Falls Church’s new city manager says he will propose funding for two community organizations whose requests were rejected by a local advisory committee.
The Little City CATCH Foundation had sought $5,000 for part of its New Year’s Eve WATCH Night event, while the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation sought an equal amount for its Juneteenth event, plus another $5,000 for symposiums and workshops.
Groups receiving funding as recommended by the city’s Arts and Humanities Grant Review Committee included Little City Concerts ($5,000), Creative Cauldron ($5,000), Washington Sinfonietta ($2,217), Friends of Cherry Hill Foundation ($5,000) and Welcoming Falls Church ($5,000).
But the committee recommended against funding Tinner Hill and the CATCH Foundation’s requests in the fiscal year 2027 grant package. According to city officials, the review committee found that the applications:
“… did not clearly articulate the proposed project, including the specific activities, outcomes and community impact, or demonstrate a strong connection between the proposed work and the purpose and goals of the city’s Arts and Humanities Grant Program. The applications also provided limited information to demonstrate how the proposed activities would advance the program’s priorities or serve the broader Falls Church community.”
Despite the suggested shortcomings of the applications, the idea of failing to fund the three requests irked City Council member David Snyder.
“I don’t believe zeroing out the CATCH Foundation and Tinner Hill is something I can support,” he said at the Council’s Oct. 13 meeting when a revised list of grantees was considered.
“I would try to amend it, except I’m not sure there’s any interest [among colleagues],” Snyder said of the funding list.
City Manager Seth Handler-Voss, who in September succeeded longtime city manager Wyatt Shields, said he was discussing the matter with leaders of the two groups.
“My intent is to include funding for these organizations for the purposes requested in my proposed budget recommendations for the fall,” he said. “We do intend to provide the funding they requested.”
Mayor Letty Hardi expressed satisfaction at the workaround.
“It sounds like while they’re not getting grants under the arts umbrella per se, we think these are important enough initiatives they’ll get funding from the city elsewhere,” she said.
Despite the likelihood the groups’ requests would be funded, Snyder still voiced his discontent over the grant package and cast the lone vote against it.
