Council advances human services funding priorities, designates Impact Award to address food insecurity tied to gun‑violence prevention

The Finance Committee considered ordinances to establish the city’s human services funding priorities for the first year of the biannual fiscal 2026 budget and to designate an Impact Award focused on food insecurity as a component of the city’s broader gun‑violence prevention work.

Mika Owens (referred to in the transcript as council member Owens) submitted an ordinance that sets allocations and priorities for the Human Services Fund. Under the ordinance’s described allocation framework, 10% of the fund would be reserved for a large‑scale social innovation Impact Award; 26% for comprehensive workforce development support; 26% for youth gun‑violence prevention and reduction; 26% for securing and stabilizing housing for high‑risk populations; 10% for emergency wraparound services through Project Lift; and 2% for overhead. The ordinance also folded three previously separate categories—homelessness/eviction prevention, human services/violence prevention, and workforce programming/poverty reduction—into the human services application process for this funding cycle.

Why it matters: Council members described the allocation as a way to provide predictable funding for community partners at a time of federal funding uncertainty. Committee members repeatedly urged that short‑term interventions like food distribution be paired with workforce and anti‑poverty programs to create lasting change.

Public comment and evidence cited: Tricia Rayner, chief development officer and vice president of programs and partnerships at Free Store Food Bank, testified in support of the Impact Award and said research links household food insecurity to higher rates of firearm injury. Rayner said, “Feeding children and feeding families is a basic need,” and described clinic pantries and school pantries targeted to neighborhoods with high rates of gun violence.

Andrea Soto (referred to in the transcript as Andrea So to), market manager for Last Mile Food Rescue, said her organization had “brought 12,000,000 pounds of food” into Cincinnati neighborhoods and urged the committee to support the Impact Award to address food insecurity in neighborhoods with meal‑gap rates above 31%.

Council debate: Members praised the ordinance as a means to secure multi‑year funding for critical nonprofit partners amid possible federal funding cuts. Several members — including the vice mayor and President Pro Tem Parks in the transcript — emphasized the need to use Impact Award dollars to meet immediate needs while also investing in workforce programs such as Building Futures so families can move out of poverty.

Committee action: The ordinance and the Impact Award designation were placed on for passage by the committee during the meeting (final vote result not specified in the transcript). Committee members noted that the Impact Award would be competitive and permit organizations to apply for larger, multi‑year grants to pilot system‑level solutions for food access and stability.

The committee also discussed how the workforce and Impact Award pools could be used to support existing workforce programs; Council member Jeffries noted approximately $2,400,000 could be available for workforce development, and another member described the Impact Award as roughly $850,000 to “think big and innovative” (both figures were presented as approximate in the meeting).

The committee moved on after placing the ordinance and Impact Award on for passage.