Citizen Portal
Sign In

Council Accepts Multiple Grants for Heating, Weatherization and Mental‑health Navigation

3785355 · June 2, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The council approved acceptance of several state and county grants — including a $3.75 million LIHEAP award and a $1.3 million Winnebago County impact grant — to fund heating/energy assistance, weatherization and mental‑health housing navigation programs.

Alderman Frost: The City Council approved a package of grant awards and contract changes that fund energy assistance, weatherization, early‑childhood meal increases and mental‑health navigation.

Key approvals: The council accepted a DCEO LIHEAP state supplemental grant award of $3,747,962 (no cost match; term 06/01/2025 to 08/31/2026) to assist approved clients with electrical and heating bills. The council also accepted a DCEO Weatherization award of $772,748 (term 06/01/2025 to 09/30/2026) and a DCEO Weatherization state supplemental award for $450,570 (same term). The council accepted an Impact Grant from the Winnebago County Mental Health Board totaling $1,304,401 (term 06/01/2025 to 05/30/2027) to cover salaries for five mental‑health navigators and one housing navigator and to support temporary housing costs.

Other items: The council approved an IDHS Emergency Solutions Grant award acceptance for $25,000 that requires a 100% cost match; funds will pay for client rent, housing search and placement costs for the term 07/01/2025 to 06/01/2026. The Finance Committee also approved a change order for the child and adult care program to increase the contract by $55,061.41 (due to additional Head Start and Early Head Start students and a 3.7% increase in meal costs); funding source is a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant through the Illinois State Board of Education.

Why it matters: The grants fund core services for low‑income and vulnerable residents, including utility assistance, weatherization and mental‑health navigation that support housing stability and reduce energy burden.

Implementation: Each accepted award has terms and reporting obligations noted; staff placed the seven items before council and the clerk recorded a unanimous vote to accept the grants.