HUD awards $4.25M grant to NE Ohio

Staff report

Cleveland

Northeast Ohio has been awarded a $4.25 million grant from the federal Sustainable Communities Program.

The funds, awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will be used to develop a cooperative regional plan to address housing, transportation, environmental impact and economic development for Northeast Ohio.

The grant will fund planning and collaboration by the Northeast Ohio Consortium for a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development, an organization of more than 20 public- and private-sector organizations across the region, including the cities of Youngstown and Warren, Mahoning and Trumbull counties and the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments.

Key elements of the regional planning effort will include land use, transportation alternatives and infrastructure, equitable housing, community and neighborhood development and economic growth.

The consortium was organized by the Fund for Our Economic Future, a regional collaboration for economic development and philanthropy. The Raymond John Wean Foundation in Warren, the George Gund Foundation in Cleveland, the Nord Family Foundation in Lorain County, the Stark Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of Lorain County also contributed funds to organize the application.

“Thanks to the vision and enthusiasm of the application consortium, we have successfully collaborated to plan for the region’s future,” Brad Whitehead, the fund’s president, said in a statement. “This grant gives us a unique opportunity to work together to create a better, more-efficient way to capitalize on our assets and manage our physical and economic growth in the future.”

The U.S. Sustainable Communities Program is an initiative designed to support regional approaches to land use, housing, environmental and economic development issues. Northeast Ohio was one of 45 communities nationwide selected to receive a grant from the program.