WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin today announced $16,938,176 in federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for the State of Wisconsin’s coordinated response to COVID-19 and the economic and housing impacts caused by it. This funding was included in the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that was signed into law in March.
The CARES Act included $5 billion total in CDBG funding. Today’s announcement is the second round of funding for states to support a coordinated coronavirus response across entitlement and non-entitlement communities. In March, Senator Baldwin announced the first round of this funding for states and local governments that received CDBG in Fiscal Year 2020. An additional $2 billion CDBG allocation is still forthcoming to support states and units of local government, cities and counties based on the prevalence and risk of COVID-19 and related economic and housing disruption.
“Local officials and the communities they serve need resources to respond to the public health, economic, and housing challenges we face. This federal support will continue to help local communities quickly respond to this pandemic,” said Senator Baldwin. “I’ve seen firsthand how Community Development Block Grants help people throughout our state. Now more than ever, this funding is needed for our State partners to support our workers, families and neighborhoods. We’re all in this together, so we need to continue working together to get through this public health crisis and move our state forward.”
For more than 40 years, the CDBG program has invested billions of federal dollars in communities across the country and helped millions of Americans. The CDBG program fosters job development and provides assistance to neighborhood-based organizations, including community development corporations, in support of economic development, housing assistance, or neighborhood revitalization activities in Wisconsin that are vital to getting through this public health emergency. CDBG funding can be used for the expansion of community health facilities, child care centers, food banks and senior services.
An online version of this release is available here.
