The federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is a principal revenue source for local communities to address the roots and consequences of poverty. The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development administers the program on a national basis and awards grants annually to entitlement communities, including Burlington, on a formula basis. The city in turn awards grants to local organizations as well as operating several CDBG-funded programs.
The following documents govern the local CDBG program:
CDBG Public Forum: CEDO held a community forum on September 27, 2011, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Contois Auditorium to discuss the future of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in Burlington in light of declining funding levels
. You can watch the Forum here. You can read the resulting memo to City Council here .
CDBG-R: The city received $238,821 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) to carry out, on an expedited basis, eligible activities under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. You can view a list of the funded activities here.To date, the city has completed the following projects with Community Development Block Grant funding received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Action of 2009:
- Moran Plant Redevelopment: $25,000 of CDBG-R funds were spent to stabilize the building as part of cleaning up environmental contamination at the site and to hire a development consultant.
- Business Loans: The program has made nine loans, totaling $120,978. One loan supported a new business start-up, another supported the installation of solar panels on the roof of a downtown business, and seven loans funded operating capital for local businesses.
- Cathedral Square Solar Panels: $90,000 of CDBG-R funds were spent to install new solar panels on the roof of Three Cathedral Square, a 108-unit senior housing project in downtown Burlington.
- Grant Administration: $23,882 has been spent to administer the CDBG-R grant program.