HOLYOKE — The city of Holyoke is seeking residents to serve on the volunteer Citizens Advisory Committee through the Office for Community Development to review grant applications and make funding recommendations to the mayor and City Council for the upcoming fiscal year.
The Office for Community Development is responsible for the administration of federal grants that come to the city from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and those grants come on an annual basis explained Holyoke Director of Community Development Alicia Zoeller.
“As part of our obligation to the federal government we have a process by which those grant applications are solicited, received and reviewed and one of the things that’s emphasized is citizen participation in this process,” Zoeller said.
Zoeller said while the Citizens Advisory Committee is a volunteer position, it is an opportunity to actively participate in local government, to learn about government processes and to make meaningful decisions that impact the community in visible ways for those interested in local government but not sure where to start. Training and professional staff support are provided.
“It literally is a group of citizens of the city of Holyoke who gather together approximately five times per year to review the grant solicitation process, to talk about the community needs and priorities for that particular year, and once those written applications are solicited, they then go through all of the grant applications and make recommendations for what should be funded,” Zoeller explained.
This year is of added importance behind the work of the Citizens Advisory Committee as every five years a municipality must participate in the Consolidated Plan development by identifying community needs, priorities and goals for the next five years. Members will have the opportunity to review and comment on the draft of that plan and help the city pull together data that will help establish community needs and priorities.
“This year we’re not only working on our annual funding allocation plan to say which projects are going to get funded, we’re also doing a deep dive into the data of the community and looking to see what are the demographics of our community? What are our community needs? How many folks living on the street do we have, impacted by substance use disorder? So, we’re doing a deep dive into all those social and community development needs as part of our five-year plan,” Zoeller said.
Zoeller explained the city is looking for community members to apply who have personal experience with the services provided by federally funded community development activities like community health centers, food pantry meals, homeless services, addiction services, DV services and affordable housing.
Holyoke Housing Authority residents, youth or elderly programs, young parents, first time homeowners, renters, adult educational services or small business development services are also encouraged to apply if interested. Low-moderate income residents, residents of low-moderate income neighborhoods and those from groups underrepresented in local government are strongly encouraged to apply.
“We want diverse voices and diverse experiences at the table and so we’re hoping that we get applications from a cross section of the community,” Zoeller added.
Interested residents should submit a letter and resume (if available) to: Mayor Joshua Garcia, City of Holyoke, Room 1, Holyoke, MA 01040 or by email to ortizn@holyoke.org by Friday, Nov. 15.
Zoeller emphasized that if folks don’t have a ready resume and they are still interested in applying they are welcomed to contact her office and apply verbally.
“We’ll take applications in whatever manner people are able to work with,” Zoeller added. “The lack of a resume or the lack of ability to send a letter should not be a barrier to someone expressing interest in being considered.”
Zoeller said she can also be reached for any questions from interested residents at zoellera@holyoke.org. Additional information about the work of the Citizens Advisory Committee is available at holyoke.org/departments/community-development.
