City Allocates Grants for Community Projects, Programs

St. Louis Park City Council on Tuesday approved a set of grants for community projects and programs that should benefit low-income residents.

The Community Development Block Grants come from the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department and are distributed locally by Hennepin County. Council had say over how the roughly $173,000 will be allocated.

The largest chunk of funds—$50,000—is slated to go to Perspectives, Inc., a local nonprofit that serves at-risk families and children. The money will be used to help repair the building's roof, which is part of a larger, $4 million renovation that Perspectives has in the works. The nonprofit is reaching out to additional donors to reach its funding goal.

The $50,000 is equal to what the St. Louis Park Emergency Program received last year in CDBG funding for a similar roof repair.

Other ongoing local programs received funding as well on Tuesday, including the city's low-income, single-family emergency repair program, and Homes Within Reach.

The funding numbers are not set in stone, as specific CDBG allocations won't be set by the federal government until this summer. Any reduction to St. Louis Park's total amount would lead to reductions among local programs set to receive the money.