COMMUNITY PROJECT FUNDING REQUESTS:
Chairman McGovern has submitted funding requests for important community projects in Massachusetts' Second District to the House Appropriations Committee.
Under guidelines issued by the Appropriations Committee, each Representative may request funding for up to 15 projects in their community for fiscal year 2024 – although only a handful may actually be funded. Projects are restricted to a limited number of federal funding streams, and only state and local governments and eligible non-profit entities are permitted to receive funding.
TRANSPARENCY:
All requests submitted by Chairman McGovern to the House Appropriations Committee are posted below. In compliance with House Rules and Committee requirements, Chairman McGovern has certified that he, his spouse, and his immediate family have no financial interest in any of the projects he has requested.
PROJECTS REQUESTED:
Project Name: Bernardston Fire Station
Amount of request: $4,600,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: Town of Bernardston, 38 Church Street, Bernardston, MA 01337
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The Town of Bernardston will replace a 50-year-old fire station, which has substandard, cramped and dangerous work areas. The inadequate space also results in storage issues, lends itself to potential contamination, and has no area for meetings or training. There are no exhaust removal systems, exposing firefighters and others to carcinogenic materials and other hazardous pollutants. Also, the restrictive garage space requires the Town to purchase specialized vehicles at a premium rate to fit in the space, rather than vehicles that meet the needs of the department. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: Center for Urban Farming and Food Security
Amount of request: $3,000,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: Regional Environmental Council, Inc., 42 Lagrange Street, Rear, Worcester, MA 01610
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The Regional Environmental Council (REC) will use these funds to offset a portion of the costs associated with acquiring, preserving, and developing an established 20-year-old urban farm and adjacent mill building in the city of Worcester, to create a regional Center for Urban Farming and Food Security. Proposed facility improvements include an office, warehouse, greenhouse, classroom, market, kitchen, and gardening spaces. The Center will showcase innovative approaches to addressing community food security and will significantly increase the number of low and moderate-income individuals and families in Central Massachusetts with access to healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate local food. The Center will enable REC to expand existing programs, including mobile farmers’ markets, youth and adult urban farming workforce development, and community and school gardening. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: Double Edge Theatre Community Center
Amount of request: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: Double Edge Theatre Productions, Inc., 948 Conway Road, Ashfield, MA 01330
Purpose of the Requested Funding: Double Edge Theatre (DE) will expand its facilities and programming by building a community center for design, visual arts and indigenous craft outfitted with a wampum and woodworking workshop; public murals; studios for painting, puppet making, and sewing; as well as an outdoor facility for environmental art. Adjacent to the community center will be a residency building providing short-term housing. Both buildings will be available to DE partner organizations, resident artists, and students, as well as craftspeople and youth from the rural Hilltowns. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: East Street and Kempton Road Project
Amount of request: $3,120,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: Town of Uxbridge, 21 South Main Street, Uxbridge, MA 01569
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The East Street and Kempton Road Project would allow for the design and construction of an elevated water storage tank and the replacement of the existing booster pumping station. This will allow the Town to provide additional capacity and pressure for existing water users in both Uxbridge and Millville, and allow new residential homes to be added to the system. These improvements will also increase the water flows to strengthen firefighting capabilities in the area. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: 1888 Building Project
Amount of request: $4,000,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: Town of Deerfield, 8 Conway Street, South Deerfield, MA 01373
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The Town of Deerfield will rehabilitate the 1888 Building, a 135-year-old three-story brick former grammar school built in the Victorian Gothic style and repurpose it as Town Municipal Offices. This will simultaneously save a vacant building of historic value and provide functional, energy-smart facilities. Fixing this building is the cornerstone of Deerfield’s plan to develop a Net-Zero Municipal-Residential Campus in the Downtown. It would allow Deerfield to use the existing one-floor Town Hall building as a permanent home for the 3-town Senior Center, which is currently in two rented spaces. The Town Nurse would be located in the Senior Center to provide needed elder health services. This project would benefit Deerfield, Sunderland, and Whately residents. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: Goshen Highway Facility
Amount of request: $3,000,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: Town of Goshen, 40 Main Street, Goshen, Massachusetts 01032
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The Town of Goshen will construct a modern highway facility that is appropriate in scale and accommodations to service a town with a maximum elevation of 1709 feet. This includes a garage, and a salt and sand shed to replace the over 75-year-old bay garage structure which currently houses highway vehicles and other equipment. This improvement would modernize the facility, improve energy efficiency, and increase highway safety. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: Greendale Revitalization Initiative
Amount of request: $1,500,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: New Garden Park, Inc, 89 Shrewsbury Street, Suite 300, Worcester, MA 01604
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The Greendale Revitalization Initiative will convert a single-owned, 130-year-old industrial campus into a modern campus. Given the historically industrial uses throughout the site, the approximately 50-acre space requires significant remediation, demolition, and upgrades to the area’s aging infrastructure. These funds would be used on overall site preparation, addressing the environmental remediation and demolition of the structures throughout the campus, and providing the opportunity for new or upgraded public infrastructure to improve site access to the surrounding neighborhood and increase the marketability of the site. This site preparation will create frontage for multiple pad-ready sites, introducing one million square feet of new, modern manufacturing space with the potential of creating 1,000 new employment opportunities for residents of Worcester and the region. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: Hilltown CDC Food Hub
Amount of request: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: Hilltown CDC, 387 Main Street, Chesterfield, MA 01012
Purpose of the Requested Funding: Hilltown CDC will expand its Mobile Market to a food HUB by working with over 20 local farmers to purchase fresh dairy, eggs, meat, and produce to deliver to Hilltown residents, including many who are food insecure. Expanding the current program to a food HUB model will allow us to use a commercial kitchen to expand its reach to the community. It will enable them to work with local producers on product development, value-added products, and marketing. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: Innovation & Entrepreneurship Community Engagement Center at Clark University
Amount of request: $2,600,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: Clark University, 950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610
Purpose of the Requested Funding: Clark University will build a 5,000-square-foot Innovation & Entrepreneurship Community Engagement Center on a blighted lot on Main Street. The Center builds on Clark’s strengths, including the Small Business Development Center and their Innovation & Entrepreneurship program to develop a community engagement extension targeting local and minority entrepreneurs in Worcester County. Clark operates Department of Labor-funded IT apprenticeship training programs and hosts Liberal Arts for Returning Citizens (LARC) program, helping former inmates to access higher education. The new center leverages these programs, develops synergies among existing strengths, and expands their impact on the community. The project involves building a new facility on a lot that has long been a community concern as it attracts criminal activities. The facility will include a seminar room as well as consulting and maker spaces and will serve as an incubator for local businesses. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: Leominster East Side Community Center
Amount of request: $750,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: City of Leominster, 25 West Street, Leominster, MA 01453
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The City of Leominster will build a 2,500-square-foot community center in the heart of an environmental justice (EJ) neighborhood. The Center will serve as a nexus for general meeting space for organizations that serve the EJ area, after-school programs, employment and training opportunities, first-time homebuyers and rental assistance, and city services would all be under one roof. The location would include a large meeting space with breakout rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom that would all be handicap accessible. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: MetroWest YMCA Regional Early Learning Center
Amount of request: $5,000,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: MetroWest YMCA, 100 Waverly Street, Ashland, MA 01721
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The MetroWest YMCA will build a regional Early Learning Center to serve as a critical component of a new regional YMCA for the communities of Ashland, Hopkinton, Holliston, Sherborn, and Framingham. Specifically, the Early Learning Center would provide full-day, full-year, licensed, accredited care and education. The Center will create jobs and enable adult family members to work or go to school, knowing their children are safe, nurtured, and developing skills that will last throughout their lives. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: Mill Street Complete Street Design Project
Amount of request: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: City of Worcester, 76 East Worcester Street, Worcester, MA, 01604
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The City of Worcester will use these funds to design a 2.5-mile complete street, an important piece of a multi-modal transportation network that will help the city achieve its goals of improving health and safety, environmental sustainability, and access to recreation, commerce, and jobs with a strong focus on equity and vulnerable roadway users. The project will include a road diet with the inclusion of a linear park with a shared-use path, safe pedestrian crossings, trees, green infrastructure, and more. Located in an Environmental Justice neighborhood, the project will increase pedestrian, bicycle, micro-mobility, and public transit transportation choices for people who have a greater need. The project will contribute toward reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions by providing more transportation choices that encourage mode shift as well as contribute to the nation’s goals of Vision Zero, Safe Routes to Schools, and access to jobs. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: Oriol Drive Permanent Supportive Housing
Amount of request: $5,000,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: Worcester Community Housing Resources, Inc., 11 Pleasant Street, Suite 300, Worcester, MA 01609
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The Oriol Drive Permanent Supportive Housing project would support the construction costs to convert the Quality Inn in Worcester into 90 permanent supportive housing units for formerly homeless individuals. The project will take a Housing First approach to tenants, with supportive services including recovery coaches, mental health services, and case management. There will be 57 one-bedroom and 33 studio units and serve tenants at less than 30% and 60% AMI. Supportive services will include recovery coaches, mental health services, and case management. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: UMass Amherst Water and Energy Technology Center (WET Center)
Amount of request: $3,511,250
Intended Recipient and Full Address: University of Massachusetts Amherst, 374 Whitmore Building, UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003
Purpose of the Requested Funding: UMass Amherst will complete a rebuild of the WET Center that has become a facility known across the Northeast for high-impact work in many critical areas especially in measurement and control of drinking water contaminants, such as per-and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), a growing public health crisis in the Commonwealth. The WET Center is also connected to the wastewater system for both the campus and the Town of Amherst (TOA) and has assisted the Town and University with wastewater-based epidemiology for the early detection of community spread COVID-19. The rebuilt WET Center facilities will allow state-of-the-art small drinking water system testing to address emerging contaminants such as PFAS and be a research hub for early warning detection of future disease outbreaks. The WET Center has hosted numerous water/wastewater technology projects funded by public and private. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Project Name: YMCA of Central Massachusetts Greendale Airnasium
Amount of request: $700,000
Intended Recipient and Full Address: YMCA of Central Massachusetts, 766 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610
Purpose of the Requested Funding: The YMCA of Central Massachusetts’ Greendale Family Branch will repurpose a portion of the existing property’s green space to expand programs and services based on local needs. An airnasium, an outdoor covered space, of approximately 8,000 square feet, will serve as a destination for children to play, teens to gather, and seniors to exercise, as well as provide a wide-open platform for community-building events. This cost-effective approach would increase the number of programs offered, especially for those most vulnerable, while maintaining the integrity of their green space and footprint. Click here for a signed letter certifying that stating Chairman McGovern has no financial interest in the project.
Click here for a list of FY2023 projects which were selected for funding.
