Explanation
This ordinance authorizes the Director of the Department of Recreation and Parks to enter into a grant agreement with MY Project USA, a non-profit organization, in support of a youth soccer program in the Wedgewood neighborhood.
MY Project USA aims to protect and empower Columbus youth by providing access to educational, healthy, and fun programs that help to keep them safe and connect them with positive influences. The Wedgewood Village Apartment community is home to approximately 2,000 children who need increased access to programs, protection, and the tools that lead to empowerment.
Families in the Wedgewood community have a great appreciation for and desire to play soccer. MY Project USA started a soccer team in Wedgewood in 2017, and due to the positive response, the organization developed a year-round program that engages hundreds of children on a weekly basis.
Funding will support the Hilltop Tigers Soccer Club, which will serve 250 or more youth in 2022-23. The club serves as a reward for academic performance throughout the year. This program has severed the recruitment pipeline of the neighborhood’s gangs by providing a safe, productive activity for at-risk youth. Funds will also support contracting with a youth counselor to provide mental health services to the youth served.
Fiscal Impact: Funding is available within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund.
Emergency action is requested in order to avoid any delay in supporting and expanding the MY Project USA Wedgewood soccer program to provide more opportunities for youth engagement.
Title
To authorize the Director of the Department of Recreation and Parks to enter into a grant agreement with MY Project USA in support of the Wedgewood youth soccer program; to authorize an appropriation and expenditure within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund; and to declare an emergency. ($105,000.00)
Body
WHEREAS, MY Project USA aims to protect and empower Columbus youth by providing access to educational, healthy, and fun programs that help to keep them safe and connect them with positive influences; and
WHEREAS, the Wedgewood neighborhood is home to approximately 2,000 children who need continued and increased access to programs, protection, and the tools that lead to empowerment; and
WHEREAS, MY Project USA started a soccer team in Wedgewood in 2017, and due to the positive response, the organization developed a year-round program that engages hundreds of children on a weekly basis; and
WHEREAS, with support from the Columbus City Council, more children will have access to a program that protects and empowers them; and
WHEREAS, the presence of a Wedgewood soccer team and increased programming for residents has led to a reduction in violent crime and increased morale in the neighborhood; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Recreation and Parks in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Director to enter into a grant agreement with MY Project USA to provide more opportunities for youth engagement; now, therefore,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the Director of the Department of Recreation and Parks is hereby authorized and directed to enter into a grant agreement with MY Project USA in support of the organization’s Wedgewood youth soccer program.
SECTION 2. That the City Auditor is hereby authorized and directed to appropriate $105,000.00 in the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund, fund 1000, subfund 100018, to the Department of Recreation and Parks per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 3. That the expenditure of $105,000.00 or so much thereof as may be needed pursuant to the action authorized in SECTION 1 of this ordinance, is hereby authorized in the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund, fund 1000, subfund 100018 per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 4. That for reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared an emergency measure and shall take effect and be enforced from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.