Housing, Urban Development and Zoning - public_hearing

Welcome back. It's that time of year again. We are the Community Development Administration for the City of St. Louis. And today we will be reviewing the RFP for the FY2027 program year. This is our non-housing CDBG RFP. We'll be discussing the timeline process, eligible applicants and uses. Today is July 30th. My name is Rashonda Alexander. I serve as the Director of Compliance for the Community Development Administration, or CDA, and I'm going to toss it over to our Executive Director, Mr. Matt Moak.

Thank you, Rashonda. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for being with us today. I have also as part of the team here, Tom Nagel, Kevin Allison, and Lisa Jones, all of CDA today present as well. I just want to say a few words about this. I think this to me is probably the biggest thing that CDA does on an annual basis in terms of getting money out there into the community for public services, for economic development, for housing, for public facilities and improvements, let's say community centers of the world, that type of thing. And it's our largest block of funding and this, we were rolling it out and we of course wanna get into it today and educate everyone. Some of you probably know it from prior years, it's something we do every year. But just to stress the importance of this to our community and we're very proud of, I'm very proud of all the efforts of the team here And let's, no further ado, let's get into it. Thank you.

Thank you, Matt. The CDA, our mission is really to serve as the clearinghouse for federal funds. We deploy and drive economic justice by supporting a wide range of public and private dollars, social services, building affordable housing, activating vacant properties. properties and empowering our communities. We have three main pillars, which are to empower, develop, and transform. Just a little history, the CDA was founded in 1974 to administer the Housing and Community Act funds. And it's since evolved over the development of agencies and following a HUD intervention in 2022, CDA was redesigned and its funding processes are now what you're experiencing today. This is a great flow chart put together by our team member, Kevin Ellison, and it just really helps us to see at a glance what CDA is in comparison to our federal and local environment. CDA in the middle here receives this particular funding source from HUD. And as responsible entity, we deploy these funds throughout the city to our eligible partners who are fantastic municipal and non municipal, some of which are listed here on the screen. We just wanted to pause here and thank all of our sub recipients for your commitment to the city and for being good stewards of these funds. CDA is made up of three divisions, our fiscal, compliance, and construction teams. Our fiscal department are accountants and also experts in invoicing and submitting pay requests to the payrolls to the comptroller's office and finance reports to HUD and Treasury. Our compliance department is made up of grant administrators, and we deal in compliance, drafting outputs and criteria for reporting to HUD, and we conduct monitoring visits, we provide technical assistance, and then we produce those reports of your work in the community to HUD. Last but not least, our construction and housing team made up of engineers and analysts that produce housing for our city, a home repair program, as well as miscellaneous construction grants, like in health clinics and early child care centers. Today we're going to zoom right into our non-housing portion. We'll talk about the timeline, the process, eligible applicants, activities, which are basically uses of the funds, and then we'll open up the floor for you if you have any questions. You can also get this information at the link below, which is stlouis-mo.gov, then backslash CDA, backslash CDBG, and then backslash 2027, because that's the fiscal year for which these funds are made available. Here's the timeline. It was posted on the first of this month. We're here today on the 30th going through our overview. And the big thing I want you to note is that proposals are due on August the 24th by 4 p.m. The system that we are using for grants management is eGrams and it's due on August 24th, 2026. We will review and score those applications and post funding recommendations to the website on October the 2nd. There's a process for this to become an ordinance. And throughout the month of October and early November, that process will take place with our Board of Aldermen. We will have another public hearing on November the 6th at 10 a.m. where we announce the funding awards. And then we will submit the actual plan for approval to HUD on or before November 13th. Keep in mind this timeline may be amended. So just kind of look at the website every now and then for any additional updates that you may not be privy to right now. Tom does a great job at sending us a newsletter and keeping us abreast of changes and new things here at CDA. This is basically a rehash of the same thing, but if you have your cell phone now, feel free to use this QR code. Take a picture really quick. We're using technology so that you can snap it, have it in your phone, and save it or share it. Running through, today's the 30th of July. We're doing the RFP overview. Proposals are due on August the 24th. We'll rate them by the end of September. We'll post the funding recommendations of those that are advanced on October the 2nd, and we will submit to HUD on or before November 13th. I hope that gave you enough time to take the QR code and get it into your phone. You can also see this later on YouTube. These are some great important dates. On the 13th, we will be having a capacity building training. led by one of our team members here, Lisa Jones, who's also a panelist, and our amazing team of monitors and grants administrators, where we discuss reporting and financial management. We'll also have our fiscal team involved in this, so be prepared for this training and maybe additional dates where we may break out into smaller sections for this training. Our eligible applicants for this non-housing grant are nonprofit organizations and municipal entities. This criteria is really important. Right now, if you are new to this program, you need to go to SAM.gov and you need to register. It may be enough time for you to get the designation of UEI that is needed at SAM.gov. All must have a UEI number and must be registered in the system for award management. The proposed activities must meet a national objective and the subsequent slides will talk about what that is. You must be current with the IRS. You must have completed federal audits if that's applicable. You cannot have any delinquent federal or state or local taxes or any unresolved HUD or monitoring findings. You must not have any outstanding debts with CDA or anything passed due to CDA. You must be in good standing with the city of St. Louis and also with the state of Missouri. You must have a current business license with the city. and you must pass what is called a CBI clearance in order to contract with us. The proposed activities may not take place in a building not approved for occupancy by the City of St. Louis. You may not be on any debarred list with the federal government, our excluded parties list. And if you're applying for public facilities or public improvements or infrastructure, you must include the pro forma. You must adhere to BABA, which is Build America by America, Davis-Bacon and Section 3 related federal requirements. Our director of housing, Stephanie Christian, updated the pro forma and made it a very succinct list document for you to follow that is attached online for you if you choose to apply for public facilities or improvements. What is an eligible activity and what is the national objective? HUD has three tenants for HUD dollars. You must either benefit a low, moderate income person, eliminate slum and blight, or be in urgent need. We also have home funds that may be used to provide housing benefit to those that are low moderate income persons. Economic development, as Matt mentioned earlier on, is one of our activities and programs that are eligible for funding this year. If you're a micro enterprise that provides technical assistance for small businesses, maybe think about applying. If you want to provide financial incentives to businesses for business development, this is an activity that's eligible. Or if you're providing financial incentives for food and health access, which we know is needed in vulnerable communities, this will be a way for you to apply under economic development. This is non-housing, so I'm skipping through this only to bring your eyes down to public facilities and improvements. for early childhood education centers. Street and sidewalk improvements, we normally do not. steward because we have a streets division that does that but they're public facilities if you're assisting in the development or rehab of facilities that are principally designed for a low and moderate income person in a low and moderate income area this is something that you will be eligible for there are plenty of public services and i know we have some partners on the phone who are doing this work right now thank you again for it crime prevention, childcare, public services and elderly housing and the like, all the way down to job training and food access are all eligible public services. Landlord training assistance, neighborhood cleanups, offender reentry, youth services, they are all eligible activities. For this year, our mayor's office has elevated three priorities as high. It doesn't mean that you can only apply for these three, but these three are high priorities. Affordable housing, Rental homeowner assistance and production of new units, which will happen later on. Economic development. Anything associated with job creation. So you have to create a job for this one and or be able to help micro enterprises. And then public infrastructure and improvement. We haven't forgot about the tornado. It is still very present and prevalent in our community. So we are prioritizing investments that support the long-term recovery and revitalization of neighborhoods impacted by the May 16th tornado. And here we have some photos of our Economic Empowerment Center, some new homes that were built, all using HUD funds by way of the Community Development Block Grant Program. These are some affordable housing units, which homeowner assistance is an eligible use. And these are in Dutch town and Old North. The primary goal was to assist and improve the affordability for decent housing throughout the city of St. Louis. And these are examples of some of those units. and economic development. We partner with Gateway Global. So these are some pictures here. And we talked about the Economic Empowerment Center on the north side. Public improvements, the primary goal associated here is to build or enhance capital improvements to better serve the needs of our residents in the community. We have a stormwater project with MSD. This is at Buddha Rec Center, the MLK Corridor, and then the Grove District, just all actual pictures of how the funds are being deployed in our community. And for admin, we have our partners internally and externally doing the work. And the plan is to administer the program as well with thorough program management, monitoring, and evaluation. And these are some of our partners here at Northside Community Housing, along with Old North Restoration Group. Brooke abuse counseling we have two partners Elliot and Jubilee ministry that have been doing awesome work in the Community, and these are evidenced by the photos that you see here. And this emerged as a top priority through the consolidated planning process that we did in the Community, where we went and. assess the needs and provided a four year plan that we use to base these annual allocations from. Health services and public improvements was another goal associated to fund and incentivize health essentials, ranging from clinical services to urgent care. Grove District, City of St. Louis Department of Health is always out doing great work in the community. The People's Health Center and the mobile health services van, all supported by community development block grant funds. Homelessness and emergency shelter, this is pictures of Jefferson spaces and some temporary encampments that were used to help our homeless population with prevention services. We also have wonderful partners in ESG that are doing great work in this area. More pictures of Jefferson spaces. and program outreach, all led by emergency solutions grant and our partners at ESG. This is one of our team members, Ms. Spite, and this is showing our planning efforts when we were working in the consolidated plan a couple years ago. More members of our team as we deploy funds with Northside Youth and Senior Services Center and for the Buddha Rec Center. You guys look great in this picture, by the way. And so they're relocation assistance for anybody displaced by the disaster. So it's not an anybody. This would be for a eligible applicant, right? So those are municipal applicants. agencies and then they're also nonprofits so nonprofits who apply to help our residents with relocation, you can use Community Development Block Grant funds for it. And last but not least, our children, our future and our youth services support low to moderate income families. food and transit support, workforce development, reentry services, and other services to improve high school graduation rates and increase employment and reduce crime, overall better health and neighborhoods for our community. I went through it really fast. We're at the end with why, but it's not missed on me how beneficial this work is for our community and how grateful we are for you. This is more about the process that we did for the next four years and making sure that we meet our three national objectives. We now have the approval of neighborhood revitalization strategy areas. And this is a way that HUD allows us to expand our services in particular areas. We don't have a cap. There is a traditional cap associated with HUD funding for public services. Should you have programs in Martin Luther King Boulevard corridor or the North NRSA, which we say NRSA, or Penrose O'Fallon College Hill, or Southeast, you would not be subscribed to that program administration cap. You'll find this map online as well. And please make note of it in your application if your program or public improvement facility is in one of these areas. They are now all officially approved by HUD. And the Choice Neighborhood was already approved. That's our fifth NRSA, which is listed at the bottom there. We encourage citizen participation. Let us know how we can better serve you or other ways that we can deploy these funds that are eligible and compliant with the federal government and with HUD. Feel free to email us at CDA at stlouis-mo.gov. That's our address. And your questions are next because this is for you.

Great, Rashonda, thank you so much. This is Tom Nagel, the public information officer here for CDA. So this is the overview of the RFP. We'll have a more in-depth workshop soon, but these Zoom meetings are your opportunity to ask us questions directly to CDA staff Otherwise, all questions must be submitted in writing, and we will publish those questions and answers publicly to keep this process competitive. So this is your opportunity to speak with us directly and not have to wait for your written questions to be answered. So you can write in the chat. You can also raise your hand. and we'll pull you in or you can use the question and answer feature right here. So Brenda has a question. If we had a grant last year, do we have to obtain another CDA account? I imagine this is asking about, we used Salesforce last year and this year we're going back to eGrants.

So the answer is yes. You would want to register in eGrams and establish a new account in that grants management system.

Great.

Great question.

Tasha asks, can a nonprofit apply for more than one program? For example, can they apply for both something within public services and then also something that's a public improvement?

Yes, you can.

And then Julie asks, is there a breakout of funding by funding purpose? I think that means do we know how much funding per each category is? or priority, do we know how much per what? Does that make sense?

Yeah, it does make sense. And I think the short answer is, I'd like to be mostly direct and I will defer to Matt, but I would say, no, we don't have a breakout per category. We receive our applications. We do have set asides that are listed in the RFP that you will see for planning and admin and for our local municipal partners that receive a dedicated allocation on an annual basis. So I hope that helps and also defer to Matt for any additional comments.

Thank you, Rashonda. Yeah, typically, well, traditionally, and it's true this year as well, there is a cap for public services funding that HUD imposes on us. And there's also a cap on CDA administration. If you were listening to the presentation, you heard a reference earlier to how the cap doesn't apply in certain areas of town, the NRSA areas. But we fund the maximum in public services every year. I can't imagine this year being any different. We can't get enough into the community to support these great programs and public services. That said, typically the rest of the funding will spell off, if you will, after we determine the public services piece and we sort of see what's left.

Hope that helps. Great. This next attendee asks, if we can better define public facilities, for example, a large homeless shelter, is that considered a public facility?

Depends on if it's open to the entire public. So a public facility is the rec center. I think that's a really good example to help us kind of like frame it. Anybody throughout the entire city should be able to come to the facility because it's open to the whole public. It also needs to be in a low, moderate income area to be eligible for this particular funding source.

Thank you.

Jane, as we're using a new. or rather new, or anyway, we're using eGrams this year for our grant management system. Does eGrams let the applicant print their application before or after submitting it? I imagine this person just wants to make a hard copy of what they submitted.

Lisa, are you familiar with being able to print a copy in eGrams after submission?

Sorry, I was on mute. Yes, eGrams allows you to print your application before and after submission. Great. And Casey asks, is there a maximum amount of funding that can be distributed per applicant? So should they put, keep in mind, any maximum amount that they're asking for?

There are no maximum amounts imposed in our RFP.

And Tasha asks, what makes a federal audit inapplicable? I'm trying to understand this question. What do you need to do to know you will or will not receive a federal audit?

Well, if I may take a stab at that one, I mean, all the funds that we're distributing pursuant to this RFP are all federal funds. There are no local funds. So we're always subject to federal oversight, be it audit or otherwise.

Okay, and Ronald asks, how can a newer nonprofit strengthen its competitiveness against more seasoned applicants that have applied before? And then they also ask, can planning, acquisition, pre-development costs be eligible under this funding opportunity?

I can speak to the competitive side of it. I think you just meet the national objectives. You answer the components of the application to the best of your ability. You show a compelling argument for why you should receive the funding. You show a history of deploying funds. But do not try because you're not seasoned. You just give it your best shot.

Great. And Jane is asking, what web-based platform will CDA be using this year, which is eGrams? And when will eGrams be open to begin working on the application?

It's live.

I assume it's live now. Yeah, it's live now.

Yeah, but I would take some time, though, to really review the aspects of the RFP, but it is live now.

And if there's any issues, just let us know. Alita asks, is there an average award amount for nonprofits? I'm sure there is an average. I think they're more asking what should be expected for a nonprofit to apply for.

Yeah, the averages vary over time. over each year so i i don't think we will be able to to give an average per se uh something came about the formal question up about being more competitive as matt mentioned the public services category is always oversubscribed because of the cap so if you um have other um activities that are outside of the public services cap it may be less competitive

I'll also share to answer that question and the question about average amounts. If you go to that main CDBG page, there is a link to last year's awards, and you could read that news article on our blog. And look at the different groups that have been awarded in the past, and that'll give you a sense of scale for this organization doing this activity, being awarded this much, et cetera, et cetera. And if you're looking for advice, as this is competitive, CDA really cannot advise you, but the very close-knit St. Louis nonprofit community, I'm certain that you can reach out to others and find mentorship as you work. on your application. And I think that question also applies to this next one for Magdalene. Is there an organization size or age necessary? No, you can be any size or you can be brand new, just needs to go through and make sure you check those boxes on eligible activities and make a compelling application. Charles asks, could you please provide some examples of the following activity? We're looking to expand services at our homeless shelter located in a low to moderate income area. And we're wondering if this would be eligible, a public service for job training that provides employment to low and moderate income persons that may not necessarily result in document placement

and a job so just with the job training be an eligible activity yes yes as noted earlier job training is an eligible activity for the public services component of a CDBG should the training result in a job then that will be a different category which is economic development

And Brenda asks, this is my first time applying. Where will I find the eGrams application? On our website, go to that main webpage and find the link. And they also ask, is this Zooming being recorded? Yes, it is being live streamed on YouTube right now. And as soon as it concludes, I'm gonna add a link to that to our website. And right now I'm adding a link to PDF of this slide deck to our website. Now that'll be up just a couple minutes. I also see that there's questions in the chat. So I'm gonna get to that in just a second. This person asks, to what extent does the older person in your ward play a role in the application? Do you need their permission to apply, et cetera?

The direct answer is no. You don't need their permission to apply. It would be great if you had a letter of support from anyone that shows how your application is supported, but it's not a requirement from the auditor. Matt, I saw that you were saying something. I think you were on mute.

Yeah, I mean, I think there you just really, it benefits everyone to focus on the four corners of the application itself and the strength of that application. And that's what we use to rate them and et cetera.

Excellent. Let's get into the chat here. Urveta asks, will there be a notice of funding availability for affordable housing? And that's a good question. That will come in spring of next year, January or February is when we usually do that specific one for affordable housing production. And I always recommend to folks to consider Find that NOFA, that Notice of Funding Availability document from years prior. Start reading that now. Start putting together your paperwork, making sure you're ready to apply. This is competitive and paperwork and dotting your I's and T's is important. So start reading that now. Cortega asks, do you complete separate applications for each program or one comprehensive application, so one nonprofit applying for multiple different things?

You would need to have separate applications for each.

And Mujin asks, it has been stated that this is non-housing, but would it provide funds to complete an affordable housing project that requires completion, like a rehab of a house or something like that? No. No, so this is just for programs, not for building affordable housing.

Yeah, you know, Tom, thank you and everyone. But it is, you know, it's a little confusing because what happens is the money will come in from the federal government that will supply our CDBG programs. But we separate out the housing construction at all from what we're talking about today. And we post a separate NOFA for that money. And that's kind of explained in the underlying RFP. that we utilize. And I think it has caused, I see several questions related to this today, and it's a good question. But this, the reason we call this the non-housing RFP is that's really where the focus is. That said, you all saw the priorities earlier. And so they're kind of running, they're running parallel to each other. But for housing, we will use a separate NOFA process. And for housing production, we anticipate a NOFA, and as Tom's alluded to, early in 2027, we'll be on next funding. I see a question from Julie related to that, which is, do you expect the amount for housing production to be similar last year? I would say yes. And I'd say that based on the fact that our CDBG funding from the federal government is relatively stable, relatively consistent with what we received last year. So, yes, I would expect it to be very similar.

Great. And Tim asks, they say, I joined a little late. Can we... go through the slides again for high priority for affordable housing. Does this mean rehabilitation of existing units? I think that goes back to the conversation that we're having right now, that that's a priority for these use of funds, but look forward to that specific NOFA for affordable housing come spring next year.

Right. Thank you.

I think the reason, I know the reason that it's listed is because it's an eligible activity for the Community Development Block Grant funding as a whole.

Right.

And so that's why it's listed, because if we did not have it listed, then we would not be giving you the full picture of what the actual program funds.

So that is a little confusing. I'm glad we're discussing this to kind of clarify. that we're presenting the priorities, but this NOFA is specifically, this RFP is specifically for the programs. And you'll read that in the document, which we encourage you to read. Vivian asks, do I have to submit based on a project or if I have multiple locations, should I submit based on locations?

So you would submit based on your actual activity, and then you would list the locations that connect back to that activity.

Great. And then Magdalene asks, could we share a little bit about the rating process? What does CDA look like when we rate? And I think related to this, Brenda says, what does four corners of an application mean? I think, Matt, you can better define that as you're referring to the priorities, not literally corners.

Yeah, sorry. That's the term of our, the four corners, you know, you're confused. in the legal profession, when you're talking about a contract, application, what have you, you look at the four corners of the document, meaning you're looking at everything inside that application itself, not beyond it. That's kind of what I was trying to convey.

And then can the CDA team share a little bit about what goes into the rating process? What do we look at when we rate applications?

Yeah, so we look at does the information, does it fully respond to all applicable elements of the document? Like, did you answer the question? Does it meet a national objective? Are the activities and outcomes appropriate in relation to the objectives? Is it a concept? Does it flow in a logical manner? We have a completely detailed scoring metric where it's judged by the priority, need, outcome, fiscal logic, collaboration, agency program qualifications. your agency financial qualifications, your agency grant administration experience, and then overall proposal completeness. And then there are some other bonus points when you are in a NRSA, the neighborhood revitalization strategy area.

Duncan asks, the application mentions a city business license. as a required attachment if applicable. What sort of application requires a city business license?

Any applicant that wants to contract with the city and receive funds from the city must have a city business license.

Carol says, can we provide a little more information or examples of this activity? Business development, provide financial incentives to businesses that help create, retain jobs for low to moderate income people.

One of our partners is Justine Peterson, and they provide business assistance grants and loans using community block grant funds. So that's an example.

Great. And Tasha just asks, is the community garden eligible?

We would need to see your application. My inclination is it depends on if it meets one of the national objectives. Yeah.

Great. Byron asks, will or are the metrics posted? I'm assuming, do we post anything explaining exactly how we rate?

No, we have not posted in how we rate since I've known. this process and that's for a number of years. But it is explicitly stated in the RFP what is required.

I am scrolling through the chat and I'm not seeing any new questions as of right now. If you have any questions or public comment for us, now is the most convenient time until our next workshop, which will be on August 13th. If you have questions, you need to submit them in writing, except for right now when you can interact directly with CDA staff. with your questions or comments. So you can raise your hand and we'll bring you in live and you can dialogue directly with us. You can type in the chat or type in the Q&A and we will answer your question. Magdalene asks, is it possible to schedule a short meeting with someone, I assume someone on CDA staff, to review my application before applying?

Oh, this is a competitive process, so I would defer back to a previous statement by Tom, which is contacting some of the prior awardees within a nonprofit community to see if they could provide some type of mentorship as it relates to your application.

And you also, Rashonda, say to that upcoming, I'll call it capacity building that you were going to do in August, right? I mean, that might be some assistance there.

That's correct. That's a great point. We are doing a capacity building and virtual training on August the 13th.

And you can find that list of awardees. You go to CDA's website slash news and look for within our blog posts when we announce awards. Also on that main 2027 CDBG page, there's a link to last year's awardees. So it's a close-knit group in St. Louis. I think definitely call around, find some mentorship. We want to use these funds to build up and serve the St. Louis community. We want to see competitive applications. We want you to work together, form teams, talk and apply. Tasha asks, a food producing community garden and STEM center, would this qualify? And what program, what eligible activity would you describe that as? Maybe economic development, job training? I'm not sure.

It sounds like a public services activity and food access is explicitly stated for that. But it depends on what your vision is. Your vision may fall into another category that's not necessarily public services. We would need to see the application to kind of identify it better.

Yeah, so go through, read through the eligible activities, read through the document of the RFP and follow the directions, follow the instructions. Federal funds, so very exacting and make sure you're following along. I'm not seeing any new questions. Now is the time. until August 13th, our next webinar to connect with, to talk to us directly. In between that, you'll have to send in your questions written. So I'll count to 30. my head not out loud wait for some more questions you can raise your hand we'll bring you on or just type right in to the chat here would you be so kind as to drop in the chat a link for uh to register for august 13th um uh uh i do not have that link ready for you yet um it will be soon But I will drop in the chat the link to subscribe to our newsletter. And that is the best way to stay informed on everything CDA. I do not have that Zoom link ready yet. But in the chat, follow this link. Citi's website slash CDA slash hashtag subscribe. and that'll take you directly to the form right there on CDA's homepage where you subscribe to our newsletter. That's the best way to stay tuned for this upcoming webinar and learn about all sorts of other CDA news resources, et cetera.

We do have some new questions.

Brenda asks, is it possible to receive a copy of the letter Roshanda was reading from? I do not think she's reading from a transcript. This PowerPoint will be posted on that main page for this RFP, CDA slash CDBG slash 2027. And we're being live streamed on YouTube right now. And as soon as we're done here, I'm going to hyperlink a link to that YouTube video on that main page so you can rewatch this. But no, we're riffing right from the heart from our memory. Jane asks, so there are new nursing areas as of 2027. Yes, they are. And I believe There's a link to those in the RFP. Let me double check and also make sure I add a link to that map on the attachment page. It's also in this slide deck, which I'm getting posted shortly. And it's posted right now actually on the, I'll put a link here. It's on that page with all the attachments and resources for the RFP. So there's the RFP document page and then the page with all the different resources. I'm putting that in the chat right now. There's a link to this slide deck. I just posted it right there. So you can see this map, but we'll make sure we get a high res and a digital one on our website. I think, do we have an interactive on our website? I think we... We'll make sure it's there and send a follow up in our newsletter with some of the resources that we discussed here in this slide deck. There's a new question, can a startup be qualified? I think this refers to A new nonprofit that's never applied before? Yes. It's all about following the rules and the eligible activities and writing that strong application. First timers should definitely apply. Still looking for new questions? Now is your opportunity to interact directly with us.

Big thank you here to all the panelists and everyone for preparing these materials today, as well as the Members of the citizenry, it's extremely important to us. You're who we're here to serve and support with this money. So I just want to take a moment to thank you all for weighing in, participating, asking questions, and for the panelists for presenting this material in this way. I really appreciate it.

Thank you everyone for attending. Thank you for your time and your patience. Thank you for being who you are and part of what you do serving the St. Louis community. Thank you for applying for these funds to build upon what you're doing. New question really quickly. Vivian asks if you need assistance, where do I go? You know, as we've mentioned before, subscribe to our newsletter. You'll be getting that link for August 13th. That'll be our deep dive overview on really the nuances of this application. And you can send questions to cdbg at stlewis-mo.gov. Per that RFP document, we need all those questions in writing. And then we'll publish those once a week. So it's a competitive process. So everyone can see the questions coming in. and what the answers are. And then we always encourage people to reach out to other people that are applying. Go to CDA's news page, see who has applied in the past, and reach out to them. St. Louis, we're close-knit in the nonprofit community. Definitely people are eager to mentor and help people along. people to apply we want to use these funds in the st louis community so um and then certainly in st louis there are grant writers uh paid consultants that can help you apply uh keeping this competitive i can't recommend any but they are out there if you need assistance so again without seeing any new questions um i'd like to thank everyone for being here And we will see you again on August the 13th. Thank you, everyone. And thank you, STL TV, Andy, as always, for moderating and giving technical support for this webinar. Thank you.