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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-09-18 Residential Neighborhoods U d N a 1865 a OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER, CiTy CLERK RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS JULY 9, 2018 4:13 P.M. Committee Members Present: Karen White, Jo M. Broden, Regina Williams-Preston, John Voorde Committee Members Absent: None Other Council Present: Sharon L. McBride, Tim Scott, Gavin Ferlic, Jake Teshka Other Council Absent: Oliver Davis Others Present: Bianca Tirado, Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer, Casey Colvin, Gabriel Murei, David Boling, Elivet Navarro Presenters: James Mueller Agenda: Bill No. 18-28- Cities of Service"Love Your Block" grant opportunity Committee Chair Karen White called to order the Residential Neighborhoods Committee meeting at 4:13 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee and proceeded to give the floor to the presenters. Bill No. 18-28- Cities of Service "Love Your Block" grant opportunity James Mueller, Executive Director of Community Investment with offices on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, stated,I am filling in for our Director of Engagement who couldn't be here. This grant opportunity is similar to the previous one(1) in that it is trying to leverage AmeriCorps members to do home repair programs. The program is called Love Your Block and the idea is to fix things one(1)block at a time to increase progress in the neighborhoods. The details are that, if we are awarded, we get $25,000 and two (2) full-time AmeriCorps members to work on this for us. It would be a resident-driven home repair task force to complete small scale repairs and then also try to connect residents to certain vocational apprenticeships. The reason this is in resolution is the Cities of Service raised the specter of all the elected officials signing on so there is broad- based support. Committee Chair White asked, In terms of the Love Your Block Grant and the other grants that really target home repair and education,will all of these still hold true to make sure the experience is the same for everyone? Mr. Mueller replied, Yes, that is the idea. And then on our other home repair program, we have tried to make it seamless to the residents even though there are two (2) separate streams, one (1) INTEGRITY1 SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BLANCA L.T[RADO JOSEPH R MoiNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS DE=/DmE=R of Poucy ORDUVnNCE VIOLATION CLEAR EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Blvd.I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211 f 574.235.9173 1 www.southbendin.gov ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK being federal funds and the other being Civil City funds. We are trying to make it as easy for people to understand it as possible. Committee Chair White followed up, Will the grant target certain areas within the community? And are we targeting the same? I don't know. Mr. Mueller replied, We can send you the details. Committee Chair White replied, That would be very beneficial so we can look at all the different funding opportunities, which, I think are very exciting. To see where we are focusing our efforts would be very good information. Committeemember Jake Teshka stated, I have a couple questions. One (1) is about the eligibility requirements and the other is about what resident-driven means. Can you explain what that means? How is the program advertised and rolled out? Mr. Mueller replied, The whole program is meant to engage and get our residents to love their block. These AmeriCorps members will be helping to get residents in the neighborhoods to help fix things and do stuff on houses. Committeemember Teshka followed up, So the $25,000 grant is going toward material costs? Mr. Mueller replied, I would assume material costs and then also administrative costs. Committeemember Regina Williams-Preston stated, One (1) of the challenges in engagement is we have people that go out in the community to try and get people involved and the neighbors either trust them or they don't. They get engaged or they don't. I think one (1) of the exciting things about this grant is it actually came out of an idea that a resident, Ms. Odom, has already started in the neighborhoods. She is out there and working with neighbors and contractors who she knows live in the neighborhood to actually go and assist people. This is another example of how our City government is listening to residents and is recognizing what residents are doing. We are empowering our citizens by engaging our citizens. The idea of having these AmeriCorps volunteers go out and try to get people to get involved, some people may think we've tried that. But because this is something that was stimulated by and initiated by people in the community, I can really see this as something to hold as a badge of honor. This is really something authentic and it shows we are really doing what we say we want to do. I want to acknowledge and thank Ms. Odom for her wonderful idea and I really appreciate the City for recognizing that. Committeemember Jo M. Broden asked, I would guess this grant application included some targeted areas or census tracts? Mr. Mueller replied, Yes and we can get that to you. But it is City-wide. Committeemember Broden followed up, I think that would be important, even with the earlier grant. But I would like both grant's executive summary in advance to this hearing. I would appreciate it. Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of, or in opposition to,the legislation. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 46601 I p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 1TD574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov 2 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Sue Kesim, 4022 Kennedy Drive, stated, I think it's a great program. I think it's a really tiny amount of money, so when you are doing the budgeting process, maybe add to it. I mean I see millions of dollars for developers and when we have a nice citizen initiative, let's give it a little more juice in the budget. Committee Chair White then turned the floor back to the presenter. Mr. Mueller stated, We look forward to having more neighborhood progress in our upcoming budget. Committee Chair White then turned the floor back to the Committee for further comment or main motion. Committeemember Broden made a motion to send Bill No. 18-28 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Voorde seconded this motion which carried by a voice vote of four ayes. With no further business, Committee Chair White adjourned the Residential Neighborhoods Committee meeting at 4:21 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, i� Karen White, Committee Chair EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building[227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 jTTD574.235.5567 1www.southbendin.gov 3