The Sedona City Council unanimously approved $350,000 in awards to 29 local nonprofits during its meeting on Tuesday, July 8. However, the final distribution of this year’s Small Grants Program funds is contingent on the council’s approval of a proposed $200,000 Arts and Culture Organization Grant, discussed at its June 24 meeting.
This year’s requested amount of $553,233 to 34 nonprofits is nearly identical to last year, which saw 32 groups requesting $541,682.
“This year marks the 13th year of the city’s Small Grants Program. The program is structured to designate 40% of funding to the arts, 40% of funding to social services and 20% at the committee’s discretion,” Executive Assistant to the City Manager Kriste Turck, said in her first presentation to city council. “The small grants committee was made up of seven dedicated volunteers who committed many hours to reviewing a total of 34 grant applications.”
When council approved the current slate of Small Grant awards, it also approved a contingency list. If the ACOG funding is approved, the $30,000 currently earmarked for the Sedona Arts Center and the $27,300 for the Sedona International Film Festival would be redistributed to other Small Grant applicants. SAC and SIFF would presumably receive funding through the ACOG program, as they would no longer be eligible for the Small Grants Program.
“We will get somewhere between $75,000 and $100,000,” SIFF Executive Director Patrick Schweiss said if ACOG is approved. “But we won’t know until this is all finalized in September.”
Carpet Brigade, Gardens for Humanity, Sedona Bridge Club and Wisdom Age Metaverse would receive: $10,000. $4,500, $4,500 and $5,000, respectively, if ACOG is approved.
Hope House of Sedona did not receive funding in either plan for its $19,823 request to host an outdoor pop-up thrift store because the small grant committee of Chairwoman Stephanie Giesbrecht, Dean Gain, Christine Siddoway, Patty Reski, Ed Southwell, James Carpenter and Rosemary Zimmerman — concluded that the popup would be a fundraiser, which is not allowed under the program. The committee urged Hope House to apply next cycle.
The Sedona-Oak Creek School District will receive support through $18,000 that will go to the Rotary Club of Sedona’s fundraiser to donate $105,000 to fund the recently created Community Education director, for which Jessica Sweeney was hired. That amount could increase to $20,000, depending on ACOG. The recently relaunched Sedona Educational Foundation will receive either $30,000 or $33,225 to pay for preschool for 18 children.
Student athletic programing will be supported with a $10,000 contribution to Wheel Fun that provides mountain bike education for kindergarten through eighth grade for 48 under-served students in SOCSD, as well as the Sedona School Mountain Bike Club, which is receiving $8,000.
“It feels great that the city recognizes the value of youth in our community and is supporting that, along with the parents and the potential it brings to our community. It allows for an equal playing field, giving every student what they need to succeed,” Head Coach Eric Mace said. “If a student needs a [water pack], we can get them one. If they need bike parts, we can provide those too. [Basically] whatever it takes to make sure they can participate at the same level as everyone else. It also gives us the opportunity to provide healthy meals during practices and races, so everyone is properly fueled and learns the importance of nutrition in both life and sports.”
A date for council to vote on authorizing ACOG hasn’t been set yet but it could be at the end of August or September, City Manager Anette Spickard said.
“The proposal is to use the current small grants evaluation committee to look at any applications that would come in under [ACOG] and make a recommendation that would come back to the council for your approval,” Spickard said previously. “In the future, [ACOG] would be aligned on the same timeline as the Small Grant Program.”
