A massive budget deficit means the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will make hard decisions about grant funds for competing community groups that help residents with food, housing and immigration resources — yet two supervisors want to provide a significant grant to a national political group based in Washington, D.C.
Supervisors Margaret Abe-Koga and Otto Lee are proposing a combined $65,000 grant to the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, for a free one-day leadership training summit in Cupertino this year. The D.C.-based institute focuses on electing LGBTQ+ lawmakers across the U.S. The group is headed by former state Assemblymember Evan Low, who is close with both elected officials. Supervisors will discuss the grant proposal Wednesday.
It’s part of an annual budget tradition where supervisors are given an “inventory item” budget — usually totaling approximately $7 million with each supervisor getting between $1 million to $2 million per district — to help local community groups provide basic needs, education, immigrant legal resources and other safety net services to Silicon Valley’s most vulnerable. But a growing countywide fiscal crisis has put pressure to cut grant spending in recent years, and these allocations matter now more than ever amid threats from the federal government.
Advocates agree it’s important to elect LGBTQ+ leaders — but they’re struggling to reconcile the large grant amount while other basic needs groups, often serving LGBTQ+ people who are homeless, received smaller amounts or have been left out of the board’s grant process entirely.
“I think an LGBTQ leadership program is great,” Azazel Joseph Holmquist, a formerly homeless transgender San Jose resident, told San José Spotlight. “But we need to help stabilize our LGBTQ youth and get them to a safe location to live, and make sure their needs are met. They need to fund basic needs.”
Holmquist said one organization the county should consider for grant funding is Martha’s Kitchen, which distributes meals to homeless people in San Jose.
But Bill Lee, the kitchen’s executive director, said his group was unable to even get a meeting with supervisors during the inventory item selection process.
“It doesn’t sit well with us to see this grant proposal, while knowing that we couldn’t get a conversation,” he told San José Spotlight.
Todd Langton, executive director of Agape Silicon Valley, said the grant proposal for Low’s group “feels like a slap in the face.”
“$65,000 for a one-day summit — imagine how many homeless LGBTQ people we could feed with that money,” Langton told San José Spotlight.
His organization is set to receive $10,000 from Otto Lee’s office under the current inventory item proposals.
Abe-Koga’s office proposed a bulk of the grant funding — $50,000 — for the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, while Lee’s office proposed $15,000. Both supervisors have earmarked funding for a list of other causes, including groups that provide food assistance, immigrant rights education and sleeping bags to homeless people.
Both supervisors assured the grant funds for Low’s national group will go back into Santa Clara County.
“These are challenging times, and I put thought into this process,” Abe-Koga told San José Spotlight. “I wanted to encourage projects that have the potential for a greater impact and sustainability, projects or ideas that build capacity, whether it’s human capital or organizational capital.”
Funding is discretionary
Abe-Koga said she told grant applicants the grants are one-time in nature — and they should look for other funding sources outside the county in future years.
Otto Lee said his budget inventory proposals are guided by a community review panel of residents.
“Each year, we are proud to support a diverse range of groups working on behalf of marginalized, targeted and underserved communities,” he told San José Spotlight. “This proposal is a continuation of that vital work.”
Low deferred comment to an official statement from his organization.
“The Public Leadership Summit and reception will bring together over 100 community members — including residents, advocates and public officials — for a day of empowerment, training and connection,” Elliot Imse, the group’s executive director, told San José Spotlight. “We will also partner with local LGBTQ+ organizations, elected officials and community leaders to ensure the program reflects the unique needs and strengths of Santa Clara County.”
It comes as County Executive James Williams has recommended a budget that would cut 279 positions to absorb $70 million in anticipated federal cuts, as well as a county budget shortfall estimated to swell to $476 million over the next five years.
Abe-Koga said an organization doesn’t have to be in Santa Clara County to serve a need in the county.
“We have a large number of LGBTQ constituents in District 5, and the LGBTQ community has been under fire in the current climate. So it’s imperative that we build leadership to fight back,” Abe-Koga said. “What better than a leadership training program that’s happening in Cupertino, in my district?”
But the proposal for Low’s group is sparking a broader discussion about how supervisors should prioritize these grants as they scramble to cover safety net services and state and federal funding cuts.
When asking city leaders across the valley for monetary assistance, Bill Lee said he’s told social safety net services are the county’s responsibility to fund.
“In our own organization, we’re running mass operational deficits. We’re trimming our own budget. We’re cutting services,” he said.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.
