Lt. Governor, housing secretary celebrate CDBG in Chelsea

By Adam Swift

Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll visited Chelsea City Hall on Thursday, July 25 to announce the latest round of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) for the state. Driscoll was joined by state housing secretary Ed Augustus, City Manager Fidel Maltez, state Representative Judith Garcia, state Senator Sal DiDomenico, city councilors Leo Robinson, Lisa Santagate, and Norieliz De Jesus, as well as officials from several other municipalities receiving CDBG grants.

“In Chelsea, this grant will support the community with a large infrastructure project on Bloomingdale Street,” said Maltez. “The project will provide much needed updates in one of the most heavily trafficked parts of our city, serving the residents who access the bus on Washington Ave. and a large Chelsea Housing Authority building which is home to over 200 seniors and disabled Chelsea residents.”

In total, Maltez said the upgrades will benefit over 3,000 residents, the vast majority of whom are low income. “These types of investments demonstrate and emphasize our commitment to our most vulnerable residents,” said Maltez. “The grant will also fund new and existing social service programs within the city, including citizenship and immigration services, English as a second language, retention of youth in our schools, and senior food delivery.”

In the last three grant cycles in Chelsea, Maltez said the CDBG grants have helped support first-time homebuyers’ assistance programs, housing rehabilitation programs, home daycare providers, affordable housing acquisition, and other social service programs. “Our city’s partnerships with community-based organizations are vital to the delivery of these services,” said Maltez. “La Colaborativa, a driving social force in our community, administers the citizenship and immigration service program and has found ways to continuously expand and adapt this service.

The Neighborhood Developers have been a key player in developing affordable housing in Chelsea for many years … and Chelsea Restoration Corporation is a longtime provider and administers our HUD certified first-time homebuyer classes.” Driscoll said she was excited to be back in Chelsea City Hall, where she served as legal counsel and later a deputy city manager prior to being elected mayor in Salem.

“I really appreciate all the work that goes into making this community thrive, and that is why I am so pleased to be here with so many local leaders from this community and others doing the work every day to build strong communities, keeping our citizenry healthy, finding ways to use these dollars,” said Driscoll. “This is probably the most diverse funding that we get at the local level in terms of the flexibility to do so many things.” Driscoll said she was grateful to help distribute $39 million in CDBG grant money to 65 communities. “If you add that along with the federal CDBG dollars for entitlement communities, there are almost a third of cities and towns receiving these dollars to help strengthen what happens every single day,” said Driscoll.

“None of that happens, of course, without strong support at the federal level. We are so grateful for our federal partners, particularly Senator Markey’s office and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley’s office.” As a former mayor, Driscoll said she remembers what it was like to dig for resources and meet the demand for needs in her community. “That’s where these CDBG dollars come into play, they are just really critical,” Driscoll said. “It’s a broad array, it’s going to look different in different communities, from housing rehab to public improvements to parks to economic development to citizenship and ESOL classes, it’s just a broad range. We want to make sure we are doing everything we can to support communities.”

Augustus said the CDBG money really focuses on the needs of the individual communities. “You know what the needs of your communities are, you know how to take these really essential dollars, plug them in, and fill gaps, make connections, meet people where they are and make sure they get what they need,” he said. “It’s such a great example of how the government can work at the federal, state, and local level.”