York County says it won two federal grants for youth collaboration and continuum-of-care services

Tristan, the county conversion coordinator, told the York County Board of Commissioners that the county was awarded two federal grants, one focused on youth collaboration and mental-health services and the other part of the Continuum of Care program.

The coordinator said one grant runs about 18 months and the other is a three-year award, and that the county has until Nov. 7 to accept the offers. "We got the the youth collaboration and mental health one and the continuum of care one," Tristan said during the officials forum, adding that this was the county's first time applying for federal grants and that staff will need to ‘‘dig into it’’ to understand fiscal reporting and audit responsibilities.

Why it matters: Federal grants can expand county services for vulnerable populations but also trigger stricter bookkeeping and single-audit requirements. Tristan told the board the finance team will need to track the awards carefully so they can satisfy federal audit standards and determine whether any funds will be subawarded to partner organizations.

County officials did not provide dollar amounts in the meeting. Tristan said staff will circulate details to commissioners and outlined a roughly 45-day window to review acceptance terms before the Nov. 7 deadline. He emphasized attention to documentation and audit controls: "We very meticulous paperwork on when we start dealing with federal [funds] because when we get to our audit... we have to have that stuff."

No final acceptance vote was recorded at the meeting. The board will receive more detailed grant documents and financial implications for review before any formal acceptance or subaward decisions.

The county attorney later reported the county had ‘‘survived the first round’’ of review on a related COVID-era grant and that final determinations for other applications could slip from an October date in paperwork to mid-November due to processing timelines.