National Community Development Week

WEBINAR SERIES TO CELEBRATE THE WORK OF WATERLOO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

The City of Waterloo, Iowa will celebrate National Community Development Week with a series of informational noon hour webinars, interviews with local media, a Community Resource Fair, and presentations to state and local officials. The purpose of the week is to highlight how Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and other federal funding is improving lives at the local level.

Waterloo Community Development Director, Rudy Jones will host the weeklong webinar series, discussing a variety of partnerships and opportunities throughout the City. The public is invited to watch the webinars during the noon hour April 10 –14 on the City of Waterloo’s YouTube Channel by searching @WaterlooCommunityTVChannel15 on YouTube.com. 

Community Development Week-1 - CopyMary Shileny, CEO, RCE of Northeast Iowa Regional Board of Realtors will be the guest presenter on Monday, April 10.  Shileny will give insights into Waterloo’s housing market. 

On Tuesday, April 11, Martin Petersen Waterloo City Attorney, will discuss on how the Delinquent Property Tax Certificate Annual Sale works and options on how to transfer personal residential property.

On Wednesday, April 12, Chris Kemp, CEO of Peoples Community Health Clinic will give a virtual tour of  the building expansion and how Community Development support is helping to expand affordable healthcare services for Waterloo residents. 

Thursday, April 14, Paul Huting will join Mr. Jones to bring an update on the Gates and Brynes Park transformations and share how Community Development funds improve quality of life for everyone by helping create and maintain the City’s abundant park resources.

Spring FlingThe Spring Fling – Community Resource Fair will be held at the Cedar Valley Sportsplex on Thursday, April 13th from 11:00am – 2:30pm. Community and City of Waterloo resources will be on hand to share health, housing, payment assistance and other resources to Waterloo residents.

 “Waterloo Community Development assists homeowners during times of crisis, helping preserve homes and neighborhoods, while reducing financial and psychological burden,” says Waterloo Community Development Director, Rudy Jones. “In light of Waterloo’s aging housing stock and diminishing federal funding, we are especially grateful for collaborations with agencies in the community and partnerships with local philanthropy. With their help we are able to continue to provide assistance to home owners with emergency needs and make positive impact in our aging neighborhoods.”

ABOUT WATERLOO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

In fiscal year 2022 Waterloo Community Development received the following Annual Allocations:

  • $1,269,109 of CDBG funding
  • $491,817 of HOME funding
  • $1,081,959 in CARES Act funding

With these funds, Waterloo Community Development provided:

  • 6 Down Payment Assistance grants were provided to low/moderate first time homebuyers
  • 51 Homes received emergency repairs, 23 of those homes were roof replacements
  • 22 Rehabilitation projects completed addressing lead paint hazards
  • 696 individuals were provided emergency shelter from public service agencies
  • 16,384 people received assistance through funding provided to Public Service Agencies

Waterloo Community Development focuses a large portion of programs and services on landlords and families with small children present. The specific needs of this sector are incorporated into the federally  funded Lead Based Paint Hazard Control Grant with a  Healthy Homes Supplement. To date, 95% of rehabilitations completed by WCD are in housing units and apartments with children age 6 years old and younger. This work not only makes the units lead paint safe for the current families, but for future families.

Waterloo Neighborhood Services is an important function of the Community Development. In 2022 Neighborhood Services facilitated: meetings with 31 recognized neighborhood associations, assisted with neighborhood summer time clean ups, hosted National Night Out celebrations in 8 neighborhoods, and helped coordinate 10 events with Gallagher-Bluedorn Summer Concert Series.

Find more information about the work of Waterloo Community Development on the City of Waterloo website www.CityofWaterlooIowa.com/departments/Community_Development.

CONTACT: Rudy Jones, Director
Waterloo Community Development
Rudy.Jones@Waterloo-IA.org