York County committee recommends $62,080 in community support grants; $127,827 requested

The York County Board of Supervisors’ Community Support Committee presented its FY26 funding recommendations during the April 1 work session, proposing $62,080 in awards after receiving $127,827 in total requests.

The committee chair, Walt Acres, said the group—reduced this year to four members after one member moved out of the district—reviewed 18 applications, focusing on the organizations’ costs, the number of York County residents served and other funding the organizations secured. “We go through it, and we compare what they're doing to what their costs are for what they're doing, the number of people that they support within the county, as well as the number of people they support outside the county,” Acres said.

Acres noted the committee was pleased that three long-standing providers—York County Meals on Wheels, Williamsburg Meals on Wheels and the Virginia Peninsula Food Bank—had been advanced to regular county line items and would no longer be part of the outside-agency pool. The committee generally level‑funded groups that do not have contractual agreements and increased awards for several organizations this year where it concluded the need or impact justified an increase, especially among youth programs.

Recommendations and examples the committee cited include: - Arc of Greater Williamsburg: asked $3,000; committee recommended the full request; serves 148 York County residents. - Avalon Center for Women and Children: requested $4,000; committee recommended $4,665 to move it toward parity with similar shelters. - Bacon Street Youth & Family Services: increased recommendation (amount not specified in transcript) to support crisis, shelter and advocacy services. - Center for Child and Family Services: first-time applicant; supports behavioral and mental-health services to 105 York County residents; committee recommended a partial award to evaluate year‑over‑year performance. - DeGood Foundation (imagination library distributor): serves 945 York County children; recommended less than full request because it is new to the county program.

Acres said the committee recommended full funding for the Community Brain Injury Service, which provides intensive therapy to a small number of residents, and increased funding for Hospice House, citing end‑of‑life care needs. The committee also adjusted awards among shelters to bring them into a more even funding range and noted concerns where organizations had declined to pursue outside funding aggressively.

The packet presented to supervisors shows the committee’s recommended allocation and a color-coded chart that groups recipients by focus area (youth, public safety, environment, etc.). Acres summarized the program-level totals shown in the committee materials: request total $127,827; committee recommended $62,080.

The presentation prompted board members to ask for additional follow-up on several applicants (for example, more specifics on new applicants’ physical locations, the existing track record of new providers and how York County’s contribution compares to neighboring localities). The committee told supervisors it posts the annual recommendations online and expects organizations to monitor that information.

Next steps the committee described include: placing some recurring providers onto the county’s regular budget lines (as already done for Meals on Wheels and the Virginia Peninsula Food Bank) and letting supervisors consider the recommended awards during the broader FY26 budget process.

An itemized table of the committee recommendations was provided to the board and will appear in the budget packet; the committee’s materials remain available online for review.

Ending: Supervisors did not take a board vote on the committee’s recommendations during the April 1 session; the awards were presented for the FY26 budget deliberations and will be considered as part of the county’s budget process.