Administrators say program touches lives

FAYETTEVILLE — Chances are just about every resident is either served by or knows someone who was helped through one of the programs paid for under the city’s Community Development Block Grant program, its administrators say.

The program is set to receive $702,439 in federal money for the year. That’s about $33,500 more than the city received for the past year, at $668,915. The annual public hearing on how best to spend the money was held Wednesday at City Hall.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development calculates how much it doles out to various communities based on population, need and poverty levels. Lawmakers hear from their constituents about the necessity of the program, which explains why the amount has gone up, said Yolanda Fields, director of the city’s Community Resources Division.

However, that may not last forever. President Donald Trump’s administration in its 2020 budget proposed cutting the program

entirely, along with the public-housing capital fund and Home grant program, for a one-year savings of more than $7 billion, according to report from National Public Radio last month.

“You need to voice your opinion on what this funding is doing for your community,” Fields said. “If it disappears, who’s going to fill that gap?”

For instance, the city’s Hearth program provides transitional and permanent supportive housing to residents. Since its inception in

2016, the program has housed 90 adults and 99 children.

Housing is set to get the largest chunk of the pie this year at more than $450,000. Another aspect of the housing program focuses on repairing homes for low- to moderate-income residents.

Often, a low-income or disabled person might have something as small as a leaky sink that turns into a much larger problem. The

city’s program can fix the issue before it gets worse, Fields said.

The $65,000 or so for public services will cover the city’s transportation program, which includes supplemental taxi service for qualifying disabled or elderly residents. Court-Appointed Special Advocates of Northwest Arkansas also is set to receive $10,000. The agency advocates for foster children in the city.

Another $12,000 will go to Welcome Health’s free dental care program for uninsured low-income families. CASA and Welcome Health applied for CDBG

grants in the fall, and those amounts reflect what was awarded to them.

More than anything else, city officials want residents to know about the programs that are available. Administrators frequently hear from residents who didn’t know about the services until they were told, said Kelly Colebar, community resources administrator.

“There are a lot of people who, maybe they’ve not benefited directly, but they know somebody who has or could,” she said.