Richmond to pilot competitive grant‑making partners for FY27, city staff say

The Organizational Development Standing Committee of the Richmond City Council heard a presentation from Amy Popovich, DCIO for Human Services, on a plan to change how the city awards and manages non‑departmental grants, moving toward competitively selected external grant‑making partners for fiscal year 2027.

Popovich said the change is “a significant shift in the grant making process here at the city to really focus on increasing impact in our communities, and to really, ensure best practices in grant making.” She said the city currently manages about 70 individual contracts across multiple departments and that the existing process can take nearly 11 months from application to executed contract and payment.

The new framework would competitively select up to four subject‑matter grant‑making organizations to manage grants in four priority focus areas—children and families, health, economic mobility, and arts and culture—while the mayor would propose allocations and council would retain final budget authority through the normal budget process. Popovich said the model aims to shorten the timeline so awards and contracting occur in roughly three months (July–September) rather than…