Durango City Council expects to restore funding for nonprofits next year after it was slashed dramatically in the 2019 budget.
City Council also expects to ease restrictions to allow nonprofits in all sectors to apply, instead of just those in the human services sector.
“With restored funding and better ways to use the funding, we are really happy,” said Lynn Urban, president and CEO of the United Way of Southwest Colorado, which administers the funding.
The Community Support Grant Program was cut from $220,000 in 2018 to $140,000 in 2019 after city revenues suffered following the 416 Fire. Next year, the city expects to restore the funding for nonprofits to $220,000, according to the proposed budget. The increased funding could be approved when the council votes on the budget in December.
The block grant typically supports between 20 to 25 nonprofits a year, Urban said. This year, it funded suicide prevention, food box distribution and scholarships for adaptive sports athletes, among many other programs.
The grant also provides important matching funds to nonprofits that allow them to bring in other grant funding.
More than half a dozen local nonprofit executives wrote in a public letter to the city in September: “Although these funds (from the city) only make up approximately 1.1% of our overall budgets on average, we do rely on these funds to make specific things happen. For example, at least four of the funded nonprofits traditionally leveraged approximately $79,000 in city awards into an additional $385,000 in outside funds.”
In the coming year, the block grant funding will also be available to cover nonprofit operational expenses, which was not the case in the past, Urban said.
“It really will help the nonprofits do their best work without having as many constraints,” she said.
Another change to the eligibility requirements will allow Manna soup kitchen, the Durango Community Shelter and other nonprofits that serve homeless and low-income residents to apply for funding again, she said.
Some of those nonprofits had been disqualified in 2019 because they have $1-a-year leases with the city, a problem that has been rectified, she said.
City Councilor Barbara Noseworthy said she would like to see nonprofits already working on environmental sustainability and economic development apply for the funding to help the city meet its goal of promoting community sustainability.
“They can contribute so much,” she said.
For example, a nonprofit helping residents convert to using renewable energy in their home could apply for support, she said.
Applications to apply for the grant funding will be accepted until Oct. 31. The applications can be found at unitedway-swco.org.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
