Recommendations on how to distribute $323,000 in funding for this year’s round of Jack Hopkins social services program have now been made by a seven-member committee appointed by Bloomington’s city council.
Pending final approval by the city council at a meeting set for June 14, the money will go to 32 nonprofits.
The biggest recommended award was $27,341 to Hoosier Hills Food Bank, to buy food. That was just 78 percent of the $35,000 that was requested in the food bank’s application.
Only five of the applications were recommended by the committee to receive the full amount in their application: Community Justice and Mediation Center ($21,283) for an eviction prevention project; New Leaf, New Life ($13,600) for an emergency and transitional housing project; Planned Parenthood ($7,500) to purchase contraceptives; All-Options ($6,900) for a diapers and potty training support program; and Community Kitchen of Monroe County ($4,079) to replace a dish sprayer and liners for cargo van beds.
The agencies receiving awards had been winnowed down from 48 that applied for funding this year. Of the agencies that applied, 35 were invited to give presentations to the committee in late April.
The total requests made by the 35 nonprofits totalled $680,530.92. The committee has just $323,000 to allocate this year.
Before Thursday’s meeting, each committee member had assigned their own individual recommended dollar amounts to each nonprofit in a way that totalled $323,000. Those individual recommendations were submitted to city council staff before the meeting. For Thursday’s meeting, a spreadsheet was displayed on the screen showing the average of the recommended amounts for each agency.
With the average of their recommendations as a starting point, committee members reviewed the projects that the money was supposed to fund. In some cases, the committee adjusted the amount upward, if only a small increase would allow an agency to pay for all of some separate part of their proposed project.
In other cases, the average recommendation fell so far short of funding any component of an agency’s project that the committee chose to recommend no funding. That’s what happened in the case of a Centerstone’s application for $72,368 to purchase or lease vehicles to transport city parks and recreation and public works employees who are working with Centerstone. Committee member Ron Smith also questioned why the city of Bloomington would not pay for those vehicles.
A hearing on the committee’s allocations is set for May 16 at 6 p.m. in the Kelly Conference Room of city hall. The city council’s consideration of the awards for final approval is scheduled for June 14.
This year, the Jack Hopkins committee consists of four city councilmembers (Ron Smith, Jim Sims, Susan Sandberg, and Kate Rosenbarger) and three Bloomington residents (Jami Scholl, Mark Fraley and Tim Mayer.)
The Jack Hopkins program is named after the former city councilmember and professor at Indiana University’s public and environmental affairs, who wrote down the basic criteria for grant funding in a 1993 letter.
The resolution that named the fund after Hopkins was approved by the city council in 2002, the month after Hopkins died.
| Agency | Project Description | Request | Allocation |
| Hoosier Hills Food Bank | Food Purchasing | $35,000.00 | $27,341.00 |
| New Hope Family Shelter (dba New Hope for Families) | Encouraging Healthy Outdoor Activity for At Risk Children – Purchase outdoor equipment for children using classroom and shelter playground | $34,970.00 | $21,711.00 |
| Community Justice and Mediation Center | Eviction Prevention Project – staffing, equipment/technology, indirect costs, office supplies, eviction sealing pilot | $21,283.00 | $21,283.00 |
| New Leaf, New Life | Collaborative housing grant, emergency housing and transitional assistance | $13,600.00 | $13,600.00 |
| Reducing Recidivism: Reentry Case Management & Direct Service Supplies – Case management services and supplies to incarcerated people (staff hours, bus tickets, backpacks, stamps) | $10,888.00 | $7,017.00 | |
| Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard | Operational support – utilities, software, building repair and maintenance, operations manager salary | $34,660.84 | $17,555.00 |
| Monroe County CASA, Inc. | Update technology and software – to pay for laptops, docking stations, webcams, software | $19,714.76 | $17,517.00 |
| Indiana Recovery Alliance | Office Expansion Bridge to New Building – to pay for rent, repairs to outreach van, office furniture, low-threshold employment, desktop computers | $25,000.00 | $15,000.00 |
| Hotels for Hope (Hotels for Homeless) | Emergency and Transitional Shelter – to pay for casework salary, emergency stays, transitional rooms | $40,000.00 | $14,400.00 |
| Bloomington St. Vincent de Paul | Housing Stability Program – Rent deposit assistance | $30,000.00 | $14,285.00 |
| Amethyst House, Inc. | Maintenance for resident’s bedrooms | $22,000.00 | $12,857.00 |
| Catholic Charities Bloomington | Telehealth infrastructure support initiative | $43,600.00 | $12,500.00 |
| Beacon, Inc. | Smorgasbord for Shalom – Equipment and goods to improve services through kitchen and day center | $18,099.32 | $12,446.00 |
| Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington | Professionalize and Expand Youth Development Staff – hire additional professional program staff | $24,000.00 | $12,000.00 |
| Pantry 279 | Purchase food delivery tools and pay for operational costs to expand services (software, staff hours, computer, gas reimbursements) | $42,514.00 | $9,750.00 |
| Dental Care Action Inc. (Dental Care Center) | Dental Care and Education for Health and Wellbeing- dental care outreach to low-income and no-income residents | $19,450.00 | $9,388.00 |
| Monroe County United Ministries | Building Synergy to End Generational Poverty – Replace outdated equipment, pay for contracts and services, marketing programs | $29,259.00 | $8,430.00 |
| Bloomington Cooperative Living | Middle Earth Reports – Repairs to roof, flooring, and ADA ramp | $20,300.00 | $8,400.00 |
| Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky | Safety-Net Family Planning Services – to purchase various contraceptives | $7,500.00 | $7,500.00 |
| El Centro Comunal Latino | Health & Housing Assistance Project for Community Integration – rental and healthcare assistance | $8,000.00 | $7,000.00 |
| All-Options | Hoosier Diaper Program – diapers and potty training support program | $6,900.00 | $6,900.00 |
| Healing Hands Outreach Center, Inc. | Increasing capacity of care – developing a volunteer program (staff hours, volunteer management software, internet costs, training manuals) | $15,066.00 | $6,000.00 |
| LIFEDesigns, Inc. | Job-A-Palooza – Funding for job recruitment event for people with disabilities during Disability Employment Awareness Month | $7,500.00 | $5,785.00 |
| Purdue Extension | Purdue Extension Nutrition Education Program Monroe County Food as Medicine – meal kits and starter kits, salary for food sourcing coordinator, participant incentives. Parks & Rec passes | $8,690.00 | $5,400.00 |
| Cancer Support Community Indiana | Cancer Patient Assistance – to purchase essential items to meet needs of patients (food, transportation, wigs, etc.) | $8,500.00 | $5,000.00 |
| Bloomington Refugee Support Network | Support – supporting newly-arrived asylum seekers with food, shelter, utilities, essential items | $10,000.00 | $4,571.00 |
| Community Kitchen of Monroe County, Inc. | Equipment retrofit – Replace dish sprayer and Rhino-line beds in cargo vans | $4,079.00 | $4,079.00 |
| Farm to Family Fund, Inc | Farm to Family Program – Purchasing food from Bloomington farmer’s market vendors to donate to local agencies | $10,000.00 | $4,000.00 |
| Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, Inc. | Enhancing Safety and Efficiency – purchase lifting equipment (platform hoist and pallet stacker) for construction and Restore programs | $5,800.00 | $3,650.00 |
| Bloomington Meals on Wheels, Inc | Groceries to Go Outreach Project – staff hours and supplies for mobile food pantry program | $3,183.00 | $2,942.00 |
| Bloomington Winter Farmers’ Market | Woolery Farmers’ Market SNAP Matching -Match dollars for SNAP at farmer s market | $5,500.00 | $2,714.00 |
| Courage to Change Sober Living | program (tickets, staff hours, food/snacks, Kroger cards) | $2,466.00 | $1,979.00 |
| Special Olympics Indiana Monroe County | Athlete Expansion Support – Rental of basketball courts at Twin Lakes Sports Complex | $3,240.00 | $0.00 |
| Overlook | Installation of a high efficiency, all-electric Mitsubishi heat pump system for heating and cooling our building. | $17,400.00 | $0.00 |
| Centerstone of Indiana | Purchasing or leasing vans to transport Parks and Rec and Public Works employees working with Centerstone | $72,368.00 | $0.00 |
| Subtotal | $680,530.92 | $323,000.00 | |
| People’s Cooperative Market | $81,000.00 | $0.00 | |
| Exodus Refugee Immigration | $30,000.00 | $0.00 | |
|
Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana
|
$25,600.00 | $0.00 | |
| Stone Belt Arc, Inc. | $24,360.70 | $0.00 | |
|
PALS (People & Animal Learning Services)
|
$22,400.00 | $0.00 | |
|
Tandem Community Birth Center and Postpartum House, Inc.
|
$20,000.00 | $0.00 | |
| Wheeler Mission | $17,139.20 | $0.00 | |
| CanopyBloomington | $15,800.00 | $0.00 | |
| Susie’s Place | $15,000.00 | $0.00 | |
| Monroe County Humane Association | $12,500.00 | $0.00 | |
| Harmony School | $11,038.31 | $0.00 | |
| Open Arms Christian Ministries, Inc | $5,508.00 | $0.00 | |
| Agon | $4,000.00 | $0.00 | |
| Total | $964,877.13 | $323,000.00 |
While the council would love to have more funds in the Jack Hopkins fund to distribute (as would many of us), this list isn’t the entirety of city contributions. The city does distribute funds to other social service related needs. BHA, money through HAND for first time housing buyers and other programs, money through CFA to various projects and programs. What else? I would love to see the city compile a list of all such funds and amounts.