SUPPORTS ITEM NO. 3
CS&B COMMITTEE AGENDA
FEBRUARY 1, 1996
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: January 18, 1996
TO: Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
FROM: Manager of Community Services - Social Planning
SUBJECT: 1996 Community Services Grants Budget
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council approve a 1996 Community Services Grants budget of
$2,826,000.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of
the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council established the annual civic grants program in March 1978.
Budget ceilings for the Community Services Grants program, as well as
the Cultural, Childcare and Other grant programs, are established
annually, prior to the development of recommendations for specific
grant allocations.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to establish a budget ceiling for the
1996 Community Services Grants program. Applications for Community
Services Grants are currently under review, and the total value of
recommended grants will come within the budget limits established with
this report.
BACKGROUND
Community Services Grants (CSG) are given by the City to support non-
profit organizations which are working with each other, the various
levels of government (including the City) and residents to address
social problems and to bring about positive social change. CSG's
represent an important and necessary tool which helps the City to
achieve its goal of ensuring that accessible, equitable and
appropriate social services are available to all residents.
On September 30, 1993, City Council adopted a set of new and amended
principles, criteria and priorities for Community Services Grants.
These changes resulted in significant differences in the number and
types of applications received and, ultimately, in the grants approved
in 1994. This degree of change did not occur in 1995, and we
anticipate no significant changes again in 1996.
The criteria and priorities established in 1993 will continue to be
used in 1996, with some minor amendments, adopted in 1994 and 1995,
that are intended to simplify and clarify the grants process.
Table 1, below, shows the number and types of applications received
over the past 4 years. The figures for 1996 are similar to those from
1993 and 1995, which were typical for the CSG program for a number of
years prior.
Table 1 - Community Services Grants Applications
1993 1994 1995 1996
Total applications: 111 140 16 100
Total organizations: 97 122 90 86
Types of applications:
-Previously funded 100 102 91 85
-Applied in the
last year, but
not funded 4 5 7 3
-New applications 7 33 18 12
Total requested: $3,453,000 $5,042,000 $3,992,600 $3,555,400
DISCUSSION
In 1994, the CSG budget was reduced by 5%, in accordance with the
Budget Management Program. The 1995 CSG budget was based on the 1994
amount plus an adjustment for inflation - the total 1995 budget was
$2,770,400.
While there is no noticeable significant effect on grant applications
this year, staff are very concerned about the potential impacts of the
impending funding cuts from senior levels of government on future
grants. No one is certain, at this point, exactly where the cuts will
come or how they will affect the CSG program, but there will be
significant consequences. Some of the cuts may directly affect the
City's revenues, which may ultimately impact on the amount available
for grants. But the more likely problems will come with the direct
cuts to program funding to non-profit social service agencies. Even
if these cuts are to programs that the City does not directly fund
(e.g., job training, settlement, education, health) they could
seriously affect the economic viability of the groups we do support,
and/or the loss of these services could create increased demands for
services that the City does fund.
The Director of Finance advises that 1996 budget figures are to
include a 2% adjustment for inflation. The recommendations for
specific grant allocations are based on a number of factors, including
financial need, and may or may not include an inflation adjustment for
each particular situation. However, the inclusion of an inflation
adjustment on the overall budget provides us with the ability to
maintain the current real value of services base. Therefore, the
recommended 1996 grants budget, with the inclusion of an inflation
adjustment is $2,826,000.
CONCLUSION
The on-going process of changing and updating the Community Services
Grants program, begun in 1993, makes it more responsive to community
need and more reflective of the City's and community's priorities. By
maintaining a constant overall budget (with an inflation adjustment)
we can continue to direct funding to emerging high priority programs
and strengthen some existing ones.
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