Buncombe committee sets FY2027 application calendar, increases narrative space and allows supporting data

At its December meeting, the Buncombe County Home and Community Care Block Grant Advisory Committee set an application calendar for the FY2027 grant cycle and approved changes to application form content. Committee members agreed to a January release (discussion referenced Jan. 9), approximately seven weeks for applicants to prepare, a Feb. 27 deadline and committee review on March 25 with final recommendations in April.

Speaker 2 said the committee would "give them 7 weeks to prepare" and that staff would aim to circulate the revised application over the holidays. Members also agreed to insert the committee's purpose statement prominently at the top of the application and to place a conspicuous banner asking applicants to keep that purpose in mind when answering questions.

The committee increased the character limit for the 'community need' response to roughly 1,000 characters and unanimously agreed to add an optional 'Attachment C' for supporting data (spreadsheets, monitoring reports, transcripts). Members said the attachment would not count against the narrative character limit.

Staff will hold a provider meeting in January to review the new application and scoring tool and will circulate the final draft to committee members by early January. The committee emphasized that county funding amounts remain uncertain (members referenced March–June timing for county budget decisions) and that the funding total could affect final allocations.