The city of Beverly Hills has awarded $2.2 million in grants or in-kind funds to 22 agencies that applied for the Community Assistance Grant Fund (CAGF) program for 2021-22. The funds are allocated by the city and administered by the Beverly Hills Human Services Division to organizations that help provide social services to the city’s most vulnerable populations, including the elderly, disabled, impoverished, and unhoused. Each year, these grants help nonprofits provide vital services that the city is not able to provide itself.
Funding was approved by the City Council on June 1, and is being administered this month through the end of the year, said Beverly Hills Acting Human Services Administrator Rachel Evans.
From December 2020 to February 2021, 31 agencies, including 12 organizations that had not applied before, applied for funding, according to a May 17 staff report. The Charitable Solicitations Commission reviewed the financial health of each organization, while the Human Relations Commission evaluated how each organization’s proposal would best serve the city and avoid any duplication of efforts. The Commissions placed each proposal in one of seven categories: homeless services, senior services, health and well-being, education, legal services, loans, and cultural enhancement.
This funding cycle, the Human Relations Commission recommended a $724,999 increase from last year, especially to tackle the numerous challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“These grants are very important in providing vital services to our community’s most vulnerable members, including, but not limited to, our seniors, low-income residents, those experiencing food insecurity, and unhoused individuals,” Evans told the Courier. “The City’s partnership with local social service agencies creates a continuum of care and a social service safety-net to support the quality of life of Beverly Hills residents.”
The 22 agencies that received CAGF grants are:
Affordable Living for the Aging
All Saints’ Episcopal Church
Bet Tzedek Legal Services
Beverly Hills Active Adult Club
Beverly Hills CPR
Beverly Hills Education Foundation
Chiron Center, Inc.
Collins & Katz Family YMCA
ETTA
Jewish Family Service
Jewish Free Loan
Association
Miracle Project
OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center
People Assisting the Homeless (PATH)
Saban Community Clinic
Safe Parking LA
The Maple Counseling Center
Theatre 40
Tower Cancer Research Foundation
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Westside Food Bank
