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Council funds public-health staffing and community food and family services grants
Summary
Columbus City Council approved an appropriation to cover public health staff costs previously funded by ARPA and awarded neighborhood initiative grants to Clintonville CRC and Choice Network to support food pantry and family-planning programs.
Columbus City Council approved measures in the Health, Human Services and Equity Committee to support public-health staffing and neighborhood nonprofit programs.
Council authorized an appropriation of $1,378,096 from the health special revenue fund to cover Columbus Public Health personnel costs that had been paid from exhausted ARPA dollars. The ordinance lists staff positions supported by this funding, including youth programming and family engagement staff, a VOICE staff member and a care coalition staff member.
Council also approved a grant agreement with the Clintonville/Beachwood Community Resource Center (CRC) to support its family services program and Choice food pantry. CRC Executive Director Stephanie Baker addressed council and described program volume: the CRC reported 29,000 food pantry visits in 2024 (up from 10,000 in 2018) and more than 16,000 visits so far in the year, serving more than 10,000 people. The council moved to appropriate neighborhood initiative funds to support CRC’s family services work and declared the ordinance an emergency to get funds into operation quickly.
In a related action, council approved a grant agreement with Choice Network Inc. to support its Just Choice family-planning and assistance programming; the ordinance described targets for the upcoming year including services for 25 families, case management for 350 clients, and supports intended to prevent children entering foster care. The ordinance was amended on the floor and then passed.
All items in the committee passed on roll call; no opponents spoke on the record during committee discussion.
