City of Phoenix - File #: 26-1053

• File #: 26-1053
• Type: Ordinance-S
• Status: Agenda Ready - Office of Government Relations Department
• Meeting Body: City Council Formal Meeting
• On agenda: 6/17/2026
• Title: Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation 2026 Gaming Grants (Ordinance S-53006) - Citywide
• District: Citywide

Title

Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation 2026 Gaming Grants (Ordinance S-53006) - Citywide

Description

Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to apply, accept, and if awarded, enter into related agreements up to $1,191,133.74 in new funding from Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation under the 2026 funding cycle. Further request authorization for the City Treasurer to accept, and the City Controller to disburse funds, by Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation in connection with these grants.

Report

Summary

If awarded, these monies would be applied, as directed by the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, towards the following:

City Applications

• Community and Economic Development Department - Business and Workforce Division: $200,000 for the Phoenix Youth R.I.S.E. (Reach and Invest in Summer Employment) Program, which provides youth ages 16 to 24 in Phoenix with a paid, four-week summer work experience by connecting them to local community business. The program equips youth with foundational workplace skills, hands-on training, and exposure to career pathways that strengthen their long-term economic prospects.
• Human Services Department - Workforce Development Division: $50,000 for the Bridging the Benefits Cliff: Workforce Support & Retention Initiative, which supports individuals facing financial hardship as they move from public benefits, into full-time employment. The initiative serves marginalized community members who often lose critical support like childcare, housing assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF when their income increases.
• Office of Heat Response and Mitigation: $66,000 for the Switch a Tree Campaign, which provides single-family households access to a service-only grant which will remove at least 30 large, dangerous, dead trees and replace with climate appropriate trees at a 1:1 ratio.
• Office of Homelessness Solutions: $60,000 for the Emergency Hotel/Motel Shelter Program, which provides temporary emergency shelter and wraparound services for individuals experiencing homelessness, specifically through the use of hotel and motel stays to ensure immediate safety and stability.
• Office of Public Health: $45,000 for the Free Period Packs Program, which will provide free and accessible menstrual hygiene supplies.
• Parks and Recreation Department: $10,655.43 for the Desert West Community Center Volleyball Program, which will help upgrade and replace volleyball equipment that has exceeded its lifespan to ensure the sustainability of growing youth program for ages 9-17.
• Phoenix Fire Department: $48,228.31 for the Special Events Medical Response Bike Team Project, which will help enhance emergency medical response capabilities in high-density, limited-access environments by deploying medical response teams equipped with e-bikes to high-attendance special events across the City.
• Streets Transportation Department: $50,000 for the Comprehensive Active Transportation Safety Education Program, which combines bicycle, e-bike, scooter, and pedestrian safety into a single, coordinated public education campaign aimed at reducing injuries and increasing safe behaviors across the community.

Nonprofit Applications

• 100 Club of Arizona: $25,000 for the Public Safety Assistance Programs, which will provide financial assistance, mental health services, and safety resources to first responders and their families across Arizona.
• Arizona Burn Foundation: $15,000 for the Community Smoke Alarm Walk Initiative, which will provide and install working smoke alarms in Phoenix homes at the greatest risk that need the most support.
• Arizona Cancer Foundation for Children: $30,000 for the Improving the Lives of Children with Cancer and their Families Program, which supports Arizona Families whose children have been diagnosed with pediatric cancer by providing social, emotional, and financial services in their most crucial days.
• Arizona Science Center: $10,000 for the Focused Field Trips Program, which provides free field trips to the Center for the 833 disadvantaged students from Title I schools in the 2026-27 school year.
• Arizona Children Association: $25,000 for the Kinship Navigation Program, which connects kinship caregivers to a wide range of supportive services to strengthen each family's ability to navigate the challenges they encounter while raising their relative's children.
• Camp Catanese Foundation: $15,000 for the Year-Round College and Career Readiness Program, which prepares low-income, first-generation students across Greater Phoenix for college and careers in engineering, medicine, and education through immersive summer camps and a year-round ecosystem of tutoring, mentorship, and college counseling.
• Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc.: $50,000 for the De Colores Family Safety and Healing Program, which supports ongoing domestic violence service for survivors and their children, including the expansion of youth-centered programming through its new youth center.
• Creighton Community Foundation: $25,000 for the FrescaZona Medical Food Box Program, which improves outcomes for low-income households managing diet-related chronic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes or hypertension, by combining nutritious food boxes with nutrition education, health coaching, and care coordination.
• Encircle Families: $25,000 for the Residency Training Program, which improves health care outcomes for children with disabilities by training medical residents in family-centered, culturally responsive care.
• Foundation for the Blind Children: $25,000 for the Preschool for Visually Impaired and Blind Children Program, which provides specialized early education, therapy, and medical support for young children who are blind or visually impaired, many with additional disabilities.
• Fresh Start Women's Foundation: $25,000 for the Justice-Involved Women's Initiative, which supports women ages 18 and plus impacted by the criminal justice system, reentering from incarceration or navigating a record while facing new barriers to employment.
• Gabriel's Angels (Paws for Youth): $10,000 for the Animals, Books and Children Program, which ensures children receive critical assistance in developing reading skills that ensure success in school but also develop core strengths needed to develop socially.
• Habitat for Humanity Central Arizona: $15,000 for the New Homeownership Program, which provides affordable homeownership opportunities for low-to-moderate-income families.
• Heard Museum: $25,000 for the Youth and Family Programming, which provides accessible arts education for families, particularly those from undeserved communities.
• Jazz In Arizona, Inc. (The Nash): $25,000 for the Building Futures Through Jazz Education, which provides access to high-quality music education that promotes confidence, connections, and self-expression, while also helping young people develop skills and stability associated with better academic results and more positive long-term life prospects.
• Jewish Family and Children's Services: $25,000 for the Behavioral Health Program, which provides compassionate behavioral health care designed to improve the lives of older individuals in Maricopa County.
• Keys to Change: $50,000 for the Human Services Campus, Inc. dba Keys to Change: Lodestar Day Resource Center (LDRC), which will help renovate the LDRC central service hub at Key Campus for individuals experiencing homelessness. Serving more than 300 individuals daily, the LDRC connects clients to essential services, including health care, benefits, and housing navigation, in a safe, centralized, and reliable environment.
• MentorKids USA: $17,000 for the Tempe Promise Neighborhood: No-Cost Academic and Leadership Pathway for K-8 Youth, which support no-cost, year-round academic support, mentorship, and life-skills development to address educational disparities and reduce risk factors for youth disconnection.
• Native American Connections, Inc.: $50,000 for the Resident Services Program, which provides on-site youth enrichment, basic-needs assistance, workforce development, senior services and resource navigation to support families and individuals living in affordable housing.
• National Council of Jewish Women, Arizona: $25,000 for the Ruth Place: A Healing Center for Survivors of Sexual Violence Program, which provides a safe, trauma-informed environment where survivors of sexual violence can heal, rebuild their lives and regain independence.
• Phoenix Gospel Mission: $10,000 for the Changing Lives Center, which provides family-centered continuum of care for mothers recovering from addiction and trauma.
• Rosie's House: A Music Academy for Children: $5,000 for the Mental Health & Wellness Initiative, Afterschool Music Program, which provides critical mental health resources to 615 low-income youth and their families through trauma-informed music education, direct services via a partnership with Terros Health, and social engagement activities that foster community connection.
• The Arizona Pet Project: $10,000 for the Removing Barriers to Housing and Shelter Project, which will expand services that remove pet-related barriers to housing, shelter, health care, and other critical human services for low-income households, including those experiencing homelessness or at risk of eviction.
• Tonatierra Community Development Institute: $99,250 for the Pochteca Project, which will help complement current initiatives regarding economic and community development.
• Vista College Prep: $25,000 for the High School Admissions Tutoring and Prep Program, which helps students build confidence, develop essential study skills and navigate the competitive admissions process.

The gaming compact entered into by the State of Arizona and various tribes calls for 12 percent of gaming revenue to be contributed to cities, towns, and counties for the government service that benefit the public, including education, public safety, mitigation of impacts of gaming, health, environmental, and economic and community development. The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation will notify the City, by intergovernmental agreement of the Tribal Council, if it desires to convey to the City or local nonprofits a portion of its annual 12 percent local revenue sharing contribution.

Financial Impact

There is no budgetary impact to the City and no General Fund dollars are required. Entities that receive gaming grants are responsible for the management of those funds.

Department

Responsible Department

This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Frank McCune and the Office of Government Relations.