All right, good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome to the Tempe City Council and Tempe Community Council Board of Directors joint meeting.

Item number one is call to order.

Council meetings can be watched in real time via Cox Cable Channel 11 and at Tempe.gov slash Tempe 11.

Members of the public may also attend the meeting virtually through Microsoft Teams.

With that said, let me go ahead, maybe Mr.

Birch, I'll start with you and we'll go around the table.

Tim Birch, Director of Community Health and Human Services for the City of Tempe, serving as interim executive director for Tempe Community Council.

Hello, everybody, I'm Tom Martinez on the EDI liaison.

Alicia Hakovo Kenny, Tempe Community Council Board Secretary.

Magda John Sarah Johnson, TCC Treasurer.

Rabani for Kahn, uh Tempe Community Council Board Chair.

Corey Woods, Mayor.

Doreen Garland, Vice Mayor.

Erlene Chin, Tempe City Council.

Fordah Hodge, Tempe City Council Member.

Nikki Amberg, Tempe City Council Member.

Oh, House of Staff.

I see.

Okay, sorry.

Rosan Chaucey, City Manager.

Good afternoon, Eric Anderson, City Attorney.

Hi, Karastia, City Clerk.

Excellent.

Thank you so much, everyone.

Appreciate it.

All right.

So next up, we're going to go to item number three, Tempe Community Council presentation.

So let's see.

Item 3A, vision and priorities for 2025-2026.

And I'm going to turn this over to the board chair Rubani.

Thank you very much, Mayor.

Next slide, please.

Alrighty.

So I'll give a little information for everyone on Tempe Community Council.

Tempe Community Council have served the community since 1972.

And we really work with the city to address long-term human services needs.

And uh a couple of the things that I'd like to highlight.

We work off of a formal affiliation agreement that allows us to work really side by side to strengthen human services across the city.

Our role is to conduct uh one of the things that we do is to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment that we do every three years.

We also administer as well as oversee the agency review funding process, which you'll learn a little bit more about here shortly.

Uh we'll show more on that soon, as well as we bring together the committee, excuse me, the community uh that includes uh various government uh nonprofit organizations, faith groups, and various residents too as well, to make sure that we provide support to Tempians and really build a lasting foundation for uh future generations to come, human services-wise.

Next slide, please.

I'll go over a little bit about what we plan to share today.

We'll start off with the vision of Tempe Community Council.

We'll go into a little bit of the uh priorities that we have going forward.

We'll share some accomplishments, uh, talk about our direct services, we'll give an update on where our financial health is, acknowledge some of the awarenesses that we are aware of, as well as the call to action at the end.

Next slide, please.

So our vision here at TIPE Community Council is to nurture Tempe sense of community where children, seniors, families, and individuals care for and about one another.

Our mission is to connect those in need with those who care, and we do this by convening the community, conducting research, determining priorities, as well as implementing effective programs and really exemplifying uh a stewardship of resources that we have.

Next slide, please.

So a few of our priorities that we have going forward is we really want to set the direction and reinforce stability during this time right now.

And in the near future, we plan on going through a very uh uh going through a strategic plan process that uh makes sure that we really align our our mission and our priorities with the community.

We're maintaining strong governance and operations and making sure that again, really that our mission is inlighting as the community continues to take shape and change uh in the near future.

We really want to make sure that we're increasing our volunteerism, uh expanding opportunities for the community members to engage with meaningful action within Tempe Community Council programs as well as uh strengthen our volunteer pipelines to support long-term stability.

We also want to make sure that we are honoring um our past executive director and thanking Octavia Harris for her leadership and her vision and her impact over the years, really making sure to recognize the foundation that she helped build and the momentum that she leaves behind as we do continue to move forward.

And during this time, uh making sure that uh the executive leadership transition is strategically the executive leadership transition transition, we're aligning with the city to uh partner with them to make sure that the next executive director that comes in is thoughtful and uh we're recruiting in a meaningful way to make sure that the role that they share is making sure to align with what the current mission of Tempe Community Council is, and really making sure that uh they share in our values as well as our future growth that we have.

Next slide, please.

I will now extend it over to executive interim direct executive director Tim Birch.

All right, uh with Mayor's permission, this takes us to item 3A.

Oh, yes, absolutely.

Mr.

Birch, please go forward.

All right, uh, thank you, members of the board, uh, members of the council and the folks who have joined us here today.

It's my pleasure to uh sit here and represent the fantastic work of Tempe Community Council, its many volunteers and this fantastic staff.

One of the ways that Tempe Community Council connects those in need with those who cares is by doing uh an every three-year needs assessment.

And it's an opportunity to formally go out and listen to what the growing needs are in the community, make sure that we're building the scaffolding for funding that will then fuel the programs to provide that connection back to the individuals who need that help and making sure that our community of caring and loving nonprofits have the funding infrastructure and technical assistance they need to be successful.

So 2025 needs assessment has been uh conducted.

You'll hear more about that from staff in a bit, but it really is a chance to bring data community input, qualitative and quantitative together.

Uh, one of the things we've done over the last few years as we've stood before you with staff from TCC is present back the impact of your investments through the social determinants of health framework.

This year, that needs assessment's been aligned with that, so funding will be going out the door aligned with those social determinants.

We're excited about the uh way in which that'll help us gather future data and impact.

Um what we've noticed is the need in our community is growing.

I think don't think that's a surprise of anybody if you just pay attention to the economic indicators around us.

Um the need is growing.

So, what do we need to do?

And we need to be able to step up and provide that level of service to our nonprofits.

Um, and you'll hear about the growth of our direct service programs and the way and the care in which uh we've increased our volunteer retention and recruitment to make sure that staff is able to then be able to provide those that level of support.

One of the tangible ways the group is growing is physically moving out of its 30-year home of the BB Moorehouse.

Uh, and thanks to the City of Tempe and its support and getting us over to the City Hall Park and Garage, former site of Fabric and moving into a newer, more kind of modern uh motif of offices.

Um it gives us more room to spread our legs and wings and imaginations uh to be able to work together in a new and different way.

And so we're excited about those facilities.

And of course, um, as we go and do the recruitment for the new executive director, um, we're busy establishing what the core competencies are uh for this individual to then move the organization forward for the next 30 years and um looking to grow the team with that recruitment.

Um I'm joined by Gloriana Sauer who is our marketing and events coordinator, and she will walk you through the second part of this slide.

Thank you, Tim.

Um thank you all for the opportunity to speak with you today.

I will be starting with collective impact.

Uh partnership continues to be at the heart of the work that we do at TCC.

This year we were proud to partner with the City of Tempe on the Tempe Needs You campaign, which mobilized the community in response to the urgent storm relief needs from the microburst in October.

Through that campaign, we collected over 23,000 in community donations to provide ongoing support beyond emergency funding.

Our board selected Tempe Community Action Agency as the recipient of those funds.

We continue to expand and deepen partnerships across sectors also, working with local businesses like TechRec Recycling.

Um, we partnered with them to do a technology recycling drive, um, collaborating with ASU and our local districts through multiple programs, participation in events um like this past weekend's uh Tempe Union Enrollment Fair that we attended, and supporting broader initiatives uh including um Thrive in Tempe.

Regarding events, we also celebrated meaningful successes through our events and community engagement efforts.

Our CareFair event last year reached a milestone with our largest turnout to date.

Nearly 600 attendees and hoping to be even larger this March 28th.

Connecting residents directly to community resources, city programs, and support in one accessible location.

At our 42nd annual Don Carlos Awards, we honored several remarkable community members who are making a difference right here in Tempe.

A highlight was Tracy and Tim Essenson were awarded with the guiding light lifetime achievement and philanthropy award, which was a really special acknowledgement of commitment to community.

Um that award is not given every year and it had not been given since 2017.

So that was a significant event.

And to bring these accomplishments to life, we're excited to share an updated Together Tempe video.

This video represents a large collaborative project coordinated by our marketing team with support from the city's video team and features several of our partner agencies who receive funding through agency review.

Through storytelling and visuals and consistent branding, marketing plays a key role in supporting Tempe Community Council's programs, helping expand their reach, elevate awareness, and amplify impact across the community.

Our new Together Tempe video showcases how partnership and promotion help strengthen outcomes for Tempe residents.

Roll the video, please.

Just about where we live.

In Tempe, community isn't just about where we live.

It's about how we support one another.

Together Tempe brings neighbors together through collective giving to fund local nonprofits that help our community thrive.

Junior Achievement gives students hands-on experiences that build financial literacy and real world skills.

Junior Achievement of Arizona provides financial literacy programs to primarily low-income students.

One such program is our JA Finance Park program, which brings 4,000 students right here to Tempe, where we run our JA Finance Park simulation where they get to create a personalized budget based off a random socioeconomic role and learn how to manage their money appropriately, no matter what career they choose.

Tempe Community Action Agency is a critical lifeline to our community, providing a wide range of services to neighbors in need.

We have the privilege here of serving our greater community of the East Valley and certainly the city of Tempe through a lot of different programs that we are now basically putting into three major buckets.

I like to think about it as food, housing, and health.

So really thinking about how we are working with our community from prenatal care all the way through sheltering at end of life stages.

And one thing that we see nationwide, but especially here in the Valley, a huge increase amongst our seniors experiencing homelessness.

That's our fastest growing rate.

And so this new facility allows us to really work with them, have a place for them to be at all times.

My companion over here, we know we sit and next to each other every day when we talk about everything.

Peer Solutions empowers youth to lead positive change in their schools and communities.

Our mission is peers helping peers to create the world to make the world a better place.

And just to show them that we, as like a whole group and as youth, we all have a voice.

With the funding, we are able to connect more with bigger communities and more with even families and parents and youth.

TCH supports individuals with disabilities through job training and day programs that promote independence and inclusion.

The Centers for Habilitation, TCH, has been around since 1967, and we've been based in Tempe that full time.

TCH creates opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

We have a variety of programs.

We have a day program, group homes, employment services, ability one contracts, and transportation.

So Together Tempe Funding has funded our employment programs over the years.

It provides extra job coaching hours.

It provides adaptive equipment if we need to get that.

So it covers a wide range so that individuals can be independent and work a job at whatever level their independence is.

As a Tempe community member, I've seen firsthand how Together Tempe donations strengthen local nonprofits.

When we come together, we lift up our entire community.

Giving is easy.

Simply add a monthly donation to your water bill.

Or visit Together Tempe.org.

100% of your donation goes directly to support neighbors in need.

The funding from Together Tempe provides junior chairman of Arizona the resources that we need to go into the community in Tempe and provide these critical programs to low-income students in need.

Together Tempe program allows us to have a partner in making sure we have the funds available to continue to run our programs.

Giving a little changes a lot.

All right, so now we're going to go ahead and move on to item C three C, which is direct services.

And Tim Birch, you want me to introduce your crew.

All right, thank you, uh Vice Mayor.

So I am uh joined by Bernetta Coggins, who is our Tempe Coalition Uh Director, as well as Kim Venwigan, our community impact manager.

And we're gonna we've talked a little bit thus far about being a uh uh community convener, both through um bringing together our nonprofits and convening data.

Uh we've talked a little bit about being a philanthropic and grant-making organization.

There's there's kind of a third side to that triangle, and that is the direct service array for Tempe Community Coalition.

Um I highlight a couple of the programs here.

So if we can go to the next slide, Jason.

Um I hope you're all familiar with Threads.

Uh Threads is a program that provides high school and middle school students with access to hygiene, basic needs programs, as well as clean clothing every day.

Everything from reducing uh the time out of class for dress code violations to more importantly, increasing attendance uh because what we found over the years is that young people who don't have those hygiene or clean clothing needs tend to stay home and be more truant from school.

So this is a really vital program.

Uh next slide.

It has expanded to over four schools this year.

Um by continuing to innovate and try to meet the students where they are.

We have opened up at lunchtime at some of our sites that has seen a 40% increase in accessing services and requesting uh for clothing.

Um this has been a banner year for the program in that over $300,000 of clothing has been donated uh from the community to this program.

So you can see all of the indicators are trending up on the use of this program, and uh we're just really proud and I'd be remiss if it didn't recognize uh Tempe Elementary School District and TIP Union High School District uh and uh board member Hodge uh for uh their partnership and making sure that we have the space inside the schools to do this in a way that meets the students' needs.

Next slide.

Um open horizons.

Uh this program it is uh celebrating its 50th year.

Uh this began as a teenage pregnancy uh dropout prevention program.

Um the idea was to reduce uh the number of uh pregnant and parenting teens that uh did not complete their high school um education.

So next slide.

Um you'll see over the years uh while our education and uh supports through the school districts have improved greatly over the last 50 years, they're still a need for this program.

This program allows us to give really flexible funding to fill in all the other places uh for the student that the federal and local programs have not.

This year uh we have been able to provide 20 weeks of preschool in addition to the on-site uh TAP child care uh presented by the school district, some bus passes and over $3,700 worth of support uh to a young mother who has children here in our local school district.

Uh which takes us to our next program.

Next slide is Triple P uh Triple P is our positive parenting project.

Um, it is an evidence-based curriculum, it's one of the few programs that's on the uh evidence exchange uh that reduces uh intrinsically uh dropout as well as uh teen violence as well as involvement in child welfare.

So this is a blue ribbon uh project.

We're glad to have it here.

If you go to next slide, you will be able to see how we've improved access to this service.

If you look at our the left-hand two columns, fall and spring of 24 and 25.

You'll see the number of scheduled sessions at 10 and 15 respectively.

And looking into 25, 26, the the far two right columns, you'll see that we're up to 13 and 18, the number of sessions in our school district.

Um if you look at the number of people have registered uh on the second row of those first two columns.

Uh we averaged around 70 people for that uh per semester for the 24 or 25 school district year.

Uh we started this year off at almost double that, or more so than that.

Over 151 people registered uh for those programs as we look forward to an even more robust spring.

Next slide.

It is that season, tax season, um, and we are grateful to be part of the Vida Tax Network, the volunteer tier income tax assistance network.

Um this is allows individuals who are over 65 or limited income, individuals who are on moderate income and limited English speakers to come and get free tax preparation assistance.

Uh we anticipate having over a thousand people that will assist this season.

Next slide.

Over 872 uh tax returns were filed.

Um the economic impact of this uh might go understated.

So I want to make sure I can congratulate um Ann Lynn Domenico, who is a supervisor of the program who could not join us uh due to a family emergency today, but her leadership uh over this project uh yielded um over 1.2 million dollars in tax credits and refunds coming back into this community as economic spending power through this project and saved our residents over 174,000 dollars in tax preparation fees by providing this.

Um we have uh over, I believe a hundred volunteers that are onboarded to go provide this at uh Gracie's place as we come up on and we instant um our tax season, and so if individuals want to uh look for appointments for that, they can go to Tempe Community Community Coalition.org and get information on how to schedule that.

Next slide.

Um overall, um, we continue to look to seek to improve and grow these programs to meet the needs of the people who are in need in our community.

Um so these are just some of the highlights there by which we have done that, most of which I've mentioned through my presentation.

So now I'm going to do uh what any great leader does, and that is turn it over to the people who know best about what they're doing every day, and that is the fantastic staff at Tempe Community Coalition.

So I'm gonna turn over to Bernetta Coggins to talk about the work of the coalition.

Hello, everyone.

Thank you so much, um, mayor and council for supporting this important work over the years.

Um the Tempe Coalition to Reduce Underage drinking and drug use emerged from a long history of groups working to address issues surrounding substance misuse by providing advocacy, education, and outreach to the surrounding areas within our school district boundaries.

We always like to make sure that we emphasize that catchment area because of Tempe Union and Kyreen are also in Tempe L, Tempe Elementary.

Uh this work started in 1996 and in 2009 evolved into the Tempe Coalition.

And I believe Corey was one of the original members of the Tempe Coalition, and we have photos to prove it.

The coalition is a grant-funded project of Tempe Community Council and is currently funded by both federal and state grants.

The coalition membership has a diverse representation of community members representing the very uh the various 12 sectors to include business, media, law enforcement, schools, substance use providers, youth parents, youth serving organizations, civic groups, healthcare professionals, governmental agencies, and faith-based organizations.

This work also supports the city's performance measure 1.21 under safe and secure schools.

Um youth drug use and misuse.

And you know, as we've stated before, the purpose is to reduce youth risk behaviors and promote health and wellness through awareness, education, advocacy, and connecting community resources.

So all TEMPE youth are living to their full potential.

Okay, so why does this work matter?

Opioids and specifically counterfeit fentanyl are the bus biggest risk for fatal overdose, and we never saw that before with our youth, that you would take something and it could take someone's life immediately.

The current data suggests much of our youth see little or no harm in trying marijuana or using it regularly.

Many youth remain unaware of non-prescribed or counterfeit opioids containing fentanyl and possibly unintentional poisoning, including exposure through using other substances, including marijuana and vaping.

Based on the data, it should be alarming that 43.1% of Tempe youth reported feeling unable to manage stress in the past seven days.

I think that it's also important to note the average age of TEMPE youth, substance use initiation is 13.3 percent, and 15.8 percent started in elementary school.

28.8% of TEMPA youth reported using substances in the past 30 days.

Okay.

So Tempe Coalition accomplishments.

What makes our work so important and is is when we do see that what we do is making a difference and we're making an impact.

100% participation from all TEMPE school districts in the 2026 Arizona Youth Survey.

And what what's so important about that is that the data that we receive from these surveys are what drives our work.

And it's not what we think or feel, it's what our youth are telling us and how what they're seeing in our schools.

Another great accomplishment is we've had um over 300 percent increase in our grant funding, with this funding totaling over 480,000 from our five different grants, and we've listed what those are.

We've got the trauma informed substance abuse prevention program grant through the governor's office.

We have the Stop Act is the sober truth on preventing underage drinking through SAMHSA, the ACS SUBG is the substance abuse block grant, and the SACLAS, which is uh substance abuse coalition leaders of Arizona, and that's a state opioid response grant.

Um that one we you know, several of these we've continued to continue to keep those grants.

And what we're really proud is our newest is the Parents Commission grant, also through the governor's office.

With that funding, we've uh distributed over a thousand boxes of naloxone through various community events.

So we are the go to.

If you go on the internet searching for NARCAN, we are we come up as that uh authorized uh distributor.

We've reached over 1.5 million community members indirectly through multiple awareness campaigns, and we've reached over 4,500 students through direct prevention messaging, and really what we do is we call that through our um our evidence-based programming that we do.

And we can't do this work without our partners.

We recently completed our community needs assessment and strategic plan within this last month, so that's always a heavy lift.

Uh let's see here, next slide.

Okay.

Tempe Coalition also, I know many of you have attended, presented, been a part of our annual celebrating champions for youth.

We just completed our ninth annual event, and it's truly amazing and inspiring to see all of our youth and hear the stories.

Uh, we have a diverse representation across the city with four adult and eight youth awardees this year.

We had over 160 community members in attendance, and we continue to promote this through robust marketing campaigns, and our youth are awarded for those who inspire, and then with our adults, it's who advocate, inspire, and protect our youth.

A record number of attendees this year, and we were honored to have local sports broadcaster and member of our Tempe community, Kevin McCabe, as our MC this year, and council member or vice mayor garlet also spoke at our event and Corey did the year before and several of you.

Umerging opportunities for collaboration.

We continue to build sustainability and expand our emerging opportunities in collaboration with our partners.

We are looking to continue to expand our peer leaders.

We also continue to collaborate and expand with our partnerships with our local schools and youth organizations across the community while understanding the importance of youth prevention as a priority.

And so that will conclude and I will pass this over to Kim.

Thank you, Brenda.

I appreciate it.

Kim, before you start, just a question from Vice Mayor Garland.

I know the craziness that happened with the SAMHSA funding that we received.

You guys received a letter that's saying that all that funding was going away immediately, and the next day the government, federal government said, Oh, just kidding.

You can keep your funding.

So what are the what are the things that you guys are looking at as far as the possibilities of fundings being removed?

What what are you guys doing?

No, thank you for the question.

I think diversify of funding is always a very important component.

Um that's why we continue to apply for grants as they come up.

So we've we we're in a really good space right now, but that was that was definitely a frightening day for many of us.

And I, you know, I continue to look at other funding streams.

So whether it's private partnerships, um looking at even just our our community partners because I think this is an issue that it really doesn't discriminate and it affects so many families.

So thank you.

I was gonna say that if if you haven't attended the the champions for youth event, you should because you will walk away from their at least having tears in your eyes at least once to hear the amazing things that these kids are doing.

It was it was amazing.

We were sitting at the table just like amazed at what they were doing.

So thank you so much for for doing that.

I also want to say on behalf of the city council, but really I think um council member Keating and Councilmember Hodge and I for supporting the um the drink spiking ordinance and really really looking forward to what we can do with the Tempe Coalition moving forward to make sure that we get the word out and the education out to our students um in the community regarding drink spiking.

So thank you so much.

You're gonna be an incredible partner on that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Council Proch.

Okay.

Uh, my question is uh is kind of what Vice Mayor was talking about.

We're going to DC, and one of the things we do is we sit down.

What our state representatives, we stay down with our lobbyists.

What can we take?

Is there any information we can take back to even try to help with funding for you?

Well, I think I think what's important is the fact that we use our Arizona Youth Survey data.

So I think having that data available, which I'm working on getting the 2024 in a packet type uh availability, so you can kind of show what how much our work has has increased and decreased some of our risk behaviors, um, perception of risk, things like that.

So, as far as you know, I think across the state and across the country, it's a nonpartisan issue that this is that this is a problem, and we need to continue to do this work.

And so I think continuing to keep those partnerships in place to have all of you advocating for us when you have opportunities.

Um I I applaud you and I appreciate that work because you know, we always say that it's to educate and inform, and every time we figure out what's a new, the latest, there's some other new drug, new social media platform.

Um, and digital wellness is also something else we're moving forward with.

Well, oh, yeah, I got a little closer.

I just want to thank you for all that you do for this public schools.

It's it's a vital need.

It's a missing pony that we have.

So thank you so much.

And also um, Councilmember um Vice Mayor, you know, I this is the first champion I've missed in so many years.

Uh it just hurt to miss it.

I was in a hospital, but I had a really good fought backup plan.

I had my son do it for me this year.

So I just thank you guys for all we did you do.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

I guess so.

Uh Kim, I'll turn it over to you for the agency review portion of this agenda.

Oops, there we go.

Hello, everyone.

Um, while you're taking a look, nope, that's coalition.

Hold on.

See, you shouldn't give me a job.

No.

It's there we go.

No.

Yeah.

Well, I'm clicking it too fast.

Now I'm gonna give you a chance to look up there and see some of the reviews from our agency review volunteers last year.

And while you're doing that, I do want to very sincerely thank the mayor and council for and the people of Tempe for your support of this community-driven process.

I also want to acknowledge those 61 volunteers who last year put in approximately 1400 hours reading, scoring, reviewing, and then giving very thoughtful recommendations for funding.

And I have some of those folks right behind us here, and I want to to thank them too.

So some of our nonprofit partners, and just a few of them, like area agency on aging, higher octave, peer solutions, and our community health and human services um staff members did a great job last year of helping to really educate our volunteers.

And so we had meetings.

We had the community of practice meetings where they received free training.

We had great conversations and discussions around the work that's happening, really lively debates as well.

And these activities were happening all year long.

So what you may not know is that agency review volunteers are now engaged and active all year long.

They're attending these workshops and trainings, reviewing those applications, but they're also attending site visits year-round.

They're serving on the community impact committee, which is the oversight committee for the board of directors.

And then many of our volunteers are also at events like Care Fair.

All right, do you think I can do it?

Just one time.

Okay.

There you go.

All right.

Last year at this time, we presented our goal of instituting a funding renewal process for trusted and proven agencies and programs.

And this year I'm happy to report that we are confident that we've successfully tested the renewal process for the nonprofit partners, and it's rigorous and it also strengthens our relationship and accountability to each other.

The criteria for renewal is on the slide above.

And in the funding process, this allows us really to better integrate successful grantees into the strategic directions.

Our partner agencies are very appreciative of this added support.

Partners have shared that this renewal process has helped them to stabilize their programs, to leverage other funds, to build capacity, to make budget forecasting easier, that it rewards high performers, that the process is more efficient, and there's less paperwork, and also there's less administration.

For the TCC staff, this new process really provides us with some extra time to build meaningful collaborations with our partners.

It also allows us to increase monitoring and accountability efforts and to support both long and term and short-term outcomes.

Okay, just put up with me, okay?

Here we go.

Okay.

So I want to talk to you now about the community needs assessment.

I want to encourage you, if you haven't read it, to go to our website, and there you can find the full report.

We collaborated with Arizona State University's Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center, that's CERC, to conduct that in-depth assessment of human needs across all of TEMPE.

This study yielded actionable insights and strategic recommendations that TCC and its partners are employing to address critical service gaps and needs.

The insights from the report, along with additional community input and considerations, then also work with consultants, intersectional inquiry.

We had prioritization summit, and at that summit it helped us to prioritize the funding for this year.

The results of that prioritization process have inspired important agency review process changes that we are implementing this year.

So first, in collaboration with the city's community health and human services department, we have grouped funding priorities and outcome reporting using those social determinants of health framework.

And the agencies or the programs applying for funds have been asked to self-identify under one of the following elements within the social determinants, that TEMPE wheel that you see up there.

This TEMPE version of the wheel was developed to improve the ability to talk about, to measure, and evaluate the resilience of our community human human services and to plan for how to improve areas of imbalance.

Funding priorities in each social determinant have been identified through that needs assessment.

And this means that the agency applicants will be responding to identified cities city-driven priorities.

Collaborations, and we mean deep collaborations, have really been encouraged this year, and they are incentivized through weighted scoring in the application.

And then that three-year cycle.

Now I've mentioned that we tested the renewal process, and this is the first year of that new three-year funding cycle.

All agencies are competing for funding support this year, and but they may have the option to renew in years two and years three.

And lastly, new agencies have a $30,000 cap in their funding request.

This cap allows us to invest in small and new programs and organizations to demonstrate operational, financial and programmatic capacity on a smaller scale before receiving these larger investments.

It also prevents a small number of new applicants from absorbing a disproportionate share of available funds.

And the 2627 application deadline was just this past Monday on February 2nd.

We have 71 applicants, and the reviewers are beginning to read and scoring those applications today.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Let me look around the table here.

I would see Councillor Bramberg.

Yes.

Quick question on the renewal process.

Are they staying the same in terms of the level of funding all three years, or can they ask for more in that three-year cycle, or do they have to wait until the three-year cycle is over in order to increase the amount that they're asking for?

There may be some variables by which they could ask for more.

That would mean maybe some agencies were not renewed, so we had additional funding that we could work with, or we raised more money, which would be wonderful too.

So I I wouldn't say that it's definitely but that they will only have level funding, but it's likely that it would be level funding.

I would hope that we could at least look at uh some way in which we could give them a two to five percent increase year over year if that's possible.

But again, it just depends on many variables.

Yes, Gilbert.

I guess it's just a follow-up.

If they if that happens, do they have to do the renewal again to do it, or is it just automatically if you do find the funding for it?

No, actually, we tested this year how we would like them to renew.

So there is a process for renewal, and the volunteers read and score those renewals as well and make recommendations for them.

No, I mean if they're in a three-year cycle already, so they would still have to renew if they're in the three-year cycle to try to receive more money, or is it just automatically that you look at that?

No, if um if they are this year would start the new three-year cycle.

So, yes, if they are funded this year, they would have the option of renewal for years two and three.

Okay, thank you.

All right, thank you.

Any other comments or questions?

I guess Vice Peter Garland.

I just want to say thank you to all the volunteers.

Thank you for what you do.

I think I'm telling you when I'm off council, the first thing I'm gonna do is sign up because I want to do agency review.

But um, thank you so much for all the volunteers that do that.

We couldn't do that without you.

Thank you.

All right, anyone else?

Counsel?

Okay.

We're gonna move on here too, and thank you, Kim.

Thank you, Bernard.

Well, we'll about item 3D, financial health, and I'll turn to Magda Johnson, who is the board treasurer.

Thank you very much.

As you all know, there are numbers behind all those programs.

And right now we are going to talk about those numbers for the next two slides.

So TCC uh concluded successfully the audit for the fiscal year 24-25, and that fiscal year um shows the continuation of commitment of TCC towards transparent stewardship, strong and strong financial management.

And with TCC was continue to focus on responsible budgeting, financial controls, and making sure that we align the resources with community impact.

When you we are looking at the revenue for that fiscal year, our revenue was about $2 million with the expenses about $2.1 million.

When we started fiscal year, the net assets were about 1.9 million dollars, and we ended fiscal year 1.8 million dollars.

There was $68,000 decrease in net assets.

However, the decrease is manageable within the controls of long-term financial stability.

When we look at the financial position uh and the assets for uh for TCC, we have the fiscal year at 1.9 million dollars of the assets.

And looking at the liabilities, and oh, let me go back to the assets.

Those assets are pretty significant for the size of this number of the nonprofit of TCC size.

So that that shows another proof that TCC is in pretty stable financial position.

When we are looking at the uh total liabilities, we were about $100 $1,000, and then demonstrates reinforce the organization low risk financial position.

The net asset make up majority of the financial position, and that uh underscores stability and responsible financial fiscal management.

So I would like to uh leave you with uh key takeaways for the slide that TCC it remains financially sound with stable reserves and responsible expense management and continuation of donor support and city support and partnership.

So the next slide talks about the partnership, and we heard that word quite a bit through this presentation, and this is financial figures behind that partnership.

And for those who like myself have our vision impaired, I will help you with the numbers here.

So we have 41, the green that represents in kind donation.

So the biggest portion of financial revenue for TCC comes from City of Tempe, and that in kind revenue that we recognize on our financials, and that is that's the office um space.

That's wonderful.

Uh City of Tempe employees employees that um that support TCC mission, and that is 41%, and that is 1.3 million dollars.

35% of that pie chart, uh the blue, and that's pass through.

That's agency review funds that we don't recognize.

TCC doesn't recognize on the financials, and we pass it through to support our mission and all those organizations about $1.1 million dollars.

And the reminder of the financial partnership pie chart, um, that's the grants and that's um sponsorship contributions that go to TCC in support of the programs and the mission.

So together this revenues um the revenue resources that uh reflect the partnership and the collaboration uh model that's so we have the city partnership and support, uh, we have residential input and we have community investment, and to support effective accountable human services for our Tempe City residents.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, appreciate.

Anyone from the council see Vice Pierre?

I don't I don't think I've ever noticed this on a pie chart, so it was kind of overwhelming to me when I first looked at it.

Um but I have a question.

So I think the number from the the support from the city for this nonprofit profit is 70 like 76 percent.

What are the fundraising parts of this that TCC does and what is the is there a fundraising number that you guys have moving forward for this coming year?

I didn't see that.

I will start and I will ask for help if I miss something.

So we uh we have hundred fundraising uh committee and the fundraising committee set up the goals, uh the fundraising for the sponsors for um their contributions, and we are tracking um those goals um we are comparing where we are towards the goals um on uh in our monthly uh kind of meetings and uh um evaluation where we are in comparison to the metrics that we set up as a goal.

Um so as the figures here we have about 400,000 dollars in grants.

Um that um 480, that number is a little bit different because 400 is fiscal year and 480 that Bernadette mentioned that was um not for the this given portion of the time.

Uh we have uh 114 in the net investment, uh, so that uh the investment of our um the investment that we have that is bringing additional revenue so we we can uh use that.

We have uh contributions through together Tempe directly going to TCC, that's about $94,000.

Special events bring about 67,000 other grants, $26,000.

And we are aiming to increase and uh hopefully that will be successful next year.

What did I miss?

Quick follow-up?

Yes.

Yeah, so I appreciate that.

Thanks.

I was trying to look for that for that number.

You know, I think the the Together Tempe is is definitely one where we could help out.

And I I've said this every single year that I'm on council, and we have talked about this that that is the easiest thing that if every resident gave that five dollars, gave that one dollar, that would make a huge difference in what we are able to do in the city of Tempe.

So I wanted to just say that again.

Um I wanted to say something.

I wrote my notes on just to say something about the the Tempe need you, and I didn't say that earlier, so just let me say real quick.

That was absolutely incredible how quickly that was pulled together to really be able to serve the residents that absolutely needed that help when we had that big huge storm.

So thank you for what you guys have pulled that together, and thank you to TCAA.

Thank you.

Council Bramberg.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, quick question.

On the 35% of the agency review pass through, normally when you get grants like from the CDBG and other folks, you can take a portion of that grant money and use it to actually administer the grants.

So are we using 100% of all of this grant money to agency review, and then the city of Tempe is just the administrative portion of that.

So, like 100% of the money we're getting in the grants is gonna go to agency review.

He is paying for the for the cost of the people to actually that is absolutely correct, Council uh Councilman Amberg.

The if you'll see the 1.1 is the uh on the light blue is the agency review.

Um the administrative costs are not pulled off that 1.1.

They are in the green, which is the 1.3 million dollars, that is the time of staff uh and all of the operating budget that the city contributes.

So staff oversee those programs.

Uh Kim Van Wiggan is the program manager over that.

So her staff, her salary and admin costs sit in that green to adjudicate the blue.

Okay.

So all of the costs to go to administer agency review is through the city's general fund.

That is correct.

Thank you.

Anyone else from the council?

Any comments or questions?

Okay.

Fantastic.

Thank you so much.

Which brings me to item three E, acknowledged awareness and call to action.

Mr.

Cherylton, back over to you.

Thank you very much, Mayor.

Um as we as we look ahead, we want to make sure that we're prep that uh that we're properly prepared.

So we are getting ready to launch and very comprehensive strategic planning process within the next couple years, and really make sure that we are defining our priorities, we are sharpening our measurable outcomes, ensuring that our growth really aligns with the community needs, uh, and we're making sure that we have our leadership transition is set up for long storm long-term stability.

We are increasing our visibility of T Fees.

So everyone really understands how and why this works matters.

Uh the work that we do matters within the community.

Uh, we moved into a new space.

Uh it is not just going to be an address change.

We really want to make it a new chapter of the organization and highlight that.

And we want to create excitement around that too as well, and what's next to come uh while we're remaining rooted in the long-standing work that we have already accomplished.

Um, as for increasing support, um, a few slides ago, you saw that we had over excuse me, 61 volunteers within agency review that logged 1400 hours.

We want to make sure that we're continue to increase those volunteers that come into our organization for the expected um additional community and growing needs that we may foresee within the future.

And we want to expand our individual giving and corporate giving, which I'll share a little bit more in the next slide.

Next slide, please.

In this slide here, uh we you will see that Tempe Community Council has two uh has the Tempe Community Count, excuse me, Tempe Community Foundation has two funds that we held at Arizona Community Foundation.

One is an endowment fund that has a very substantial base, as well as a collaborative fund that allows us a little bit more flexibility to work with.

Annually, you'll see here we distribute different, we distribute funds from the endowment fund that's grounded out for specific identified purposes that we uncover.

This past year we gave $60,520 that was provided to uh five agencies to address hunger relief uh and a few directly impacting some of our Tempe school age children as well as some of the youth.

Next, you'll see the Together Tempe, which we shared a little bit about in the video.

Um, and Vice Mayor, you actually called out a few of the things within uh Together Tempe, which I'll highlight here in a second.

Uh for the last fiscal year 2024 through 2025, we received $30,000 specifically from the utility bill bill donations, which you mentioned that we could always expand on, or community members can always expand on.

We received $7,000, and that breakdown is specifically from Tempe Community Council donations that we received, as well as uh $5,000 from the Tempe Community Council Healthy Giving Donations.

Now, those combined aided some of the support for the agency reviews, and you see that additional breakdown within this current year, 2025 to 2026.

Um again, $30,000 within the utility bill donations, uh, $3,500 directly to TCC from by way of donations, as well as $2,500 within healthy giving donations.

Collectively, that TCC Healthy Giving Donations to date, we've had $9,866 that has come through through that specific uh uh fund highlighting that campaign that was once real change, not spare change that a lot of marketing went to.

So you can see here within the past two years uh how a lot of that money was given to Tempe Community Council by way of donations and what it breaks down to.

Next slide, please.

So what can we ask for by way of support from the council by way of community members?

Is we've seen that the city has done a phenomenal job at attracting new businesses here to our city.

And we'd like to ask if we could utilize some of those connections, or excuse me, utilize some of the city to provide us with introductions to some of the new businesses that are here in Tempe.

Uh they can do things like it help us increase our awareness within the Tempe Community Council.

It really we saw that we may need to up our volunteers that we have.

Uh, and we can explore different various ways that organizations and companies can volunteer within our organization as well as provide uh potential corporate partnerships with some of these new organizations and companies that have made their way to Tempe.

We want to make sure that uh we share our story properly by way of by way of you all, by way of the council as well as the community, and really help share our our stories so that way we're making sure that we're getting that out to professional networks, including social media platforms that you all may have, as well as if you all can serve as ambassadors as you currently do, but continue to do as far as sharing our mission as well as the impact to Tempe Community Council.

Next slide, please.

And in closing, uh, I really want to share that Tempe Community Council's uh strength has really come from collaborations between residents, uh nonprofits around the community, businesses, as well as the city of Tempe by way of partnerships.

And as we move into these next couple years, as well as this next chapter, we really want to remain committed to uh caring for some of the connections that we have as well as bringing the community together because that is our mission.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

So I'll be going to Councilmember Hodge and then Councilmember Amberg.

Thank you, Mayor.

That was a great presentation.

Um my question is how much do you work with the chamber?

Because you know, with Robin Ardondo being a part of one's part of the city, also, you know, part of the governing board, she has a very big impact on what happens in the city of Tempe.

Tempe Community Council is a member of the chamber.

Uh, we make sure to previously with our uh past executive director, Octavia Harris.

She made sure to make valuable connections at all of the chamber events.

She makes sure to do presentations to as well.

We have continued that with work with the chamber, um, so as members as well as partners.

So we try to do our best to work collectively with the chamber as well as uh with Robin to make sure that we're sharing our story.

Well, I will um promise you that I will try to help at every business or ribbon cutting I go to to make sure that you guys are talked about or an introduction.

Also, um, you know, how much are you utilizing the education community to help you with your you know, because TCC does so much for the education communities?

It wouldn't hurt if we can actually do some you know outreach for you.

So I was just wondering if you want to partner with me at another time, we can get more into grind with the schools because they have their own community that you know we can tap into also.

I definitely think that there's ways that we can strategically partner with the schools on top of what we're currently doing with the coalition.

That's one avenue that we are directly within to the within the schools that has been very, very successful, but we definitely can explore ways to capitalize on on various connections that you have within uh the school districts to find strategic ways to partner directly with the schools.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council for Amberg.

Yes, thank you, uh Mr.

Mayor.

Just two quick things.

Are is TCC still utilizing the character education tax credit grants um from the school districts to fund some of the programs like Open Horizons or the P3 program?

That's literally dollar for dollar.

Uh unfortunately, our program supervisor over that particular area had to take off.

So I don't know the detail behind that, but I can get that to you.

I do know that open horizons and triple P is still going.

Uh but as to the uh school district tax credit, I'll have to double check on that and get that information back to you.

I think it was specifically the character education um tax credits.

The other question is um I will be more than happy to introduce you to some of these corporate folks, but some of my time on other nonprofit boards.

I mean, I would suggest that you actually instead of me contacting Amazon and saying, Hey, here's somebody that you can do a corporate, you know, or a partnership or a sponsorship with, why don't you put that Amazon guy on the board itself on the TCC board?

Because at that point, it's a lot easier for them to go back to their boss to ask for the money.

Uh that's what we just my history with uh being on nonprofit boards.

We've utilized that to great success.

Right?

Yes, Council Brahaj.

You know what?

Thinking about that also, maybe I know you're on the board of the chamber.

Maybe you need to have one of a chamber representative on your board to see how important it is what you do on that.

So if you can get someone, it doesn't have to be Robin herself, but somebody from the chamber actually is a part of it and get in and start to see what's going on in there.

So I think that might be something might be interesting too, is to get a position from the chamber person on your board.

Those are two great ideas as well as suggestions.

We're currently within our equity diversity and inclusion uh committee.

We're currently going through our uh recruitment phase for new board members, and so that's something direct feedback we look in strategically look for potential new board members to take those considerations in and adopt that to the to the recruitment strategy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, Vice Mayor Garlett.

I just want to say I I love that you're gonna you're looking at doing a strategic plan.

I think that's great.

Um, I'm so I appreciate you doing that.

And you said two years within the next two years?

Right.

Okay, thank you.

I also want to say that Rabani is pretty amazing, and it's because he was in the Tempe leadership class 34 with me, so I just have to throw that out there.

Best class ever.

All right, thank you.

Uh anything else on item 3E.

All right, seeing that I'll move to it number four closing remarks.

First of all, before we close, I wanted to make sure to thank the Tempe Community Council board staff and all the presenters uh for today's presentations and obviously as well for your continued partnership with the city of Tempe.

But I'm gonna look here to the City Council.

Any closing remarks uh from anyone on council?

Okay, then I'll look over here to the TCC board.

Uh any closing remarks on your end.

All right, seeing none, that brings me to item number five, which is adjournment.

This meeting is adjourned at 5 04 p.m.

All businesses concluded.

Have a good evening.