LAWTON – Lawton will divide $107,410 in financial aid among eight public service organizations in fiscal year 2021.
The Lawton City Council has funding, which comes from a federal Community Development Block Grant, for the following programs:
C. Carter Crane Shelter for the Homeless: $13,326.52.
Family Promise of Lawton: $13,509.60.
Roadback Inc.: $12,370.94.
Teen Court: $17,011.20.
New Directions Domestic Violence Shelter: $14,751.13.
Christian Family Counseling Center: $15,426.40.
Lawton Support Services: $11,127.60.
Center for Creative Living: $9,886.59.
The Grady Brewer Foundation applied for funding for its after-school program, but the foundation did not qualify for an allocation because it is not a tax-exempt organization.
The council first considered a proposal for funding public service agencies in August, but some of the council members objected to the plan because it eliminated funds for two organizations that had not presented a report to the planning commission. The council asked the planning commission to take a second look at the plan and come back with a new one.
Both organizations were re-evaluated and deemed eligible for funding under the new plan.
The city's planning commission used a points system to determine how much money each organization should receive, Christine James, supervisor of the city’s housing and community development department, said at the council’s Sept. 14 meeting. She said the system resulted in some organizations receiving less funding than they did the previous year.
“So, we looked at that, and we put a 20 percent buffer in there,” she said.
James said buffering ensures that organizations’ funding will not change by more than 20% of their previous allocation. The buffer applied to the seven organizations that received funds in FY 2020.
The Center for Creative Living, which was a new applicant this year, will receive the remaining funds after the other allocations are made.
Councilman Randy Warren praised the planning commission’s work in coming up with a new proposal for FY 2021, but he said the city would see the same problem if a new public service organization decides to seek funding next year.
“The way it was originally set up was, there was going to be a limited amount of time that this entity could make use of these funds – maybe four years, or whatever,” he said. “And then they would rotate off and allow a new entity to come in.”
Warren said the old system allowed the city to use CDBG dollars to provide start-up money for several different organizations, but that changed over time. He said the council should approve the current proposal but consider revamping the funding system before next year.
James said the organizations that apply for funding next year will be required to attend a meeting, where they will learn how much money is available and how to apply for their share, before applying.
“If we wanted to say at that time, ‘This is only a temporary funding source, and we can only give funding for x amount of years,’ that’s something that we could look at,” she said.