Council hearing on mayor’s proposed consolidation draws warnings over pooled grants and cultural competence

At a June 17 hearing of the Committee on Executive Administration and Labor, council members and community witnesses pressed the mayor’s office for details about a proposed FY26 restructuring that would consolidate multiple constituency and cultural affairs offices under the Executive Office of the Mayor.

The hearing focused on how the reorganization would affect grant-making, staffing and culturally specific services provided by offices such as the Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs (MOLA), the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services (MOCRs), and the mayor’s offices for Asian and Pacific Islander affairs, African American affairs, LGBTQ affairs and others. Nonprofit leaders and residents warned that pooling grant funds and centralizing administration could weaken culturally competent service delivery and slow grant awards.

“This connection between D.C. residents belonging to vulnerable groups and the executive office of the mayor is vital,” said Alicia Yoss, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia (ACLU-DC), testifying about the mayor’s proposed change to the mayor’s office of community affairs. She warned that “a combined and reduced staff is unlikely to have the cultural competencies for all the 13 constituencies that are currently served.”

Abel Núñez, executive director of the Central American Resource Center (CARESN), told the committee, “MOLA is not just an office, it is a touchstone for the communities it serves.” Several witnesses described concrete…