Last week the Community Development Block Grant made their recommendations in response to the Mayors request for a 3% cut from current funding. They couldn’t have made a better choice! Here’s the memo summarizing last week’s meeting:
TO: Persons Interested in CDBG Commission Actions
FROM: Barbara Constans
DATE: August 1, 2007
SUBJECT: CDBG Commission MeetingThe Mayor has requested that City agencies (except for Police and Fire) submit 2008 budget proposals to him based on 97% of the 2007 level of City general purpose revenue. For the CDBG program, this translates to a 3% cut, or around $21,308. In order to meet this request
The CDBG Commission took the following actions at its Special Meeting of July 27, 2007:
Recommended the Office meet the 3% goal by decreasing the 2008 funding level of the Labor Council pre-apprenticeship training project by $21,308. The Commission based their recommendation on the fact that initial reports for the first 4 months of this year suggest that the project has been more successful in assisting individuals gain employment who live outside of Dane County than in recruiting and preparing people who live in the City including the area of focus on Allied. Of the total reported to have gained employment, 82% live outside of Dane County. Of the total provided training, 7% were from Allied. Even with a cut of this size, we believe the project will be able to continue to grow, to develop support from its natural Union and contractor partners, and successful on a more modest, but City-focused scale. (This project is currently administered through the Centro Hispano organization.)
The Commission also recommended that its choice of cuts be considered as a supplement for restored funding. (Apparently this language was a mistake and they didn’t not ask for a supplemental request. A new synopsis of the project has been issued and this language is removed.)
What?! This group took City money and assisted people outside of Dane County?! And they were supposed to be focusing on Allied Drive?! Not only should they be cut, we should get our money back!
