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Officials Get Tough On Block Grant Seekers

by zak stone | Feb 18, 2010 8:59 am

(4) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: City Hall

Zak Stone Photo New Haven actually has more federal money than last year to hand out to not-for-profit community groups. But it’s cracking down on who gets it.

That was the message delivered at a City Hall hearing Wednesday night.

It concerned federal U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) “block grants”—a pot of money sent to the city to divide up each year to help not-for-profits feed people, build homes, tutor adults in reading.

New Haven will receive a 10 percent increase in the community development money. But several organizations, like the Grand Avenue Village Association and Life Haven, have already been disqualified from winning federal funds after filing incomplete applications.

Elizabeth Smith, project coordinator of the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), announced the loosened budget and the tightened regulations at a joint meeting of the Board of Aldermen’s Community Development and Human Services Committees. Ten aldermen gathered in City Hall to familiarize themselves with the complicated annual review process, which will take place this spring.

This past year HUD awarded New Haven over $6 million, when counting the supplementary funds from the economic stimulus package. Click here and here for back stories about the application process.

This year New Haven could win 10 percent more, Smith said. But the city will have to hold its breath and wait until the fickle HUD confirms the figures for its final allocation this spring.

While CDBG is the most general award, New Haven organizations also applied for money from Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS, Emergency Shelter grants, and the HOME Investments Partnership Program, all of which target housing inadequacies.

According to Smith, this year’s review process will proceed more strictly than ever. The city imposed new regulations on applicants, like mandatory attendance at an ethics workshop. If a group did not show up to the ethics meeting, then its representatives already received rejection letters, which Smith presented to the committee.

Unlike in past years when the city would allow community groups a second chance to fix incomplete applications, such requests will be met with a resounding “no” this year, said Smith. Applications were time-stamped upon receipt. “So there’s no way [for an applicant] to say ‘Oh, I dropped it off’” on time when it was actually late, she said.

“Sometimes people will say that ‘Liz Smith is a pain in the butt,’” commented Leslie Sprague Clerkin, a consultant who helps Smith with the review process. But it’s HUD itself that sets such strict requirements. Failure to comply could result in delayed funding, said Smith.

Smith explained that she worked hard to make the process requirements and deadlines as transparent as possible, by advertising with local media and by publicizing the grants at neighborhood meetings.

Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield called more stringent deadlines a good idea. He said that he remembers hearing about controversy in the past when certain groups that had not turned in forms on time were allowed to proceed. “If you’re not strict about everyone being completed, [the committee] starts to become a judge,” he said.

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posted by: SCAREDCROW on February 18, 2010  9:59am

Liz
Keep up the good work!

posted by: cedarhillresident on February 18, 2010  11:54am

This is a good thing I am really glad. But some of the groups that get grants really seem like a waste of funds and then you see a place like Life Haven get disqualified when you know the good and the need of such a group. That kind of stinks, because that money will end up going to a less worthy group. Kind of sad. But I get it.

posted by: Observer on February 18, 2010  1:03pm

The CDBG process is BS!  The Mayor selects who gets money based on his favorites, which is why the same agencies get the money. And City Hall takes so much of the money for itself, there is pitifully little left for the nonprofits that apply. The Aldermen have no say in this process even though this is the only pot of money they truly control, but they’re too weak to even do that!

posted by: Grant Writer on February 18, 2010  2:26pm

I have managed to secure CDBG money for three years running for my organization for several different projects and programs. It is not because my organization is favored by politicos, it is because I am thorough, I follow the directions to a “t,” I ensure that I have demographic and historical data as well as a viable statement of need to back up my proposal, and I check and double check all aspects of my proposals, including the budgets that I prepare with a fine tooth comb. I applaud Liz, she is accessible, knowledgeable, and smart as a whip. Any time I wanted to clarify any aspect of the application process with her, she was approachable, honest, and frank. Thanks, Liz, you CDBG folks are great!

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