The Community and Economic Development Committee is meeting 01/27/2021 at 4:30 PM.
They will be voting on the “Third Substantial Amendment to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) 2020 Annual Action Plan (AAP) awarding an additional $343,268 of CDBG Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act) funding to community partner organizations as specified in the attached documents”.
Per the information in the agenda packet, which you can download above, it looks like the city of Appleton received “a special allocation…of Community Development Block Grant funds to be used to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus.” The city is planning to use $64,359 of these funds for their Motel Voucher Program, and they’re planning to use $278,909 to enter into an agreement with an organization called ADVOCAP, Inc to provide to “provide street outreach, case management, and referral services to people living in unsheltered locations, such as cars, parks, abandoned buildings, and on the streets and that are not already working with a Fox Cities Housing Coalition members for services.”
Although it appears that the funding for this agreement currently would come from Federal CARES Act funding, the proposed memorandum of understanding states that “The Parties intend for this MOU to provide the foundation and structure for any future agreement” so it appears that there is at least some thought to making this an ongoing partnership even after CARES funding no longer available.
The public comment period ends 01/27/2021 and can be directed to Nikki Gerhard at 920-832-6469 or nikki.gerhard@appleton.org.
[I reviewed the entire meeting information packet and I saw no information regarding any sort of research that indicates the specific group of homeless people that would be targeted by this new program (i.e. individuals who are living in unsheltered locations and not working with a Fox Cities Housing Coalition member) are in their situation specifically because of coronavirus. That isn’t to say that helping them is not worthy, but using CARES Act money for this program doesn’t necessarily seem in keeping with the purpose of the grant (although I’m sure that from a legal standpoint using it for this purpose is acceptable). I’m curious what the reasoning was behind targeting this group, vs using the money to, for example, help small business owners and self-employed people who have been hit hard by the coronavirus response.]
Be the first to reply