Explanation
Mayor Ginther’s vision for Columbus, America’s Opportunity City, is that every Columbus child has access to a safe after-school environment to continue his/her education and social-emotional development at the end of the school day.
According to the Harvard Family Research Project and its national database of evaluations, research confirms that “children and youth who participate in after-school programs can reap a host of positive benefits in a number of interrelated outcome areas-academic, social-emotional, prevention, and health and wellness. These are the skills that many suggest are necessary for youth to succeed in the 21st Century global economy and world.”
The Mayor’s Office of Education is working in partnership with Columbus City Schools and Boys and Girls Club of Central Ohio to develop an after school pilot program for middle school students that will commence in February 2023. The proposed 2023 City of Columbus Operating Budget provides $2 million to the Office of Education to support the pilot program and an extended program in the 2023-2024 school year.
However, in striving to meet the goal of beginning the program in February 2023, the Boys and Girls Club has been incurring burdensome costs including hiring personnel, staff time, and purchasing materials and supplies. This contract is being awarded pursuant to Section 329.30 for services with a not-for-profit organization which are not provided by the City.
Therefore the Office of Education is requesting the authority to provide some up-front funds to Boys and Girls Club to offset their costs.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Funding for this contract ($80,000.00) was obligated to the Office of Education’s 2022 Early Start Columbus initiative (Ordinance 2402-2022). Unfortunately, several of the providers identified in the ordinance were unable to participate in the program. Ordinance 0207-2023 requests to unencumber these unused funds ($115,150.00) so that $80,000.00 may be provided to the B...
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