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April 18, 2006 Page 2 $1,218,762.00 for the previous fiscal year, FY OS-06. Certain agencies with a tradition of applying for County awarded grants, such as the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii, Hawaii County Economic Opportunity Council and the ARC of Hilo did not apply for this upcoming fiscal year (FY 06-07). All told, five agencies that applied in FY OS-06 did not apply for FY 06-07. This void was filled with the addition of new applicants such as the Grassroots Community Development Group (Kea`au), Habitat for Humanity (Kona) and the Bridge House, Inc. (Kona). A total of seven agencies either applied for the first time, or applied again after not applying the previous fiscal year (FY OS-06). As is typically the case, the bulk of the applicants are seeking assistance to fund programs that aim to ease the burden of poverty and drug addiction abuse, curtail and mitigate domestic violence, provide much needed health services, create affordable housing as well as transitional housing and provide our youth with solid alternatives to delinquent behavior. As it has been the case in the past, I am recommending these particular "safety net" social services receive the highest attention. There is no doubt in my mind that these types of services merit the greatest possible consideration. This philosophy is reflected demonstratively in the recommendations I am submitting for your review. The emphasis this working group through my direction has placed on vital human services is in no way meant to demean the other types of services provided by the myriad of applicants. Education, recreation, culture and the arts, job and life skills training and other services aimed at enhancing the quality of life of all residents of the County of Hawaii are well represented by various extremely productive and conscientious organizations. We hope that we are able to provide fiscal assistance that will truly benefit the agencies that provide these services as well as the individuals that actively participate within their respective programs. Another area of interest that I would like my colleagues to pay notice to is the fact that programs whose sole service is to provide transportation to their clients have not applied for funding this fiscal cycle. It is good to see that the message has gotten through and more importantly that these agencies, as I understand it, have been able to work with Mass Transit Director Tom Brown and our Mass Transit Agency to fund their programs. I would like to note at this point that Director Brown has been more than amiable in working with programs that have traditionally been funded at least in part through the county's nonprofit grant awards. He has made provisions to ensure this transition would be as smooth as possible and that the clients of these crucial services are not left wanting. This transition could not come at a better time, as requests for funding have surpassed the allotted $900,000.00 by over a half of a million dollars. This grant program needs every penny it can get to even come close to satisfying the demand for funding. The following table illustrates the recommendations for funding of qualifying nonprofit organizations in FY 06-07 I am submitting for your review. These figures are a composite of my own investigation, observation and philosophy as well as the recommendations of the working group, which includes all council members who participated in the interviews and site visits. Please note that consideration was taken only for those interviews and site visits that council members attended personally.