WOO-TOWN INDE X
A weekly quality of life check-in of Worcester
{ citydesk }
October 18 - 24, 2012 ■ Volume 38, Number 7
Large turnout wraps up community forums on federal funding Walter Bird Jr.
Local celebrity Christina Andrianopoulos’ Liberian kidnap claims draw out critics who label her a liar and worse on online blogs and in news comment sections. -1 The EcoTarium has been awarded a $48,920 National Leadership Grant that will allow it to develop a STEMfocused early childhood strategic plan. The project will be a partnership between the EcoTarium, Anna Maria College and Worcester Public School. +1 Eugenia Pantos, who works in the city’s Department of Administration & Finance, is named employee of the month for October. Pantos is also head teller of the Treasury. +1 Worcester man claims city manager dodged his inquiries about roadwork project at Salisbury and Forest streets until he cornered him inside City Hall. -1 More than 100 high school educators take part in the Project Lead The Way Conference at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) +1 The Ambulatory Care Center UMass Medical School has earned LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). It is the first building in the school’s history to earn the designation. +1 Total for this week: +4
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WORCESTERMAG.COM • OCTOBER 18, 2012
1,001 words
Four Worcester Consortium colleges have been awarded a total of $499,962 from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of the government’s Grants to Reduce Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence and Stalking on Campus Programs. +1
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he last of four planned public forums aimed at helping the city better allocate federal funding yielded far more questions than answers. That was by design, as city officials and representatives reached out to residents in a jam-packed, standing-room-only All Saints Church Monday night in an attempt to find out which needs and services they most want addressed. It wasn’t perfect - some of the approximately 75 in attendance, for example, left wondering why theirs was the only one of the meetings where surveys were not distributed. Other questioned the lack of available interpreters for the many Spanishand French-speaking members of the community. Most, however, agreed a framework had been laid and almost everyone was in unison that public outreach efforts should spill out of City Hall and into Worcester’s neighborhoods more often. “I would like City Hall to get out here more than once every four years,” said Jordan Berg Powers, a Worcester resident who works in Boston. “I’ve seen them out here only once. A few years ago they held a community development hearing at City Hall at, like, 5 p.m. That doesn’t work for most people. This is great. You saw the room was full. There is a thirst for this discussion.” The discussion centers around the funding and allocation of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME programs. In recent years, the city has seen a marked decrease in the amount of federal funding for those programs. Over the past five years, according to Dennis Hennessy, director of the city’s Neighborhood Development Division, block funding has been cut 30 percent. Last year, he said, the city received $3.9 million in CDBG funding. That paled in comparison to the more than $6 million requested
By Steven King
Worcester nonprofits awarded a combined $246,879 in grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) supporting cultural organizations, local cultural councils, education programs and communities. Worcester’s haul was part of an $8 million total grant package. +1
by various organizations throughout Worcester. “We’re hopeful it stays at least the same [this year],” said Hennessy, who is also serving on the Community Development Advisory Committee (CDAC) that held the forums. “You never know. We won’t know our allocation until after the election.” The public forums - previous gatherings were at the Senior Center, Great Brook Valley Community Recreation Center and Straight Up Cafe - are being held in the shadow of a report last month from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that said some of the city’s community development corporations (CDCs) improperly used funding through block grants, HOME and other programs. The report also alleged the city did not provide proper oversight. As a result, HUD froze more than $3 million in housing-related programs. “We’re working with HUD now to clarify all the uses of funding,” Hennessy said, adding the bulk of the issue involved HOME funding and not block grants. “It is mostly being worked out through the housing division. I believe the funds were used properly. We’ve got to show that to HUD.” Monday’s forum lasted well over an hour and left residents wanting another meeting, which Hennessy said is possible. CDAC member Amy Mosher facilitated the meeting, which marked the first time
the committee had ventured out to area communities in preparation to allocate federal funding. In the past, she said, the process involved area CDCs and programs telling the committee how much money they wanted. “This is not a funding conversation,” Mosher said. “It’s about what’s more important to us. We want to hear from everyday people, their ideas.” Residents were invited to shout out any and all issues they felt should be addressed. Later, they were each given four dot stickers and asked to apply them to four of six poster boards, each representing a specific category: jobs, housing, education, public safety, health and transportation. Among the needs voiced by residents were public safety, schools, affordable housing for single individuals, business development and affordable summer programs. The biggest impact, however, came in the passionate testimony of residents explaining why they were at the meeting. One of them, Martha Assefa, fought back tears as she spoke. “I’m tired of not sleeping at night knowing there’s not enough help going to people,” she said. “Like today, I saw way too much I should not be seeing. I grew up in a third-world country and I’m fucking overwhelmed. More resources need to be coming to this neighborhood. I continued on page 6
motivation