Lakewood approves youth and community grants; councilor excused from vote

Lakewood City Council on May 11 approved two grant rounds to support youth programs and community nonprofits, and heard public praise from beneficiary organizations.

The council read Item 5a (resolution R-2026-35) awarding funds under the 2026 Lakewood Youth Programs Grant and Item 5b (R-2026-36) for the 2026 Lakewood Community Grant Program. Both items had been pulled from the consent agenda for separate consideration. After public comment from Jay Vanderkamp (Angelica Village) and Marissa Miller (40 West Arts), Councilor Black disclosed that she serves as executive director of 40 West Arts and excused herself from voting on both items under Charter 7.2(b).

Marissa Miller, speaking for the 40 West Arts Creative District, said the funds would support free youth summer camps and cover staff, meals and supplies. Tim Leatherland, representing Friends of Paha, earlier presented a check for $43,299.17 to support Camp PAHA, an inclusive summer day program for youth with varying abilities; Zane Devane (city recreation administrator) introduced the presentation.

Council members praised the breadth of nonprofit work funded by the programs and noted the small city investments multiply community impact. After discussion the council adopted R-2026-35 and R-2026-36; each passed with nine votes in favor and Councilor Black excused.

The consent agenda passed earlier in the meeting included other items tied to community development block grant (CDBG) investments and infrastructure projects; the clerk read a package of consent items that passed 10–0 before the separated votes on the grant awards.

Next steps: award recipients will receive their allocations and proceed with summer programming; city staff maintain that details on funded projects and budgets are available on lakewoodspeaks.org and in the grant program materials.