ATHOL — Selectboard Chair Rebecca Bialecki thanked Athol’s Planning and Community Development Director Eric Smith and consultant Linda Overing for speedy action on a grant which, if approved, will help ease the blow of the COVID-19 pandemic for several area communities.
“Thank you for your rapid response to a very tight turnaround for this grant application,” said Bialecki. “I really appreciate your work in jumping on this and making it possible.”
The Chair’s comments came at the start of a public hearing on the application held during last week’s remote meeting of the Selectboard.
Overing, of Breezeway Farm Consulting in New Salem, explained, “The CARES Act the U.S. Congress passed in March included additional CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds to be distributed to the states to deal with needs created by COVID-19. It’s taken about two months for the money to get from D.C. to Massachusetts, and now the Dept. of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), which oversees CDBG for the commonwealth, has created a very rapid round of CDBG applications.
“Town can apply for two kinds of assistance. The two programs we can apply for are social services activities that are direct needs created by COVID-19 — or will be — and microenterprise support. It’s a small business assistance program, but it’s limited to businesses of five or fewer employees, of which the owner or owners count as employees, and the owner or owners must meet low- or moderate-income guidelines.”
Overing said just over $9 million is being made available to the 300-plus communities in the state that don’t get funds directly from HUD (federal Dept. of Housing and Urban Development) for CDBG purposes.
“DHCD has made it very clear,” said Overing, “that they’re really looking for regional applications. They want to see a geographic distribution. They want to see partnerships. The regionals create a much more efficient way to get the monies out.”
Overing told the board that Athol is partnering with Phillipston, Templeton, and Winchendon on the application for both social services and microenterprise assistance.
Smith explained that, of the total of nearly $460,000 being sought, $300,000 would be committed to microenterprise assistance. Athol would receive the lion’s share, some $150,000, while $82,500 would go to Winchendon, $52,500 to Templeton, and $15,000 to Phillipston.
Under the heading of social services, $90,000 would be split among the four communities to address food insecurity. Agencies targeted for funding include the Athol Salvation Army, Lifepath, the Templeton-Phillipston Food Pantry, and the Winchendon Community Action Committee. The $13,250 committed to homelessness assistance would go the Salvation Army and Winchendon CAC.
The balance of the grant, $55,000, would cover the cost of grant administration.
The votes of the Selectboard to approve the application and to instruct Town Manger Shaun Suhoski to sign the application and all related documents was unanimous.