The city of Cypress is wrestling with how best to help the struggling its nonprofit sector, apparently hard hit by the Coronavirus lockdown.
The Cypress council voted May 11 to approve a process to allow nonprofits to submit requests for direct financial assistance from the city.
Council members Stacy Berry and Paulo Morales, along with city manager Peter Grant were named earlier to an ad-hoc committee to study the matter and announced their findings this past week.
Grant said the city is suggesting they “receive and file” requests for direct support from the nonprofits and second, to refer the requests to next year’s nonprofit cycle, giving the city time to understand its own financial position and time for the nonprofits to seek aid from other relief sources.
Morales said the city provided $500,000 to nonprofits in the previous budget cycle, which he said includes $485,000 in indirect support and $15,000 in direct cash support.
In the wake of COVID, said Morales, nonprofits are initially asking for “18 times more,” according to the needs assessment they conducted.
He pointed out that their task was to perform a “needs assessment only,” not a public announcement for nonprofits to apply for funding.
Nevertheless, Morales suggested there are still ethical and other questions to be worked out before awarding nonprofits with significant taxpayer funding from the city. “Where would the money go,” he asked, how would it be used, what would the public think, including whether or not the public “would find it acceptable,” said Morales.
“Historically, the city has not received many directcash requests,” from nonprofits, said Morales. He emphasized the city was “committed to good government.”
“Every public dollar is the community’s money,” he said. Morales said the city received seven requests from funding, some of which averaged between $250 -$300,000.
“We are fortunate to have such an active and generous nonprofit sector,” said Berry. She said there are, howevet, “still too many unknowns” about the city’s finances to make any decisions, and that “we want to make sure that anything that is done with COVID-19 is equitable.” Berry said the subcommittee met five times in the past month.
Grant said the nonprofit funding process is set to begin in October.
Council member Jon Peat made a statement confirming that he was on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Anaheim Cypress, (and from whom the council had received a request for funding), but said his position was voluntary and for which he received “no compensation or benefit from the club, in any form.”
He asked the council to shift their mindset from “giving our money to organizations” to understanding any assistance as contributions to partners using tax dollars to deliver services to residents. “We’ve got $154 million in the bank,” said Peat, urging his colleagues to consider spending “a small amount of our reserves. It would be a good use of money,” he suggested.
When Mayor Rob Johnson made a motion to approve the subcommittee’s original two-part motion, Peat requested, and received an amendment seeking to speed up developing an application and criteria.
The council passed the motion 5-0.
Anne Hertz, President of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Anaheim-Cypress, expressed dissatisfaction at the expressed pace of the process. Speaking during the public comment period, she said “delaying decisions can have negative consequences.”
“Now is the time for honest action,” she said, and “with all due respect, I am deeply, deeply disappointed at your lack of action. Rather than help the seven nonprofits who have asked for assistance, you are creating another layer of bureaucracy,” she said.
“Rather than leading with empathy and taking decisive action on the requests from those serving on the frontline,” said Hertz, “you’re asking us to submit another proposal.”
In addition to Boys and Girls Club of Greater Anaheim Cypress, others interested in receiving aid are the Woman’s Club of Cypress, Cypress Arts League, Cypress Chamber of Commerce, Cypress Children’s Advocacy Council, HOPE (Helping Other People Ever day) and Soroptimists of Cypress
