Explanation
This ordinance authorizes the City Clerk to enter into a grant agreement with Justice, Unity, and Social Transformation (JUST) in support of the organization’s Community Serves program.
All JUST programs have the shared goal of building strong, foundational, community relationships, and turning community members into active participants, capable of uplifting themselves and their neighbors. Providing tools through training, such as their civic education course, can help community members better understand local politics, and give them the tools necessary to direct their questions and demands to those who can make a difference in their lives.
JUST’s Community Serves program is a bi-weekly event to bring resources directly to the people who need them by setting up in their neighborhood, creating easy access for the public. Community Serves provide free resources to those in need, and specifically people located in the Central/South Central Hilltop neighborhood. The vast majority of the residents served are living in abject poverty, many are houseless, and all are struggling to have their needs met. The median household income in this specific neighborhood is $27,000, which is nearly half the median of Columbus. Items provided include a hot meal, produce, books, clothes, hygiene products, and more. When an individual/family is in a time of crisis, they rely on communities to uplift them. However, that necessitates a healthy and cared for community. By providing direct aid to the community, JUST is able to fill the gaps left by the traumas that accompany poverty.
Fiscal Impact: Funding is available in the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund.
Emergency action is requested in order to avoid any disruption in service associated with the Community Serves program.
Title
To authorize the City Clerk to enter into a grant agreement with Justice, Unity, and Social Transformation (JUST) in support of the organization’s Community Serves program; to authorize an ...
Click here for full text