The National Week of Community Development will take place April 17-22, 2017. Communities across the country will celebrate the work of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. The CDBG Program and the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program are slated for elimination in the President's FY 2018 HUD budget. National Week is a time to organize to gain the support of congressional members and for the community to show how important these programs are to the economy.

The CDBG program provides grants to state and local governments, and funds various activities like housing rehabilitation, business assistance, senior services, and infrastructure. For every $1.00 of funding from the CDBG program, another $3.65 is leveraged from other funding sources. The funding raised brings additional resources for jobs, businesses, and the people living in our communities.

Locally, the Village of Woodlawn has used CDBG funds to rebuild their pedestrian bridge.The Village of Woodlawn used the CDBG funds to leverage additional funding from the State of Ohio Public Works Commission's Clean Ohio Program to remove and replace a vital pedestrian bridge in their community as well as improve the environment around the bridge. The bridge now provides a safe route for the 71% of students at Woodlawn Elementary, who ride bikes and walk to and from school. The bridge also creates a walking path between the main road, which connects the school to civic space within the park, including the playground, swimming pool, and recreation center.

Complete Streets are streets designed for everyone.  A complete street includes sidewalks, bike lanes, bus lanes, accessible public transportation stops, safe crossings, median islands, signals, curb extensions, roundabouts, narrow travel lanes and much more.

Complete Streets provide benefits for all users, creating livable communities that incorporate people from all facets of life including but not limited to children, seniors, and the disabled. Complete Streets policies done right lead to safer, active streets and a stronger, thriving economy. 

Hamilton County's Departments of Planning + Development and Public Health have collaborated on a webinar that looks at planning policy, resources and examples of Complete Streets across the country and in Greater Cincinnati and Hamilton County. The webinar is Thursday, April 13th 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Register here!