By Andy Sevilla
With $36,000 traditionally available in recommend funding for community support grants, Kyle’s Community Relations Committee recommended grant funding for some of the 16 applicants seeking close to $100,000.
The committee, tasked with recommending to city council which organizations should received support grants, selected 13 groups for funding.
While some community support programs could receive funding for the first time in Kyle’s upcoming fiscal year, other agencies were denied the same support due to not showing up for scheduled presentations or turning in late documents.
The committee recommended not funding United Way of Hays County, CTMC Hospice and Big Brothers/Big Sisters in the city’s upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, said Jerry Hendrix, city spokesperson and staff liaison to the relations committee.
Hendrix said CTMC Hospice failed to show up to a scheduled presentation to the committee on May 31. He also said the grant guidelines specifically stated that applications must have been submitted by, noon March 3; a deadline United Way and Big Brothers missed.
“The committee makes... recommendations. The council could decide to fund otherwise,” Hendrix said.
Kyle councils have historically approved $36,000 in annual support grant awards since the beginning of the city-funded program in 2007, according to city documents. This year the relations committee recommended $37,500 in funding — an increase of $1,500.
Last year, however, council awarded only $30,500 in community support grants.
Of the original 16 applicants seeking community support grants, 13 were selected for funding. Hendrix said those 13 all presented in front of the committee.
Three new programs — PALS, Kyle’s Chain Reaction and the Kyle Police Employee Association — were among the award recipients.
Prevent a Litter of Central Texas (PALS) requested $2,000 from the city, though the committee recommended approval for $500.
Those dollars would be used to spay and neuter about 40 pets of poor residents with the intended purpose to help end overpopulation of animals and euthanasia, according to their grant application.
Kyle’s Chain Reaction, a local ecumenical food pantry that provides food, personal care items and cleaning supplies at no cost to those needing the resource, submitted its first-ever grant request to the city, asking for $5,000.
The committee recommended council approve a $1,000 grant for the nonprofit.
The Kyle Police Employee Association (KPEA), which did not receive a grant in the current fiscal year, sought $5,000. The committee recommended approving $2,500.
KPEA puts on Blue Santa, an event in which the organization provides toys and bikes to needy children in Kyle. The group also distributes holiday meals.
“Based on their presentations we felt [the new programs] deserved some level of funding,” Hendrix said.
Other programs — Hays County Early Childhood Intervention and GENaustin — which were left out of the funding cycle in the current fiscal year, were recommended to receive an award in the upcoming budget.
Hays County Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) HomeSpun, which did not receive a grant this fiscal year, requested $6,000 in the upcoming budget. The relations committee recommended approval for $3,500.
ECI said it would use that grant to provide therapy, support and education to parents and their infants and toddlers who have a medical condition or a development delay.
GENaustin, which did not received funding in the current fiscal year, requested $3,000, but was only recommended for a $1,000 grant.
The Austin-based group is seeking funding to help decrease rates of juvenile delinquency, risky behaviors and eating disorders in adolescent girls. The group focuses on increasing critical thinking skills, academic performance, peer support and self-sufficiency, according to its application.
The Hays Caldwell Women’s Center, Hays County Food Bank, Buda United Methodist Food Bank, Central Texas AMVETS, Hope and Love for Kids, Greater San Marcos Youth Council, Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and the Hays-Caldwell Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse all were recommended to receive a grant once again.
City documents show the 13 applicants recommended for an award collectively were requesting $82,500. The relations committee recommends council approve $37,500 for support grant funding.
