On Thursday night, representatives from 35 different social services agencies in Bloomington gave presentations to a committee that is made up of councilmembers and other residents, to support their applications for project funding.

The 35 agencies had applied for this year’s round of Jack Hopkins social services grants.

The total amount requested by those 35 agencies is $680,530. The amount that’s appropriated in Bloomington’s 2023 budget for Jack Hopkins grants is just $323,000.

But this year’s grant cycle started off with an even bigger challenge—48 agencies had applied for a total of about $965,000. Before Thursday’s meeting, the committee had already winnowed down the 48 applications to 35.

The total requested this year is the biggest amount since the Jack Hopkins grant program was started, in 1993.

Based on B Square records, the previous high was $822,971 in 2020. Over the last decade the amount of total requests has been about $550,000. Each year the annual budget allocation, from the city’s general fund, has been around $300,000. Continue reading “After sifting requests, Bloomington social services group faces $681K in needs, has just $323K to give” →