Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. has announced that $4.4 million will be distributed to 16 Essex County towns and 32 non-profits through the Community Development Block Grant program, and there’s a chunk in there for Verona.
Verona will get $108,738 for street reconstruction on Personette Avenue and Depot Street. Across the county, a total of $3,141,354 will go to government-sponsored projects and $1,313,066 to non-profits. But the government awards listed by the county in its announcement often include monies that will be used by non-profits in those towns: The $321,727 awarded to Montclair, for example, includes one street reconstruction project, handicap lifts for the town pools and funds for six non-profit groups. The government awards also include $890,884 to Essex County for program administration, monitoring and oversight.
The CDBG program is funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by the Essex County Division of Housing and Community Development. Bloomfield, East Orange, Irvington and Newark apply for CDBG funding independently; Essex Fells and North Caldwell did not submit applications. To be eligible, municipalities and non-profits must meet specific criteria set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The county stressed in its announcement that the funds have no impact on the County budget and cannot be used as revenue in the County’s operating budget.
