SAN DIEGO (CNS) — Mayor Todd Gloria Friday released the city's Fiscal Year 2021 citywide grants report, which shows grants applied for, received and total amount received has increased for the third year in a row.
San Diego was awarded a total of 55 grant awards in FY 21 with a combined value of $141,713,026.
Compared to last year, FY 21's total number of awards received increased by 10, which increased its total by $56,337,246 year over year.
Grants were awarded for a wide variety of city priorities and activities such as projects to enhance water reliability, economic development, emergency response preparedness, homeless services, road and bridge repair and public safety.
"I'm proud of our city's success in securing grant funding and I'm looking forward to continuing to improve our grants performance to help address our city's most pressing challenges," Gloria said.
"Whether it's grants to help the city address homelessness, fix our infrastructure or promote equitable economic development, we will pursue all the funding we can and not leave any money on the table in order to create a city that provides for all San Diegans."
Due to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, city staff also worked to secure COVID-19 pandemic-related grants from state and federal sources to offset revenue losses and maintain critical services.
Most notably, the city received a direct allocation of $299,714,755 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from the U.S. Department of Treasury. Other pandemic-related supplemental funding the city received totals $159,587,024. These are not included in the above tally.
COVID-19 grant funding was allocated to help San Diego get back on track, providing financial assistance to small businesses and nonprofits hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The city also used its COVID-19 related grants to provide rent relief to San Diegans experiencing financial hardship, allowing them to pay rent and utilities and stay in their homes.
"The growing success of our grant-writing efforts has allowed the city to supplement its budget to provide additional much-needed funding for key programs and services during a very challenging time for San Diego residents and businesses," said Jay Goldstone, San Diego's chief operations officer. "I'm proud of the progress we continue to make in applying for and securing grants to support our operations and critical services."
In May 2019, the city implemented policies intended to strengthen its grants processes and reporting to improve the transparency and performance of securing grant funding.
