Joliet outlines outreach and timeline for 2025–29 CDBG consolidated plan; $919,000 expected for 2025

Jacqueline Lozada, the City of Joliet’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program manager, told the council on March 17 that the city is drafting a five-year consolidated plan covering 2025–29 and a program-year 2025 annual action plan that will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a single document.

Lozada said the consolidated plan “creates a guided course” for annual action plans and that the PY2025 action plan will summarize the projects, activities and resources the city intends to fund in the coming program year. “HUD uses both the consolidated plan and the annual action plan to hold us as a grantee accountable for our funding decisions,” she said.

The presentation outlined substantive changes to outreach and application processing meant to broaden participation and reduce administrative barriers. Lozada said the city and consultant Usona Development have held consultations with county, township and neighborhood groups and local nonprofits and that the public survey is posted in English and Spanish on the city website. She said roughly 30 consultations had taken place by the time of the pre-council meeting and staff will continue one-on-one consultations and office hours.

Lozada described three application and scoring changes for PY2025: a digitized application form (the first time the city has digitized CDBG applications), a consolidated one-page rubric for each service type to reduce applicant confusion, and scaled financial-capacity review so smaller requests are not held to the same standard as much larger grants. She said the rubric was updated to prioritize grassroots and local organizations with limited funding sources.

Lozada also reviewed the program’s eligibility and budget rules: public services are capped at 15 percent of the allocation, CDBG administration at 20 percent, and funded activities must meet at least one national objective for low- and moderate-income persons or areas, urgent need, or prevention/elimination of slum and blight. She said the city expects a similar allocation to last year — about $919,000 — and that final formulas and appropriations would be announced within 60 days.

Key dates posted by staff include a nonprofit workshop scheduled for March 26, a notice of funding opportunity on March 31, an application window running March 31–April 28, a review and scoring period April 29–May 9, committee and council consideration in mid–late May, a 30-day public comment period on the draft, and an anticipated submission to HUD by July. Lozada said the city’s timeline puts it about three weeks ahead of HUD’s deadline, providing some scheduling flexibility.

Lozada said staff will present the list of submitted applications to the committee and council before awards are finalized to increase transparency on which agencies applied and the eligibility rationale. She reiterated income guidance used for benefit calculations (for example, a three-person household qualifying limit cited in the presentation as roughly $80,000 and a five-person household as roughly $96,000) and encouraged nonprofits to use the city’s office hours and one-on-one technical assistance.

The city manager and council members asked several clarifying questions about funding prioritization, and Lozada said the changes aim to increase the likelihood that smaller, grassroots applicants can compete under the revised rubric. No formal action was taken at the pre-council meeting; the substantial amendment to PY2024 and the consolidated plan will appear on future agendas for public hearing and formal council action.

For more information, Lozada gave the nonprofit workshop flyer and asked interested groups to contact her for scheduling and one-on-one assistance.