[Music] i know right i'm just I'm still the funny thing [Music] and thanks for joining us um just letting you know we are doing actually a
hybrid meeting so um there are people that are joining in person with the city of Trenton at their offices so um I have a presentation that I'll provide to them and then um we'll have a chance give everyone that's present an opportunity
to provide feedback on the um the most urgent housing and community development needs as well as um needs for persons experiencing homelessness and usually I can see better but their um their camera looks a
little bit blurry this time and for those that um have joined if you would like to get a copy of the presentation after in the meeting you can put your name and email and um put your name and email in the chat and then we can um get a copy of that to
you [Music] hi Donna um we're I'm having some technical difficulties with the camera right now yeah it's just a little bit blurry a little bit blurry yeah and it's
it's supposed to be coming from someplace else the um the um Are you in the same room that you guys usually use yeah but they got a new system okay
and the IT guys said it should be automatic but the video is not automatic especially online [Music]
um as of right now I thought Monday would be enough time to have them next time we'll have to uh do it and just checking with you um do you
have anybody that showed up in person showed up in person yes there are one two three four five five residents besides me is there a monitor that they can see the presentation
yes um I am I am working on the video but I don't know how that's going to happen but they they can see and um they we'll be able
to we have the microphone too is there more than one person in the room that has like accessed it because I'm getting an echo when I speak oh that's because uh we have to use the
um webcam okay uh microphone uh Donna do you want me to put the names of the people here into the chat um you can do so but if you have a if
you have a sign and sheet then just have them do that all right and thanks everyone that's joined um appreciate your patience as we work through these technology issues jade can you hear me
so um if we're not able to fix the technology then maybe we could do it kind of um where I do the presentation if they can hear me okay and then you guys do the part where the it's the
public comment and then we'll continue the hybrid you know virtual partual with um and get comments from the people that are you know present if if you think that's possible if you think that they can hear
Yeah um can everyone hear us yeah we um we can hear you okay okay I'll go ahead and start the presentation then um and is anyone else from City of Trenton there uh yeah yes Carrie is here okay I'll go
ahead and um maybe go the introductions and just say you know responsible Okay thanks everyone for joining and I'm my name is Donna King i am a um senior project manager with MNL Associates we
are a consulting firm that was hired by the city of Trenton to assist them with the um the development of their 5-year consolidated plan along with me is Maas Smiley um she's the one that's doing the the heavy lift of creating the document and drafting it and doing all the analysis um Maya can you introduce
yourself as well yes my name is Maya Smiley and I like Donna said I'm the one writing the plan so I'll be taking your comments down and inserting them in the plan this conference will now be recorded
thanks Maya and Jade would you like to introduce yourself introduce yourself uh yes i'm Jade i work here at the city of Trenton um I uh help with the CDBG ESG and home
grants okay thank you and um Dr diego is not available but he is the director of health and services and um he's the one that you know that um is in charge of implementing the programs and and making
the decisions on you know on how best um to move forward with these projects so the needs um hearing agenda is to present the overview of the five-year consolidated plan process we'll discuss the CBG ESG and home
programs we'll review the available resources and prior year accomplishments as well as hold the question and answer session for your public comments and input on the current homelessness and community development needs we'll also talk about the next steps um
as far as what we do after after these uh this needs meeting is done so the consolidated planning process um consolidated plan is a flat five-year plan it's going to cover the period starting July 1st 2025 ending June 30th 2029 the components is
stakeholder consultation we've been doing um several stakeholder meetings this week um with nonprofit providers um service providers that provide services to um to low-income persons as well as homeless persons within the community we
also do a housing and homeless needs assessment and a housing market analysis we use that information to create a strategic plan and that will that strategic plan will create the framework of how CDBG home and ESG funds will be invested to to address those priority
needs that are um identified through this process the housing and homeless needs assessment as well as the housing market analysis is very um data driven it's based on American Community Survey 5-year estimates and it's information that HUD provides to us we also
supplement that information with any local reports or any additional information um to you know fill any gaps and information to so that we can get a clear picture of what the current conditions are whether it's affordability um you know lack of
services um things like that and then the action plan will be the specific planned activities that will be um that will address the priority needs that are identified through this process and these are the CDBG ESG and
home basics so CDBG stands for community development block grant um it's funding that comes from department of housing and urban development it can be used for um for a variety of things including housing improvements public facility improvements clearance and demolition
code enforcement economic development acquisition or disposition and public services so for housing um activities you can use it for housing rehabilitation as well as down payment assistance public facilities and example
of that would be like street improvements um sidewalk improvements park improvements um city of Trent has done a lot of public facility improvements as well and for public services though HUD does limit the amount of funds that the
city can um can use for public services is limited to 15% of the annual grant amount and this is a list of the types of activities that can be funded um for public services including employment training crime prevention child care healthcare drug abuse education fair
housing counseling energy conservation home buyer education so like the housing counseling for home buyer assistance or recreation programs and then community development block grant primarily must serve people
that are low or moderate income and um 70% of the annual allocation needs to benefit uh people and show that um that it's meeting that benefit either through direct assistance activities where they have to collect um income information so that they can
make sure that a household is eligible and then there's also area benefit where we can do public infrastructure using census data that that tells us what areas of the city are considered low um low and moderate income the funds can be used to prevent
or eliminate slum or blight um that would be a clearance or demolition activity and then it can also be used for urgent needs um only when health and welfare are threatened no other funding sources available so that one is not used on a regular basis only when there's a disaster um impact and then
HUD allows grantees to reallocate funds um to meet those needs those immediate needs the Emergency Solutions Grant Program ESG is um specifically for homelessness activities including people that are
experiencing homelessness um and people at risk of homelessness so those funds can be used for street outreach emergency shelter um operating costs per emergency shelter homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing assistance and homeless
management information systems with the HMIS is a database that is required to be used for these ESG funds and home eligible activities so the home investment partnership program it's um also referred to as home
can also be used and exclusively can be used for housing activities it can be used for housing rehabilitation home ownership assistance um very similar to CDBG it can also be used for new construction of affordable housing which you can't use CDBG for um CDBG can't
increase your your affordable housing through new construction you can only do an acquisition and rehab um to create additional units and then there's also tenant based rental assistance so tenant based rental assistance is like a voucher that will work similar to a section 8 program
voucher housing choice voucher and um it's a medium-term um rental assistance so it would be from a minimum of 12 months and should um should be for maximum of 24 months so it can be used for people that are um that have um
housing needs and can't you know the voucher takes um pays the difference between what the household can pay um anything over the 30% of their um of their gross adjusted income
so the estimated funding that we expect to be available for Trenton City of Trenton is um for CDBG it's a little over 2.6 million and that's an amount on an annual basis that um that they receive
the home program is 920,000 and change and ESG funds for the homeless activities is $236,263 the total funding is just under $4 million on an annual basis so this plan is going to be for a five-year period so
we're going to be establishing goals and objectives for just under I don't know like maybe 18 or $19 million um you know over the 5-year period so these are based on estimates because HUD has not provided the um
annual allocation yet we are expecting to get that information in May so um once the plan is developed and projects are budgets are established they may need to be adjusted before the plan is submitted to HUD so these are the prior year
accomplishments for 2023 in the um the annual report um there was a total of 2.4 million in CDBG that was spent home activities spent 80,000 and ESG funding um spent
$54,212 and um ESG funds can be used over a two-year period so there was some some prior year funds that were used as well um same with CDBG usually allows um multiple years for these projects to be implemented because especially for like
infrastructure and housing development projects um they do take some time to implement so the Westboard Community Center improvements were completed senior center operations provided services to seniors in the community those were public services there were demolitions of 19 vacant unsafe
buildings two home buyer assistance activities were completed and four housing rehab activities for urgent repairs were were completed in 2023 the time period for 2023 actually started July 1st 2023 and ended June
30th 2024 the home funds um were used to make final payment for a Patriot Village project which was a affordable rental development and final lease up took place for the 11 unit affordable um affordable affordable home rent rental
units and then for ESG there were um just under 2,000 people assisted with emergency shelter 162 people were assisted through SE street outreach and 20 people were assisted with rapid rehousing and if you're not familiar
with the rapid rehousing program for um for ESG it's similar to a section 8 housing choice voucher or TBR the difference is it's a shorter um shorter term of it and so um this is the time that we
then you know bring the conversation to you for you to let us know what you think the most urgent needs are in the city of Trenton is it housing infrastructure facilities um services employment opportunities fair housing education enforcement and outreach so um
for anyone that's on on the call or anyone in person if they would like to um if you think that'll work Jade we can have them try to speak into the microphone and see how that works works um yeah um is that the microphone yeah
it it was using the laptop microphone um maybe if we put it in the [Music] You can test your voices here hi this is
Dr tara Butler i'm wearing two hats today um director of community engagement from the Smith Family Foundation and also the executive director of Bonzel's Crown can y'all hear me yes very great okay um so I
would like to address the housing issue as we know um ever since co right um rent is astronomical is ridiculous right um and also home ownership so how do we
um kind of build affordable housing and have like a transition from rent to home ownership right because I I believe um the city of Mayor Roz Baraka
is doing the same thing so how can we implement something like that here in the city of Trent because there's no reason why anyone should be homeless in the city of Tren there's no reason why um families cannot afford to be able to live comfortably
it's ridiculous i saw somewhere um $3,000 for what a a twobedroom [Music] ridiculous so I think that housing um is the main concern okay and the city of
Trenton does um implement a home ownership program so um that is definitely something that could be you know we may want to reach out to the city for information on how they accept applications and such
it does need to be re revamped right i'm saying right that because and one one thing that I've you know in working in social services and philanthropy and and with nonprofits a lot of times when you go to apply for these services it's not
easy it's not easy because you have to go through all this red tape so how do we streamline streamline that and make it not so much easy but I mean it's it's it's crazy unfortunately for these programs I don't think they could be
streamlined too much just because it is federal funding and they require all like everything that we we collect it's required but um we will look into trying to figure out if how we could streamline the
process more make it easier yeah and some of those funds be used to um rehabilitate some of these abandoned buildings so create housing yes
um I believe we are working on something i can't remember where um but I I I do want to do that because I I used to live in Chambersburg so I know there's lots of abandoned factories and stuff and I always thought it was
like great place to have like lots and stuff i mean as far as housing that's probably like the biggest issue I would say trend is probably facing and it has several layers to it uh one of the bigger things is code enforcement um uh there's not enough inspectors that are going out to be able to enforce codes
for a lot of the properties uh obviously with a heavy renter population there's people that are living in conditions that aren't really habitable and because the owners don't live in the city they're not really making it a priority to come in and fix up the properties or care how it looks and neither do the renters so when you have a heavy
population of renters that really don't care what it looks like it ends up affecting the entire city on top of the fact that we have so many abandoned properties so it makes it very hard for someone to come into the city and say "Hey I want to buy a property." Even if they find a property that they fall in love with if they have to pass five
abandoned properties to get to it it's probably not going to be a place that they want to live and as working as a realtor I I deal with it every day i've seen people that I try to attract to Trenton just because the properties are a lot more affordable than what you would find in Western Mercer County but when they come and see that street they
they end up changing their mind very quickly about hey maybe I need to find somewhere else maybe go further south Jersey or or find other places to to live and that's going to affect the city because you're not bringing in any new population that's actually investing in growing the city um it makes it very hard for people to that are already
invested in the city to see any type of gains in equity so then those people then are discouraged into repairing their houses they have no pride in their neighborhood they have no pride in making sure that they clean up the neighborhood and it just ends up being a negative spiral to where most people just really don't care what the streets
look like and then we have problems with trash and things like that crime and everything that goes along with it so I think that code enforcement should be the first priority and saying "Hey we need to make sure that we're getting all the properties that are on the road uh rent roll one registered and two inspected." Yeah second we need to make
sure that we're figuring out what to do with all these abandoned properties if the city has way too many properties for us to have a shortage of housing for people to live in so those those are probably the two biggest things that we need to focus on and then we can start looking at other economic investments
into the city to say hey how else can we unify it maybe fixing up the parks things like that but code enforcement and abandoned properties have to be the two biggest priorities i'm I'm not sure if how much code enforcement we can do with these funds
but I do know we have committed previous previously we have committed funds to um demolitions um that was a CD project and I know there are a a lot of abandoned properties that there's no
chance of rehabbing them they have to be demolished um that we rebuilt um so I was and also I was gonna say lastly another thing that Newark has done is a land bank i brought it up at uh at city um
city council meetings that we need to try to figure out how to implement a land bank and even if you actually stipulate it to where it's only limited to residents that have lived here for at least five years or 10 years however long you want to make it so that people who are who've been here have the opportunity to now own their city but
there has to be something that that initiative to be able to get these streets cleaned up yeah actually have landed right upstairs i want to look into that more because um I I heard about it when I was at a HUD conference
it's basically where the city they um they make the properties the city owned properties available for very low price but it's the stipulated that you have to not renovate it so for someone that's looking to buy a home um the 203k loan process is probably like one of the best opportunities to do to use it for um
where you can buy get a house from the city for maybe $1,000 and now 200,000 to renovate that house so now you're getting a brand new home for way less than what it would cost to buy a home resale market that's there another home in that
neighborhood might cost double that price you're getting a home way lower and it gives you the opportunity that a lot faster making money yeah so the city So now Yeah the city now gets that house back on the tax role the street looks a lot better the homeowner the person
that's been in the city and now wants to own a home is getting a house at a lot more affordable rate so it's a benefit for everyone and then the people who have already own their home in that neighborhood now their equity goes up because the street looks better i have a question thank you
i'm sorry that was very excellent um I know I I know you showed the slide that had the the amounts and it also was connected to I'm sorry my name is Shan Figaro i would say my company name but I'm here on behalf of the city because I live in the city um but you showed the
slide of the amount of money i think it was like 2.5 million 80,000 500 something thousand and you said what was done but do you have a list of who did the work who's connected to getting the work done and how the process was created in order to select the people
who did the work um and and were city people who live in the city actually involved in that process because a lot of times what happens is we have you know and does that process also include the changing of vendors from year to year because a lot of times I know
specifically that there's a certain vendor who comes in and does work in the senior citizen homes and that that same vendor is being used and I know the senior citizen places are not being clean well and so I want to know what the process is whether or not we can be involved in that process
and and and who the vendors are that's a good question i I will write that down i will give you my email address actually um and I can send you what we have and start compiling more information for you
okay thanks Jade and we have um Valerie Arthur yes good afternoon my name is Dr valerie Arthur and um I'm representing my company Pakora and uh uh black gold here
in the city of Trenton so my question is and I think uh one of the last speakers have already addressed the issue when he was talking about housings or land bank set aside for city residents before they are
offered up on auction for outsiders who don't live in the city that is a great concern because folks come into the city and they uh purchase property and either they don't take the property or buy the
property and rent and uh establish the rent so high that city residents can't afford to live in the property so I heard someone mention earlier that there is a program um designed for home ownership in the city so is there any
way that we can possibly combine um the houses that are that need her rehabilitation and offer them to people to buy who lives in the city and get them the grant money so that they can fix the houses
up i think that's my one question uh hello can you hear me yes I can hear you fine and Mike would you like to take that or Jade [Music]
hey Jade uh can you hear me yeah I can hear you fine okay uh fine uh thank you so much so that was such a great question so just to confirm that I'm answering you correctly you're asking why can't we combine something like a first-time home buyer program that
assists with down payment closing assistance and also target like use rehab grants to target properties so that they're ready and available for that homeowner to move into them am I understanding you correctly yeah uh well
not so much ready and available so I've been to some of the city auctions and most of some of the people who come in to buy the houses at the city auction are usually people who don't live inside the city the young man
earlier on the call mentioned a land bank and they also mentioned someone also mentioned some of the programs that they have going on in Newark whereas they set so many properties aside for residents who live in the city and they
are offered the opportunity first to purchase those homes on an auction sorry Valerie for some reason we I stopped hearing you so well you're in the car oh
this process so that they will become qualified for these type of housing [Music] did I lose we lost you as far as some of
the the audio okay let me try let me try again i'm sorry so what I was saying and to to address the um young man who asked me the question so what I was saying was at the city auctions from time to
time that the city may offer up property um to be go up in the auction and at those auctions there are people who do not live in the city who out bid city
residents and most times they come they bid they don't they don't repair if they do repair they price the rent so high that people cannot afford to buy I mean to rent those properties so my question
goes back to the young man who asked about land banks is it possible that the city can set aside a number of properties that exclusives that are exclusively for city residents that they
can have the ability to bid on these properties get grants where they can fix the properties or become first uh time home owners for these properties and is there a process or a person who can
educate them on how to go about applying for the loans that are available out there right and I understand the question um it's not something that we'll be able to to provide you information on tonight but the purpose of this hearing is to
find out what you and the community would like to see and these this information will be provided to to leadership for them to to consider as far as options um you know with their available
I'm sorry Donna I can answer a small part of her question that is sort that does tie into existing like grants and services that the CDBG program like currently operates um I I understand I I I understand Dr valerie I certainly
understand the heart of your question um and I'm going to you know absolutely agree with Donna that for the purpose of this meeting I I don't think I can answer it too extensively because that's involving different departments you know what's the status of our land ordinance
what's the status of the redevelopment agreement before even an ordinance for a land bank is established so I don't want to um ignore that however I can definitely hit at the what we currently do with CDBG we have two grants one is
called the Trenton Urgent Repair Program and the other is called the Senior Home uh repair program the the uh the Trenton Urgent Repair Program though is is specifically funded with CDBG but the ultimate mission of those two grants is
uh providing um grants uh around the size of about $5,000 that enable a homeowner particularly a low income and long-term homeowner resident of Trenton to get major system replacements done so like that could be the front entryway
and porch that could be the a roof replacement that could be major uh significant electrical or water plumbing issues and when we're uh not not only talking about the inventory in Trenton that's missing from ownership and tax roles but talking about the homeowners
that we still have that have been resilient enough to stay uh hang in there with the city a lot of these people have are might be elderly they're on uh they have earned their pensions they have earned their social security but as we all know that like the fixed
income in a time of high prices all across the board is very difficult for them to have the critical savings pillow for these major replacements on their most valuable asset their home we've all seen how homes from when they've made
their initial investment years ago to now h be become their not only their biggest asset on paper but it also can grow into a large liability when major systems like roofs like the entryways especially if they develop a kind of
medical disability um are a mobility complication uh as they've aged so while I I we can't answer like the the broader breadth of your question the CDBG program does have a grant program that
enables lowincome current homeowners the current inventory we still have and have retained to stabilize some major repairs and um that doesn't necessarily get the foot in the door to the heart of your earlier questions but it I I I felt that
it almost tied in just enough talking about you know not just getting new Trenton homeowners and and residents that have lived in town into these properties but acknowledging the population that's been holding on you know since you know since you know a
while so I'm I'm sorry for the long-winded answer um oh it's quite all right and I app it's quite all right and I and I do appreciate your answer and I um I I understand where you're coming from but if I'm understanding the uh
purpose of the the conversation here is that we you're you're trying to find out what what we would like to see in the community with the funds or how we should structure the budget and um Trenton in my opinion is a service town
and we have a lot of people who work in the service industry and um those people have young families you have mothers single mothers and single fathers you have te uh two par two parent homes so if we're trying to expand our tax roles
and if we're trying to enlarge our city and draw people back or draw people in the city or keep people in the city then I I think we should look at the needs of those uh uh young young people because
if they can afford to pay two $3,000 in rent I think they can afford to pay two $3,000 in the mortgage payment and I think my opinion is that we should be looking at programs to get them into some of these houses
um that are abandoned that have been sitting for a while that can re be rehabilitated even though and I and again I appreciate the young man's answer uh even though we do address the citizens our elderly but I think we also
need to address our young people and get them into a stable environment where they can uh actually own their own homes so that that's my opinion and and one last question and you probably won't
hear from me again i heard someone um on the line just before me she was talking about accountability uh who's getting the jobs to rehab these these homes who's getting the jobs to to fix the streets who's getting the all of these construction
jobs in the city i've been watching the bidding process i've been watching who's been getting the bids and it's my opinion we you're asking for our opinion and it's my opinion I think that we should start addressing the uh where the
contracts go for for the people in the city and preparing them to be able to um get some of these contracts okay and Dr val Dr valerie just letting you know um I'll respond on behalf of City of Trenton um I've been working with them
since the um towards the end of 2023 and just letting you know they they actually have some difficulties in finding contractors to um to award contracts to um there is a procurement process it is all open to the public it's um they have
are required to do these sealed sealed bids in how they bid out projects and award them but a lot of times they may only have one or two bids um they really don't they don't have a big source of resource of construction contractors that are knocking down their door to to
take these jobs um well you know what I I I believe everything know anybody yeah well I do believe you i do believe you but sometime we need to ask ourselves what is the hindrance of these why these come because there are plenty
of contractors in in the city so sometime we need to ask ourselves what is the process or what is the hindrance from them putting in the bid to get the job really that's or even as a subcontractor to the big contractor so
perhaps there is a uh uh something in the system that's not qualifying these people to get these jobs and we need to ask what is not qualifying them to get these jobs so that's that's all I have the the reality is at least probably since you
know post pandemic um I think that you know there just really aren't that too many um people that are bidding on these i don't know why but um if you do know anyone in the construction industry you can you know send them to the city of Trenton website where they could find
information on current bids um there's always something open and um I I know City of Trenton has their hand raised but Miss Hattie W Wilson you have had your hand raised for a little while yes hi my name is Haddie Wilson i am um a
longtime city resident and homeowner um I live over by the rescue mission my question is when we're talking about housing um what are we going to do about the homeless people um that uh build the tents like right behind my house they
when it's the weather start changing um the tents start going up the the bonfires are being lit um are we is there anything being implemented about the homeless people um and also I wanted to know um
for the last two to three years I have been down city hall to purchase the two adjacent lots next to my house which is a dumping site um I've been I own my property for 13 years now and then for the 13 years that I've been here I've
been cleaning these lots i've been keeping them maintained i've been down city hall complaining and putting in um talking to people about the lot um and as a resident I feel like I should have first residents to get the lock if I'm
keeping it up i'm paying I'm cleaning it and it's continue being a a eyes sore and if you're trying to keep your neighborhood clean and everybody else just come and dump you know between the homeless people dumping trash over and then other neighbors coming and just
dumping their trash back here so do we have anything that's planned for the the rescue mission this big open space here that they just put up tents and live back here that um I hear what you're saying it's
not something that we could same address because that would probably be a different department within um within the city of Trenton but there are um there are funds available for for shelters as well as street outreach um programs there are you know
programs that um there were several programs that were used for um CV funds the COVID funds there were additional funds that were received for both ESG as well as CDBG um but as far
as what you know ordinances require and what can be done um that's something that you know will um will address those concern if you um if you put Miss Wilson if you put your information in the chat um like
a way that we can contact you you can send it by private message to me if you'd like um but that's something that we can we can make sure that um the city addresses that question and then City of Trenton you um I see your hand raised as well
yes my name is Chester Jones i'm representing the Trenton Makes Athletic Center a nonprofit organization here in the city who specializes in mentoring Trenton's youth become student athletes uh we've we noticed that the city is doing really good work and revamping a
lot of the parks throughout the city uh however we aren't seeing um it being utilized properly and I was wondering if we can think about putting CDBG funds aside uh specifically for nonprofit organizations
um um interested in providing programs in those facilities for um the youth and the neighborhood to to utilize um oftent times uh trying to get CDGB funds as a nonprofit organization
isn't easy but how do we if possible start looking into attracting nonprofits to bring their programs to those parks and utilizing them just a thought i I'll say um I don't remember um if
there is something that I mean we we can give money to organizations um I'm not sure for what kinds of programs but I will definitely look into okay it's it's a great idea anyone
else yeah I I I did have a question um getting back to the contractor um I see under services where um could be utilized for job training um is it possible for some of these dollars
to go towards um training um I believe it was Donna who mentioned that there aren't a lot of people applying or responding to u I guess the RFPs or the books um is there an
opportunity to create a training program utilizing dollars that would um essentially grow um local uh contractors that could then um participate on jobs that are then being offered and then those dollars that come to the city then
go to city contract yeah I like that idea i used to work for so I know that they like they helped train contractors and then help them get jobs so I I was also kind of looking
into maybe doing something like that when I first started um so I I I really like that idea i'll definitely see if we can [Music] yeah um there used to be a program under
Mayor Palmer called the Moette program Mayor's Office of Employment Training Oat uh that I believe started towards training folks to become house painters and being able to do exterior repairing that kind of thing but that would be something maybe there's an established
model that could be um used and expanded upon beyond what was used at that point for painting because there's a a need for a lot of different trades um and that's something that a lot of churches don't get access to council
I just have a quick question with regards to the CDBG program is there uh a marketing plan in place if so can we see it like can we look at it like is it something that exists this is how we market the program this is the you know the online tools that we use these are
the organizations that we share information can you get my bags i'm sorry [Music] yeah it's I'm a marketing person and so my brain is thinking part of the reason why you don't have the people who are applying for contracts is they don't
know about it um that's one part the other part is the training piece right and so people apply and then they don't get accepted because they don't understand what the requirements are that's also part of marketing too so if there's a way under your other information be able to see the market
yes definitely [Music] and thank you do we have a marketing plan i'm sorry what was that jay do we have a marketing plan established
from like the last consolidated plan a marketing plan marketing plan the um we do a market analysis but we don't usually do a marketing plan as part of these programs
i would be interested in talking about collaboration but no definitely increasing partnerships and increasing availability both of those are are really good ideas that you share thank you does anyone else have questions
and Jade I have a comment in the chat that I want to um address as well okay so um one of the people that is here virtually um mentioned the fact that one of the weaknesses across the city is that there are many resources
and grants available but there's no simple way for people to find out what opportunities are available so uh digital navigators um being made available across the community in the libraries community centers which would help people um get
access to to benefits and services by helping them um be able to apply for you know for online type act applications and I don't know if the city currently has a digital navigator service um it is something that a lot of
times I've seen them you know as part of the library programs but that's something we can definitely inquire about it would be something like that would qualify as a um public service um as well and of course still be limited to that 15%
hello yes Dr valerie yes I'm I'm sorry yes I do have one more question um because I'm I'm familiar perhaps you can answer for me um some of the service services for seniors that
you offer at the um the the rec centers or the senior centers can you just give me a brief summary what they are so that I can know when I look at your presentation again what I might that is
missing because you know what some are that we offer to seniors in the community hello yeah that's that if you leave your information if you haven't already done so if you leave your information in the
chat so we can make sure that someone from the city gets back to you with that information [Music] thank you and I see I see your email oh no that's um that's my fian so you can send it to
me directly if you don't want it to be um published on the chat no it's fine i'm sending [Music] um and we have a question over here um can CDBG funds be used for
organizations that are looking to partner with the city to employ um educational programs for people that are looking for housing resources such as grants um and assisting them with the application process [Music]
i'm thinking about that one only because it would it would really depend so if the program is self-implemented by city of Trenton then what happens is is it
[Music] it's already being paid for by the city from the CDBG funds so that in itself doesn't really impact that 15% usually because the um city of Trenton staff they're self-implementing you're
the ones that are going through and um qualifying people helping them with the applications collecting the documents telling them what they need for mortgage assistance though that's has to do with program design because um
if someone is doing an application for a mortgage it's already providing all that information and more to the bank that they're getting um you know financing from so it's more about coordination with um the bank
for the actual grant funds to make it a little bit more seamless that's that's really what what could be used that type of partnership being established how would an organization go about establishing that partnership reach out to the city um I believe you
are the gentleman that said you're in real estate yes so you probably have resources as far as lending institutions and things um it's just a matter of having a conversation and um I think we have your information
if we don't have your information you should have provided in your signin sheet so you know they can reach out to you with information [Music] um but is any of this money allocated or
being thought about being allocated to restoring any of the black areas in the city a lot of them are closed they've been closed for a long time education literacy is really [Music] important another library
yeah that that's a good idea um we don't have money allocated at the moment but uh we can put it in our plan because that that would be great to have too i I used to work in the library so do you know who's using the one that the one on Greenwood off of Greenwood
because I think it's being used healthy choices okay but can it be reestablished as a library or No I'm not I'm not sure if I think reestablishing it as like an official library we would
have to work with like the official library system what's our sub um it's um the program for um I think it's for after school yeah after school program but they also have a program if students
um get suspended from school so they're not missing school they're able to go there and have their classes so they're so the students are not just out walking around or being truent they're actually working they partner with like Trenton or school district where they're able to
go ahead and have classes and do programming there okay so it's awesome program yeah i think it's um Tanetta Hower who runs that program what about the library on South there's one on South Broad Street
that's been that's not being used for Scout Hill they're trying I know uh Councilman Janer Kber is trying to get that to be brought back online so there's long term hopefully and then the
one east Trenton over on North Clinton that's not going to be a library as we used to know it but it's more of a community center but it will have a library component to it so has anyone been in that the one on South Street what's the condition of that not many i know what they cleared out all the books
because they were giving them away and stuff i remember you're welcome it's the sh is a beautiful library i know i see so I used to speak on that all the time if I may about the library
hi this is Councilwoman Figuro Penber yes about the SK Hi about the Skeleton Library yeah the county is partnering with us to um to help bring that library back um it will not be specifically a library as we're not able to hire
full-time librarians um but it will be a community center there will be library related resources um and I think they're looking to other things because we're also trying to revamp the senior center as well and the county is helping us with that um but right now as far as the
condition it is in really bad condition there's a lot of work that needs to be done inside there was some work that was done before um and a lot of the efforts were pulled out and damaged but the monies are there the funding the partnership with the county so we are working to bring that back um
as a resource for the city thank you thank you what about child care and youth programs are there any plans um for any of that cbdg what is this yeah I mean it's going to say
CDG community development block grant any um plans to allocate some of those monies to implement um new programs or expand the existing programming for you and um and also child care [Music]
we don't really play go ahead there are a lot of organizations that um are what if you want to call it um emergent nonprofits and existing nonprofits who are actually
boots on the ground who are actually doing the work is there are there plans to allocate some of that money to some of the nonprofits that have programming that are actually doing the work there there aren't like specific plans at the moment with this is why we're
gathered to figure out where we should allocate the funds that we're getting so we're like we're getting the ideas of where we should allocate the money so I and so I have a follow-up question to that so we we're having this meeting today right um and in full transparency
is there going to be another follow-up meeting to this because I feel like we don't want to sit here have a meeting about a meeting about a meeting and then nothing is you know there are no actionables nothing's getting done because I feel like we're sitting here and every question that we're asking I don't even know I don't know we'll
follow up I'll write it down okay you're following up you're writing it down but what are the actionables do you want to take that again Dr tara Butler Smith Family Foundation yes ma'am and um I'm muting
you Jade just because it's really hard to speak when I keep interrupting myself it's weird the feedback so um the as Jade was explaining is that this is for the future five years um so the purpose of the the meeting is
to hear your comments and hear what you the community think um h how these funds can best be used um and then the next steps in the process are to develop the the plan um through this consultation um process it will be drafted and then
they'll be put on public display for a 30-day public comment period we're expecting to do that in May and then there will be during that 30-day public comment period there will be a a second public hearing to get feedback on the actual plan um and the goals that were
established you know through this process in June um after the public comment period has ended then the city will actually adopt the respective plan after um after the end of that public comment period and then it'll be submitted to HUD for their review um
July 1st 2025 is the start of this this consolidated plan and establishing the goals and any funds um are for future for those future five years so your participation is very important um you know and as you can see on this um this
slide there is a um there's a QR code for a survey that we've created and that survey has very specific questions for for everyone that would like to participate it'll take maybe 10 minutes for you um to answer the questions that are on it and it's um
basically measuring you know what you think are the highest priority needs for all of these you know a variety of types of programs that could be offered and there are also open-ended questions where you can um fill in the blanks on you know anything that we didn't catch
where you could check a box um so you know please take the time to um to complete the survey using the QR code you can use a smartphone to use it or um for anyone that left their email address we'll be sending out copies of the presentation which will then have that
link as well and um so this while the start of the year is July 1st just understand that um we have to you do this process the citizen participation process using estimates
and we will have to wait until HUD actually announces the amount of awards for each of these programs um before it can the plan can be submitted to them we're like I said we're expecting that to come in in May but at this point we have not received much guidance
so um I see Jade your hands raised for City of Trenton uh yes so so I'm curious about the process once HUD approves the plan um is it that the city will do the work or
will the city seek or make opportunities available for um organizations to apply for the funding and then what is that process for applying for
[Music] yeah that's currently a to be determined um it will depend on you know whether or not they have staff to um to self-implement programs or if um if it's something that they do have to source
out to nonprofits to do [Music] basically it depends on what what we determine in the in the plan what everyone wants to have done um it depends on like if if we want to do
like what we're we have the turf so if we want to do rehab programs again we can do them but if there's something like child care we would have to bid that out so it's it's up it depends on like the activity that um so so rehab is
something that would be done inhouse by the city it would not be something that would be um or at at this time yes but it all depends on city staffing levels also okay and Mike I see your hand
[Music] yes to um to add to that last point um when when when the city is saying that we'll do rehabilitation at least at this time like we're not staffing and hiring
people that are interested in job training to become contractors or something like that we are administrating a grant that enables uh the TR in homeowner to find contractors that they trust and that
they like so long as that they have their license and their insurance and um and they are like a light uh registered uh public vendor in the state of New Jersey like the Trentonian the resident
is you know encouraged to collect some quotes at minimum three from reputable vendors of choice to uh to then like us to review and see who's the competitive price and uh and pick an award um that's
how the TR program works but like just so we're clear like we're not um hiring a like a construction crew or staff or like you know a workforce to actually mobilize these rehabs we're you're administrating a
grant um so that's all I wanted to clarify oh sorry my question leans more towards if the city decides that um so much of the CDG each year is going
to be applied to rehabilitating homes and you have um say nonprofits that are working with individuals in the city um training re to rehab and things of that nature if there's opportunity to pick up
properties and then for that that nonprofit or that uh contractor to work with the city to apply for some of those CBG dollars in order to do those [Music]
there's there's not a plan for that now but since you brought it up we will we will think about it and implement it into our program if it's feasible if it's the most feasible quick question how long is this QR code going to be available and and
how are we or how are you all working to distribute it to the rest of the people who live in the city um I don't know how long it will be available but I have asked for it to be be put on the city's Facebook page and I will ask
um to have it put on the website um and then for the survey monkey um that is also going to be on the Facebook probably Instagram also and um on the website is it possible for some type of press to be developed to let the city know that
this is something that's available um it's important to you know for the CBG grants and messing it up again um and also important to you know changing some of the infrastructure of things that we need in
yeah as president citizens I think particularly the Trentonian newspaper uh send to editor at trenian.com because when they do this sort it they'll go in the print edition but then also on their Facebook edition everybody sees it online and then they
can uh forward It's all around and then also if we forward the uh URL for the survey that will work for other people too correct uh yes it should okay and then my other uh question and concern um is that make sure the rest of the way
including the comment period that more advanced uh notice is put out to the community to make sure that they know about this because you particularly like you know three weeks out to start pubing because then even as a council member we can help push that and make
announcements at council i would agree thank you and I can answer the question about how long [Music] the the survey will be left open is that
the plan is to have it put on display in May um and there are other you know there's other information that would be processed and decisions made about the goals um so we would probably plan to keep it open um till midday maybe the end of the third week that would give us
um time to compile the um compile the information and then be able to you know put it relevantly into the plan so any other questions this has been a really good discussion i really appreciate um everyone that has joined us for this and um it's you know it's
the start of the conversation um and just realize that that this process um you know is very important to do this public engagement and to make sure that we're hearing from the community um how you think that these funds you know would would best serve the city of
Trenton maya do you have any specific questions for them maya is the one that's doing the um the actual writing of the plan and there may be some data gaps um at the time I don't have any questions i think everyone kind of did
good job so far filling in some like Okay thank you excuse me may I I'm sorry no go ahead no I um could you post Can you put the
um the um I'm sorry the this not the next steps but the actual uh issues that we want to address or that you're asking our opinion on i think it's the slide before this one this one yeah the urgent
needs do you mind as if by screenshot it so I can No go right ahead thank you and then just the final slide we have is just of course um the directors and Jade's information
if you have any further comments um because they will be receiving comments through the end of the public comment period so if there's anything that you think about um that wasn't brought up on this that you think would be important for the city staff for you to know about you can reach them um either um Dr diego
Mina Cabelli or Jay Thompson with the city of Trenton and I'll go ahead and stop if if there's no other questions I'll go ahead and stop recording good this conference is no longer being recorded
okay thanks everyone for joining us tonight thank you Donna thanks Jade have a good day have a great night thanks Mike [Music]