LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More federal funding to invest in the community is headed to Louisville.
Congressman John Yarmuth said $5.1 million for 10 community projects were included in the Omnibus Appropriations package signed into law by President Biden Tuesday.
According to Yarmuth, the investments are part of a 12-bill government funding package that would “help middle class families with the cost of living, jobs, supporting vulnerable communities and working to help small businesses and restaurants.”
“From investing in our community to helping promote racial equity and accessibility, this funding will help support Louisville and the outstanding people who call it home,” Yarmuth said in a news release. “Combined with increased funding levels for critical government programs, this legislation represents a monumental investment in working families, our young people, and our entire community. I’m proud to have worked hard to ensure these local projects were include in this legislation, and I’m honored to see President Biden sign it into law.”
The funds, requested through the House Appropriations Committee’s Community Project Funding process, will help various projects around the city including a few in west Louisville.
West Louisville food incubator Chef Space will receive $330,000 to help provide equipment, storage and space to help them grow a consumer-packaged goods operation in the Russell neighborhood.
About $250,000 in funding will help Louisville Metro Government’s Black and Diverse Business Wealth Initiative. It will be used towards a workforce development program, proving training to businesses and entrepreneurs to help build capacity for Black and diverse businesses in Louisville.
The city is expected to receive $1 million to repairing or replacing sidewalks while removing barriers to accessibility and enhance pedestrian safety.
Parks Alliance of Louisville’s Maple Street project will get $500,000 to transform seven blocks in the California neighborhood into a 20-plus acre public park.
MSD’s Park Duvalle Community Odor Control Improvements project will get $480,000 for repairs at 109 locations in the neighborhood to prevent odor-causing hydrogen sulfide gases from escaping the sewers. They say the funding will help them install and rehab catch basin traps where odors can persist, especially during hot, dry summers.
YouthBuild’s Smoketown Hopebox community space project will receive $600,000 in funding. That project plans to reimagine the community center as a shared space, housing a laundromat health clinic, business incubator and flex space while providing much needed amenities to the underserved community.
The last portion of the funds, $50,000, will go toward riverbank erosion issues at Chickasaw Park. The funding will help Wilderness Louisville conduct a feasibility study about the issues and bank failure problems along the park’s shoreline of the Ohio River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will support the study.
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