Supervisors approve reductions and forward DCYF grant amendments after BLA review

The Budget & Finance Committee on May 11 reviewed three requested grant amendments from the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF) and approved amended financial caps after Budget Legislative Analyst review.

Nick Menard of the Budget Legislative Analyst (BLA) recommended trimming the proposed not-to-exceed amounts for the Black to the Future grant (from $14.6 million to $12.5 million) and for YouthWorks (from $12.9 million to $12.0 million) based on historical underspending. The committee accepted those reductions and voted them forward to the full Board.

Members pressed DCYF leaders about the third grant, Opportunities For All, which the BLA flagged as a sole-source award made prior to the Board’s 2021 administrative code change requiring competitive processes. Supervisor Ashita Safaie said she had “heard nothing but wonderful things” about the program but sought documentation justifying the prior sole-source selection and asked DCYF to provide details on capacity and performance measures. Director Maria Sue (DCYF) said performance reports exist and offered to provide annual reports and other documentation to the committee.

Supervisors also pressed for clearer detail on roughly $2.5 million in work orders from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) and about $850,000 from the Department of Public Health (DPH) that are routed into DCYF grants. Director Sue said those funds expand slots and support workforce-specific placements (for example, DPH funds support health-sector workforce experiences), and she agreed to transmit a written breakdown of how the additional dollars will be used prior to the full Board vote.

The committee moved the amended items to the full Board with positive recommendations and recorded unanimous (3-0) committee votes on the amendments and forwards.