CUOMO ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL $1.4 BILLION IN GRANTS TO FUND COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AROUND NATION

WASHINGTON - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced the availability of nearly $1.4 billion in additional grants for communities and groups around the nation to help boost employment, build housing, and create community and economic development programs - bringing this year's total funding for such grants to nearly $2.7 billion.

The HUD grants are being offered through a new system of national competitions that will award the funds more quickly and efficiently to local and state governments, public housing authorities, non-profit and faith-based groups, and other organizations. The new system is one of the first of its kind used by a federal agency.

Until this year, HUD has posted 40 different Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs) for HUD grant competitions each year. Cuomo announced in March that the competitions were being combined into three SuperNOFAs -- the second and third of which were announced today.

"We are making the process of getting HUD grants easier, faster and cheaper," Cuomo said. "We are replacing 40 NOFAs with three SuperNOFAs - announcements of broad categories of grants that are open to competition. This is a major improvement. It will enable state and local officials, business people, and non-profit groups to spend less time and money filling out forms - and more time and money creating jobs, building housing and strengthening communities." The second SuperNOFA makes available $176 million for economic development and community empowerment programs, including programs to: create jobs; help redevelop brownfields sites; train assisted housing residents and groups to own and manage properties; help public housing residents move from welfare to work; provide high school dropouts with education classes and employment skills; and develop local lead hazard awareness campaigns.

The third SuperNOFA makes available $1.2 billion for homeless assistance programs, including housing for people with AIDS, supportive housing for the elderly, and housing and rental assistance for people with disabilities. The third SuperNOFA also makes available $88 million in Section 8 vouchers and certificates for people with disabilities.

Cuomo said that the first of the three HUD SuperNOFAS, issued March 31, makes available $1.2 billion for housing and community development programs, including: the HOPE VI program for public housing revitalization, drug elimination grants for public and assisted housing, fair housing initiatives grants, and community development technical assistance programs.

Each SuperNOFA will provide grant applicants a complete listing or "menu" of HUD competitive funding available in a given year, organized to reflect the way communities approach local problems.

"We want to get the funds to the widest range of people and organizations possible," Cuomo said. "This is vital to helping the nation's diverse communities meet the challenges they face in building stronger, more economically viable neighborhoods."

Through the SuperNOFA grant process, applicants can go to one source - the SuperNOFA Information Center - to obtain application information, copies of program regulations, and copies of Connecting With Communities, a guidebook designed to make it easy for HUD partners at the state and local level, and in non-profit, faith-based and other community organizations to apply for funds.

The center can be reached from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, by dialing toll-free 800/HUD-8929 or 800/483-2209 TTY. Application information will be on the Internet at http://www.hud.gov

Interested applicants also can view and participate in live SuperNOFA video training broadcasts. To take part in broadcasts a participant must have a Pentium or better computer that features a sound card, and log onto www.hud.gov After logging onto HUD's Website, participants can click on SuperNOFA Video Broadcast/Live Simulcast Schedule.

SuperNOFA video training broadcasts scheduled for May include:

May 4 -- General Overview of the SuperNOFA and Programs in SuperNOFA II, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 4 - 6 p.m.
May 11 -- General Overview of SuperNOFA and Programs in SuperNOFA III, 1:30 - 3 p.m.
May 20 -- Economic Development Initiative and Brownfields Economic Development Initiative, 2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
May 27 -- Mark to Market, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 5 - 7 p.m.; Continuum of Care and Housing for Persons with AIDS, 1:30 - 5 p.m. For the entire schedule, log onto HUD's Web site or call the new center.