Changes are coming to the City of Soldotna’s mini grant program. City council members voted earlier this month to rework how applications are scored and reviewed.
Soldotna’s Mini Grant Program awards grants up to $1,000 to support volunteer efforts by community organizations. The city council decides how much money to award across two grant cycles per year. Past awardees range from the Soldotna Silver Salmon Swim Team and a cancer nonprofit, to a program that puts free menstrual products in local schools.
Soldotna City Council member Jordan Chillson proposed the changes. He says the revisions are the result of collaboration with the city clerk’s office and come in response to the program’s growing popularity.
“I believe the current framework we have for reviewing those applications and awarding them has – the demand has outgrown that framework,” he said.
The new rules simplify how applications are scored by dialing the rubric down to a single page. And it shifts the burden of reviewing applications from the full city council to a special committee designated for the task. The committee has two seats for city council members, which will rotate so different members may weigh in on the process.
The changes also shift how applications are prioritized. Recent awardees, for example, will be given less weight than first-time applicants during award cycles. And there’s now a designated rubric category for applicants who say they’ll use the money to help people in need. Here’s Chilson again.
“We all want to see projects that support improvements to the quality of life throughout our city, but I believe that we’ve also seen a number of projects like those that support those in Project Homeless Connect, the Peninsula Period Network – things that make a much more profound impact in the immediate needs of people in our community – I think those should be weighted higher,” he said.
Chilson and Council Member Chera Wackler volunteered to be the first two council representatives on the grant review committee. The mini grant program changes were approved unanimously by the city council and are effective immediately.
Soldotna’s next mini grant application cycle opens July 15. The council has approved $4,000 for grants this year.
