In the past year, the City of Naperville received $551,012 in federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, which will be added to an ongoing pool of money used for targeted programs that bolster economic development and assist low- to moderate-income people.
City officials recently released a consolidated annual performance evaluation report, which delves into the various projects covered through the use of CDBG funds. The report examined the most recent completed program year, which ended in the first quarter of 2025.
Senior housing, homelessness, and ADA accessibility
Miranda Barfuss, the city’s community grants coordinator, outlined this past year’s allocations in a memo, which included funding assistance toward several local nonprofit organizations.
Loaves and Fishes Community Services, for instance, received a portion of the city’s CDBG pool of money to assist the organization in its mission “to prevent homelessness by providing rent, mortgage and utility assistance to at-risk households,” Barfuss wrote in the memo.
Within the 2024 program year, Barfuss indicated the city reimbursed Loaves and Fishes a total of $53,123.96, which included previously approved money that went back to the pandemic.
“Loaves and Fishes Community Services is still spending down COVID funds,” Barfuss wrote in an email in response to a reporter’s question. “Those funds for the emergency assistance program must support clients who are experiencing the hardship due to COVID, so it’s not spent down as quickly as the regular CDBG grant funds they receive.”
This past program year, Naperville also provided funding toward such initiatives as the Illinois Independent Living Center’s resurfacing of a parking lot linked to a 31-unit apartment and condominium complex. The development provides housing to people with limited financial means, as well as people with severe disabilities.
Funding also was applied toward the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago to rehabilitate an all-abilities playground that has features in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Last year’s CDBG funds part of a rolling list of projects
CDBG funds can only be used in narrow circumstances, based on the federal criteria, and the money typically is earmarked for a specific project that benefits the low- to moderate-income demographic.
Barfuss said the latest $551,012 allocation from the federal government this past program year is added to a larger pool of money still left over from years prior.
“Projects are not all completed within the program year,” Barfuss wrote in the email, outlining the various logistical pieces that are in play.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is the federal agency that administers CDBG funds. Barfuss indicated the timing of the city’s receipt of CDBG funds generally pushes projects out into future years.
“Most projects are capital improvements, which take significant time requiring bidding processes, in accordance with federal guidelines, permitting, supply orders, construction schedules, etc.,” Barfuss wrote.
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