Committee reallocates $30,000 in CDBG funds to top up local service projects

The Neighborhood Investment Committee voted unanimously to reprogram $30,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) public‑services funding to fully top up selected projects that had been underfunded in an earlier round.

Speaker 3 introduced a resolution (on page 12 of the agenda) to reallocate $30,000 that had been originally earmarked for a cafeteria project so the funds could be used to increase awards to several organizations. Speaker 3 named the projects to receive additional funding as learning‑labs personnel support, the Historic Ithaca work‑preserve project, and a security‑deposit assistance top‑up for a Catholic Charities project (reallocating funds tied to project number 14).

Committee members asked for clarifications before the vote. Speaker 4 and Speaker 6 clarified that one organization had declined funding for a job‑placement component but not for a job‑readiness component, and that the committee was still awaiting a signed funding commitment letter from that grantee. Speaker 2 asked why an access program that had been significantly underfunded was not chosen for a top‑up; Speaker 3 said the committee’s approach was to "roughly fully top up where we could," and that the access program’s larger funding gap made it impractical to address within the $30,000 reallocation.

After discussion, the motion was moved by Donald and seconded by Cheyenne. Speaker 5 recorded the motion as carried unanimously.

Next steps: staff will implement the reallocation and communicate changes to affected grantees; Speaker 6 said the city is tracking outstanding commitment letters and will update the committee when signed agreements arrive.