department of Housing

[14:21] and Community Development, um,

[14:21] and I

[14:22] m very excited to share

[14:24] what Nick and I have been

[14:30] working on today. So 4 our

[14:36] presentation this evening. We

[14:37] will be requesting feedback on

[14:39] a few items, we

[14:40] ll provide

[14:42] background and a little bit of

[14:43] overview of the grants programs

[14:45] in question, as well as program

[14:47] design changes, review next

[14:49] steps if those design changes

[14:51] are adopted and then have time

[14:52] to hear the requested feedback

[14:54] from mayor and council this

[14:56] evening. We have 3 questions

[14:58] this evening that we

[14:58] re

[15:00] requesting feedback on should

[15:02] the city adopt 5 proposed

[15:03] impact focus areas to guide

[15:06] future grant funding. Decisions

[15:08] should 1 or 2 of these impact

[15:10] focus areas be prioritized in

[15:12] fiscal year 28, and should the

[15:14] city provide a streamlined

[15:15] renewal pathway for

[15:18] high-performing programs. So

[15:20] some background about our

[15:21] grants programs to nonprofit

[15:22] organizations, we

[15:23] ve provided

[15:24] grants through 2 primary

[15:26] programs are Human Services

[15:27] grants and community

[15:29] organization grants. These are

[15:31] reorganized into a single

[15:32] community services and

[15:34] enrichment grants managed by

[15:37] dhcd in fiscal year 25, and the

[15:37] city

[15:38] s community empowerment

[15:41] matching grants were also moved

[15:43] under dhcd and fy26. There have

[15:45] been several benefits of this

[15:48] reorganization, including

[15:48] stronger nonprofit partnerships

[15:51] as we have worked to not only

[15:53] connect nonprofits that receive

[15:55] grants more to city departments

[15:56] and provide greater support

[15:57] from a single grant management

[15:59] team, but also to one another

[16:01] through efforts like our

[16:03] community partner cafes and our

[16:04] nonprofit symposium, that

[16:04] s

[16:07] also allowed us to connect

[16:08] nonprofits to more resources

[16:09] across the region, like

[16:11] nonprofit Montgomery and the

[16:11] Maryland nonprofit Navigator.

[16:12] We

[16:14] ve worked To improve

[16:16] outcomes tracking and

[16:18] accountability through this

[16:18] streamlined single grants

[16:21] program, and through that we

[16:21] ve

[16:23] identified opportunities to

[16:24] standardize and improve

[16:25] administrative processes. Most

[16:25] recently, we

[16:27] ve been able to

[16:29] make some changes about right

[16:31] sizing requirements for smaller,

[16:34] lower complexity grants up to

[16:35] $10,000 and Sarah will share

[16:38] more about the benefits of

[16:39] those new requirements on the

[16:43] following slides. Thank you so

[16:45] much. Right, so, like Nick was

[16:46] saying, um, we have already

[16:49] begun a little bit of this

[16:50] process transitioning, um, into

[16:52] this model for the lower,

[16:53] smaller, lower compre

[16:56] complexity grants that are

[16:58] $10,000 or under, um, so we

[16:59] already have a model like this

[17:01] in place with the community

[17:02] empowerment Matching grant,

[17:05] which will now be the Community

[17:07] Empowerment mini grants. Um,

[17:09] this model includes one-time

[17:10] upfront payments, one-time

[17:13] post-project reports. For the

[17:14] quality assurance, um, and the

[17:16] reason why this model is in

[17:19] place, um, many of these

[17:21] organizations are smaller

[17:22] volunteer ran, and they

[17:22] re

[17:25] operating on very tight budgets

[17:27] to put on events, maybe 1 to,

[17:30] maybe 2 events a year. Um, so

[17:32] they really rely on this

[17:33] funding within their budgets

[17:36] that are already constrained,

[17:39] um, and 2 right size this model,

[17:40] we do require a quality

[17:42] assurance, but it would be a a

[17:45] post-project report on the

[17:47] metrics that they would submit

[17:49] in the grants process in the

[17:51] application process. Um, so for

[17:54] fy 27. The Community

[17:55] Empowerment Matching grant

[17:57] would be administered by JUNE

[18:01] 2027, um, but for the current

[18:04] fy27 Community Services and

[18:05] Enrichment grant for awards

[18:07] that are $10,000 or less. We

[18:07] ve

[18:09] already shifted this model a

[18:11] little bit, um, in the next

[18:12] slide, you

[18:15] ll see, um, we have

[18:17] these organizations that fall

[18:19] within the $10,000 threshold,

[18:21] um, so for example, we have f.

[18:24] Scott Fitzgerald, literacy.

[18:26] Literacy, um, festival, um, as

[18:28] well as the village Support

[18:30] Network, um, next slide, please.

[18:36] And so for the fy28 proposed

[18:38] budget, we would include this

[18:39] smaller shift from the

[18:40] community services and

[18:42] enrichment grant program to the

[18:44] Mini Grant Program. So the mini

[18:47] grant program for fy28 would

[18:49] accept $10,000 request, that

[18:52] would be the cap, and we

[18:54] anticipate about 15 to 10

[18:56] applicants, um, for that grant

[18:58] program. The application would

[19:01] open in MARCH of 2027 and close

[19:04] in APRIL, and in that time, we

[19:06] would also convene the panel to

[19:09] review those applications. So

[19:11] then by MAY, um, we would have

[19:12] a selection and recommendations

[19:14] to the city manager

[19:15] s office,

[19:18] um, and then by JUNE 2027, we

[19:20] would have the approval via

[19:22] consent agenda item. So, with

[19:23] that, I will pass it back over

[19:26] to Nick. Um, thank you, Sarah.

[19:28] Uh, this is, uh, as Sarah and I

[19:30] noted, and process that we

[19:30] ve

[19:32] been able to begin to implement

[19:34] in the current grant you

[19:35] benefiting some of those

[19:36] grantees who

[19:37] ve already

[19:38] received awards, as we

[19:39] ve been

[19:39] preparing their grant

[19:40] agreements. We

[19:41] ve been

[19:42] notifying them about this shift,

[19:43] letting them know that they

[19:44] ll

[19:46] be able to request that full

[19:48] grant award upfront, um, that

[19:50] has, as Sarah said, been

[19:52] welcome news for some of these

[19:53] organizations, particularly

[19:56] those volunteer-run Stations,

[19:58] and this shift to the fiscal

[20:00] year deadline also allows us to

[20:02] now have both grant programs on

[20:04] the same timeline, and further

[20:06] improve transparency, as Sarah

[20:07] noted by including those

[20:08] approved grants on the consent

[20:10] agenda for mayor and council so

[20:12] that you can see which grants

[20:13] the community panel has

[20:17] selected for these many grants.

[20:19] So as we move into the rest of

[20:19] tonight

[20:20] s work session, we

[20:20] ll

[20:22] be talking about 2 further

[20:24] program design changes that

[20:24] we

[20:26] re proposing, those are

[20:28] primarily about the community

[20:29] services and enrichment grants

[20:31] program, so a little bit of

[20:32] overview about this program,

[20:35] last fiscal year, which we have

[20:37] just finished closing out, we

[20:40] supported 40 programs run by 34

[20:45] nonprofits with their total

[20:45] funding of $1,781,110 as we

[20:47] move into this. This fiscal

[20:49] year, Sarah and I are in the

[20:52] process of setting up our grant

[20:54] agreements and preparing to

[20:55] support 48 programs that will

[20:57] be managed by 40 nonprofits for

[21:03] a total of $184,500,790. These

[21:05] grants are run by nonprofits

[21:06] that meet community needs and

[21:07] enrich the lives of Rockville

[21:10] residents through a number of

[21:11] different service approaches,

[21:13] providing programs, events that

[21:15] connect residents to one

[21:15] another and help improve things

[21:18] like access To needed community

[21:20] services. For this particular

[21:22] grant program, we require

[21:24] quarterly reports, and we also

[21:26] conduct an annual site visit.

[21:28] This helps us to measure how

[21:29] each grant is achieving its

[21:31] outcomes, which are identified

[21:32] by the grantees in their

[21:35] application. It also has the

[21:37] benefit of our staff being able

[21:39] to support nonprofits if they

[21:40] are encountering challenges, if

[21:41] they need further support from

[21:42] the city or from other

[21:45] resources, and we can identify

[21:46] opportunities from

[21:48] collaboration between nonprofit

[21:50] as I noted last year we were

[21:53] able to resume the opportunity

[21:54] to regularly convene nonprofit

[21:55] partners, both that have grants

[21:57] and that partner with the city

[21:59] in other ways through our

[22:01] community partner cafes and our

[22:02] annual nonprofit symposium, and

[22:04] Sarah and I provide ongoing

[22:06] staff support throughout the

[22:07] year, providing those

[22:10] connections for nonprofits to

[22:11] resources and helping to raise

[22:12] more awareness for Rockville

[22:14] residents of the opportunity to

[22:15] benefit from these services,

[22:17] attend nonprofit events. And

[22:18] participate in the programs

[22:21] that they lead. We have

[22:23] continued to identify further

[22:24] opportunities to strengthen

[22:26] this program, as I mentioned,

[22:26] we

[22:27] ve seen benefits of the

[22:29] reorganization so far, but we

[22:31] believe there are still

[22:32] opportunities to streamline

[22:34] requirements, improve the

[22:36] evaluation process, increase

[22:38] alignment with the hoped for

[22:40] outcomes of this grant program,

[22:42] and importantly invest in more

[22:43] long-term outcomes, even though

[22:45] this grant program is a single

[22:47] year of funding, we know that

[22:48] many of our nonprofit

[22:49] organizations apply for funds

[22:51] year to year. And they

[22:52] re doing

[22:53] that with the understanding

[22:56] that many of our community

[22:57] goals and community needs are

[22:58] going to take more than a year

[22:59] to support or implement if

[23:00] you

[23:01] re running a youth

[23:02] development program, you

[23:03] re

[23:04] working with elementary school

[23:05] students through high school,

[23:07] you have multi-year goals, of

[23:09] course, and so we

[23:09] ve identified

[23:11] some opportunities for the city

[23:13] to further support long-term

[23:14] outcomes that we know that many

[23:15] of our partners are also aiming

[23:18] for. The program design changes

[23:19] that we

[23:20] ll discuss this evening

[23:22] have been formed by many

[23:23] different sources. The primary

[23:26] of them being the city of

[23:26] Rockville

[23:27] s 5 guiding

[23:28] principles. In addition, we

[23:30] looked at the recently

[23:31] completed Rockville Human

[23:33] Services needs assessment,

[23:34] which provided opportunities

[23:37] for community members,

[23:38] nonprofit organizations and

[23:40] members of our Human Services

[23:42] Advisory commission to help us

[23:44] understand the evolving needs

[23:45] of Rockville residents, we

[23:46] ve

[23:46] received feedback from multiple

[23:49] grantees. Who have continued to

[23:51] provide feedback to us both

[23:53] directly as city staff and to

[23:54] mayor and council as we noted,

[23:56] we complete annual site visits

[23:57] with our grantees, and we

[23:57] ve

[23:58] had many other opportunities to

[24:01] look beyond the city as well as

[24:03] we consider grantmaking best

[24:04] practices and the

[24:05] evidence-based practices that

[24:08] are outlined in frameworks like

[24:09] the upward mobility framework

[24:09] and the economic mobility

[24:13] catalog. Our first

[24:15] recommendation for this evening

[24:17] is to adopt impact focus areas.

[24:19] This is arising from a few

[24:21] different needs. One need that

[24:23] we see is for well-defined

[24:26] criteria to help our community

[24:27] panel evaluate them the many

[24:29] worthy projects that we receive

[24:31] requests for. As I noted in the

[24:33] year that we are headed into

[24:37] will be funding about $1.8

[24:38] million in grants for 48

[24:40] projects, but our community

[24:40] panel received requests for 2.8.

[24:45] Million dollars in projects, so

[24:46] we expect those applications to

[24:48] continue to greatly exceed

[24:49] available funding, we think

[24:54] that we will be best able to

[24:55] support organizations and

[24:56] prioritizing applications when

[24:57] they know what those grants are

[24:59] going to be evaluated against,

[25:01] and we want to make sure that

[25:02] our community panel has clear

[25:06] criteria that they can use to

[25:08] help them recommend among many

[25:10] worthy projects. Under this

[25:10] framework, proposals that are

[25:13] most Aligned with the impact

[25:15] focus areas would be

[25:16] competitive for the highest

[25:18] ratings, but importantly, we

[25:20] wanted to maintain flexibility

[25:22] for proposals beyond the focus

[25:26] areas as well. And so we

[25:26] ve

[25:28] proposed to continue to

[25:29] prioritize our service areas,

[25:31] as you can see on the bottom of

[25:34] this slide, the city has going

[25:37] into this grant year, 9 service

[25:38] areas, including adult

[25:40] education, arts and culture,

[25:42] housing services, senior

[25:43] services, and we

[25:44] re proposing

[25:47] in the next grant cycle to

[25:49] continue to ask organizations

[25:51] to identify one or more service

[25:53] areas, as well as describe the

[25:54] program and program output.

[25:55] Outcomes. This is something

[25:55] that

[25:57] s been standard in our

[25:58] application for the last couple

[26:01] of years. What we would like to

[26:03] add our 5 recommended impact

[26:06] focus areas that are more

[26:07] outcomes-focused and will help

[26:09] us to establish clear criteria

[26:11] for the community panel to

[26:13] evaluate how well a proposed

[26:16] project aligns with a hoped for

[26:19] outcome. These 5 impact focus

[26:21] areas are housing stability,

[26:24] economic mobility, Youth and

[26:26] family success, service access

[26:28] and navigation and community

[26:33] enrichment and belonging. These

[26:35] 5 impact focus areas if adopted,

[26:37] would allow us to incorporate

[26:40] them into the application and

[26:42] evaluation, and would allow

[26:44] organizations to identify how

[26:45] their services would align with

[26:48] one or more of those impact

[26:50] focus areas. So for example, if

[26:52] we look at the impact focus

[26:54] area community enrichment and

[26:55] belonging, Preferred strategies

[26:58] that we can solicit in fy28

[26:59] applications could include

[27:00] programs that help reduce

[27:04] social isolation. Or proposals

[27:07] for arts, culture, or community

[27:08] building activities that

[27:10] increase belonging or civic

[27:12] connection and an organization

[27:12] that

[27:14] s proposing a program

[27:14] could identify that they

[27:14] ll

[27:18] provide an arts and cultural

[27:20] program that supports community

[27:21] enrichment, and they could

[27:23] include how they would measure

[27:25] how well their programs are

[27:28] increasing belonging. Or, for

[27:30] example, an organization that

[27:31] s

[27:34] providing food distribution

[27:35] services might select youth and

[27:37] family success if the primary

[27:39] outcome of their program is

[27:41] meant to support youth in

[27:43] schools, and reduce hunger in

[27:45] families. So it will really be

[27:47] up to the organizations to, um,

[27:49] identify how they measure the

[27:50] outcomes of their programs and

[27:51] how those would align with one

[27:53] or more of our 5 impact focus

[27:55] areas. And then I want to

[27:55] emphasize that we would

[27:59] continue. To ask organizations

[28:01] to identify a service area that

[28:03] aligns with our current service

[28:05] areas. We will also continue as

[28:08] we currently do, to ask and

[28:09] assess how proposals support

[28:10] our city

[28:11] s Jedi priorities.

[28:11] We

[28:12] ve just recently adopted a

[28:13] strategic plan for Jedi at the

[28:15] seti, and this is a great

[28:18] opportunity for us to align

[28:20] those applications with the

[28:22] Jedi priorities, and we would

[28:25] continue to ask how applicants

[28:25] would improve access

[28:27] opportunity, and outcome. For

[28:28] Rockville residents, that would

[28:30] be across any of these 5 impact

[28:32] focus areas, but what would be

[28:34] different is that we would be

[28:35] able to integrate the impact

[28:38] focus areas into the

[28:39] application and provide a way

[28:41] for our community panel to

[28:42] evaluate how well a proposal

[28:47] would achieve those outcomes.

[28:48] Our second recommendation for a

[28:50] program design change this

[28:51] evening, it

[28:52] s to streamline

[28:53] renewal for high-performing

[28:56] programs. As we mentioned, many

[28:59] of our applications come from

[29:01] organizations that are trying

[29:02] to achieve outcomes that

[29:03] necessitate more than 1 year of

[29:05] funding. We know that many of

[29:07] the needs that our residents

[29:08] have or the community goals

[29:09] that we

[29:09] re trying to support

[29:11] need more than 1 year of

[29:14] funding. We also are aiming to

[29:16] reduce the application burden

[29:17] for high-performing programs

[29:18] that are requesting renewal

[29:21] funding. What we mean by

[29:22] renewal funding are the

[29:23] applications we receive each

[29:25] year, for existing programs

[29:28] that are asking for the same

[29:29] amount of funding. We do

[29:30] receive a significant number of

[29:33] those applications each year.

[29:34] So the second recommendation

[29:34] that we

[29:35] re seeking your

[29:36] feedback on this evening would

[29:40] be to allow a streamlined

[29:41] renewal for high-performing

[29:42] programs that are seeking

[29:43] funding to maintain that

[29:45] program. We would recommend

[29:46] that we allow those

[29:49] high-performing programs up to

[29:51] 2 years of renewals. We could

[29:53] include a modest cost of

[29:54] service adjustment, subject to

[29:57] available funding in the city

[29:59] budget, and after 2 renewal

[30:00] years, those programs would

[30:01] need to resubmit a full

[30:02] application and part

[30:03] participate in the review

[30:06] process again. Importantly,

[30:07] this doesn

[30:07] t mean that

[30:08] organizations are never

[30:10] reviewed, you would always

[30:11] begin with a full application

[30:13] that is reviewed by the

[30:14] community panel, recommended

[30:17] for funding, and then we would

[30:19] use the site visits and the

[30:21] quarterly reports to help us

[30:22] identify high performing

[30:24] programs that are meeting their

[30:26] performance metrics and are

[30:27] achieving their program

[30:28] outcomes. We would begin that

[30:30] process in the year ahead,

[30:33] which would allow us to then

[30:33] identify high-performing

[30:34] programs that could seek a

[30:38] renewal. For next year. If we

[30:40] adopt this approach, we can

[30:42] focus our annual competitive

[30:44] review process on other

[30:47] applications, such as

[30:48] applications from new

[30:51] organizations, proposals for

[30:52] new programs or organizations

[30:54] that are undergoing significant

[30:58] changes, and we can provide

[30:59] more consistent support to

[31:01] organizations that are seeking

[31:02] to continue a program with

[31:03] largely the same amount of

[31:04] funding who have already shown

[31:06] that They are achieving the

[31:09] outcomes of that program. If

[31:11] these changes are adopted,

[31:12] staff will finalize program

[31:14] changes based on mayor and

[31:16] council feedback this evening.

[31:16] We

[31:18] ll communicate to current

[31:19] and prospective grantees

[31:21] through the application

[31:22] materials are technical

[31:23] sessions, and our next

[31:25] community partner cafe, that

[31:27] would take place in SEPTEMBER

[31:30] next month, when we launched

[31:31] the fa28 Community Services and

[31:33] enrichment application, we

[31:34] would incorporate those 5

[31:36] impact focus areas, again, that

[31:37] application will launch next

[31:39] month, and when our community

[31:41] Panel convened it would review

[31:43] the applications with impact

[31:44] focus areas incorporated into

[31:46] the evaluation criteria. This

[31:48] would allow us over the coming

[31:50] year to then measure those

[31:51] high-performing programs that

[31:52] are achieving their outcomes,

[31:55] and we could offer streamlined

[31:58] renewals next AUGUST before the

[31:58] launch of the fy29 application

[32:02] cycle. So we look forward to

[32:03] hearing your feedback this

[32:04] evening again on those 3

[32:07] questions, should the city

[32:09] adopt 5 proposed impact focus

[32:11] areas to guide future grant

[32:13] funding decisions, household

[32:15] stability, economic mobility,

[32:16] youth and family success,

[32:18] service access and navigation,

[32:18] and community enrichment and

[32:21] belonging. And should we

[32:23] prioritize 1 or 2 of these

[32:24] impact focus areas in the next

[32:26] grant cycle, fy 28, and lastly,

[32:28] should the city provide a

[32:30] streamlined renewal pathway for

[32:31] high-performing programs. We

[32:32] look forward to hearing your

[32:36] feedback. I want to say thank

[32:38] you very much for thinking so

[32:39] critically about the programs

[32:41] and the grants so that we can

[32:43] continue to evolve as a city. I

[32:45] know that this has been a

[32:46] progression and things have

[32:48] changed to make things more

[32:50] effective, uh, and, uh,

[32:51] targeted over time. I also want

[32:53] to just thank the nonprofit

[32:55] community members who are doing

[32:57] such incredible work that

[32:57] s

[32:58] really an extension where

[32:58] government can

[33:00] t do, but we can

[33:03] support and lift up, uh, and to

[33:03] really respect and recognize

[33:05] them as third party. In Mary

[33:06] s

[33:08] intermediaries that are doing

[33:10] really good social safety

[33:11] network programming on behalf

[33:12] of the city, uh, and I know I

[33:13] speak on behalf of my

[33:14] colleagues that were just so

[33:17] thankful that we have

[33:19] incredible nonprofits. Uh, I

[33:20] also acknowledge that times

[33:22] have been really hard with a

[33:23] lot of changes that are

[33:25] happening in the federal space

[33:27] that are impacting, uh, grants

[33:28] and payment schedules, etc. And

[33:28] there

[33:29] s been more uncertainty,

[33:31] so thank you for having the

[33:32] nonprofit roundtable so we can

[33:33] wrap our arms around what is

[33:35] happening, what is the

[33:36] Realistic, uh, life cycle of

[33:38] some of the products that

[33:39] nonprofits are working on and

[33:40] what are their challenges and

[33:41] what are the opportunities that

[33:42] we can be better and more

[33:44] responsive to our community, so

[33:44] i

[33:45] ll just say thank you on

[33:45] behalf of all of us. I

[33:46] m going

[33:49] to, I have several questions,

[33:50] uh, but more about just fine

[33:51] tuning and figuring out, um,

[33:53] how do we adjust some of these

[33:55] items, but I really just say I

[33:57] agree with, with the concept

[33:58] and love what you have done

[33:59] here. I wanna, I

[34:00] m gonna call

[34:01] on as if we were starting from

[34:03] the right of me on the dais, uh,

[34:03] and then we

[34:06] ll move. To the

[34:08] left of where we normally sit.

[34:08] So with that, I

[34:09] m gonna turn it

[34:12] over to Councilor Van Grack.

[34:14] Thank you, Mayor, and, uh,

[34:15] thank you guys for putting this

[34:17] together. I know a lot of us

[34:19] have talked, um, significantly

[34:21] over the past number of years

[34:23] about trying to make this

[34:25] entire process more smooth,

[34:28] more smooth for the nonprofits

[34:29] to understand more streamlined

[34:30] and better understanding and

[34:33] focused. So this is exactly

[34:33] what I think we want to see,

[34:35] and I think with the nonprofits

[34:38] in the community want to see,

[34:39] um, with regard to the feedback

[34:42] first, and I think your number

[34:45] 3 is really critical. A

[34:46] streamlined renewal path path

[34:47] path pathway path for

[34:49] high-performing programs, we

[34:49] ve

[34:52] heard it continually from the

[34:53] nonprofits that sometimes going

[34:55] through the process, I mean,

[34:55] I

[34:56] ve heard from nonprofits

[34:58] where the person who was in

[35:00] charge of it missed the packet,

[35:02] you know, and all of a sudden,

[35:02] they

[35:03] re behind the eight ball

[35:06] and things get off track. So

[35:07] providing a streamlined renewal

[35:09] pathway, I think is critical

[35:10] and exactly the right way of

[35:12] thinking about this. Um, with

[35:14] regard to kind of your 1st 2

[35:16] questions, um, I, I, I wanna

[35:18] understand a little bit about

[35:18] essentially what we

[35:19] re doing

[35:21] here, because I know we

[35:23] ve got

[35:23] some significant nonprofit

[35:25] partners that we work with, are

[35:28] we just talking about those who

[35:30] are regularly have been under

[35:31] $10,000 because we

[35:32] ve got some

[35:33] significant partners I know who

[35:38] have been a Above $10,000 who

[35:40] are significant partners that

[35:42] do amazing things. I know

[35:42] there

[35:42] s community reach. I know

[35:43] there

[35:44] s a Rockville Volunteer

[35:45] Fire Department. I know there

[35:45] s,

[35:47] you know, sister cities, are we

[35:49] talking about some of these

[35:50] large partners as well, or we

[35:52] solely talking about some of

[35:54] these larger grants, or a

[35:58] combination of both. Yeah,

[36:00] thank you for that question. Uh,

[36:03] just to make sure that I

[36:05] understand you referenced the

[36:07] grants above 10,000 and below

[36:10] 10,000, um, are you asking if

[36:13] the program design changes for

[36:15] the impact focus areas would

[36:17] affect the $10,000 above grants,

[36:21] or are you asking if the

[36:22] streamlined one-time payment

[36:24] upfront and one-time project

[36:25] report at the end would only

[36:26] affect those grants under

[36:28] 10,000. I, I

[36:28] m actually asking

[36:29] about both. I

[36:30] m trying to

[36:31] understand this process that

[36:31] we

[36:33] re trying to get at, and are

[36:34] we reforming a certain section

[36:36] of them? Are we looking to

[36:38] reform all of them? How is some

[36:40] of the decisions and the focus

[36:40] that we

[36:41] re doing here, going to

[36:43] apply to all of our nonprofit

[36:46] partners, both the ones before

[36:47] under 10,000 and the ones above

[36:49] or below and above. Thank you

[36:51] for that. I understand the

[36:53] questions. So the changes that

[36:56] are underway are to the

[36:57] community empowerment Matching

[36:58] grant program that was

[37:00] previously a very small

[37:02] neighborhood focused, uh,

[37:03] program that some nonprofits

[37:05] participated in, awards were

[37:08] typically 500 to $1000 we are

[37:11] shifting that to a community

[37:12] empowerment mini grant program

[37:15] that will accept proposals up

[37:17] to $10,000 now, and that aligns

[37:18] with the city

[37:21] s other fiscal Go,

[37:22] uh, thresholds where we can do

[37:24] gx payments, for instance,

[37:27] through procurement up to

[37:28] $10,000 so we

[37:29] ve aligned those

[37:31] smaller, lower complexity

[37:34] grants and have taken the

[37:35] opportunity there to streamline

[37:36] so that we can do a single

[37:38] upfront payment up to 10,000

[37:40] and just require that one end

[37:41] of project report, but you

[37:41] re

[37:43] correct, that would be limited

[37:45] to proposals that are $10,000

[37:47] or less for the new community

[37:49] apartment mini grants. Exactly

[37:50] my understanding, I just want

[37:52] to make sure because I know

[37:53] there have been some questions

[37:53] that I

[37:54] ve gotten from folks

[37:56] with regard to uh the

[37:57] understanding. Um, here

[37:57] s

[37:59] another question I had. You,

[38:00] you might have recall, we

[38:00] ve

[38:02] had a number of conversations

[38:06] from the dais with regard to

[38:07] grants and proposals with

[38:09] regard to projects that either

[38:10] the city might be able to

[38:11] provide it, or there

[38:12] s other

[38:13] avenues. I know one of the

[38:14] examples I know MADAM Mayors

[38:15] talked about it, I

[38:16] ve talked

[38:17] about it, deals with some of

[38:20] the um Legal Services, um, that

[38:23] I know that there are other

[38:24] avenues out there with regard

[38:27] to, um, with regard to In

[38:28] absence of our funding, has

[38:32] there been some Discussion with

[38:34] regard to guiding our future

[38:36] grant funding decisions with

[38:38] regard to what other

[38:39] opportunities are out there

[38:40] when choosing which grants

[38:40] we

[38:42] re gonna go forward with the

[38:47] limited funds that we have. So,

[38:49] thank you for the question

[38:52] about have there been

[38:53] discussion of guiding those

[38:54] applications when there are

[38:56] other services that are being

[38:57] provided, that

[38:58] s not something

[39:01] that was discussed per se in

[39:04] these program design changes,

[39:05] although the evaluation

[39:07] criteria do currently ask if

[39:09] there is a community need or a

[39:10] gap that

[39:12] s being met, and I

[39:12] would anticipate that

[39:14] continuing to be a part of the

[39:16] evaluation, but to your

[39:16] question, that specific

[39:21] conversa has not taken place.

[39:24] Um, and so I guess, uh, one

[39:25] more question, um, I know that

[39:27] a number of the nonprofits that

[39:33] have come to us from the city.

[39:34] Are uh squarely within helpful

[39:36] issues, but might not be

[39:39] squarely within one of these

[39:41] impact focus areas. Are we

[39:43] treating these impact focus

[39:47] areas broadly to ensure that

[39:47] we

[39:47] re covering what

[39:47] s needed,

[39:49] and I guess my worry here is,

[39:50] first of all, I love the idea

[39:52] of the impact focus areas. I

[39:53] think that

[39:53] s absolutely our

[39:54] right to make sure they

[39:55] re in

[40:01] some focus areas. My one worry.

[40:02] I accidentally hit my mute

[40:05] button. Um, my one worry is

[40:05] that we

[40:06] re necessarily, I don

[40:06] t

[40:09] want these to be prohibitive

[40:11] with regard to a program, and

[40:12] just one example that I

[40:13] m, I

[40:14] would be thinking of, and I

[40:14] know that they

[40:16] ve been a little

[40:17] bit outside of $10,000 but I

[40:17] m

[40:19] using it as an example because

[40:20] it works. The Rockville,

[40:22] Science Center. Rockville

[40:24] Science Center, I would believe

[40:24] there

[40:25] s youth and family

[40:26] success, and there

[40:27] s community

[40:29] enrichment and belonging, but

[40:29] one could have it as a separate.

[40:33] Whole category for what they

[40:34] provide to the city, and I just

[40:37] wanna make sure that These

[40:39] ideas of these impact focus

[40:39] areas aren

[40:40] t necessarily going

[40:45] to be a hurdle if one does an

[40:45] organization doesn

[40:46] t fall 100%

[40:49] behind 1 or 2 of the proposed

[40:59] funding areas. Nick, you want

[41:01] me to take that one? Uh, sure,

[41:03] go ahead, Jeff. Ok, thanks. Um,

[41:04] COUNCILMAN Van Grak, I wanna

[41:05] want to move back. I

[41:06] m gonna

[41:07] break a rule that I always say

[41:09] to the team about going back to

[41:09] a question that

[41:10] s been asked

[41:12] and answered, but, um, you and

[41:13] a couple other members of

[41:15] council had talked to me about

[41:17] services that people have

[41:18] requested for grants such as

[41:20] legal services that can be

[41:22] provided through other means.

[41:23] We have talked about that a

[41:24] little bit, um, we are going to

[41:26] make sure that when people are

[41:27] applying for grants this year,

[41:28] we

[41:29] re gonna make sure that one,

[41:29] they

[41:30] re trying to hit these 5

[41:32] impact areas, but secondarily,

[41:34] If we know there

[41:35] s another

[41:36] entity that provides funding

[41:37] like for legal services, we

[41:37] re

[41:39] gonna try to steer them there,

[41:39] because what that

[41:40] s gonna do is

[41:40] it

[41:41] s gonna provide funding for

[41:42] some other programs, so I heard

[41:43] that loud and clear from

[41:44] counsel, and I

[41:45] ll talk to the

[41:46] team about that. Um, the other

[41:47] thing I

[41:48] ll mention is just to

[41:49] answer your more recent

[41:51] question is, yes, the goal is

[41:54] to really try to make sure that

[41:56] grantees are looking very

[41:57] diligently at those 5, impact

[41:59] areas that are on your screen,

[42:01] but yes, there are going to be

[42:02] broad enough that people People

[42:04] can make an argument to us, and

[42:04] I can

[42:05] t stress that enough, of

[42:07] where they think their grant

[42:08] falls into one of those

[42:10] categories. And then the

[42:11] evaluation committee is really

[42:12] gonna kind of slice it and dice

[42:14] it and say, yeah, we agree, or

[42:15] it falls a little bit short,

[42:15] and if it

[42:17] s a little short,

[42:17] it

[42:18] ll be ranked lower relative

[42:19] to the ones that we know are

[42:20] right on point, so hopefully

[42:23] that answers the question. No,

[42:23] that

[42:25] s perfect. Uh, you guys

[42:26] have both answered the

[42:27] questions. So that, that helps

[42:29] me with my feedback. So, with

[42:30] those answered, number 1,

[42:33] should the city adopt the 5

[42:36] proposed impact focus areas?

[42:38] Yes, focusing answers, and

[42:39] there are nonprofit partners to

[42:41] those areas are good, however,

[42:43] that leads me to the number 2,

[42:44] where I actually am not in

[42:48] favor of that. Um, I think that

[42:50] we should be allowing folks and

[42:51] allowing nonprofits to be

[42:54] within those, the impact. Focus

[42:54] areas because we don

[42:55] t know

[42:55] what

[42:56] s out there and what

[42:57] programs are going to be

[42:58] proposed, and I would hate to

[42:59] say that we

[43:00] re going to

[43:02] prioritize 2 out of the 5, only

[43:05] to find out that because we

[43:05] didn

[43:06] t prioritize one of those

[43:07] other areas we

[43:08] ve lost out on

[43:09] supporting a fantastic program.

[43:11] So I think you guys are

[43:12] absolutely right to be focusing

[43:14] and ensuring that our nonprofit

[43:16] partners are focusing in areas,

[43:17] but I don

[43:18] t want to necessarily

[43:19] just limit it to 1 or 2 per

[43:21] year, I want to give them the

[43:23] opportunity to say, hey, We

[43:23] re

[43:24] gonna support our community in

[43:26] one of these 5 ways. But

[43:28] fantastic, I love your, the

[43:30] thinking, I love the direction,

[43:32] and I love the focused energy,

[43:33] so fantastic job. I really

[43:34] appreciate what you guys have

[43:37] done. Thank you, council member.

[43:51] We now move on to coman Shaw.

[43:54] Can you hear me? We can hear

[43:58] you. Thank you. I also wanna

[43:59] Echo my There

[44:03] s a Echo. Mhm.

[44:06] Can you, uh, come back to me. I

[44:06] think there

[44:08] s some tech issues.

[44:08] No problem. I

[44:09] ll come back to

[44:09] you after Council member

[44:13] Jackson. All right, thank you,

[44:14] uh, mayor. So first of all, let

[44:16] me say, excellent presentation

[44:18] and excellent work, um, I

[44:18] ve

[44:20] been, uh, uh, talking about

[44:22] this with city manager and with

[44:23] my colleagues for a long time

[44:26] and, you know, the subject of

[44:28] nonprofits and, um, working

[44:29] with the city is something

[44:29] that

[44:30] s near and dear to, I

[44:32] think, all of our hearts, and

[44:32] we

[44:35] ve really done, or you guys,

[44:37] sorry, not we, you have really

[44:40] done a stellar job and doing

[44:40] outreach to nonprofits, um,

[44:43] holding. Um, uh, seminars and

[44:46] the, the, the, uh, the recent,

[44:47] uh, meeting that was held at

[44:50] the second sem uh um Oh, summit,

[44:52] or whatever it was, uh, I

[44:52] ll

[44:53] call it a summit, but the

[44:55] second one was, it was great,

[44:57] and then the nonprofit cafes

[44:58] con continue in that mold, and

[45:00] I know that I

[45:01] ve been talking

[45:03] about, um, having a priorities,

[45:06] uh, for, uh, the grants that we

[45:08] give, sorry, uh, the cat and

[45:09] dog are fighting, so ignore

[45:12] that background noise, um, but

[45:12] I

[45:13] ve been talking about, uh,

[45:15] having these, uh, uh,

[45:17] priorities, and I think this is

[45:18] right in the right direction,

[45:21] um. I, I, so number one, I say

[45:24] yes. Um, number 2, I

[45:24] m a little

[45:26] bit with uh council member Van

[45:29] Grack on, on the answer there,

[45:31] um, not really for any other

[45:34] reason other than, I think it

[45:34] s

[45:38] probably too soon, uh, to, um,

[45:39] uh, drill down into these areas

[45:41] and, and which one should be

[45:42] funded. I think we need some

[45:46] more data, um, uh, to look at,

[45:48] uh, that, and then prioritize

[45:49] the areas. So I think when you

[45:51] another year or 2 years to

[45:52] actually, um, you know, uh,

[45:54] prioritize, uh, the, the focus

[45:59] areas. Um. I also had a little

[46:01] question and, and, uh, this is

[46:03] for, for, uh, um, neck or, uh,

[46:05] maybe, uh, the city manager,

[46:10] but Are we taking care that we

[46:12] in an attempt to put parameters

[46:15] in place and make it, um, uh,

[46:19] easier for, uh, grantees to, uh,

[46:20] understand what we

[46:20] re asking

[46:22] for, um, are we in fact making

[46:25] it harder and will there be

[46:28] assistance for, for them, uh,

[46:32] to navigate this new process. I

[46:32] appreciate that question very

[46:35] much, thank you, yes, we

[46:37] definitely want to make sure

[46:39] that not only do we provide

[46:41] that assistance through the

[46:42] application instructions and

[46:44] our technical sessions, which

[46:47] will provide over a number of

[46:48] different options and days as

[46:50] well as recorded so they can be

[46:52] accessed after the technical

[46:54] sessions, but we want to

[46:55] provide that support,

[46:57] especially to anyone who might

[46:59] be, um, returning and

[47:00] encountering a different

[47:02] process, uh, also The materials

[47:04] that Sarah has prepared, I

[47:07] think do a really good job of

[47:09] showing how the application as

[47:11] it is currently designed where

[47:13] the nonprofits are identifying

[47:15] a service area really connects

[47:17] to the impact focus areas, so

[47:17] we

[47:18] re trained to do our due

[47:20] diligence to show that this

[47:20] isn

[47:23] t, um, a completely new, um,

[47:24] requirement, it

[47:25] s asking them

[47:26] to make that connection between

[47:28] their current program, their

[47:29] current services, and the

[47:30] outcomes that they

[47:30] re proposing.

[47:33] So that we can see how it maps

[47:34] to one of these 5 impact areas,

[47:38] so we hope that it will be both

[47:39] a very straightforward change

[47:39] and we

[47:41] re planning for how to

[47:43] support the organizations as

[47:43] they navigate the new

[47:45] application. All right. No,

[47:46] that, that

[47:47] s perfect. Thank you.

[47:49] So, the, the question on number

[47:53] 3, you know, what, and I, I,

[47:54] maybe you addressed it in your

[47:55] presentation. I just wanna, uh,

[47:57] go back to it for a second.

[47:57] It

[47:59] s what is a high performing

[48:01] grant or program. Yeah, thank

[48:04] you for that question. So we

[48:06] currently have our quarterly

[48:08] reports that are nonprofits

[48:10] provide, um, they show us in

[48:11] those quarterly reports, if

[48:12] they

[48:14] re on track to reach their

[48:15] program metrics, these are

[48:18] metrics that they propose in

[48:19] their application when the city

[48:20] awards them a grant if it

[48:21] s,

[48:23] for instance, less than the

[48:24] amount requested, they have an

[48:26] opportunity to adjust those

[48:27] metrics, but they tell us what

[48:29] they will be tracking this year,

[48:30] and each quarter they tell us

[48:32] if there are On track to reach

[48:35] those metrics. We also have

[48:36] some qualitative questions

[48:37] where they can provide a

[48:39] narrative of, you know, what

[48:39] s

[48:40] going well, what are some

[48:41] challenges they

[48:41] ve encountered,

[48:43] and if they need any assistance

[48:44] or support, so we do that

[48:46] through each of the quarterly

[48:47] reports, and during the site

[48:49] visits, we actually have a

[48:51] virtual or in-person site visit

[48:53] where we dive deeper into those

[48:55] program outcomes and if they

[48:55] re

[48:56] on track or if they

[48:57] re not, and

[48:57] what they

[48:58] re doing to adjust so

[48:59] that they can meet the goals of

[49:01] their grant and they can Serve

[49:02] Rockville residents in the way

[49:05] that they said they would, um,

[49:05] so we

[49:06] ve currently already been

[49:07] doing that. What we haven

[49:08] t

[49:10] done in the past is, um,

[49:14] assigned, um, a, a way of

[49:16] telling the organizations if

[49:16] they

[49:18] re meeting those metrics

[49:19] and then letting them know

[49:20] overall how they

[49:20] ve done. It

[49:20] s

[49:22] been more of a, yes, thank you

[49:23] for your support, it meets the

[49:25] goals. Thank you for the site

[49:26] visit. It meets the

[49:28] requirements, uh, what we would

[49:29] do in the year ahead is create

[49:33] a threshold. So that we could

[49:34] tell nonprofit organizations,

[49:36] for example, if you

[49:36] re reaching

[49:39] 80% or more of your metrics and

[49:39] you

[49:41] re in compliance with the

[49:42] grant requirements, then you

[49:44] can qualify as a high

[49:46] performing program, so we look

[49:47] to use the current process

[49:47] that

[49:49] s in place just to

[49:51] establish more of a feedback to

[49:51] the nonprofit throughout the

[49:53] year so they know where they

[49:53] re

[49:55] at, and then have that actually

[49:57] be a concrete way to provide a

[49:59] streamlined renewal. No, well,

[50:01] thank you, and honestly, i

[50:03] think that this uh high

[50:05] performing programs that this,

[50:06] that streamline renewable power

[50:08] pathway is a really great thing.

[50:10] And so I thank you for actually

[50:11] thinking, uh, about how to

[50:13] improve the, the, the, the

[50:14] grant process, which I think

[50:14] it

[50:15] s gonna do a lot of good for

[50:18] the city as well as for, uh,

[50:19] obviously the nonprofits who

[50:19] don

[50:20] t have to take their time

[50:22] and, and energy, uh, applying

[50:24] year after year after year when

[50:24] they

[50:25] re actually doing

[50:26] everything right. Um, and I

[50:27] thank you too. I, I

[50:27] ve heard

[50:30] from various nonprofit Profits,

[50:31] um, who you

[50:33] ve already kind of

[50:34] streamlined it or taking away

[50:36] some of the requirements, uh,

[50:39] for reporting that were just

[50:41] extraneous and, um, I think

[50:41] that that

[50:43] s really helpful to

[50:44] just boil it down to the meat

[50:45] of what they

[50:46] re trying to do,

[50:49] rather than, uh, mentoring, um,

[50:50] statistics or other things that

[50:52] really were kind of on the

[50:53] periphery, so I know that

[50:53] there

[50:54] s some progress already,

[50:56] so thank you for that, but

[50:57] thank you for these, uh, as

[50:59] well. And then just to a couple

[51:03] of other questions. Um The

[51:04] community in empowering

[51:06] matching program, um, under

[51:08] $10,000. And I, I

[51:08] m not, and I

[51:09] know I talked to the city

[51:11] manager about it, so maybe, uh,

[51:12] Jeff, this is a question for

[51:14] you. Does that take the place

[51:18] of what is in your, uh, office,

[51:22] uh, for,, small, uh, grants, um,

[51:24] uh, for like the neighborhood

[51:27] associations or moon bounces or

[51:28] little things like that, uh,

[51:30] would those go through the

[51:32] community empowerment, uh, the

[51:33] mini grant program that we

[51:33] re

[51:35] setting up now, uh, or is that

[51:37] still in your shop, uh, for, uh

[51:39] Uh, those little, little grants.

[51:40] Yeah, there

[51:42] s still 2 different,

[51:43] um, grants, uh, mini grants

[51:43] that we

[51:44] re talking about are

[51:46] the ones less than $10,000 but

[51:47] the small neighborhood grants

[51:47] that we

[51:49] re talking about, less

[51:50] than $1000. Yeah, those are

[51:52] still be a separate process,

[51:53] very streamlined, quick

[51:54] ,

[51:56] they get the money upfront,

[51:57] simple reporting process. Thank

[51:58] you. Oh, perfect. Thank you so

[52:01] much for, for just clarifying

[52:03] that. Um, I think this, this,

[52:05] uh, under $10,000 is great. And

[52:06] so one final, final question,

[52:07] and I know I

[52:08] ve talked about it

[52:10] with the, the city manager and

[52:12] just, but I, I wanna just bring

[52:13] it up again because I just

[52:16] noticed it, uh, as I was

[52:17] looking through the

[52:19] presentation, so the f. Scott

[52:23] Fisred Literary Festival. So

[52:27] what is it that we, um, uh, uh

[52:31] Have an mou or, uh, that, that,

[52:33] that we do with the uh f. Scott

[52:34] Fitzgerald, and I

[52:35] m not picking

[52:36] on them. It could be a number

[52:38] of things, but I just wanna, uh,

[52:40] uh Just bear with me for a

[52:42] second and, and, and let me

[52:44] know what is it that we

[52:46] actually contract for the f

[52:47] Scott Fitzgerald Literary

[52:49] Festival for. Nick, I think you

[52:51] have a complete answer. Go

[52:54] ahead. Yeah, sure. Uh, so, yeah,

[52:56] constable Jackson that f. Scott

[52:58] Literary Festival or some of

[53:00] these other similar grants that

[53:04] provide like a one-time event,

[53:07] um, we currently have a grant

[53:09] agreement, and it contracts

[53:10] with them according to what

[53:11] they put in their application.

[53:13] So for instance, with the f.

[53:15] Scott Literary Festival, they

[53:16] proposed that they

[53:16] ll host

[53:17] their, um, weekend festival

[53:18] that they

[53:20] ll Provide a certain

[53:22] number of workshops and

[53:24] scholarships as part of their

[53:26] short story contest, and that

[53:29] is still all encompassed in one

[53:31] single grant agreement, uh, the

[53:34] major chef in pulling them into

[53:36] the $10,000 and less grant

[53:38] threshold is that we are not

[53:40] going to ask them to do a

[53:41] quarterly report, they will not

[53:43] have to do an annual site visit

[53:44] once the grant agreement is

[53:46] signed, notarized, and returned

[53:47] once we

[53:47] ve got it on our end

[53:50] completed. We can provide them

[53:52] with their full grant upfront,

[53:54] and then very similar to those

[53:55] former neighborhood projects

[53:56] that you were talking about,

[53:57] the Community empowerment

[53:58] matching grants, they

[53:58] ll just

[54:00] be 1 single end of project

[54:02] report. So just when

[54:04] streamlines it for f. Scott

[54:05] Fitzgerald as an example. No,

[54:05] and that

[54:05] s, that

[54:06] s perfect, and

[54:07] what I was really getting at,

[54:09] and thank you for the, the

[54:10] answer and for clarifying what

[54:12] it is and what it isn

[54:12] t is I

[54:14] just wanted to make sure that

[54:17] as Scott Fitzgerald, um any

[54:17] others that really are like, uh,

[54:20] events or Sponsorships should

[54:22] not go through the grant

[54:25] process, but are separate. So,

[54:25] um, and I think I

[54:26] ve talked to

[54:27] the city manager about that as

[54:28] well, and that that we

[54:28] re

[54:31] setting up a separate, uh, Uh,

[54:32] programming process, and I

[54:32] won

[54:33] t go into that, but, but no,

[54:35] thank you so much for all your

[54:36] work and I, uh, that

[54:37] s it for

[54:39] my questions and, uh, uh, I

[54:41] turned back over to you, mayor.

[54:42] Thank you very much, I

[54:43] appreciate all the comments and

[54:45] questions of my colleagues. I

[54:46] wanted to turn back to

[54:51] COUNCILMAN Bra Shaw. Thank you.

[54:58] Ah Uh, I wanted to echo my

[54:59] There

[55:00] s still a very strong

[55:01] echo. Could you just circle

[55:06] back again? Sounds ok now. The

[55:08] last part of what you said. If

[55:09] you wanna proceed echo is

[55:12] really loud in the rooms, so I

[55:12] can

[55:14] t. Ok. All right, sounds

[55:17] good. Well, then that would be,

[55:20] uh, my turn then I will go, um,

[55:22] so I just wanted to, uh, thank

[55:24] staff again, uh, where I began

[55:25] and, and echo the comments of

[55:27] my colleagues. I have a few

[55:30] questions and I did get some

[55:31] feedback from grantees, and I

[55:32] want to honor the feedback that

[55:32] I

[55:33] ve heard as well. I

[55:33] ll start

[55:35] with some of my questions

[55:38] though. Um, one is, uh Just

[55:39] trying to unders on your first

[55:41] question, adopt the 5 proposed

[55:42] impact focus areas. I think

[55:44] this is spot on to try to help

[55:45] people understand what the

[55:46] strategic areas that we as a

[55:48] mayor and council and the city

[55:50] is trying to advance, you know,

[55:50] there

[55:50] s, there

[55:51] s a lot to be

[55:52] done in the world and we

[55:52] re

[55:53] trying to make sure that we

[55:53] re

[55:54] providing support where it

[55:54] s

[55:56] needed most, but also that

[55:56] we

[55:57] re advancing the strategic

[56:00] priorities of, of, of our city,

[56:02] uh, so the, I do have a few

[56:03] questions about these

[56:04] categories if that

[56:05] s ok. Um,

[56:05] one is I

[56:06] m trying to figure out,

[56:09] uh. As we look at housing

[56:10] stability, economic mobility,

[56:12] youth and family success,

[56:13] service access and navigation,

[56:15] and community enrichment and

[56:16] belonging. I appreciate, uh,

[56:17] Mashika, what you said is that

[56:18] sometimes people can fit into

[56:19] one or the other. I do feel

[56:21] like we did nicely call out

[56:23] housing, but there are 2 other

[56:24] important areas that have been

[56:26] a strategic part of our grant

[56:28] program, which are, uh, the

[56:30] food services because there has

[56:31] been food insecurity, uh,

[56:32] through covid, there was food

[56:33] insecurity as a result of some

[56:34] of the federal changes. So we,

[56:36] this is a, that is a big area.

[56:36] Uh, we

[56:39] ve also been very strong

[56:40] on supporting health, uh,

[56:42] services. So, what they, what,

[56:44] are you thinking that would

[56:46] fall under household stability,

[56:48] uh, should that be called

[56:50] community stability or, uh,

[56:51] would that go under the commu

[56:52] the Service and Access

[56:53] navigation. I think that

[56:53] s

[56:55] interesting that we, you know,

[56:56] include 1 sort of social

[56:58] determinant of health name and

[56:59] not the others too, which I

[56:59] understand you

[57:00] re trying to

[57:01] streamline, but I just want to

[57:02] be sensitive to that cause

[57:04] sometimes people, if they don

[57:04] t

[57:05] see themselves and where they

[57:06] squarely fit, it

[57:07] s a challenge.

[57:09] Appreciate that question. Thank

[57:10] you. I have just flipped over

[57:12] to one of the previous slides

[57:15] to, uh, I think hopefully

[57:17] illustrate where food services

[57:19] or health services might fit

[57:20] and where those would, um, it

[57:22] would be possible to evaluate

[57:23] them in more than one way. So

[57:25] to your point about household

[57:27] stability, um, we have, for

[57:29] instance, one of the preferred

[57:31] strategies could be basic needs

[57:33] access. So looking at food or

[57:36] health care or even utilities,

[57:37] um, under household stability.

[57:39] And some of our grantees that

[57:41] provide food, For for instance,

[57:43] where they look at, um, and

[57:44] measure the number of

[57:44] households that they

[57:46] re serving,

[57:46] they

[57:47] re looking at particular

[57:49] zip codes, um, targeting

[57:51] disparity zones, so they

[57:52] re

[57:53] looking at really more of the

[57:55] basic needs access as an

[57:58] example, um, whereas some of

[58:00] our healthcare grantees have

[58:03] really focused more on case

[58:04] management and helping, uh, the

[58:06] clients as they might get

[58:06] access to one kind of

[58:10] healthcare. To connect with a

[58:12] case manager who helps them to

[58:15] navigate, uh, kind of a more

[58:16] holistic approach to healthcare,

[58:18] um, both of those, I think, can

[58:20] have, um, you know, a lot of

[58:23] connection to our human

[58:24] services needs assessments to

[58:26] the, um, as you mentioned, the

[58:28] rising need that we see in the

[58:32] community, and, um, our hope is

[58:34] that the valuation criteria and

[58:35] the application would allow

[58:36] organizations to really tell us

[58:37] how are they measuring. Success.

[58:40] So are they measuring it

[58:41] because they

[58:41] re looking at

[58:43] household stability and they

[58:43] re

[58:45] really measuring each

[58:46] individual customer, how that

[58:48] household is, you know,

[58:49] benefiting from getting access

[58:51] to food, or maybe they

[58:51] re

[58:53] measuring more, um, the effect

[58:55] of like a healthcare fair and

[58:55] how they

[58:57] re helping connect

[58:59] clients to more services, um,

[58:59] as they

[58:59] re continuing to engage

[59:01] with the same client, and I, I

[59:03] hope that maybe that example

[59:04] would illustrate where we, we

[59:06] see them still fitting into

[59:07] this framework. Yeah, because I

[59:10] did hear Shorthand from

[59:11] household stability to housing

[59:13] stability, and I could see that

[59:14] happening, but if you look

[59:15] under here, cause I, as I was

[59:17] reading it, I thought

[59:18] healthcare was included in that,

[59:19] but then I heard housing

[59:20] stability. So I

[59:20] m wondering,

[59:22] should the name be Community

[59:23] Stability, or are we really,

[59:25] you know, calling out one area

[59:26] of the social determinants of

[59:26] health that you

[59:27] re trying to

[59:28] support for stability, so that,

[59:30] that did give me pause because

[59:33] I did hear that shorthand used

[59:35] and maybe it is broader so that

[59:37] that food and healthcare does

[59:37] stand out a bit more, that

[59:37] s

[59:39] just One of the, one of the

[59:41] areas that I wanted to flag

[59:43] because I did, I did hear um

[59:45] that focus, um, narrowed down a

[59:47] little bit and, and some of the

[59:50] commentary. Um, the other thing

[59:53] I wanted to ask about is, um,

[59:55] are these areas used for

[59:57] criteria, so for example, I

[59:59] heard from a grantee, uh, that

[1:00:02] said, well, if I, do I have to

[1:00:04] hit x number of these focus

[1:00:05] areas to be able to make my

[1:00:06] application stronger. I don

[1:00:06] t

[1:00:06] think that

[1:00:07] s what

[1:00:07] s intended,

[1:00:07] you

[1:00:08] re allowing people to pick

[1:00:11] one. They MAY have an overlap,

[1:00:11] but that

[1:00:13] s not like going to,

[1:00:14] um, be a challenge for them,

[1:00:16] for example, if the Science

[1:00:18] Center, uh, is really focusing

[1:00:19] on community enrichment and

[1:00:19] belonging. They

[1:00:21] re not going to

[1:00:23] be dinged necessarily because

[1:00:23] they

[1:00:25] re not doing, um, economic

[1:00:26] mobility, for example, which

[1:00:27] they, it might, but I just, I

[1:00:29] just wanted to to get that

[1:00:30] clarity for nonprofits who MAY

[1:00:33] be watching. Yes, that

[1:00:33] s

[1:00:35] correct, in the evaluation

[1:00:39] criteria, it would not Give

[1:00:40] more points for achieving more

[1:00:42] impact focus areas, it would

[1:00:43] measure how well it aligns with

[1:00:46] one or more. Ok, thank you. And

[1:00:47] what is your thought on the

[1:00:49] naming, um, for household

[1:00:51] stability, I, I think what you

[1:00:54] mean is the whole family, food

[1:00:56] secure, housing secure, should

[1:00:58] that be community stability? Or

[1:01:00] do you really mean to say

[1:01:01] housing stability, cause I

[1:01:01] think there

[1:01:03] s, there

[1:01:03] s housing

[1:01:04] stability in community

[1:01:05] stability, but I just wanna

[1:01:06] make sure that we

[1:01:07] re not

[1:01:08] inadvertently turning people

[1:01:08] away from that category cause

[1:01:09] they don

[1:01:09] t see themselves

[1:01:16] fitting in that. I mean, it

[1:01:16] s

[1:01:17] really up to the body if you

[1:01:19] guys wanna change it, that

[1:01:19] s

[1:01:20] the recommendation that we came

[1:01:21] up with. We think it

[1:01:22] s holistic

[1:01:22] enough from here, but it

[1:01:22] s up

[1:01:24] to the body if you guys want us

[1:01:26] to change the, the focus areas,

[1:01:26] that

[1:01:26] s, that

[1:01:27] s certainly your

[1:01:29] pride of, thank you. Thank you.

[1:01:31] Yeah, I, I did hear it narrowed

[1:01:32] down, so I just, I, I think

[1:01:34] either we have to be very clear

[1:01:35] in our description or make it

[1:01:38] more about comm cause I do want

[1:01:39] the the food support that we

[1:01:40] ve

[1:01:42] been providing is huge, uh, as

[1:01:43] well as the healthcare in

[1:01:44] addition to the housing, so, um,

[1:01:47] I Do like economic mobility, I

[1:01:49] like, I like the categories. I

[1:01:49] just, that

[1:01:50] s the only one that

[1:01:53] was, um Maybe I didn

[1:01:53] t see as

[1:01:55] inclusive as some of the, the

[1:01:56] stability and safety areas we

[1:02:00] previously funded. Um, in terms

[1:02:01] of prioritizing one of the

[1:02:03] impact focus areas. Uh, so, One

[1:02:05] of the things that has come to

[1:02:06] that I was thinking about is in

[1:02:10] the past, we did separate out

[1:02:11] caregiver from non caregiver

[1:02:13] grants, I do think that we

[1:02:13] ve

[1:02:15] seen social service needs grow

[1:02:17] and we have a, uh, you know, we

[1:02:19] have increased funding to

[1:02:20] nonprofits to try to be

[1:02:22] responsive to the needs of our

[1:02:25] community and the caregiver

[1:02:26] without trying to, um, say we

[1:02:26] don

[1:02:27] t support arts and culture,

[1:02:28] you know, so I think we

[1:02:29] ve,

[1:02:29] we

[1:02:30] ve been balancing and say

[1:02:30] we

[1:02:31] re going to continue to

[1:02:32] support these important

[1:02:34] programmatic areas that are you

[1:02:35] know, are vital for our

[1:02:38] community, uh, and, and to

[1:02:40] thrive, we have sometimes

[1:02:42] expanded pots and the caregiver

[1:02:43] area because of social safety

[1:02:45] needs that we have seen have

[1:02:47] needed to be increased. So, um,

[1:02:47] that

[1:02:49] s the one that gives me

[1:02:51] pause because we, we have

[1:02:52] responded to issues that are

[1:02:54] happening in our society, and I

[1:02:54] wouldn

[1:02:55] t want to hurt one or

[1:02:58] the other, but at times we have

[1:02:59] said, my gosh, there

[1:02:59] s

[1:03:01] something going on here in the

[1:03:02] universe to help our community,

[1:03:06] you know. We, we have at times

[1:03:07] put some more funding in

[1:03:09] caregiver, so I, I, I do, I do

[1:03:11] like the way we had it

[1:03:12] separated in a way so that we

[1:03:14] had some pots, uh, to be able

[1:03:17] to work with, uh, without

[1:03:18] hurting the ongoing needs we

[1:03:20] need for programs in arts and

[1:03:22] culture. So I

[1:03:23] m not necessarily,

[1:03:24] uh, to the comments of my

[1:03:25] colleagues saying that we

[1:03:27] should, um, go in this

[1:03:28] direction because I wouldn

[1:03:29] t

[1:03:29] want those ongoing programs

[1:03:32] that we do need to support to

[1:03:32] get impacted, but we MAY want

[1:03:35] to say uh, as we increase

[1:03:35] funding, we

[1:03:37] re gonna put some

[1:03:39] additional caregiver, so I,

[1:03:39] that

[1:03:39] s, it

[1:03:40] s not saying that

[1:03:41] we

[1:03:41] re prioritizing, but we, I

[1:03:44] think we have a prerogative to

[1:03:45] say caregiver MAY need

[1:03:46] additional support at times

[1:03:46] given what

[1:03:47] s going on in

[1:03:50] society. Um, and I really

[1:03:51] appreciate the streamlined

[1:03:51] renewal pathway that you

[1:03:51] ve

[1:03:53] been talking about for the

[1:03:54] high-performing programs. Some

[1:03:56] of those high-performance

[1:03:57] programs are really, um,

[1:03:59] hitting core areas, uh, and,

[1:04:00] you know, as you said, it takes

[1:04:02] more than 1 year to see the

[1:04:04] results, uh, so I think that

[1:04:06] would really help, uh, with the

[1:04:07] burden of the application

[1:04:09] process, but still having the

[1:04:10] accountability and still having

[1:04:12] site staff go in and do the

[1:04:14] site visits to make sure that

[1:04:14] we

[1:04:17] re, um, having high outcome

[1:04:20] programs um. I had a couple

[1:04:22] other, uh, questions, so we

[1:04:24] have youth and Family Services.

[1:04:24] One thing I

[1:04:24] m, I

[1:04:26] m hoping that

[1:04:27] we can convey just because

[1:04:28] there is a special need and I

[1:04:28] know we

[1:04:29] re gonna have a work

[1:04:31] session on this in the future

[1:04:34] is, um, services for at-risk

[1:04:35] youth, we haven

[1:04:36] t seen as many

[1:04:37] grants coming forward to

[1:04:40] support risk who are at, uh,

[1:04:41] who are underrepresented or at

[1:04:42] risk or experiencing

[1:04:44] disparities in an area, so I

[1:04:44] m

[1:04:45] hopeful that as you look at the

[1:04:46] program descriptions, we can

[1:04:48] specifically call that out. So

[1:04:49] that we can make sure that

[1:04:51] people are seeing this is an

[1:04:52] area that we are trying to, to

[1:04:56] elevate. As they already a plan

[1:04:57] to do that, or is that

[1:04:58] something you need direction

[1:05:02] from us on? I think, I think I

[1:05:03] hear what you

[1:05:03] re saying, and I

[1:05:05] think of all the categories,

[1:05:05] that

[1:05:05] s absolutely where we

[1:05:07] would put it, Nick, if you

[1:05:08] disagree, let me know, but

[1:05:10] Mayor, I think you, um,

[1:05:12] foreshadowed something, we

[1:05:12] re

[1:05:14] gonna start working on doing an

[1:05:14] assessment of at-risk youth

[1:05:16] programs in the region and just

[1:05:18] see where those gaps are. And

[1:05:19] once you identify those gaps,

[1:05:20] then, then in future grant

[1:05:21] cycles, that

[1:05:21] s absolutely an

[1:05:23] area that we could highlight

[1:05:24] more, but as of right now, I

[1:05:25] think where you

[1:05:25] ve identified

[1:05:27] it is where we went to. Thank

[1:05:29] you, Nick, do you have anything

[1:05:31] to add? No, thank you. Thank

[1:05:31] you, ma

[1:05:33] am. Thank you. So I

[1:05:35] believe looking at the brief

[1:05:37] book that arts and culture

[1:05:38] would go under community

[1:05:38] enrichment belonging, is that

[1:05:43] right? Yeah, I think

[1:05:45] importantly, this allows the

[1:05:49] organization to make that, um,

[1:05:50] connection to where they see

[1:05:52] the impact of their program, we

[1:05:55] do anticipate many of our arts

[1:05:57] and cultural programs would see

[1:05:58] themselves in community

[1:05:59] enrichment and belonging, um,

[1:06:01] so I, I will note, uh, you know,

[1:06:03] for example, on this chart, um,

[1:06:05] we think that, um, given what

[1:06:08] we have seen many of those

[1:06:09] programs measure and where

[1:06:09] we

[1:06:10] ve seen needs assessments

[1:06:13] identified If I need, you know,

[1:06:15] having arts and cultural

[1:06:16] programs that increase

[1:06:18] belonging that reduce social

[1:06:20] isolation, um, that improve

[1:06:22] access for Rockville residents,

[1:06:24] those are likely to align with

[1:06:24] community richment and

[1:06:26] belonging, but I do want to

[1:06:28] note that some of our arts and

[1:06:30] culture grantees, um, for

[1:06:32] instance, they are really

[1:06:34] thoughtful about tying resource

[1:06:36] fairs into their, um, events or

[1:06:38] programs, so they MAY also

[1:06:39] highlight that they have an

[1:06:40] impact on service access and

[1:06:42] navigation Crucially, it

[1:06:43] ll be

[1:06:44] up to them to say whether or

[1:06:44] not that

[1:06:45] s something they

[1:06:46] re

[1:06:47] gonna measure as an outcome for

[1:06:50] their program, but yes, we do

[1:06:51] anticipate that arts and

[1:06:53] culture programs should see

[1:06:54] themselves at minimum in the

[1:06:55] community enrichment and

[1:06:57] belonging category. Thank you

[1:06:59] for that background. Uh, you

[1:07:00] reminded me another, another

[1:07:01] question about the categories

[1:07:03] that we have. So as an

[1:07:04] applicant, and I

[1:07:05] ve known this,

[1:07:05] I know that I

[1:07:06] ve worked on a

[1:07:07] couple of federal programs,

[1:07:08] people are trying to say, where

[1:07:10] am I most likely to have

[1:07:11] success. You

[1:07:12] re not dividing

[1:07:13] the funding by these categories,

[1:07:14] correct? So they

[1:07:15] re like, if

[1:07:15] there

[1:07:16] s a lot of applications

[1:07:17] in this area, I

[1:07:17] m gonna try to

[1:07:19] make my, my application in the

[1:07:20] other area, that

[1:07:20] s not the

[1:07:22] focus, is that correct? You are

[1:07:23] correct, that is not the focus.

[1:07:25] Ok, so I want to make sure that

[1:07:25] nonprofit, because I have

[1:07:27] actually heard that question.

[1:07:29] And, um, and as people were

[1:07:31] looking at our, uh, brief

[1:07:33] material. So thank you for

[1:07:34] clarifying that. In terms of

[1:07:35] arts and culture, I, I would

[1:07:38] say arts, history and culture,

[1:07:40] uh, I, I do, um, have some

[1:07:42] feedback that in terms of the

[1:07:45] application process on that one.

[1:07:47] So some of our arts and culture

[1:07:48] events, arts, history and

[1:07:49] cultural events. I

[1:07:50] m thinking

[1:07:51] about, for instance, the

[1:07:53] restscoes, um, I

[1:07:53] m thinking

[1:07:55] about, uh, Rockville Sister

[1:07:55] City. Part of the goal of some

[1:07:58] of the Those programs is to be

[1:08:00] a draw for our Rockville

[1:08:02] residents, but also they bring

[1:08:05] in people, uh, from the outside

[1:08:07] into Rockville and supports our

[1:08:10] tourism, our, um, you know, Our

[1:08:11] community, uh, for instance,

[1:08:14] the Taiwan bubble tea Festival

[1:08:16] brings in 12,000 people, uh,

[1:08:17] into our town center, which is,

[1:08:22] is, which is fantastic, um, but

[1:08:24] the application process itself

[1:08:25] really focuses on how many,

[1:08:26] because because it

[1:08:28] s focused in

[1:08:30] the caregiver lens on how many

[1:08:31] Rockville residents do you

[1:08:33] serve versus how many are you

[1:08:33] bringing into our community to

[1:08:35] support other arts and culture

[1:08:37] and tourism needs. So I was

[1:08:38] just curious about if you

[1:08:38] re

[1:08:40] thinking also about The

[1:08:41] application and how you collect

[1:08:43] data because I do want to know,

[1:08:45] and I think my colleagues would

[1:08:46] be interested in how many

[1:08:48] Rockville residents you are

[1:08:51] serving for sure, but also that

[1:08:52] bigger number is important for

[1:08:53] some of those events that are

[1:08:55] designed to be draws, the f.

[1:08:56] Scott Fitzgerald Literary

[1:08:56] Festival is another one of

[1:09:00] those. Yeah, I really

[1:09:01] appreciate this question. It

[1:09:02] s

[1:09:04] one of the things that Sarah

[1:09:05] and I have done a lot of

[1:09:07] thinking about in terms of how

[1:09:09] to really measure the community

[1:09:11] enrichment impact of those

[1:09:14] programs, uh, so our hope is in

[1:09:16] some of the application

[1:09:17] materials we

[1:09:18] ve provided some

[1:09:20] examples of logic models that

[1:09:22] show the impact of these kinds

[1:09:24] of festivals, these kinds of

[1:09:27] events, and, um, our hope would

[1:09:27] be that organizations that are

[1:09:30] seeking funding. Where they MAY

[1:09:32] already be telling us in the

[1:09:33] application that they

[1:09:33] re

[1:09:35] reaching this many people at

[1:09:37] the festival that they would

[1:09:38] also identify an outcome, for

[1:09:41] instance, as one of their major

[1:09:43] impacts might be tourism or it

[1:09:45] might be connecting with

[1:09:47] businesses in the vicinity of

[1:09:49] the event, um, or it might be

[1:09:51] welcoming organizations to come

[1:09:52] to that festival, and those are

[1:09:54] things importantly that can be

[1:09:55] in the application, and they

[1:09:57] can measure those, they can

[1:10:00] submit that as a, as Sign of

[1:10:03] program success that can be

[1:10:04] evaluated by the community

[1:10:06] panels. So, um, our hope is

[1:10:09] that there will be more

[1:10:11] opportunities for them to

[1:10:13] identify what the impact is of

[1:10:14] those kind of programs and to

[1:10:15] include in the application. I

[1:10:17] saw Sarah is going to chime in,

[1:10:19] the only thing I wanted to say

[1:10:21] too is that our current

[1:10:23] application and our reporting,

[1:10:25] um, has a space for nonpro

[1:10:27] profits that receive grants to

[1:10:27] tell us how many people overall.

[1:10:31] Reaching as well so it is true

[1:10:33] that we, we ask them to tell us

[1:10:33] how many Rockville residents

[1:10:34] they

[1:10:35] re reaching, but it

[1:10:35] s

[1:10:36] another metric that they

[1:10:37] provide of how many people

[1:10:38] they

[1:10:39] re reaching overall. Sarah,

[1:10:43] please, yeah. Thank you, Nick.

[1:10:45] Yeah, I just wanted to

[1:10:46] reiterate an echo what Nick was

[1:10:48] saying, but I think throughout

[1:10:50] all of the work that Nick and I

[1:10:54] were like thinking about In

[1:10:57] this grant restructuring, um,

[1:10:57] something that we

[1:10:58] ve really

[1:11:00] pride ourselves in with working

[1:11:01] with all the nonprofits that

[1:11:03] are incoming, especially with

[1:11:05] the matrix piece is the

[1:11:07] importance of just like data

[1:11:09] telling stories, not just for

[1:11:11] the city of Rockville, but to

[1:11:14] in an effort to help these

[1:11:17] organizations, um, seek funding

[1:11:19] outside of the city as well, um,

[1:11:21] and how important it is for an

[1:11:24] organization to Have metrics

[1:11:26] for their organization, period,

[1:11:28] to have logic models for their

[1:11:30] programs and how that can

[1:11:36] really be a, um trajectory into

[1:11:38] a whole other opportunity of

[1:11:39] funding opportunities. So I

[1:11:43] just wanted to echo that piece.

[1:11:47] Thank you, and the total number

[1:11:48] of participants would be both

[1:11:49] in the application, or

[1:11:50] anticipated, both in the

[1:11:52] application and both in and and

[1:11:54] reporting, correct? That

[1:11:54] s

[1:11:56] correct. Excellent. Thank you

[1:11:58] for clarifying that. Um, I, the

[1:12:00] other thing I was looking at

[1:12:02] our current grants on about, I

[1:12:03] was looking at some of the

[1:12:05] services we were funding and

[1:12:06] disability service has been a

[1:12:08] part of that. Uh, I know they

[1:12:11] would be able to, um Pick the

[1:12:13] category, I just wanted to note

[1:12:14] that, um, as we

[1:12:16] re looking at

[1:12:18] at-risk youth and immigrant

[1:12:19] communities that somewhere on

[1:12:20] our page, they can see that

[1:12:20] we

[1:12:22] re continuing to support

[1:12:23] disability services as one of

[1:12:25] the, you know, sub areas of

[1:12:27] support. I know that Rockville

[1:12:28] has continued to grow to be

[1:12:30] seen as a place where people

[1:12:32] with differing abilities can

[1:12:33] grow and thrive here, and I, I

[1:12:34] just wanted to, didn

[1:12:34] t want to

[1:12:35] signal that we

[1:12:35] re backing away

[1:12:36] from that, we

[1:12:37] re actually

[1:12:38] leaning in and doing more, and

[1:12:39] I also want to thank you for

[1:12:41] raising the importance of

[1:12:42] helping people understand that

[1:12:44] we do have a Jedi strategic

[1:12:45] plan and we

[1:12:48] re asking people to

[1:12:49] help align services with that

[1:12:52] just to meet those needs. Um, I

[1:12:55] had a couple other comments,

[1:12:57] now shifting to the, uh Uh,

[1:12:59] from, from, from people I

[1:12:59] ve

[1:13:02] gotten feedback from the fire

[1:13:03] safety, the public safety work

[1:13:03] that we

[1:13:04] ve been doing with the

[1:13:06] fire department, do you see

[1:13:07] that that would fit in one of

[1:13:09] these categories, would that be

[1:13:10] er it, I just wanna make sure

[1:13:11] that we

[1:13:11] re not losing anybody

[1:13:13] in, in what we

[1:13:14] ve put together

[1:13:16] here. Yeah, thank you for that

[1:13:18] question. I want to answer

[1:13:21] about that question and also,

[1:13:22] um, echo is something that, um,

[1:13:24] was said earlier. So one is

[1:13:25] that even if we do adopt these

[1:13:29] 5 proposed impact Focus areas

[1:13:30] that evaluation criteria will

[1:13:33] continue to measure more than

[1:13:35] just alignment with these 5. So

[1:13:37] part of the hope with these

[1:13:39] impactfo focus areas is that it

[1:13:41] will help those applications to

[1:13:43] be most competitive, but it

[1:13:44] would not exclude any

[1:13:46] application that did not align

[1:13:48] as long as the application is

[1:13:50] eligible to be reviewed, there

[1:13:52] will be other criteria that we

[1:13:53] um have included in our

[1:13:55] evaluation, and we do believe

[1:13:58] that it will be possible for

[1:14:01] Other applications to, um, to

[1:14:04] qualify for funding and for the

[1:14:06] community panel to identify, um,

[1:14:07] grants that might not align

[1:14:08] with one of these 5. So we

[1:14:09] wanted to make sure there was

[1:14:10] still room in the evaluation

[1:14:12] for it to be flexible enough to

[1:14:15] go beyond these 5, specifically

[1:14:17] to the question of public

[1:14:20] safety, of fire safety, we

[1:14:21] definitely see service access

[1:14:24] as being one of the ways that

[1:14:25] they could identify, um, you

[1:14:26] know, and demonstrate a, a need

[1:14:29] there. Um, also, um, many of

[1:14:30] our public safety applicants, I

[1:14:33] think, do look at, um, family

[1:14:35] success and household stability,

[1:14:36] but we think service access

[1:14:37] would still encompass those

[1:14:40] most clearly. Ok. And how would

[1:14:41] the, how would the grant

[1:14:43] committee, these are one of the

[1:14:44] ones that I think the mayor and

[1:14:45] council have said we

[1:14:45] re trying

[1:14:49] to stay within this range, uh,

[1:14:50] so that we don

[1:14:50] t necessarily

[1:14:53] drop. Support to some, so I,

[1:14:55] there are some that are, you

[1:14:56] know, standard grants, and they

[1:14:57] there are, there are other ones

[1:15:00] that are sort of ongoing.

[1:15:01] Programmatic areas that we

[1:15:01] re

[1:15:02] trying to support as a city,

[1:15:04] for example, we give the fire

[1:15:06] department a donation for water.

[1:15:06] We

[1:15:07] re not going to backtrack on

[1:15:09] that, but the committee MAY not

[1:15:11] know that, so how, how is that

[1:15:12] being communicated to the

[1:15:19] review committee? I can answer

[1:15:24] that, yeah, so, um, we have, uh,

[1:15:26] in the years past, our grantees

[1:15:30] have asked for, um, either

[1:15:31] reimbursements of city services,

[1:15:32] or sometimes there

[1:15:33] s an intra

[1:15:35] fund transfer of a city service,

[1:15:37] um, these have been included in

[1:15:39] applications, we actually

[1:15:41] proposed earlier this year to

[1:15:42] cmo and finance and made sure

[1:15:45] that it would be ok for us to,

[1:15:46] uh, move forward in this way,

[1:15:49] um, we want to take those

[1:15:51] requests for city service

[1:15:52] funding and have actually a

[1:15:53] specific community panel that

[1:15:55] understands a little bit more,

[1:15:58] um, what those needs are, what

[1:16:00] those processes are to evaluate

[1:16:02] those, so we would actually

[1:16:03] pull those specific requests

[1:16:05] out of this evaluation

[1:16:06] framework and look at them more

[1:16:08] from sort of a, are they

[1:16:09] eligible or not criteria, so

[1:16:11] they would still have to apply

[1:16:12] through the application process

[1:16:13] and we would still have

[1:16:16] community, uh, a panel to

[1:16:16] review those applications, but

[1:16:19] to your point, um. Because they

[1:16:22] are a bit of outliers and we do

[1:16:23] need to have a different kind

[1:16:25] of criteria to evaluate them.

[1:16:25] Um, we

[1:16:26] ve specifically pulled

[1:16:28] them out and are planning to

[1:16:31] have a more tailored panel

[1:16:31] evaluate those requests.

[1:16:33] Excellent, thank you. So I know

[1:16:34] we do water and we

[1:16:35] ve also

[1:16:36] helped support, um, new safety

[1:16:37] trucks because it is a

[1:16:38] volunteer department. They

[1:16:39] ve

[1:16:40] been relying on donations and

[1:16:42] collaborations with the city on

[1:16:43] that, so I appreciate that

[1:16:43] you

[1:16:45] re looking at that somewhat

[1:16:48] differently. Um, ok, and then

[1:16:50] the other thing related to the,

[1:16:54] um The, I think the returning

[1:16:55] grants that you, the high

[1:16:57] impact grants would, would

[1:16:59] cover some of the feedback that

[1:16:59] I

[1:17:00] ve shared via the city

[1:17:02] manager on the application

[1:17:03] process, uh, because that would

[1:17:05] streamline it and it would help

[1:17:08] them on, on, um Being able to

[1:17:10] to move forward, but also

[1:17:11] making sure there

[1:17:11] s

[1:17:13] accountability on the reporting

[1:17:16] side, um, I was hearing that

[1:17:16] there

[1:17:18] s quarterly reports plus

[1:17:19] 6-month reports, and those are

[1:17:20] just some of the feedback we

[1:17:20] re

[1:17:22] getting, I know that I, I trust

[1:17:24] that the team is going to make

[1:17:25] sure that city dolls are being

[1:17:27] used wisely, but is there any

[1:17:28] other feedback like that or

[1:17:30] things that you might be

[1:17:31] streamlining, um, to, to

[1:17:32] address some of the feedback

[1:17:32] we

[1:17:37] ve received. Yeah, we do

[1:17:39] definitely cont plan to

[1:17:40] continue to listen to

[1:17:42] organizations as they give us

[1:17:43] suggestions and feedback on how

[1:17:45] we can streamline, importantly,

[1:17:45] we

[1:17:47] re also looking at the

[1:17:47] city

[1:17:49] s other processes we

[1:17:50] collaborate with finance and

[1:17:52] procurement on payments, so

[1:17:54] some of the processes are from

[1:17:55] outside of our department that

[1:17:58] we align with, um, in In

[1:17:59] particular with reporting, um,

[1:18:01] that one might be worth us

[1:18:02] following up with any

[1:18:03] organization that you

[1:18:03] ve heard

[1:18:04] that from, um, we would wanna

[1:18:08] just Clarify for them that the

[1:18:10] 6-month report is the quarter 2

[1:18:11] report, so there

[1:18:11] s, there

[1:18:13] s 4,

[1:18:15] just 4 quarterly reports that

[1:18:17] they participate in, um, but I

[1:18:18] hope that that answers the

[1:18:19] question. It does. Thank you.

[1:18:21] And then it notes that the, uh,

[1:18:24] another piece of feedback, the

[1:18:25] grant agreements require, um,

[1:18:28] that they submit the final

[1:18:29] quarter report on JUNE 30th,

[1:18:30] but they have to expand the

[1:18:31] grant through JUNE 30th, so

[1:18:33] they feel like the deadline is

[1:18:35] challenging since On the end of

[1:18:37] a quarter. And they don

[1:18:38] t have

[1:18:39] all the expenses and receipts

[1:18:40] talent yet. I

[1:18:40] m so, I

[1:18:40] m

[1:18:41] assuming that there

[1:18:41] s a way

[1:18:42] that you

[1:18:42] ve addressed this with

[1:18:44] other grantees, but just wanted

[1:18:51] to share that as well. Sorry,

[1:18:52] um, was there a question there

[1:18:53] that you, right, so if we

[1:18:53] re

[1:18:54] telling them they have to

[1:18:56] submit the final quarter report

[1:18:59] on JUNE 30th, which is the end

[1:19:00] of that cycle and they don

[1:19:00] t

[1:19:02] have receipts yet, is there a

[1:19:04] way that they can comply, uh,

[1:19:05] they feel like that that

[1:19:06] deadline can be challenging. I,

[1:19:06] I don

[1:19:07] t know if we

[1:19:07] re making

[1:19:09] any changes to that process as

[1:19:09] you

[1:19:11] re streamlining. Yeah,

[1:19:13] thank you for that question. Uh,

[1:19:15] so the end of your financial

[1:19:16] deadlines actually come to us

[1:19:18] from the this city, um, this

[1:19:20] year, for instance, the

[1:19:22] deadline to reimburse

[1:19:24] organizations is AUGUST 5th, um,

[1:19:26] the end of your reports were

[1:19:27] actually due JULY 7th. We, we

[1:19:29] make sure that we don

[1:19:29] t have

[1:19:31] the report due at the very end

[1:19:34] of the grant period, um, and

[1:19:36] then we ask organizations, I

[1:19:37] think this year it was probably

[1:19:39] early JUNE, Sarah might correct

[1:19:40] me, um, to give us a heads up

[1:19:43] if they need an extension. So

[1:19:44] several of our organizations

[1:19:45] did let us know in advance they

[1:19:47] would be submitting their

[1:19:49] materials JULY 15th, um, but we

[1:19:51] are a bit constrained by just

[1:19:51] the city

[1:19:52] s kind of

[1:19:54] reimbursement deadlines, um,

[1:19:55] but hopefully that, that

[1:19:56] organization that might have,

[1:19:58] um, thought that they had to

[1:19:59] have everything turned in by

[1:20:01] JUNE 30th. Hopefully they, they

[1:20:03] worked with us to, um, you know,

[1:20:06] have it in by, by JULY 15th.

[1:20:06] Excellent, and I think you

[1:20:07] re

[1:20:08] gonna be doing some education

[1:20:09] as you roll all of this out, uh,

[1:20:10] because some of these These

[1:20:14] groups are of Fairly large and

[1:20:15] long-standing organizations,

[1:20:17] but they still having some, um,

[1:20:18] you know, challenges with

[1:20:19] understanding how to, how to,

[1:20:20] they want to comply, make sure

[1:20:20] they

[1:20:22] re doing everything right.

[1:20:23] So so, uh, I appreciate that

[1:20:23] you

[1:20:25] re gonna be having, uh,

[1:20:26] sessions and webinars to help

[1:20:26] people understand what

[1:20:27] s this

[1:20:27] new approach and how we

[1:20:27] re

[1:20:29] going to make this work, uh,

[1:20:30] and I, I will also say I won

[1:20:30] t

[1:20:32] belabor this, but I, I have

[1:20:35] heard that the payment process

[1:20:36] change in the past few years,

[1:20:38] um, which I know did not come

[1:20:39] out of dhcd, but I

[1:20:39] ve, I

[1:20:39] ve

[1:20:41] been hearing that some feedback

[1:20:43] on that, especially given Some

[1:20:46] of the nonprofits who have not

[1:20:48] received timely timely funding

[1:20:49] related to food insecurity,

[1:20:51] health services, and housing,

[1:20:53] in particular have been

[1:20:55] challenging for them, uh, and I

[1:20:55] know you

[1:20:55] ve worked with

[1:20:56] organizations, so I

[1:20:56] ll just say

[1:20:57] if you are a nonprofit

[1:20:58] listening, please feel free to

[1:21:00] reach out to your, uh, you know,

[1:21:02] your program manager for help

[1:21:07] if needed. Ok. Thank you so

[1:21:10] much for this. I think we have,

[1:21:10] I

[1:21:11] ve answered these questions,

[1:21:13] but if, uh, once we

[1:21:13] re done

[1:21:15] going through the line, if you

[1:21:15] have any additional questions

[1:21:16] for me in terms of the feedback

[1:21:17] I provided, I

[1:21:18] d be open to it.

[1:21:18] I

[1:21:19] m going to now move to

[1:21:23] COUNCILMAN Valerie. He council

[1:21:29] member shop. I think she MAY

[1:21:31] need more time, uh. Are you

[1:21:34] ready, Councilor Shaw? Ok,

[1:21:37] perfect. Oh, thank you to it

[1:21:40] for doing that. Um, and also I

[1:21:42] just, uh, wanna echo my

[1:21:44] colleagues and, um, thank you

[1:21:47] for this presentation. Um, this

[1:21:49] is a very thoughtful, uh,

[1:21:50] redesign, and I appreciate all

[1:21:51] the work that has gone into

[1:21:57] this. Um, So I do have a few

[1:22:00] questions when, when you shared,

[1:22:02] uh, about the community panel

[1:22:04] that does the evaluation, um,

[1:22:06] and makes the selection. Can

[1:22:09] you share more about Uh, who is

[1:22:13] that? How many people are these

[1:22:14] real community fo folks like,

[1:22:15] can you share some more details

[1:22:19] on that? Yeah, thank you for

[1:22:22] this question. So yes, the

[1:22:23] community panel is, um, a

[1:22:25] really important part of the

[1:22:26] evaluation for both of these

[1:22:29] grant programs, the mini grant

[1:22:30] program and the Community

[1:22:32] Services and Enrichment Grant

[1:22:35] Program, we put out a call each

[1:22:38] year to, um, both city

[1:22:40] employees be commissions and

[1:22:42] boards and then to the

[1:22:45] community at large, um, asking

[1:22:46] for interested people to serve

[1:22:49] as panel reviewers. This past

[1:22:50] year, I believe, and I can

[1:22:52] follow up to make sure that

[1:22:54] this number is correct. I

[1:22:57] believe we had 28 panel members

[1:23:00] that reviewed, um, something

[1:23:01] like 51 applications, and as I

[1:23:03] mentioned, 48 of the

[1:23:04] applications were selected for

[1:23:06] funding, um, those community

[1:23:10] members. Um, they typically are

[1:23:12] a mix of city staff from across

[1:23:14] different departments, um,

[1:23:15] about half of the 28 from

[1:23:18] across, uh, departments, and

[1:23:19] then the rest are Rockville

[1:23:21] residents, some who serve on

[1:23:22] boards and commissions and some

[1:23:23] who are just serving as

[1:23:26] volunteers from the community,

[1:23:28] um, we do ask them to, um, make

[1:23:29] sure that we don

[1:23:30] t have any

[1:23:31] conflicts of interest. They

[1:23:31] re

[1:23:33] not, for instance, board

[1:23:34] members of a nonprofit that

[1:23:35] s

[1:23:36] asking for funding, uh, we

[1:23:39] provided training for them. And

[1:23:41] then they lead this process,

[1:23:43] they each do an individual

[1:23:45] review of every application

[1:23:47] they come together in panels to

[1:23:49] discuss those reviews and reach

[1:23:52] consensus, and then they make

[1:23:53] recommendations on which grants

[1:23:54] should be funded, and we make

[1:23:57] an effort to recruit people who

[1:23:58] have lived experience in some

[1:24:00] of these services and

[1:24:02] backgrounds as well as people

[1:24:03] with maybe professional

[1:24:05] expertise or um direct

[1:24:06] expertise in the services as

[1:24:09] well. Can you share a bit more

[1:24:13] on how you are insuring, um,

[1:24:14] that the residents that are

[1:24:16] making the decisions on, on

[1:24:18] these grants, um, have the

[1:24:20] lived experience. Yeah, we can

[1:24:22] share a copy of the interest

[1:24:25] form, it actually asks them to

[1:24:26] identify and why do they want

[1:24:29] to be a volunteer on the panel?

[1:24:30] Do they have lived experience

[1:24:32] in one or more of the areas, do

[1:24:35] they have a background, um,

[1:24:36] with professional expertise, um,

[1:24:38] so we can certainly share the

[1:24:39] interest form that ask those

[1:24:40] questions, and then it

[1:24:41] s really

[1:24:43] just a screening, we let people

[1:24:44] as they are interested, we want

[1:24:46] them to volunteer, we let them

[1:24:47] volunteer, but we just want to

[1:24:48] make sure that we

[1:24:48] re screening

[1:24:50] for, um, like I had those

[1:24:52] conflicts of interest to make

[1:24:54] sure that, um, the panel

[1:24:55] members are participating in

[1:24:59] that way. Um, I, I appreciate

[1:25:02] that process, um, I think.

[1:25:05] There are some barriers to

[1:25:07] engagement that, uh, MAY

[1:25:10] prevent some folks that have a

[1:25:11] lot of lived experience to even

[1:25:14] be able to know about this type

[1:25:16] of opportunity, especially if

[1:25:18] they are self-selecting, um,

[1:25:20] and, uh, so I think it

[1:25:21] s

[1:25:23] important to just think about.

[1:25:25] Equity in, in that sense, um,

[1:25:30] and. That would be one area

[1:25:32] where, um. It

[1:25:33] s, I would like

[1:25:35] to just learn a lot more. I

[1:25:35] won

[1:25:35] t, I won

[1:25:36] t take up the

[1:25:38] meeting to do that, um, but I,

[1:25:41] I think, uh, being able to just

[1:25:44] make sure that, uh, this

[1:25:45] opportunity is, is shared with

[1:25:49] a broad, um, diverse amount of

[1:25:51] people, um, and it

[1:25:52] s usually

[1:25:54] our, um, boards and commissions,

[1:25:55] the volunteers, they

[1:25:57] re very,

[1:25:59] very engaged and will usually,

[1:26:00] uh, be the first to respond,

[1:26:03] and, um, Just making sure that

[1:26:07] we can also, um. Uh, make sure

[1:26:09] that there is diversity among

[1:26:11] the lived experience that is

[1:26:13] shared or provide opportunity.

[1:26:20] Um, The third question I had,

[1:26:23] um, so I see youth and family

[1:26:25] success, um, and I also know

[1:26:30] that. Um, and I saw senior

[1:26:32] services, um, lower down, I

[1:26:32] m

[1:26:34] one of the continued areas that

[1:26:34] we

[1:26:37] re focusing on. And I

[1:26:38] m, I

[1:26:38] m

[1:26:40] just wondering if we could look

[1:26:43] at adding seniors to the youth

[1:26:46] and youth, seniors, and family

[1:26:47] success, and why I would say

[1:26:49] this is because I know that

[1:26:52] seniors are among, uh, one of

[1:26:53] the growing like homeless

[1:26:56] populations, uh, food

[1:26:58] insecurity, um, also, it

[1:26:59] s a

[1:27:01] growing renter population as

[1:27:03] well, um, that, uh, you know,

[1:27:03] there

[1:27:04] s a lot of growing needs

[1:27:07] among seniors. Um, and when we

[1:27:08] say family, I

[1:27:11] m not sure if Um,

[1:27:13] You know, that that would cover,

[1:27:15] but, uh, I would say since we

[1:27:17] are calling out youth for a lot

[1:27:19] of the same reasons, um, I

[1:27:22] would also just suggest also,

[1:27:23] um, also calling out seniors so

[1:27:28] youth, seniors, and family. Um.

[1:27:32] And And I know that, uh, that,

[1:27:34] you know, that is an area we

[1:27:35] have certainly continuing to

[1:27:39] work on, but, uh, just

[1:27:40] Projecting the needs of seniors,

[1:27:40] it

[1:27:41] s just, it

[1:27:42] s just a really

[1:27:45] growing, um, issue that I think

[1:27:46] that we should further invest

[1:27:47] in or at least call out and

[1:27:54] identify here. Uh, my fourth

[1:27:57] question, uh, is. Um, I, I know

[1:28:00] in the briefing book, we talked

[1:28:05] about, um. The Urban Institute.

[1:28:06] The framework that the Urban

[1:28:08] Institute uses. Can you share

[1:28:09] some more details on that in

[1:28:12] terms of mobility. And the

[1:28:15] approach using that? Yes, so

[1:28:18] this is the Urban Institute

[1:28:18] s

[1:28:18] Economic Mobility, or I

[1:28:20] m sorry,

[1:28:25] upward mobility framework. Is

[1:28:26] that what you

[1:28:27] re referring to?

[1:28:28] Sure, yeah, I can share a

[1:28:30] little bit more about that in

[1:28:31] the staff report too, there

[1:28:32] s,

[1:28:34] um, a little bit more

[1:28:36] information about the upward

[1:28:37] mobility framework, um, but

[1:28:39] this is, as you noted,

[1:28:41] something that was developed

[1:28:43] through research with the Urban

[1:28:45] Institute. It

[1:28:45] s an

[1:28:46] evidence-based foundation

[1:28:46] that

[1:28:48] s, um, identifying

[1:28:50] strategies that have been shown

[1:28:52] to support upward mobility and

[1:28:56] racial equality, um, The city

[1:28:59] has been participating in a few

[1:29:00] different regional efforts that

[1:29:04] are aiming to align us with the

[1:29:06] upward mobility framework,

[1:29:07] including, um, there

[1:29:08] s been, um,

[1:29:10] work through the, um, I

[1:29:11] m sorry,

[1:29:11] I

[1:29:12] m thinking in acronyms right

[1:29:13] now, and I usually try to spell

[1:29:16] those out, but cog and gear and

[1:29:17] maybe someone could jump in and

[1:29:21] provide them the more inclusive,

[1:29:22] longer definitions of those two,

[1:29:23] but the upward mobility

[1:29:27] framework. Is that, um,

[1:29:29] evidence-based, uh, framework

[1:29:30] that

[1:29:31] s trying to identify

[1:29:32] specific strategies and

[1:29:33] predictors that are showing

[1:29:38] upward mobility. Ok. Um, yeah,

[1:29:41] I would, I would, uh, maybe at

[1:29:43] a later point would just like

[1:29:44] to understand how that

[1:29:45] s being

[1:29:48] applied, um, to the decision

[1:29:49] making. Um, I understand

[1:29:51] generally what it is and the

[1:29:52] concept, but I would just like

[1:29:54] to learn how is it actually

[1:29:55] being implemented and applied.

[1:29:56] What are the results that

[1:29:56] you

[1:30:00] re getting? How is it, um.

[1:30:01] Influencing the decisions that

[1:30:02] you

[1:30:03] re making, um, just some

[1:30:04] more detail on the

[1:30:10] implementation. Um, and then.

[1:30:13] Uh, I, I, I noticed that, um,

[1:30:15] just like, uh, one of my

[1:30:16] colleagues had stated that I

[1:30:19] noticed that, uh, household

[1:30:20] stability was being used and

[1:30:22] then housing stability was

[1:30:23] being used. Um, and so I

[1:30:25] wondered a, a little bit about

[1:30:27] the terminology, and I, I saw

[1:30:30] that household. Um, I know that

[1:30:32] housing stability, the way that

[1:30:35] we have defined it, um, in

[1:30:37] previous work sessions was one

[1:30:39] way, and then I noticed housing,

[1:30:41] household stability was used

[1:30:45] here, which, um, which includes

[1:30:47] utilities and includes, um,

[1:30:49] food, um, some of the examples

[1:30:51] that were provided, and so I

[1:30:53] got the sense that household

[1:30:57] stability was, um Like

[1:30:59] financial stability for our,

[1:31:01] our households, um, and I do, I

[1:31:03] do think that community

[1:31:06] stability is a great term, uh,

[1:31:09] I would, um, seeing here that

[1:31:12] we use community enrichment and

[1:31:14] Community belonging, um, as

[1:31:16] well, so I, I just wonder if

[1:31:19] there would be. I, I think

[1:31:21] household stability is a very

[1:31:23] clear word in terms of

[1:31:24] household finances. Um, I would

[1:31:26] just wonder if there would be

[1:31:27] some confusion between

[1:31:29] community stability and

[1:31:29] community enrichment and

[1:31:30] belonging, and I think, you

[1:31:35] know, from Community members

[1:31:35] oftentimes seeing community

[1:31:37] belonging, connecting to their

[1:31:39] housing stability, um, like if

[1:31:39] you can

[1:31:40] t afford to live here,

[1:31:41] if you

[1:31:42] re being priced out, um,

[1:31:45] in a lot of ways, um, it

[1:31:45] s,

[1:31:45] it

[1:31:46] s making folks feel like

[1:31:46] they don

[1:31:47] t belong and being

[1:31:49] pushed out here in a, in a

[1:31:51] broader sense. So I know there

[1:31:53] is some confusion around that,

[1:31:55] um, but, um, I would, I would

[1:31:57] like to, you know, hear more

[1:32:00] about that, the terminology

[1:32:01] around household stability, but

[1:32:03] I did notice it was used

[1:32:03] interchangeably with housing

[1:32:10] stability. Um, You MAY wanna,

[1:32:13] uh, well, could you give more

[1:32:13] details on housing stability or.

[1:32:16] Why you decided to originally

[1:32:19] use that term. Yeah, Nick, Nick,

[1:32:20] maybe you could put up the

[1:32:22] chart that kind of shows the

[1:32:22] modifiers underneath it, and I

[1:32:23] think that

[1:32:23] ll be the best way

[1:32:24] to walk through it if you don

[1:32:24] t

[1:32:29] mind me suggesting that. Yeah,

[1:32:30] uh, definitely. Um, so thank

[1:32:32] you for this question,

[1:32:35] COUNCILMAN Bashaw. Uh, you are

[1:32:36] correct that housing stability

[1:32:38] and household stability. We we

[1:32:40] are trying to differentiate the

[1:32:44] two here, um, for us housing

[1:32:47] stability is one of the

[1:32:48] strategies that could support

[1:32:50] household stability, um, as we

[1:32:53] look at this chart though, um,

[1:32:55] not just housing policies or

[1:32:57] housing services, so not just

[1:32:58] Pre-eviction or foreclosure

[1:33:00] support or rapid rehousing, but

[1:33:02] also financial assistance, for

[1:33:04] example, our basic needs access,

[1:33:07] so, um, when we look for

[1:33:09] example at what the city is

[1:33:11] doing around housing programs

[1:33:13] and housing services, we have

[1:33:15] some goals around housing

[1:33:17] stability that are very

[1:33:19] specific to, um, affordable

[1:33:21] housing, housing access,

[1:33:22] housing development, um, and

[1:33:24] then when we would think about

[1:33:25] the impact focus area and we

[1:33:28] think about how Household

[1:33:30] stability, um, I believe when

[1:33:32] we, um, selected this term, we

[1:33:34] were trained to look at what

[1:33:36] our nonprofit organizations are

[1:33:38] frequently already measuring,

[1:33:40] and what are they connecting to

[1:33:41] other regional efforts to

[1:33:44] measure, and so they often

[1:33:45] measure these financial

[1:33:46] assistance or basic needs

[1:33:48] assistance, they often measure

[1:33:50] it in households, and then have

[1:33:52] some of their own performance

[1:33:53] measures around household

[1:33:55] stability, so our hope with

[1:33:56] this was to align it with What

[1:33:58] some of our current providers

[1:34:00] and nonprofit partners are kind

[1:34:01] of already measuring and

[1:34:03] reporting on across the region,

[1:34:03] I

[1:34:06] m hoping that that would be

[1:34:07] more recognizable to them, um,

[1:34:09] and then, as you know, housing

[1:34:11] stability itself is kind of a

[1:34:13] more specific, um, strategy

[1:34:15] that is, um, encompassed in

[1:34:17] this. I hope that answers that

[1:34:20] question. Yes, that, that is

[1:34:22] very helpful. So the household

[1:34:25] stability is more of like an

[1:34:27] industry term used within the

[1:34:30] nonprofit sector. Yeah, and I

[1:34:31] wonder if Sarah could comment

[1:34:34] on this at all. Um, she works a

[1:34:36] lot with our organizations on

[1:34:37] identifying those metrics and

[1:34:39] as she noted, we

[1:34:40] re trying to,

[1:34:42] um, help ensure that what we

[1:34:43] measure in our grants at the

[1:34:45] city wherever possible, it

[1:34:45] s

[1:34:47] connecting to things across the

[1:34:49] region, um, so for instance,

[1:34:51] with food, I know that like the

[1:34:53] Montgomery County Office of

[1:34:55] Food Resilience and the

[1:34:56] Montgomery County Food Systems,

[1:34:57] um, that

[1:34:58] s kind of a coalition

[1:35:00] of food providers. Um, they

[1:35:00] re

[1:35:02] measuring a lot in terms of

[1:35:04] household served, household

[1:35:05] stability, household access.

[1:35:07] Sarah, did you want to speak to

[1:35:13] that any further? Um, no, not

[1:35:14] really. I think like you

[1:35:16] covered it, but, um, yeah, I

[1:35:19] think Household stability is

[1:35:25] Like. Just a word like we use

[1:35:25] that I think encompasses a lot

[1:35:27] of These things we

[1:35:28] ve talked

[1:35:33] about, but, uh I think there is

[1:35:34] flexibility to maybe be a

[1:35:35] little bit more encompassing. I

[1:35:35] don

[1:35:37] t know. Whereas we

[1:35:37] re

[1:35:39] hearing, perhaps making sure we,

[1:35:41] we definitely define these in

[1:35:43] our application and help

[1:35:45] materials, um, I think that has

[1:35:46] actually really helpful in this

[1:35:51] new design to think about. Um,

[1:35:52] Our partners and the

[1:35:53] terminology that they

[1:35:54] re using

[1:35:55] and we

[1:35:56] re reflecting that in

[1:35:59] our process. I think that helps

[1:36:01] to streamline it, um, so I, I

[1:36:02] m,

[1:36:02] I

[1:36:04] m really happy that you, uh.

[1:36:06] Are taking some of the terms

[1:36:08] that the our partners are using,

[1:36:09] um, and it

[1:36:13] s reflected here. Um,

[1:36:15] the The last point that I would

[1:36:16] say is just going back to

[1:36:22] evaluation. Um. It would be

[1:36:26] helpful. Um, for us to get just

[1:36:28] some of the broader data, like,

[1:36:29] for example, economic stability

[1:36:33] or Household stability, and I

[1:36:35] know pre-eviction services was

[1:36:37] one of the items, but also for

[1:36:39] us to think about this in terms

[1:36:42] of, um, just the general data

[1:36:43] in in Brockville, like, for

[1:36:47] example, I know that evictions

[1:36:48] have increased for Rockville,

[1:36:50] or, um, and to get some of the

[1:36:52] background informa just like

[1:36:54] the general data for that er

[1:36:56] for that particular topic area,

[1:36:58] i think is helpful for us to

[1:37:02] make, um. Decisions around, uh,

[1:37:04] the nonpro profits that were

[1:37:06] giving grants to, and, um, just

[1:37:07] to evaluate the work and the

[1:37:09] services in general. And I

[1:37:09] m

[1:37:10] not saying nonprofits should.

[1:37:13] Be able to fix all of our

[1:37:15] problems because, um, that,

[1:37:15] that won

[1:37:16] t happen, but just to

[1:37:18] have some of that broader

[1:37:20] context, um, uh, just for us to

[1:37:24] make decisions. But this is

[1:37:28] fantastic, and thank you. Thank

[1:37:31] you. Uh, Councilor Burke, I, I,

[1:37:32] uh, just wanted to flag, I know

[1:37:34] MR. Mihali asked us to speak to

[1:37:36] these 3 areas. I assume that

[1:37:38] you are. Based on your feedback,

[1:37:41] good with 1, but you want

[1:37:44] people to look at the titles,

[1:37:45] um, thank, thank you, MADAM

[1:37:46] Mayor, and if it

[1:37:47] s ok, I would,

[1:37:49] I would like to also hear from

[1:37:50] my colleagues because I know

[1:37:51] that they MAY have some

[1:37:53] questions and I can be a a bit

[1:37:54] more informed if it

[1:37:54] s ok to

[1:37:58] circle back. Sure, yes, I think

[1:37:58] he

[1:38:00] s also looking for answers,

[1:38:02] yes or no to 2 or 3, just, uh,

[1:38:06] when we circle back. Thank you.

[1:38:14] Ok, COUNCILMAN Valerie. Um Uh,

[1:38:17] a massive thank you to, um, MS.

[1:38:20] Shushka MISS Maisel, um I know

[1:38:23] as a, somebody working in the

[1:38:24] nonprofit sector and has only

[1:38:26] ever worked in the nonprofit

[1:38:28] sector, um, exactly how

[1:38:31] challenging it is. Um, and also

[1:38:33] as liaison to the Human

[1:38:37] Services Advisory. Commission.

[1:38:39] I hear firsthand from so many

[1:38:42] of our, uh, community, uh,

[1:38:43] service providers. I hear about

[1:38:44] their challenges and their

[1:38:46] struggles, and I really

[1:38:47] appreciate all the work that

[1:38:50] the two of you, um do on a

[1:38:52] daily basis, not only, um, on

[1:38:52] what you

[1:38:53] re looking at, what

[1:38:53] What we

[1:38:55] re looking at here, but,

[1:39:00] um As a whole, I think that um

[1:39:01] our nonprofits and, uh,

[1:39:02] yourselves are some of our

[1:39:05] unsung, uh, heroes. So I wanna

[1:39:07] say thank you sincerely, um

[1:39:10] Yeah, I have a whole lot. To,

[1:39:14] to ask, to say, to comments, I

[1:39:16] will hopefully get to these 3,

[1:39:17] but if not, I

[1:39:18] m sure MADAM

[1:39:19] Mayor will do like another,

[1:39:21] like, hey, if you haven

[1:39:21] t

[1:39:22] answered the 3, you know, go

[1:39:27] around the horn. Um, I wanna

[1:39:30] first note that I think that

[1:39:31] this is a significant enough

[1:39:33] topic that I don

[1:39:33] t want to

[1:39:37] preclude Mm Forward progress,

[1:39:39] but I think that it does

[1:39:41] deserve a second work session.

[1:39:41] We don

[1:39:43] t have all of our

[1:39:46] colleagues here. And one of our

[1:39:49] colleagues, um, joined a little

[1:39:50] bit into the discussion. I

[1:39:52] think that, um, whether we have

[1:39:56] it as part of our, uh,

[1:39:57] strategic planning session, um,

[1:39:58] as your city manager, I think

[1:39:59] that this is significant enough.

[1:40:03] That we should consider, uh, uh,

[1:40:07] a second work session. Um, I do

[1:40:10] wanna just to, uh, help the

[1:40:10] member Shaw

[1:40:11] s point, yes,

[1:40:14] household is a term that the

[1:40:16] nonprofit sector uses an

[1:40:17] all-encompassing term when

[1:40:17] you

[1:40:19] re looking at, um,

[1:40:22] different levels of, of service,

[1:40:22] um, you haven

[1:40:23] t community needs,

[1:40:24] but you have household needs as

[1:40:25] well. So it

[1:40:28] s a very, uh,

[1:40:29] easily identifiable by the

[1:40:31] nonprofit or ngo,

[1:40:33] non-governmental organization.

[1:40:36] Immunity. Well, on that point,

[1:40:40] I, I throw out a, an idea. And

[1:40:42] this also goes to something

[1:40:45] that, um, that actually, uh,

[1:40:47] you said MISS Shushka when you

[1:40:49] very kindly answered the

[1:40:51] question again, um, maybe we

[1:40:53] call it community resiliency.

[1:40:55] Because making sure that people

[1:40:57] have, you know, safe and stable

[1:41:00] housing. Access to health

[1:41:02] services, access to food, these

[1:41:06] are things that are kind of

[1:41:08] essential to resiliency, um,

[1:41:10] and resiliency is, is also part

[1:41:11] of stability, so I

[1:41:11] m just gonna

[1:41:13] throw that out there as a As an

[1:41:17] idea. Um, you can, you can run

[1:41:18] with it, or you can ignore me.

[1:41:19] Either way, I

[1:41:19] m all, I

[1:41:20] m all

[1:41:23] good, but I, I do like the idea

[1:41:24] of resiliency and making sure

[1:41:26] that our, all of our

[1:41:29] communities can. Mhm. And not

[1:41:30] only survive but can thrive. As

[1:41:33] well. Um. I

[1:41:34] m gonna, I

[1:41:35] m gonna

[1:41:37] take it a step back and not

[1:41:40] only for, for all of us. Not

[1:41:42] here, but for our folks

[1:41:44] watching from home either now

[1:41:46] or later, um, can you share a

[1:41:49] little bit how is

[1:41:49] prioritization determined as of

[1:41:53] right now? So, you know, when

[1:41:57] we go into this time period of

[1:41:58] people applying, how do, how,

[1:42:00] you know, how do we do

[1:42:01] prioritization? How does the,

[1:42:06] um Community panel review and

[1:42:08] selection committee. How, how

[1:42:10] do they define, you know, um,

[1:42:12] the priorities of, of this,

[1:42:15] this program right now. Yeah,

[1:42:18] thank you for that question. Uh,

[1:42:20] the primary driver of us

[1:42:22] proposing this program design

[1:42:24] change is because we do not

[1:42:27] currently have a way of

[1:42:30] evaluating prioritization among,

[1:42:32] um, applications, we do have

[1:42:34] standard evaluation criteria,

[1:42:37] um, and as we noted, we are

[1:42:38] receiving far more requests

[1:42:39] than we

[1:42:42] re able to fund, and it

[1:42:43] has been a challenge for our

[1:42:46] community panels to use the

[1:42:48] Current evaluation criteria to

[1:42:50] prioritize, so we are hoping

[1:42:52] that by adopting impact focus

[1:42:54] areas and incorporating those

[1:42:56] into the evaluation criteria of

[1:42:57] will provide a tool for our

[1:43:00] community panel to be able to,

[1:43:02] to look more at applications

[1:43:03] that align with, um, outcome

[1:43:06] goals. Yeah. No, that, thank

[1:43:08] you. I think that was very

[1:43:09] helpful and I think that

[1:43:10] hopefully that

[1:43:11] s helpful to my

[1:43:14] colleagues, um, as well. I, I

[1:43:17] wanna make sure that You know,

[1:43:20] obviously, we need focus. We

[1:43:21] need focus, and we need focus

[1:43:23] areas, right, when we

[1:43:23] re

[1:43:27] identifying the, the best

[1:43:28] criteria to evaluate

[1:43:30] applications and, uh, program

[1:43:32] effectiveness, but I also think

[1:43:34] that, um, there is a, a part of

[1:43:38] it. That should also be

[1:43:41] reflective of the mayor and

[1:43:42] council priorities. So that,

[1:43:46] you know, um You have kind of

[1:43:49] set in criteria. But let

[1:43:49] s say,

[1:43:51] you know, um, actually, this is

[1:43:54] a great example of it. This

[1:43:56] mayor and council. Really

[1:44:01] wanted to Step in, provide,

[1:44:03] protect the community from the

[1:44:03] decisions of the federal

[1:44:07] government. Maybe not all, you

[1:44:09] know, mayoral councils might,

[1:44:12] might, you know, wanna do that.

[1:44:15] Or see it differently, but we

[1:44:17] obviously want You know, to

[1:44:21] support. Applicants that are

[1:44:23] filling a gap because of what

[1:44:24] the federal government has done

[1:44:28] right now. Um, so I, I, I hope

[1:44:29] that, you know, um, maybe as

[1:44:31] part of the community panel

[1:44:35] review. Just in some way,

[1:44:36] taking the, the discussions

[1:44:38] that we have, like our

[1:44:40] strategic priorities. We have

[1:44:42] those sessions and, and maybe

[1:44:44] in working with, um, MR. City

[1:44:46] Manager working with that. To

[1:44:53] help inform. Mm, uh, the, the,

[1:44:54] the community panel review,

[1:44:56] that this is something that the

[1:44:58] mayor and council also find

[1:45:00] these are also, um, priorities

[1:45:02] as well. I think sometimes

[1:45:02] that

[1:45:03] s been the disconnect. I

[1:45:05] know at least for me in that

[1:45:05] I

[1:45:07] m like, well, I thought we

[1:45:08] were prioritizing this, and

[1:45:10] then this kind of comes out of

[1:45:11] nowhere, you know, I, I

[1:45:11] m, I

[1:45:12] m

[1:45:13] trying to kinda, you know,

[1:45:16] thread the needle between Here

[1:45:17] are our values, these will

[1:45:20] always be our values, and then,

[1:45:23] you know, the focus of a

[1:45:25] particular elected body. Um,

[1:45:28] and being able to kinda, um,

[1:45:30] nimble in that way. I

[1:45:30] appreciate that you

[1:45:30] re really

[1:45:34] built in a lot of flexibility.

[1:45:35] Into the, the process because I

[1:45:38] think That is, uh, that is, um,

[1:45:42] uh a good, um, indicator of a

[1:45:43] very well-designed program is

[1:45:45] that you do have that

[1:45:48] flexibility. Um, I love a lot

[1:45:52] of stuff that you proposed in

[1:45:53] This, uh, a lot of things that

[1:45:54] you

[1:45:56] ve, uh, proposed, including,

[1:45:58] and, you know, Maybe it

[1:45:59] s just

[1:46:02] me, um, but I, I really love

[1:46:05] the, um I

[1:46:06] m looking for it,

[1:46:09] sorry, that there was a, a

[1:46:13] section in here that Um, would

[1:46:16] allow for, um The modest cost

[1:46:18] of service adjustments subject

[1:46:19] to available funding. I think

[1:46:20] that that

[1:46:23] s Fantastic. Um,

[1:46:25] speak again, speaking as

[1:46:26] somebody who works at a

[1:46:29] nonprofit, um, who has

[1:46:30] submitted so many grant

[1:46:32] applications and had to explain

[1:46:35] ok, so this is why this year

[1:46:35] I

[1:46:36] m asking for a little bit

[1:46:37] more, and it

[1:46:38] s because x, y,

[1:46:39] and z, there definitely has to

[1:46:42] be that kind of, uh, cost of

[1:46:44] living adjustment in, in terms

[1:46:47] of, of grants, so I really

[1:46:49] appreciate that. Mhm. Also want

[1:46:51] to note, we talked to a lot of

[1:46:54] folks, a lot of my colleagues.

[1:46:55] Talked about the economic

[1:47:00] mobility. Um, Portion of the,

[1:47:01] the impact priorities. I will

[1:47:05] say, um, just as an fyi, um I

[1:47:08] think myself and I believe

[1:47:12] MADAM Mayor, also met, um,

[1:47:14] representatives from the new,

[1:47:15] uh, Maryland Department of

[1:47:17] Social and Economic Mobility. I

[1:47:18] think there

[1:47:18] s, they

[1:47:19] re really

[1:47:19] trying, yeah, they

[1:47:20] re, there

[1:47:20] s

[1:47:22] some great folks. And I think

[1:47:23] that, you know, they

[1:47:25] re,

[1:47:25] they

[1:47:28] re even closer to, um, the

[1:47:30] community as well as than a

[1:47:31] national entity, I think the

[1:47:32] Urban Institute is, is

[1:47:33] fantastic, but I would, I would

[1:47:35] love to kind of see more, you

[1:47:40] know, um leaning on our state

[1:47:43] partners, um, for Their

[1:47:44] perspectives and resources. I

[1:47:45] know it

[1:47:46] s a brand new, uh,

[1:47:48] cabinet position, so like, no

[1:47:50] pressure, but, um, I think

[1:47:51] there

[1:47:52] s an opportunity there to

[1:47:53] really, um, get some good

[1:47:58] information. Um, I, I

[1:47:59] absolutely love the Impact

[1:48:03] focus areas. I. At first I was

[1:48:04] like, oh, this is in my mind.

[1:48:04] I

[1:48:06] m like, oh, this is missing,

[1:48:08] this is missing, this is

[1:48:11] missing. Um I, I don

[1:48:11] t

[1:48:15] necessarily Think that we need

[1:48:20] to Discreetly outline Everybody

[1:48:23] who makes up a family, right?

[1:48:25] Everybody that makes up, you

[1:48:27] know, you, I think that that

[1:48:29] the, the devil is gonna be in

[1:48:32] the details of how You know,

[1:48:35] you define each of these

[1:48:36] proposed impact focus areas,

[1:48:39] and then That those kind of

[1:48:41] shared definitions will also

[1:48:43] help us to understand, I think,

[1:48:47] as well, um, sort of having

[1:48:49] very distinct, um, definitions

[1:48:50] and I totally appreciate the

[1:48:51] context of the chart. That was

[1:48:55] really helpful. I think level

[1:48:57] setting that we see economic

[1:48:59] mobility as our desire to x, y,

[1:49:02] and z. Um, that

[1:49:03] ll help, I

[1:49:05] think, maybe, um, uh, make

[1:49:07] things a little bit more clear,

[1:49:08] not only for us but for the

[1:49:10] community. And for, um

[1:49:16] potential Grantees. Um, I, I, I

[1:49:17] think I

[1:49:20] ve said this before,

[1:49:21] but under community service and

[1:49:24] empowerment grants. If we call

[1:49:25] it senior services, can you

[1:49:27] please call it Youth Services.

[1:49:30] Um, you know, some of, some of

[1:49:31] the youth that we really want

[1:49:32] to work with, they

[1:49:33] re already a

[1:49:35] pretty developed. They

[1:49:36] re

[1:49:36] probably more empathetic than a

[1:49:39] lot of, uh, adults that I know.

[1:49:43] Um, and I think that youth

[1:49:44] services is uh a more expansive

[1:49:47] way of, of looking at their

[1:49:50] needs. I wanna co-sign with my

[1:49:51] With MADAM Mayor said that in

[1:49:55] particular And to what MR. City

[1:49:55] Manager talked about, I think

[1:49:57] that We

[1:50:01] ll have a lot more, um

[1:50:03] Uh, information. Here

[1:50:03] s another

[1:50:05] great example of the

[1:50:07] cross-pollination of Mar and

[1:50:09] council priorities with, um,

[1:50:10] our grant program is that we

[1:50:11] re

[1:50:12] gonna have work sessions

[1:50:14] specifically on, on youth

[1:50:15] programming in particular for

[1:50:17] at-risk youth, and I

[1:50:17] m hoping

[1:50:18] that it

[1:50:20] ll help to inform. Um,

[1:50:22] our, our grant process as well

[1:50:26] because we keep kinda Getting,

[1:50:28] um, I think we can definitely

[1:50:31] get some maybe, um Be not

[1:50:35] better, um, more grantees or

[1:50:36] potential grantees that would

[1:50:39] be in those areas if We, you

[1:50:40] know, kinda share that that

[1:50:40] s

[1:50:41] also a priority of marriage

[1:50:45] council. Um, None of these are

[1:50:48] questions, by the way, so you

[1:50:48] haven

[1:50:49] t missed anything. This

[1:50:50] is more of off the top of my

[1:50:52] head, like Been thinking

[1:50:55] through a lot of this. Mhm. I,

[1:50:59] I, I also want to know that, um

[1:50:59] You know, and if we

[1:51:00] re, if

[1:51:00] we

[1:51:01] re looking at at-risk youth

[1:51:05] programming. I will continue to,

[1:51:09] to hope that we, as part of

[1:51:10] community resiliency, um, could

[1:51:12] look at, um, you know, uh,

[1:51:16] encouraging Applications from

[1:51:18] folks that work with in the

[1:51:19] substance use or recovery

[1:51:22] community space. As well as in

[1:51:26] the veteran space. Um, in

[1:51:27] particular, and I know that

[1:51:30] sometimes a lot of people tend

[1:51:33] to, um, assume, and I am also

[1:51:34] defer to my colleague council

[1:51:36] member DR. Miles. A lot of

[1:51:38] people seem to think, oh, well,

[1:51:41] the veterans go to va. Well,

[1:51:43] the va has cut back on a lot of

[1:51:45] programs right now too, so I

[1:51:45] think if they

[1:51:46] re, again, if

[1:51:46] there

[1:51:48] s a way that we can

[1:51:51] Provide help. In any way to our

[1:51:52] veteran community here in the

[1:51:54] city. I, I really hope that we

[1:51:58] do. Um, Let

[1:52:00] s see. Do do do. I

[1:52:03] already mentioned that. About

[1:52:07] community resiliency. Uh, so I

[1:52:13] will say, um I think that I

[1:52:20] think generally. We are We are,

[1:52:23] we as a city and, uh, your,

[1:52:25] your team, uh, in particular,

[1:52:27] MS. Shishka and MISS Mazel are

[1:52:29] really good about kind of

[1:52:31] applying the equity lens, um,

[1:52:33] because you, you all work so

[1:52:40] closely. Um, With, uh, uh Risks

[1:52:41] and marginalized communities,

[1:52:43] but, you know, Maybe it

[1:52:45] s a, a

[1:52:50] good approach for the Community

[1:52:52] panel review if we had, you

[1:52:55] know, um, our own internal city

[1:52:58] equity focus areas. I tend to

[1:53:00] always look to see, you know, I,

[1:53:01] you want programs that serve

[1:53:02] the city as a whole, absolutely.

[1:53:07] We have sometimes seen, um,

[1:53:08] programs that were, um,

[1:53:13] centered in Areas that are, are,

[1:53:16] are not in need. If I can, uh,

[1:53:18] be kind about it, and so I

[1:53:19] would love, and I

[1:53:20] d love to

[1:53:24] hear, hear your thought, um, on

[1:53:25] developing equity of focus

[1:53:28] areas that would then encourage,

[1:53:30] um, you know, both the, the

[1:53:33] community panel review. Folks

[1:53:37] as well as applicants. From,

[1:53:38] you know, uh, organizations

[1:53:40] that would work in particular

[1:53:41] in the communities that are

[1:53:42] most in need. I would love to

[1:53:45] hear your thoughts on that.

[1:53:47] Yeah, thank you for the that

[1:53:48] question. I think there

[1:53:49] s a

[1:53:51] real opportunity for it, the

[1:53:52] grants application and

[1:53:54] evaluation, and you mentioned

[1:53:56] the community panel to align

[1:53:57] with the Jedi strategic

[1:53:58] priorities. I

[1:53:59] m really looking

[1:54:00] forward to working with the

[1:54:02] Jedi team on that that recently

[1:54:05] with, um, Jean Booth, of course,

[1:54:07] um, looking at what was just

[1:54:08] adopted and our year 1 work

[1:54:10] ahead of us, and I think

[1:54:10] there

[1:54:13] s going to be so many

[1:54:14] opportunities for us to, um,

[1:54:17] extend That work that we

[1:54:17] re

[1:54:20] gonna do to adopt the 7

[1:54:22] strategic priorities, um, into

[1:54:23] our departments, into our

[1:54:26] program, and then into the work

[1:54:27] that we do through nonprofit

[1:54:28] partnerships. So, I think that

[1:54:32] that is a real opportunity.

[1:54:32] Absolutely, and, and I

[1:54:33] m, thank

[1:54:33] you. I

[1:54:34] m really looking forward

[1:54:36] to it cause there

[1:54:36] s so much

[1:54:39] overlap, um So, so yeah, I

[1:54:41] absolutely to go to the, the

[1:54:43] questions, um, absolutely, we

[1:54:46] need to adopt. Um, impact focus

[1:54:50] areas. We don

[1:54:51] t have focus

[1:54:52] areas right now. We need to

[1:54:55] make it, um, easier for our, uh,

[1:55:01] community panel. Reviewers, um,

[1:55:03] to be able to effectively, um

[1:55:06] Select From pools of applicants,

[1:55:07] I don

[1:55:08] t know how else we would

[1:55:09] do that if we don

[1:55:10] t have a way

[1:55:13] for prioritization. So for my

[1:55:15] colleagues that are not, um,

[1:55:17] who have shared already that

[1:55:18] they, they kinda wanna defer on

[1:55:21] this. I understand cause at

[1:55:23] first I was the same way, but

[1:55:23] now I

[1:55:27] m realizing that we have

[1:55:28] no distinct prioritization

[1:55:29] matrix, then, then this is what

[1:55:32] this would be. So, um,

[1:55:34] absolutely, I support number 1.

[1:55:39] Mhm. I think You know, I, I,

[1:55:42] for num, for question number 2,

[1:55:45] Should 1 or 2 be prioritized? I,

[1:55:46] I don

[1:55:47] t know why we wouldn

[1:55:47] t

[1:55:51] prioritize all of them, but I

[1:55:52] guess my answer is 1 or 2 is it

[1:55:57] works, but If these are gonna

[1:55:59] help with prioritization, um, I,

[1:56:01] it would be really hard for me

[1:56:05] to, to determine Which would be

[1:56:06] prioritized over others. I

[1:56:06] don

[1:56:09] t think that we necessarily

[1:56:10] need more data on this because

[1:56:14] we already have. Decades of, of

[1:56:15] data that fall into these,

[1:56:20] these, uh, categories. Um, I, I

[1:56:24] do agree, uh. We have high

[1:56:27] performing programs. We have

[1:56:29] some of our grantees who have

[1:56:30] Received grants from the city

[1:56:32] for over a decade, if not more.

[1:56:36] And You know, it does beg the

[1:56:39] question for me. Twofold.

[1:56:41] Absolutely, if, if the proven

[1:56:42] program in the city, they

[1:56:43] should absolutely have a

[1:56:45] streamlined renewal pathway.

[1:56:47] Checks and balances, guardrails,

[1:56:51] of course. Um, you know, change

[1:56:53] in nonprofit leadership,

[1:56:55] ongoing site visits, I kinda, I,

[1:56:55] I

[1:56:56] ve definitely, I

[1:56:56] ve

[1:56:58] experienced all of that, so I

[1:56:58] don

[1:56:59] t think any nonprofits

[1:57:02] would, would be upset with that,

[1:57:04] but, you know, I also sit back

[1:57:07] and I, I say, I think sometimes

[1:57:10] at what point We as a city look

[1:57:12] deeper at the services the city

[1:57:14] has funded for 20 plus years,

[1:57:15] right? Like, like we

[1:57:17] re, we

[1:57:18] have this ongoing relationship.

[1:57:21] And are, are we just kind of

[1:57:23] there, um, an extension of the

[1:57:25] city at that point? Are they

[1:57:26] serving more, less, I don

[1:57:26] t

[1:57:29] know, but, you know, we do have

[1:57:31] long-standing, um, nonprofit

[1:57:33] partners who are is providing

[1:57:36] um Uh, amazing services. So I

[1:57:40] do absolutely. Support a

[1:57:41] streamlined renewal pathway

[1:57:44] again with guardrails, um, and,

[1:57:46] and site visits and all that.

[1:57:54] Before I ok, um. 3 last points

[1:57:55] and then I will pass it along.

[1:58:00] Um, 122 other things I

[1:58:00] ve been

[1:58:01] challenged with when I

[1:58:01] ve

[1:58:03] looked at the community grants.

[1:58:05] The first one is the funding of

[1:58:07] programs. That are run by the

[1:58:11] Montgomery County. And I

[1:58:13] m

[1:58:14] challenged by this because the

[1:58:15] county has a much bigger budget

[1:58:19] than we do. Yeah, absolutely

[1:58:21] supportive of, of counting

[1:58:21] programs. Don

[1:58:23] t get me wrong.

[1:58:25] But, um, it, it, to me, always

[1:58:30] seems Little odd. At the county

[1:58:32] with, with a lot more money

[1:58:35] than we do is coming to us

[1:58:38] asking for a grant to help a

[1:58:40] program that they run,

[1:58:41] obviously, Rockville residents

[1:58:44] can get the benefits of the

[1:58:47] program. But it, it

[1:58:48] s a weird

[1:58:50] imbalance in my brain, you know,

[1:58:51] um, I

[1:58:52] ll just, um, I

[1:58:52] ll take

[1:58:53] the case of like, you know, I

[1:58:55] used to work for a local

[1:58:57] chapter of a nonprofit. And it

[1:59:00] would be like the national

[1:59:02] headquarters saying to the

[1:59:04] state chapter, um, yeah, you

[1:59:05] gotta pony up some money so

[1:59:07] that we can do this across the

[1:59:08] United States and it

[1:59:08] s like,

[1:59:11] why are you coming to me? Like

[1:59:14] I have no budget. So I, I, I am

[1:59:15] definitely challenged by that.

[1:59:19] Mm. The other thing, and I, one

[1:59:20] of my colleagues mentioned, um,

[1:59:22] this as well, and actually, MS.

[1:59:24] Shosa, you mentioned this too.

[1:59:29] Um In order to, um Really

[1:59:31] connect of funding. An event

[1:59:34] Opportunity I

[1:59:34] m really, I

[1:59:37] really got to see it connect

[1:59:39] easily to, to Rockville

[1:59:39] businesses. I think it

[1:59:41] s great.

[1:59:44] If, um, people come, you know,

[1:59:45] to the city for something like,

[1:59:49] um The f. Scott Fitzgerald

[1:59:51] Literary Festival. But where is

[1:59:52] the direct connection to a

[1:59:57] Rockville business. I, I want,

[1:59:59] I obviously want people to, to

[2:00:02] come here and Spend their

[2:00:04] economic dollars and, you know,

[2:00:05] their businesses. I think we

[2:00:07] all do. But it

[2:00:08] s tough if the

[2:00:12] programs are being held in

[2:00:14] locations are not easily, um, a

[2:00:15] few businesses are not easily

[2:00:18] accessible. And I think can be,

[2:00:20] um, um Kind of ignored, you

[2:00:22] could kind of dip dip into an

[2:00:24] event and dip out. So I just

[2:00:25] wanted to share that that

[2:00:26] s one

[2:00:26] of the things that I

[2:00:26] m

[2:00:29] challenged with. Final thing is

[2:00:32] a question and a comment. I

[2:00:33] think probably more than

[2:00:35] anything in the grant process,

[2:00:35] I

[2:00:43] ve really been Cha I, um The

[2:00:44] lack of um clarity, at least to

[2:00:50] me. Around, um, Grant recipient,

[2:00:52] grant recipients. And the

[2:00:57] lobbying of The city on, on

[2:00:58] policy decisions or potential

[2:01:01] decisions. I think that in no

[2:01:03] way, shape or form does anybody

[2:01:08] want to eliminate free speech.

[2:01:09] I, I, that is not what I

[2:01:09] m

[2:01:12] saying. I also know that as a

[2:01:14] Somebody who has been at the

[2:01:18] grantee. I know that I had

[2:01:19] guardrails and there were

[2:01:20] bright lines between what I

[2:01:23] could and could not do. In

[2:01:24] terms of engagement with, with

[2:01:28] the grant tour. Mm I, I think

[2:01:33] that It is distressing to me.

[2:01:34] We give essentially a general

[2:01:38] grant. Do, you know, ensure

[2:01:41] That a program continues or an

[2:01:42] organization continues, and

[2:01:43] that money then I turned around.

[2:01:47] 22 lobbyists on a particular

[2:01:50] policy. I would really, and I

[2:01:52] appreciate that we have a

[2:01:54] conflict of interest, um, in

[2:01:56] terms of the, uh Election

[2:01:59] committee. I would really like

[2:02:02] to see some, some ethical

[2:02:04] language, maybe from the city

[2:02:07] attorney office. Something

[2:02:08] around that idea that everybody

[2:02:11] can do anything they want as a

[2:02:12] resident of of Rockville as a

[2:02:15] resident of Montgomery County.

[2:02:16] Think that the challenges when

[2:02:20] you Are the the head or an

[2:02:24] employee of a grantee. There

[2:02:25] are different conditions, um,

[2:02:28] that, that do apply. And, um, I,

[2:02:30] I would really wanna see some

[2:02:31] bright lines, um, some

[2:02:34] guardrails. So that we know

[2:02:36] that the money that we are

[2:02:39] investing in the nonprofit. Is

[2:02:41] not being invested in lobbying

[2:02:44] us. And that, um, that

[2:02:44] s really

[2:02:48] my point. So, um, I, I will end,

[2:02:49] I will end there. I would love

[2:02:51] to hear my, my colleague

[2:02:51] s

[2:02:53] thoughts on that as well. Um,

[2:02:54] and really wanna, wanna thank

[2:02:55] you all. I know how tough this

[2:02:57] is, so. Appreciate it. Thank

[2:03:02] you. Thank you very much,

[2:03:05] Doctor Miles. Thank you, MADAM

[2:03:08] Mayor, I want to echo my thanks

[2:03:11] to the presenters on this. I

[2:03:11] ll

[2:03:14] keep it brief. After hearing my

[2:03:14] colleague

[2:03:16] s comments and Thank

[2:03:20] you for those. In terms of

[2:03:23] answering your questions.

[2:03:25] Question 1, yes, uh, I think

[2:03:28] that the 5 proposed impact

[2:03:30] focus areas should be adopted.

[2:03:32] There were 2, whether not any

[2:03:33] should be prioritized, I

[2:03:34] m not,

[2:03:36] I think as was mentioned by a

[2:03:37] couple of colleagues earlier, I

[2:03:38] don

[2:03:38] t think it

[2:03:41] s necessary.

[2:03:42] Prioritize 1 or 2, I think

[2:03:42] they

[2:03:45] re, they are all important,

[2:03:47] um, if, however, there was

[2:03:48] Movement among my colleagues,

[2:03:50] like the majority said they

[2:03:52] want to prioritize, uh, a bias

[2:03:54] toward the youth family

[2:03:55] services and household

[2:03:56] stability, um, among others,

[2:03:59] but again, I think all of them

[2:04:02] are important, and then third.

[2:04:03] The streamlined renewal process,

[2:04:05] yes, I think, you know, I

[2:04:06] d

[2:04:06] like the caveats that I

[2:04:06] ll put

[2:04:08] in there that they must reapply

[2:04:12] for 2 cycles. I think larger

[2:04:12] organizations that are more

[2:04:15] seasoned and polished. Have

[2:04:20] oftentimes. Can, can. Be

[2:04:22] somewhat advantaged in, uh, in

[2:04:24] applying for these programs.

[2:04:26] Relative to those who smaller

[2:04:27] perhaps with less experience,

[2:04:29] but I think the guardrails that

[2:04:30] you all have outlined makes

[2:04:31] sense to me and I can support

[2:04:32] that. That

[2:04:33] s all I have. Thank

[2:04:39] you. Thank you very much. I am

[2:04:40] just looking for additional

[2:04:42] hands, Mississ City Manager, I

[2:04:42] think we

[2:04:43] ve answered all of

[2:04:46] your key, you know, majority of

[2:04:48] an your key questions. Uh, do

[2:04:49] you have any followup questions

[2:04:51] for us. I do not, I just want

[2:04:54] to clarify, so I did hear a

[2:04:55] majority support for the 5

[2:04:58] Impact focus areas. I heard

[2:04:58] some interest and

[2:05:00] prioritization, maybe an

[2:05:02] ongoing discussion, but not

[2:05:03] necessarily picking 2 for next

[2:05:06] year, and I absolutely heard

[2:05:08] unanimous support for, um, the

[2:05:09] streamlining of high-performing

[2:05:09] programs. So I did get the

[2:05:10] direction we needed. Thank you,

[2:05:12] Mayor. Thank you, and I see

[2:05:13] Councilor Shaw

[2:05:18] s hand. Thank

[2:05:19] you, MADAM Mayor. I did just

[2:05:20] want to circle back. I can

[2:05:20] t

[2:05:21] hear you, can you please come

[2:05:25] off mute? Can you hear me now?

[2:05:26] Yes, thank you, yeah, I did

[2:05:28] just want to circle back, um,

[2:05:31] just as a member of the body to

[2:05:32] share my feedback, um, and I

[2:05:34] want to thank my colleagues for,

[2:05:35] um, the really great questions

[2:05:37] that they asked. Um, so should

[2:05:40] the city adopt, uh, 5 proposed

[2:05:44] impact focus areas, yes, um. Uh,

[2:05:47] number 2, which I think, uh,

[2:05:48] was slightly touched on by one

[2:05:50] of my colleagues surrounding

[2:05:53] data, um. Should 1 or 2 of

[2:05:55] these impact focus areas be

[2:05:57] prioritized. I still think that

[2:05:59] we should have data and that

[2:06:01] goes back to, um, like if we

[2:06:02] wanna talk about equity, that

[2:06:06] goes back to the equity process

[2:06:06] where we

[2:06:07] re sharing data to

[2:06:09] figure out where the gaps are

[2:06:11] in certain populations for to

[2:06:12] inform our decisions, and that

[2:06:14] data is not just for us, but

[2:06:14] it

[2:06:16] s also for the public to

[2:06:18] make sure that when we say that

[2:06:22] we are, um. Uh, advancing

[2:06:23] equity that that aligns with

[2:06:24] the metrics and the data. So I

[2:06:25] would just need to see more

[2:06:29] data, and then number 3, should

[2:06:31] the city provide a streamlined

[2:06:33] renewal pathway for

[2:06:34] high-performing programs, yes,

[2:06:37] and I also think we need to be

[2:06:39] careful, um, to make sure that

[2:06:42] we are also providing

[2:06:44] opportunities to support, um,

[2:06:46] some of the smaller nonprofits,

[2:06:50] um. As they grow, uh, so that

[2:06:52] they can also become one of our

[2:06:53] high performing programs

[2:06:55] because a lot of, a lot of, uh,

[2:06:56] our high performing programs

[2:06:58] are from some of the larger

[2:07:02] nonprofits, so thank you. Thank

[2:07:05] you very much. I appreciate the

[2:07:06] diversity of comments from my

[2:07:08] colleagues. Uh, thank you for

[2:07:08] answering the specific

[2:07:09] questions. I think we

[2:07:09] ve given

[2:07:12] staff a lot to think about, um,

[2:07:14] I will wrap with just, uh, in

[2:07:15] terms of next steps, if you

[2:07:17] could go back to that so that

[2:07:19] we can take another look. I do

[2:07:22] know that, um, the timing for

[2:07:25] grants is coming up very soon.

[2:07:26] Uh, so I believe that you

[2:07:26] re

[2:07:28] gonna have some of those, take

[2:07:31] our feedback and then move to

[2:07:31] open the application soon. Is

[2:07:33] that correct? That is correct,

[2:07:37] yes. So you typically do

[2:07:38] information sessions in

[2:07:41] SEPTEMBER. Uh, SEPTEMBER and

[2:07:43] OCTOBER, yes. Ok. And the

[2:07:46] deadline will be? OCTOBER 6,

[2:07:49] yes, I believe OCTOBER 16th,

[2:07:49] yeah, the only thing I

[2:07:50] ll say

[2:07:51] about that is given that we

[2:07:51] re

[2:07:52] making some changes, you MAY

[2:07:54] want to look up that a little

[2:07:55] bit just because people are

[2:07:57] gonna have to revise their

[2:07:58] application significantly,

[2:08:00] wanna Maybe participate in 1 or

[2:08:03] 2 of the sessions that you have,

[2:08:06] uh, we are moving from 9

[2:08:08] categories to about 5, so I

[2:08:11] just wanted to note that, um,

[2:08:11] and I

[2:08:13] ll just also say, um, I,

[2:08:14] I think that one of the things

[2:08:17] we saw with the last Grant

[2:08:17] piece of it

[2:08:19] s we, we were

[2:08:20] trying to, um, spread a little

[2:08:22] thin, so I just, I, to the

[2:08:23] comments of my colleagues

[2:08:25] looking at data, looking at

[2:08:26] impact, and meeting the needs

[2:08:28] of the community is very

[2:08:29] important, so, um, thank you

[2:08:31] for that. And then the last

[2:08:34] thing is related to the um

[2:08:36] microgrants, uh, the schedule

[2:08:37] is slightly different for that.

[2:08:37] We

[2:08:38] ll just make sure that we

[2:08:38] don

[2:08:40] t inadvertently. Have an

[2:08:41] issue with some of the

[2:08:42] programming, right, because I

[2:08:44] know the timing is gonna shift

[2:08:46] to make sure that we, the ones

[2:08:47] we have supported, will still

[2:08:49] get their fr 27, and then we

[2:08:49] ll

[2:08:51] work to make sure that it

[2:08:51] s in

[2:08:54] time, given that That

[2:08:54] s

[2:08:55] shifting until MAY for the next

[2:08:56] year, I just, I just want to

[2:08:57] take a look at that and make

[2:08:57] sure that we don

[2:08:59] t cause any

[2:09:00] issues there. Yes, absolutely.

[2:09:01] We can definitely make sure

[2:09:04] that those dates are lining up

[2:09:06] and we support that continuity

[2:09:08] of programming. Thank you, and

[2:09:10] I wanted to just also chime on

[2:09:12] other the, the comments on

[2:09:13] community resiliency or that

[2:09:14] word resiliency, I do love that

[2:09:15] and I appreciate the, the

[2:09:18] feedback. Of all of my

[2:09:21] colleagues. Ok. Anything else

[2:09:29] from your end? Ok. Thank you

[2:09:30] very much, we appreciate it,

[2:09:30] we

[2:09:31] ll look forward to that, and

[2:09:33] I know, um, information will be

[2:09:36] going out to our grantees, uh,

[2:09:37] end of AUGUST and SEPTEMBER so

[2:09:38] that you can advertise those

[2:09:41] information sessions. Thank you.

[2:09:53] Ok. Pulling up my agenda here.

[2:09:57] Oh jeez. Ok, so we had an lpt

[2:09:59] meeting this morning to review

[2:10:01] the mock agenda, uh, so we did

[2:10:02] have a nice discussion on that,

[2:10:03] just wanna want to pause and

[2:10:04] see if anyone has anything else

[2:10:12] to add on mock agenda. Ok, uh,

[2:10:13] next, wanted to open up for all

[2:10:17] new business. Ok. I just wanna

[2:10:18] note that this is our virtual

[2:10:19] meeting, Mayor and council is

[2:10:20] on recess during the month of

[2:10:22] AUGUST, there are still things

[2:10:24] that the city is still running,

[2:10:24] and we

[2:10:26] re still supporting and,

[2:10:28] and accessible, but please feel

[2:10:29] free to reach out to us as you

[2:10:31] need, we will not be having

[2:10:32] meetings during the month of

[2:10:35] AUGUST, uh, and thank all of

[2:10:36] our team and our staff, I hope,

[2:10:37] hopefully some of them get to

[2:10:39] get a little bit of a break in

[2:10:41] between, uh, we were back in

[2:10:42] SEPTEMBER, uh, and continuing

[2:10:43] to move forward to the business.

[2:10:47] Do we have a motion to adjourn?

[2:10:49] Motion to adjourn. Thank you,

[2:10:52] do we have a second? Second.

[2:10:54] Excellent, uh, COUNCILMAN Brett

[2:10:55] Jackson made the motion.

[2:10:56] COUNCILMAN Van Grag seconded.

[2:10:56] All those in favor, please

[2:11:00] raise your hand and say aye.

[2:11:00] Excellent. Have a wonderful

[2:11:03] summer, everyone. Take care.

Mayor and Council Meeting - August 3, 2026 (Meeting No. 20-26)

Agenda

Transcript