Albany City Commission approves $350,000 expenditure for summer program provided by United Way of Southwest Georgia

ALBANY – The Albany City Commission has accepted a $350,000 proposal to participate in a new summer program through which the United Way of Southwest Georgia has agreed to serve up to 2,000 youngsters.

The commission approved the collaborative proposal in a 4-3 vote, one of three proposals put before the commission. The second was a $69,000 program to provide subsidies to fund 120 youngsters at a cost of 24,000, with $35,000 going toward a “consulting fee” for United Way. The third proposal was for the city to spend $200,000 in funds from the Recreation and Parks Department’s budget to operate the summer collaborative effort itself.

“The only concern we have is it is a non-competitive bid process,” City Manager Terrell Jacobs told commissioners prior to the vote. 

The $350,000 proposal accepted calls for 15% of funding to go toward administrative fees for United Way and another 10% going toward marketing and enrollment. 

Commissioners Diana Brown, Vilnis Gaines, Collette Jenkins and Willie Weaver voted in favor of the collaborative proposal, with Commissioners Jon Howard and Chad Warvington and Mayor Bo Dorough voting against it.

Howard said that his preference was to allow the city to operate the program instead of going with the United Way proposal.

“We felt like we could do this ourselves and partner with all of the other partners United Way was bringing to the table,” Jacobs said. “At the end of the day, y’all (decided).”

Commissioners will need to vote at a later date to approve to use $350,000 in reserve funds to fund the commitment. 

The United Way made the proposal after news broke that a long-running summer program at Albany State University had been canceled for 2026.

In its proposal the United Way committed to partnering with 15 to 20 organizations that will receive mini-grants of between $2,500 and $20,000 to cover curriculum, instructor stipends, field trips and safety, serving 1,500 to 2,000 participants. United Way also will provide evidence-based curriculum and provide summer fee subsidies totaling $42,000 and averaging $350 per participant, to hold a youth showcase/collective field day and provide a summer closing celebration.

The Dougherty County Commission opted to spend an additional $70,000 to expand the summer program headed up by the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office.