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Receive a presentation on the Community Investment Fund (CIF) Annual Grants FY2025/26; Consider approval of a recommendation to allocate $341,237 from the Community Investment Fund One-Time Investments to six agencies for a term of July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 to address the top six human services needs in the County; and Delegate authority to the County Administrator, with the concurrence of County Counsel, to execute resulting contracts
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The County Administrator’s Office recommends that the Board of Supervisors:
1. Receive a presentation on the Community Investment Fund (CIF) Annual Grants FY2025/26;
2. Consider approval of a recommendation to allocate $341,237 from the Community Investment Fund One-Time Investments to six agencies for a term of July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 to address the top six human services needs in the County; and
3. Delegate authority to the County Administrator, with the concurrence of County Counsel, to execute resulting contracts.
SUMMARY:
On behalf of the Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator’s Office initiated a Human Services Needs Assessment (HSNA) to identify the County’s most pressing human services needs, resulting in a durable framework of desired outcomes and indicators. In response, the Board established a $2 million annual Community Investment Fund (CIF) structured around three funding categories: Legacy Programs, Deep Programming, and One-Time Investments, with a Nonprofit Emergency Fund added later.
This item contains funding recommendations for One-Time Investments for FY2025/26. Staff issued Request for Proposals (RFP) 2025-03 CIF Annual Grants to solicit proposals for one-year grants ranging from $25,000 to $75,000 targeting one of the six priority needs identified in the HSNA: mental health, housing, homelessness, early education, youth development, and safe and stable environments for children. A review panel recommended funding six proposals submitted by the following agencies: Touro University, Food is Free, Bay Area Community Resources Center, Rio Vista CARE, Parents by Choice, and Crescent Moon Center.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The costs associated with the six contracts are included in the Board’s $2 million Community Investment Fund for FY2025/26. The costs associated with management and implementation of the Community Investment Fund are included in First 5 Solano’s FY2025/26 Recommended budget.
DISCUSSION:
Community Investment Fund Background:
On behalf of the Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator’s Office initiated a Human Services Needs Assessment (HSNA) to identify the greatest human services needs in the county. In 2020, this effort resulted in the creation of a durable framework of desired outcomes with clearly defined indicators to support a process that directs limited county resources via a $2 million Community Investment Fund. This fund includes a formal process to utilize qualitative and quantitative data to identify the highest human service needs in the county and direct limited resources to those needs. The CIF process identified the top six priority human services needs in Solano County as (in priority order) mental health, housing and homelessness, early education, youth development, and safe and stable environments for children.
In 2023, a CIF Planning Group reconvened to assess the effectiveness of the CIF and make recommendations for the Board to consider going forward. The recommendation was to continue the CIF with some minor changes including: shift the approach to addressing homelessness in the county by investing in a strategy to prevent homelessness, instead of intervening once a person has become homelessness; keep unspent funds within the fund to be utilized in future years (bringing the total for this three year funding cycle to $2.17 million); and adding a nonprofit emergency fund.
The CIF is a three-pronged approach to funding, which includes Legacy Programs, Deep Programming and One-Time Investments. This item brings forward funding recommendations in One-Time Investments.
One-Time Investments:
For the One-Time Investments category of the Community Investment Fund, the Board allocated $365,000 annually. Staff issued RFP 2025-03 to solicit proposals for grants of $25,000 up to $75,000 for one year (July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2026) to address one of the top 6 needs in Solano County.
In response to this RFP, 52 individuals representing 23 agencies attended the mandatory virtual proposers’ conference to learn and ask questions about this funding opportunity. A total of 21 organizations submitted proposals and 20 met the minimum qualifications and were scored by a review panel with expertise in the top priority areas identified in the Community Investment Fund. As part of the RFP process, financial documents are also reviewed by the Auditor Controller’s Office.
The review panel for the annual grant RFP identified the top 6 proposals for funding total of recommendation of $341,237. The review panel for this annual grant RFP made the following recommendations:
1. Touro University - $75,000 to provide mental health resources and college and career readiness workshops to 250 youth.
2. Food is Free Bay Area (FIFBA) - $75,000 to distribute nutritious food to 5,000 households and provide 100 families with FIFBA Family Boxes.
3. Bay Area Community Resources - $16,237 to support 24 expecting or new parents through consultations, baby bundles, and follow-up services.
4. Rio Vista CARE - $75,000 to provide mental health services, youth development programs, and family support to 200 youth.
5. Parents by Choice - $75,000 to deliver Triple P Positive Parenting Programs to 150 parents of youth ages 13-16 and parents experiencing separation or divorce.
6. Crescent Moon Center - $25,000 to provide arts, mindfulness, and equine-assisted mental health workshops to 300 individuals, supporting recovery and community connection.
Next Steps:
Should the Board approve the recommendation, staff will negotiate and execute contracts with the awarded agencies and report back to the Board on outcomes achieved.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose not to approve the recommendations for allocations of funding from the Community Investment Fund to one or more of the six agencies identified through the RFP process; However, this is not recommended, as the CIF was approved by the Board of Supervisors after a collaborative development process with cross-sector input to guide decision-making. The Board also requested staff to implement the CIF on its behalf, and the proposals were selected through a competitive process in accordance with the County’s Contracting and Purchasing Policy, reviewed, and recommended by designated panels.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
First 5 Solano is administering the CIF on behalf of the County Administrator’s Office.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION