NORWICH – Local elected officials, business people and non-profit directors gathered last week to hear how they can use state funding to better their communities.
Two representatives from the Office of Community Renewal, a division of the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, traveled from Albany to give an informative presentation on two programs administered through their agency: The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the New York Main Street program.
The workshop, hosted by Commerce Chenango, drew an audience of mayors, town supervisors, councilmen and entrepreneurs as well representatives from several county agencies and non-profits.
According to program literature, the goal of the CDBG program is “to develop viable communities by providing decent, affordable housing, and suitable living environments, as well as expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income.”
Counties with populations under 200,000 and other municipalities (such as towns, villages and cities) with populations under 50,0000 are eligible to receive financial assistance through the program.
“In Chenango County, the county and every single municipality is eligible,” explained Senior Economic Developer Chris Hunsinger.
The state level program is funded by an allocation from Housing and Urban Development which, according to Hunsinger, exceeded $47.4 million for 2008.
Roughly 60 percent of that total was earmarked for community development projects and 34 percent for economic development. The remainder was distributed in several other areas including imminent threat and community planning.
“There is a lot of pressure for our money,” said Hunsinger. “Federal and State resources are dwindling.”
The application for funding must be made by a municipality, but it may be done on the behalf of a business. The process is highly competitive. According to Hunsinger, of the 191 grant applications filed last year, only 66 were awarded.
What determines whether a project will receive funded in this competitive process? Hunsinger shared a laundry list of criteria with those in the audience. While all are considered, there are two items that stand out to those making the decision, said the economic developer: the severity of need and how well the proposed project meets that need.
Other factors that are considered are the quality of the application itself and its documentation; public benefit; project feasibility; public support; and the municipality’s history with administering any other CDBG approved programs.
Village of Oxford Mayor Terry Stark inquired about the performance history with grants in the local area.
“We’ve had, generally speaking, good success in Chenango County,” said Hunsinger. “I’m not aware of any issues.”
According to Maureen Carpenter, president of Commerce Chenango, funding for a total of three previous programs has been awarded in the county through CDBG: a $25,000 strategic planning grant in 2005, an economic development grant for Agro-Farma and funding for a micro-enterprise initiative last year.
Chenango County has also benefited from the New York Main Street program, which was discussed by Crystal Loffler, technical assistance and planning coordinator for the Office of Community Renewal.
“[The Main Street program] is intended to revitalize traditional downtowns,” explained Loffler. The grants, which are available primarily to non-profit organizations, must be used for mixed-use projects combining housing and retail or commercial space.
According to Loffler, $42 million has been awarded through the program to date. Two of the projects that have received a portion of these funds were located in Chenango County.
“We’ve been lucky enough to receive two rounds of Main Street funding,” said Pegi LoPresti, president of Norwich’s Business Improvement District. Recent facade work on South Broad Street was made possible through the latest grant.
While some have found the program difficult to work with, LoPresti said this was not the case in her experience. “It’s a pretty easy program to work with,” she said.
“We’re fortunate ... the city was willing to work with us to cover the administrative costs,” said LoPresti.
That cooperation makes the program example of what can be done when the community works together, she said. “It’s nice to see the results.”
Loffler announced that an additional round of Main Street funding is available currently.
“It comes from a separate source of funding, so we’ve been able to relax some of the requirements,” she explained. In this instance, the project cap has been raised to $500,000 from $200,000, and the matching requirement has dropped from 50 percent to 25 percent.
While non-profits are still welcome to apply, said Loffler, municipalities will also be eligible to apply for this round of funding.
“This is a one time deal,” she said, explaining that the next round of funding will “revert to the old rules.” But there is hope for change in the future. According to Loffler, the agency is currently working to “pen” legislation that would permanently change the way the Main Street program is administered.
Many audience members had specific questions about how their communities could benefit from funding available through these programs.
“The demographics are changing here,” said Bob Jeffrey, who sits on Norwich’s Common Council. “What we’re finding is senior citizens who want to keep their homes, but are having a difficult time keeping them up.”
While Hunsinger suggested looking at housing rehabilitation funding opportunities through the CDBG program, he also recommended looking at other options.
“DHCR has multiple housing programs,” the senior economic developer explained, “Our money might not be the best source.”
“I think [these programs] are underutilized in our area,” said Carpenter. “I appreciate the representatives from the Office of Community Renewal taking the time to come to Chenango County to share these opportunities with us.”
Carpenter said she hoped having the information presented in the workshop form will help make local government aware of funding options out there for community renewal programs.
“Now that they have a better understanding of these programs, I would hope that the municipalities and not-for-profit organizations in our area would take advantage of these programs.”