New Haven Independent

Newhallville Alderman Charles A. Blango (pictured at right), co-chair of the Joint Community Development/Human Services Committee, said at his committee’s meeting in City Hall Tuesday night that New Haven has a budget shortfall of $140,000 from last year’s pot in dividing up federal money for agencies that aid the needy.

The meeting was the first of a series of public meetings regarding the dispersal of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money. Many local non-profits rely on these annual federal grants to continue their work from year to year. So do some city government department.

The total funds available have been shrinking for several years. This year’s CDBG total of $4.2 million is a 2.5 percent cut from last year’s allocation. The meeting Tuesday night provided an opportunity for city agencies to impress upon the aldermen the importance of their department’s services and the need for continued funding.

The Budget Does Not Balance

First on the agenda was the presentation of a report by Elizabeth Smith, City Hall’s CDBG program manager.

“The budget does not balance,” she announced. Smith explained that the city’s CDBG recommendations were made based on last year’s allocations, and the budget was put together before this year’s federal numbers came in. The aldermen therefore face the difficult task of finding fat to trim from agencies that are already starved for cash.

For the rest of the evening, the aldermen heard from representatives of agencies anxious to retain their federal funding. First up was Andy Rizzo, executive director of the Livable Cities Initiative. He extolled the virtues of the LCI and spoke of all the the initiative had accomplished in the previous year, thanks in large part to CDBG money.

After saying, “It’s difficult to ask this question,” Blango asked Rizzo if he had a plan for a scenario in which federal funding was not available.

“We’re at bare bones right now,” replied Rizzo (at left in picture). “I lost four employees last year.” Rizzo said that he would do what he had to do, but that he has very little room to maneuver. He was asking for $600,000 less than last year.

Other agencies had similar stories to tell the aldermen. Over the course of the meeting, committee members heard from city agencies asking for money for, among other things, asthma awareness initiatives, lead abatement, community gardens, city planning, HIV/AIDS services, homeless shelters, and tai chi classes for senior citizens.

“What y’all doing to them seniors, teaching them karate?” Blango asked. Darcy Lynn Cobbs, director of the Department of Elderly Services, explained that T’ai Chi is not karate, it’s a form of movement therapy “derived from martial arts.”

Wiggle Room

Blango opened the meeting by saying emphatically, “We will not, we will not, we will not be talking about cuts today.” He explained that the committee cannot make decisions about where to make cuts until it has heard from all of the affected organizations.

To make its budget decisions, Blango said that the committee will be “looking at everyone’s whole process.” He said that he’s looking to send the money where it will do the most good. “If someone asks for $10,000 but they say that that money won’t be really helpful unless they get another $25,000…” then that might be somewhere the committee would consider making a cut.

“If there are agencies with other funding sources, then that gives us a little wiggle room,” said West Hills Alderwoman Michelle Edmonds-Sepulveda, the committee’s other co-chair

Tuesday’s meeting was the first of three public hearings on CDBG scheduled for March. The committee will hear from city non-profits on March 13 and 19 and will meet to make the final block-grant decisions on March 27.