Santa Cruz County supervisors on Nov. 19 are expected to consider money for nonprofit groups. (Marcello Hutchinson-Trujillo — Santa Cruz Local file)

SANTA CRUZ >> Some nonprofit programs that have long relied on grants from the county and the city of Santa Cruz, including Meals on Wheels and the Santa Cruz Toddler Care Center, haven’t been recommended for new grants this year — potentially leading to major program cuts, nonprofit leaders said. 

Tuesday, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Cruz City Council will consider staff recommendations for more than $3 million in grants to nonprofits for the next three years through its CORE funding program. Some nonprofits that weren’t recommended for grants could still receive some money.

This year, nearly $6 million is set to be distributed. About $3.8 million was set aside for competitive grants — less than the last round of CORE funding in 2022, said county spokesperson Jason Hoppin. This year, $1.5 million was earmarked for the County’s Housing for Health Partnership to fund affordable housing and homeless shelters.

The county’s process of giving out funds was changed nearly a decade ago to be more equitable, but some organization leaders said it’s leading to unstable funding and less transparency.

Losing out on a grant would put the Meals on Wheels program in crisis, according to an online petition from Community Bridges. “This deficit will force us to cut back services and turn away 1,035 seniors from the program over the next three years,” the petition stated. “Due to recommended budget cuts from the County of Santa Cruz through its CORE funding program, rising costs, and increased demand, Meals on Wheels faces a six-figure funding shortfall,” the petition said. 

The loss of grant funding doesn’t constitute a budget cut, Hoppin said. “That’s an old mindset, that they’re always going to get funded,” he said.

How CORE works

The Collective of Results and Evidence-based Investments program, or CORE, was established in 2015 to equitably distribute money from the county and the City of Santa Cruz to nonprofits. Before CORE, county supervisors and the Santa Cruz City Council directly chose nonprofits to fund. Grant money often went to the same small group of organizations, Hoppin said. 

“There was no way to get in and have access to this funding if you had new ideas, or were a new player in the county,” he said.

CORE aims to “establish an objective process so that all applicants are judged on equal terms,” Hoppin said. Grant applications are graded by a confidential panel of community members and county staff. 

The board of supervisors and the Santa Cruz City Council helped shape the rubric for awarding grants, but were not directly involved in evaluating applications or making funding recommendations.

Child care programs 

Child care programs run by the Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center and the Santa Cruz Toddler Care Center, both of which received money in 2022, also weren’t recommended for grants. Nora Caruso, co-executive director of the toddler care center, said that without the grant money, she’ll likely have to cut staff or reduce the number of child care scholarships to low-income families.

Sarah Abroff, whose daughter attends the toddler care center, wrote in an email that she opposes the CORE panel’s recommendations. Without a scholarship, “we wouldn’t be able to afford to send her there,” she wrote.

Although the CORE process aims to be more fair to nonprofits, it creates instability for programs that rely on the funding, Caruso said. And with consideration by a confidential panel, rather than elected officials, “there’s a complete lack of transparency,” she said.

The CORE process isn’t over. Supervisors and the city council have yet to approve the grant recommendations, and nearly $1 million of the CORE money is set aside to be awarded directly. That means Meals on Wheels, the Toddler Care Center, or other programs that weren’t selected, could still receive funding even if the panel’s recommendations are approved.

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