New Haven Independent

The issue of how to best reach out to the city’s neediest came up at a meeting of the Board of Aldermen’s Joint Community Development & Human Services Committee Wednesday evening at City Hall.

Committee members heard from area nonprofits and city agencies on two proposals to amend the city’s Consolidated Plan to include over $2 million in federal stimulus money, including a $1,514,570 homelessness-prevention grant and a $990,070 grant for sidewalk repair.

The committee voted unanimously in favor of both measures.

Elizabeth Smith of the Office of Management and Budget and Catherine Schroeter of the Livable City Initiative (pictured) testified to the committee on a proposal. It would award funds from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) to four area nonprofit organizations.

The money would be divided among New Haven Home Recovery and Columbus House, which would jointly receive $684,251; Liberty Community Services, which would receive $398,133; and Community Mediation, Inc., which would receive $205,000.

The money would complement existing efforts to ease homelessness.

“The unique thing about this money,” Smith said, “is that it’s for rental housing; it’s for people who are on the verge of becoming homeless or have just become homeless.”

Anyone with an income below 50 percent of the city median will be eligible for assistance, she said. Participation in an existing aid program such as Section 8 is not required.

Smith, along with Nicole Jefferson, director of the city’s Commission on Equal Opportunities, John Procop of the Public Works Department, and Transportation, Traffic & Parking Director Mike Piscitelli testified about $990,070 the city will receive under the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG-R) program. The money will pay for repairs to sidewalks and streets.

Part of the grant, Jefferson said, will be used to give construction training to at least 20 low-income residents, with the instruction coming from members of the Local 1 Bricklayers Union.

The training, she said, has the potential to help to ease a longstanding lack of minorities and women in the union membership.

“I would say 90 percent of the bricklayers and concrete contractors that do work for the city of New Haven and for Yale University are currently below the requirements that we would like to see because there’s not enough training for this type of work,” she said.

Committee members expressed enthusiasm for both proposed programs. Some voiced concerns about how those most in need of housing assistance would hear about the money.

Alderwoman Jacqueline James-Evans cited her own experience working for DCF and said many of the clients she has worked, many of whom do not speak English or lack a home phone, might not have easy access to information about the program.

“I definitely would like to see in the city’s contract with these providers that there is a requirement that they do outreach to state agencies like DSS and DCF and even the New Haven Board of Education so that they can let schools know that the money is there,” she said.

James-Evans also suggested notifying probation officers and hospitals about the grant money. Alderwoman Frances “Bitsie” Clark said that idea represents the kind of “lateral thinking” necessary to get information to those who might otherwise never hear about community programs.

Smith told committee members the selection of the four nonprofit groups to disburse the money had been based in part on their commitment to spread word about the program to the community.

“We’re funding them to actually advertise,” she said, “and there is a requirement that advertising be a particular part of this grant.”