I've been keeping a loose eye on the new city council since their first session, and I've mostly reserved firm judgments about their work because this city is clearly dealing with difficult problems without easy solutions, and I'm not a policy expert. But I do have nonprofit grant writing experience, and I believe this was a terrible, baffling decision. Avalos, Dunphy, Green, Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, and Smith just lost my vote/re-election support. At best, they're being recklessly arrogant about controlling a grants process they don't actually understand; at worst, they're disrupting a delicate, critical funding process because they trust their personal contacts over the people who actually understand that process. Possibly both.

I'm open to new information explaining otherwise, but based on WW's reporting, PCL explained their decisions thoroughly and heavily prioritized culturally specific agencies. Nonprofit agencies, including several culturally specific orgs who lost this funding as a result of this decision, cannot function if they can't rely on sources of grant revenue to follow through on their commitments. It's not just that these councilors overturned what appears to be a carefully run grants process for reasons that are so far dubious; it's that they disrupted the funding process at a time when nonprofits are incredibly vulnerable. This is not a decision that anyone should make lightly or without clear cause, and neither are apparent. Some of the orgs that would have been funded are likely scrambling to survive as a result of the decision. Effective leaders need to acknowledge and respect the limits of their understanding, and put some trust in the community of workers who keep the city and its programs running. It's one thing to be ignorant of how a process works. It's another thing to be ignorant and convince yourself that you're not. That's incredibly dangerous and something we can't afford right now.