TRENTON – The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) July 1 announced the award of $7,441,299 in Small Cities Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to non-entitlement municipalities and counties in New Jersey.
According to a release, several Cape May County communities received funding through these grants, which are:
- Middle Township – $107,000, $400,000
- Cape May – $400,000
- North Wildwood – $400,000
- Dennis Township – $363,479
- Wildwood – $400,000
- Wildwood Crest – $400,000
- Woodbine – $400,000
The 27 grants will benefit 21 municipalities in seven counties and one county-wide program, which will benefit approximately 27,000 people across the state, including senior citizens and people with disabilities. DCA’s Division of Housing and Community Resources (DHCR) receives, distributes, and administers these federal grant funds for the State of New Jersey.
“At DCA, it is our mission to improve the quality of life for people who call New Jersey home,” stated Lt. Gov. Sheila Y. Oliver, who serves as DCA commissioner. “One of the many ways we do this is through the Small Cities program. These grants will help the selected towns improve public facilities, rehabilitate housing, and make much-needed infrastructure improvements, which benefit individuals and families throughout the state.”
Awards in this year’s grant round include funding multiple projects that remove architectural barriers that hinder mobility for the disabled at beach access points, recreation areas and senior centers; water drainage and distribution system improvements; street reconstruction; removal of blighted housing; and the rehabilitation of affordable single-family housing.
Small Cities Community Development Block Grants are designated to benefit people of low-and moderate-income or to address recent local needs for which no other source of funding is available. The program provides direct assistance to eligible municipalities and counties for housing rehabilitation, public facilities, community revitalization, and economic development.
Funding for the Small Cities Program is provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Only non-entitlement, less-populated communities and counties that do not receive direct funding from HUD are eligible for the state CDBG program.
Municipalities receiving Small Cities grants design their own projects and funding priorities. These locally developed projects are required to meet at least one of the three federal National Objectives which include: 1) activities that benefit low-and moderate-income persons, 2) aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or 3) meet urgent community development needs because existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community where other financial resources are not available to meet such needs.
