The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Advisory Board met 01/28/2025 and set the preliminary allocations for the 2025-2026 CDBG allocations for private community partners.
City staff estimated that there would be approximately $145,000 available to be divided among non-public partners and provided the initial recommendations:
- Habitat For Humanity – $50,000
- Rebuilding Together Fox Valley – $32,000
- First 5 Fox Valley – $25,000
- Pillars – $28,000
- Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) – $10,000
The advisory board ended up making the following final recommendations:
- Habitat For Humanity – $50,000
- Rebuilding Together Fox Valley – $33,500
- First 5 Fox Valley – $25,000
- Pillars – $36,500
- Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) – $0
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
There was a brief discussion about whether the memo from President Donald Trump’s administration temporarily pausing federal grants and loans would impact the CDBG dollars the city expected to receive. Community and Development Deputy Director David Kress advised the committee that, regardless of federal actions, their responsibility remained the same—i.e. to “arrive at preliminary recommendations with the understanding that they would need to be adjusted when the final allocation amount is made available to us.” He recommended proceeding as normal and then when further information was received they could make adjustments. Since this meeting, the pause on federal grants has itself been paused by a DC US District Judge.
The discussion on the allocations themselves was fairly straightforward.
There was hesitancy on the part of the board to award grant dollars to WWBIC. There were concerns about being able to track that the funds were used for the benefit of Appleton specifically, not the wider Fox Cities area. Additionally, every year when WWBIC is awarded CDBG dollars they use them to provide match funding. Alderperson Vaya Jones (District 10) stated, “That was my main concern with WWBIC was each year—it’s these funds are used for their match. There aren’t any funds coming in. So that lack of sustainability is worrisome to me.” These concerns were one of the factors behind the advisory board’s decision last year to decrease the amount WWBIC was awarded.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) stated, “[I]n the future, if WWBIC wants to reapply, what I would like to see as a member of the committee, if I were to be a member of the committee, would be to some kind of tracking, some kind of letter from someone from Appleton that they’ve helped, something that helps us better, you know, better make a decision to give them any funding.”
Ultimately, the advisory board recommended not awarding WWBIC any allocation and instead divided those funds between Pillars and Rebuilding Together Fox Valley.
Pillars had requested $36,500 so that they could replace flooring in their adult shelter. Per their application “Current flooring is deteriorating and has become a tripping hazard and hygienic issue.” Staff had initially recommended they only received $28,000 but the board ended up recommending they receive their full request of $36,500 because, per Alderperson Jones “facilities and flooring is really hard to raise funding for. It’s hard if you don’t have those dollars. And so, I feel like this floor is truly needed. It is truly a safety issue.” She thought they might struggle to raise donations elsewhere.
Alderperson Van Zeeland said, “I think the investment in Pillars actually affects city services in a way immediately that some of the others do not.”
That left $1,500 from the funds that had originally be recommended for WWBIC. The board ended up recommending that those funds be added to Rebuilding Together Fox Valley’s award because Rebuilding Together provide grants for home rehabilitation projects and often fund smaller projects that are in the $2,000 to $5,000 range so even though $1,500 was a relatively small amount, the board felt that Rebuilding Together would be able to use it effectively.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1251485&GUID=FA7865D1-4125-4A39-96CF-68C64D952E95
Be the first to reply