City of McMinnville, school district seek nonprofit to fund raise for after-school care

The city of McMinnville and the McMinnville School District find themselves in the same spot as nearly a year ago regarding scholarships for the after-school care program: seeking a nonprofit to raise money.

The council joined the McMinnville School Board for a joint work session Monday to continue the discussion over dwindling funding for low income students to participate in the after-school care program operated by the YMCA.

Mayor Kim Morris and Superintendent Debbie Brockett said they are meeting with nonprofits to take over fundraising for scholarships with an event similar to the former Mayor’s Ball.

“We need that third party to be part of it,” Morris said.

A joint work session last June ended with board members acknowledging the need for a third party to run fundraising, as neither side wants to be responsible for the operation.

Formerly Kids on the Block, the after-school program was a partnership between the McMinnville School District, which provided space, snacks and transportation, and the city’s parks and recreation department, which oversaw operations and fundraising. After a 2019 assessment revealed issues with KOB, the city hired Camp Fire Columbia in 2021 and renewed an intergovernmental agreement with MSD through the 2023-24 school year, which has since been extended through this school year. In January, the YMCA assumed operations from Camp Fire Columbia and consolidated the program into three schools.

A majority of scholarship funds for low income students were generated by the Mayor’s Ball, a fundraising event run by nonprofit KOB Inc. That event ran through 2016 and brought in over $100,000 annually for scholarships.

While KOB Inc. continues to provide scholarship funding, only $262,973 remains in the fiscal year 2024-25 budget, board member Susan Muir told the News-Register.

Brockett called for the same community spirit that launched KOB Inc. and the Mayor’s Ball, which she called a “culminating event that engaged the entire city.”

“We need to find someone in our community to help to become part of our endeavor and to take responsibility of this,” she said.

Brockett repeatedly said the school district can’t go beyond the current agreement of offering transportation and space for the program.

“As the school district, we can’t fund the scholarships for students who can’t afford to go to after-school care and we need to keep that equity lens on this and ensure that any student who needs after school, no matter the finances in their home, they can get the after-school care they need,” she said.

There was confusion regarding how much money is left in the KOB Inc. fund and how much is needed to provide adequate scholarships moving forward, with board members calculating “back of the napkin” math at points during the meeting.

There are currently 21 scholarship students out of approximately 120 enrolled in program, although not all scholarships are for students attending five days per week, according to Brockett.

She estimated costs at $450 monthly for a full scholarship, although the YMCA lists varying program costs depending on membership.

At $450 a month, a scholarship student would cost $4,050 for nine months of after-school care. For 21 students, that totals $85,050 annually in scholarship costs if all students attended five days per week.

Funding targets are also murky. Morris said the important factor is to add money to the existing “pot” to keep scholarships funded into the future.

“We don’t have a specific number. I think it’s up to the nonprofit or whoever raises the money,” she said. “It’s putting additional money in the pot to keep it building, to be able to (fund) that percentage (of students). To just throw a number out there, maybe $20,000.”

School board member Doris Towery suggested working with the YMCA to develop an event because mechanisms for fundraising are already established, and the YMCA could potentially host.

“That’s a great starting place as opposed to starting something new,” Towery said.

The YMCA already shares grant funding and has its own fundraising programs for scholarships, Brockett said, expressing concern that funding raised by YMCA wouldn’t be enough to cover full scholarship costs.

Board member Lu Ann Anderson questioned why a local nonprofit would want to shoulder such an undertaking as organizing a new Mayor’s Ball.

“Having worked on the Mayor’s Ball as a district employee formerly, that’s a ton of time and a lot of hours,” Anderson said.

The nonprofit running the event would have support from the community and a percentage of the proceeds could go to the organizer, Morris said.

“Not all funds have to go toward after-school care,” she said.

“I think that’s a big ask, but I’m not saying somebody isn’t out there to do it,” Anderson replied.

MSD vice chair Abbie Warmbier suggested direct fundraising through a donation button on the school district and city websites.

“We have great advertising to get out to all of our community members to say, ‘we just added this button, there’s a need for scholarships,’ instead of a large Mayor’s Ball event that has a large overhead,” Warmbier said.

Brockett said the donation button could be an option, but reiterated a nonprofit event would galvanize the community behind helping its youth.

“(An event) does more than just fundraise, it also brings us together with a common purpose,” Brockett said. “I would hate to see getting rid of that passion to bring everybody together for the good of the kids.”

No votes were taken during the work session and the group didn’t discuss its expiring intergovernmental agreement. Morris and Brockett are scheduled to meet with a second nonprofit sometime this week, they said.