San Marcos City Council discussed and voted in favor of the allocation of $550,000 of the Human Services Grant Fund from the city’s general fund and $100,000 from American Rescue Plant Act funds to different nonprofit organizations in town at the regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday. Various organizations had applied for specific amounts of funding and the Human Services Advisory board evaluated the groups across different criteria, including the city’s need for the services it provides, and gave recommendations on how much to allocate to each of the groups.
San Marcos Housing and Community Development Manager Carol Griffith said the Human Services Advisory Board is appointed by the city council to make the annual decisions regarding the Human Services Grant Fund and its allocation. The board received 34 applications for this year’s funding. Griffith said this year scoring was added to assist the board in the decision, and the evaluation criteria were: community need and justification, implementation, impact and cost effectiveness, community support and council priorities.
Griffith said the groups that received high scores were Prevent-A-Litter for spay/neuter services– board recommended $45,000 allocation, Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center for Sexual Assault Program—board recommended $25,000 allocation, Hays Caldwell Women’s Center for transitional housing–board recommended $30,000 allocation, Community Action for Meals on Wheels Program—board recommended $15,000 allocation, Hays Count Child Protective Board– board recommended $25,000 allocation, Nosotros La Gente for the Coats Program–board recommended $5,000 allocation, and Nosotros La Gente for a shoe drive— board recommended $10,000 allocation.
