There are a number of non-profit human service agencies that currently provide a wide variety of services that benefit Sunnyvale residents.  Services range from emergency and financial assistance to family and youth counseling services.  Other social services provided to Sunnyvale residents include after school art, leadership training and adult day care.  All of these services help residents who may have no other place to turn to for assistance, or are a way to improve on the quality of life in the community by helping those who need assistance. 

Every two years the City solicits and receives applications from non-profit organizations serving Sunnyvale residents.  City funding comes from federal Community Development Block Grant funds and the City's General Fund.  To ensure the maximum benefit of City funding for Sunnyvale residents, staff evaluates and monitors the performance of agencies providing ongoing services. Services are set on a per unit or per client basis for service to residents rather than on an overall, more generic basis.  Programs receive City funding to serve a specific number of Sunnyvale clients in the course of the year.  Through periodic reporting requirements, staff monitors the operation of each funded agency, as well as its progress in meeting contracted service levels to Sunnyvale residents.

Two years ago, the process for awarding General Funds to outside groups was reviewed, and the procedure was modified.  In prior years, all outside groups requesting funding from the City, both federal funding and City General Fund, would submit proposals at the same time, scheduled to meet the federal requirements for funding awards.  The process for the allocation to outside groups requesting General Funds was combined with the federally funded agency allocations.   However, this process occurred prior to the adoption of the budget by City Council.  It was unclear to the outside groups applying for funds, as well as to the Housing staff and HHSC, the amount Council intended to allocate for these services.  Under the modified procedure, the City Manager no longer includes the grants to individual agencies in the budget; rather, he recommends a total amount to be used to fund outside group agencies from the General Fund.  After budget adoption by the City Council, staff begins the process to request proposals.  Agencies then submit their funding requests to the City for review by staff and the HHSC.   

Recommendations for funding individual agencies are submitted to City Council, and following Council approval, the City Manager is authorized to enter into a contract with each agency.  

Eleven outside group applications were submitted for General Fund support.  A summary of each proposed program which provides a detailed description is included in attachment C.   HHSC reviewed all agency proposals, participated in agency presentations to the Commission, and reviewed and discussed current and prior year performance evaluations.   Attachment D contains performance summaries for agencies with City contracts during FY 2002-03 and FY 2001-02.  Staff provided this information to the HHSC for their  review. The HHSC determined that due to the difficult economic challenges the City is operating under, a reduction in the level of General Fund support to outside group agencies was appropriate.  This general rational was the basis for their recommendations. 

The following chart summarizes prior year requests of funds, actual funding levels for all outside group agencies, the FY 2003/04 funding requests from the agencies, and the HHSC recommendations.

Agency Name  &  Activity	FY 2002/03 Agency Request	FY 2002/03 Actual Award	FY 2003/04 Agency Request	FY 2003/04 HHSC Recommendation
Bill Wilson Center Counseling	16,500	15,227	16,750	15,000
City Year San Jose Young Heroes /Silicon Valley	50,000	5,000	25,000	2,500
Euphrat Museum of Art  After School Art	12,298	12,298	12,298	10,000
Junior Achievement  Career and Eco. Educ.	20,738	10,000	11,145	10,000
Leadership Sunnyvale  Leadership Training	7,500	5,000	10,000	2,500
Live Oak Adult Day Services - Adult Day Care	40,000	40,000	45,000	30,000
Mid-Peninsula YWCA	10,000	6,500	0	N/A *
Sunnyvale Community Comm. Holiday Ctr. Services	0	0	25,000	16,000
Social Advocates for Youth Services @ Columbia Ctr.	41,538	39,153	0	N/A *
Family & Children’s Services @ Columbia Ctr. Services	0	0	46,000	30,000
Total	198,574	133,178	191,193	116,000
* Mid-Peninsula YWCA  and Social Advocates have received prior year awards, but did not submit funding request in FY 2003/04.

To ensure the most effective and economical services for teen and family counseling is provided at the Columbia Neighborhood Center (CNC), four applications were specifically requested and competitively bid.  Staff prepared a supplemental questionnaire to be submitted by the agencies with the capacity to provide services at CNC.  A panel of City staff representing CNC evaluated each agency.  The panel reviewed the proposals and conducted interviews with agency staff.  Based on the panel's evaluation, CNC staff recommended to the HHSC that Family and Children Services be awarded $39,500 in funding to provide mental health counseling services to low-income, at-risk youth and their families.  The HHSC supported the recommendation of the agency; however,  it recommends funding at  $30,000.

Sunnyvale Community Services submitted a request for funding to support a service that has not been previously funded by the City.  The program will be implemented during the holiday season and provide up to 1,200 families with a two-week supply of food, gifts for infants through teens, and a household gift (towels, flatware, blankets).  City funds would be used to purchase items not donated in sufficient quantities to provide equal distribution to all participants.

In FY 2002/03, Leadership Sunnyvale and City Year San Jose achieved only approximately 50% of their performance goals.  In order to match the funding level to performance achievements, the HHSC recommends a 50% reduction of funds from the FY 2002/03 award levels to these two agencies.

Staff concurs with the funding recommendations of the HHSC, with the following exception:

·         Euphrat Museum of Art

This agency has met goals for over 11 years consistently and has a lengthy waiting list of children who wish to participate.  The program provides an afterschool art program at five school sites with the highest levels of at-risk students in Sunnyvale. The HHSC is recommending a reduction of funding to $10,000.   The funding request was presented to the Arts Commission on August 20, 2003.  The Arts Commission recommended funding of $12,298.  Staff concurs with the funding recommendation of the Arts Commission.

Staff recommends General Fund support totaling $118,298 to eight outside group agencies.  The recommended funding level is 83% of the $141,120 allocated in the FY  2003/2004 Adopted Budget for the Human Services Outside Group Funding Support (GF) project.  Staff recommends the remaining project funds of $22,822 be returned to the General Fund.

Part of the public comment includes a review by the HHSC.  The HHSC held meetings in August 2003 to review the outside group applications, to hear presentations by all agencies, and to finalize funding recommendations.  Attachment A includes the minutes of the HHSC for the August 27, 2003 meeting.

Public comment also includes a review by the Arts Commission of the  application from Euphrat Museum of Art.  Attachment B includes the minutes of the Art Commission for the August 20, 2003.

1. Adopt staff's funding recommendations of $118,298 in General Funds and approve Budget Modification No. 10.

2. Amend any or all of staff's funding recommendations.