Nine area towns will get Community Development Block Grant money that will go toward specific projects in each community, according to an announcement by the governor’s office on Thursday.
Buckland, Greenfield, Leverett, Deerfield, Sunderland, Conway, Montague and Shelburne in Franklin County and Athol in Worcester County will all get grants that will go toward handling town-specific projects. Some are repairs or improvements on streets and others address town-owned properties.
Thirty-nine grants were awarded across the state on Monday at a total of $30.5 million.
Greenfield will get $775,000 this year, which will go toward housing rehabilitation, new and handicap accessible sidewalks around town, as well as improvements to Lunt ballfields and engineering and analysis at the First National Bank building on Bank Row.
Beyond those projects, grant money will also go to the food pantry, the center for self reliance and the Council on Aging’s nutrition and wellness program.
MJ Adams, Greenfield’s Community Development administrator, said the state guarantees block grant funding for Greenfield, which helps the town do multi-year planning.
“These are critical resources to support things that the town wouldn’t be able to pay for otherwise,” Adams said.
In Montague, the town will receive $490,000 to fund three units of housing rehabilitation, development plans in Rutter’s Park, a partial demolition of the Strathmore Mill and grants to the Brick House Resource Center, LifePath (now based on Munson Street in Greenfield), Montague Catholic Social Ministries and the Western Mass Recovery Network.
Steve Ellis, Montague town administrator, said he credits Montague’s receipt of the grant to the work of Town Planner Walter Ramsey and the town’s partnership with Bruce Hunter at the Franklin County Regional Housing and Redevelopment Authority.
“Montague is pleased to receive this CDBG award and looks forward to putting these funds to work in our community,” Ellis said. “It’s worth noting that this news comes as we are completing projects, such as housing rehabilitation work and the illumination of Peskeomskut Park, with funds from our current grant.”
Athol will get about $706,000 for infrastructure improvements to Winter, Wilder and Summer streets.
Buckland will get $541,000 for infrastructure improvements to Green Street and to support a food pantry. The towns of Leverett, Deerfield, Sunderland and Conway will receive a total of $1,294,928 for housing rehabilitation to 24 units. And Shelburne received about $757,000 toward rehabilitation assistance to the Highland Village housing authority property and to support a food pantry.