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IV.2. Resolution Accepting Grant Navigator Funding; KivettLeague of Minnesota Cities Model Resolution: Grant Navigation Support 1/5/2023 Page 1 CITY OF HOPKINS City Council Report 2025-077 To: Honorable Chair and Council Members Mike Mornson, City Manager From: Beth Kivett, Activity Center Program Coordinator Date: December 16, 2025 Subject: Resolution Accepting Grant Navigator Funding _____________________________________________________________________ RECOMMENDED ACTION MOTION TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 2025-077 ACCEPTING LEAGUE OF MINNESOTA CITIES GRANT NAVIGATOR FUNDING. OVERVIEW On July 15, 2025, City Council heard a presentation update from the Hopkins Digital Access Initiative (HDAI). HDAI is a collaborative and community-driven effort to develop the Hopkins Digital Access Plan with targeted, actionable and sustainable strategies that strengthen digital access for all community members in Hopkins. The goal of this initiative is to ensure Hopkins community members have the digital tools, skills and support needed to thrive in today's connected world. This initiative is guided by a steering committee comprised of representatives from the City of Hopkins, Hopkins Community Education, ICA and the Hopkins Public Library. The City of Hopkins has been awarded $5,000.00 in Grant Navigator funding. This money will be used to contract with ICA’s grant writing team, AmplifyDMC, to support grant writing services for the Hopkins Digital Access Initiative access plan. Future grants received will support plan development, outcome initiatives and actionable steps for the future. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that the council adopt Resolution 2025-077 accepting funds from the League of Minnesota Cities Grant Navigator Program. SUPPORTING INFORMATION • Resolution 2025-077 • League of Minnesota Cities Grant Application • League of Minnesota Cities Letter of Congratulations Department Community Services League of Minnesota Cities Model Resolution: Grant Navigation Support 1/5/2023 Page 2 CITY OF HOPKINS HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA RESOLUTION 2025-077 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING GRANT NAVIGATOR FUNDING WHEREAS, the League of Minnesota Cities (“LMC”) has created a pilot Grants Navigation Program (“Grant”) in which LMC provides grants up to $5,000 per city to use with industry partners to ease the process of identifying matching funds to city projects and aid in the grant application projects. WHEREAS, the City of Hopkins (“City”) submitted an application for the Grant, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A (“Application”) for support in finding grant funding for the Hopkins Digital Access Initiative (“Project”). WHEREAS, the City has been notified that it has been awarded $5,000.00 from the Grant (“Funding”) to find additional grant funding for the Project. WHEREAS, the city council has determined that it is in the best interests of the City to accept the Funding and proceed with hiring a contractor to assist in finding additional grant opportunities for the Project as noted in the Application, subject to the terms and conditions of the Grant. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of Hopkins hereby 1. The City accepts the Funding in order to seek additional grant opportunities to complete the Project consistent with the findings in the Application. 2. The City shall use the Funding to enter into an agreement with Amplify DMC (“Contractor”) to find additional grant funding for the Project in a manner consistent with the terms and conditions of the Grant and the Application. 3. Beth Kivett is hereby appointed as the City’s Authorizing Agent related to the Grant and the Project. 4. The Authorizing Agent is granted the authority to commit the City to any terms and conditions required to accept the Grant. 5. The Authorizing Agent is granted authority and directed to execute any documents necessary to accept the Funding. 6. The Authorizing Agent shall serve as the City’s official liaison with the entity issuing the Grant. 7. The Authorizing Agent is granted the authority to direct City staff and the Contractor in matters related to accepting the Grant and finding funding for the Project. 8. If a state, federal, foundation, or nonprofit grant match is not found, or is applied to but not awarded, the City will seek feedback on why the project was not eligible and report back to the LMC with these findings consistent with the terms and conditions of the Grant. 9. If a state, federal, foundation, or nonprofit grant is awarded, a project assessment will be submitted to LMC within six months of the application's approval and then periodically until after project completion consistent with the terms and conditions of the Grant. Adopted by the City Council of the City of Hopkins this 16 day of December, 2025. By:___________________________ Patrick Hanlon, Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ Amy Domeier, City Clerk = LEAGUE OF MINNESOTA CITIES GRANT NAVIGATOR APPLICATION SUBMITTED: November 12, 2025 Applicant Information Name* Beth Kivett Title* Hopkins Activity Center Coordinator Email Address* Phone* Office Address* Chief Administrative Officer* Project Information Briefly describe the project The Hopkins Digital Access Initiative (HDAI) is a collaborative, community-based effort to ensure all Hopkins residents have access to the affordable internet, devices, digital skills, and ongoing support needed to thrive in today’s digital world. The project is to create a community-wide digital access plan with the understanding that digital access is foundational for individual, community, and economic vitality. The result will be expanded digital learning opportunities, technology help, improved access to affordable devices and internet connectivity, and stronger partnerships that make a thriving digital ecosystem. This collaborative plan will strengthen Hopkins' digital access ecosystem by ensuring community members can fully participate in economic, educational, social, and civic life, while simultaneously building community capacity, strengthening economic development, and enhancing the interconnected assets that makes Hopkins thrive. The project involves community and stakeholder engagement; qualitative and quantitative assessment; collaborative planning for actionable and sustainable strategies, implementation; and ongoing evaluation to measure effectiveness and impact. HDAI is a collaborative community-based effort supported by the City of Hopkins and guided by a steering committee of representatives from the Hopkins Activity Center, Hopkins Public Library, and Hopkins Community Education. Backbone operational support is provided by the mission driven organization, Connecting to Thrive. What is the project’s estimated cost?* The project’s total estimated cost is $30,000 - $50,000. Key cost categories include: Backbone organization and consultants: $ 35,000 ● Connecting to Thrive, LLC ● Hannah Buckland, Digital Equity Consultant ● Media and Communications Consultant Technology and Tools (CRM and Mapping tools): $3,500 Communications/Printing/Production: $1,500 Grant Writing/Grant Mapping (AmplifyDMC): $5,000 - $10,000 When do you expect to start and complete the project?* The project is currently underway. The planned completion date is June 1, 2026. At what point in development is the project currently? This includes phases such as concept, feasibility study, preliminary engineering, committed project, etc.* We are currently in the assessment phase, with ongoing stakeholder and community engagement. The project has five overlapping phases: (1) community and stakeholder engagement, which includes community member input, city-wide communications and participation in local events; (2) qualitative and quantitative assessment, which includes focus groups, input sessions, pop-ups and a community-wide survey; (3) collaborative planning and development of the plan, which will include community meetings with involvement from cross-sector stakeholders and community members to design actionable strategies; (4) implementation of the plan, which will be determined based on the strategies designed by the community; and (5) evaluation, which will use a measurement tools and data identified at the beginning of the planning phase to measure effectiveness and impact. Community and stakeholder engagement began in March 2024 and is ongoing throughout the entire project. Qualitative research also began in March 2024 and continues through the assessment phase. The core of the quantitative assessment is a community technology survey, deployed on October 10, 2025 and concluding December 1, 2025. Are there any grants you are currently pursuing or are there grants for which you believe your project may be eligible? If so, what is the anticipated request?* We are not currently pursuing any grants. Given the initiative's broad reach across community and economic development, education, health, workforce development, civic engagement, social connectedness, and the fact that it centers equity and inclusion by ensuring all community members have access to the digital skills and tools needed to navigate the digital landscape regardless of age, income, language, ability, or technical experience, we believe there are numerous potential grant opportunities aligned with HDAI's goals. We anticipate using a diversified funding approach to support different aspects of the initiative. Does the City Council support the project? A city’s council must pass a resolution of support for the project to be eligible for a League grant. This ensures the city is ready to move forward with the project if they are awarded a grant. Applications will not be considered until a copy of that resolution has been submitted to the League. You can find a sample copy of a resolution here. ● Has the city council approved a resolution of support for the project?* Who is working on this project? Who are the primary city staff involved with the project? Please include names and job titles.* Beth Kivett, Hopkins Activity Center Program Coordinator Is the city working with consultants on this project? If so, who?* The mission driven organization Connecting to Thrive is working on this project. Connecting to Thrive provides backbone support, which includes organizational support, subject matter expertise, and project facilitation. Hannah Buckland, former Digital Equity Program Lead with the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development, will provide consulting services. Have you engaged with an engineer, planning agency, architect, or financial advisor to assess the overall cost of the project, funding options, and the financial impact to the city? If so, who? What stage is the financial planning in?* We have not engaged with a financial advisor. This project has no financial impact to the city, as all project costs will be covered through grants and philanthropic support. We are partnering with ICA, Food, Jobs, Housing, a local nonprofit that provides essential social services to the Hopkins community. Our partnership with ICA allows us to leverage the strengths and expand on the success of an existing community pillar. Cost estimation and funding strategy are part of our planning process and will be refined as we move through the community assessment and collaborative planning phases. This refinement will be research-based and involve input from relevant experts. For this application, we are developing the project budget in consultation with our planning partner ICA: Food, Jobs, Housing and potential consultants. Who are the consultants you expect to pay using the League grant? Only the primary grant consultants are required. This may be the same consultant as listed above. Cities should have a cost estimate from a consultant for the work to be completed to apply for Grant Navigator funding.* We expect to pay AmplifyDMC to provide grant writing and research services. If using a consultant, have you received a quote or cost estimate for these grant services, and how much are these services expected to cost? (This information is needed for the Review Committee to assess the total Grant Navigator award.)* AmplifyDMC has quoted us $5,000-10,000 for their services of grant writing to support our project through to completion of the planning phase and into portions of the implementation. Project Readiness Not all sections need to be marked “Yes” for your project to be eligible for a League grant Feasibility studies are a formal assessment of the practicality of a proposed plan and are recommended to be conducted prior to committing resources and time. Has a feasibility study been conducted for the project?* No, we do not plan to conduct a feasibility study. Our iterative multi-phase planning process incorporates feasibility assessment throughout. As part of community research, stakeholder engagement, and collaborative planning we have been systematically evaluating what is feasible and sustainable for Hopkins while building the stakeholder engagement that is essential for successful plan implementation. Is there a Capital Investment Plan (CIP) for the project?* No Has a local funding source been identified for the project (e.g., savings, bonds)? If so, please briefly list the source.* No Are there any other regulatory approvals needed (e.g., county, state agency)?* No