Pittsfield Seeks Input on CDBG Annual Action Plan

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City of Pittsfield, through its Office of Community Development, is preparing to write its 2025 Annual Action Plan and 2025-2029 (5-year) Consolidated Plan, which will determine how the City allocates its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds next year and over the next five years. 
 
CDBG funds are provided annually to the City of Pittsfield through an entitlement grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under Title 1 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended.
 
The Annual Action Plan and 5-year Consolidated Plan are designed to help states and local jurisdictions assess their affordable housing and community development needs and market conditions to make data-driven, place-based investment decisions. The consolidated planning process serves as the framework for a community-wide dialogue to identify housing and community development priorities that align and focus funding from the CDBG formula block grant program.
 
To engage the entire community in this conversation, the City is holding a public hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. at the Berkshire Athenaeum (1 Wendell Ave) to gather input on the City's greatest priority needs that can be addressed with CDBG funds. Additionally, an online survey is available now through Feb. 27, 2025. 
 
It can be accessed at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RVJQRZF. The information provided will assist in the development of the 2025 Annual Action Plan and the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan. This survey should take about ten to fifteen minutes to complete.
 
Under federal guidelines, at least 70 percent of CDBG funds must be used to benefit low- and moderate-income individuals. Each funded activity must meet one of three national objectives:
  • Benefits low- and moderate-income individuals
  • Aids in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight
  • Addresses an urgent need that poses a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community, which occurred within the last 18 months and for which other funding is not available.
For questions related to the Consolidated Plan or the survey, or to request accommodations at the public hearing, please contact Nate Joyner in the Pittsfield Department of Community Development by email at njoyner@cityofpittsfield.org or by phone at (413) 499-9358.

Tags: CDBG,   

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Lenox Library to Feature National Book Award Finalist Jerald Walker

LENOX, Mass. —  Lenox Library will continue its Distinguished Lecture Series on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. with National Book Award Finalist Jerald Walker.

In his lecture, "The Making of a Dragon Slayer," Jerald Walker will discuss how his development as a writer was radically altered by his mentor’s analysis of the Black experience. His talk will include a reading from his critically acclaimed collection, "How to Make a Slave and Other Essays."

Jerald Walker is the author of "How to Make a Slave and Other Essays," a Finalist for the National Book Award and Winner of the Massachusetts Book Award; "The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult;" and "Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption," recipient of the PEN/New England Award for Nonfiction; and, most recently, "Magically Black and Other Essays."

His work has appeared in publications such as the Harvard Review, Creative Nonfiction, The Iowa Review, The New York Times, Washington Post, and Mother Jones, and it has been widely anthologized, including six times in The Best American Essays series and in the Pushcart Prizes. A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the James A. Michener Foundation, Walker is a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Emerson College.

Now in its 18th season, the Distinguished Lecture Series is organized and hosted by Dr. Jeremy Yudkin, a resident of the Berkshires and Professor of Music and Co-Director of the Center for Beethoven Research at Boston University. Lectures are free and open to the public. Please visit https://lenoxlib.org or the Library's Facebook page for more information.

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