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Official website for the City of Aurora, Illinois. Mayor Tom Weisner

Community Development Block Grant Program

The Authority

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program was established under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended. Under this program, cities are invited by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to become “entitlement communities” and to apply for their “entitlement amount” each year. This entitlement amount is determined by a national formula established by Congress annually.

The Purpose

Grants are awarded to entitlement communities to carry out a wide range of community development activities directed toward neighborhood revitalization, economic development, and the provision of improved community facilities and services.

Federal Mandates

At least seventy percent of the City’s CDBG expenditure per year must be to benefit low- and moderate-income persons. However, no more than fifteen percent can be under the category of public service activities. Expenditures must meet at least one of the three national objectives set by Congress: 1) benefit low- and moderate-income persons; 2) alleviate or eliminate slum or blight conditions; or 3) meet other community needs having a particular urgency because existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to community health or welfare and where other financial resources are not available.

Eligible Activities

Activities that can be carried out with CDBG funds include, but are not limited to, the acquisition of real property, relocation and demolition, rehabilitation of residential and non-residential structures, and construction of public facilities and improvement. In addition, CDBG funds may be used to pay for public services, energy conservation measures, and to assist profit motivated businesses to carry out economic development activities.

Citizen Participation

In accordance with HUD guidelines, the City of Aurora has developed a system for citizen participation in the decision making and priority setting process. Besides the formal public hearing process, throughout each year the city gathers and processes information it receives through several means. Ward Committee meetings, Neighborhood Watch Groups, calls to city offices are a few of the methods used to collect information that helps direct the use of the CDBG funds. A citizen advisory committee known as the Block Grant Working Committee meets with staff to help determine how the CDBG funds would best serve the community.

Information collected is then compiled, along with statistical data and analysis, into a strategic plan, the Consolidated Plan (ConPlan). The ConPlan includes a narrative based on the analysis of information, a set of priorities, a one-year action plan to implement the ConPlan, and a budget. Residents are given the opportunity to comment on the ConPlan. Those comments and the city’s response to the comments are then submitted with the ConPlan to HUD for the next year’s funding.

In like manner, after the program year has ended, the city prepares a performance report, the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), which states the accomplishments by the city on fulfilling the goals of the ConPlan. Again, residents are afforded the opportunity to comment on this report before it is submitted to HUD.