City of Springfield seeking Community Development Block Grant applications

(From the City of Springfield)

The City of Springfield, Missouri is soliciting applications for 2018 funding activities under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program until noon on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018.

Those interested in applying for CDBG funding may contact Bob Atchley at 417-864-1308 or batchley@springfieldmo.gov to request an application. Completed applications must be delivered to the Planning and Development Department, Busch Municipal Building, 840 Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 65802 by noon on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018.

CDBG-funded projects and activities must meet one of the three objectives:

• Principally benefit low and moderate income persons
• Aid in the prevention or elimination of slum and blight or
• Address urgent needs that are recent in origin and pose an immediate threat to health and safety.

Activities eligible for CDBG funding are:

• Land acquisition, disposition, clearance and relocation.
• Construction, reconstruction and improvements to public infrastructure, spaces, services and facilities.
• Rehabilitation of buildings.
• Historic preservation.
• Special economic development activities.
• Public services.
• City planning activities and administrative costs.
  

A total of approximately $1.3 million in funding will be available to qualifying projects in 2018, of which approximately $1.1 million will go toward City priorities in housing and homeless administration and planning, leaving approximately $192,000 available for discretionary projects, which will be selected in a competitive process. This solicitation initiates that process. More than 70 percent of total funds will go for projects which principally benefit low- and moderate-income people.

About the CDBG program

Overseen locally by the Citizens Advisory Committee for Community Development and administered by the City’s Planning & Development Department, the CDBG program provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs.

Last year, CDBG funds were used to provide:

• Weekend food backpacks to school-age children facing food insecurity.
• Isabel’s House Crisis Nursery of the Ozarks.
• A forensic interviewer to gather evidence in cases of child sexual abuse.
• Emergency home repairs for low-income property owners
• Emergency housing for families on the brink of homelessness and victims of domestic violence.
• Access to safe, decent and affordable housing for low-income persons in Springfield.

The City of Springfield has received more than $77 million in CDBG funding since 1989.

Over the last 20 years in Springfield, more than $4 million in CDBG funds have been administered to programs such as Ozarks Food Harvest, Community Partnership of the Ozarks, the Council of Churches of the Ozarks, Ozarks Community Action Corporation and the Urban Districts Alliance, to name just a few.

“The CDBG program has done an amazing amount of good in our community over the last 42 years,” says Assistant Director of Planning and Development Brendan Griesemer. “In our community, CDBG funding has assisted with food pantries, homeless services, after-school care, domestic violence counseling, affordable housing loans, small business loans and other services too numerous to mention.”