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St. Charles Parish grants office reports nearly $238 million in active awards, highlights major projects
Summary
Grants officer Carla Chastain told the St. Charles Parish Council the parish is managing roughly $238 million in grant funds across dozens of projects, including large CPRA awards for coastal and pump-station work and ongoing elevation and boat-launch projects.
Carla Chastain, grants officer for St. Charles Parish, told the parish council on Aug. 18 that the parish is managing roughly $238 million in grant funds across dozens of projects.
Chastain said that in 2024 the parish was awarded nearly $30 million across 82 projects and that, as of the meeting, the parish had $2.5 million in awards for 2025 and expected another $23.5 million in state-allocated funds to be presented for approval in the coming months. "So looking back to 2024, I like to give you guys totals, for the year. And so in 2024, we were awarded almost $30,000,000 in grant funds for 82 different projects," she said.
The presentation listed major, named awards that Chastain said are moving forward: a $16.7 million CPRA award for the Cousins T-wall project; $5.5 million from CPRA for Sunset Pump Station upgrades; a $1 million award for Lake Salvador shoreline protection; and roughly $10 million from CPRA for a new Muntz Pump Station (noted elsewhere in the meeting as part of a $33 million pump-station program). Chastain also said there are about $18 million in open grant awards for residential elevation projects and that the parish has approximately $72 million in applications submitted and awaiting decision.
Chastain described funding sources and program requirements for several federal- and state-funded programs. She said Community Development Block Grant disaster-recovery funds must meet HUD national objectives (for example, benefiting low-to-moderate-income areas) and that some projects have been designated as "urgent need" to meet those requirements. She also described FEMA Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation grant activity and said the parish has outstanding Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) applications; the presenter stated an amount that appeared in the slide deck as "32,400,000,000.0," which Chastain clarified in discussion as $32.4 million in outstanding HMGP applications (see clarifying details).
Council members asked about timelines and review processes. Councilwoman O'Daniel asked whether "OCD" in Chastain's slides referred to the state Office of Community Development; Chastain confirmed it did and said the state is reviewing submitted applications. Councilwoman Wilson asked about typical review timelines; Chastain replied state reviews often take about a year to 18 months and federal reviews (for example FEMA) can take three years or longer. Parish President Matthew Jewell and several council members thanked Chastain and her team for securing grants and for maintaining the parish's ability to match or move projects forward when bids or schedules change.
Chastain closed by listing other active projects and the parish's role in application and post-award management. She encouraged residents interested in elevation assistance to contact the grants office for eligibility guidance.
Ending: The grants office said it will bring several grant agreements to the council in coming months for final approval; council members praised the office for using external funds to advance infrastructure and resilience projects.
