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Council hears plea to bridge federal cuts with $800K one-time youth and family funding
Summary
Community & Neighborhoods director Tammy Hunsicker asked the council to approve an $800,000 one-time request to replace lost federal funds and keep K–6 and teen after-school and summer programming stable; staff said even with $800K the division would be about $500K below FY26 funding due to other federal cuts.
Tammy Hunsicker, director of Community & Neighborhoods, told the council federal grant reductions forced the department to propose an $800,000 one-time request to prevent large service disruptions for youth and family programming. "This would be funding to keep youth and family programming relatively stable, compensating for the loss of federal funding," Hunsicker said, noting that the request would preserve K–6 and teen programming while consolidating some adult offerings.
Council members asked for outcome metrics and program counts that justify the amount; Hunsicker said the division tracks enrollment, income eligibility, wait lists and other program data and offered to provide detailed metrics after the briefing. She clarified the $800,000 is part of the mayor's broader property-tax proposal and that the request was presented with reductions elsewhere in the CAN budget. Staff said they intended the funding as a bridge while seeking other grant, philanthropic or local funding for future years.
The council discussed the trade-offs of using property-tax revenue to stabilize youth services and emphasized the importance of metrics and a path to long-term funding if the one-time request is approved.
