Title
Notice/Advertisement Title: Getting Grant Ready Academy Hearing Minutes
Contact Name: Jacob Dilley
Contact Telephone Number: 614-645-5292
Contact Email Address: jadilley@columbus.gov
Body
Columbus City Council
NEIGHBORHOODS, RECREATION, AND PARKS PUBLIC HEARING AGENDA:
Getting Grant Ready Academy Hearing
Wednesday - July 9, 2025 5:00 PM City Hall, Council Chambers
Call to Order: 5:04pm
[Council Member Day-Achauer]
Public Hearing of Testimonies and Announcement for Getting Grant Ready Program
Present: Councilmember Nancy Day-Achauer, Councilmember Otto Beatty III, Libby Villavicencio, Fredericka Wallace-Deena
Introduction:
[Council Member Day-Achauer]
Presentation:
[Council Member Day-Achauer]
- Origin of Getting Grant Ready Program
- Overview of Program
- Tossing over to Libby V and Fredericka Wallace-Deena
[Libby Villavicencio]
- Summary of beginning stages such as applicants, accepted and completed.
- Gratitude towards Councilmember Nancy Day-Achauer
- Origin of need for the program and highlighting the positive impact of the program
- Highlighting core of the program: Fixing Access
- Inspiration and Methodology from Wallace-Deena’s book in their approach to the Program
[Fredericka Wallace-Deena]
- Their book: The Rebel Words Methodology backing the core belief in the Program
o Highlighting philanthropy, data, translation, co-investment model
- Acknowledgement of struggle in Academy
- Awe of amount of secured grants
- Empowerment of philanthropy and root problem-solving
[Council Member Day-Achauer]
- Acknowledgement of collaboration between Villavicencio, Wallace-Deena, and Day-Achauer in picking each applicant
[Council Member Otto Beatty III]
- Congratulations to Program attendees
[Council Member Day-Achauer]
- Invites Public Comments for Testimony
Invited Testimony:
[Rukaya Saleh, ICG]
- Gratitude to Day-Achauer, Villavicencio, and Wallace-Deena
- Overview of organization
- Testimony of people helped
o “With GGRA, we learned how to communicate our services, lay the foundation for long term growth gave growth, clarity, and made us feel seen,”
- Shares hope for City Hall to invest in more programs similar to GGRA
[Council Member Day-Achauer]
- We talk about data but these stories are so important and transformative
[Sydney Green, Brown Girls Mentoring]
- Expected to learn proposals
- Unexpected to grow as a story teller and advocator
- Encouraged to speak from their truth
- Learned at the Academy:
o Impact isn’t immediate but possible.
o Trust our narrative lead with strength and center our girls’ voices.
o Structured our message to reflect our strengths not just barriers.
o It was the shift in mindset our story is our strongest asset.
o Thank you for believing small orgs can make an impact.
- “Not just grant ready but future ready,”
[Mark Payne Jr. What Would Marcus Do]
- Origin and overview of organization (community clean ups, laundry services, food/clothes giveaways)
- Opportunity to meet other community leaders
- Importance in backing why making funders feel your mission knowledge applied and got spring programming grant
- Focus of academy conflict resolution, negotiation, financial literacy
- Positive there will be more opportunities due to the knowledge gained from Program
- “Communities have to be given a chance to thrive,”
[Council Member Day-Achauer]
- Academy was created to build up small nonprofit organizations
[Mike Corey, Human Service Chamber]
- Acknowledgment of recent struggle for nonprofit organizations
- Gratitude to participants
[Council Member Day-Achauer]
- Acknowledgement of lack of champion for resources
- Gratitude to Corey
[Mike Corey]
- Functionality of nonprofits: Solving one problem after another
- Praise to Participants
[Councilmember Otto Beatty III]
- Acknowledgment of Struggle of current political climate
- Praise to Participants
[Council Member Day-Achauer]
- Columbus cannot be successful if you don’t help others be successful
- Promise to continue to advocate
- Promotion of City Council relationship
- Gratitude towards Villavicencio, Wallace-Deena, and Corey
Closing Remarks:
[Council Member Day-Achauer]
- Promotion of GGRA Round 2
- Outlining Eligibility Requirements and deadline of program
Adjourned: 5:51 p.m.