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Committee review finds 22 grant applications, urges town to increase human-services funding
Summary
The Contract Review Committee reported reviewing 22 applications and recommending awards within constrained budgets (roughly $650,000 for human services and ~$175,000 for substance-misuse). Committee members said demand far exceeded available funds and indicated plans to ask town leadership for an inflation adjustment to grant pools.
Veronica (committee chair) reported that the town’s Contract Review Committee (CRC) reviewed 22 grant applications and recommended funding allocations after deliberations, but that requests far outpaced available dollars.
The CRC review “got a total of 22 applications in,” Veronica said, with 18 in the human-services category and 4 in substance-misuse. The committee found roughly $1,200,000 in total requests against about $650,000 available for human services and about $175,000 allocated to substance-misuse grants.
That gap meant some applicants received no funding. “For the first time in my experience, we 0 funded a number of the applications,” Veronica said. She told members the committee used a rubric during interviews and deliberations and required interviews for new applicants and applications requesting above a $100,000 threshold.
The group reported using the revised application and scoring rubric to reduce the need for follow-up questions during evaluations, and noted the magnitude of need on the island as a primary reason for the high ask. Veronica said the cannabis-related impact-fee revenue that previously supported substance-misuse grants has been curtailed by a state ruling on how such fees may be assessed; the committee has since used the town’s strategic stabilization fund and a portion of marijuana tax receipts to cover that stream but expects a smaller continuing amount.
The CRC also said one substance-misuse applicant was disqualified because the organization did not hold nonprofit status; the remaining three substance-misuse applicants received full funding, leaving roughly $34,000–$44,000 unspent in that grant stream. The committee requested transferring the leftover substance-misuse funds to the human-services pool but was told the money could not be moved because it comes from a separate funding source.
Committee members emphasized the need to seek a larger, sustained allocation from the town. Veronica said the committee will draft a letter—“under Jericho’s signature”—asking town leadership to restore the human-services pool to prior levels and apply a cost-of-living adjustment reflecting inflation since the last increase; she said a 15% inflation factor is being considered but still needs precise calculation.
The CRC also flagged a second, separate out‑of‑cycle grant tied to opioid‑manufacturer settlement funds. The town plans to run a grant cycle for $55,000 in awards (one or two grants) for opioid/substance‑use treatment; award decisions and contract execution are expected next fiscal year.
An awards event for recipients is planned for early June; contracts will require funded organizations to display the town logo on materials that reflect municipal support.
Votes at the meeting itself were limited to routine procedural items (agenda acceptance, minutes approval and adjournment). There was no roll-call vote in the transcript that adopted a specific change to grant amounts or to obligate new municipal funding.
Members said they will present the CRC report to the finance committee and seek an answer from town administration by early August on whether the requested budget adjustment can be made ahead of next year’s grant cycle.
