[Alicia Hunt]: Good evening, and thank you all for coming this evening. My name's Alicia Hunt. I'm the Director of Planning, Development and Sustainability for the City of Medford. I am here with Laurel Siegel, who is our Community Development Block Grant Manager. And we are here for a public hearing on our annual performance and evaluation report for the Community Development Block Grant. And I will turn this over to Laurel.
[Laurel Siegel]: Thank you Director Hunt. So the purpose of this meeting is to discuss our consolidated annual performance and evaluation report, also known as the CAPER, which reviews the previous year's program accomplishments, the use of the funds, and elicits input from the community, including low and moderate income residents, social service agencies, and the public at large on the future use of our community development block grant funds. Community Development Block Grant, also known as CDBG, is a program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development that's been in effect for nearly 50 years. And the intent of the program is to benefit low and moderate income persons, which is defined as households and families with 80% or less of the area median income. Um, it's a grant that allows us to address the causes and consequences of poverty in our community and allows us to fund programs such as public facilities, parks, public service agencies, housing, and economic development. And the projects need to show that they benefit at least 51% of low and moderate income persons in the community. Uh, this table shows a breakdown of the current numbers for the definition of extremely low, very low, and low income based on the number of individuals in a household or family in Medford. So the program has a number of different elements to it. It runs through the fiscal year of the city from July 1st through July, June 30th of the year. It includes 20% of the allocation of funds that we received from HUD is allocated for public service proposals, which are funds that go to nonprofit agencies in our city, serving the low and moderate income individuals and households in our community. And so that application goes out in January or February for those organizations to apply to us for funding. In the spring, we draft our annual action plan, which includes the proposals for those programs, as well as the programs that we will initiate ourselves through the city. And that includes the public Facilities and other construction projects and housing projects and economic development projects that we're working on throughout the city. There will be a public hearing before the city council in May. uh, where we will ask that the city council authorize the mayor to submit the one year annual action plan to HUD. And that action plan is due to be submitted to HUD by May 15th. And then at the end of the year, we prepare the CAPER report, which is what we were discussing this evening is normally due on September 30th for the previous program year. This year, we request an extension through the end of this month, October. So some of the accomplishments over our last fiscal year include public facility improvements. We did roadway, sidewalk and utility reconstruction at Pinkert Street near Haines Square. as well as Prescott, Alston, and Cottage Streets in West Medford. We are currently working on design work for improvements to Gowerly and Dwyer Streets in the hillside area with the plan to make improvements in the coming year to those streets. There was work done on Logan Park to install a more accessible pathway through the park, as well as the completion of the reconstruction at Morrison Park. which improved the surface, added new structures for young children and added trees to the park. We're also working on various upgrades to the Medford Fire Department Engine 3, Ladder 2 and Engine 5. And funds have gone towards the Mayor's stump removal and tree planting program, which has served low and moderate income areas throughout the city. In addition, funds have gone towards affordable housing initiatives with housing staff working on creating additional affordable units through private partnership with developers as a leveraged activity. Also, the city adopted this past year, the housing production plan, which identifies obstacles, opportunities and recommendations to develop affordable housing in Medford. In addition, the city also adopted this past year the Affordable Housing Trust Ordinance, which will be implemented in the coming year as a way to fund the acquisition and development of affordable housing in Medford. And last, the city is in the process of launching a pilot housing rehabilitation program, which will allow us to fund individual homeowners to make certain accessibility and weatherization repairs to their homes. In addition, as I mentioned, 20% of our CDBG funding goes towards public services, and those are funds that we provide to outside nonprofit service agencies, and they support a variety of programs. This past year, it included housing, legal aid, referral, and counseling services, services for the elderly, including transportation, resources for individuals at risk of homelessness, residents in crisis, and the physically and emotionally disabled population. elementary afterschool care, food security services, and vocational educational opportunities for residents. And also CDBG funding goes towards economic development efforts. The city continued its facades grant program for local businesses to upgrade signage, awnings, exterior lighting, and other exterior enhancements. The city continues to foster connections between commercial developers and workforce training programs to create economic opportunities for low to moderate income Medford residents. and the city's comprehensive plan, which was adopted in fiscal year 23, prioritizes support for minority and women-owned business enterprises. Upcoming projects for the coming year include street and sidewalk improvements at Garrelly and Dwyer streets, ADA street redesign for curbs and crossings, finishing the improvements at engine three, renovations of the McGlynn School program, which will be extensive renovations to include a new playground, a athletic field and other improvements at that site. Further development of our pilot housing rehabilitation program that we plan to launch later this year. And also we are making further improvements to the community gardens at Medford Housing Authority properties by adding additional facilities at Liberprez Village, as well as new garden beds at Timpani Apartments. So those are all of the activities that we have been engaging in and intend to engage in in the coming year. We invite and welcome comments and questions from the community as we move ahead on these projects, and particularly as to what our priorities should be among parks, public facilities, infrastructure, housing, economic development, and public services. And anybody who has any questions could feel free to reach out to me. My name is Laurel Siegel. I can be reached at 781-393-2480 or at lsiegel at medford-ma.gov. Thank you.