Committee forwards four items to council, including guaranteed-income authorization and funding reallocation

The Education and Human Services Standing Committee voted to forward four papers to City Council with recommendations for approval: an ordinance reappropriating funds from a nonprofit that ceased operations; an ordinance authorizing an amendment to opioid funds for a sheriff's medication-assisted treatment pilot; an ordinance to authorize a contract instrument to implement the Richmond Resilience Initiative (guaranteed income program); and a resolution requesting the chief administrative officer to form a joint work group with Richmond Public Schools to develop a funding formula.

Committee members voted unanimously on each item. For each paper, the committee approved forwarding to council with a recommendation to approve: Miss Jones recorded "Aye" and Chair Lynch recorded "Aye" on the roll calls; the clerk announced each motion "has been approved."

Item 1 (ordinance 2025-121) would amend the FY25 general-fund appropriation by transferring $96,250 originally allocated to Literacy Lab after that nonprofit notified the city it was ceasing operations. The ordinance as presented reappropriates $66,250 to the Reserve for Children's Fund and $30,000 to Challenge Discovery Projects, Inc., to correct an untimely invoice payment and settle the city's accounts. Eva Koolen, senior policy advisor with the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services, explained that the $30,000 portion is not new programming money but a bookkeeping correction.

Item 2 (ordinance 2025-124) authorizes the chief administrative officer to execute an amendment to the city's opioid-funds agreement with the sheriff, carrying forward unspent funds to continue a medication-assisted treatment pilot program operated in the sheriff's office. Jason Alley, a policy advisor for opioid crisis response, described the item as a carry-forward of funds and said the city is in ongoing contact with the sheriff's office to release the next tranche when the sheriff is ready.

Item 4 (ordinance 2025-139) would authorize the chief administrative officer to execute an FII National (as read into the record) for the purpose of implementing the Richmond Resilience Initiative (RRI) Guarantee Income Program. Derek Wadley, program and operations supervisor with the Office of Community Wealth Building, said the cohort launched May 26 and that 880 applicants qualified for the project. Wadley described an administrative arrangement with the program administrator, UpTogether: the administrator's standard fee was $50,000 but UpTogether has agreed to return $60,000 to the city in this iteration, leaving an extra $10,000 to support participant services. Wadley said payments will follow the existing model of $500 a month for 24 months once recipients are selected; the office will use a lottery and VCU's research staff to oversee selection integrity. The committee voted to forward the ordinance with a recommendation to approve.

Item 3 (resolution 2025-R023) requests the CAO to establish a work group with Richmond Public Schools to develop a funding formula for implementation in the FY27 general-fund budget. Megan Brown, director of budget and strategic planning, asked the committee to approve an amendment changing the date that the CAO's recommendation is due from Aug. 30 to Oct. 15; the committee agreed and voted to forward the resolution with that amendment. Matt Percival, vice chair of the Richmond School Board Finance and Audit Committee, spoke in support of the measure.

No members of the public spoke for or against the four papers during the committee's hearings. Staff recorded follow-up items including a request to convene a joint session with RPS in August or September to discuss the funding-formula work group and related topics.

Votes at a glance: all four items were forwarded to council with a recommendation to approve; recorded roll-call votes show Miss Jones and Chair Lynch voting "Aye" on each motion and the clerk announcing each motion approved.

The committee's next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 10; agenda items planned include updates on regional homelessness coordination and the parks master plan.