City Council approves dozens of grants and resolutions, and declares March 12 School Social Worker Appreciation Day

The Boston City Council on March 12 approved a series of grant acceptances, appropriations and committee referrals for community programs, elder nutrition, workforce development and park improvements, and adopted a resolution designating March 12, 2025, as School Social Worker Appreciation Day.

Major items approved or referred: The council referred a mayoral message (Docket 0641) asking approval and appropriation of $38,148,052 in Fiscal Year 2025 Community Preservation Fund revenues for projects recommended by the City of Boston Community Preservation Committee. Multiple grants to support park lending libraries were suspended and passed together (Dockets 0644'0644'0646'0647), each for $30,000 to support community recreation lending libraries in Mattapan, South Boston (Mowgli Park), Brighton (Ringer Park) and the East Boston Greenway.

Workforce and elder services: The council accepted a state elder lunch program grant (Docket 0393) totaling $2,563,236.28 for FY25 to fund nutrition services for older adults, noted at $7.39 per meal for up to 358,679 meals. The council also approved a large package of federal workforce development grants administered by the Office of Workforce Development and MassHire, including multiple WIOA and Wagner-Peyser grants (Dockets 0397, 0398, 0401, 0403, 0404, 0449, 0450, 0451, 0452, 0455). Committee chair Councilor Benjamin Weber said the full package totals $7,247,060.79 and that a portion—about $2.2 million—will support youth job training programs.

Appointments and referrals: The council referred a mayoral appointment (Docket 0649) confirming Stanley McLaren to the Boston Public Health Commission's Board of Health (term to 01/15/2028) to the committee on public health, homelessness and recovery; it also referred other study committee appointments and filings to the planning and transportation committee and placed certain communications on file.

School social workers recognized: Councilor Julia Mejia introduced a resolution designating March 12 as School Social Worker Appreciation Day in Boston Public Schools (Docket 0656). Mejia and cosponsors noted BPS employs more than 200 social workers and that roughly 70% identify as BIPOC; Jenna Parafincik, who leads the department, told the council the team includes multilingual staff and represents district teams in schools. The council suspended the rules and passed the resolution by voice vote.

How votes were taken: Many of the grant and committee-report items were moved from committee and passed by voice votes after committee chairs recommended passage. Councilor Murphy moved suspension and passage of the four $30,000 park lending-library grants; the chair recorded aye/nay voice votes with the ayes prevailing. The workforce grant package was considered by the Committee on Labor, Workforce and Economic Development and then passed by the full council after the committee chair's recommendation.

Quotes: "I'm asking that we suspend and pass all 4 today," Councilor Aaron Murphy said when moving the park grants. Committee chair Councilor Benjamin Weber summarized the workforce package and fiscal totals: "The total number of all these grants is $7,247,060.79." Jenna Parafincik, who addressed the council during the social-worker presentation, said of BPS staff: "We have a team of over 200 social workers."

Next steps and clarifications: Many of these dockets were grants that require administration oversight and reporting to the awarding agencies; the workforce grants carry two-year spending windows and are administered by the Office of Workforce Development. Dockets that were read and referred (for example, the community preservation appropriation and some appointments) remain subject to committee review where required.

Ending: Councilors thanked social workers and community advocates during the meeting. The council approved the consent agenda and several committee reports, and adjourned after memorials and announcements.