Town to provide $400,000 to help local nonprofits
CDBG funds will go to agencies aiding those dealing with the impact of COVID
GREENWICH — The town has moved to the final step in deciding how to allocate more than $400,000 in federal funds to help nonprofits that serve the community.
The CARES Act that Congress passed in March included the funds, which went to the town in an extra allocation from the Community Development Block Grant program. The CDBG money goes out every year from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to the town, and now the extra money is going out too.
The funds were in high demand, with nearly $800,000 in requests coming in, said Alexis Voulgaris, chair of the town CDBG Committee.
“It’s really, really hard to make these decisions,” Voulgaris said. “You have all of these worthy agencies asking for help, and then you have COVID placed on top of that, which is not only draining their resources but putting them in a position where they have to go above and beyond what they usually do.”
Overall, the CDBG Committee has recommended $417,058 in allocations after receiving
more than $797,596 in requests. The funds would go to 17 Greenwich agencies and town departments that provide assistance with rent payments, coronavirus response, food insecurity and early childhood education.
The allocations include $85,000 in two grants to Neighbor to Neighbor, with $40,000 for its supplemental food program and coronavirus testing, and $45,000 for a new air filtration to make operations safer during the pandemic.
There is also a $65,000 grant for the Feed Greenwich program at the Transportation Association of Greenwich, which delivers food to residents; a $41,826 grant for a COVID-19 relief fund at Pathways; $35,000 for a food distribution initiative at the Community Centers Inc.; $30,000 for childcare programs at the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich; and two grants totaling $24,800 for Family Centers Inc. for early care and education programs.
The town of Greenwich’s Human Services Department is slated to receive $25,000 for rental assis
tance and $25,000 for client necessities during the pandemic.
The Board of Estimate and Taxation and First Selectman Fred Camillo have approved the allocations. All that remains is the final OK from the Representative Town Meeting at its meeting on Jan. 19.
The CARES Act money was released to meet emergency needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and there were fewer regulations about how the CDBG Committee could distribute the funds.
“This was really an opportunity, because it was unrestricted, to pour the
majority of the money into grants for specific programs,” Voulgaris said. “Normally these programs would only be getting $5,000 or $7,500 in our regular cycle, and it ballooned to get $30,000, $35,000 or $40,000.
“It was a really good way of pushing money to organizations for programs that had they come to us in the regular cycle probably would have been left out,” he said.
As part of the federally mandated block grant process, the BET was required to hold a public hearing. No one attended or spoke during the hearing, which
was part of the finance board’s regular December meeting last week. The BET’s approval was unanimous.
Fairbairn said they were notified in late September that the funds would be coming to Greenwich as part of the CARES Act. The funds usually come from HUD’s block grant program.
Because of the urgent need to respond to the pandemic, Fairbairn said it was a “quick process,” with a three-week process for non-profits to apply. He said 21 agencies applied and ultimately, after presentations and a public hearing, the committee decided to allocate the 17 grants.
Overall, the town got $386,090 in new allocations from the CARES Act. The committee was also able to allocate $30,000 that Abilis Inc. was not able to spend from an earlier CDBG allocation to reach the $417,058 total.
Last April, the CDBG Committee approved $696,505 in grants for local capital projects at nonprofits and $134,525 for programming needs. The annual CDBG process will begin again in February.