The Wellington Village Council approved a resolution last week adopting an amendment to its fledgling Community Development Block Grant program, which led to a discussion of possible future uses for the money, including current CDBG financing for the Boys & Girls Club.
The small amendment carried over $19,888 of the village’s $258,600 CDBG revenue fund for a senior home repair program. Most of the money is for senior-related programs, including the construction of 180 ramps and raised sidewalks.
But Councilman Howard Coates asked how CDBG funds, provided by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, are used for programs such as those run by the nonprofit Boys & Girls Club, which has been allocated $10,790 in CDBG money for outreach efforts.
“When I look at the allocation of the funds, everything appears to be public-related entities or programs, with the exception of the Boys & Girls Club neighborhood outreach efforts,” Coates said. “I’ve received questions over the six years that I’ve been involved with the council about the amount of support we provide to the Boys & Girls Club. Part of my answer is always what they provide to the community.”
He was concerned about whether the village-run Wellington Community Foundation should be looking at financing nonprofit organizations, as opposed to public entities.
Coates asked village staff to explain the benefit the Boys & Girls Club neighborhood outreach program will actually provide and how it differs from other nonprofit operations.
“I want to make sure that there is actually an understanding that what they are doing supplants what we would be doing publicly, so that when other nonprofits come to us and look for money and other benefits, they do so with the understanding that when we have done it in the past, there’s usually a public benefit,” he said.
Community Development Strategist Jim Fackrell explained the community benefits of CDBG grants. “These are typically services that benefit the elderly or benefit abused children, that benefit low-income or moderate-income residents of the neighborhoods,” he said, explaining that in the past year, they conducted neighborhood surveys in transitional neighborhoods and found all of them were eligible to receive CDBG funding.
“The problem is that access to the Boys & Girls Club is very limited,” Fackrell said. “For some of our residents, it becomes a transportation issue, so we looked at one point at transporting the youth in those neighborhoods to the Boys & Girls Club. Later, we had a discussion of whether we wanted to take some of those programs the Boys & Girls Club offered out to the neighborhoods, and we’re still kind of divided on that.”
Fackrell said that in talking with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, he learned that a majority of the village’s crime and vandalism is caused by youth that lack supervision or proper recreational outlets.
“We don’t know exactly whether we want to take the programs out to the neighborhoods and target the youth there, or try to bring the outreach into the Boys & Girls Club,” he said. “In talking to the Boys & Girls Club, there’s really a problem in that the youth age 14 and up really don’t want to be affiliated with the Boys & Girls Club.”
Village Manager Paul Schofield said some of the programs could be done through the Wellington Community Foundation, noting that sports provider programs receive financing through the foundation, but the CDBG program is trying to reach out to youth who do not fit into those programs.
“The reason we’re not looking for these out of general revenue funds or foundation funds is that it is one of the programs that is entitled to funding under CDBG,” Schofield said, explaining that the federal CDBG funding is highly structured and goes to specific programs.
Director of Operations Jim Barnes said the foundation currently can finance only capital projects and explained that they are looking at partnering with the Boys & Girls Club because there are hard-to-reach youth in the community that do not have access to services provided by the village that the Boys & Girls Club provides. That organization is uniquely equipped with transportation and programs to provide those services, he explained.
Coates asked about the village’s requirements for reporting by the Boys & Girls Club, and Barnes said the village has an agreement that goes far and above what it requires of other third-party providers.
“We have a funding agreement that has very precise and specific performance measures that they have to report on regularly, including the makeup of their client population,” Barnes said.
Coates said he approved of the services the Boys & Girls Club provides but just wanted an explanation he could give to other nonprofits that seek money from the village.
“I don’t want to be construed as criticizing that at all, but you did mention that in the age bracket 14 to 18, they don’t have as great of an influence, so I would be particularly interested in what the strategy is for them going into an area where they haven’t had great influence,” Coates said. “How is that going to benefit our community?”
Barnes said that Fackrell would be responsible for that on the CDBG side and that the Boys & Girls Club is accustomed to that type of reporting. He added that the new Boys & Girls Club facility on Wellington Trace would be a great impetus to draw in the 14-to-18 age group.
Mayor Bob Margolis said he would like to look into the Wellington Community Foundation as a source for nonprofits to finance more than capital projects, such as athletic uniforms.
“We have funds just sitting there, and we should probably make a decision to start using more of those funds,” he said, explaining that he understood the foundation currently has about $50,000. “We haven’t moved forward on that, certainly since I have been here.”
Schofield said that previous councils had not been able to reach a decision on use of the funds besides for capital projects, and he would add it to the list of projects for the council to accomplish in the next quarter.
Councilwoman Anne Gerwig said she understood that CDBG money is highly regulated.
“I just want to thank you for the hard work,” she said. “I’m proud of what we’ve come up with. As a newly entitled city, I think we’ve done a very good job.”
She also complimented Fackrell on the work he has done seeing that all the projects qualify for CDBG financing. “The regulation involved with this is immense, and I just want to commend you guys,” Gerwig said.
Coates made a motion to approve the amendment, which carried unanimously.
