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Arts, youth and environmental nonprofits request FY26 grants and project funding
Summary
Multiple nonprofits and community organizations asked the County Council to continue or restore project charge and non-departmental grant funding in the FY26 budget, including requests from Artworks Now, CASA, Eco Latinos, Streetcar Suburbs Publishing and others.
Representatives of several local nonprofits and community programs urged the Prince George's County Council on April 28 to preserve or restore non-departmental grants and project-charge funding in the FY26 operating budget.
Jessica Port, volunteer chair of Artworks Now in Hyattsville, asked the council to maintain a $35,000 project charge allocation and a $20,000 non-departmental grant that the organization uses to subsidize free, low-cost and sliding-scale arts programming. “Program fees only cover 40% of our budget,” she said, and that continued county support helps serve more than 2,000 residents in 2025, ages 2 through 92.
Casa Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) representatives asked for continued special appropriations and non-departmental support; CASA said it serves about 200 youth with 41 volunteer advocates and is applying for $150,000 in non-departmental funding for FY26. “We need your resources to continue the vital work to help kids who are in foster care here in Prince George's County,” CASA board chair John Green said.
Ruby Stemley, founder and CEO of Eco Latinos, outlined three climate and workforce programs — Spanish-language sustainable landscaping training, a youth environmental leadership program, and community stewardship projects — and asked the council to continue funding through the stormwater stewardship grant and non-departmental grant programs. Stemley noted Eco Latinos previously received support from the county’s stormwater stewardship grant.
Kit Slack of Streetcar Suburbs Publishing described the Hyattsville Life & Times and affiliated local publications, noting the nonprofit received a $20,000 non-departmental grant in 2023 used to mail news to incorporated-area residents. Slack asked the council to continue that support, saying the nonprofit provides hyperlocal reporting to areas losing traditional newspaper coverage.
Other witnesses — including program directors and volunteer leaders — made brief requests for continued funding for youth training, arts programs, media internships, and community stewardship initiatives. Council members did not vote; the requests will be part of the FY26 budget record.
Provenance: nonprofit and program funding remarks begin with Jessica Port (Artworks Now) at transcript timecode ~00:10:56 and continue through Eco Latinos and other speakers later in the hearing (~01:10:23–01:30:00).
