During the July 24 Bethel City Council meeting, council members voted to approve action memorandum 23-17 to authorize and direct city administration to issue checks totaling $12,540. The money was part of three Community Action Grant (CAG) Programs. The three projects that will receive funding are the Orutsararmiut Traditional Native Council (ONC), Healing Through Music and Dance, and the YK Fitness Center.
Vice-Mayor Henry Batchelor introduced the measure during the city council meeting.
“This is the CAG grants we voted on; it's ONC's assistance for the elderly," said Batchelor. "They're helping out with food and transportation. It's music, 'Healing Through Music', which we've had several times. They'll be coming in to work with the children over at the school. And it's a YK Fitness summer program to help provide snacks and healthy food for the children that are at the YK Fitness. All three of them sound good, they're good for the community, and they will be a helpful asset for us over the summer. So I ask everybody to please agree with us that it go forward.”
The former City of Bethel Grants Manager, John Sargent, said that that the City of Bethel uses 20% of all alcohol use taxes to fund the Community Action Grant Program. The current Fiscal Year 2024 City Budget has $86,000 allocated for Community Action Grants. The prior fiscal year allocation was $100,000.
The Community Action Grant Committee is a volunteer group of citizens who meet quarterly to review Community Action Grant applications, score them, and provide funding recommendations to Bethel City Council. Bethel City Council must approve recommendations before checks are issued. Each recipient of the grant funding signs an agreement with the city, and is responsible for spending the funds appropriately and producing an exit report at the end of the performance period.
Since funding is limited to alcohol sales taxes, Batchelor said that the committee looks at each application carefully.
All council members voted in favor of approving Action Memorandum 23-17.
The next city council meeting is scheduled for Aug. 8.
