Quality of Life Committee
Wed, Aug 19, 2026 · Quality of Life Committee
https://santafeminutes.space/meeting/994-quality-of-life-aug-19-2026

== Executive Summary ==
The Quality of Life Committee met on 08/19/2026 to discuss the Children and Youth Commission's (CYC) new strategic plan for 2026-2029. Sierra, Program Manager with Youth and Family Services, presented the plan, which outlines new funding priorities: education and career readiness, youth physical and mental health and well-being, and support services for youth at higher risk. A significant change is the removal of "safety net navigation services" to broaden the scope for organizations applying for grants. The planning process involved extensive data review, focus groups, and in-person sessions with the commission.

The committee also heard about the allocation of multi-year grants, with 20 organizations receiving funding for three years, totaling $1.4 million out of $4.4 million requested. Councilor Castro raised concerns about organizations fearing retaliation for expressing dissenting opinions, which Director Emery addressed by clarifying the city's contracting policies and the competitive nature of the funding process. The agenda and consent agenda were approved unanimously, with one item pulled for separate discussion.

== Key Decisions ==
- The Children and Youth Commission's Strategic Plan (2026-2029) was presented, outlining new funding priorities for education and career readiness, youth physical and mental health and well-being, and support services for youth at higher risk.
- 20 organizations were awarded multi-year grants totaling $1.4 million for three years, ending 06/30/2029, based on the new strategic plan's priorities.

== Motions & Votes ==
- Approval of Agenda — Passed unanimously
- Approval of Consent Agenda (with Item F pulled for separate discussion) — Passed unanimously

== Public Comment ==
No public comment period

== Topics ==
- Youth Program Funding
- Youth Strategic Plan
- Education & Career Readiness
- Youth Health & Well-being
- Youth At-Risk Support
- Funding Process Fairness
- Freedom of Speech for Partners
- Fishing Derby Suspension

== Full Transcript ==
Can we please have the TVs turned on? I am so sorry. Are we live? Miss Abadaka, the TVs are on. So if we're having a presentation, they can plug in their laptop, and then it'll display on the TV. Oh, thank you. You're welcome. Yes, we are live, by the way. I feel I think we should take this moment to not use the screens, the teachable moment. Welcome. I would like, are we live? Wonderful. So if I could call to order the Quality of Life meeting at 5:07. If I could please get a roll call. Councilor Fagali? Here. Councilor Barrett? Here. Madam Chair? Vicente. You have a quorum. Thank you so very much.

Next on our agenda, as I pull it up, is approval of the agenda. Are there any changes? No changes to the agenda. One item has been pulled. Wonderful. So I would entertain a motion. I move to approve. Second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? That motion passes. Now we have approval of the minutes. Or did we just do both? Yes. I am so sorry. I'm on the wrong meeting. So we do need the consent agenda. If I would entertain a motion. One item was pulled, you said. That's all. Yeah, item F was pulled. Great. Move to approve as amended. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? That motion does pass.

And we have a presentation. We do have a presentation. I am looking at Sierra. Yay. Thank you so much. We will be talking about CYC today. Good evening, counselors. It doesn't look like it's because sometimes you have to the input, and that helps. If not, we might. Cool. There it is. There we go. Alright. So good evening. My name is, I'm a program manager with the Youth and Family Services Division. I also have the privilege of serving as the liaison to the Children and Youth Commission. So I'm here to present on the strategic plan for you all. Give you a little bit of an overview. So in late 2025 and early 2026, the CYC set new funding priorities and created a strategic plan for the 2026 through 2029 funding cycle, fiscal cycle. And the plan focuses on improving community services by expanding equitable access and strengthening long-term program effectiveness. So we have three funding priorities. Those are education and career readiness, youth physical and mental health and well-being, and support services for youth at higher risk. The biggest change from the previous strategic plan is that we removed safety net navigation services because we received, we received feedback from the community that this was, this felt exclusive to some of the organizations. And so through this, we were able to cast a wider net of services at all levels. And through the RFP and RFQ process, the organizations were really able to write to their strengths.

A little bit about the planning process. We looked at this framework, and so we looked at priority areas, goals, strategic objectives, key results or indicators, milestones, and then accountability. So to get things started, our consultants did some research. They conducted a data discovery where they reviewed about 131 CYC documents. They were able to summarize the key strengths, challenges, and opportunity areas in those. And then they also did some virtual focus groups and interviews. 31 individuals and or organizations were invited to participate in those, and then they interviewed 14. We also, in January of this year, held two in-person planning sessions with the commission where they were really able to, you know, get in the weeds and define their priorities, their success measures, and that led to the creation of our new strategic plan. So, again, for our strategic goals, we have these three priority areas for education and career readiness, youth physical and mental health and well-being, and support services for youth at higher risk. The goal here with all of these is really to promote and to provide equitable access to youth in these areas. So if we go further in and look at the objectives by each area for education and career readiness, we're looking to expand access to education and career opportunities, enhance youth academic engagement, including postsecondary career outcomes, and then align education programs with local workforce needs to enhance youth career readiness. And our second priority area, that's youth physical and mental health and well-being, that we're looking to expand access to programs designed to enhance youth physical and mental well-being, increase trauma-informed and culturally responsive programming, and then increase youth resilience, coping skills, and overall well-being. And our last one, support services for youth at higher risk. We're looking to reduce youth involvement in juvenile justice, the child welfare, school disciplinary systems, and or emergency systems, and then to increase access to restorative and community-based prevention programs. This is one of our new focus areas. So to provide a little bit of history, in 2019, the Regional Juvenile Justice Board merged with the CYC, and that relationship has never really been formally defined through funding priorities. So the, the commission was intentional with their thought process this year to be able to distribute funds in that.

Alright. So our multi-year grants, this, we in March of this year, we released an RFP. It was a highly competitive process. We received 44 proposals through the process and $4,400,000 in funding requests. We had $1,400,000 available to allocate. So through this, we were able to award 20 organizations. And one of the things that was great is that we were really able to address each priority area, based on the proportion of proposals that we received for each area. So it's very well represented there. Another thing is we previously funded 19 organizations, and this year, we were able to do 20. So these will be the amount that each organization receives for the next three years ending on 06/30/2029. And finally, our CYC small grants. You'll notice that this is a much smaller number. This is our, this comes from the innovation fund for the CYC, and these are intended to either expand an existing program or to pilot a new program, and these are a one-year contract. And that is, that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. I do have some questions, but I'm going to cede to the committee. Councilor Eric? Sure. I mean, I'm just looking at the multi-year grants, and there's so many organizations that I've worked with that are very deserving of this money and do amazing work in our community. So I'm happy to see so many of them on the list. And I know it was a very competitive process this year, and I know, you know, some, you know, some we weren't able to fund everybody that requested funds, but I know this, these are very worthy organizations, and I know it was a tough process. And thanks for all you do. Thank you so much.

I did have some questions, and you can answer them offline if you'd like, about some of the concerns, what specific organizations we're getting funding, maybe what we could move away from, and it sounds like we're already doing that. So, yeah, if you want to give me an email, and I'm looking at Director Emery, it might be more appropriate to do one-on-one. But, yeah, what's the sense of shifting away from that? Okay. It is on. Thank you, Chair Castro. It was, doesn't these microphones don't like me. I think we're definitely always happy to answer any questions from or even from the community. I will say, as Councilor Barrett said, this was a very competitive RFP process. Within our RFP processes, we work to make sure that all organizations have a level playing field, and that, and there are, you know, NDA signs. So there was intentional, there were intentional steps taken to ensure that every organization that, that applied received the same consideration for funding. So, definitely, I, you know, I understand that there has been feedback from the community from organizations who have received funding in years past and haven't received funding, didn't receive funding during this cycle. One thing that I would, you know, just remind the, the council and community is that, you know, the city is bound by anti-donation clauses. We, this was determined to be an RFP by our chief procurement officer and by our legal counsel. So, you know, there, I have heard feedback from the community where there's kind of an expectation of funding, and, and, really, there should not be an expectation of funding outside of what is contracted year over year or cycle over cycle. We always love to hear and see the good work that's happening in the community. You know, Sierra, if you want to take the slide back to the multi-year funds, about half of these organizations are organizations that have received funding before, and about half of them are new. To my eye, I think that's a really good blend of continuing to invest in programs that work and making room for programs that, you know, haven't received this funding before and, you know, giving a shot to the broader community. So much. Sorry. I'm just asking. I forgot we have a couple invited guests, and I want to make sure if they have any questions that they're offered the floor. No. Of course.

One of my concerns, and this is not directed at your department, this is sort of a citywide concern. I'm looking at Deputy City Manager right now, is that organizations who are funded by us or partners that we've had long-term are concerned about losing funding if they were to speak up about something they didn't like in the city or things like that. Right? And so that's why I'm not saying this is happening currently, but I do want to make sure and, and note that if any organizations that we work with or institutions that we work with have dissenting opinions, that they should be able to and feel free to voice those without having financial repercussions. Yes. Thank you, Chair Castro. That is super, super powerful, very important. You know? And, and, and just to, just to pull out one of the, one of the statements you said around losing funding. So funding is for a contract term or a contract period. Right? So there, I don't think there are very many cases within, within the, that, that where the city has pulled a contract, and, and that really there are very specific legal reasons for that happening, and none of those are that we didn't like someone. Wonderful. I, I'm just thinking about a potential long-term contract that we're going to sign with an organization for educational stuff around the watershed. Nothing to do with you in particular. Just making sure that we are not being retaliatory in any way to organizations. Absolutely. Thank you, Jared. No. Of course. Any other comments before we move on? Thank you so much, Sierra. We appreciate you so much. Have yourself a good evening. Alright. It looks like we do not have anyone in the room for public comment, and we don't have anyone online. So I'm going to go ahead and move to the one thing pulled off consent. The item pulled off consent is item F, consideration of Resolution Number 2026 to be determined. Resolution suspending the annual fishing derby in Santa Fe River.