City Council members on Monday introduced a bill to amend the ordinance governing the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund to update grantmaking procedures, change board composition rules and require a report to the council. The measure, introduced as City Council Bill 25-0100, was assigned to the Education, Youth and Older Adults Committee.

Sponsor Councilmember Parker said the bill’s goal is to “provide updates to the existing ordinance that governs and supports the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund to ensure that the law aligns with current operational realities as that fund has grown and that organization has evolved and that BCUF is best positioned to meet its vital mission.”

The bill’s sponsors and other council supporters told colleagues the ordinance has not kept pace with the fund’s expansion and described the bill as a way to strengthen transparency, governance and community engagement in grantmaking. Councilmember Bullock, chair of the Education, Youth and Older Adults Committee, said the legislation aims to “take that great work and make it even better” and that committee hearings will allow “deep conversations and direct conversations, with the administrators of [the youth fund] and those who are also benefiting from the services.”

The measure would alter the processes by which the fund may disperse grants, change the composition of the fund’s board of directors and require a report; the text presented at introduction did not list exact funding changes or dollar amounts. Sponsors said the committee will hold additional hearings to review details and operations before any final action.

The bill was formally referred to the Education, Youth and Older Adults Committee for further consideration and hearings.

The council noted Councilmember Conway as a cosponsor. No vote on final passage occurred Monday; the item remains at the committee stage.