Ten of the 16 nonprofits that asked Seminole County for help with their programs this year would get nothing under funding recommendations on the County Commission's Tuesday, Nov. 10, consent agenda.
The Community Services Agency partnership grants total $842,115 for the 2026-27 budget year. Half, $421,115, is set aside for four shelters. The other $421,000 goes to non-shelter programs, and a committee of six county staff members ranked the applications for that pot.
Only the top five scorers are recommended, which works out to six groups because two tied for fifth. Each would receive roughly 69% of what it requested, according to the staff summary.
Who would be funded
- Early Learning Coalition, school readiness child care: $138,000 (asked for $200,000; received $144,294 last year)
- Meals on Wheels, home-delivered meals for seniors: $104,000 (asked for $150,000; received $109,163)
- The Sharing Center, food bags at its Longwood pantry and a health department site: $75,000 (asked for $110,005; received $64,273)
- Boys & Girls Clubs, East Altamonte club: $51,750 (asked for $75,000; received $36,382)
- IMPOWER, housing and support for young adults aged 18 to 24 leaving foster care or facing homelessness: $35,000 (new this year)
- New Hope for Kids, a grief program for children who have lost a loved one: $17,250 (new this year)
Who would not
Kids House, whose child advocate program serves abused children, scored 92 and would lose the $67,005 it received last year; it had asked for $154,000. Heart of Florida United Way scored 93 on a $60,000 request for its 211 information line and 988 suicide and crisis line services and also falls below the cutoff.
Requests from Christian HELP, Commission 127, Lighthouse Central Florida, Catholic Charities and the Central Florida YMCA were likewise left unfunded.
Staff did not score two applicants, SALT Outreach and HOPE Helps, because their programs already receive county money through federal community services funding. A third, the Mission Blue Foundation, submitted the wrong application.
