Community Development Daily: Spotlight on Rochester (NY) and Bremerton (WA)

As a part of National Community Development Week, the Conference of Mayors is sharing success stories daily on what Community Development Block Grants support in our nation’s cities. 

Cities fund a variety of CDBG projects, ranging from housing to economic development to essential public services. Below are two CDBG WORKS projects from Rochester, NY and Bremerton, WA.

City of Rochester (NY)

$1,000,000 in CDBG funding was provided by the City of Rochester as a loan for the redevelopment of the former Midtown Tower (now known as Tower280). These federal funds leveraged an additional $62,120,000 in other state, local, and private funding resulting in the creation of 181 residential units and 135,000 square feet of new Class A office space. This development addressed the needs identified in the Consolidated Plan through the creation of construction jobs for Section 3 residents, the creation of permanent jobs, and the revitalization of the City’s urban core. It is anticipated that 29 jobs will be created as a result of this project.

City of Bremerton (WA)

The City of Bremerton provides social service funding to Meals on Wheels. This program provides healthy meals to low-income, medically homebound, vulnerable seniors in our community. In the 2016 program year, the City contributed $30,000 in CDBG funding to provide 20,000 meals to 250 seniors in the City of Bremerton. Volunteers also provide annual nutrition and diabetes risk assessments, and are trained to provide “more than a meal.” Volunteers provide friendly visits and health and safety checks with the meals. They are also able to identify and provide resources to seniors on an as needed basis. With additional funding Meals on Wheels was able to participate in the Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program which allowed for 644 low-income seniors to receive $40 in vouchers to purchase fresh produce at area Farmers Markets. Often these seniors are the most vulnerable and because the majority of them are home-bound the visits from the Meals on Wheels volunteers provide them a much-needed boost.