The Community and Economic Development Committee met 11/09/2022.
The one item on the agenda was a request to approve the preliminary 2023-2024 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Community Partner Funding Allocations. This was approved 3-0.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the full meeting which you can download below:
A city staff member told the committee that 9 grant applications had been submitted. Unfortunately, per HUD regulations, of the total funds the city had available to grant to community partners, only 15% was allowed to be used for public service activities. That meant although 6 organizations sought grants for public services, the city only had $88,417 and were only able to fund 4 of the 6 grant applicants. They were also able to provide funding to three non-public service organizations.
The three non-public service organizations were:
- Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity ($222,000)
- Rebuilding Together Fox Valley ($130,207)
- WWBIC (Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation) ($20,000)
The four public service organizations that received funding were:
- Boys and Girls Club of the Fox Valley ($50,000)
- LEAVEN, Inc ($12,806)
- Salvation Army of the Fox Cities ($12,806)
- Pillars, Inc ($12,806)
Representatives from Habitat, Rebuilding Together Fox Valley, WWBIC, and Pillars all attended the meeting, spoke to the committee, and thanked them for the grants.
Chip Wood of Rebuilding Together Fox Valley told the committee, “This year alone, we’ve made 884 home modifications and repairs. We’re on track to break 1000 this year, which we’re really, really proud of. 448 of those modifications or repairs in 53 homes have been just in the city of Appleton itself there.”
Lisa Strandberg of Pillars said, “We serve about 300 individuals (and half of those are children) to help them avoid the shelter stay. We operate two shelters and this prevention program is meant to keep folks housed and out of shelter.”
Colleen Bies of WWBIC told the committee, “We’re very excited to provide technical assistance to small business owners in the Appleton area that have been struggling even since COVID, that continue to struggle. And so with this allocation this year we’re really excited to help over 20 or more–hopefully a lot a lot more small business owners–with getting them some technical assistance in helping them grow their business, be more sustainable, be able to help build this community, and create jobs in this area as well.”
John Weyenberg of Habitat for Humanity said explained that they had received CDBG funds for a number of years and utilized them to provide affordable housing opportunities for families, with a focus on homeownership. “This specific application is to help us purchase blighted homes in the city of Appleton, or homes that have been neglected over a period of time, rehab those homes and turn them into homeownership opportunities for families in our community. And that’s just one piece of the broader program that Habitat offers throughout the Fox Cities. But this is a vital role. Homeownership is such a critical element for families to build equity and break that cycle of poverty.”
Community and Economic Development Director Karen Harkness spoke a little about how Appleton was unique in the way it shared its CDBG dollars with the community. “We are one of the few that makes sure that it gets pushed back out into the community to be able to meet those basic needs, those critical needs for the socially–it’s, it’s our safety net, right for, our social infrastructure. It’s helping that most vulnerable population in our community. And it really takes the community to be able to bring things like this together.”
The committee members spoke highly of the grant recipients and of the community development block grant program before voting 3-0 to approve the grant allocation recommendations.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1003244&GUID=6EBD8001-DDAC-4883-91AB-C463AE0942F4
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