Nonprofit agencies seek grant money

Springdale council hears requests

SPRINGDALE — Representatives of six nonprofit agencies Monday shared with City Council members their agencies’ missions and efforts to support Springdale residents. Each made application with the city for federal Community Development Block Grant funds.

The council will decide how to distribute a little more than $80,000 during its next committee meeting, March 16.

The city will receive $813,098 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for work in the 2020 program year, which runs from July 1 to June 30, 2021, according to Starr Wilson,

the city’s manager of the grant program.

HUD provides the annual grants based on a formula to cities with 50,000 or more residents. The money helps provide good living environments and economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income individuals, according to the HUD website.

The council several years ago decided to give 10 percent of the total funds received from the block grants to local nonprofit groups, leaving the rest for home rehabilitation, explained Patsy Christie, the city’s director of planning. The Planning Department administers these grants for the city.

The bulk of the grant funds will go toward renovating older houses owned by people living on low- or moderate incomes to provide healthy, energy-efficient homes, Christie said.

If the grant requests are fully funded at $90,800 requested from the agencies, the total will be 11.7 percent of the total block grant, said Ernest Cate, the city attorney.

“We give those families hope in those moments when they most need it,” said Joshua Bland, speaking about two agencies. Bland is the director of missions and outreach for First Church, a Methodist church in Springdale. “We are finding the need in the area is going up for families who are coping with life.”

Agencies making application this year included:

• Scholastic Mission, asking for $15,000. A ministry of First Church, the mission would use the funds to provide about 700 students of Monitor Elementary with snack foods for the weekend. The program can’t solve food insecurity, but will provide food for a child to eat on the weekend, Bland said. In addition to Monitor, the program helps students at six other schools. This is the mission’s first request for grant funds.

• The Bread of Life, $24,000. The food pantry operated by First Church would use the block grant funds to provide clients with up to $350 one time to help pay their utility bills or mortgage or rent payments, Bland said. Since October, pantry staff have distributed 52 percent of $24,000 it received from the city last year, he said.

• Court Appointed Special Advocates of Northwest Arkansas, $10,000. The grant money would provide advocacy for 25 foster children from Springdale, said Colleen Smith, the agency’s director of development and marketing. In total, the agency served 954 children last year, with 175 of those from Springdale. The agency received $12,000 from the city last year, Smith said.

• Compassion Home, $19,240. The agency provides a home for pregnant teenagers in crisis, said Rachel Cox, executive director. The agency also guides the teenagers with life skills, parenting skills, employment skills and more. The agency never has applied for this grant money.

• Returning Home, $10,560. The agency provides a home, life skills and job skills for 55 men just released from the Arkansas Department of Correction and other services to local men in crisis. Nick Robbins, the agency’s executive director, said 60 percent of the clients have stayed out of prison. The agency received $10,000 from the city grant last year.

• St. Francis House at Community Clinic, $12,000. The agency — open 25 years in Springdale — provides a variety of medical and dental services for those living on a low income. This year’s grant money would enable the clinic staff to provide transportation for patients to travel to the clinic for care, explained Judd Semingson, executive director. In 2019, the clinic served 40,000 patients across 13 sites, with about half of those patients from Springdale, he said.

The grant money also allows the mayor’s office to provide money for taxi service or passes for rides with Ozark Regional Transit, Christie said.

The federal grant guidelines allow cities to use the money on facilities for public use, added Wyman Morgan, the city’s director of finance and administration.

He said council members also might decide to use some of the grant money to bring the Randall Tyson Recreational Complex into compliance with the Americans for Disabilities Act. The project is under design.

In previous years, the city completed large projects — such as the soft surface play area at the Miracle League Park at the Tyson complex, a commercial-style kitchen for the Senior Center and remodeling the Community Clinic so it could provide dental service, said Mayor Doug Sprouse.

Laurinda Joenks can be reached by email at joenks@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWALaurinda.