Jacksonville City Council members and nonprofit leaders met April 18 to discuss proposed amendments to the city’s Public Service Grants (PSG) program, including a finance-committee compromise to lower the maximum award from $150,000 to $125,000 and a separate proposed limit of one PSG award per category for each applicant.

The discussion convened at 11 a.m. and was led by Council Member Raul Arias (District 11). Council Member Kevin Carico, vice president and District 4, and Council Member Chris Miller (At-Large Group 5) also participated. Dozens of nonprofit leaders and PSG volunteers described how changes would affect services for eviction defense, adult literacy, disability supports, food distribution and other basic needs.

Why it matters: PSG grants fund hundreds of small- and mid-sized nonprofit programs that supplement city services. Nonprofit leaders warned that lowering award sizes and restricting awards by category could reduce the number of clients served and force some programs to scale back or close. Council members signaled they would continue the discussion before final action.

Council and staff outlined the immediate proposals and the timetable. Council Member Miller said he originally proposed a lower cap and later accepted a compromise to reduce the $150,000 cap to $125,000 so the grant pool could reach more organizations. Vice President Kevin Carico said the $125,000 cap was intended to “service more smaller nonprofits by having that additional $25,000 allocated towards other smaller nonprofits.” Chris Miller confirmed the compromise and said his intent was to let “more organizations” get funding, noting nine additional nonprofits that scored well last year would receive funding under the $125,000 cap.

Nonprofit leaders described likely effects if changes stand. Angela Strain, executive director of We Care Jacksonville, explained the PSG council’s role and defended the volunteers’ recommendations: “Public service grant council currently consists of committed volunteers who were appointed by city council to serve in an oversight capacity for the PSG grants governed by COJ chapter 118,” she said, urging the council to let the PSG council continue its work.

Jim Kowalski of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid outlined three PSG-funded program areas his organization runs — eviction defense, foreclosure intervention and Social Security representation — and said the Social Security work returns money to the community. “We return more than half a million dollars in Social Security benefits to this community every year,” Kowalski said.

Marcus Hale, CEO of Literacy Alliance of Northeast Florida, said proposed caps would force cuts to the number of adults the organization can serve and warned that limiting awards by category would exclude programs that rely on referrals and partnerships: “The proposed cap to PSG funds would result in cuts to the number of adults we can support who will then lose an opportunity to prepare for higher skilled jobs,” he said.

Sarah Troop of The Arc Jacksonville, which provides case management and guardianship services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said her agency receives two PSG grants and that reductions would force program cuts: “These grants are critical to us being able to provide services,” Troop said, asking the council to allow two awards rather than reducing amounts.

Smaller providers raised operational concerns. Lucas Seelheimer, executive director at Mission House, said the proposed reduction in award size would be harder for small agencies to absorb: “It’s much harder for us to raise an additional $25,000 to $50,000 a year just because we have a smaller footprint,” he said. Susan King, CEO of Feeding Northeast Florida, told the council PSG funding, while a small portion of her organization’s overall budget, “expands our ability” to feed people in the community.

City staff and counsel described procedural constraints and next steps. Maribel Hernandez (administration) said implementation needs a May 1 deadline to prepare mandatory application workshops and to modify a new grant-management system. Mary Stifopolous from the Office of General Counsel outlined how the council member could preserve the $125,000 cap while withdrawing the portion of the amendment that would limit applicants to one category: a floor amendment could retain the cap change and avoid taking up the other amendment.

At the meeting’s close, Vice President Carico said he was willing to withdraw his portion of an amendment limiting applicants to a single PSG category and asked for someone to carry the request to the council floor on Tuesday. Council members and staff agreed to continue conversations later in the year to consider longer-term structural options, including whether larger, long-established nonprofits should be funded through budgeted contracts rather than competitive PSG awards.

What was not decided: There was no formal council vote during this meeting. The finance-committee compromise to reduce the cap to $125,000 had been approved at finance committee and may be offered as a floor amendment; the one-category-per-applicant limitation was set to be withdrawn by Vice President Carico and either deferred for future discussion or handled as a separate amendment on the floor. Timing for a broader policy discussion was suggested for late summer or by the end of the year.

Next steps and timeline: Administration staff said the changes must be in place by May 1 to allow mandatory applicant workshops and a change order for the grant-management system. Council members asked for follow-up conversations for year-ahead planning, with rule-committee and MVP committee activity scheduled to begin in December for next budget cycles.

Votes at a glance: No formal votes were taken at this meeting. The finance-committee previously endorsed a cap reduction from $150,000 to $125,000; council members discussed offering a floor amendment to preserve that change while withdrawing the one-category limit.

Sources: public comment and remarks recorded at the April 18 PSG meeting of the Jacksonville City Council and staff comments recorded in the meeting transcript.