More than $12M secured in federal funding for Louisville; how it will be used

By Curadhan Powell

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     LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — Congressman Morgan McGarvey announced over the weekend that more than $12 million has been secured for community projects in Louisville.

The Community Project Funding was included in a package of six government funding bills passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The money breaks down like this across projects.

$1,000,000 for Russell: A Place of Promise’s 30th and Madison Street Project This project will develop community-owned real estate assets in Louisville’s Russell neighborhood, converting a property on Madison Street currently owned by the Louisville Metro Government into a shared community space that will serve as an anchor and economic driver in the community.

$940,000 for OneWest Revitalization Projects This project will restore and convert vacant structures in West Louisville into commercial space and affordable residential units. At 526 S 18th Street, the investment will restore a dilapidated historic property to a mixed-use space, with a commercial tenant on the ground floor and two affordable housing units on the upper floor. At 1731 W Broadway, the investment will convert an existing, aging retail structure into a multi-use space, with two ground-floor commercial tenants and two upper-floor affordable residential tenants.

$600,000 for Accessibility Improvements for La Casita Center This funding will address accessibility barriers at La Casita Center, allowing them to install an elevator that ensures all of their clients, including the elderly and individuals with disabilities, have access to a second-floor space that is currently only accessible by elevator.

$500,000 for Simmons College to Acquire the Ollie Green Professional Building This project will acquire and revitalize the 10,000-square-foot, two-story Ollie Green Professional Building located at 1018 S 4th Street. This building is adjacent to the Simmons College campus and will host newly developed degree programs. Students will be able to enroll in and complete degrees and certifications in high-need childcare and education programs.

$1,000,000 for Complete Streets Improvements on West Kentucky Street This project will make streetscape improvements to a blighted and busy downtown intersection. This funding will allow the City of Louisville to improve poor infrastructure for pedestrian and bicycle travel, upgrade streetlights and traffic signals, and add pedestrian crossing lanes.

$850,000 for Harbor House’s Intergenerational Life Center This funding would help complete the construction of the Harbor House Intergenerational Life Center in Louisville. The Intergenerational Life Center will serve adults with disabilities, senior citizens, and children all under one roof and provide a place for people of all ages to participate in community programming and enrichment.

$1,616,279 for I-65 Downtown Underpass Lighting and Safety Project This project will allow the Louisville Metro Government to enhance the safety of drivers, bikers, pedestrians, and everyone traveling underneath four busy underpasses in Louisville. Currently, these underpasses—where I-65 intersects with Liberty Street, Jefferson Street, Market Street, and Main Street—are busy but poorly lit, making everyone traveling underneath them less safe.

$959,752 for Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District’s Western Outfall Rehabilitation Project This funding will allow the Metropolitan Sewer District to rehabilitate aging sewer infrastructure in West Louisville. These improvements are essential to preventing expensive failures and hazardous roadway collapses in our sewer system, parts of which date back to the time of the Civil War.

$963,000 for the Louisville Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods This funding will allow the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods to invest in programs that engage with adult and juvenile gang members as they reenter society and prevent recidivism.

$1,000,000 for a Multimodal Logistics Facility at the Louisville Riverport Authority This request would provide funding for the Louisville Riverport Authority to complete an updated master plan for the conversion of an existing, aged marine terminal to a modern multiuse marine terminal.

$450,000 for Our Place at Ben Washer Park Bridge Kids International is rehabilitating a deteriorating building in an underutilized public park in Louisville’s historic Limerick neighborhood to establish Our Place at Ben Washer Park – a unique community gathering place centered around youth social entrepreneurship, cultural exploration, intergenerational relationships, and sustainable living.

$700,000 for Youthbuild Louisville’s Smoketown Community Center The Smoketown Community Center will provide a safe space for young people to complete their homework and study with computers, participate in leadership development activities and violence prevention programming, and it will serve as an incubator for small, primarily minority-owned businesses.

$850,000 for Streetscape Improvements to Muhammad Ali Boulevard This funding will support infrastructure improvements like traffic calming measures in an area of Louisville that recently experienced a cyclist fatality. The project will improve connectivity in a neighborhood divided by poor infrastructure, and it will make every traveler — pedestrian, cyclist, driver, and transit rider — safer.

$750,000 for Volunteers of America Midstates’s Transitional Housing Volunteers of America Midstates’ (VOA) Transitional Living program is the final phase of their substance abuse recovery process and provides stable housing to clients for a period of six months to two years. VOA would like to expand the number of housing units they offer for women and create new units for men. This project would apply funding to the renovation of units and installation of a kitchen at their Shelby Street, Louisville location, and purchase and refurbish units at their Fourth Street location in downtown Louisville.

“While it hasn’t been easy as a freshman in the minority, I worked with the Republican majority to bring back $12 million for local projects that will have an incredible impact on our city,” said McGarvey. “This money will upgrade the streets we all drive on, support economic development, help kids in our neighborhoods, and improve public safety.”

“This is incredible news for our city as these investments are key to our efforts in reducing violence, building safer streets, boosting infrastructure, enhancing parks and so much more,” said Mayor Craig Greenberg.

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