City of Utica Allocates Federal Funding to Local Not-For-Profits and Various City Projects

Utica Mayor Michael P. Galime announced that the City has finalized its allocation of federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to various not-for-profit agencies and to select City projects, as well.  All of the not-for-profit agencies selected to receive funding provide public services to low- and moderate-income persons and families throughout the city.

Administered by the United States Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), the city is slated to receive $2,402,334 in CDBG funding for the current program year that started on April 1, 2024 and runs through March 31, 2025.  CDBG funds are allocated to communities throughout the country and must be spent in furtherance of one of three of HUD’s ‘National Objectives’, including:

• For the benefit of persons and families of low- to moderate-income;
• Elimination of slums and blight; and
• To address an urgent need (generally recognized as instances where a disaster declaration has been made).

The not-for-profit recipients, their award amount and the services that they intend to provide include:

• 50 Forward ($27,000) to fund activities and programming for senior citizens;
• Abraham House ($47,000) to provide residential caregiving for the terminally ill;
• North Utica Senior Citizens Center ($27,000) to fund activities and programming for senior citizens;
• 50 Forward ($8,000) to provide transportation for senior citizens;
• Utica Center for Development ($23,000) for a youth sports mentoring program;
• Safe Schools Mohawk Valley ($23,000) to implement a youth mentoring program at the Parkway Recreation Center;
• Johnson Park Center ($21,000) to provide youth activities through a Drop-In Enrichment Youth Program;
• Midtown Utica Community Center ($8,000) to support operation of a day camp in Old Forge;
• Utica Youth Bureau ($32,700) to employ youth between the ages of 14 to 21 in a summer program
• Utica Royalties Youth Program ($5,000) to fund youth development programs;
• OnPoint for College ($38,000) to provide training and counseling services to prepare high school students for college;
• For The Good, Inc. ($25,000) to launch the Teen Center for Arts & Education at the DeSales Center;
• Safe Schools Mohawk Valley ($32,000) to continue funding to teach life skills, coping strategies and conflict resolution to students as Proctor;
• Utica College Young Scholars Program ($38,000) to provide tutoring and mentoring to income-eligible at-risk youth;
• Center for Family Life & Recovery ($8,000) to support a mental health/mentoring program;
• Parkway Center/Elderlife ($9,584) to hire a manager for the Farmer’s Market at Chancellor Park.

The various City initiatives to which CDBG funding was allocated include:

• Street reconstruction/repaving ($730,000) to reconstruct or repave primarily residential streets in neighborhoods of low- to moderate-income neighborhoods;
• UFD turn-out gear ($60,000) to purchase new turn-out gear for firefighters serving principally low- to moderate-income neighborhoods;
• Handicap accessibility in city parks ($275,000) to ensure handicap accessibility throughout city parks;
• Residential sidewalk replacement program ($75,050) to continue the residential sidewalk rebate program in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods.

Utica Mayor Michael P. Galime said: “Additionally, I am pleased to announce two new initiatives.  Throughout my campaign last year, two of my top priorities were small business assistance and neighborhood preservation.  With this federal funding, a new tool will be added to the city’s economic development toolbox through a grant program aimed at small businesses owned by minorities or women.  Utica is a diverse city, home to many cultures and ethnicities, many whom seek to start their own business but have incredibly limited resources.  These funds will help them attain that goal.”

Mayor Galime added “The second new program this year will focus on residential properties taken by the city through the tax foreclosure process.  Because of the three years that it takes the city to actually foreclose, these properties are often the most blighted properties on the block by the time that the city takes title.  With this $120,000 in CDBG funding, we will be able to make essential repairs to these properties to stave off further deterioration, whereby the only solution at that point is costly demolition.”