Maya McFadden Photo
DeLauro touring DESK drop-in center in April.
Wilbur Cross High School and three leading nonprofits are “earmarked” to receive federal help with planned renovations and expansions.
Cross and the three nonprofits — Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK), Fair Haven Community Health Care, and the youth rec and education program LEAP — made U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s “community project funding” list for the coming year.
That’s the list of projects Congress members draw up for special consideration in the budget process. Such projects used to be called “earmarks.” Congress banned them. Then DeLauro led the charge to revive them with new rules aimed at promoting transparency and accountability. (Read about that here.)
Since DeLauro chairs the House Appropriations Committee, her list of earmarks “community projects” tends to have a particularly good shot of getting funded.
Her office Wednesday released a list of 15 projects on her list throughout the Third U.S. Congnressional District for fiscal year 2023. Here are the descriptions from the DeLauro release of the four New Haven projects:
- The Fair Haven Community Health Care expansion project at 374 Grand Avenue will increase the availability of primary medical and behavioral health care for all, but especially the underserved, at risk and low income families who otherwise have no access to quality affordable health care. The proposed construction will be at the corner of James Street and Grand Avenue, the entryway to the Fair Haven neighborhood, adjacent to the existing health center. The existing facility is over 100 years old and no longer able to grow with the needs of the community. These funds will be used to support the design and construction of a new 33,500 square foot health center including exam rooms, lab, pharmacy and community meeting space; with additional space, we will be able to expand the number of clinicians and appointments currently available.
- [The Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, Inc. (DESK)] project will provide services for people experiencing homelessness, including: daytime drop-in services with basic needs provision and onsite outreach and case management; healthcare services in a fully-equipped medical clinic staffed by Cornell Scott Hill Health Center’s Homeless Healthcare Department; a commercial kitchen providing freshly prepared meals; and a new elevator and HVAC system. [Click here to read about a recent visit DeLauro made to DESK’s drop-in center.]
- [The LEAP] project will include construction and capital improvements to the 100-year-old LEAP Roslyn Milstein Meyer Community Center at 31 Jefferson Street serving New Haven’s young people.
- [U]pgrade and expand the athletic complex at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, CT. Design and operation of the campus will be primarily for high school students with general community access during non-school use times, consisting with citywide protocol for open school and facilities. “The proposed $3.8 million top-to-bottom refurbishment of the outdoor athletic fields at Wilbur Cross High School – New Haven’s largest public school – will be a tremendous resource for the school community and the entire city at-large,” said City of New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker. “Students and residents will have the opportunity to enjoy updated athletic fields for baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, tennis, track and more.”
The list also includes money to “replace HVAC units and controls currently in service at the Town of Hamden Government Center to improve energy efficiency and reduce the Town’s carbon footprint.
Another name for earmarks is "pork". Projects need not go through a competitive grant process, only gain favor with their legislator. All these projects sound good, but they seem like local, not federal responsibilities, and there's no process other than DeLauro's whim for deciding how Hamden's town hall is more worthy than any other in the country, or in an unincorporated territory like Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or Guam.