The City of Bloomington and Town of Normal are inviting community members to provide input on what they think are the most pressing community needs.
In partnership with the McLean County Regional Planning Commission, the city and town are creating a five-year plan to distribute about $1 million in federal Community Development Block Grant [CDGB] annual funding the community receives.
“CDBG is an annual entitlement grant to local governments for community development that is locally driven, the investments are controlled locally, it’s decided locally what we do with the funds,” said William Bessler, economic and community development grants manager for the City of Bloomington.
“The funds can be used for housing rehabilitation and housing repairs, social services, homeless services, youth services, neighborhood revitalization, sidewalk repairs and other public infrastructure improvements, park improvements," he said.
Compared to previous surveys, the new survey has more questions focusing on housing, given the area’s ongoing housing shortage.
“We build a five-year plan based on that survey. We take into account other data points, things from the Census Bureau, other local data sources to get a complete picture,” Bessler said. “But it’s really community member driven. If they complete the survey, they have a real voice and an impact on how those spending priorities are set for both the city and the town.”
Jennifer Toney, community development specialist for the Town of Normal, said the amount of funding the town and city receive from CDBG is determined through a formula that looks at aspects such as poverty rate, housing costs and unemployment rate.
“We start with the survey, but then throughout the summer we’ll also do specific focus groups around some various topics and then we will have a series of public meetings as well, so information gained from those sources will be combined with the survey data,” she said.
Toney said the annual amount Bloomington-Normal receives from CDBG is relatively consistent, fluctuating by no more than $25,000-$50,000.
The survey can be taken online in English, Spanish and French and takes about 10 minutes to complete. Information about physical copies of the survey and dropoff locations also can be found online.
Surveys are being accepted through Aug. 31.
