Grand Island City Hall, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND – Grand Island’s City Council voted 7-0 Aug. 13 to approve the development of a 2024-2028 consolidated plan for Community Development Block Grant activities.
Council members Doug Lanfear, Michelle Fitzke and Maggie Mendoza were absent from the Aug. 13 meeting.
Community Development Administrator Amber Alvidrez gave a presentation to the City Council about the Community Development Block Grant program.
In a memo to the City Council, she wrote that Grand Island became an Entitlement Community in September 2015. A large part of the planning process for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) model is the creation of 3- to 5-year consolidated plan, and the Annual Action Plan.
“In order to receive the annual CDBG allocation, the city is required to complete an Annual Action Plan that breaks down the priorities and lists specific dollar amounts for projects that will be implemented throughout the program year,” Alvidrez wrote.
The city was notified it would receive $339,000 of CDBG funds for the 2024 program year. Projects that were selected for funding were: Program Administration, $51,133; Health Department, daycare scholarships, $10,000; Hope Harbor, operational costs, $10,000; Third City Community Clinic, medical program, $5,000; Project Hunger, food program, $25,000; 4th Street Business Improvement District rental assistance, $75,000; Hope Harbor, facility rehabilitation, $23,000; Third City Community Clinic, building rehabilitation, $100,000; and YMCA, building rehabilitation, $50,496.
In another item, the City Council voted 7-0 to purchase a new telephone system that will be used at City Hall, the Police Department, the Fire Department Stations, and Grand Island Public Library. The current system is 13 years old. The City Council is purchasing the Voice Over Internet Protocol phone system from Americom for $87,416, and also will have a $5,878 monthly fee from Zulty’s. The phone system has the capability to be accessed from an app on a cell phone.
The City Council voted 7-0 to approve accepting a $20,000 Economic Mobility Rapid Grant from the National League of Cities. In a memo to the City Council, City Administrator Laura McAloon wrote that the grant will fund a new economic development opportunity called the Grand Island Community Kitchen Pilot Project. The project will provide direct funding assistance to entrepreneurs with a household income of 200 percent or less of the federal poverty limit.
Grant funds can be used toward the cost of renting shared commercial kitchen space, purchasing supplies or creating marketing materials in order to provide equitable support to entrepreneurs and small businesses.
In the grant proposal, the city proposed partnering with the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corp. and the Grand Island Multicultural Coalition to “create a pilot project that will provide funding for local low-income entrepreneurs who desire to expand their food production businesses, sharpen their skills in the kitchen, utilize business planning and marketing tools, and collaborate with other local business owners to grow and upscale their businesses.”
The project will provide up to $2,000 in direct funding assistance to each person selected.
“The goal of the pilot project is to increase economic opportunity and upward mobility for some of the lowest earners in Grand Island,” McAloon wrote.
The city will partner with Central Community College’s Entrepreneurial Center, the Multicultural Coalition, the City Library, the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corporation, and Grow Grand Island to help entrepreneurs “scale up the production of their product, develop business plans to support the growth of their business, and create marketing plans and marketing materials to promote their business.”
