Nonprofits present CDBG and HOME funding requests to Palm Bay advisory board; staff will make recommendations in late January

At the Community Development Advisory Board meeting, more than a dozen nonprofit organizations and city departments presented proposals for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME program funding for program year 2025–2026. Presentations covered a range of public‑service and capital projects; staff will compile scores and prepare funding recommendations for the board in late January.

Key presenters and requests (as stated during presentations): - Angels Bridging Gaps (Jackie Yearby): program serving adults with disabilities, primarily age 22 and older. Yearby said it costs about $80,000 to serve roughly 30 participants and that the organization has a funding gap of about $35,000 — the amount it requested. - Community of Hope (Drew Warren): purchased two buildings at 1945 and 1975 Palm Bay Road and proposed three one‑bedroom senior housing units at a requested amount of $294,705 in CDBG/HOME funds; the organization said additional financing would be sought as needed and that units would be affordable for at least the 20‑year affordability period. - Aging Matters in Brevard (Tom Hamander): requested funding to support meals and related senior services; the presenter cited an amount of $27,900 tied to meal service for a cohort of seniors (figures were presented by the speaker during the meeting packet review). - Palm Bay Recreation Department (Daniel Waite): requested support for summer‑camp scholarships (proposal described as 90 scholarships per week to enable reduced‑income campers to attend field trips and STEM activities); the presentation described program metrics and a plan to use reimbursements and attendance tracking to prevent abuse of funds. A specific dollar amount was not stated in the public discussion. - City of Palm Bay Public Works (Tanya Holder / Christine Sullivan): presented a Sanfilippo Drive sidewalk project, approximately 0.65 miles from Wichita Boulevard to Eldron (transcript references); Public Works asked for $300,000 in CDBG funds and said design work would be completed before Sept. 30 and construction could begin in October 2025. - Brevard Alzheimer’s Foundation (Sean Ottle): asked for $30,000 to provide a senior safe-ride program offering non‑emergency trips and mobile food-pantry deliveries for Palm Bay residents and described a combination of owned and leased vehicles and state and federal grant support for operations. - Parks & Facilities (Josh Hudak and team): presented multiple capital park projects asking for funding to replace playground equipment and shade at Victoria Playground ($210,000 requested), add pavilions and replace fencing and lighting at Veterans Park (ask and leverage amounts were presented in the packet), replace baseball dugouts at Liberty Park, renovate restrooms and doors at Driscoll Park, complete a floating dock and captain’s house improvements at Goody Park, and replace decking on the Lagoon House boardwalk and HVAC there. The parks team emphasized in‑house labor leveraged against contractor work and noted prior CDBG-funded park projects completed on time and budget. - Women’s Center (Becky Lomstrom): described the transitional housing program for survivors of domestic violence and asked for support for services and housing; the center reported an 85% success rate since 2004 and documented a high volume of domestic‑violence reports referenced to Palm Bay police statistics. - Powell Mentoring (Marthenia Jones): presented a mentoring program for youth ages 7–17, cited measurable outcomes (graduation rate, reduced discipline referrals and college/vocational enrollment goals) and requested $23,800 to serve 28 youth. - Conklin Davis Center (presenters): requested $35,000 to support programs for people with low vision and blindness; presenters described independent‑living skills, assistive technology, orientation and mobility and children’s programs that serve infants to seniors.

Staff timeline and next steps: city grants staff told the board that staff will meet to score and finalize funding recommendations on Jan. 29 (packets and calendar changes were emailed to applicants). Staff recommendations will be included in the board packet for the board’s next meeting, and final recommendations will go to City Council for a first public hearing on April 3 and a final public hearing in July.

No formal board votes were taken on individual applications at this meeting; presenters answered clarifying questions from board members about program metrics, sustainability and service populations.