Fort Smith Board weighs nonprofit funding recommendations, Dayroom objection raised

The Fort Smith Community Development Advisory Council (CDAC) presented its final recommendations for 2018 disbursement of area nonprofit funding at the city’s Board of Directors study session on Tuesday (March 27). The money is from federal sources.

Earlier this month, the CDAC weighed requests for federal funds received and administered by the city through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investments Partnership programs.

Final recommendations for 2018 totaled $1.062 million with $767,897 channeled through CDBG and $294,443 through HOME. However, according to Matt Jennings, director of the city’s community development program, the numbers will likely change based on recent passage of the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill.

For the first time since the 1990s, Jennings said, the CDBG program in particular has received a $300 million increase. Jennings expects at the local level that could take city funds from the $767,897 expected to around $844,000, a bump of close to 10%. Should that occur, approved nonprofits would experience a proportional increase in the amount of disbursements. The HOME program would experience a slight increase as well.

“What we don’t know are how many new communities are coming into the system, so that could dilute it,” Jennings said.

The city uses an online application management software called ZoomGrants for receiving and scoring applications from area nonprofits. This year 19 applications were submitted — three more than the 2017 funding cycle. Topping the final list of recommendations was the Crawford-Sebastian Community Development Council (CSCDC) in the amount of $265,049 through HOME for downpayment assistance ($65,049) and new single family construction projects ($200,000).

It received the recommendation for an additional $33,000 in CDBG funding as well ($18,000 for dental treatment provisions, $15,000 for sewer line upgrades). The CSCDC’s mission is “to improve the lives of low-income individuals and families, and the communities in which they live,” according to the website, noting that it does so by helping clients “achieve self-sufficient living.” The organization notes it injects $8 million per year into the economies of Sebastian and Crawford counties and it receives $6.8 million in in-kind donations.

BEST OF THE REST
The remaining funding recommendations for 2018 will be channeled through the CDBG program.

Second on the overall list — and for some Board members, the most contentious — is Next Step Dayroom. CDAC members recommended a total of $94,394 to the organization that serves homeless in the area, with $77,194 going to construct a single family home to be used as transitional housing and $17,200 to cover utility payments associated with transitional housing efforts.

Directors Keith Lau, Tracy Pennartz, and Kevin Settle questioned the disbursement recommendation, since the organization has made no efforts to relocate at the Riverview Hope Campus outside of the downtown corridor. The Dayroom is located within the corridor at North 6th Street. Lau, Pennartz, and Settle agreed this does not align with downtown development goals. On Tuesday, there was interest in holding the $77,194 of CDBG monies in contingency and having Next Step Dayroom reapply under the HOME program, where it would have to compete with CSCDC for funding.

No disbursements will be made to any organization until it comes before the Board at an actual voting session.

As for the Riverview Hope Campus, which opened in September of 2017, CDAC recommended a total of $57,950 — $12,251 for a walk-in freezer, $8,400 for case management, $8,224 for utility assistance, and $29,075 to asphalt the parking lot.

Closing out the CDAC’s report, Bost won a recommendation of $28,875; the Fort Smith Children’s Emergency Shelter pulled $25,740; Western Arkansas Counseling and Guidance Center, $18,500; Crisis Intervention Center, $18,000; Harbor House, Inc., $10,320; Girls Incorporated of Fort Smith, $7,740; Sebastian Retired Citizens Association, $4,400; and The Arc of the River Valley, $4,400.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMS
The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), one of the longest-running programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, funds local community development activities such as affordable housing, anti-poverty programs, and infrastructure development.

The HOME Program provides formula grants to states and localities which communities use – often in partnership with local nonprofit groups – to fund a wide range of activities including building, buying, and/or rehabilitating affordable housing for rent or homeownership or providing direct rental assistance to low-income people.

HOME is the largest federal block grant to state and local governments designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households.