St. Mary’s County Government will award grants in the amount of $3,000 to $7,000 to non-public tax exempt agencies for emergency, one time only funding to programs/organizations that serve St. Mary’s County residents in one of the following areas: Housing, Health/Behavioral Health, Transportation, Employment, and other emergency services to individuals or families (i.e. food, clothing, medical care).

The Board of County Commissioners set aside $100,000 in funding for non-public agencies providing human services for St. Mary’s County residents in the current FY09 budget. The Human Services Council recommended that half of this fund, $50,000, be used by the St. Mary’s County Department of Social Services for direct client support where no other funds were available. The Council also recommended that the remaining $50,000 fund mini-grants to non-public agencies that are experiencing increased demand for services due to the challenges of the current economic conditions. These grants will be used from March 1 to June 30.

A pre-proposal conference will be held on Monday, Feb. 9 at 9 a.m. in Room 14, Potomac Building, Governmental Center Campus, 23115 Leonard Hall Drive, Leonardtown, to answer any questions.  Attendance at the pre-proposal conference is not a requirement to submit an application. The application is not to exceed 10 pages and should provide: Description of the agency, mission and goals, and types of services provided to St. Mary’s County residents.  The application should include any performance data, evaluation of client satisfaction or of the agency; Number of clients served in FY07, FY08 and the period of July 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2008. Applicants should provide any demographic information on clients served; Description of current funding sources and amounts; Description of how the additional funds will be used and number of clients to be served; Proposed method to measure impact of services funded; Assurance that funds will be expended by June 30; and Authorized official/contact information.

The application must be mailed or hand delivered to the Department of Human Services, C/O Cindy Richards, Administrative Coordinator, Potomac Building, 23115 Leonard Hall Drive, P.O. Box 653, Leonardtown, MD 20650, by 3:00 p.m. Feb. 20. Please submit one original signed proposal and five copies. Late submissions will be returned.

Applications shall be evaluated and scored by the Human Services Council Grant Review Sub-Committee based on the following criteria:

a. Overall description of mini-grant application and history of the organization to provide the service     20       
b. Provides essential  service to identified priority population                                                                   20
c. Timeline for Implementation                                                                                                                  20
d. Cost/Benefits                                                                                                                                         20
e. Evaluation/performance measures of proposed service                                                                       20

The Board of County Commissioners will approve the award of mini-grants based on recommendations from the Human Services Council and the Department of Human Services.