Council sends $1,000 community‑support grant awards back to Human Relations Commission to prioritize Riverside‑based organizations

Council member Mill asked the City Council on March 24 to reject three $1,000 community support grants recommended by the Human Relations Commission because the awardees’ applications showed mailing addresses outside Riverside. Stephanie Gallegos, principal management analyst, said the HRC rubric prioritized program benefit in city limits and that the application did not require the nonprofit’s legal address to be in Riverside, only that the work funded occur within city limits.

Mill said the optics were poor because three of the awarded organizations appeared to have non‑Riverside mailing addresses while 13 of 16 applicants were Riverside‑based, and he moved to reject the awards and send the item back to HRC with an explicit instruction to prioritize organizations based in the City of Riverside. Council debated whether the application form should require nonprofit headquarters to be located in Riverside or whether the scoring rubric should include a preference for locally based organizations.

Council member Cervantes said she had reviewed the applications and that some awardees were clearly providing work in Riverside and that staff should verify local activities before rescinding awards. Council member Hemingway suggested returning the item to HRC with an express request to include a metric prioritizing Riverside‑based nonprofits in future scoring.

The council voted to send the awards back to the Human Relations Commission for reconsideration with direction to prioritize Riverside‑based organizations or add a local‑priority metric. Staff warned that changing the process could affect timeline and that returning the item may delay final award by fiscal‑year deadlines; nevertheless the council directed HRC to clarify criteria and selection metrics and to report back.