Richmond Education and Human Services Committee Meeting - September 10, 2026
Richmond Education and Human Services Committee Meeting - September 10, 2026
The Education and Human Services Standing Committee of the Richmond City Council met on September 10, 2026, at 7:15 PM under the leadership of Vice Chair Jones (acting Chair). All members were present except Ms. Lynch, establishing a quorum. The meeting covered updates on the restructuring of the non-departmental grant process (now the Richmond Thrives grant program), a facilities modernization plan from Richmond Public Schools, approval of a grant ordinance for the juvenile detention center, and various announcements from the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Human Services.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the minutes of the July 9, 2026 Education and Human Services Standing Committee meeting as presented, with no amendments or corrections.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public addressed the committee regarding items not on the agenda. The public comment period was opened and closed with no speakers.
Discussion Items
- Richmond Thrives Grant Program Update: Dominic Merritt, Senior Policy Advisor with the Office of the DCO for Human Services, presented an update on the new grant-making process. The program, formerly the non-departmental grant process, is now managed by three outside grantmakers covering four priority areas: arts and culture, children and families, economic mobility, and health. Merritt noted that the transition aimed to increase accountability, accessibility, and community impact. Key details included: a 10% administrative overhead across all priority areas (below the 15% cap), application windows closing within two weeks of the kickoff, and a turnaround time of three to four months from application to fund disbursement (versus roughly 10 months in the previous system). Councilmember Breton expressed strong support for the process, noting improvements in rigor and accessibility. He asked about administrative costs and reporting. Merritt confirmed that no more than 15% goes to admin (actual ~10%) and that the city will provide detailed summaries to council. Vice Chair Jones inquired about the role of organizations that previously received non-departmental funding and also applied for the new grants; Merritt clarified that grantmakers cannot apply to themselves and that the city hopes to fund the best service providers, with adjustments to priority areas possible after first-year results. Jones also suggested reinstating a training program for nonprofits on grant writing and capacity building, which Merritt acknowledged as valuable.
- Richmond Public Schools Facilities Modernization Plan: Patrick Harrell, Chief Operating Officer for Richmond Public Schools, joined by Board Chair Fernandez, presented the community engagement process for prioritizing school facility upgrades. Harrell outlined the current facilities plan (nearing completion with Richmond High School for the Arts, Maury Street Campus, and Woodville Elementary remaining), and the need for a new five-to-ten-year plan. Key statistics: RPS average building age is 62 years; 36% of buildings are over 50 years old; 20% are over 100 years old. An independent assessment identified $680 million in deferred maintenance needs over 20 years, while annual capital funding is approximately $2.5 million (with a recent one-time boost of $10 million from council). Community input sessions are being held in each district; two had occurred by the meeting date, with seven more scheduled. The activity involves ranking 26 schools by priority based on building condition, enrollment trends, and student needs. Both Harrell and Vice Chair Jones noted that the sessions were powerful in shifting participants from advocating for their own schools to recognizing citywide needs. Jones and Breton praised the process and committed to attending upcoming sessions.
- Ordinance 2026-191: Acceptance of Grant Funds for Juvenile Detention Center: Greg Hopkins (Director of Justice Services) presented the ordinance authorizing acceptance of $137,038 from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services for the juvenile detention center. The funds are one-time and will be used to transform the facility into a trauma-informed environment, including furniture, painting, acoustic padding, and youth-friendly visitation spaces. The ordinance received no public opposition or support. Councilmember Breton questioned the one-time nature of the expenditures; Hopkins confirmed they are all one-time investments (e.g., furniture, painting, equipment). Vice Chair Jones expressed support for humanizing the facility. The committee voted unanimously to recommend approval.
- DCAO Updates: Dr. Popovich, DCAO for Human Services, provided three updates. First, she introduced Lamont Barnes as the new Senior Policy Advisor for the Office of Gun Violence Prevention (succeeding Greg Hopkins). Second, she highlighted September as Library Card Month and noted a 35% increase in summer reading participation over four years through the summer internship program. Third, she announced the launch of the Central VA Resource Navigator website (centralvaresourcenavigator.org), a comprehensive, vetted directory of over 130 behavioral health and substance use resources, developed in partnership with Henrico County and the region. The website is available 24/7 and is especially timely for National Recovery Month.
Key Outcomes
- Approved the minutes of the July 9, 2026 EHS committee meeting.
- Recommended approval of Ordinance 2026-191 (accepting $137,038 for juvenile detention center improvements) by a unanimous voice vote (Vice Chair Jones and Councilmember Breton voting aye).
- Received updates on the Richmond Thrives grant program, RPS facilities planning, and DCAO activities with no formal votes required.
- Next meeting scheduled for October 8, 2026, with anticipated agenda items including an update on early childhood enrollment from the Office of Children and Families and an update on homeless services strategic planning.
- Vice Chair Jones formally introduced her new liaison, Catherine Brown, who will be available for 9th district needs.
Meeting Transcript
All right, Madel Clerk, we'll bring this EHS meet into order. Madam Clerk, can you call the chamber emergency evacuation announcements? Upon activation of the emergency alarm signal, our persons should immediately exit the building. Please use the exits to the left or right front of the council chamber or the north or south stale where outside the red doors of the chamber. Do not use elevators or escalators. After exiting the building, security would direct everyone down 9th Street to the fence area located between cleanly streets. Able persons should assist visually in hearing impaired visitors exiting the building. Individuals wishing to speak during public hearings in the public comment period are generally allowed three minutes to speak. Persons appearing before the committee are not allowed to. Campaign for public office, promote private business matches, use language of a personal nature, which insults or demeans any person, including comments directed at public officials or staff members that are not related to the official duties or address our question staff members directly. All questions are to be directed to the committee chair. Faye to adhere to the guidelines may result in speakers forfeiting any remaining time and further disciplinary action as necessary, which can include barring from attendance at future meetings of the committee of a for a period of six months. And Madam Vice Chair, all members are in attendance today with the exception of Ms. Lynch and you do have a quorum. Thank you. Can we do the public comment period? Public comment is now open. Is there anyone present who wishes to address this committee regarding items not on today's agenda? Madam Vice Chair seeing no one. Public comment period is now closed and back to the committee. All right, we'll move right on through this. Approval of the minutes. The minutes to be approved are for July 9th, 2026 for the education and human services standing committee meeting held at 2 p.m. If there are no amendments or corrections, then the minute the meeting minutes will stand approved as presented. Those minutes have been approved. Thank you. Thank you. And we will have uh who's put oh miss okay, Mr. Dominic Merritt. Okay. I'll do my best here. Let me know if I can't be uh heard. Good afternoon. Uh Vice Chair slash acting chair Jones, Councilmember Breton, Dominic Barrett, Senior Policy Advisor with the Office of the DCO for human services. Um I'm grateful for the invitation to be here today to provide an update on our new grant making process. Can you all hear me okay if I stand back from the mic a little bit like this? I don't know if it extends any further. Um I'm gonna do my best to keep this to ten minutes. I'm gonna quickly walk through some background to frame things up, but I don't want to dwell on that since we've shared that information with council in a variety of settings and ways, both at presentations and in um emailed memos. But do want to make sure we're mindful of that context and then spend most of our time on sort of where we are in the process now and what to look forward to in the months ahead. Uh want to start by just reminding folks where this new grant process sort of sits and lives within the budget and where it exists relative to our other um items within the outside agency budget. So we have our organizational subsidy category, which is things like GRTC, RBHA, etc. We have our strategic city-driven initiatives, and these are these critical city identified city directed services with a provider typically identified via a competitive process that's managed by the city. Um then we have what we're here to talk about today. Um formerly the non-departmental grant process, now called the Richmond Thrives grant program managed by three outside grantmakers delivering competitive grantmaking process in those four priority areas there. This new process uh is the product of several years of feedback and engagement with council, the nonprofit community, the administration. This wasn't designed in a vacuum or overnight. Um, and it's something that's been discussed with this committee off and on over the years. Uh we sought to identify a new process that meets this you know, high standard of of stewardship of taxpayer resources and dollars, but also wanting to do it in a way that's expanding access, um, improving the experience for applicants and increasing overall community impact as a key goal. Ultimately, as I've talked about before, we want a process that's rigorous but but reasonable.
openpublica.com