The City of Goleta has been awarded $230,558 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the upcoming 2021-2022 Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) program year. The programs and activities being carried out with the annual funding are included in the City’s 2021-2022 CDBG Action Plan. The City is conducting a 30-day public review period from April 2 – May 3, 2021, where the community can review the draft Action Plan available here on the City website and provide input. The final Action Plan will be considered by the City Council at its May 4, 2021, meeting, and will be submitted to HUD by the annual May 15 deadline.

Claudia Dato, Neighborhood Services & Public Safety Senior Project Manager said, “The City is very pleased to be an ongoing recipient of CDBG funding which allows us to provide important services to our low-income population. Among the awards for the coming year is a grant to provide essential medical and dental services to low-income residents and the homeless at the Goleta Neighborhood Clinic on Calle Real and the Goleta Dental Clinic on Kinman Avenue, both operated by Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics.”

The City is grateful to have been a HUD award recipient since 2004. These grant funds are intended to help communities accomplish HUD’s overall goals by carrying out a wide range of community development activities directed toward revitalizing neighborhoods, engaging in economic development, and providing important services of benefit to low-income residents, seniors, disabled individuals, and the homeless, in addition to other targeted populations. The CDBG program is principally targeted toward assisting low- and moderate-income persons.

Each year the City prepares an Action Plan that includes one-year goals and objectives, and funding allocations for activities to be carried out in the coming program year. The City of Goleta predominantly relies on nonprofit organizations to help carry out the goals of its CDBG Program. To allow for this, the City awards grant funds on a competitive basis to organizations that are considered grant subrecipients under the City’s CDBG Program.

Community participation is at the forefront of the City’s housing and neighborhood services strategies, planning, and implementation. The CDBG program requires that community members, particularly persons of low- and moderate-income, minorities, and persons with disabilities, be given an opportunity to participate in an advisory role in the planning and implementation of the CDBG program.

Please visit www.cityofgoleta.org/i-want-to/apply-for/grants to review the draft Action Plan during the 30-day public review period (April 2 – May 3, 2021). The public is encouraged to share any comments and input with Senior Project Manager Claudia Dato at cdato@cityofgoleta.org or 805-961-7558.

 Pictures courtesy of Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics