Title
Sacramento Children’s Fund Grant Awards
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FileID
File ID: 2025-01053
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Location
Location: Citywide
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Recommendation
Recommendation: Pass a Motion: 1) awarding grant funds to Sacramento Children’s Fund grant applicants; and 2) delegating authority to the Interim City Manager or designee to execute the grant agreements with the selected applicants in the amounts awarded, for a total not to exceed amount of $17,924,460, and in a form approved by the City Attorney’s Office.
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Contact
Contact: Rene Kausin, Program Manager, (916) 808-6157, rkausin@cityofsacramento.org, Department of Youth, Parks, and Community Enrichment
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Presenter
Presenter: Rene Kausin, Program Manager, (916) 808-6157, rkausin@cityofsacramento.org, Department of Youth, Parks, and Community Enrichment
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Attachments
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Measure L - Section §120, Article IX of the Sacramento City Charter.
3-Sacramento Children’s Fund Strategic Investment Plan July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2029
4-Sacramento Children’s Fund Request for Proposals
5-Sacramento Children’s Fund Social Vulnerability Index- Supplemental
6-Sacramento Children’s Fund - Scenario #1
7-Sacramento Children’s Fund - Scenario #2
8-Sacramento Children’s Fund - Ranked Application List
9-Sacramento Children’s Fund - Ranked Applications by Fund Goal
10-Sacramento Children’s Fund - Ranked Applications by District Served
11-Sacramento Children’s Fund Presentation
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Description/Analysis
IssueDetail
Issue Detail: The Department of Youth, Parks and Community Enrichment will present funding scenarios for the Sacramento Children’s Fund Request for Proposals for open grants to provide services in accordance with the adopted Five-Year Strategic Investment Plan (“SIP”). The scenarios attached reflect options for the Council to consider. However, the Council has the discretion to consider alternative funding scenarios consistent with Section 120 (d)(3)(A) of the City Charter, which requires the City to select funding recipients “based on an open, transparent, and competitive process.” Alternative funding scenarios might include focusing on the highest scoring applications within certain fund goals, council districts, or geographic areas, or adjusting the funding split or percentage award amounts.
Sacramento Children’s Fund Request for Proposals
On November 6, 2024, the City published the Sacramento Children’s Fund (“SCF”) Request for Proposals (“RFP”) to allocate approximately $17.9 million dollars. The RFP was published on the City’s Grant Management System (“GMS”) for thirty days, and all applications were due on December 6, 2024.
City staff, in collaboration with and with the substantive review of the City Attorney’s Office, developed the RFP based on the requirements of the City Charter (Measure L), the adopted SIP, and the Citywide Grant Distribution Policy. The RFP solicited grant program proposals from eligible non-profit organizations and public agencies to provide services to children and youth in Sacramento, California. The City Charter requires that funding be awarded to programs and projects that serve children and youth (aged birth to 24 years) most impacted by poverty, trauma, and violence.
Applications for programs or projects must address one or more of the five fund goals established in the City Charter, including: 1) preventing and reducing child and youth homelessness, including youth transitioning out of foster care 2); supporting the mental and emotional health of children and youth; 3) preventing and reducing youth violence; 4) preventing and reducing youth substance abuse; and 5) supporting the healthy development of children ages 0 to 5.
Sacramento Children’s Fund Planning and Oversight Commissioners led an in-person information session on the Request for Proposals at Oak Park Community Center on November 20, 2024. Additionally, City staff held a virtual Bidder’s Conference to provide an overview of the eligibility and proposal requirements and to answer any applicant questions.
The Request for Proposals outlined the following criteria for applicants:
Eligibility:
Applicants for funding were required to meet the following eligibility requirements:
• Have an organizational budget at or above $50,000 in the current or most recent fiscal year;
• Have at least one year of experience providing direct services to children or youth (birth through 24 years) in the last five years; and
• Must be either a public agency or a community-based organization (CBO) that is organized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
• Provide proof of the required liability insurance, if funded.
• Demonstrate the operational capacity and ability to fulfill all program and administrative requirements and deadlines outlined in this RFP.
• If a previous or current City grantee, must be in good standing with the City. See Past Performance, below.
• Align their program with at least one of the five fund goals.
• Reach children, youth, and families in the City of Sacramento who are most impacted by poverty, trauma, and violence.
• Demonstrate the ability to reach and serve those children, youth, and families that are not otherwise connected to programs or services.
Funding Allocation:
The total estimated funding for this RFP cycle is $17.9 million dollars, with approximately 50% ($8,962,230) allocated to CBOs and 50% ($8,962,230) allocated to the City and non-City public entities per the Council adopted Strategic Investment Plan.
Grant Period:
Grants awarded through this RFP will be for up to 3.5 years with an initial one-and a half year funding period, and up to two additional one-year funding periods. Renewals will be based upon performance review and fund availability.
Award Amount:
Pursuant to the adopted SIP, funding award amounts are restricted to a minimum annual amount of $25,000 and a maximum annual amount of $500,000 a year. For the total 3.5 year grant period, that is a $75,000 minimum award and a $1.5 million maximum award amount.
Per the City Charter (subsection (d)(3)(C)), a dollar-for-dollar cash match is required for all public agencies that are not the City of Sacramento. There is no match requirement for City agencies or nonprofit Community-Based Organizations (CBOs).
Program or Projects Eligible to apply:
Measure L requires that funding allocated to the Sacramento Children’s Fund be used to provide “youth services” in accordance with an adopted Five-Year Strategic Investment Plan. (City Charter, §120 (d).) “Youth Services” are defined as services and programs that support and implement the Five-Year Strategic Investment Plan.
The voter-adopted Charter provision specifically excludes expenditures that only “incidentally benefit youth,” as well as the “acquisition, lease, or maintenance of any capital item or real property that is not for primary and direct use by youth.” (City Charter, §120 (d)(2).
Funding can be spent on facility maintenance, provided the expenditure: (a) meets the definition of a “youth service”; (b) the facility is primarily and directly used by youth; and (c) it supports and implements the adopted Five-Year Strategic Investment Plan.
Rating Factors
Applications were scored by a Grant Review Advisory Panel using the following rating factors:
1. Program Summary- Not Scored
2. Organization, History Capacity & Staffing Qualifications (15 points)
3. Program or Project Design (50 points)
4. Outcomes and Impact (15 points)
5. Budget and Budget Narrative (20 points)
6. Potential Preference Points (10 points)
Maximum Score (110 points)
Please refer to Attachment 4 - Sacramento Children’s Fund Request for Proposals (pages 22-25) for the detailed scoring rubric and evaluation criteria utilized by the grant application review panelists.
Preference Points
Based on the recommendations in the SIP, ten (10) preference points were awarded to applicants who qualified under one of the following categories:
1. If applicant’s proposed program or project delivers services in one of the opportunity neighborhoods identified by the SEED/COI tools. See Attachment #4 - Sacramento Children’s Fund Request for Proposals (page 27 and Exhibit A pages 47-48)
2. If applicant is a 501(c)(3) organization that meets the eligibility requirements of SCF and serves residents of a low-income affordable housing development in the City of Sacramento that received a California Welfare Tax Exemption for low-income affordable housing in the last tax year (Revenue and Taxation Code section 214).See Attachment #4- Sacramento Children’s Fund Request for Proposals (page 27) for more information.
Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)
Per the City Council’s request on May 20, 2025, staff have provided an additional map reflecting the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) at the highest quintile of vulnerability (top 20%) as an overlay to the existing Sacramento Equity Explore Design (SEED)/Child Opportunity Index (COI) map.
The SEED/COI map was included in the Sacramento Children’s Fund Request for Proposals (Attachment #4, page 26). As explained above, applicants who proposed programs or projects serving an opportunity area depicted in the SEE/COI areas received 10 preference points.
The map included as Attachment 5 (Sacramento Children’s Fund Social Vulnerability Index) depicts the most vulnerable areas of the City according to the SVI index using pink cross-hatching, as compared to the areas of Sacramento identified by the SEED tool (dark blue) and Child Opportunity Index (red squares) . An analysis of eligible applications (117) to the Sacramento Children’s Fund indicates that 100% serve SVI identified opportunity areas.
Results of the Request for Proposals
The Sacramento Children’s Fund Request for Proposals received 121 applications requesting a total of $125.3 million dollars in funding from CBOs, the City of Sacramento and non-city public entities.
The City received 106 applications from CBOs, 12 applications from the City of Sacramento, and 3 applications from non-City public entities. The applications span across all five fund goals.
Grant Advisory Review Panel
Sacramento Children’s Fund staff, in collaboration with and with the substantive review of the City Attorney’s Office, recruited an 18-member multi-disciplinary Grant Advisory Review Panel to review and evaluate applications using a set of scoring criteria established in the RFP. The Grant Advisory Review Panel was composed of five panels with three or four panelists on each panel. Application review was conducted in two rounds during the months of February, March and April 2025.
Panelist Recruitment
Consistent with current City practices, Grant Advisory Review Panelists were selected for their knowledge, skills, and expertise related to youth programming and the five fund goals outlined in Measure L. Diversity and inclusion principles were also considered when selecting panelists.
Eligibility considerations for selecting panelists included but were not limited to:
• Professionals and experts in the five-fund goal areas;
• Persons with lived experience (examples: former foster youth, former justice involved youth, persons who have experienced homelessness);
• Youth;
• SYC and SCF Commissioners (limited to 2 per funding cycle per SIP);
• Professional Public Administrators; and
• Youth advocates
Conflict of Interest Review
City staff worked directly with the City Attorney’s office to assess panelists for conflicts of interest. Potential panelists were required to submit a Grant Review Panel Conflict of Interest Form. The City Attorney followed up with panelists with 1:1 correspondence to ascertain details on potential conflicts of interest. Any panelist with a prohibited conflict of interest, including City staff and SCF Commissioners were disqualified from participating in the grant review panel.
Panelist Orientation
City Staff conducted and recorded a Grant Advisory Review Panel Orientation to train the panelists on scoring and evaluating Sacramento Children’s Fund grant applications and the Grants Management System using the evaluation criteria set forth in the RFP. Additional office hours were set up throughout the review process and staff were available to assist panelists with technical support.
Application Review Process
Applications passed through a two-step review process:
Eligibility Review: Sacramento Children’s Fund staff reviewed all applications for eligibility and supporting documentation requirements. Applicants who submitted incomplete or missing supporting documentation were given 60 days to respond and submit updated documentation in order to move forward to Merit Review. Four proposals were disqualified through the eligibility review process.
Merit Review: All eligible applicants were passed on to Merit Review. Proposals were scored and evaluated by the Grant Advisory Review Panel using the scoring rubric and evaluation criteria outlined in the RFP (See Attachment 4- Sacramento Children’s Fund Request for Proposals pages 22-25).
Proposals that did not score 70 points or more were not eligible to receive funding awards.
The Grant Advisory Review Panel was composed of five separate panels with three to four panelists per panel. Most panelists reviewed between twenty and twenty-five applications and assigned a score to each application. The average of the three scores plus any potential preference points (out of ten potential preference points) equals the total score awarded to the application.
City staff worked with individual panelists to address any scoring discrepancies (e.g., instances where there was a large difference between panelist scores).
The funding award scenarios presented to City Council are based on the final scores awarded to the Sacramento Children’s Fund applicants in the open, transparent and competitive RFP process. Adjustments have been made to Attachment 6 - Sacramento Children’s Fund Scenarios #1 to align with recommendations outlined in the council adopted SIP, as described in more detail below.
Funding Award Scenarios and Application Lists
The results of the Sacramento Children’s Fund application review process are presented in the following attachments for council consideration:
• Attachment 6 - Sacramento Children’s Fund Scenario #1: Top ranked applications with modifications made in alignment with recommendations made in the SIP
• Attachment 7- Sacramento Children’s Fund Scenario #2: Top ranked applications presented with minor modifications only to adjust amounts to minimum and maximum threshold outlined in RFP and SIP and to reflect the recommended *50/50 split.
• Attachment 8- Sacramento Children’s Fund Ranked Application List: All applications ranked in order by score with no modifications.
• Attachment 9- Sacramento Children’s Fund Applications by Fund Goal: All applications separated by their primary fund goal and ranked in order with no modifications.
• Attachment 10- Sacramento Children’s Fund Applications by District Served: Applications separated by district served and ranked in order with no modifications up to the funding threshold of approximately $17.9 million dollars.
*The Council adopted Sacramento Children’s Fund Strategic Investment Plan recommends a 50/50 split of available funding between Community Based Organizations and City and non-City public entities. Funding scenarios #1 and #2 reflect that Council recommended breakdown.
Sacramento Children’s Fund Scenario #1 (See Attachment 6)
The applications reflected in Scenario #1 include high scoring programs and projects that: 1) spread across the five fund goals; 2) address multiple fund goals and/or utilize cross-cutting strategies; 3) serve SEED/COI identified areas; and 4) fund small/emerging CBOs more likely to reach the priority populations and youth most impacted by poverty, trauma and violence.
Scenario #1 would fund a total of 24 programs and projects that address all five fund goals and serve all council districts. Scenario #1 primarily serves youth in neighborhoods with the lowest levels of opportunity for children with 91% or 22/24 proposed awards serving neighborhoods identified using the Sacramento Equity Explore Design (SEED) and the Child Opportunity Index (COI) tools (See Attachment 3 - SIP page 27).
The following modifications were included in Scenario #1 to align with recommendations included in the Council adopted SIP:
• A $375,000 funding is set aside for top ranking small and emerging Community Based Organizations. Per the SIP recommendation to “partner with existing programs, especially small, local community-based organizations” (Attachment 3 -SIP, page 28).
• A modification to adjust amounts to top ranking Community Based Organizations at 80% of the funding request or the maximum funding threshold of $1.5 million. Adjusted amounts modified to allow for a higher number of awards that address all five fund goals per the SIP recommendation: “funding be awarded to a mix of proposals that address the five fund goal areas” (Attachment 3 - SIP, page 25).
• SIP recommended 50/50 funding split for CBOs and City/non-City public entity applicants (See Attachment 3- SIP, page 28).
Sacramento Children’s Fund Scenario #2 (See Attachment 7)
The Applications reflected in Scenario #2 are ranked in order of highest score with no set-asides or modifications made to the requested amounts.
Scenario #2 would fund a total of 16 programs and projects that address 4/5 five fund goals and serves all districts. Scenario #2 does not fund any programs or projects that address Substance Abuse as their primary fund goal. The SIP recommendations reflected in Scenario #2 include:
• SIP recommended 50/50 funding split for CBOs and City/non-City public entity applicants. (See Attachment 3- SIP page 28)
• SIP recommended funding cap of $1.5 million per applicant (See Attachment 3 - SIP page 26).
Sacramento Children’s Fund Ranked Application List (See Attachment 8)
The Sacramento Children’s Fund Ranked Application List presents a list of all (117) scored applications regardless of entity type, ranked in order of highest score. This list does not include any of the modifications included in Scenario #1 or Scenario #2.
Sacramento Children’s Fund Applications by Fund Goal (See Attachment 9)
The Sacramento Children’s Fund Applications by Fund Goal presents all (117) applications separated by Fund Goal and ranked in order of highest score. This list does not include any of the modifications included in Scenario #1 or Scenario #2.
The results of the Sacramento Children’s Fund RFP are presented for City Council consideration (Attachments 6-9). While the attachments reflect options for the Council to consider, the Council has the discretion to consider alternative funding scenarios consistent with Section 120 (d)(3)(A) of the City Charter, which requires the City to select funding recipients “based on an open, transparent, and competitive process.” Alternative funding scenarios might include focusing on the highest scoring applications within certain fund goals, council districts, or geographic areas, or adjusting the funding split or percentage award amounts.
Sacramento Children’s Fund Applications by District Served (See Attachment 10)
The Sacramento Children’s Fund Applications by District Served presents eligible applications separated by district served and ranked in order of highest score up to the funding threshold of approximately $17.9 million dollars. Applications may serve multiple districts. This list does not include any of the modifications included in Scenario #1 or Scenario #2.
The results of the Sacramento Children’s Fund RFP are presented for City Council consideration (Attachments 6-10). While the attachments reflect options for the Council to consider, the Council has the discretion to consider alternative funding scenarios consistent with Section 120 (d)(3)(A) of the City Charter, which requires the City to select funding recipients “based on an open, transparent, and competitive process.” Alternative funding scenarios might include focusing on the highest scoring applications within certain fund goals, council districts, or geographic areas, or adjusting the funding split or percentage award amounts.
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PolicyConsiderations
Policy Considerations: Section 120 of the City Charter established the Sacramento Children’s Fund, allocating 40% of the City’s annual Cannabis Business Operations Tax to be used for “youth services,” as defined in the Charter. As required by Sacramento City Code 3.04.020, Council must authorize the execution of grant agreements that will or are expected to exceed $250,000.
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EconomicImpacts
Economic Impacts: Not applicable.
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EnvironmentalConsiderations
Environmental Considerations: The proposed actions do not constitute a “project” under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The action is an administrative activity that will not result in indirect or indirect physical changes in the environment (CEQA Guidelines Section 12375(b) (2) and (5)) and is not subject to CEQA requirements (CEQA guidelines Section 15060(c)(3)).
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Sustainability
Sustainability: Not applicable.
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Commission/Committee Action
Commission/Committee Action: Not applicable.
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RationaleforRecommendation
Rationale for Recommendation: City Council adopted the Sacramento Children’s Fund Strategic Investment Plan on September 24, 2024, and requested that City staff bring all funding awards back to City Council for approval.
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FinancialConsiderations
Financial Considerations: There is sufficient fund balance in the Sacramento Children’s Fund Project to support these awards. Award extensions are subject to future year appropriations to the MYOP and individual grantee performance.
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LocalBusinessEnterprise
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): The recommendations contained in this report are not procurement actions and are not subject to LBE requirements.
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Background
Background: In November of 2022, Sacramento voters approved Measure L, establishing the Sacramento Children’s Fund (SCF), requiring the City to spend the equivalent of 40% of its local cannabis tax revenues (CBOT) on child and youth services. The Sacramento Children’s Fund chief purpose is to support positive youth development and youth violence prevention programs - such as services for homeless youth and foster children; mental health counseling; substance-abuse treatment, prevention, and early intervention; and after-school activities - for children and youth less than 25 years old.
Measure L established a nine-member Planning and Oversight Commission tasked with the development of a Five-Year Strategic Investment Plan and review of performance and evaluation reports. The first Five-Year Strategic Investment Plan covers the period of July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2029; subsequent plans will cover succeeding five-year periods. City Council adopted the first Sacramento Children’s Fund Strategic Investment Plan on September 24, 2024.
Measure L funded programs will prioritize children and youth most impacted by poverty, violence and trauma. These funds may only be used to engage “qualified organizations” (as defined in the Charter) to provide youth services in accordance with the current council adopted Five-Year Strategic Investment Plan, plus allowable administrative costs. The City shall select qualified organizations to receive Sacramento Children’s Fund money based on an open, transparent, and competitive process.
Measure L outlined five fund goals, including: 1) preventing and reducing child and youth homelessness; 2) supporting the mental and emotional health of children and youth; 3) preventing youth violence; 4) preventing and reducing youth substance abuse; and 5) supporting the healthy development of children ages 0 to 5.
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