REPORT TO SUBCOMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Review of Calendar Year 2025 Grants and Consideration of 2026 Community Events and Neighborhood Grant Program Applications
Report
BACKGROUND
In fiscal year 2025/26, City Council allocated $150,000 to support community and neighborhood events through the 2026 Community Events and Neighborhood Grant Program (CENGP). This is a significant increase in funding compared to $48,000 in 2025 CENGP. For the first time, the 2026 program will have two application cycles, Fall 2025 and Spring 2026. For the Fall cycle, funding requests for Community Events included 9 applications for a total of $178,500, the Neighborhood Grants category received 13 applications for a total of $47,975, and there were ten applications for block parties totaling $4,900.
The Community Event and Neighborhood Grant Distribution Subcommittee (Subcommittee) makes funding recommendations. The Subcommittee consists of three members of the City Council tasked with conducting an annual grant review that includes: 1) reviewing the grant application process; 2) recommending changes to City Council for approval; 3) reviewing grant applications; and 4) presenting recommended funding levels to City Council for approval.
At the August 6, 2025 Subcommittee meeting, the following recommendations were presented and approved:
1. Review of the current 2025 cycle.
2. Adopt revisions to the program that included two grant cycles per year (Fall & Spring), increased funding level for Community Events to 50% of event budget, added an additional tier of funding for Neighborhood Grant Program and added Block Party application for smaller events within registered Neighborhood Associations.
3. Approve 2026 Community Events and Neighborhood Grant Applications and Process.
The Subcommittee met to review and approve the grant application materials for Calendar Year 2026. The Fall application period was open between September 2 and October 10, 2025. Outreach included contacting grante...
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