City Prepares to Allocate Community Development Block Grant

SIMI VALLEY — With more than $1 million available in the city’s Community Development Block Grant Program, the City Council is slated to approve Monday a final list of organizations eligible for funding.

A public hearing will precede the vote to determine which organizations will receive the remaining $446,000 of the $1,010,000 available in grants this year.

“This year I am really pleased,” said Councilwoman Barbara Williamson. “There are so many organizations that are doing great things in our community and that’s exactly what CDBG funds are for.”

The council decided last month on a tentative list of organizations that will receive a portion of the funds.

They run the gamut from a youth boxing program to steer kids away from the pitfalls of gangs to a group of residents who want to buttress beleaguered funding outlays for the public library.

The final list of more than 30 nonprofit and public service groups will be submitted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for review before any of the organizations receive money.

Though the council may decide to support other organizations with the remainder of the money, most of it will probably go to the city’s Department of Public Works to continue with a street improvements program and other projects, like drainage repair.

All cities with a population of 50,000 or more are eligible to receive the block grant funds from the federal government.

Simi Valley received $804,000 this year which was added to $206,000 in grant money that was not used last year.

Council members and staff who reviewed the initial requests for funding made their decisions based on a number of criteria including the benefit of each to the community, the amount of matching funds committed to the project, cost/benefit ratios, whether the project had received funding in the past and, if so, whether it met its goals.

The City Council meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road.