Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Grants Fiscal Sponsorship topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Wellness Coalition urges borough to revisit fiscal sponsorship rules after Kanyama Exchange drops teacher program
Summary
A Ketchikan Wellness Coalition representative told the assembly the coalition's fiscal sponsorship rules discouraged the Kanyama Exchange from using the coalition as fiscal sponsor because sponsorship would have prevented the exchange from applying for borough community grant funds; the exchange chose to discontinue its teacher-exchange program.
Jackie Yates, representing the Ketchikan Wellness Coalition, used the public-comment period at the Jan. 21 assembly meeting to share an epidemiology profile on youth substance misuse and to raise a fiscal-sponsorship issue she said had practical consequences for local programming.
Yates said the coalition has been preparing an epi profile and building a data-analyst work group to explore causes of substance-misuse trends among local youth and that the group plans to share findings with the borough. She then described a separate issue: Kanyama Exchange approached the Wellness Coalition about fiscal sponsorship but declined the sponsorship because doing so would have prevented the exchange from applying for borough community grant funding.
“As we were heading into this new grant season, you guys have an opportunity to consider that option again of allowing the wellness coalition to provide fiscal sponsorship for other organizations that still would like to apply for borough funding but not have the burden of carrying a 501(c)(3) title,” Yates said. Yates said the exchange’s board ultimately ended its teacher-exchange program; the borough clerk was asked to accept the coalition’s materials for distribution to the assembly.
Yates asked the assembly to consider whether the borough’s rules or practices can be adjusted so that community groups using fiscal sponsorship do not lose eligibility for borough community grants. Assemblymembers did not debate the point at length at the Jan. 21 meeting but asked staff to accept Yates’ materials and to route them through the clerk for consideration.
