The City of Naperville has received $2.76 million in one-year grant fund requests in 2026 through the Special Events and Community Arts program. A city council-appointed group is in the process of poring over the disparate applications.
Details of next year’s grant application requests
The city’s SECA Commission, which reviews each grant application request, held a meeting Saturday, Nov. 15, and heard from a number of the representatives associated with the organizations and programs behind the applications.
“We’ve received 86 applications for SECA funding this year, an increase from 84 applications last year,” Judy Brodhead, chair of the SECA Commission, said as she provided a high-level overview of the submissions.
Local organizations had through Oct. 3 to submit applications for funding consideration next year. Brodhead discussed the post-submittal review process at the recent meeting. A comb-through of the specific requests within each application is underway.
“Commissioners received the applications and have been reviewing them,” Brodhead said.
In some instances, organizations submitted more than one SECA grant funding application. The Illinois Conservatory for the Arts, for instance, submitted five applications, while the Naperville Heritage Society has four within the pool of 86 for specific events and initiatives on the calendar in the year ahead.
Each of the 86 applications falls within one of four buckets: capital projects, community arts 501(c)(3) designation, new initiatives, and special events.
The SECA Commission’s meeting spanned three-and-a-half hours, with the bulk of it devoted to many of the applicants presenting on their funding appeals.
Public comments on SECA funding protocols, program’s value
At the start of the Nov. 15 meeting, the SECA Commission fielded comments from non-applicants during the public forum portion of the agenda.
Sharon Gorrell, a 30-year Naperville resident, noted past questions and concerns about transparency within the SECA Commission about funding protocols. She asked for commissioners to provide “a deeper dive” into what constitutes a qualifying application.
“I guess I’m trying to understand the process,” said Gorrell, who had a number of specific questions, including a funding request from the Naperville Police Department, and some of the specific requests that could dovetail into religious themes within the 2026 applicant pool.
SECA, established as a funding mechanism through the city’s food and beverage tax in 2004, has a number of criteria attached to grant awards, including a requirement the specific project is incorporated within Naperville. Another provision stipulates neither religion nor a religious organization can be promoted.
Brodhead confirmed the Naperville Police Department’s grant funding request — $50,000 for portable camera trailers — is “in fact eligible.”
“When it comes to religious events — it’s a very interesting question because, I think, religion is so tied into culture,” Brodhead added, noting applications are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Tony Andrews is the founder of Art of Inclusion, a local organization that did not submit a grant application request in 2026. He lauded SECA and the enrichment it has brought to Naperville in the past two decades.
“I’m particularly thankful for the cultural events that expand our knowledge of other cultures — the people who don’t look like me, think like me, dress like me, talk like me,” Andrews said.
Next steps on grant application funding requests
In a memo, Miranda Barfuss, the city’s community grants manager, noted the SECA Commission’s next meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, will be an opportunity for panelists to “determine a unified funding recommendation for all requests.”
Following the next meeting, the SECA Commission will forward on its recommendation.
“The unified funding recommendation will be presented to city council for approval in early 2026,” Barfuss indicated. “City council has final funding authority.”
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