The Community Development Committee met 02/12/2025. One of the items they voted on was a request to approve the preliminary Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocations to community partners for the 2025-2026 program year. These preliminary allocations were set by the CDBG Advisory Board and now need to be approved by the Community Development Committee before going on to the full Council.
The committee voted unanimously to approve the recommendations of the advisory board without any changes.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
Initial CDBG allocations are based upon estimates of what the city expects to receive. That estimate is based on the average the city has received for the last 5 years. City staff projected an award estimate of $588,232. Of that, the committee had already allocated $443,232 toward city-run programs, projects, and services. That left only $145,000 available for community partners.
Five non-profits submitted qualified grant requested. City staff had initially recommended that $10,000 go to the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, but the advisory committee had decided to recommend awarding them nothing and distributing that $10,000 amongst the remaining four entities seeking funds. They decided not to fund WWBIC because WWBIC uses CDBG funds each year to provide match funding. Additionally, they serve people in the entire Fox Cities area but the CDBG funds were supposed to benefit residents of Appleton specifically and WWBIC didn’t provide details of how Appleton specifically would be benefited by their use of these funds.
The final recommendation was:
- 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
Kimberly Massey the Northeast Regional Director of WWBIC attended the meeting. She did not try to get the allocation changed back, but she did express gratitude for the funding they had received in the past, and also praised the other organizations that were receiving funds as being great organizations. She stated that WWBIC was “still here in the community helping individuals and small business owners, entrepreneurs, start, explore, run their business, and we’ll still continue to do that good work.” She mentioned that Bowl 91 and Eco Candle were both business that they had supported and that WWBIC would be working with Downtown Appleton Inc in some capacity. Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) encouraged WWBIC to apply for grant funds in the future.
There was brief discussion about when the city would receive the official amount of the allocation. Community Development Specialist Olivia Galyon said that when the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development was passed then they would be able to tell Appleton what the final amount was. The city typically receives its allocation sometime between February and May. She noted that Appleton is an Entitlement Community “which means, as long as we follow all of the HUD requirements, which we do, we will receive our allocation, and it’s based on a formula, so we wouldn’t expect major changes to this amount.” When they received the official amount, they would adjust the awards for the grantees up or down proportionally.
The committee voted 5-0 to approve the preliminary allocations as recommended.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1256188&GUID=307B070B-A832-4C5E-8EDD-5194E86213C7
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