Title
Creating the Saint Paul Community Engagement Grant Program and locating funding.
Body
WHEREAS, community engagement through a network of seventeen district councils is a cornerstone of Saint Paul's planning, policy development, neighborhood revitalization and crime prevention efforts; and
WHEREAS, on-going budget constraints led district councils to consider ways in which they could make more efficient use of limited funds, including:
· Combining the current citizen participation and crime prevention funding into a new single formula-based Community Engagement Program allocation to the 17 district councils.
· Simplifying the contract in ways that reduce the time and expense associated with contract administration while emphasizing accountability measures; and
· Identifying funds to be made available on a competitive basis that would allow district councils and other related community-based organizations to explore innovative means of
engaging the community; and
WHEREAS, a Census-based funding formula for the allocation of citizen participation funds to district councils was adopted by the City in 2004; and
WHEREAS, application of the 2010 Census data to the formula will have substantial impacts on the budgets of several district councils because of population shifts across the city; and
WHEREAS, similarly, the new single formula-based program will have budgetary impacts on many district councils; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and City Council have sought to mitigate those impacts by phasing in the formula-based adjustments over a three-year period; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and City Council have recognized that a boundary change between Districts 6 and 10 warrants a one-time increase in funding for District 10 to allow them to engage with new residents; and
WHEREAS, task forces of district council representatives and City staff have been convened to address simplification of the combined community engagement contract and creation of a ...
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