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DC arts commission says grant paperwork and purchase orders are moving faster; Submittable to be used for FY27
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Summary
Commission staff reported progress on FY26 grant agreements—Terrell said 717 of 1,096 awards are fully executed and purchase orders cover 55%—and announced Submittable will be adopted to streamline FY27 applications and processes.
Commission staff reported measurable progress on grants processing and announced a new application platform for the next fiscal cycle.
Aaron Myers, executive director of the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities, told commissioners the agency will present performance data to the oversight hearing on Feb. 11 and described improvements in the grant workflow. He said staff created 642 purchase orders as of Jan. 23, 2026 and noted additional approvals were moving through the pipeline.
"So, at the January 2025, 589 purchase orders were created... As of 01/23/2026, 642 purchase orders have been created," Myers said, framing the progress as an improvement over the previous year. He thanked the grants team and said staff are discussing further efficiency gains to get money to grantees faster.
Terrell, manager of the grants department, provided a program-level update: "So so far, we have 717 out of 1,096 grants. That's about 66% have been fully executed. We've established purchase orders for 55% of our grantees," he said. Terrell announced that the commission will use Submittable as the grant management system for FY27, with workshops on the platform to begin next month.
Commissioners congratulated staff on the rollout and asked staff to continue monitoring timelines and missing documentation so awards can be completed and payments issued. No new grant awards or funding changes were voted on during the meeting.
