Sec. 118.806. - Application Requirements.
(a) Application Deadline. A requesting agency may submit a Public Service Grant application after the date that the City Council establishes the categories of Most Vulnerable Persons and Needs pursuant to this Part but no later than July 1 of each fiscal year. The Grants Administrator shall prescribe one or more methods that applications may be submitted, which may include in person, electronically, or through an online application.
(b) Application Contents. Each application for a Public Service Grant submitted by a requesting agency pursuant to this Part shall contain the following information:
(1) The Eligibility Documents pursuant to Section 118.805 herein.
(2) A Cover Page containing the following information:
(i) Name of the requesting agency;
(ii) Name of the Program;
(iii) The category of Most Vulnerable Persons and Needs that the Program will serve;
(iv) Amount of the Appropriation Request;
(v) The Fiscal Year that the requesting agency is submitting an appropriation request for;
(vi) The following certification executed (electronically or manually) by the executive director, chief executive or operating officer, president, vice president or board chairman in the form below:
"I, name/title, hereby certify that the information and representations contained in this Fiscal Year ___ Public Service Grant application is true and correct."
By: _____
Print Name/Title: _____
Date: _____
(3) A Section entitled "Community Need and Target Audience" containing a description of the need for the program, the target audience for Most Vulnerable Persons and Needs, the outreach to the target audience, the anticipated impact and success on the target audience, the anticipated total number of people to be served by the program, and for existing programs the current number and percentage of people served by the program who represent the targeted Most Vulnerable Persons and Needs category (maximum three pages or 7,500 characters for an online application).
(4) A Section entitled "Agency Background, Staff and Board Experience" containing a description of the agency's board (demographics, length of service and relevant experience); the board's role in governance; the strategy for board recruitment; the impact of the board's background, relationship, experience or expertise with the agency; the agency's staffing structure; the agency's executive staff (demographics, length of service and relevant experience and expertise); the executive/key staff's plan or process for the implementation of the program; and the agency's mission, history, experiences and accomplishments relative to the Most Vulnerable Persons and Needs category (maximum three pages or 7,500 characters for an online application).
(5) A Section entitled "Program Management Expertise and Evaluation" containing a description of how the program will be designed and managed, how the program's success and impact will be measured and how information will be collected. For an existing program, the Section can include past experiences, successes and achievements, and multi-year qualitative and quantitative data on the program's effectiveness; and for a new program, this Section can include why the agency will be able to successfully manage the program, expected outcomes or goals of the program, any successes or best practices of similar programs or other research justifying anticipated program effectiveness. This Section shall include the agency's potential fundraising capacity, plan, and strategy, and a description of how the program will be sustained after the grant period. This Section may include a list of current and anticipated program partners and a description of these partnerships, including their roles and responsibilities. For those program partners providing funding, the list will include the amount of funding provided (maximum four pages or 10,000 characters for an online application).
(6) A Section entitled "Program Activities" containing an overview of program activities, including a description of each activity, how clients enter the program, how clients' needs are evaluated and the partnerships strengthening the program. This Section shall describe the program's staffing structure, identify the individuals responsible for program management and describe their qualifications, and describe the plan or process for implementing the program. This Section shall describe and provide the rationale for each program activity. This Section shall describe how clients progress through the program, how long they remain in the program, what information the program collects from clients, and how the program records are maintained (maximum two pages or 5,000 characters for an online application).
(7) A Section entitled "Program Budget and Fiscal Policies" containing a description of the agency's fiscal policies, the procedures in place for ensuring the best fiscal policies, how the agency's fiscal health is monitored and the experience of the agency's staff overseeing the financial monitoring of the program. The Section shall include a written description of the agency's budget, with revenue and expenses balanced, and a list of all line item expenses and revenues to operate the program with a brief description of each. This Section shall also include a listing of each noncompliance incident within the past three years that has resulted in the requesting agency being placed on the Council Auditor's Chapter 118 noncompliance list. Such list shall set forth with respect to each noncompliance incident: (a) the noncompliance dates (e.g., the start date and end date), and (b) an explanation for the noncompliance (maximum three pages or 7,500 characters for an online application, not including the information regarding noncompliance incidents).
(c) Application Format. The application shall have one-inch margins and contain no more than 16 single-sided double-spaced 8½" by 11" pages. The font style shall be Times New Roman or Arial with a minimum font size of 11 points and a maximum font size of 12. The Cover Page and Eligibility Documents will not be counted as part of the 15-page limit. The Eligibility documents may be included as appendices. The PSG Council may formulate a form application consistent with the requirements of this Part, provided that the PSG Council may not add to or remove any of the application contents prescribed in subsection (b) above without the City Council approval. Grant applications submitted electronically shall approximate the format required in this subsection (c) to the greatest extent possible. Applications provided through an online application shall comply with the maximum character counts.
(d) Interviews. The PSG Council may, in its sole discretion, conduct interviews of requesting agencies in a category regarding their respective Public Service Grant applications. If the PSG Council elects to interview one requesting agency in a category of Most Vulnerable Persons and Needs, the PSG Council shall also interview the other requesting agencies in said category. Any interviews conducted by the PSG Council pursuant to this Section shall be after the grant application deadline but prior to the third Tuesday in September of each year. The PSG Council shall notify the requesting agency of the place and time of the interviews. Such interviews shall be conducted in the sunshine and for the sole purpose of the requesting agency verbally explaining, clarifying or justifying to the PSG Council any information contained in the requesting agency's application. A requesting agency shall not add any new written information or materials to its application, or present any new written information or materials to the PSG Council regarding its application, during such interviews.
(e) Certain Communications Prohibited During the Application Scoring Period. During the Application Scoring Period, a requesting agency shall be prohibited from communicating with Public Service Grant Council members, the Grants Administrator, and other public service grant involved City employees regarding an application submitted by such agency pursuant to this Section. For purposes of this Section, the "Application Scoring Period" shall mean the period each fiscal year commencing on the day immediately following the Public Service Grant application deadline in Section 118.806 and ending on the day that the Grants Administrator has received the scoring for all eligible applications pursuant to Section 118.807. This prohibition also includes communications by a requesting agency with the City's Office of General Counsel unless the Grants Administrator has authorized such communications in advance. This prohibition shall not apply to the following communications:
i. Communications to the Grants Administrator regarding matters of process or procedure contained in Chapter 118, Ordinance Code, including, but not limited to, the grant appeals procedure in Section 118.810;
ii. Communications during any publicly noticed meeting under F.S. Ch. 286, including, but not limited to, Public Service Grant Council meetings and subcommittee meetings; and
iii. Communications that are necessary and solely related to the ordinary course of business concerning a requesting agency's existing Public Service Grant contract(s).
(f) Disqualification; Notification. If a requesting agency's application fails to include the items and Section headings specified in Sections 118.806(b)(1) through (7) or fails to meet the format requirements of 118.806(c) above, such application shall not be considered and reviewed by the PSG Council. As long as an application contains the required Section headings in Sections 118.806(b)(3) through (7) above, together with some information describing the same and is properly formatted, such application shall be deemed to have complied with the requirements of Sections 118.806(b)(3) through (7). Failure by a requesting agency to provide adequate information under each required Section may result in a lower application score and ranking.
The PSG Council staff shall notify requesting agencies in writing within three business days of its decision to qualify or disqualify such requesting agency's application from consideration and review by the PSG Council. Such notice shall specify the reasons for the disqualification and the requesting agency's right to appeal the decision pursuant to the procedures set forth in Section 118.810. The PSG Council shall be informed by staff of the requesting agencies deemed by staff to be disqualified pursuant to this Section at the earliest PSG Council meeting following the staff's determination.
(Ord. 2016-56-E, § 4; Ord. 2017-317-E, § 1; Ord. 2017-424-E, § 1; Ord. 2019-210-E, § 2; Ord. 2021-851-E, § 2; Ord. 2023-238-E, § 1; Ord. 2024-551-E, § 1; Ord. 2025-191-E, § 2; Ord. 2026-151-E, § 1)
