Annually, the City of Portage awards grants to area non-profit agencies that provide housing, food, clothing and other critical or emergency assistance to Portage citizens in need. For fiscal year 2019-2020, Human Services funding will be available to selected agencies on July 1, 2019. While the exact amount of funding available for 2019-2020 is not known at this time, the city allocated nearly $165,000 from the General Fund and $35,000 from the CDBG Program towards grants to human service agencies during the current fiscal year (2018-2019).
Agencies within the greater Kalamazoo area are encouraged to submit a Human Services Funding Grant Application to the City of Portage Department of Community Development.
“The City of Portage has a long-standing commitment to addressing the human service needs of our residents,” said Community Development Director Vicki Georgeau. “We look forward to receiving grant applications from community partners again this year.”
The City of Portage Human Services Board and the City Council will consider the following qualifying criteria during the evaluation of funding requests:
- The extent to which the program services meet a basic human need (e.g. provision of housing, food, health and safety services, job training, transportation and quality of life enhancements).
- The extent to which program services are accessible to Portage residents.
- The extent to which clientele are economically or socially deprived, senior citizens or persons with disabilities.
- The number of Portage residents to be served.
- Outreach efforts to Portage residents to be served.
- For new programs/agencies in the community, the ability of the agency to receive other funding. For programs in existence in the community for five or more years, the ability of the agency to leverage other funding.
To qualify for funding from the CDBG Program, the agency must deliver a service with direct benefit to low-income persons within the City of Portage. The applicant must also be able to provide more detailed information on the income and demographics of the clientele served.
The Human Services Funding Grant Application form is available at portagemi.gov/180. To be considered for funding during the 2019-2020 funding cycle, completed applications must be received by 5 PM on Monday, December 10, 2018, in the Department of Community Development at Portage City Hall (7900 South Westnedge Avenue, Portage, MI 49002). To obtain additional information, please contact the Department of Community Development at 329-4477.