Kent County approves FY2027 children's-cabinet application and resolution awarding 14 community grants

Rosemary Granillo, director of the local management board, told the Kent County commissioners that the county is submitting its annual FY2027 application to the Governor's Office for Children to fund programs the board currently supports and to propose new rental-support and financial-coaching services.

——"This is our annual application to the governor's office for children where we update them on how our projects are going, why we are funding, or why we're prioritizing the programs that we are currently funding," Granillo said, listing continuing efforts such as Healthy Families home visiting, a student mental-health peer-mentoring program called Beyond Your Mental, and participation in Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Granillo also outlined a companion resolution to allocate 14 awards under the county's community reinvestment and repair funds. She said the awards include eight larger grants (more than $4,000) and six smaller grants (at or below $4,000). Noted awards described in the presentation included $15,000 to Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne's County to expand student access; capital-support requests for Manieri's Dream Alliance for infrastructure upgrades; $5,000 for the Kent County Judy Center to provide transportation so families can attend programs; $10,000 to Rebuilding Together Eastern Shore for home repairs; $10,000 for a Hip Hop Time Capsule project; and $14,900 to Community Mediation Upper Shore to expand a middle-school peace-team mediation program. Granillo said smaller awards will support apprenticeships, tutoring, literacy, reentry supports and other targeted youth services.

Commissioner (speaker 2) moved to approve submission of the FY2027 Children's Cabinet Interagency Fund project narrative. After a second, the board voted aye to approve the application and later moved to approve the resolution allocating the 14 grants as presented. The chair called the vote and recorded the ayes.

The board did not provide additional implementation timelines or detailed award conditions during the meeting; Granillo said large grants will have reporting and payment requirements and some programs will be put out to bid where appropriate. Granillo offered to circulate a press release listing award recipients and amounts for broader public distribution.

The commissioners' approval authorizes staff to proceed with the awards and any required contracting or reporting steps tied to the grants. The resolution and the CCIF submission were passed in the same session; no dissenting votes were recorded.