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Children's Services Advisory Board recommends $20.5 million for county children's programs
Summary
The board heard a memorandum from the Children's Services Advisory Board recommending $20,486,620 in grants from the county's Children's Millage Fund, out of $23,346,830 requested. Recommended recipients include local nonprofits that provide early learning, feeding programs, mental-health and mentoring services.
At the June 9 meeting, a board member presented the Children's Services Advisory Board's recommendations for distributing the county's Children's Millage Fund. The memorandum lists agencies and programs recommended for funding and explains the CSAB's review process, scoring and reasons some applications were not funded.
Miss Felton, the district representative to CSAB, summarized the review workload and the recommended allocations, saying the grand total of requests was $23,346,830 and the CSAB recommended funding of $20,486,620. She described the panel's stringent application process and noted that the county commission has the final authority to appropriate the funds shown as a line item on property tax bills. "This is the Children's Millage Fund," Felton said, explaining the money is earmarked for programs serving county children up to age 18.
Recommended grantees named in the memorandum include Manatee Children's Services, Centerstone, Step Up Suncoast, Salvation Army, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Feeding Empty Little Tummies and others; the memorandum lists requested and recommended amounts and explains why eight programs were not recommended for investment. Felton said the CSAB recommended some programs receive level funding from the prior year, while others received the full requested amount based on outcomes and demonstrated return on investment.
Board members asked procedural questions about how the millage is set and how the county disburses funds; Felton said the CSAB makes recommendations and the county commission determines final funding. No board vote was taken on CSAB allocations at the meeting; members were advised these recommendations will be considered by the county commission during its budget process.
