St. Maryโ€™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. Maryโ€™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. Maryโ€™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. Maryโ€™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.ย  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. Maryโ€™s County residents.ย  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 serviceย ย ย ย  20ย ย ย  ย ย ย 
b. Provides essentialย  service to identified priority populationย ย ย  ย ย ย  ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย  20
c. Timeline for Implementationย ย ย  ย ย ย  ย ย ย  ย ย ย  ย ย ย  ย ย ย ย  ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย  20
d. Cost/Benefitsย ย ย  ย &nbsp