2026 Safety Net Grants – Investment Focus

Single-county safety net grants provide essential support to individuals and families facing an immediate crisis throughout Central Kentucky.

 

Safety Net Grants will focus exclusively on immediate, crisis-stabilizing services. Eligible activities will be limited to food access, shelter and housing stability (including emergency, temporary, or permanent housing and payment assistance), domestic violence crisis response including food and shelter.

 

This focused approach ensures that safety net funding prevents immediate harm, supports county-level equity, enables deeper investment in critical services, and aligns strategically with ALICE Grants, which are designed to support longer-term family stability and economic mobility.

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Food Access & Nutrition Support:

· Food Pantry - Provides groceries for home preparation, typically including canned goods, grains, and other basic staples, to address short-term food insecurity.

· Weekend/Backpack Programs for Youth - Distributes easy-to-prepare food to children who lack reliable meals outside school days.

· Senior Nutrition Programs - Home-delivered or congregate meals targeted to older adults to prevent hunger and isolation.

· Infant & Toddler Nutrition Support - Provides formula, baby food, and nutrition supplies for households with young children.

· Community Kitchens / Congregate Meals - On-site meals are served at faith-based or nonprofit facilities for individuals experiencing homelessness or extreme poverty.
 

Housing Stabilization & Eviction Prevention

· Provides short-term financial assistance and limited supportive services to clients to prevent eviction or quickly stabilize households at risk of homelessness (including domestic violence housing stabilization). Primary focus is rent payment assistance, with flexibility for related costs (utilities, deposits, arrears, application fees) when directly tied to maintaining or securing housing.

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Single-County Grants will:

· Go to programs that expect to serve exclusively or primarily residents of a single county.

· Have a grant request ceiling of $20,000 per program.

· Be scored by volunteers. Volunteers will not score program applications for organizations that provide services in the county where they reside or with which they are affiliated. Funding requests and scores are reviewed by the Community.

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