One grant deadline is today.
In a holiday mood recently, the Unified Government Commission has again taken some time to discuss how it plays Santa Claus to community nonprofits.
In recent weeks, it has learned that a $750,000 contribution for community charitable use will be coming in from the Schlitterbahn waterparks.
Joe Connor, UG deputy administrator, told a UG committee recently that Schlitterbahn had made a payment of $750,000 to be used for charitable purposes.
He said it was part of a redevelopment agreement made at the time of the U.S. Soccer project. After this $750,000 amount, Schlitterbahn is scheduled to contribute $100,000 in 2016, then building up to $250,000 in later years.
Connor said the language of the development agreement with Schlitterbahn was that it was a charitable contribution. It says it is for foundations or nonprofits that are designated by the Unified Government, he said.
While there has been no decision made yet on where this charitable contribution will go, one project already has claimed dibs on most of it.
A letter from Schlitterbahn’s Gary Henry asks that $500,000 of the donation be used toward the capital campaign for the Healthy Campus in downtown Kansas City, Kan., particularly for the Community Center and its new swimming facility and programs. The letter also asks that $50,000 be given toward the Urban Scholastic Center to work with children, and $50,000 to the Kansas City West Kiwanis Club. That would leave $150,000, and the letter requests an opportunity to meet with the commission about how the rest of it is spent.
However, the development agreement allows the UG to make the decision on where the funds will go.
The UG also receives substantial community contributions from the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, about a half-million dollars a year that has been dedicated to improving health in the community. The committee recently discussed more changes to that screening process. One of the issues is whether the UG commissioners themselves should review the applications, or whether that should be done by another committee appointed by them, or by a third party, such as a foundation.
The UG Commission is expected to work out a process for distributing the new Schlitterbahn funds, either placing all the funds together in a screening program, or some other plan. They may take up the issue again in January.
During a public comment period, Katherine Kelly, with Cultivate Kansas City, said that $750,000 may be a relatively small amount for the UG, but for the nonprofit community in Kansas City, “those are big bucks.”
She asked for open processes, ensuring equal access and good marketing of the grant applications.
“I was not in favor of the change in process that happened last year,” Kelly said, referring to commissioners themselves screening the applications, and a screening committee that was eliminated. “What I have come to really appreciate, if there is in fact a bit of art and skill to grantmaking, and the trend I’ve seen over time as we’ve better understood grantmaking as a tool for community development, that it’s important not only to look at the specific geographic area and the individual applicant, but it’s important to look at the pool of applicants as a whole, look at how each of those grants interact with the other, and really look at how you can best leverage funding.”
CDBG grant application deadline today
Also, in an example of de-gifting and re-gifting, the UG has revamped the CDBG process, with the deadline at noon today, Dec. 11, for submitting an application for CDBG community grants. (See www.wycokck.org/InternetDept.aspx?id=30688)
The CDBG funding was taken away from the second phase of an effort to build new housing in the Highland Crest area of Turner and opened up to other agencies that want to make an application for the grant money. (For more background on this, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/budget-squabble-continues-over-cdbg-funding-as-mayor-threatens-veto/)