Congresswoman Brown's FY23 Community Project Funding Requests
The below requests are listed in alphabetical order by recipient name.
Subcommittee/Agency/Account: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies/Department of Transportation/Local Transportation Priorities -- Highway Infrastructure Projects
Project name: Memorial Bridges Loop Trail
Recipient:City of Cleveland
Address: 601 Lakeside Avenue, Cleveland OH 44114
Amount requested: $432,000
Project description and explanation: The Memorial Bridges Loop will provide a low-stress, safe connection for bicyclists and pedestrians between the Downtown and Ohio City neighborhoods by linking the Irishtown Bend Park along W. 25th Street, the protected bicycle lane and promenade on the Detroit-Superior Bridge, and the existing separated multi-use path from Eagle Avenue across the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge. The Huron-Ontario connection will be achieved through a road diet that removes a vehicular travel lane from W Huron Road and Ontario Street between Superior Avenue and Eagle Avenue to create a physically separated, multi-use path along the southern curb of the street segment.
The Huron-Ontario segment of the Memorial Bridges Loop trail is short, but it is a significant connection in the Greater Cleveland bikeway network. Creating a separated and comfortable place for people of all ages, abilities, and experience levels to walk, bicycle, scoot, and use wheelchairs through a key segment of Downtown will: increase access to Cleveland amenities, especially for those who do not own or use cars; increase alternative transportation options, reducing roadway wear and tear and benefiting air quality due to reduced vehicular usage; lead to increased individual physical activity which contributes to improved public health; and attract economic investment and attention to the Huron-Ontario bridge portion of the Gateway District, which is currently one of Downtown's more neglected road segments.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee/Agency/Account: Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies/Environmental Protection Agency/State and Tribal Assistance Grants
Project name: City of Shaker Heights Lomond/Lynnfield Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Project
Recipient:City of Shaker Heights
Address: Shaker Heights, OH
Amount requested: $1.6 million
Project description and explanation: During rain events, sanitary flow is conveyed to the local combined sewer overflow system and is discharged to the environment. The sewers need to be enlarged for added capacity to prevent this sanitary sewer overflow. To this end, the City of Shaker Heights recently completed two out of seven total sewer modernization and remediation projects. The Lomond-Lynnfield Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Project is the third project the City is undertaking, and it will alleviate a greater source of pollution by mitigating overflows of the larger Lomond-Lynnfield sanitary sewer.
The resulting increase of the size of the sewers will directly benefit an approximately 250-acre tributary area and 1,200 households through additional sanitary capacity, reducing basement backups, illicit discharges, and flooding. The project will directly benefit 1,600 residents and indirectly benefit 7,000 residents in the immediate area.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee/Agency/Account: Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies/Department of Justice/Byrne Justice Assistance Grants
Project name: Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance’s Violence Prevention Program
Recipient: Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance
Address: 5644 Broadway Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44127
Amount requested: $500,000
Project description and explanation: Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance’s (CPA) Violence Prevention Program will provide community-led violence prevention, intervention and restoration services to youth and young adults. Requested federal funding will support the expansion of CPA’s operations throughout additional neighborhoods in the city of Cleveland, as well as high-needs inner-ring suburbs of Cleveland Heights, Warrensville Heights, Euclid, and Bedford. CPA will expand a neighborhood focused, train-the-trainer service delivery model based on community violence data and best practices from the Professional Community Intervention Training Institute, a nationally recognized, evidence-based violence intervention training program.
The city of Cleveland is ranked number seven on the list of ten most violent cities in the country, according to FBI Uniform Crime Data. In 2021, Cleveland experienced 170 homicides, closely trailing 2020’s total of 193, which was the worst year for violence in in the city since 1982. Cleveland’s youth are caught in the crosshairs of these issues, with nearly 50% of the city’s kids residing in poverty, and many teens and young adults choosing to arm themselves out of fear and uncertainty around the bloodshed in their community. The Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance (CPA) is working to change this violent trajectory for at-risk youth. Through direct outreach and engagement, critical incident response and de-escalation, and sustained relationship-building and case management support services, CPA is providing young people with alternatives to violence and opportunities for improvement and growth, helping ensure that they remain both alive and free.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee/Agency/Account: Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies/Environmental Protection Agency/State and Tribal Assistance Grants
Project name: MLK Boulevard Sewer Project
Recipient: Cuyahoga County
Address: Garfield Heights, OH
Amount requested: $1 million
Project description and explanation: The project will complete much needed repairs to the approximately 100 year-old sewers that are causing ongoing issues of basement backups and flooding in the low-to-moderate income MLK Boulevard neighborhood of Garfield Heights. The project involves separation of the storm sewer from the combined sewer system and installation of a new sanitary sewer.
The sewers in the low-to-moderate income MLK neighborhood are approximately 100 years old and part of a combined sewer system, which leads to frequent basement backups and floods. The improvement of this sewer system will eliminate basement backups, thereby reducing homeowner and utility costs for cleanup and site repair work. Additionally, the project will reduce the amount of untreated sewage discharged to clean waters of the State of Ohio.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee/Agency/Account: Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies/Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration, Training and Employment Services
Project name: Smart Manufacturing Workforce
Recipient:Cuyahoga Community College District
Address: 700 Carnegie Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115
Amount requested: $1.220 million
Project description and explanation: Tri-C’s Smart Manufacturing Program, under the Colleges Manufacturing Center of Excellence, supports traditional students, adults, including veterans seeking employment or to enhance their knowledge for advancement in the workplace. Credit and non-credit opportunities are being added and flexibly offered to accommodate evening and weekend students.
In Ohio, there is a demand for many occupations that will serve the smart manufacturing industry. According to Labor Market Information for the state of Ohio, there are nearly 9,000 employed in occupations with titles such as Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technicians, Electro-Mechanical Technicians, Industrial Engineering Technicians, Mechanical Engineering Technicians. There will be 878 annual openings for jobs with median wages in the rage of $24.24 to $29.87. Cuyahoga Community College is proud to prepare individuals for these occupations provide family sustaining wages.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee/Agency/Account: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies/Department of Housing and Urban Development/Economic Development Initiative
Project name: Broadband Services for Underserved Communities of Cleveland
Recipient:DigitalC
Address: 6815 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44103
Amount requested: $4.221 million
Project description and explanation: This funding request will connect roughly 2060 households in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Further, this project will provide digital skills training and adoption services to those residents and households.
This project will address broadband connectivity, digital equity and inclusion by providing affordable high speed internet connectivity to some of the least connected areas of Cleveland, the least connected major city in the nation. Individuals lacking quality, affordable broadband have not had the benefit of using 21st Century technology to access equitable education, health care or economic opportunity.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee/Agency/Account: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies/Department of Housing and Urban Development/Economic Development Initiative
Project name: Cleveland Early Learning Spaces
Recipient:Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio, on behalf of PRE4CLE
Address: 6393 Oak Tree Boulevard, Independence, OH 44131
Amount requested: $1.36 million
Project description and explanation: This community project funding request would cover the cost of renovations in six child care centers in FY23, impacting an estimated 500 infants, toddlers, preschool, and school-aged children within those sites, annually.
PRE4CLE is part of Cleveland’s Plan for Transforming Schools (The Cleveland Plan), which is the decade-long community plan to improve the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD). One of the core strategies of The Cleveland Plan is to expand the availability of and enrollment in affordable high-quality preschool and early education (birth through age 5) in every neighborhood. PRE4CLE was created to implement the goal of expanding high-quality preschool to all 3- and 4-year-old children in Cleveland.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee/Agency/Account: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies/Department of Housing and Urban Development/Economic Development Initiative
Project name: Greater Cleveland Food Bank Capital Expansion and Capacity Building Project
Recipient: Greater Cleveland Food Bank
Address: 15500 South Waterloo Road, Cleveland, OH 44110
Amount requested: $5 million
Project description and explanation: In order to ensure that everyone in our community has the nutritious food they need every day, we need space not only to distribute food more efficiently, but to create and strengthen collaborations with partners who can help clients reduce the difficult choices that contribute to a household’s economic instability - the primary driver of food insecurity.
The Greater Cleveland Food Bank (“Food Bank”) is pursuing a transformative capital and capacity building project to expand our distribution and production of nutritious food, and to create a dedicated space for our clients to access services that can help them address the root causes of food insecurity.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee/Agency/Account: Department of Transportation/Local Transportation Priorities/Transit Infrastructure Projects
Project name: Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) Rail Car Replacement Program
Recipient: Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA)
Address: 1240 West Sixth Street, Cleveland, OH 44113
Amount requested: $5 million
Project description and explanation: This $5 million request will provide additional funding for this program to replace GCRTA’s two aging fleets of rail cars. It will result in a common rail car which will be safer and more reliable for our 25,000 daily rail passengers and the hundreds of thousands of occasional riders who rely on our rail service to attend major community and sporting events. Replacing the rail cars will promote increased ridership and encourage private transit oriented development along our 33 mile rail system.
GCRTA’s heavy and light rail cars are 37 and 40 years old, and have exceeded their useful life. They require an increasing amount of time and money to be properly maintained and ready for service. Due to their age, replacement parts are difficult to obtain and the technology and components within the cars are obsolete. This will allow us to serve our customers with fewer rail cars and only have one fleet of rail cars to maintain. The result will be new safer, reliable, and technologically advanced rail cars for our customers for the next 30+ years at a lower life-cycle cost
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee/Agency/Account: Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies/Environmental Protection Agency/State and Tribal Assistance Grants
Project name: Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Elimination Project in Garfield Heights
Recipient: Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD)
Address: Wolf Creed at Andover Boulevard, Garfield Heights, OH 44125
Amount requested: $2 million
Project description and explanation: In the City of Garfield Heights, there is a combined sewer overflow (CSO) relief point located on Wolf Creek at Andover Blvd. This relief point, where combined sewage is estimated to discharge into Wolf Creek 50+ times every year, is upstream from the Garfield Park recreational area that is being revitalized, where guests can use Garfield Pond (fed by Wolf Creek) to fish and do paddle sports. This project includes sewer separation and stormwater offloading from the tributary system to restore the outfall to discharge only stormwater. This work will also mitigate reported basement flooding within the E.105th - McCracken - Granger - E.119th neighborhood.
Any funding received for this project can help to alleviate some of the burden on NEORSD rate payers, who have seen and will continue to see annual rate increases due to NEORSD’s $3.0 billion CSO Consent Decree.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, Agricultural Research Service, Buildings and Facilities
Project name: OAI – Precision Urban Agriculture Initiative
Recipient: Ohio Aerospace Institute
Address: 22800 Cedar Point Road, Brook Park OH, 44142
Amount requested: $1.8 million
Project description and explanation: Northern Ohio, and especially the 11th Congressional District, is at the center of resurgence regarding urban agriculture. The benefits are direct and immediate, from addressing food deserts, to job creation, to mental health benefits related to greening an environment. Urban agriculture is different because it is performed at a microscale and can benefit from new technologies. A new generation of agronomic techniques has the potential to revolutionize how we grow food.
The Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) will help Cleveland as it pursues the goal of being the nexus of 5G, a leader in advanced small drones operations in populated areas, and a developer of urban green space for farming. Three key advanced technologies need to be brought together to help.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee: Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies/Department of Education/Innovation and Improvement
Project name: Community Museum Education Programs
Recipient:The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Inc.
Address: 1100 Rock and Roll Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44114
Amount requested: $1.5 million
Project description and explanation: Rock connects us. Our mission is clear: to engage, teach and inspire through the power of rock & roll. We share stories of the people, events and songs that shape our world through digital content, innovative exhibits, live music, and impactful education programs. As a unique 501c3 educational institution and world-renowned attraction that draws more than a half million people to Cleveland annually, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame generates a significant educational impact to PreK-12 students in Cleland, across the State of Ohio and worldwide. Education is core to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s mission and commitment to our local and global community.
Taxpayer funds will be well invested in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s educational programming by keeping these programs free and accessible to students, educators and school districts. These taxpayer funds will aid in removing barriers to access these onsite educational programs and will allow Rock Hall EDU to be continually refreshed with free, innovative digital education resources that are socially and culturally relevant.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee: Financial Services and General Government/Small Business Administration/Small Business Initiatives
Project name: Black Entrepreneurship Training Project
Recipient: United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland
Address: 1621 Euclid Avenue, Suite 1200, Cleveland, OH 44115
Amount requested: $500,000
Project description and explanation: The United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland (UBFGC) is proposing to start a training program for promising black entrepreneurs focused on more resilient industries like information technology, manufacturing, professional services, medical technology, and renewable energy. Successful graduates of this program will help re-position black-owned businesses away from the precarious industries like personal services and retail and instead on more resilient businesses with greater prospects to weather the next pandemic or economic downturn and better opportunities for long-term growth and expansion. This growth and expansion will help close income and wealth gaps, reduce urban unemployment, encourage capital formation in the black community, and rebuild historic Northern Ohio urban neighborhoods – one business at a time.
The funding requested meets important local, regional, and national priorities by increasing the number of resilient black-owned businesses in Northern Ohio. These businesses will be better able to survive the next pandemic or even the next economic downturn. The success of this program will help close income and wealth gaps, reduce urban unemployment, encourage capital formation in the Black community, and rebuild historic Northern Ohio urban neighborhoods – one business at a time.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee: Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies/Department of Health and Human Services/Health Resources and Services Administration, Program Management
Project name: University Hospitals Birth Safety Simulation Center
Recipient: University Hospitals
Address: 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106
Amount requested: $1.14 million
Project description and explanation: The federal funding requested will be used for construction and renovation expenses to create the space needed for the program and for equipment required for the program. If secured, the funding will accelerate the timeline for launching the program, meaning that labor and delivery teams will be able to put improved skills into action more quickly as they care for Cuyahoga County mothers and babies.
The infant mortality rate in Cuyahoga County is one of the highest in the United States, with Black infants dying at a much higher rate than white infants. In 2018, the infant mortality rate (IMR) for Black infants was 15.49, while the IMR for white infants was 3.76. Black infant deaths in the City of Cleveland were even more alarming, with an IMR of 17.51, compared to a white IMR of 3.03. In other words, for every white infant that died before their first birthday, nearly six Black infants died. For over a decade, UH has been focused on improving maternal and infant outcomes in Cleveland. In Cuyahoga County, approximately 78% of African American women giving birth deliver at UH MacDonald Women’s Hospital, part of the UHCMC campus. Obstetrics (OB) and neonatal simulation will be an additional element of this multifaceted effort. Simulation allows teams to practice skills in a safe environment instead of with live patients in the real world and Studies have shown simulation to improve OB teams’ response to maternal and fetal emergencies. The ultimate goal will be improved maternal and infant outcomes in Cuyahoga County.
Signed disclosure letter: Here
Subcommittee: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies/Department of Transportation/Local Transportation Priorities, Transit Infrastructure Projects
Project name: Center for Rehabilitation of Aging Transportation Infrastructure
Recipient: University of Akron
Address: 302 East Buchtel Avenue, Akron, OH 44325
Amount requested: $1 million
Project description and explanation: This project will establish a research and training center at the University of Akron that focuses on transportation infrastructure materials and rehabilitation. This center will aim to form partnerships with local public agencies (LPAs) in cities, counties, townships, and villages in Northeast Ohio to facilitate sharing of best practices in infrastructure rehabilitation, provide education on recent advancements in engineering and construction practices, and provide access to the expertise available at the university to assist LPAs in making informed decisions regarding the rehabilitation of their infrastructure assets.
Funding is requested to establish a research and training center at the University of Akron that focuses on transportation infrastructure materials and rehabilitation to assist in making better decisions regarding the materials and methods used for the rehabilitation of the aging infrastructure in Northeast Ohio. The proposed center will have three main thrusts. The first thrust involves the investigation of materials and processes used for the rehabilitation of roads, bridges, and culverts that are appropriate for the specific climatic conditions in this region of the state. The second thrust includes conducting workshops for local agencies on best practices for managing and maintaining their transportation assets. The third thrust addresses one of ASCE’s recommendations, which suggested to provide students with training for in-demand careers in the region.
Signed disclosure letter: Here