Clark County advisory board approves RFA awards for community action and homeless response programs

The Clark County Community Action Board approved funding recommendations for two major request-for-applications during its May meeting, agreeing to contract awards for community action programs and for the county’s homeless crisis response system.

County staff presented the Community Action Program (CAP) RFA results first. Kayla (county staff) summarized three CAP funding categories established from the 2024 Clark County community needs assessment: physical health, income and asset building, and transportation. For physical health, $113,500 was available and the top-scoring applicant, FAERS meal and nutrition program, requested and was offered the full $113,500. The income and asset building category had $99,500 available; the only applicant in that category, Safe First Financial Wellness, requested the full amount and was offered the award after scoring. The transportation category had $71,000 available and Reliant Recovery Services requested and was offered the full amount.

The largest point of debate concerned Safe First Financial Wellness, which scored lower than other CAP applicants in the CAB reviewers’ tallies. CAB member Diana Perez proposed reallocating the income-and-asset-building funds to physical health, saying, “Iwould like to propose the movement of those funds to the physical health area.” Reviewers noted Safe First scored about 70 overall with the lowest subscore in the management plan area; staff reminded the board that every applicant passed pre-application administrative review and that the CAB may only remove an award if the submission fails to meet the RFA requirements. As staff explained, “the CAB can determine to not work with the application at all,” but doing so requires a clear justification tied to the RFA criteria.

After discussion and repeated clarifications from staff, CAB member Faye Salomon moved to approve the CAP funding recommendations as presented; Melanie Green seconded. The board recorded the motion as carried; staff recorded the outcome as 8 in favor, 1 opposed, with several abstentions; the motion carried and staff will forward the recommendations to county council for final approval and contract drafting.

Staff then reviewed the Homeless Crisis Response System (HCRS) RFA awards. Presenters told the board that the Washington State Department of Commerce had recently signaled an increase from earlier estimates (staff had been preparing for a possible 20% cut) and staff received unofficial, higher budget approximations that allowed them to offer more awards or larger partial awards than originally planned. Staff said formal grant documents from Commerce are expected next week and that contracts will be finalized after council approval and budget confirmation in July. Several HCRS applicants received full awards and some were offered partial awards with the prospect of supplemental funding in July if Commerce or local carryover dollars become available.

Examples cited by staff included awards in rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing and temporary housing supports. The YWCA was offered its requested support for transitional housing and enhancements to domestic-violence shelter capacity; another shelter operator, Outsiders Inn, was offered a partial award of $250,000 pending acceptance and possible later augmentation. Staff said they will prioritize maintaining current shelter capacity first and then move down system priorities (permanent supportive housing, outreach, rapid rehousing) if additional dollars arrive.

CAB member Megan Wilsack moved to approve the HCRS funding recommendations as presented; Faye Salomon seconded. The board approved the recommendations by recorded raise‑hand/voice vote; staff recorded the tally as 8 in favor, 0 opposed (with extensions noted) and the motion carried. Staff will prepare a council staff report and, after council approval, begin contracts effective July 1.

Staff emphasized next steps for awardees: county staff will draft and route contracts after council action, provide onboarding and technical assistance to new awardees, create monitoring plans, and begin quarterly reporting on program outcomes once contracts are in place.

Votes at a glance: Motion to approve CAP funding recommendations as presented (mover: Faye Salomon; second: Melanie Green) — recorded by staff as carried (8 yes, 1 no, multiple abstentions noted). Motion to approve HCRS funding recommendations as presented (mover: Megan Wilsack; second: Faye Salomon) — recorded by staff as carried (8 yes, 0 no, extensions noted).