Council discusses 2026 social service grant recommendations; group asks for more scoring detail before action

The council held non-action discussion Aug. 19 on staff and United Way recommendations for the city—s 2026 social service grant awards, totaling $491,904 in recommended funding.

Jessica Lerner, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Topeka (the city—s vendor for grant administration), said United Way scored 26 applications this year, more than in some prior cycles, and the review included a volunteer Social Service Grants Committee. "We had great applicants and good outcomes," Lerner said, and she invited council questions.

Carrie Higgins, housing services division director, confirmed applicants had been notified of recommended funding and that the program included an appeal process; staff said one appeal had been filed and resolved before the council discussion. Higgins said the program sets a $27,000 maximum award for most agencies but that two long-standing agencies were grandfathered at higher award levels; she stated one grandfathered amount was $50,000 and the other was $36,000.

Councilmembers asked for more transparency in the materials before moving to an action item. Councilwoman Hoefer asked to see spreadsheets that show whether agencies had been funded in prior years and to include the scoring spreadsheets that underpinned the recommendations. Councilman Dobler and others said moving the item to action that night would not interfere with the appeal (which staff said had been completed) but several councilmembers preferred to wait until the requested background spreadsheets were available to the full governing body. The council agreed to defer final approval so the additional scoring and history spreadsheets could be provided.