Bryant Powell

Draft for regional Transportation Improvement Program opens for public comment. The 2025-28 TIP outlines federally funded projects for #CentralPA roadways over the next 4 years https://lnkd.in/e5B_zuQg @cumberlink #CentralPA #CumberlandCounty

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Honoring Our Heroes: Mid-Year Update from Indian River County Board of County Commissioners Veterans Services! At Indian River County Community Services, our commitment to serving those who have served us knows no bounds. As we reach the midpoint of the year, we're proud to share some exciting updates and initiatives from our Veterans Services division that are making a tangible difference in the lives of our beloved Veterans. 🕒 Current Wait Times: We understand the importance of timely assistance, and we're working diligently to reduce wait times for our Veterans. Currently, John and Melissa are scheduling appointments 30 days out, while Carri and Michelle are available within 21 days. We're continuously striving to improve our efficiency to better serve our Veterans. 🚶‍♂️ Walk-in Appointments: To provide immediate support for concerns taking 30 minutes or less, we invite Veterans to join us for Walk-in-Wednesdays in Vero Beach and Walk-in Thursdays in the Sebastian Office. From 9:00 am to 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, our doors are open, ready to offer assistance and guidance. 🌐 Website Update: Our website now features an updated calendar of events for Veterans, with contributions from over 20 Veteran organizations in Indian River County. This resource serves as a hub for information on upcoming events and opportunities for Veterans to connect with their community. 🤝 Community Partnerships: We're thrilled to announce upcoming partnerships with Piper for "Lunch & Learn" sessions starting on May 31, 2024, and Career Source beginning June 14, 2024. These collaborations will provide valuable resources and support for our Veterans as they navigate post-service life. 📈 Metrics: Our efforts are yielding tangible results, with increases in calls and visitor numbers each month. From 813 calls in January to 1315 visitors in Q2 FY24, our outreach and impact are expanding, ensuring more Veterans receive the support they deserve. 🌟 Outreach Initiatives: We're dedicated to meeting Veterans where they are, which is why we continue to participate in Senior Resource Fairs, Coastal Concierge Expo, and monthly community meetings with the Community Care Alliance of IRC. Our commitment to outreach remains unwavering. 🎯 Future Goals: Looking ahead, our focus is on collaboration and expansion. We aim to work closely with individual Veterans organizations to provide training and support for service officers. Additionally, we're committed to collaborating with various organizations within the county to expand our outreach and enhance our services for every Veteran in Indian River County. #HonoringOurHeroes #VeteransFirst #CommunityStrong #IRCsuccess Check our calendar of community Veteran's Events. https://lnkd.in/e5QEJmkb

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Citizens want to contribute to their communities, but engagement must be productive. Explore how municipalities utilize a range of different engagement approaches as a means of gathering community insights and ideas to improve local government. #CommunityEngagement #PublicParticipation #LocalGov

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So glad to see this evaluation out in the world! Faced with a global pandemic, state and local government, local organizations and private business came together at record speed to stand up the Project Roomkey program. The model used hotel rooms to house people experiencing homelessness - to reduce their risk exposure, as well as the larger burden on the health system in this crisis. The Project Roomkey model expanded our imaginations for how California can provide emergency housing for people experiencing homelessness - and there are important reflections on what this means for homelessness services in non-emergency settings as well. #covid19 #pandemic #pandemicpreparedness #homelessness #housing

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Many #localgovernment agencies struggle to track, assess, and apply for #grantprograms. In this “101” workshop, participants will learn to assess the competitive viability and readiness of planning, infrastructure, and #programmaticprojects. Register today 👉 https://lnkd.in/g-2-XrxM

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If you would like to learn more about the technical implementation of the KCGIS Center's Districts and Development Conditions Report check out this blog: https://lnkd.in/gcpiTDpj

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FREE WEBINAR (APA AICP CM | 1 credit) 👉 2024 State of the Practice: 10 Public Engagement Trends in Transportation | AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials), Association Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO), American Public Transportation Association, National Association of Regional Councils, National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), Transportation Research Board, MetroQuest Software, and Social Pinpoint have collaborated to bring you the NEW inaugural "State of the Practice Report" for public engagement in transportation agencies! Join us on May 22nd, as Dave Biggs teams up with Jamille Robbins from NCDOT, Amy Adams Luft from COMPASS, and Lloyd Brown from HDR as they unveil the top 10 key findings and trends, gleaned from insights shared by over 430 transportation practitioners across America. Save your seat today: https://hubs.ly/Q02vLhsJ0 Together, they'll delve into important topics including: • Top public engagement challenges and barriers facing transportation agencies • How transportation agencies are staffing and resourcing public engagement • Key goals, objectives, and motivations for improving public participation • Using hybrid engagement (online surveys + public meetings) to increase participation • Ways to enhance diversity and engage traditionally hard to reach audiences • How technologies like AI are changing the future of community engagement Save the date and be part of the conversation! Register now: https://hubs.ly/Q02vLhsJ0

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We want to hear your stories of projects, initiatives, or process changes that have created positive civic experiences in your community. Nominate a team, a department, or your entire government agency now. Help us tell the stories of difference-makers in your administration. #GovernmentServices #LocalGov #MakeADifference

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Have you been pondering the question about what you need that isn't being delivered by a professional manager's association? Credit to Joseph Turner for making this is significant topic of conversation over the past 12 months and I am really looking forward to what to Joe and Micah Gaudet can accomplish with the recent launch of the American Association of Municipal Executives. Since 2020, Imagine That Performance has been providing monthly Confidential Think Tanks for the Isolated Leaders of Local Government. These Think Tanks serve as a real-time platform where City Managers and County Administrators can engage with their peers to address challenges head-on. These Think Tank sessions aren't the typical best practice sharing sessions you typically experience at conferences. They are deep dives into a current Topic, Opportunity or Problem a leader is facing RIGHT NOW! Through our discovery process we go past the obvious symptoms and try to find the ROOT CAUSE of problems before moving on to sharing recommendations from the collection of experts. Simply put, this is the best platform available today for City Managers and County Administrators to solve real problems in a supportive peer group setting.

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📢 Important Announcements: BABA Waiver Extension & HUD Funding Opportunities BABA Tribal Waiver Extended: The Build America, Buy America (BABA) waiver for Tribal recipients has been extended through September 30, 2024. HUD has published a proposed Build America, Buy America (BABA) waiver extension for Tribal recipients. This proposed waiver would delay BABA’s applicability for Tribal recipients of HUD programs through September 30, 2024. The proposed waiver will also be published in the Federal Register in the coming days and will provide a 30-day comment period. Tribes and TDHEs are encouraged to submit comments on the proposed waiver through regulations.gov once the waiver is published in the Federal Register. The Office of Management and Budget has noted that it expects HUD’s Tribal recipients to fully comply with BABA starting October 1, 2024, for Federal financial assistance obligated by HUD after that date. HUD will issue additional guidance to Tribal recipients on BABA’s applicability to housing and infrastructure and provide training and technical assistance. HUD appreciates all the comments submitted to date regarding BABA and is currently considering all Tribal feedback. Those comments have been received and do not need to be resubmitted via regulations.gov. 🛠️ FY2024 ICDBG NOFO Published: $70M available for developing American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Applications due by July 15, 2024. Training on June 12-13, 2024. 🏠 New HUD Grant Opportunity: $65M for evaluating and reducing housing-related hazards, including lead-based paint. Applications due by July 1, 2024. 🚨 For more details: https://lnkd.in/eHEYH6bN #BABAExtension #HUD #TribalHousing #NAHASDA #GrantOpportunity #ICDBG #TribalDevelopment #HousingSafety #PublicHousing

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What is CDBG, and who does it benefit? 💭 The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) is a grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that provides resources to state and local governments and their local partners to fund a wide range of community development projects, principally for low-and moderate-income people. Most funds are dedicated to a mixture of large, mid-size and somewhat smaller localities (70%) while states receive remaining funds (30%) to serve rural communities. CDBG program funds can be used for a host of activities that include: ✅ Infrastructure (public facilities and improvements) ✅ Affordable housing ✅ Economic development ✅ Public services Each activity must meet one of three national objectives: Benefit low-and moderate-income people Address urgent health and safety needs in the community Eliminate slums and blight Head to our website to learn more about CDBG and the NCDA: https://ncdaonline.org/

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📣 RFP Announcement 📣 The Council recently published the RFP IHEA 2024000324 for Intentional Communities Research. This proposal is due June 3rd. Presentation slides about this opportunity are available here: https://lnkd.in/gtuZkA3S. The purpose of this solicitation is to provide funding to an individual or an organization in order to conduct a landscape analysis on intentional communities for people with disabilities in Colorado. The Council seeks to support policies and systems changes that both increase access to affordable, integrated, and inclusive housing and support self-advocates and families. Members of the Council need authoritative information and analysis about these communities in a Colorado context in order to understand the issue(s). To view the solicitation, please visit the Colorado VSS site located here:  https://lnkd.in/gR9PyX5x. If this direct link doesn't work, this is the site informational home page: https://lnkd.in/gMuMYSdx. Once on the Colorado VSS page, you do not need to be registered to view the documents. Go to the "View Published Solicitations" tab and when redirected to the details page, click attachments on the menu bar just below the solicitation. This will bring up the solicitation and associated documents available to download. Additionally, the solicitation will be available on https://lnkd.in/gh2AnGU4 within 1 business day of publishing on Colorado VSS. 

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The City of Woonsocket is seeking input from Woonsocket stakeholders for the 2024-2025 Annual Action Plan and 2025-2030 Consolidated Plan. Both are required by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development which provides funding through HOME, CDBG, ESG and HOME-ARP. The purpose of this survey is to take the anonymous feedback to make budget decisions for the 2024-2025 program year and develop our new Consolidated Plan. The online survey is available in 10 languages and printed copies are available by request in the Department of Planning and Development at 169 Main Street. The City of Woonsocket acknowledges that stakeholder input is a key component to informed decision-making. Stay tuned for further public meetings and hearings throughout the upcoming program year. #woonsocket #consolidatedplan #annualactionplan #hudfunding #entitlementcommunity #housingandurbandevelopment #hud #communityengagement #civicengagement #rhodeisland

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Post #2 on the federal budget 2024 from Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) research staff: Highlights of new spending: o  Using federal lands to accelerate new housing: requiring departments and agencies to offer parcels of lands; plan to introduce legislation to facilitate acquisition of public lands for homes; $500M/5yrs for a new Public Lands Acquisition Fund; establishing a Public Lands Acquisition Council to identify parcels of land for housing; starting with Canada Post properties, National Defence lands, and repurposing of PSPC offices. If implemented effectively, this has significant potential to generate affordable housing (that will hopefully align with Affordability Action Council recommendations to build future-ready housing that is energy efficient, resilient to a changing climate, and near public transit). o  Canada Disability Benefit: Act to be passed in June 2024 and payments to begin July 2025, with $2400 per year maximum benefit for about 600,000 eligible people. Overall cost is estimated at around $5 billion/ 5yrs. Fingers crossed that this can role out as planned as it is badly needed. o  Consultations forthcoming: new tax on residentially zoned vacant land; National Caregiving Strategy; survey on interprovincial trade to identify top barriers; return of funds from fuel charge to Indigenous communities. Things to watch in 2024. o  Student loan forgiveness for care and health workers in rural and remote communities: Increased scope of student loan forgiveness to include early childhood educators, and a broader range of health workers. Hopefully effective in helping to address worker shortages. o  Research funding: Significant funding for enhancing research and researchers (I suspect academic friends of the IRPP will be very excited about these): - new capstone research funding organization overlaying NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR (federal granting councils) that will support internationally collaborative, multi-disciplinary and mission-driven research. - a new advisory council on science and innovation that will include academic, industry and not-for-profit sectors and develop a national science and innovation strategy to guide priority setting. - higher pay for post-secondary scholarships, with doctoral support rising from $20,000 under SSHRC to $40,000 per year. Post-docs rise from $45,000 for SSHRC to $70,000. Very meaningful increases at a time when cost of living is a major concern. o  Passenger rail: $462 million over 5 years for Via Rail network operations and commitment to replace aging fleet and renew Remote Passenger Rail funding. This is in line with recommendations from the Affordability Action Council, and will hopefully help address gaps in access to transportation in many areas of Canada. More to come in subsequent post..

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It takes local governments 10-12 months to prepare their budgets. That means you need to be engaging with them well before this period to have a chance. Understanding the government budget cycle and strategies for identifying opportunities within city budgets is key! #SLED #LocalGov

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ICYMI: Local governments are facing mounting pressure to evolve due to population growth and the rising demand for #housing. Consider how modernizing road permit management is a necessity to facilitate critical #infrastructure work. #LocalGov https://lnkd.in/dRtZZkrr

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