Jurupa Valley panel forwards list of 20 nonprofits for $100,000 in community grants

The Jurupa Valley Community Development Advisory Commission voted to forward a recommended list of 20 nonprofit recipients to the City Council for the city’s community service grant program, a pool staff said totals $100,000 to be awarded in $5,000 grants.

The recommendation followed a staff presentation that said the council had previously budgeted roughly $50,000 for the grants and this year doubled the amount to $100,000. Staff reported 37 total applications, 32 of which met technical eligibility requirements and were scored by the commission; the commission’s recommendations will go to the City Council for final approval at its Oct. 2 meeting at 7 p.m. in City Hall, staff said.

Commission staffer Amy Sells explained the scoring framework used by reviewers and commissioners, which totaled 100 points and weighed program alignment (25 points), community benefit (30), fiscal responsibility (20), feasibility (10) and completeness (15). “This year… the council generously doubled that amount to a 100,000,” Sells said while describing the program and outreach that produced an unusually large pool of applicants.

Commissioners reviewed the staff scores and then discussed individual applications and heard short presentations from several organizations before finalizing their recommended list. Presenters who spoke during the review included representatives from Verencia Mariachi Academy, Kids in Conflict, Inland Woodworkers, Arcoiris Collective Learning, the 909 Market Foundation (market/festival organizer) and others. Teresa, a Verencia Mariachi Academy board member, told the commission the academy has worked for a decade teaching and performing and planned to bring a juried workshop to Jurupa Valley if funded: “We really want to focus on our youth…and the community embrace the cultural,” she said. Aileen Nunez, identified as president and founder, said the academy planned to hold workshops and community performances in Jurupa Valley if it receives funding.

Lynette Jones, co-founder of Kids in Conflict, described that program’s range of services for at‑risk youth, including gang prevention, social-emotional learning, mentoring and a peer leadership component. “Since 02/2009, we’ve serviced over, just in this area, over 1,646 kiddos,” Jones said, and she reported an 87 percent success rate for the program’s participants.

An unnamed representative for Inland Woodworkers described a volunteer-run program that runs toy-making and make‑and‑take school workshops, helps refurbish community parade floats, and seeks a permanent community woodshop space. “We make toys, make about 5,000 toys a year to give away to kids just before Christmas,” the representative said. Gladys Jimenez explained Arcoiris Collective Learning’s arts and computer literacy programming and said the group plans to work with local libraries, schools and ReachOut to host community activities.

Commissioners also adjusted individual scores during discussion to reflect program details heard at the meeting; staff noted one application (Haruba Valley Christian Fellowship) was averaged using only three scores after Chair Ruiz abstained from scoring that application. After the final adjustments the commission chair moved to forward the list to the City Council; the motion carried with all commissioners present voting in favor.

The commission emphasized that its recommendations are advisory. Amy Sells reminded attendees that the City Council could alter the list when it considers the staff report and scoring materials on Oct. 2. Applicants who were not recommended were invited to appear and speak at the council meeting, Sells said.

The commission closed with brief administrative items: it approved the minutes from the March 13 meeting and approved the evening’s agenda before taking up the grant reviews. The commission also noted the next meeting is expected in January for the public service grants portion of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) process.

Votes at a glance: - Motion to approve minutes of March 13 — approved (unanimous among commissioners present). - Motion to approve the meeting agenda — approved (unanimous among commissioners present). - Motion to forward the commission’s recommended top 20 grant recipients to the Jurupa Valley City Council — approved (unanimous among commissioners present).