The City of Tallahassee

Human Services | CHSP

In 1997, the City of Tallahassee and Leon County Government collaborated to form the Community Human Service Partnership (CHSP), which was granted a Best Practice award by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The overall purpose of the partnership is to provide a more efficient and effective method for allocating human services grant funds. This initiative, which requires greater coordination and cooperation between funding partners and agencies, affords easy recognition of duplication and gaps in service delivery and provides the ability to target funds accordingly.

Agencies providing direct human services to City of Tallahassee and Leon County residents may apply for funding to support a specific program. Biennial funding is allocated through a grant review process that utilizes a team of citizen volunteers to review, rank, and award funding to applicant agencies; the team is referred to as the Citizens Review Team (CRT). Volunteers are solicited through partnerships with neighborhood associations, local universities, area businesses, churches, civic groups, and professional associations, among others. Extensive efforts are made to ensure that each CRT is representative of the community’s demographics. Individuals who participate as volunteer grant reviewers must attend training facilitated by the CHSP staff. To learn more about serving as a CRT volunteer, visit CHSPPortal.org.

The goal of the CHSP funding process is to review agency capacity and performance; match requests for program funding to community needs; and distribute the available funds to assure a balanced, effective, and efficient human services delivery system. The CHSP grant process requires agencies to submit funding proposals that address at least one of the ten following human service categories.

FY25 & FY26 CHSP Funding Opportunity and Mandatory Application Workshop

The City of Tallahassee and Leon County invite all interested non-profit human service organizations to participate in the FY25 & FY26 funding cycle of the Community Human Service Partnership (CHSP) grant process. To apply for funding, the organization must provide direct human services to residents of the Tallahassee/Leon County area.

Each year, Leon County and the City of Tallahassee provide funding to non-profit human services organizations to provide safety net services to vulnerable citizens.

The primary mechanism for supporting human services is through the Community Human Service Partnership (CHSP), which provides investment in a broad range of human service programs implemented by local nonprofits. The City and County fund human services programs with general funds, supplemented by federal and state grants such as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Change for Change (CFC), a City-utility customer donation program.

All agencies that intend to apply for the FY25 & FY26 funding cycle must attend ONE of the mandatory workshops listed below. Deadline to register is March 19, 2024, at https://www.chspportal.org.

View the Full Public Notice & Workshop Schedule

CHSP Program Manual (PDF)

CHSP Teams

Team One: Children's Services

Direct client services provided to children from infancy through elementary school. Brain development is most rapid during the early childhood years and sets the stage for learning and development later in life. Providing quality early childhood intervention, including education support, helps children develop essential skills to reach their greatest potential.

Team Two: Community Support Services

Young people teach nutition at a community event

Seamless continuum of care; a network of wraparound supportive services to bridge gaps, eliminate barriers, and increase safety and financial security for the general population. Services may include information and referrals, rape and crisis intervention, legal assistance, literacy services, financial education, homeownership services, technology accessibility and employment and training for adults.

Team Three: Services for Persons with Disabilities

Direct client services provided to persons who have a temporary or permanent disability. These services assist people diagnosed with a disability attributable to an intellectual, psychiatric, cognitive, neurological, sensory, physical or medical impairment. Services include help with special needs, social development activities, assistance with medical equipment and supplies, therapeutic interventions and accessibility and independent living support such as ramps and visual aids.

Team Four: Basic Needs and Emergency Services

A person hands a package to a person in a car

Direct client services providing safety-net relief for essential and emergency needs. Overall, services in this category help individuals and families meet their basic needs during a disaster or crisis such as rental assistance, utility assistance, food, supplies, case management and other emergency services to support households to transition out of crisis.

Team Five: Family Support Services

Direct client services provided primarily to families in an outpatient setting or within a family-focused residential setting, as opposed to serving individuals. Family support services address the safety and well-being of children and families and may include counseling and other interventions to strengthen family relationships and long-term shelter or transitional living for youth and young adults.

Team Six: Health Services

A woman in consultation in a medical office

Direct client services provided to individuals, families or the community at large, either for general health/mental health or specific health-related conditions. Programs in this category may include direct care/treatment, preventative care, testing and assessments, wellness programs and end-of life planning.

Team Seven: Senior Services

Direct client services provided to elder residents (age 55 and above) that promote physical, emotional, cognitive and social functions of seniors at risk of chronic health conditions, poverty or social isolation. Services in this category may include assisting seniors with managing a disability, daily living, health and safety, basic needs, in-home care, nutrition, social involvement and end of life planning. In addition, these services include caregiver supportive services such as respite care for persons diagnosed with Alzheimer's and related dementia disorders.

Team Eight: Youth Recreation, Character Building and Mentorship Services

A man teaching kids how to use digital equipment

Direct client services targeting middle school through high school age youth, with an emphasis on cultivating the youth's social, physical, emotional and behavioral development. The goal of positive youth development is to build and strengthen assets that enable youth to grow and flourish throughout life. Services in this category enable youth to minimize risk factors and enhance protective factors that lead to successful life outcomes.

Team Nine: Youth Education, Employment and Training

A bunch of teens hanging out at a community event

Direct client services targeting middle school through high school age youth, with a focus on academic performance, career exploration, social development, employment and training and job placement. To help youth reach their academic and career potential, programs in this category also holistically address the needs of the youth by minimizing barriers that impede success and strengthening the protective factors that lead to successful outcomes.

Team Ten: Promise Zone Services

Direct client services to improve the lives of residents living in the Promise Zone. The program must demonstrate the provision of services in approved census tracts: 4, 5, 6, 10.01, 10.02, 11.01, 11.02, 12, 14.01, 14.02, 19.01, 19.02, 20.03, 20.04, 20.05, 20.06, 21.03 and 21.04. The City Commission has adopted Neighborhood First Plans for each neighborhood developed by residents in the community to address poverty and inequity. The plans can be found here. Programs applying for CHSP Promise Zone funding must identify the priority areas, strategy and action items to be addressed.

Team Eleven: Homeless Services

A group of people joining hands together in solidarity

Direct client services to homeless individuals and those at risk of homelessness to transition them to stable housing. Eligible services include diversion, street outreach, and shelter operations. Effective programs in this category decrease chronic homelessness, decrease the length of time someone experiences homelessness, decrease returns to homelessness, and increases collaboration efforts to address needs of special populations.

The Homeless Services Category will be administered in coordination and collaboration with the Big Bend Continuum of Care (BBCoC). Applicants must follow the federal definition of "Homeless" and "At Risk of Homelessness" as defined in Appendix B of the CHSP Program Manual. Funded agencies will be required to become a member of BBCoC, participate in the BBCoC Coordinated Entry System, and to use the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for data reporting.

Team Twelve: Gun Violence Intervention

Direct client services that provide interventions with individuals and families impacted by gun violence. Successful community violence intervention programs generally:

Deter individuals at high risk for violence from retaliating and engaging in firearm violence through direct outreach.
Help individuals at high risk for violence resolve potentially violent disputes before they occur.
Connect those at high risk for violence to safety net services, diversionary programs and/or productive opportunities such as education and employment.
Provide individualized case management, counseling, trauma-informed services, and culturally responsive mental health support to individuals impacted by gun violence.

Funded agencies will be required to partner with and accept referrals from law enforcement and the Tallahassee Leon County Council on Men and Boys, be available telephonically24 hours/day to respond to referrals, and implement a resource assessment process to meet specific immediate needs of the target group. Please note that programs that only provide education or otherwise solely provide prevention activities that positively occupy youth or adults will not be funded in this category.

In 2020, the City established the Bridge program to support local organizations proposing to implement innovative solutions to address community needs but lack the eligibility requirements to participate in the Community Human Service Partnership (CHSP) grant process.

The City currently administers the Community Human Service Partnership in collaboration with the County to provide an efficient and effective method for allocating human services grant funds. The CHSP process is robust and has received a Best Practice award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. CHSP has several minimum requirements and operates on a two- year funding cycle. The Bridge program is an annual funding opportunity with less stringent requirements and enables nonprofit agencies that do not meet the minimum CHSP standards to strengthen its capacity while receiving funding up to a maximum of two years. Agencies are then required to apply to CHSP for continued funding. Agencies that have previously received or are currently receiving CHSP funding are not eligible for the Bridge program.

To apply to the Bridge program the agency must meet the following requirements:

At the time of application submission, the agency is registered as a 501(c)(3) with the United States Department of Treasury.
- Please note that Fiscal Agents are not accepted, the applying agency must have its own 501(c)(3) status.
The agency can demonstrate a record of providing or intent to provide direct human services to residents of Leon County.
The agency has not received CHSP funding.

Notice of the Fiscal Year 2025 Bridge Program Funding

Bridge Program Manual (PDF)

Neighborly Program Tutorial (PDF)

Apply Online

If you have questions or need assistance with the application, please contact the Human Services division staff or email bridge@talgov.com.

Human Services Division

Visit Us: 435 N. Macomb Street, 3rd Floor | Tallahassee, FL 32301
Mail to: 300 S. Adams Street, B17, Tallahassee, FL 32301
Call: 850-891-6566 | Fax: 850-891-6592 | Email: humanservices@talgov.com