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To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute an UpTogether Grant Contract between the City of Richmond and FII - National for the purpose of implementing the Richmond Resilience Initiative guaranteed income program.
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THE CITY OF RICHMOND HEREBY ORDAINS:
§ 1. That the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, be and is hereby authorized to execute an UpTogether Grant Contract between the City of Richmond and FII - National for the purpose of implementing the Richmond Resilience Initiative guaranteed income program. The UpTogether Grant Contract shall be approved as to form by the City Attorney and shall be substantially in the form of the document attached to this ordinance
§ 2. This ordinance shall be in force and effect upon adoption.
City of Richmond
Intracity Correspondence
DATE: May 5, 2025
TO: The Honorable Members of City Council
THROUGH: The Honorable Danny Avula, Mayor
THROUGH: Sabrina Joy-Hogg, Interim Chief Administrative Officer
THROUGH: Sheila White, Director of Finance
THROUGH: Meghan Brown, Director of Budget and Strategic Planning
THROUGH: Amy Popovich, DCAO for Human Services
FROM: Caprichia Spellman, Director of the Office of Community Wealth Building
RE: Richmond Resilience Initiative Contract with UpTogether
ORD. OR RES. No.
PURPOSE: To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer to execute a grant contract between the City of Richmond and UpTogether for the purpose of implementing the fourth cohort of the Richmond Resilience Initiative guaranteed income program.
BACKGROUND: Once executed, this contract will allow OCWB to work with UpTogether to deliver the City’s fourth cohort of the Richmond Resilience Initiative (RRI), a guaranteed income program that provides participants with $500 per month for 24 months. To be eligible, a household must make too much money to qualify for most public benefits, but too little money to afford the cost of living in our city. UpTogether is a national nonprofit dedicated to guaranteed income projects.
This fourth cohort is funded using dollars in OCWB’s FY2025 operating budget that were appropriated for this purpose. While the contract allows for administrative costs of $50,000 (10%), UpTogether will contribute $60,300 of its own philanthropic funding towards the program. Because of this gift, a City investment of $500,000 would create $510,300 in total for funding to RRI participants, allowing us to reach 42 families in this cohort. UpTogether will also gather data and support an evaluation of the outcomes for this cohort, saving us the costs of working with an additional external evaluator. The contract is designed such that we could extend it if additional dollars are appropriated for RRI in future budgets.
To date, the City has administered three cohorts of the Richmond Resiliency Initiative, serving a total of 94 eligible households. The first two cohorts were also administered through, UpTogether. The third cohort focused exclusively on serving returning citizens and was administered through Help Me Help You, which provided case management and other support services.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: N/A
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES AND OTHER GOVERNMENTAL: Equity Agenda; citywide goal to help 40% of families exit poverty by 2030
FISCAL IMPACT: OCWB’s FY 2025 operating budget has the appropriation for the $500,000 to execute this grant contract; there is no further impact to the City’s budget.
DESIRED EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon adoption
REQUESTED INTRODUCTION DATE: June 9, 2025
CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING DATE: June 23, 2025
REQUESTED AGENDA: Consent agenda
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL COMMITTEE: Education and Human Services
AFFECTED AGENCIES: Office of Community Wealth Building
RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING ORD. OR RES.: Ord 2024-099
ATTACHMENTS: AATF Ordinance, grant contract, O&R transmittal
STAFF: Caprichia Spellman, Director of the Office of Community Wealth Building
Derrick Wadley, Career Services Program Manager, Office of Community Wealth Building
Brian Bills, Research and Policy Analyst, Office of Community Wealth Building