Thank you, Jim.

And we're recording.

All right.

Good evening, everybody.

I'm calling to order a meeting of the Human Affairs Committee.

It is Monday, March 16th, 2026 at 7 p.m.

in the Aldermanic Chamber.

Let's start by taking a roll call attendance.

Alderman Chess.

Alderman Senate is here.

Alder Woman Morgan.

Here.

Alder Woman Kelly, Vice Chair.

I'm here.

And Alderman Lopez, Chair.

I am here.

Also joining us this evening is Alderman Johnson as well as a number of departmental and uh community representatives.

I note that we're not we don't have the disclaimer we usually have about this being noticed in two separate locations.

It is.

It's not online either.

But yeah, worth noting that it is.

Be it so known we did properly notice this multiple ways for the public to be able to be aware of it.

All right.

So we have on our agenda we have a public hearing.

Um and then after that we have our regular meeting at which we will have uh in the public hearing we'll have um two phases of public comment for against and then four again and then against again.

Um and then we'll close that hearing.

Then we'll have our regular meeting.

Um the regular meeting uh also starts with public comment.

Um and then um we our agenda says that we're gonna do our presentations and our discussions.

Um without objection, I'm gonna move our unfinished business uh to the front because uh that's the police just giving us more information on um a pending piece of business for them.

They can be in and out and done, and then uh they don't have to wait for all the presentations.

Questions?

Alderman.

Just also wanted to recognize in attendance as Alderman Johnson.

I did.

Okay.

Thank you anyway.

You're welcome.

I'll take the double credit.

Double recognized dually recognized all right.

So um first up, then we will do the public comment uh the um the public hearing on uh FY 2027 CDBG and home programs, and we action plan development.

Um can we have either Director Sullivan or someone from urban plannings come present for the public hearing?

Good evening, Mr.

Chairman and members of the committee.

Uh yeah, this is our first uh public uh hearing for the development of the FY27 uh annual action plan.

Uh this is intended to solicit some information as we are developing the draft.

Um there is uh some public a little bit of public facing information available regarding this draft, but primarily what we're doing is we're following the consolidated plan as as was adopted last year to identify our goals and needs.

So if anyone has looked at those and has any comments about where they would like the uh annual action plan uh to head for this cycle, we would love to hear the what they have to say.

Okay.

Um and so could you just describe the HUD process a little bit because it's a little bit unusual for any newer alderman in terms of it comes, we make a plan, they change the plan, they tell us what they have.

Can you go over the longer outline for us?

Yes, I'll make it as concise as I possibly can.

Um the way the timing of how this all has to be developed can and usually has resulted in um allocations being based upon an anticipated amount of funding.

So tonight is the first step in that allocation process where the uh nonprofits and the applicants get to give a brief presentation about what they'd like.

And then in the April 20th meeting is when we'll be uh asking to have the scoring itself done and the allocations made.

Fortunately for this year, HUD has informed us that they are expecting to give us our actual numbers on March 30th.

So as long as that uh comes to pass as soon as we have the information, uh I will send a memo to the committee so that we'll actually be able to work with real numbers uh during the scoring process.

Um and not what we've had to do in previous years with a lot of contingencies.

So this is on track to allow us to have a 30-day public comment period, or I'm sorry, a 30-day window where the draft action plan is available to the public.

That will be followed by a second public comment period, and our anticipated submission will be May 15th to HUD in compliance with the 45-day deadline before the beginning of the program year.

All right, hopefully that makes sense.

We'll touch on that later because it changes sometimes, but um I just want to make sure we had an overview.

Certainly.

Okay.

So any members of the public wishing to make testimony in favor of the fiscal year 2027 C D BG and home programs annual action plan development.

Seeing none.

Any members of the public who would like to make testimony in opposition?

Still none.

Testimony in favor one more time.

And anyone wishing to make testimony in opposition.

Seeing none, we are closing the public hearing at 7.05 p.m.

And we will move on to our regular meeting.

Okay.

All right.

So first we have uh the unfinished business.

So we're already going to take that out of order.

All right.

So first in front of us, we have R26011 relative to the acceptance of $15,833 from the New Hampshire Department of Homeland Security into emergency management grant activity, Smart has met FY26.

I will make a motion to recommend final passage.

Okay.

We have someone here to speak on it.

Good evening, Steve Buxton, fire chief.

Um so this grant uh comes to us through the uh Homeland Security and Emergency Management Grant Activity Fund.

Um basically it's $15,833 that we can use to uh pay overtime and backfill positions uh when our team members are uh conducting training.

Uh we have a heavy lift uh at least once a year where annual refresher training for all of our Hazmat technicians in is done, and this will help fund some of that uh payroll.

Okay.

Any questions from committee members?

All right, seeing none.

Uh motion to recommend final passage.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion carries.

Go back to the presentations.

Uh first up under presentations and discussions, we have National Soup Kitchen and Shelter.

All right.

So do um to urban programs and Director Sullivan.

Do you guys want to coach people through this, or do you want to just have them come up and make individual presentations?

Yeah, it actually says you'll recognize uh project manager youngers first.

So I thought and project manager youngers, are you gonna keep coming up or do you want to sit down and I'm sorry, Mr.

Chairman?

We actually have uh a few more entries uh on the list, and I would be happy to uh introduce them here at the podium or just informally.

Okay.

So do you want to mc from the podium and share the mic, or do you want to have your own spot and then just call them up?

Comes.

Uh I'll take a seat.

Okay.

Some on that side, because then we're just keeping this one offline, you know.

Uh Mr.

Chairman, before we go ahead with the presentations, um, I was hoping I could ask a question of uh manager Congress.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um I I had a question for you just before we get going into the presentations in regard to the um the layout and um some of the information in the um memo you'd provided us.

Uh it pertains to the um the calculation on each applicant.

We were given um the amount that they're requesting.

Um we were given an amount, if any, that they had in regard to um external funding for their projects, and then a percentage um that what percentage the CDBG ask represented.

And the accountant in me went a little crazy on that because I couldn't make sense or sort of it because some of them followed what I anticipated the formula to be exactly, which is CDBG plus external equals total project cost divided by my ask would give me what percentage, but that didn't add up for many of them, and I was hoping you could just speak to that.

Absolutely.

You're on.

Thank you.

Uh yes, uh I looking back now.

I should have added an additional column.

So some or many actually of the applicants, uh, their project's gonna be substantially more expensive uh than what they're asking for.

So there should have been a anticipated project or activity cost, then CDBG request, then external funding.

So we compared the the amount of CDBG money requested against the anticipated activity cost.

So I I can see how that was a little misleading.

I apologize.

We'll add that column for the the next cycle.

Okay, great.

So by that next uh hearing the 20th.

Oh, absolutely.

In fact, I'll be uh sending a memo to the committee next week that contains our scoring spreadsheet that we used last year, just trying to give everybody as much time as possible to become comfortable with it in advance of that meeting.

All right.

Thank you for clarifying at least that it wasn't me just having really poor math skills.

No, sir, it's a work in progress.

All right.

You got a whole kill.

Otherwise, McKelly.

Uh thank you.

I had the exact same question, so thank you for putting it out there.

Um my request is just if you when you go if you're gonna go update this.

Could you also put what we historically get so we have a sense of like how far over it is of what we might uh yes, so uh I went kind of back and forth on this because we're still developing our anticipated numbers.

So we have a we have an idea.

Um, but I left them out once HUD notified us that we'd be receiving our actual allocations by March 30th.

Um basically I didn't want to encourage myself or anyone else to go too far down the road of anticipatory allocations, knowing that the actual funds will be here uh soon enough.

However, I'm I'm happy to make an adjustment and provide you our current best guess.

It's just nice to have a general sense of how far over as we're listening to everyone in the room who are incredible community organizations.

In the sense of like, can I only allocate half of them?

Uh and I know you're not it's a guess.

Uh yes, thank you.

Also, okay.

Alderman Morgan, do you have any questions?

Uh nope, Tim asked it.

Thank you.

Okay, there.

All right.

Um if you want to proceed with the presentations.

I think the first one up is National Soup Kitchen.

Uh uh, yes, please.

Actually, uh let's have the Nashville Children's Home first, please.

Okay.

Good evening.

Can you hear me okay?

Wonderful.

Uh my name is Lee Riley.

I'm the director of the transitional living program at Nashua Children's Home.

I've worked for the children's home for 28 years, and I've been the director of the transitional living program since uh we opened up in 2004.

Uh for those of you who do not know about Nashua Children's Home, we've been around for 123 years.

We serve the greater Nashua area.

Our mission is to provide um stable and care for boys and girls that are unable to be with their families.

That's through our residential program.

We provide special education uh to students in our educational program, and lastly, we provide uh supportive housing through our transitional living program.

Uh the transitional living program, as I said, has been around for 22 years, and we've served 124 young adults.

Um eighty-nine of those were in the foster care system.

The program serves um young adults 18 to 20, where they are provided an apartment that is furnished, and all of the tenants are considered very low income to low income per uh the HUD income standards.

Um as I mentioned, uh the apartments are furnished.

Uh we charge them a nominal rate of $700 a month.

Of that $700, we actually put some aside for when they leave the transitional living program.

So other than getting their security deposit back, they get additional funds there.

Uh the young adults are responsible for their own bills, in addition, the utility bills and such like that.

Uh we provide money management skills, employment assistance, uh, transportation when needed, but we really try and get them connected into the community.

Um we have assistance for college for them to pay for their books or computers or things like that.

And we also have a car program where we purchase a car and then we give it to the young adult for 250 to 500.

Um we've actually helped four young adults with that, and they're just thrilled because they think a used car is like a Rolls-Royce.

Uh the reason I'm here today, uh asking for C D BG funds uh is to replace the boilers and the hot water system at our transitional living program.

Um this would include an entire overhaul of the current system, all the furnishings, um, and installation of the six water heaters and the six boilers.

Um and it's important to note that none of these pieces have been replaced uh during the 22 years we've been I I appreciate the look, the 22 years we've been open.

Um I can tell you working directly with the young adults, they're quite irate over there, high utility bills, um, and we look forward to some more efficient uh equipment.

Um at that, I will end my presentation and hopefully answer your question.

I'm here on behalf of our executive director, Matt Fentress, who couldn't be here.

Questions from the committee?

Alderman Morgan.

Thank you for that.

Um yes, 22-year-old boilers work like none other.

So however.

Yes.

My question is if you can answer it, great.

Is there have you worked with New Hampshire SAVES program at all through the energy efficiency where they will come in and potentially pay for a portion of the replacement and efficiency?

I can't answer that, but I will make sure you get that answer.

Thank you.

That was my only question.

You just stole my sandwich.

Good call.

So New Hampshire saves for a little bit of I guess background is is any utility company is the vendor for it, like Eversource or Liberty.

And then they do a bunch of energy assistance things.

They can give you rebates, they can give you reimbursements, that kind of stuff.

Thank you.

Mr.

Chairman, in regards to that, my relationship with uh the children's home, and well, frankly, everyone in this room.

Um I know that that's something that's on uh the facilities manager's radar, and is certainly something that we're gonna be discussing as part of the project development.

Thank you.

I think that would be very germane to the amount they're asking for because it turns out there's like a credit that reimburses them for like 12 grand, then you know it would be good to know that as we approach the uh the decision making because there are a lot of people in the room, and we have to figure out how everyone in the best way possible.

Um any other questions from the committee.

All right, next up.

Right, thank you.

Thank you.

We have the uh Nashville Soup Kitchen leave.

Good evening.

Um I'm Jane Goodman, the executive director of the National Soup Kitchen and Shelter.

Uh I'll be brief.

Our mission is to provide food and shelter with dignity to individuals and families in need while promoting a path to independence through direct services and partnerships.

Um our core need that we're asking for with this particular um request is for our generator to be installed at our two Quincy Street location.

Um, and let me just give you a little drama about that need.

So when the power goes out in Nashua, whether due to extreme heat, sub-zero cold, or severe storms, the most vulnerable members of our community lose their safety net as well.

Currently, without power, then the soup kitchen um is forced to evacuate residents and suspend food services.

Uh a 45 kilowatt generator ensures that during a citywide crisis, uh, we will remain a safe climate-controlled port in the storm for those with nowhere else to go.

Electricity, of course, is required for our HVAC, plumbing, showers, laundry, um, our electronic security, and power ensures our clients stay off the streets during dangerous weather.

Uh, we're also a hub for food security, as uh many of you know.

We um are a partner in the New Hampshire Mass Care Feeding Workshop, um, and that's for the State Office of Emergency Management.

So, with this auxiliary power, we become a reliable access point also for food distribution when the rest of the grid is dark.

That's like the worst case scenario, but we're really trying to think about safety and the different um things that we're challenged with now with all these climate changes.

So while we can replace food to prepare for a storm, we cannot keep it safe without refrigeration.

Uh so we want to protect our inventory at any given time.

Oh, this is moving.

Um, our 11 commercial units hold about $30,000 worth of food, including um $4,000 worth of milk and eggs monthly.

So we just want to avoid catastrophic loss.

Uh a single prolonged outage results in a total loss of these assets.

Um and then reliability uh for families and individuals in schools.

Uh we serve um over 80,000 meals annually.

We provide a stable food source for hundreds of neighbors who cannot stock up or weather the storm on their own.

Um we also run a program called Meals for Kids, where we prepare heat and eals uh for kids to take home at night.

Uh generate a generator will ensure that this pipeline doesn't go away in an emergency.

So, what we've submitted to you is a worst-case scenario budget.

Uh, we did work with a local vendor and um also brought in Eversource.

Um, there's some complexities with our building.

It's old, it's been rewired and rewired.

Um so we put in at the high end.

I'm just gonna be really honest because we just don't know what will happen once they actually start doing the work.

Um so our goal is to ensure that the city CDBG funds are used to finish this project completely, providing immediate and permanent resiliency for the region.

You are ensuring that when the next emergency hits, we stay open and we'll be a place where the lights are on, the food is safe, and our neighbors are protected.

Questions?

Questions in the committee.

Uh yeah, just full disclosure, I'm still on the board of the safe kitchen, so when this comes line by line, I won't be able to vote for it.

Um but I did have a question that I meant to ask the previous one, which we generally ask, which is if you don't get the whole allocation, would the project go forward, or how would you fix it?

This is a pretty large project, so we have asked for um two-thirds of it from you guys, and we are prepared to fund the rest as long as we have the match.

But if we did not have it, I don't think we would go forward doing it full cost right now.

And I'll just put that out there that I'm gonna ask that to everybody.

Uh let me say it.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um I just wanted to just make sure I understand correctly if you mentioned this.

I apologize.

This isn't a um a replacement project.

You currently do not have a generator in the city.

No, we don't.

Is that correct?

All right, thank you.

Um just for my own knowledge, um, there's obviously solar panels all over the roof, and those either wouldn't meet the need to run something in emergency or there isn't like a capacity battery to store that.

Well, those solar panels, I believe, I'm not I'm not a designer, but those feed the electric grid.

They don't feed so you don't even get direct voltage out of them?

Yeah.

Okay.

Uh Alderman Morgan.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um, one follow-up question.

So with should you have all of the monies through various sources, um, when would you hope to complete the project?

So we are sorry, Mike.

We are two C D BG projects in queue right now.

So this would probably be, I would say 2027.

Would that make sense?

Yeah.

So start in 2027 after winter-ish.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah, we kind of have to do it when everything's clear.

Yeah.

And the snow's gone from the parking lot.

That's another issue.

Thank you.

Okay.

Any further questions?

All right, seeing none.

Go ahead and next person.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

Gate Wings Community uh Community Services.

Hello there.

Um, I'm Carolyn McLaughlin, the development director at Gateways Community Services.

Um brief background of of gateways and what we do in case you're not familiar with us.

Um Gateways Community Services is formerly known as the Area Agency of Greater Nashua, has spent more than 40 years providing essential support programs for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

What began as a small effort to improve opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities has grown into a comprehensive organization serving nearly 3,000 individuals and families throughout our community today.

Over the years, our services expanded to support individuals with acquired brain injuries, autism, young children with developmental delays, children with chronic health conditions, and older adults who need supportive care.

Our organization was founded during a time when many individuals within with intellectual disabilities were placed in large into institutions, often far away from their families and communities.

Families began advocating for something better in a supportive way for their loved ones to live.

As a result, small group homes were created within neighborhoods where individuals could live together in a safe, supportive environment with 24-hour supervision and assistance.

These homes provide far more than just shelter.

They provide stability, community, friendship, and a true sense of belonging.

For many of the individuals who live in these homes, this is truly their home for life.

Some residents do not have family support, while others, families who love them dearly but are unable to meet their complex care needs.

Gateways ensures that these individuals have a place to live and they can feel safe, respected, and valued every day.

Many of our group homes were built several decades ago as part of this early movement towards community-based living.

While these homes have served residents well for many years, they now require important repairs and updates to maintain safety and accessibility.

One particular need we're addressing right now is the repair of outdoor decks attached to several of our group homes.

Many of these decks were built in the 80s and have actually experienced wear and and um deterioration over time.

Maintaining outdoor spaces is an important part of maintaining quality of life for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Access to safe and comfortable environments can make a tremendous difference in their daily well being, mental health, and social connection.

Thank you for your time and your compassion, your support.

Questions from the committee?

So first I just want to say thank you for the giving us the detailed summary.

And I've meant to introduce this at the beginning, but while many of you who are presenting might feel like you need to respect our time by truncating your report, just remember this is the only time this committee gets to see and hear about your organizations.

So don't cut anything out that you think we should know, especially your organization's mission or the activities you're doing, because it's very important.

And then this is recorded and in broadcast, so you never know if someone in the public will stumble across this and maybe say, okay, well, even if they can't help, or even if they do help but don't get all the way, maybe there's something my company or my organization can do.

With regards to the presentation uh just made, um the this is for outdoor decks from um some of the housing programs are two of our group homes, yes.

Group homes, okay.

Yes.

Um did the residents in the group homes um, is there any kind of reimbursement for their housing costs?

Is there they pay rent or is there a voucher program?

Any income source?

They don't have an income source.

But I mean for the program.

For the programs?

Um, Medicaid dollars.

Okay.

So billable services in terms of like case managers or that kind of stuff?

Or something different?

For the case management, right?

Yes.

Yes, for case management.

Okay.

Just wanted to make sure that I kind of understood the picture here.

Um other questions?

Oh, Alan McKelly.

Then the more thank you.

Why did you guys have to come back to back?

I also will not be able to vote on this one as I'm doing work with Kate Way's services.

Um, but I want to ask my question about it.

Looks like you're asking for 100% funding if you were given a portion of this.

Um, how would you make up the funding, or would it just push out the project?

We would have to apply for other grants.

We just have to source them, and that's certainly not a guarantee.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah.

Hold on a minute more.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

And um, I'm not this is a question.

I'm not sure if it is an avenue or not, but um have you worked with Habitat for Humanity at all on replacing those decks and to see if that would be something that they would cover under their home repair program?

We have not approached them.

No?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

So you get other grants from the federal government?

Yes.

So is there any other grants?

I know you're talking about that, but there would if you didn't get if you only got 50%.

Would you also try with the federal government to see if there's any other grants that you could get?

Again, we would definitely try for sure, but that's not a guarantee at all.

But yes, we would source other grants.

Okay, thank you.

Yep.

All right, any further questions?

Okay, thank you for your presentation and your work.

Thank you.

The Boys and Girls Club.

No.

Oh, sure.

Just if you have an extra copy, give it to the clerk so we can put on the record.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, thank you.

I'm uh Craig Fitzgerald.

I'm the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua.

For those of you, I think all of you are familiar with the Boys and Girls Club, or for in line with Alderman Lopez's statement.

I'll give you a brief overview.

We serve uh children ages six weeks to eighteen years old.

The key pillars of the boys and girls club focus on academic success, or what I like to call as growth pathways, essentially making sure we help establish a foundation from which they can build the best version of themselves.

We also focus through mentorship on character and citizenship through leadership development, et cetera.

And then we also focus on healthy lifestyles through our full-size pool, full-size gym, as well as our uh kitchen.

Um we charge membership-wise just 90 dollars a year, which represents about 3% of the total cost to serve.

Um, and then we also have a full child care center, which I'm happy to say the Department of Health and Human Services allowed us today.

We got the official notification to increase from 150 children to now 225 children.

So that allows to help meet that need.

For the last two and a half years, we've been embarking on a capital campaign to overhaul our facilities and also expand the scope of services we provide.

As an output of that capital campaign, we have been able to do a full overhaul of our kitchen.

As a result of that overhaul of the kitchen, we've been able to go from 45,000 free meals and snacks a year to now this year is looking like we'll be serving over 85,000 free meals and snacks a year.

We've also built out a STEM lab.

Currently 68% of the children we serve based on HUD forms.

There are families identify as either low or very low income.

If you look at state testing scores, less than 30% of kids that come from low-income families right now are reading or doing math at grade level, and so we've invested heavily on staff focused on education as well as the build out of that STEM lab, exposing them to educational opportunities.

We did a full overhaul of our locker rooms as well as our pool.

Every high school in the area uses our pool.

We also have a 745-person swim team.

We converted all of our open bay showers to individual stalls to allow privacy for the children.

We have bathrooms and showers off of the pool deck now, and we did a full overhaul of our filtration equipment to avoid any downtime for the swim teams.

We also just built out a brand new learner kitchen to help kid teach kids how to cook along lines of our goal to teach kids life skills.

And I'm happy to say that within the next month we're going to be opening our dedicated youth wellness center, which is essentially a dedicated youth mental health clinic.

It has a food pantry.

We give out about 4,000 pounds of food a month.

We also give out about 1,500 articles of clothing and hygiene products a month.

I'm in partnership with Katie's Closet, and that wellness center that I'll open next month also has both individual and group counseling sessions where we do mental health for youth as well as prevention services.

We've also spent nearly a million dollars on security.

All of our entryways now are now double entry.

100% of our facility is camera watch, both we're gonna hopefully move from passive to active monitoring.

And then we also have FOBS not only on external doors, but now on all internal doors, so none of our youth have the potential of co-mingling with unbackground check adults who are visiting.

The other thing we've done is we partnered with Conway Arena as well as the Bruins Foundation.

Umway Arena gave 100,000, Bruins Foundation gave 100, and then we fundraised about another 250,000, and we gifted to the city just recently a 450,000 street hockey rink.

We'll use it 10 to 15 hours a week for after school program.

It'll be open to the community for the rest of the time.

Unfortunately, this is actually my first capital campaign.

I didn't fully appreciate the word discovery when you get into a capital campaign, and we have discovered uh we don't need to repair the roof, we had to do a full replacement.

We have had uh plumbing that need to be replaced.

Um we've had over a million dollars of HVAC, about 500,000 that was unexpected, and our drainage repairs took about double.

So we've actually had to de-scope all of our outside projects with the exception of the hockey rink, um, allowing us to fully fulfill our commitment to the inside projects and the painting of the exterior of the building.

This CDBG request is the exception to that.

Um, a huge component of this capital campaign is security, and we want to make sure on the outside of our building that we have strong and secure fencing, and so this request will allow us to fully fence the outside of the building.

Um, DHS requirements require that no hole can be larger than four inches.

We want to make sure all the gates can be locked at all times, and it'll allow kids to move freely from the inside of the building to the outside because of the fence.

Currently, we do not have a continuous fence, and this will allow us to do that.

In addition, we did a bunch of um community round tables in terms of need, which is why we move from serving five years and up down to six weeks and up.

Our existing outdoor play space does not have age appropriate fun equipment for toddlers, and given gross motor skills and the importance of them doing that, we want to make sure that inside of the fenced in area, we also add some age-appropriate toddler outdoor play equipment.

And so the request is I believe it's a hundred thousand, and then we'll contribute eighteen thousand, and we have those funds secured and in hand.

I'll pause there and open to any questions.

Yes, ma'am.

Hunter McKelly, right out of the gate.

Thank you.

I will say I do not have a conflict with the boys and girls club.

Um, and it sounds like you guys have been hard at work, so I'm looking forward to being able to see some of those updates.

Um, but I'll ask the same question.

Uh, I know that you said you have 18,900 on hand.

If we were unable to allocate the other hundred the whole hundred thousand, how would you handle that?

Um, the priority would be the fencing.

The fencing is about 45,000.

We've had that priced out from at least one, if not two vendors.

Um, we would probably de-scope, like we have all the other outside play projects with the exception of the hockey ring.

Um we would probably de-scope, like we have all the other outside play projects with the exception of the hockey ring, we would descope that and focus on the fencing.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, I'll let me hand up okay.

Um so for my own knowledge then, um, you mentioned the early childhood program was expanding and I sounds like you were about to double in size.

Um is that reimbursable through vouchers or payments?

Because you mentioned that club membership uh can be $90 a year, and that only equates to three percent of your expenses.

How does that compare with the the um preschool programs?

Yeah, so for first grade and below, we do put the kids in child care for second grade and above, it's just a 90 dollar membership.

What we did when we determined pricing is we did a benchmark analysis across the um state, and what we determined is the biggest obstacle child care centers have is retaining talent.

And um, and if you look at the cost of child care for a single parent, um it could cost up to 60% of a single parent's income.

55% of the kids that come to the club either are living with either a single parent or parents that are not their biological parents.

So based on that benchmark analysis, we charge child care fees in the bottom quartile and pay for um child care staff in the top quartile.

Um so while we do charge a fee for um child care, it is in the bottom quartile.

Anything that the state doesn't support through scholarships, because we link them to the state, um, we do scholarship about 35% of the kids who are unable to get um reimbursement through the state, and we don't balance bill.

Um presumably your expansion of the child care program is a long planned out um effort.

I think I I was talking to you about that last year, um, and there was some physical changes you were making.

Um do you have your staffing in place now or are you gonna be looking for more professionals?

We're gonna be hiring more staff.

We've gone from in the last year and a half from 45 kids in licensed child care to to 150.

Today we're approved for 225, and our board led strategic goals 350 to 400 within three to five years.

Okay.

All right.

Any further questions?

Thank you for your time and the work you do in our community.

All right, thank you so much.

The police athletic league.

Hello, thanks for having us.

Um my name is Jen Miller.

I'm the director of development and partnerships at Nashua PAL, the Police Athletic League.

As many of you know, we are a youth organization serving about 2,000 kids in Greater Nashua through after school and sports sports programs.

Um excuse me, our mission is to connect youth and our community with law enforcement and positive programs across our city.

So we have two applications submitted.

One is for public services and one is for public facilities.

Um both of these are supporting the youth safe haven project program budget.

Um the youth safe haven serves about 340 low-income youth in Greater Nashua.

Um they the uh in the past, excuse me, in the past two years, we've seen about 30% growth year over year, um, which is pretty substantial.

Just our um, excuse me, our St.

Pat's basketball gym, which it lives under the same budget has seen about 40% growth.

So we are seeing more kids, which is fantastic.

Um, and based on that, we are um asking for for the public um services portion.

We have asked for essentially a budget offset for the long-term lease at our St.

Pat's gym, um, about half of the long-term lease for a year there.

And then additionally, um, for the youth safe haven, we have two safety and security updates that we're looking to do.

Um, one of them is uh camera we rework.

Uh we had cameras installed during our 2020 renovation with Building on Hope, and they offer some limited visibility.

Um, one of them outside just needs to be repositioned.

We need to add an additional one just based on some um security needs that have been identified.

Um, and then we also need to uh rework a few of the other ones.

One is currently pointing at a pipe that runs directly across the middle, so it's not very helpful.

Um, and then the other larger project is our concrete rework.

There is um in the colder weather a bit of an ice rink that happens outside of our elevator shaft due to some drainage problems.

Um in the summer, unfortunately, that turns into it flooding into our elevator shaft and it's calling the fire department many times.

So, in an effort to save on our communities resources.

Um we did obtain two quotes for that.

One of them would essentially rework the concrete and direct it straight into the street, which we're not sure if that's the best viable option for the street.

And then the second one was a slightly higher amount, and that one was actually reworking it so that there's an external drainage spot further away from the building.

All right, members of the committee.

It's a fairly straightforward project, actually.

So you and I don't have any questions per se.

If we weren't able to provide funding, would you still go forward with the project?

Do you have alternative measures in place?

We would, yes, we would do our best.

Definitely, the cameras would probably be sidelined for a little bit longer.

The concrete rework, we're gonna do our best to get done as soon as we are able, just based on the damage that it's doing to our building.

We don't currently have any funding secured elsewhere, but we would make that a priority.

Okay.

All right, I see no further questions.

You asked my question, so I said you asked the question I was asking.

So we were good.

I'll set other McKelly.

Yep.

You took a question.

I didn't say it like that.

No, I did.

It's like we're thinking with one brain.

Yes.

The Nashua Center.

You can pass us around.

Uh can we keep the copies for the record though?

Yes, okay, good.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Of the record.

For each document.

So much.

Okay.

I can do it.

Thanks, Stacy.

It's really just a fun night.

Committee is around.

Should I start?

Um good evening, Mr.

Chairman and members of the committee.

Thank you for the opportunity for us to speak this evening.

My name is Mary Ann Gordonier.

I'm the director of development for Nashua Center, and joining me is Stacey Marino, our business manager.

We're here on behalf of our executive director, Emily Manier, who was unable to attend this evening.

A little bit about Nashua Center.

Nashua Center has served the Nashua community since 1973, providing programs and supports for children and adults with developmental disabilities and acquired brain injuries.

Each year we serve more than 230 individuals and their families across Southern New Hampshire, and that includes 29 adults which are Nashua residents, and they all participate in our adult programming.

Many of the adults we serve rely on SSI or other public benefits, placing them within the low to moderate income population that CDBG programs are designed to support.

Our adult programs are community-based with participants volunteering, visiting the library, shopping locally, and attending community events like concerts or grilly park.

And at the same time, our headquarters at 18 Simon Street serves as the hub for our programs.

This building has been our home for more than 30 years, and just this past spring, we were able to purchase it after leasing the space for decades.

So we're very proud of that.

The center remains active throughout the day with participants and staff moving in and out of the building as programs take place with both within the building and in our community.

The facility provides accessible space for meals, occupational physical therapy, life skills training, along with the supports needed to assist individuals with mobility, personal care, and specialized dietary needs.

Maintaining this facility is essential to the services we provide.

And for this, we applied to two applications for CDBG funding.

The first request is for the replacement of our building's roof.

The roof is now more than 30 years old.

While we've patched and repaired it over time, it has reached the end of its useful lifespan, and we are seeing more and more leaks throughout the building.

I've shared those photos with you.

Temporary repairs at this point are no longer enough.

And our adult programming rely on this building each day.

So maintaining a safe and dry environment is essential.

Our second request addresses safety and accessibility at the building's main entrance.

The entry consists of two sets of sliding doors with a vestibule in between, and both sets are now 20 years plus old.

The doors cannot accommodate modern technology such as security, swipe card access or buzzer entry system.

So they may st they must remain unlocked during the day.

Because of the proximity of our building to the highway, we occasionally have individuals walk into our building unexpectantly, usually looking to use our restrooms, or confusing our location with a nearby government building, government office.

While these situations are usually brief, they highlight the need for a more secure entrance for the vulnerable individuals we serve.

The siling sliding doors also create operational challenges.

The automatic feature must be manually toggled using a switch at the top of the door frame.

And for someone at my height, I would need a broomstick to open and close it.

And that's what our staff has to do every night when we close.

In the winter, snow, salt, and ice frequently build up and it causes the sliding mechanism to jam, so the sliding access just doesn't work.

I've also included photos of our doors just so you can see them.

The vestibule floor in between the two sliders, just from frost and and water getting in, it's created a frost heave, which has damaged the floor, and it contributes to the issues that we have.

This project would repair both the vestibule floor and replace both sets of sliding doors with ADA compliant double doors equipped with automatic openers operated by a push panels mounted on bollard, so it's those stations like when we go to the doctor's office.

This will create a more reliable, accessible and secure entrance while reducing ongoing maintenance.

As far as funding, like many nonprofits, Nashua Center relies heavily on Medicaid.

Unfortunately, Medicaid does not fully cover the cost of services, so each year we fundraise to close the gap.

Large capital projects, such as a roof replacement or new entry doors are difficult for us to absorb without diverting resources away from the programs our participants depend on.

CDBG funding would allow us to address these critical building needs while keeping our focus on the people we serve.

If hidden damage is discovered during construction, we do have some reserve funds available to address these costs.

These improvements will help ensure that the building that has served the Nashville community for more than 30 years can continue to be a safe, accessible, and reliable place for the individuals who rely on our programs.

Thank you.

Thank you, and thank you for uh your presentation.

I'm gonna ask it a little differently this way.

So you've asked for full funding for these, you explained that very clearly.

If we could not allocate all of it, would you prefer we fund one all like to pick one versus half for both?

Yeah, so primarily probably yes.

Um the roof is our main issue.

We do have we've had computers that have been ruined by a leaking roof over the weekend when we weren't there in the building.

So we came into a wet desk and a wet laptop desktop, so it's over.

Um so that's probably our primary concern.

And the door the door is more of a security issue.

Our our employees feel unsafe because we have had several people walking and off the street, and it's that that's a safety issue.

So we hate to put that off, but we can fundraise directly for that, probably a little bit more directly more easily.

So that's probably how we would need to apply for grants for both, but as far as the roof, um, we do have an operational um grant that we received just recently through Bank of America.

So we have some money's in reserve.

Um we have our big annual fundraising event coming up in May.

Um, Taste of the Towns if you get tickets.

Um but we would during our funding aid, we would probably allocate some of the funds to that for the roof.

We just can't keep putting it off at this point.

Understood.

Thank you.

I thought I saw your hand.

Um I'm good.

Thank you.

Um thank you for for answering for asking that question.

Um, and answering it.

I have a follow-up to that.

Um, often insurance companies will give you a time frame of when you need to replace it, or they will no longer continue to insure you.

Um, have you run into that yet?

No, but we can find out and get back to you.

I think they're where we didn't put in a claim, you know, it was a desktop, so it wasn't clear.

Thank you.

All right, any additional questions from the committee members?

Seeing none, thank you for your time.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

I do see a couple faces in the audience that I don't recognize if they're someone representing a nonprofit before we would get to the city applicants.

Welcome to come on up.

Yes, sir.

Come on up, please.

Hi, everybody.

My name is Brian Crawford.

I'm representing the Board of Trustees of Family Promise.

And I have with me Arwen McCaffrey.

She's our grant and foundation director, and she's the one that wrote the application for the CDBG funding, so she's here to answer any questions that you have.

I know some of you are familiar with Family Promise, but we're a program that helps homeless families in the area.

Our primary program is a is a residence program.

We're in the former uh infant Jesus School in Nashua.

And it's not a shelter, it's a program that people have to sign up for, they have to qualify for.

We do background checks, we do drug testing, et cetera.

They sign a contract and they come and they live there.

We provide food, we provide we fly a case manager, so we figure out what they need to get back on their feet.

Uh the people sign up to take a parenting class every week and a financial literacy class every week.

They also bank 70% of their take-home pay, and we set up bank accounts uh for them.

So that's the residential program, and it's the one that most people uh know what we do for.

Uh what we're asking for funding for today is what we call our prevention and diversion program.

Uh that program was always part of us, but it really exploded about three or four years ago.

Uh, post-COVID, evictions went crazy, all the costs went up, and we were seeing so many more people knocking on our door.

We never turned anybody away.

We would always answer the door and try to help whoever came.

Um but three years ago we hired a person to be a full-time director of prevention and diversion.

Uh we actually hired her away from the city, so thank you very much.

She worked for the welfare department.

Her name is Joanne Perez, and she's doing a fantastic job.

Um the numbers just keep going up and up and up.

This year we plan to hire an additional person that's gonna be Joanne's assistant.

And I'll give you a few numbers in a in a minute that'll tell you why Joanne is so busy.

Um, but it's just too much for one person, and since we've hired that person, it's almost like we're kind of a clearinghouse for people who need help.

They you know, if somebody needs help from one of the other agencies, they say, call Joanne.

And when she gets the call, first we figure out are we the right agency that can help them?

And that's what the diversion is.

Maybe maybe the veterans can help better, maybe she should just go to the welfare office, uh, maybe uh Marguerite's place or somewhere else.

Uh but the people that come into our program are families, and we'll pay bills, you know.

We'll we talk to the landlord and say, hey, what what do we have to do here to work something out?

Uh we talk to the electric company, we talk to the gas company, and we figure out a plan.

And in some cases, we write a check for a month's rent and keep them from being kicked out.

Uh but we do whatever it takes.

Uh, some of the numbers are kind of incredible.

Joanne in 2025 spoke to families of 2500 people in the Nashua area that were in trouble of being evicted.

Um, of those people uh in our program, we were able to take in and prevent from being evicted 194 families, which represent 470 people and 201 children.

So we prevented those evictions, so they don't have to come to us or come to anybody else.

They're still in their homes.

And when we accept people into that program, we're 95% successful that those people don't have to move out of their homes.

So this year we're asking for $50,000, which is a portion of Joanne's salary.

Uh we've asked for that each of the last two years, and you were able to fund some of our requests.

Um, and we need it again now with the additional person, we need even more.

Um the rest of the money is privately raised from our donors.

Um this year we'll probably need about 200,000, so the request is for about a quarter of the funding.

If you don't, we're gonna do it anyway.

Uh, remember I was here three years ago and asking for the funding, and you said, What are you gonna do if we don't give you the money?

And we had already hired Joanne.

We said we're gonna do it anyway, and then we'll say some prayers, and then hopefully some donors will come.

And it's the same thing.

We're gonna hire the second person because we need it, and the city needs it.

So thank you for listening and can answer any questions.

All right.

Um, any questions from the committee members?

Alderman Morgan.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, thank you for your presentation and explanation.

You actually cut my questions in half with a few of the the things that you had said.

Um would you clarify um what your definition is of a family?

It's any one adult, one child, or multiple adults and multiple children of any configuration and any age.

There are no age requirements.

We've had uh mothers and children.

We've had we we just had uh mom and dad and five kids come in.

We've had grandparents and children.

So it's an adult and a child.

So like a caretaker, it could be grandparent, uh aunt, uncle, whatever, whoever the designated legal caretaker is.

And we've had all of those, yeah.

Thank you.

Um, and now back to this position.

Um the amount that you're asking for, is this it says specifically it's the salary of the homeless prevention program director, not the assistant.

Right.

Um, and so how are you going to be able to sustain this operationally moving forward, or is this something you plan on having to ask for funding for every year?

Uh it's fundraising.

So we don't get any uh Medicare reimbursement, we don't get any federal grants, we only ask for federal grants for capital projects, and we don't get any ongoing state aid.

Um so we'll just pray and it'll come from somewhere, it always does.

Thank you.

I did not.

He answered my question.

Okay.

Actually, one thing I meant to mention that uh I hadn't mentioned that I forgot to mention is this year we actually opened a second location in Derry, and that house is now full.

How that helps Nashua is before we took in people from everywhere.

So the dairy people and the lendinary people were living in Nashua.

Now those people are living in Derry, so it leaves more room for the national people to fill our house.

So other minute.

Oh, thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

I I feel like I probably asked this every year, but I always forget.

If you could just remind me, um how many um families uh full capacity are you able to serve in the uh national facility?

Roughly 24, I think.

Um and the way we have it set up is each room is a two-room suite, and we never know what the next configuration of family is gonna come in.

So they're lock-out doors, like in a hotel.

And so if it's a family with uh two boys and a girl and two parents, they would get two of those suites.

Oh, we have 24 suites.

Theoretically, we could hold almost 80 people, but it really depends on the configuration.

And you're making full use of the old school.

Oh, yeah, it's totally full.

It's we have we always have a waiting list, unfortunately.

Great, thank you.

Yeah.

Um so you guys have become a cornerstone of the continue care.

Um, and um it seems like you're very much uh community-oriented and and and very much partnering with other agencies.

Um I know public health is looking at trying to organize a resource center.

Is that something that you would pre this role would plan to participate in?

I I don't know specifically, but I'm sure it is.

As you said, we're uh very very much involved with the other nonprofits in the city, and uh you know, we're always speaking to each other and helping each other, and uh so I assume so.

And I know Joanne actually goes to the COC meetings in addition to Pam Worldman, our director.

So I would assume so, yeah.

Okay.

Um I've done a fair bit of homeless outreach myself, and typically when you're looking to engage people, you go to wherever they are congregating, and if we are able to get a resource center moving, then that would be likely a place to engage people and see who's eligible and qualified, and then likewise for people to find you in your program.

Absolutely.

All right, any further questions from the committee?

All right, thank you for coming, and thank you for the work you do in the community.

Thank you.

I'd also like to invite anybody who hasn't seen our facility to come on by the old uh building, it's in Ward 7, so yes, it is.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I believe that's it for the nonprofit representatives.

Yes, all right.

After uh Alderman Mopez asked me a question about our billing, and then after I sat down, I conferred with someone.

So since we're recording, I just want to make sure it's absolutely accurate.

We link all of our um children to the state, they get the scholarship, and then after the scholarship, if a family is deemed to be vulnerable or in financial need, um, then we will either scholarship 35% average 35% or not balance bill them, but as a practice we do balance bill if the family can afford it.

I know you've asked me a few times on that question when you visited the club.

I just want to make sure that was clear for the record.

Can you just put your name and title for the record so that can you just say your name and title for the record so our transcription?

Thank you.

So my finance committee just would want me to make sure that was clear.

No, it's good.

Thank you.

Yeah, and Alderman Kelly brought up a good point.

We have a transcriptionist who, if you are too far away from when you announce yourself, they might not be able to pick up with the voices.

So uh anybody who uh needs to reintroduce themselves, feel free to.

Um, do you want to pick the next one?

Uh yes, Mr.

Chairman.

There's uh now we have three uh applications that are coming from within the city.

Uh the first one is the Financial Empowerment Center.

Okay, applications are together.

If you want to bring that up.

Um Liz Hanum, economic development director, and I have Abimana Nigero with me, um, who is our economic mobility program specialist and would be the um primary liaison to the organization that would be um creating this or operating the financial empowerment center.

So um here we go.

Um so the um about two years ago, we um did an economic mobility audit um for where we are in the community um and uh uh uh in case people are listening and they don't understand what economic mobility means.

Um it's very simply it's you can afford to live in a place that you grew up.

Um so if you come back from college, there's a potential apartment for you and a potential job.

Um and so that's the kind of um information we were looking at is um is it affordable to stay here?

Um are there opportunities for jobs here?

Um are there opportunities for housing, things like that.

Um and one of the things that kept coming up when we were looking at gaps in service uh was financial financial literacy.

Um and so one of our strategies around both workforce development, housing, and in child care development were was to create um an opportunity for financial literacy.

Instead of going out and reinventing the wheel, we decided to use um the the model from the cities for financial empowerment.

If you want to go forward one, um maybe scroll down.

I think yeah, there we go.

Okay, so um some of the challenges we saw um are up here that people are experiencing in our community, increased debt.

Um we all know affordability, housing crisis, um, all of those things are affecting our community.

Um and what we're seeing is um people are going to the city or to nonprofits or service organizations for services, they're getting services, um, but then they're right back in the same position in three to six months, but with an eviction or a job loss on their record.

Um and so we're trying to figure out how to um how to stop that cycle from happening.

Um and we found that financial literacy would do a huge um would would be a huge um roadblock to to that cycle.

Um I go forward one.

Oops, there we go.

So um we did some research and found the cities for financial empowerment um that does a kind of risk uh repeatable model across the country.

I believe there's 31 um existing uh financial empowerment centers across the country right now.

Um, and they serve primarily um low-income and moderate income residents.

Um the model is um free one-on-one financial counseling for anyone in the community.

Um the the goal is to reduce debt, increase savings, um, increase credit scores, increase um opportunities for uh business ownership and um whether purchasing a business or um creating a business.

Um and that includes things like um uh uh credit monitoring, things like that that that allow people to become bankable.

Um and for us, it stops that cycle in its tracks kind of it and gets people on their feet and gets them prepared um and and ready to continue their progress as opposed to um having trouble budgeting and then ending up back in the same cycle again.

Um so um the FEC again.

I wanted to just point out that uh there are several strategies within that strategic plan that um this financial empowerment center would support.

Um if you want to go forward one.

Um so I we just wanted to give an overview of what that um that model looks like.

And it is two counselors, a manager, and then a city staff person that would be managing the relationship with a nonprofit or service organization that would be operating the day-to-day of this organization.

And so it would be a monthly meetings with our city staff person.

The model provides a reporting system, so it would which many of the 30 other organizations use C D BG funding.

So they they've created the model that would match exactly what HUD is looking for for reporting.

So even if we're not doing the day-to-day operation, we are financially invested and we are moving this organization with this work forward.

So if you want to go forward one as well.

So I just wanted to give you an overview of what the other 30 organizations are seeing.

So if we're seeing 30 to 50 clients a month, almost all of them are going to be LMI eligible.

So that would be, you know, 40-ish clients a month that that would be LMI related, low to moderate income related.

14% were unbankable before they were part of this program.

And they had an average debt load of 36,000 on top of all of their other housing concerns and budgeting.

So just so you can see in 2023, which this report was from, the average client reduced their debt by more than 2400 and increase their credit score by 34 points because this would also support business development down the line because many of our potential entrepreneurs are not bankable.

So this personally gets them to a place where they could be bankable in the future.

So if you want to go forward.

So the CFE runs the program of FEC.

We run we we manage the program, making sure that it's sustainable, making sure that it's funded, making sure that they're doing what they say they're doing, and then the contract with another organization, and we have an RFP going out later this week to pick a nonprofit to actually do the daily operations of this.

So that's the idea.

Okay.

So we are asking for a hundred thousand.

Um I know that that's a little bit more than what's in the in the pot.

Um so we we do anticipate a lower amount than what we've asked for.

We did consider putting this in an operational budget, but because the economic development budget is pretty small, that would actually be almost a 30% increase in my my operational budget going into the the when we got a three percent request or guideline from the mayor.

So this would be a huge increase in budget.

So we're we're anticipating that the cost of this annually is gonna be between 250 and 300,000.

Um and we have technically not secured, but um we just have to do the application once we have um funding secured, other funding is secured.

Um but we the cities for financial empowerment um have 150,000 to help us set up this organization or this program rather.

Um and we would need a hundred or they said a hundred would be for the first year and fifty would be for the second year.

Um so we're raising between 150 and 200,000 this year, and um 250 to 300 the following year.

And so um it will be a long-term sustainable, like we have to figure out every single year what um the where we're gonna get funding from, but there is a requirement um to for the city to always be financially invested in it.

There isn't a dollar number, um, but we hope to have sponsorships as well as um there's opportunities for co-locations where like the hospital would pay us to be on site um to work with their um you know admin staff or their janitors or things like that that um uh we could have revenue streams that way as well, um as well as the um the nonprofit that we work with would also have to do some fundraising.

Um so we're hoping to stay out of the general fund for this, um, but um it is something we think would make a huge difference, not only in um our low to moderate income um opportunities, but in the number of businesses that we see open in our community as well that currently people are not um not bankable, um, and so we really want to get them to a place where they they can open a restaurant or open um you know the next big tech company or or a roofing company or any of those.

So um so that's the idea.

All right, questions from the committee.

Alderman Kelly.

I have many.

Um so I guess I'm just trying to even think logistically.

So you answered my question of our it being a year-to-year.

You said that you're gonna have to fundraise that.

That's not an easy thing to do as a government entity.

So do you have a fiscal agent?

Like how would you actually fund that money?

Yeah, so uh how um legal has suggested we structure this is um that everything goes through a trust fund so that we have um management over the money, but the the people that are actually doing the requests are the nonprofit operators.

Um so we would support them in raising the funds for this.

So um the city wouldn't be the one that was asking for the money, um, the nonprofit would be, um, but we would be helping them raise that those funds.

What's the nonprofit?

Um we don't know yet.

The RFP is going out this week um to choose somebody.

Okay.

Um when you said that this is 33% lift in your budget, that wouldn't work.

You were talking about your budget specifically, not the overall city hall budget.

Correct.

Yes.

My my direct yes correlation of 33%.

Yeah, less than 400 um thousand this year, and 100,000 would be quite a big lift in that cost.

What do you think the operational cost will cost year to year?

Because that's not gonna change.

250 to 300.

And what do you think is the financial stake of the city year to over yeah?

At a minimum, I would say about 25,000.

Um, and that is something that could be in my operating budget going forward.

Okay.

Um that we would just um not do a specific project in the the following year.

Um I I tend my budget tends to be very fluctuation.

Like I don't have I don't do snow plowing, so you know, so it's it's much more um uh stable.

Stay stable, yeah.

Um so understanding that um I could just budget every year for a specific thing.

Um the the getting up and running is the hardest part.

Um we have we do have um organizations that have soft committed to funding some of this, um, but they don't want to be the first ones in um and so they they would certainly like to see the city investing in it as well.

Can I ask a few follow-ups?

Yep.

Uh our banks among some of the organizations that have soft committed yes.

Okay.

Um I'll ask like one long question, but we're at the beginning of this.

By the time we have these decisions in front of us, will you have the nonprofit that you're talking about?

Any clarity in terms of the other soft commits, and then I assume there'll be steps to also create a trust fund.

Yes.

Yeah, so um we will not it's April 20th is your decision, I believe.

Um we will not have the RFP will close on the 30th, so we will not have a specific um nonprofit uh hired yet, um, but that will be close behind.

Um but uh we will have moved forward on getting um hard hard commitments and um like letters from potential funders um as well as um the creating trust fund opportunity the or the the structure of the trust fund um could could go through at that point one more follow-up um I'll ask the question I've asked everybody if we don't fund this what happens and I believe there is a time limit on the money that you were initially granted, right?

Yes, that is correct.

That was not a word.

Yes, so last year um last year they did tell us that it there was a time limit.

Um and as of this afternoon, there is definitely a time limit.

Um and so they they want to see us moving forward, or else they will um not be spending time and energy on us um to provide us the 150,000 going forward.

Um we could always do this in a different model um than the financial empowerment center model.

Um however, then we have to do a lot more um work in creating like recreating the wheel basically.

Um and so you know they're providing the CRM system, they're providing training, they're providing all of these things that we would then have to figure out um if we did it on our own and didn't do it within the time frame that they're looking at.

Um you didn't answer what the time frame was.

Is that this year?

Is that the next six years?

They would like us to um have people hired and be ready to um to implement the the uh the training program is about four to six months, so they would like us to start being able to train the um the new hires uh in July, um which is a it's an aggressive timeline for us at this point.

Um so we this is kind of our the more you talk the more I have questions.

So would those employees be employees of the city or employees of the nonprofit?

No, they would be in place, yeah, non nonprofit.

So we um we only have to have a staff liaison to their organization.

We don't have to have additional staff.

Okay, and so the salaries and benefits would be covered by the nonprofit that you are RFPing that you won't be answering about who that is until April 30th.

Yes, correct.

Okay.

And then um at that point, um we have kind of the the model requires both of us to be responsible for fundraising and sustainability of the funding year over year.

So um while we wouldn't necessarily be financially committing to a dollar amount, um although a small dollar amount we we would have to, but um we would be committing to helping them fundraise for um all of their staff and the operational costs.

Yes, one more follow-up.

Okay, no one else has a hand up, so sorry.

Sorry, you can go if you want.

Um I was just wondering um why the RFP wasn't sent out earlier.

Because I I have real anxiety not knowing who that nonprofit funder or partner is going to be before we decide to allocate this money.

Yeah, that's fair.

Um we we've had it um because this is a new thing for us, we've had it in our legal department back and forth quite a bit.

Um and so it's been nearly a a year of figuring out what that looks like and and what the structure would be.

Um not a year straight, but you know, off and on um when they have time to to put towards this.

Understood.

Thank you.

I'll I'll yield.

Um I was hoping one of your questions would have answered mine.

Sorry, I also have uh several questions.

Um does it have to be a nonprofit?

It does not.

Um, and some of the organizations actually do house it in-house at the city, so it could be a city program.

Um we don't have to do it that way, and um based on our our budgeting process, uh, it would be a big lift to add 300,000 to 250 to 300,000 a year.

So we we thought that going with a nonprofit would be a better model for us.

Um, but there is other options.

Could a for-profit company apply for or submit.

Yes, okay.

They can.

Um there are more requirements of a for-profit company, um, but uh those are all um in the agreement with the Cities for Financial Empowerment Center where we don't have a um a stake in whether it's a nonprofit or a for-profit as a city.

Thank you.

Um, and then so really back of napkin math.

If there's um a manager and then two case workers, um assuming they're working each working 40 hours a week realistically, that's they can serve about 60 to 80 people a week.

Was that kind of their target?

Yeah, so usually it takes a while to ramp up to that, but yes, that is their target.

Um, and we do have lots of nonprofits who are going to be partner organizations that will refer people.

So I think we will get up to that number very quickly.

Um so I I don't see any um any concern with not uh using them to their fullest extent.

Um in fact, I think that we probably will be meeting an additional counselor fairly soon, but um that'll be kind of a determination of how how much fundraising we have to have to do outside of yet.

And then my last question is um so where where do they meet?

So we have two locations that would be their primary locations.

Um the library has offered a space um and it it has to be a private, you know, door closed kind of thing because you're talking about personal financing.

Um so that location and then our senior center as well would be another primary location.

Um, and through the Cities for Financial Empowerment Center, um, or Cities for Financial Empowerment, um, they would provide us a uh scheduling software um that would help people schedule online so that we know when when it's available.

Um there's also co-location opportunities like once a month we're at um BAE or we're at the hospital, or you know, um, and so there's opportunities to be in other locations as well.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Great questions, Alderman Johnson.

Thank you very much.

I had a hard time seeing this presentation where I'm sitting that's okay.

Oh yeah, why is that?

Oh yeah, these are not that's us, not you.

Oh yeah.

If this is the wrong way, would it be possible to email it to us or have it in that packets?

That would be great.

Um because as I was seeing some of it, um you were talking about job opportunities also.

So I guess just brings it into the city and maybe your department.

What are we doing to bring in highest skilled jobs?

So if we're taking some of these um applicants that are coming for help, and they're gonna want to better themselves, what are we doing to bring in the high paid positions to help people get out of their financial situation?

Yeah, so that's a little out of the scope of this um uh request, but um we do have a uh business recruitment plan going.

We have a skills gap analysis that's actually gonna help us figure out exactly what types of jobs we need to be recruiting as well as uh the actual strategy around how do we how do we actually speak to these businesses that we need.

Um so we can certainly talk more about that, um, but that's a little out of the scope of what the request for for tonight is.

May I just continue?

Continue.

Yes, thank you.

Well, I guess it is outside the request for this evening, but I guess it's the long-term picture that you are going to paint here because if you want to do what they're doing, like I said, I was hearing and I couldn't um I'm visual a lot of times too when this is here.

Um but I guess that's part of because I mean my two colleagues over here had great questions.

And you know, it's just kind of like a follow-up because you know, if we're doing all this work with people, we want to make sure that we get them out of the situation that they're in, and we can get them into a better place in life so they don't fall back into this, and that would be better skills and better pay.

Yeah, so they can progress in life.

So that's kind of like where I'm kind of looking at this.

Yeah.

And um if we I'll I'll share with you the economic mobility strategic plan.

And so this is just one piece of that.

Um there's workforce development, there's skill set development, there's working with um NCC and um there's the skills gap analysis where we're actually looking at what types of um job openings we have currently and how we can connect people.

So that there's lots of um subsequent strategies around this.

This is just to support people um primarily for economic development is to start their own businesses, um, not necessarily get into new jobs um because right now most of our community that are trying to start businesses are not bankable, right?

They they don't have enough credit, they don't have uh any savings, they don't have any collateral.

Um and so going through this process can help them get to a place where they are bankable and they can they could get a small business loan.

That can continue.

Yep.

Well and I understand that because I'm a small business owner.

Yeah, but you have to have some skills behind you.

So if you want to go into an odd business, you know, so paying deal with you have to have some of the skills behind you to be able to open up the business and you have to be able to work a little bit too to get some money aside, it all connects in order to get the loans because if you don't have the credit here and you want to get the credit there, and no matter how much you help sometimes, you still have to get build yourself up a little bit because miracles don't happen overnight.

Yes.

No, and because I know because I've done credit and I've done a lot of stuff with in a business too.

Yeah, you know, and I get it.

And I you know, I think we all here would like to see people succeed, you know, and get alpha manda.

So if whatever you could send me, and if anybody else on the board on this committee wants it, it would help also.

I would greatly appreciate it.

Yeah, and I think um the the reason I really liked this model specifically is because it is one-on-one counseling, and so people that have a goal of starting a business or learning a new skill um can put that in their goals and try to figure out how to either fund an education or um to work towards getting to a place where they can they can um build out their skill set.

Um so th that's part of an individualized plan um through this.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you, Share.

I think your points are really well taken, Alderman Johnson.

Um I do think there's a larger, more holistic answer that's available.

Um part of it might be living over at the planning and economic development committee.

Um but this is human affairs, so it would be a good idea to kind of uh maybe give us a more well-rounded one, um, especially in the lead up to the next um the review session.

Um I know we had a lot of very urgent and important needs uh last year, and this did not get the support.

So um making that case and being able to explain how this connects to everything else, I think is gonna be key.

Okay.

So um I I guess uh are you looking for a different solution to these?

No, I think I think nesting this in context so that we see the other programs alongside.

Like making the case as a more well-rounded more holistically.

Okay, all right.

Because uh my understanding from what you were presenting last year is this is just one of many efforts you're making.

Yeah, um, and there is another larger plan that this is part of, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to either re point us in the direction of that or yeah.

I did try to just allude to it in the presentation, but um I can your point is taken, I can I can do it.

The next time you bring it to the presentation, we'll also turn on the monitor so everybody can see it.

That'd be great.

That's all about it says they're on.

Clearly they're not.

Um okay, so any further hope.

It's not for um director Hanneman.

But I so first of all, the online version of this chart is amazing, and I've been using it and I really appreciate your it's it's if you haven't pulled it up, it's very, very cool.

You can look at the application and the notes and all in one spot.

But I did notice that attachments weren't something I could see.

So in this case where there was a presentation, could we include that so we can see all the attachments that came along?

Uh we didn't solicit presentation materials as part of this.

So uh that although I'm I made notes and next year uh I'll bake that right into what we communicate as part of this package.

Okay, just follow on.

Yep.

That's great.

They are they're different, but also like there are attachments that are listed as the application, but I can't see them through that file.

Like for us, we put in the economic mobility strategic plan, we put in the Financial Empowerment Center b uh uh budget and um uh timeline, things like that.

Um so that that was part of the application material that I provided.

But if you can't see it, then we can I can see that they exist.

I can't actually see them through the titles file names.

Obviously, I'm happy to share uh any and all of this uh material.

Um everything that was not included uh in the view that you have right there is stuff that we look at for technical compliance, making sure that the budget and the schedule uh are articulated, etc.

So we have left those things out trying to really focus the message.

Sure.

Um however I'm happy to uh tack rows on the end for those who would want to dig deeper in the future.

I mean I trust that you're doing the work, but I just oh no, I'm happy to share it.

Happy to share it.

Thank you.

These are easy decisions, so every piece of information we have helps us be more confident in what we're doing.

Correct.

Um further questions.

Next presenter is another city department, I believe.

We have the overnight warming station.

Thank you.

It's a pretty color on you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Um, so good evening.

My name is Latanya Muscioli.

I am the housing services officer for the division of public health and community services.

Our mission is to promote, protect, and preserve the health and well-being of the Greater Nashua Public Health Region through leadership and community collaboration.

Our vision is to have an informed, safe, healthy, and resilient community where all people can thrive and prosper.

Um, and part of our work in achieving this mission is through our overnight warming station.

So our Orvanite warming station supports our unhoused community in the city of Nashua, all of which are low-income residents.

Um, and the purpose of the overnight warming station is to prevent the loss of life during the winter months due to the winter weather elements.

Um we are low barrier to entry, so individuals are able to attend the overnight warming station even if they don't have an ID, um, whether or not they are under the influence of substances.

Um, we're really trying to capture everyone who's experiencing homelessness and welcome them to the overnight warming station.

Um, that's over the age of 18.

We also prioritize preventing the loss of life to through drug overdoses.

Um, so this year we've been able to reverse multiple overdoses.

We train our staff in Narcan administration, um, and we are funded primarily through opioid abatement funds.

Um, really our work is to help assist individuals, specifically those that are experiencing homelessness with substance use disorder, um, and connecting them to treatment, recovery needs as well as prevention.

Um, so again, we do a lot of that prevention work through assisting individuals, reversing overdoses.

Um, we also have a wall where we have a bunch of different resources, and we invite other providers on site.

So, similar to the concept of a resource center, um, it's a little more complex with the warming station due to the hours, um, but we have been able to have other service providers come on site and provide necessary services.

Um, for example, we have St.

Joseph's Medical Center, they bring their mobile health clinic once a week, and they're able to provide health care to the folks that attend the warming station.

Um, we've also been working very closely with Greater Nashua Mental Health and their veteran services team.

Um, so we have had them come for some extended hours to provide support to some of our veterans.

Um, and then we most recently we have been working closely with Wanderless Therapeutic Services to provide on on-site um crisis response as well as um getting folks connected to case management because there's such a significant mental health need for the population that we're serving.

Um so again, we're really trying to pre uh foster connections to treatment, recovery, medical needs, mental health supports, benefits, and emergency and long-term housing navigation for all of our guests.

Um our request is for $50,000, and that funding would be used for staffing purposes.

Um, our total budget has increased because of the increased need.

Uh so just to put it into perspective.

So this year we're seeing approximately 40 or so guests per night.

Last year we were in the 20s, so that number has unfortunately doubled.

Um, therefore requiring additional staffing.

So last year we were using two staff per shift.

This year we're using three in addition to the mental health services that are necessary on site.

So this past year we opened on December 1st, but there was a lot of communication around it already being cold in November.

So we're hoping to open November 1st this year to accommodate that need.

So due to winter weather storms that we've been seeing or holidays, many of our other providers are closed.

So for example, one of the main places that our unhoused population utilizes is the public library.

So when there is a snow emergency, the library's closed.

So we have extended our hours at the warming station to support our guests so that they're not outside in those winter weather elements.

So we have included that in our budget as well.

Just to give you some numbers for this year.

And again, our period goal for receiving CDB jump CDBG funding last year was to support at least 90.

So we have surpassed that, unfortunately.

So this is really important and crucial for us to keep open for our community.

And that is why I'm here.

Happy to take any questions.

All right, questions from committee members.

I can proactively answer Alderwoman Kelly's question regarding if I did not receive the funding.

We recognize the importance of protecting our most vulnerable community members.

Again, we are using opioid abatement funds that the city received through a lawsuit with the pharmaceutical companies.

And we would prefer those fundings to be used for direct service.

So we would prefer to allocate that funding to our service providers that are doing direct uh prevention work, direct treatment and recovery supports because not everybody that uses the overnight warming station has substance use disorder.

We're seeing a number of older adults falling into homelessness, folks that are just falling onto hard times.

So we would prefer to at least save some of that funding for those direct services.

Okay, make sense.

Alderman uh Morgan.

Um one question, and this might be for for you or um you is there I don't know the parameters on the request for asking for CDBG money.

Would you be able to ask for funding for the resource center?

I think so.

I would have to have more information about uh who the beneficiaries would be for the resource center and how that could be tracked.

Uh that's one of the core tenets of the CDBG program is that it goes to low mod income individuals and are able to trace that benefit.

And I can say our primary goal with the resource center is to have a space where we can operate the warming station out of.

Um so if we were to submit an application, we would likely submit it together as one.

But we're not in a place to submit for um FY27 for the resource center at this time.

And just to clarify, Mr.

Youngers, you're familiar with the idea of the resource center.

You're just saying that you'd have to have that articulated on an application.

I yes, Mr.

Chairman, I am familiar with the a little bit of the discussion for it.

Um with the CDBG funding, uh sometimes we're trying to uh minimize the friction between the money and the reporting requirements for it.

So having the funding, for example, go directly to cover staff costs as a public service is a very direct and um direct way of of uh assigning those funds and a clear pipeline for receiving that reporting back so that we stay in compliance.

Uh it's not that it's not possible, but it can bring with it sometimes other challenges that may even restrict the use uh of a facility or how a program might be able to benefit people.

So when you referenced beneficiaries, were you talking about the unhoused people that would go, or were you talking about potentially the staff that would be there?

Uh I'm talking specifically about the the end beneficiary, which in this case would be the in-house persons, which under HUD uh are considered very low income just because of the nature of their homelessness.

It's an accurate description.

I'm not like they have income going on.

Okay, so I definitely think that would to Alderman Morgan's point that would be uh a conversation we would like to see more of just because we uh are committed, many of us on the board of Alderman are committed to the warming station, but we haven't really seen any tangible ways that we can move it forward.

And this was kind of the situation we felt we were in last year where we heard about it, we were talking about it, we looked at hypothetical sites, but when resources like this come by, we're not seeing shovel ready action.

So we would definitely love to be able to have more, I think.

Alderman Kelly.

I wasn't gonna ask a question because I know quite a bit about uh the warming center, and I know that you guys are doing great work meeting the need.

But my question is that this location we know is not a ongoing location.

So as you're thinking about strategic planning for the upcoming year, maybe Elm's okay for this year.

What are you thinking about the following year?

So at this point in time, again, the goal would be to merge the warming station and the resource center as one.

Um so I do believe that Director Cummings had shared a memo with the board, I think it was last month regarding plans for the resource center and a temporary location.

So I would be part of that process and just making sure in terms of like the design work that we were looking to have done, they would understand the need to accommodate a space for the overnight warming station and a large open space to do so.

If I can follow up, yep.

So I remember that memo, but I didn't necessarily I must have missed the merging, because I thought we were very much wanting them to be separate.

So that's interesting.

Um you're talking about the large open space, you're talking about the brick and mortar when we get to the point where we're gonna be able to like build something that's permanent.

Is that what you're talking about?

So it could be both.

Um so in the internal conversations that we've been having, um, looking at how can we accommodate the needs of our in-house population through the space that we're identifying to use for the resource center?

Uh, because we know that Elm Street's not a permanent option.

So we have to come up with plan B, C, and D.

So we're in process of doing so.

I'll leave it there for now.

I didn't catch it.

Here goes that.

I'm good.

Any other questions for no more?

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time and your work.

The ledge street playground You're not from the school board.

So let me just pass this along.

Right hand staple.

What the heck?

Right hand staple.

It's a savage mistake.

I know.

I apologize for it.

Hey!

And and to be honest, I've made that mistake for the last year and I haven't been able to fix it on my computer.

So thank goodness I'm a community development director and not an IT person, but uh in all seriousness, uh thank you, committee members.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you this evening.

Um it's actually nice to be at the end of the of the agenda to hear all the great work going on across the city of Nashua and really looking forward to this committee's work to try and prioritize prioritize these, frankly, uh increasingly scarce monies that the city receives from uh HUD as part of CDBG.

Um with that, I'm closing this evening's presentations with uh what I would call uh representation of a coordinated and joint effort between multiple departments, both uh internal to the city and external as well for uh a playground improvement project at the Lead Street School.

Uh you actually may be familiar with this project in general.

The uh Board of Alderman is part of R25229 uh back in 2025 actually approved uh the idea of using future charitable gaming revenues to actually supplement the funding of this project.

We don't know exactly what that number is going to look like, but my point is simply that you've actually heard about the idea of this project before, uh, but maybe not a fully formed idea of what that's going to look like.

Uh but before you this evening is a request for $50,000, which we believe will be uh another portion of the funding necessary to complete a substantial playground improvement at the Ledge Street School.

Um just by way of background, uh both the school and the PTA of the school have been working hard uh for some time, particularly the PTA, thanks to their great leadership to try and mobilize or a revitalization, redesign, and reconstruction of the of the playground at the school.

It's a very undersized playground.

There's some safety elements that need to be improved.

There's opportunity for increased accessibility, and again, frankly, just the size, I think is a limiting factor that makes it perhaps one of the uh most underwhelming playgrounds, frankly, across the city of Nashua.

And so there's a real interest in improving it.

As I mentioned before, there are a couple of funding sources that we're contemplating going into this project, and we hope that CDBG is a portion of that, $50,000.

But again, we have charitable gaming, CDBG.

And it's possible that we'll likely seek uh sort of gap funding to complete at least phase one as part of the city's capital or operating budget this year.

So it's possible that you might be hearing from me over the next two months as part of the operating budget process uh during the capital component.

But again, our goal is to complete phase one work that was outlined in the application in front of you this evening.

We'll work collaboratively collaboratively with the partners I identified before, including the PTA, community development, division of public works, urban programs department, and the school district to ensure that this build out happens expeditiously over the coming year, and I expect working with them to actually come up with a final conceptual design.

Um I also want to just note uh, and you can see, and this is why I made the the handout available this evening.

Uh, we're actually in close proximity to other community assets uh very close by that are doing significant improvements to their site.

So we're really excited about the idea to generally uplift this area by investment.

And so we're really looking for partnership with the the nonprofits in the adjacent area as we make some improvements here and really thank them for their work to date.

Um a few other comments just to note relative to design itself.

We haven't finalized design.

There's conceptual level thought about what would be included within both the sort of the phase one and phase two effort of doing this work.

What we do know though is there is some significant uh site drainage challenges that need to be addressed that have existed for some time.

This would be to the rear of the site, of course, where this would be built.

Uh but we do think there's a real opportunity because of the the alternative location that's being suggested to create additional separation between the playground and the road and others unsafe areas, while again providing more space for the children to actually play, giving them access to additional play equipment that they don't currently have as part of this uh this current playground.

Um actually I was speaking to Mike in advance of this evening's presentation, and he noted that uh the playground area that's generally proposed would be more than 200% larger than the current playground that's there on site.

And so thanks to his math on that that I'm plugging in here, again, this would be a massive improvement, at least in area and certainly in play equipment as well.

Is it not in a bowl as well, so it doesn't flood?

It is also not in a bowl as well.

So that would that would be resolved.

That's that drainage improvement element that we're we're looking at.

Alderman Lopez, this is not an ideal site where it currently is.

So we'd be looking to address some of the drainage issues and hopefully site it in a way that doesn't flood the playground as it as it does today.

If you're wondering why Ledge Street, um I think the PTAs around the city have worked hard to lead playground improvement efforts sort of incrementally.

They sort of championed their own local project, and this PTA has done the same here.

And I know superintendent superintendent Android is really proud of the work that they've done.

But this area has substantial community need.

Um 60 percent of the individuals living in the census tracks in this area, since tracks 10 sorry, census blocks 108 and 109 are actually low to moderate income, and therefore that's you know makes us a qualifying project under CDBG.

So there's clearly need there.

Um and additionally, uh, this playground would be accessible to about 450 to 500 students.

And looking at the numbers for that, about 80 of those are either receive or eligible for uh school lunches.

So this is a community of high need when it comes to the student body, and certainly an area that needs significant investment that we'd be excited about moving forward.

Um I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have, but one thing I do want to point out uh just to be very clear.

Um, our project is not as fully baked as some of the other projects that you saw before you come before you this evening.

Uh a generator project, a more specific infrastructure improvement, uh, even Director Hanneman's financial empowerment center is a it's a complete proposal.

This is a conceptual idea.

Uh but what we're trying to do is incrementally build the funding um package for this uh through these different funding sources so that we can ultimately create a design and move forward with construction of the project.

So I want to be clear that this would likely go for finance committee approval.

There are several more steps in the process that you would actually be involved with, but we're trying again to avoid to the extent practicable going to the operating budget as much as we possibly can and looking instead at the right funding sources that align to the community that's being served here.

Uh so again, with that, happy to answer any questions that the committee would may have and really thankful for the time to talk about this great project that I'm here talking about, but really all these other groups have done a ton of work to get prepared for prime time this evening.

Thank you.

Alderman Kelly is about to go up, but I just want to ask one question about your comment.

Sure.

Why aren't we just putting this on like higher up on the list of uh DPW projects or can we talk about who owns the land underneath it?

And if that's complicating things a little bit here.

Yeah, certainly Alderman Lopez.

Um it is a priority for DPW.

Um so if I if I implied that maybe it wasn't, that's that's not the case.

Um Mike particularly has been working very hard with director photo uh over the last year, year and a half to identify playground and park improvement projects.

So we've actually put in CDBG monies to uh the Jeff Moran park that's going to be reconstructed over the coming year at another park in a in an area of high need.

Uh that's I think director one of director photo's top priorities.

We're also redoing some of the some of the work at a couple other parks that are in low to moderate income areas.

This is just as high a priority.

Uh and I should be clear that when I talk about going to the operating budget, it's possible that that ask will be part of Director Photo's budget from a capital perspective.

So I know it's important to her.

Um I don't want to represent that it's not.

It's just this is sort of the newest, if you will, the newest um item of priority within the parks and recreation realm, and that's why it's here before you this evening.

This is a city advanced.

And I didn't want to mismirge anybody's honor either.

I was thinking more of the the park is currently on the city's land, not the school districts, but it's a school park, so it's kind of been in the nebulous whose job is it to fix it.

Yeah, and I think um that's a great point, and I think all the more reason why I'm happy to say this evening that all of the entities involved, Alderman Lopez have talked about how to move this forward project this project forward.

And I should have mentioned that the mayor's office has been uh a real champion for this as well.

Um and I I neglected to mention that earlier.

But for just that technical land ownership complication, Alderman Lopez, we have all been talking about how to best approach this, and I think PTA district, everyone has said no matter who owns it, we want to move this project forward.

I think that's a pretty neat thing, and that's why we're before you this evening.

Okay.

Well, I just also want to name drop Michelle Mills since she's doing most of the organizing and I know you know it's involved.

Yeah, Alderman Kelly, thanks for being patient.

Yeah, I have a number of questions.

Um so thank you.

Um obviously I'll ask my original question that I asked everybody if you were to get no funding or partial funding, what would that do to the project?

So the the answer is that we would look elsewhere for funding.

Um and I think the first answer would be uh the operating budget.

If we were to get to the end of the year, you know, maybe a supplemental appropriation, but I think that's a that's you know option D, if you will.

Uh, there are a lot of other ways that we'd like to solve this problem.

Uh the first goal would be to go to the operating budget and use that charitable gaming money to try and fill as many gaps as we can.

Um but we'd like to, you know, we in recent years particularly there's a been a really great commitment by this group to try and fund, you know, not a not a stated commitment, but you funded about one public infrastructure project every year.

And so we were thinking this might be the right one this year.

Um so I'm not saying, you know, we're hopeful we'll get the these monies, but we have a plan B.

And as was mentioned before, there are other parks projects that are underway.

And so this doesn't, if this doesn't end up working out this fiscal year, it's possible that there may be past year CDBG monies that we could re reallocate.

Very much up in the air.

I'm not committing uh Manager Jungers to anything, but there's a lot of ways we could figure out this puzzle, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

You touched upon two other questions that I had, which was you said it you're a little bit more in conceptual, so is do you think you'll actually get in you know a shovel in the ground this year, or could you know next year's CDBG be an option?

Um I think what depends first is if we're talking about calendar year, fiscal year.

Okay.

Um I think it's going to be challenging to get shovels in the ground during this calendar year.

Simply if we think that we're going to be tied to the operating budget in any way, shape, or form.

Um, you know, but I I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility.

I think it's going to be coming up with a schedule that allows the school to coordinate with you know parents and teachers in a way that's effective in the neighborhood.

Um I have a hard time believing that this thing is going to be finished this year.

Um I think it's possible we might commence or at least get the conceptual design done.

But I'm not sure this is absolutely going to be done in this calendar year.

I think it's going to push into the next fiscal year at a minimum.

Okay.

That's my gut, and you know, others might have different perspectives on that too.

And follow up.

Just for clarity, I'll say this because I think there was a lot of discussion when this came forward for the charitable gaming revenue.

Sure.

I think this is a very important project from an infrastructure standpoint from a neighborhood standpoint.

The conversations we had last year was more around why are we allocating charitable gaming money that we don't even know exists yet.

So I just wanted to put that out there.

But that being said, is the 72,000 actual monies that we received, or is that still just an estimate?

Because I can't remember the date.

Uh I would say that that's an estimate.

That's an estimate.

I don't know the exact number.

Um, to be clear, that I'm gonna say that's an estimate.

Okay.

I'll leave it at that.

Okay.

I'll pause there.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um I I was actually gonna also uh go back to uh 2529.

Okay.

Um that was a uh heated net times contentious discussion um in front of this board.

Yeah.

And I I'm just gonna put you on the semantic spot for a little bit here because in your presentation you had talked about the possibility of utilizing some of the charitable gaming funding.

Sure.

Throughout all that mudslinging that took place last year.

That did pass, and we said, you know, it those of us who had questions about it were concerned that this was just an ideological statement or something.

We indicated that we supported rebuilding the playground, but you know, we had said all we were saying is we're gonna do is something down the road.

I'm concerned that there may be a change of plan for that.

In that now that we're here, maybe that charitable gaming funding isn't theoretically earmarked for this anymore.

Because it's a possibility and not whatever we get, we're gonna take and put there.

Yeah.

May I address your question, Alderman said?

Please do.

Yeah.

So um I'm gonna first admit that my my recollection of all the dialogue around 2522 is a little bit fuzzy.

So I want to be really clear about that.

I don't remember, I didn't read the minutes before this evening's meeting.

Perhaps I should have.

They're still not there, don't worry.

Okay, noted.

Um But no, no, I think um, and and please, if I don't directly address your comment, tell me.

Pin me down, get an answer from me.

So I'm gonna try to answer.

There is there are additional steps to actually commit that money to this project, and those steps have not taken place.

What I can say though is that in speaking with the mayor's office, there has been, and and recognizing those additional steps have to take place.

This has been the target project for those monies, as far as I understand it.

Um I'll admit I'm not in the room for every single conversation, but what I do know is that in speaking with leadership, if you will, it's been represented to me that this would be the destination of of the monies.

Now, I don't know if that's all of the monies.

I know the number that's been thrown out there.

I'm not trying to be I'm not trying to be avoidable, but truly what I've heard is that this is the intended use of those funds.

Now, if we were to have substantially more, that's not to say we wouldn't direct those to other projects, I guess I would say, but when we've looked at the $70,000 of funding for this project, my understanding is that's a I'll call it a soft commitment based on the action of this board recognizing that additional steps have to take place.

No, and is that answer your question, Alderman Signal?

Yeah, it does.

Yeah, that addresses my concerns.

What I what I was worried about when, you know, and you know, I I hate to be nuanced like that, but when you're looking at something like this, especially with how contentious that argument was.

You you you do have to kind of get into the weeds a little bit.

Yep.

And and when I hear that, you know, we're we're looking at C D G uh C D BG funding for a portion of this and the possibility of charitable gaming funding yet to be um recognized.

Um it just sends off bells in my head that in the interim between that discussion and where we are today, uh well, maybe there's this other project that we in spite of the fact that we solidified and passed a commitment to use those funds for the ledge street school playground.

Completely understand why you might be concerned.

Um to make you feel better, but maybe not better.

I'm not intimately involved in the charitable gaming revenue allocation conversation myself, so I can't speak to that.

But what I'm told as someone at arm's length in that process is these monies are still being contemplated for this project.

So I the only reason we're actually here for C DBG is because we think the project is more, and you know, I think it's estimate there's estimates in the in the request that was before you.

I think this project is could be much bigger than we think.

Um, you know, 130,000, and and and certainly Andrew Jungers knows this well, having done projects like this, it doesn't get you very far with a site like this.

So we think we're gonna need as many funding options as possible.

And to be frank, um, and Ms.

Hannem uh or director Hanam referenced this earlier.

I'm not holding out hope for a large allocation in the operating budget this year in the capital budget.

I know that resources are going to be tight, and so what I'm trying to do uh is identify the maximum available funding not from there and and submit it to you.

But the CDBG project being submitted here has nothing to do with the charitable gaming revenues suddenly not being available.

It it's completely independent of that, to be honest with you.

Perfect.

Cool.

Thank you.

Of course.

Uh Morgan.

Who owns the land?

The City of Nashville owns the land, as far as I understand it.

It's my understanding that the city of Nashville has where the park is now, but back part you're looking at is the school districts.

Which is to say.

I'm happy to look into this and bring clarification to the committee, but I'm I'm not.

Yeah, I think it's best if I clarify that.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry to be dodgy about the question, but my understanding is that the city owns the property.

My reason for asking is because I hope the answer is the is the school district or the school.

If it is not, um there are certain people that cannot live within 2500 feet of a school-owned parcel of land.

So that could change I don't know, what is it, 500 feet or so for any um neighbors that may fall within that zone.

Um so I would want to know what that looks like in notifying them or making sure that um they're taken into consideration.

I can get more info on that.

And apologies for not being prepared on that this evening, but I can I can get more details about the ownership status and therefore the implications on notification to certain individuals.

Absolutely.

Yep.

Um second part is what happens to the existing park.

That's a great question.

Um I'm gonna ask Mr.

Johnkers if you might know actually offhand.

And I do I don't I do not, but we can get clarification on that unless we know.

I I don't know.

The uh conversations that I've had with uh Ms.

Mills with the PTO and by thinking through how to move the larger project forward and the back, uh and also weighing that against uh a little bit of city investigation on the DPW side that recognized the drainage issues and the cost to remedy those.

Um I don't want to commit to it, but I'll go uh I will say that uh what I'm proposing as part of the project development side of things is just decommission that space and make it safe.

Um once the uh area to the rear of the playground is established enough to take over the um the role that the current playground fulfills thank you.

And just to just to clarify, the images that I included in the presentation are a bit misleading, as you probably realized.

Um I would have presented them a little differently, but uh I'll get clarification on the ownership question just so you're clear.

Um because I think that's a I remember that debate during R25, 229, and it's something that I should have come prepared to clarify this evening.

Apologies for that.

Thank you.

Any follow-up?

You good?

Okay.

Alderman Kelly.

And then John.

Uh just to just a comment just around this conversation.

So it is not unusual for us if something doesn't quite move forward to reallocate funds, so we don't lose those funds, which is what Director Sullivan was talking about.

Sometimes you know, a project costs less or they don't get to it.

Um, and so we have additional conversations and legislation that we move those funds around.

So if that was something that was pulled anyone back on any of these projects, know that it can get reallocated.

Alderman Johnson.

Thank you very much.

Um Ledge Street many, many years ago, a long time ago.

Uh, some of the staff still remembers me that are there.

Um I had the on and the pleasure to go and meet um a staff member over there, and I just want to hopefully the camera can pick up, you know, what what the flooding looks like in the playground and how um one the equipment is when you look at other schools in the district that have upgraded um equipment.

Um I think it's a worthy project.

I think that um our kids need to have a safe playground.

I know that in the conversation was that the city owns the land in the front and the school district, I believe, does own it in the back.

I remember my son played softball back there in the days.

Um but that's a good point to to check out you know, and make sure wherever the equipment is gonna go.

Um is anybody doing any fundraising also to um get a money raise for this too?

My understanding is that the the PTA PTO has done some fundraising themselves, uh, but they will not be able to fundraise the full amount needed for the full project.

But there's been some there's been some financial commitment.

It's actually represented in the application at a value of I want to say $15,000 or somewhere around there.

Uh but again, that's a long long way from the number we think is needed.

But they there's real sweat equity and and real dollars put in by fundraising as well, uh, Alderman Johnson.

If I can just add context to that, the PTA basically conceived itself under the the call to action that this represents because the former organization at Led Street was not really active any longer.

So this is I think their primary focus, they are fundraising, but they organized themselves as a 51c3 earlier last year, maybe mid-late summer.

So they're not eligible for their own charitable gaming applications yet, they have to do it through the city.

Um and then any nonprofit trying to do a playground.

I think some of us might remember the last time a bunch of uh people tried to do it a little more casually.

It's not to be done lightly.

It takes a lot of money and a lot of resources.

Um they could definitely use the lift, it's a worthy project.

And as Ward Alderman, I don't always 100%, you know, have my facts a million percent straight, but I'm very confident that right now it's on City Land, and it if we are able to move it to where it should be, then it will be like all of the other playgrounds which are on the school property.

I'm the chair, so go for it.

Yeah, I know.

I've everything in the event I was looking at you and I also was looking at Mrs.

Sullivan because he was roasting his paperwork.

Um if and I know Alderman Woman Kelly asked some of this question too.

Um if they had to scale down this project for a while and then build as we go along, add more pieces, would they be willing to do that as you go along just to get it up and going?

And maybe use some of the older, can the older equipment be moved over anything that's in halfway decent condition?

So I think to answer your first question, what's contemplated is already a a phase, a two-phase approach.

The the you know, phase projects are great, but when they are small, there's a certain economy of scale conversation that needs to need to sort, or there's a balance, I guess I would say.

So I think the project can be phased, but I would be concerned about going beyond a two-phase project simply because of the impacts to the the users in doing a long phase project, and frankly, the costs associated with phasing it too long, I think it could really tip the balance in favor of making this a much more costly project just to make it uh longer.

Um so I would recommend you know, if it's going to be phased, two to three phases maximum.

But again, I think we have a sense of we have a fairly good sense of what the quote design would be, but as we hone that design and get a more clear understanding of what it's actually going to look like, I expect there'll be a real conversation about whether the two-phase approach that's in the application here before you this evening makes sense, or based on the available funding, will that need to extend a little bit longer?

And that that conversation hasn't hasn't happened quite yet, or Woman Johnson at a detailed level, I guess I'd say.

Yeah, follow up then on Kelly.

Oh, for me, or are you letting follow up for her?

But I was letting you know that's ahead.

Okay, thank you.

On the design.

Yes.

The cost factor in that design, is that gonna take a lot of the money, or it's not, because you know you don't want to use all your money on the design, then you have nothing left for the playground.

And that's a big factor.

It's it's not like some of our larger infrastructure projects where we're talking, you know, 15 to 20 percent of project costs being designed.

Um it it definitely we need some money to be able to do it, but um this is a fairly I don't want to say a simple project, but it's not one where we have to engage a huge team of civil engineers, a bunch of landscape architects, a huge team of designers.

It's gonna be a little lighter on the design side than what we what you typically hear about here at the committee on infrastructure.

Uh but there will still be design costs, no question.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

And it would be good if you got the drainage figured out.

Um Alderman Kelly.

So I sort of answered my own question, but I'm gonna put it out there anyways.

I wanted to ask about whether so the school board is going through a feasibility and facilities study, and they've had two community forums.

And so my question was going to be is any of the contemplated options that they put out there closing Lead Street?

There is one.

Um I know this is a longer-term strategic program, but just thinking in the context of if any of these facility options go forward, what are we investing in and what schools might be potentially shifting?

I thought that was gonna turn into a question about school closure and I was gonna avoid it.

I might I might really ask a question at all, but go for it.

No.

Um did you avoid it?

I'm not commenting.

Uh prefer not to.

But I would I would just say um I mean I've stated the obvious.

Certainly if if there were a future where Led Street school were to be closed, I think there'd be a variety of impacts that we'd have to consider.

Um understanding is that that's not in the immediate plans of the district.

Um I think this is a school where investment is a priority.

Um that may not be the case at every single school.

But I think all signs point to this being a school that will remain open, at least on our end.

I think the district does need to complete its work, all Roman Kelly, I think no question about that.

If we become more aware of a plan for closure, based on the work of that study or the board's work or the district, you know, we can certainly talk about pivoting these monies elsewhere.

But I think we're committed to trying to do to do something here.

And if there are longer plans of the district that meet make that an investment that doesn't make sense, we'll have to revisit that.

Um that's a really not a great non-answer for you, but we we just don't know what's gonna happen with the school closure proposals.

And if I'll just respond, I was at this meeting, and I think that was the most like the most extreme option.

I don't think that's where they're going to land.

That's why I pulled the presentation up, uh, especially where there is definitely a community love of walkable schools, and especially in these um areas that are closer to downtown, that's really important.

So just wanted to put it out there as we're looking at whatever improvements we are knowing that that this is that is running in tandem, and we at the Board of Alderman don't always know what's happening on that side of the fence in terms of facilities.

Uh, one follow-up um to follow up on a um statement made by um my colleague was has the PTA fund raised at all.

Um the comment I would like to make is that uh different schools within the city have different income tracks, which means that their parents are making certain incomes, and as we know that this is um not one of the higher income districts.

So who are the parents able to fundraise from is going to be from themselves.

So if this was a different school in a different um in a different neighborhood, I would anticipate that the matched funds from the city would be less based on what the PTO PTA is able to fundraise versus this one.

Is that the expectation?

I think that's exactly why CDBG funds being deployed here makes so much sense.

Uh, because the capacity to fundraise is is limited for the reasons you just cited.

Um, you know, we don't get to use CDBG funds.

We wouldn't get to use them at every school.

Uh there would be some level of limited factor there.

This one makes a whole lot of sense, and you're absolutely right.

The capacity to fundraise amongst the uh the parent census there is going to be more limited than it is in some of the other wards of the city.

I'm always worried when my response makes other hands come up, but I really don't that is it wasn't your response.

That is that is a I uh I think older women that's a great observation, and I think again that's why in consultation with Mike, this project made a lot of sense uh as part of the CDBG program.

Thank you.

Just to comment on that and wax philosophical.

Sun Su says attack your enemies' strengths.

So in this case, when we're as a city trying to push back against the extreme poverty and homelessness and displacement, then go to where the concentration of families are that is most vulnerable to that, you can do the most good by making sure they have access to playgrounds and and healthy um activity spaces.

Um I don't know who in a person, I think it was Alderman uh Johnson and then Kelly.

Well thank you very much.

When I was talking about fundraising because sometimes not the families in the neighborhood, other people who are with the schools and know people out, you know, who work with the school within their organization, that's where a lot of times the fundraising would come from.

Not so much the individuals, but you just don't know because people know people everywhere, and that's what you need to do, you network.

And so that's that's the reason I asked, you know, um, because people know people throughout the city.

And there's a lot of people in the city that are very charitable that might want to give towards the playground for Ledge Street, not just meaning that community, but outside the community that people like to help.

Thank you.

Director Sullivan's so excited that this came up for him.

Um but I just wanted to respond.

Um when what this came up during charitable gaming, we talked a lot about the inequity of this, right?

If you live in my ward, we fully funded it through fundraising, right?

And that might my my school is beautiful, they have a brand new playground, and for another school area to not have that same ability is really hard.

But I just wanted to point out that we have these conversations in the chamber, and then you're at the grocery store and you say, Oh, what do you think about that?

Do we have a citywide um PTO?

Like how are there it's not like we talk about it here and nothing happens.

It is a larger problem of inequity that has been built into how we maintain our playgrounds.

Um and we're still looking for a solution, but I know that's not what you're really here for, but I just wanted to state that because it was a long conversation in December.

And an important one that keeps being brought up and talked about in the city.

Uh Morgan, did you have your hand up?

I did not.

All right.

And we may be heading towards our our completion here at 9.15.

Um any further questions?

Mr.

Younger says, Mr.

Younger, sorry.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh I appreciate Director Sullivan speaking on behalf of this and allowing me to retain my protector of the technicalities role.

Uh-oh.

Where are we going now?

But but that's actually why why I wanted to make this comment.

Um CDBG money is extremely difficult to add to a project mid-stream.

So as I was having conversations with Ms.

Mills uh and and talking about this.

Um Director Sullivan allowed me to make a very forceful case uh for bringing this project in front of the the committee today, even though the developments not fully there in the hope that uh if we if we think about the project as a potential recipient of CDBG funds uh either for this year or moving forward, we can make sure that we don't run afoul and lock ourselves out of being able to make those uh sorts or the committee would be locked out of making those sorts of awards.

So I appreciate the the director uh stepping up.

Like I said, I I can't really represent a position other than how to make sure we can do things properly.

Um but I'm glad to hear the feedback from the committee about this as well.

So very exciting project.

Uh should it move forward?

I'm looking forward to being part of it.

Awesome.

We like to hear.

Um are there any other presentations we need to see tonight?

Uh no, Mr.

Chairman.

That concludes the presentations.

All right.

We have somebody who is present.

You have a public comment section, but please make some brief comments if you would like.

Uh my name's Michelle Mills, and I am a 32-year veteran teacher at Ledge Street School, and I am um part of the project for the playground.

Um I just wanted to address and I appreciate everybody's comments and concerns, um, and even people who presented tonight, just sitting here for the last two hours.

I've learned quite a bit, and my heart is heavy for a lot of organizations that are moving forward.

I simply just wanted to address um a little bit about the PTA or PTO is what we call it.

Um, as Paula said, yes, I remember her, she was a parent, her children were there, and yes, I was there quite a bit ago.

Um and I have seen it evolve.

Um however, I've never seen our PTO really reach past five um parents.

Right now it is mostly made up of teachers and about three parents.

And people are always baffled when I tell them that when a piece of equipment would break, that we would have to try to fundraise through the PTO.

Um they would say, well, we don't understand, and how much is a slide?

And the PTO, we don't, as you know, raise a lot of money, and we look at the big picture.

What is the money supposed to be used for for parent teacher organizations?

Well, for some schools it's used for enrichment, and you may see that money going towards maybe some presenters come into the school and giving your child some enrichment.

Uh maybe that looks like uh certain whiteboards or something for your class.

It looks different at every school, and I could probably stand there for hours and advocate that it shouldn't in some ways.

For Ledge Street, the money, and one of the biggest things that we looked at is the PTO and the PTO playground project.

Okay, and we work together, but we want to make sure that the money that we raise, and a lot of times we will lose money on some of our activities.

And again, it's not because we don't have parents that don't love our school or commit.

It's just like you said, the challenges that we face can be, and I've seen it for the last four years working on this project, overwhelming.

And so what I simply say is that we want to give our kids the same enrichment and activities and still provide them with a playground.

Uh a playground that's fair and equitable, and the phases and um what does the phases look like?

And we want to make sure that all kids can use it, and our kids who don't have backyards to play, they're not going home to have that time to play in a backyard.

Um that is essential that play space.

And let's say Ledge Street school closes.

I I've been on a couple of, I've been in a couple of those nights.

I look at it as the Ledge Street community playground.

Regardless if our school is there or not, where that space is a dire need for a playground.

Between being next to the club and the baseball field, Ledge Street Playground Ground has been utilized not just by Led Street school kids, by everybody in the community comes to watch a baseball game, and their kids are playing on the on.

I've seen it in the after school program.

So when we look at Ledge Street School playground, it's not necessarily a reflection of wow Ledge Street School didn't take care of it, where's their PTO, what's going on?

It's reflection of where and tear in having these funds and where and how do we delegate funds in a way that's gonna support our students' needs.

And yes, play space is essential, and I say that because I get to experience what it's like for innerity kids to play outside, and I've seen that go from a space 32 years ago that could help our students to now to that same equipment.

Think about it 32 years ago, and think about the things that children engage in now, and how do we have an inside school that can accommodate academically, the rigor of curriculum and all that, and then go outside to a space where they don't have a play space to collaborate, talk to each other, problem solve, play soccer, have green grass.

So when I come, I want to know that we've applied for many grants, we have a website up, we have an adopt a playground piece.

I have written hand letters to many organizations that have given me some a thousand dollars, that's quite a bit of money.

But like you said, it's hard to invest in a project when people can't always see the end.

So, how do we move forward to get to the end in mind and know this is an essential project for not just Ledge Street for the community, for the whole entire city, and that's why I appreciate any support.

And please, however, you move forward, please know that I can faithfully say that Ledge Street School, the teachers, the PTOs, the staff, the students, anybody there has put 110% on trying to raise money.

It has been an eye-opener on how hard it is to raise money.

It really has.

Um how we move forward, what we move forward, we're flexible.

The original plan we downsized because we you know felt how we're gonna reach the goal.

Um so any support uh and any questions, always feel free to come see me over at Ledge Street.

I'd be happy to give you a tour, whether it's filled with water in the bag or not.

So thank you, I appreciate it.

We do not have an agenda item per se, but I'll open up for discussion.

Thank you.

I just I'm just gonna ask for a logistical thing.

Um that my colleague to my left had a beautiful folder with pictures.

Was that from you?

It was from me.

Can you share that with the board?

Can you send it to us so that we can put it in the packet?

I did send an email again, sometimes it didn't go through, inviting any board members to um come and visit to look at the space to see what the vision is.

Um so, yes, I will happily um give you all that information and send it to the board.

I want everyone to understand too, is when we originally did the project, um, we took a lot of significant time researching because we didn't want to just say, oh, we need money for a playground.

We did surveys with our students, our community.

What do you guys want in a playground?

I was a little bit taken back to see what some kids wanted.

Um so we took the data, we looked because we really believed at the time, you know, we needed a vision to believe in so we could raise our money.

Um, and we did vendors.

So the process definitely, and I'd be happy to have you come over and share with the anything.

Um that being said, I wasn't planning on talking, but clearly I'm very passionate about the project.

Thank you.

I appreciate it if it moves forward, wonderful.

All the organizations tonight came here, and um, I think all are are definitely well needed and deserved.

So thank you, appreciate it.

All right.

Ummunications.

Um communication has been received from Mike Younger's urban programs manager regarding fiscal year 2027 C BG application.

Right.

Without objection, we'll accept the uh communication and place it on file.

Unfinished business.

There is none.

We already did new business.

Mm-hmm.

At least the resolutions.

Resolution.

New business ordinances.

There are none.

Table in the committee.

There is none.

General discussion.

Other men and it.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

I I wanted to hold my comments.

They're germane to the discussion, but it's we've talked a lot about Ledge Street tonight, and I just want to reiterate for contemplation more than anything.

Um, something that I had brought up when we last discussed Ledge Street at the end of 2025, which is that while recognizing the school department budget quagmire for what it is, and recognizing what a tough nut that is to crack, and not really looking to solve any of those issues, just stating that to this day I still think one of the saddest state of affairs in our city and anywhere else where it is relevant is the fact that you know I I sit on the joint special school building committee, and we will go on and approve contracts to make sure that a school has walls and rebar and roofs and adequate facilities all within the four walls of a school.

But then when you take that last piece of any school that I would challenge anybody to say is not imperative to the elementary school environment, a playground, an adequate safe playground for kids to get that energy out that anybody who has an elementary school age kid knows they have.

We push that on somebody else.

We say, well, that's gotta be the PTA that pays for that.

It's that's gonna be private fundraising.

I just to this day, I still think that's the saddest state of affairs.

I think it paints an incomplete picture of the priorities when we contemplate our schools, and I I don't have the answers.

I'm not gonna sit here and profess that I do, but I really hope that one day that's not the case.

That when we consider a school building, we consider the complete grounds.

Because a school's only so good as the road that you can take to get to it.

A school's only as good as the playground that the kids have to enjoy.

And you know, I'm fortunate that I send my child to a school that did in recent years prior to him attending there, get a new playground.

It still seems to be safe and adequate.

The fact that that's not equitable across our 12 elementary schools, it just makes me sick to my stomach.

And that's that's all I wanted to touch on tonight.

Well, you did it during general discussion, so now we can all discuss.

Um I would just point out to what was what Miss Mills said earlier.

They were lucky enough to get the grant um for C DBG.

I don't think it was luck.

I don't think it was the mayor just happened to notice it.

That was advocacy.

Miss Mills was a huge part of it.

Um, and that's how things where people are being treated inequitably.

That's how they're heard.

So I've seen so many plans over the years for what they're gonna try to do to fix that uh playground to the point where I got punched drunk and just assumed that any of the plans would work and stop.

Like I didn't connect the dots until it was pointed out to me that they have been continually coming and going, and it's time to actually do it.

Um that's the kind of advocacy you need to to overcome inequity.

And um, I'm sure there's plenty of people who who don't see it because of how their neighborhoods are or their resources.

They don't see why one neighborhood should quote get something someone else doesn't have, but it may be that that neighborhood just needs it more.

And I think some very good points were brought up earlier about how that is really a community playground because so many parents from around the city will play, will have their older kids playing at the uh the baseball fields, and the younger kids need to go over at the playground to to participate in it.

It is a city asset.

And to what was just said earlier, I really hope you go join the board or run for board of education at some point because I do think that that is like an unfortunate state of affairs, and I'm not sure where our line is alderman ends, and there's as school board members begins.

I've been forbidden from doing that.

See you married, okay.

Um Alderman Kelly.

I was gonna make a similar comment, so I appreciate my colleague bringing that up.

It is something that we talked about quite a bit.

Although I might argue that it shouldn't end in elementary school.

We all need outside time, whether you're in middle or high school, but that's a that's a whole nother bridge.

Um schools need bridges, some souls is ridges.

Uh I just wanted to uh thank Ms.

Mills for being here as well as all of the nonprofits that obviously everybody's so very passionate about the work that they do.

Um, and it's always really lovely to hear and also heartbreaking to know that we probably won't be able to fund every single one of them.

school we all need outside time whether you're in middle or high school but that's a that's a whole nother bridge um some schools need bridges some schools needs uh I just wanted to uh thank Miss Mills for being here as well as all of the nonprofits that obviously everybody's so very passionate about the work that they do um and it's always really lovely to hear and also heartbreaking to know that we probably won't be able to fund every single one of them and I know they take time out of their busy schedules to come and talk to us I really appreciate that and then I just wanted to again say how grateful I am for the modernization of this because I've been doing it for now nine years and um I don't know what the smart suite thing like just I was like oh this is the best thing ever thank you this is so really I know that sometimes the things you do don't always get um you know the the recognition it needs but I was like this is magical um as chair I just want to remind everybody we're in general discussion and we're currently discussing the school thing we will have comments by the Alderman next uh alderman um Johnson thank you I wanted to well just thank Mills for coming in and I was privileged I I to go over and before I was on the board I got sworn in to go over to Ledge Street brought back a lot of memories of my kids being there and um I don't think that they had a playground when they were at that school back in the 90s late nineties um but you know what and I think it comes down to everything in the city we don't prioritize our projects and priority is the most important thing because this is an important project but then we have other projects that might be s important but we're how again it's priority and I think you're gonna probably hear a lot of that from me during budget and as projects are coming up because we can't as they say Rome wasn't built in a day and we can't straddle the taxpayers with any more debt and so we're gonna have to try to figure out what is our priorities in the city and I hope that we can get a playground for this kids at Ledge Street.

I think it's very important area thank you.

Morgan you want to slice it bite at the apple here okay all right then we will close general discussion uh manager youngers if you'd like to escape uh I don't think we need you to work I was pretty sure it was gonna come up for general discussion that's why I didn't bring it up earlier but thank you Mr Chairman members of the committee um any members of the public wishing to make public comment okay not seeing anybody um remarks by the aldermen tomorrow is St.

Patrick's Day if you would like to buy dinner for a veteran go to Joanne's kitchen and you can buy dinner for a veteran it'll be a corned beef and cabbage boiled dinner that will be delivered to Nashville's veterans um that's my whole announcement anyone else have remarks all right seeing none can I get a motion woman Kelly move to adjourn all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed say nay nay stay here all night Tom by never actually opposed my own meetings right