Presently the Our Community Food Pantry in Southwick is open seven-hours a week as town and state officials look into the possibility of obtaining a grant for a mobile food dispensary vehicle that would serve the Southwick and Granville area. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
SOUTHWICK – The Board of Selectmen will have a public hearing on a Community Development Block Grant application Monday at 5:40 p.m. in Town Hall.
An Ad Hoc Committee headed by Selectman Joseph Deedy with James Mazik of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission was formed to seek opportunities that would give the town a better chance at receiving the grant, including taking a regional approach with Granville.
This is the second time the town is seeking this grant, which is awarded based on a points system. During the last grant round, Southwick missed out by several points.
“The cutoff was 76 points and you were eight points below that,” said Mazik.
Mazik said he believed another application showing improvements to areas such as Veterans Street, where housing rehab is needed, would earn approval. He said that category scored an average of 53 points, due in part to lack of resident participation in advisory committee meetings and a lack of residential input.
“Points were knocked off because there was no sign-in sheet,” Mazik offered as an example of why there was such a low score.
This past fall, Deedy and Mazik rectified the need for more residential input by going into the community and speaking directly with residents.
Mazik told the board he believed the town could raise their scores into the high 60s, plus receive an additional 10 points for its regional services. He added that the PPC had a good success rate with grants.
“We wrote eight applications and were successful with six,” he said.
“That’s a good sign,” said Chief Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart.
“There wasn’t additional outreach to target areas, and we can do that,” he said, using letters as an example.
Mazik said letters were sent to target neighborhoods.
“We sent a survey to those on the housing rehab list, including 43 people in Southwick and 15 in Granville.”
Also included in the application is a request for $90,000 for a mobile food pantry which would allow the Our Community Pantry in Southwick, which also serves Tolland and Granville, to deliver food to families in need.
Monday’s public hearing is the last required step before submitting the application.
