Policy and Services Committee approves pilot nonprofit grant program for FY26

The Policy and Services Committee on March 11 approved a Phase 1 nonprofit partnership work plan that establishes a pilot one‑time grant program and recommends a $185,000 allocation in the city manager’s FY26 budget for awards to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.

The work plan, presented by Lupita Ramos, assistant to the city manager, aims to align nonprofit partnerships with council priorities while emphasizing fairness, inclusion, scaled reporting requirements and the agility to respond to evolving community needs. Ramos said the pilot focuses on process improvements for requests that fall outside currently established grant programs.

Ramos said, "Our recommendation from our previous month of February 11 meeting was to review and recommend a council approval of a phased approach to enhancing nonprofit partnerships," explaining that Phase 1 would establish a near‑term pilot for one‑time grant requests and that staff proposed a scaled application and reporting rubric for different award sizes.

Under the proposal, the $185,000…