SUMTER, S.C. — Community leaders in Sumter working to allocate federal funding for projects in the city. The Gamecock City gets funding from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Exchange’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Entitlement Program, which aims to develop urban communities for people with low to moderate incomes.
“I just had a new roof put on my house not too long ago and it’s fairly expensive,” lifetime Sumter resident Lloyd Goodine explains about the importance of having a solid roof over your head. “I mean, it’s important because I mean you don’t want to have leaks and everything in the house and then that leads to mold which causes other health problems and everything.”
“Yeah, one less thing for them to worry about,” Goodine’s friend, Travis Floyd, agreed.
The City of Sumter is hoping to serve residents by using grant money to put toward roof repairs.
“I could never get enough funds for the needs we actually have in low income areas,” Community Development Director Clarence Gaines shared.
Gaines works with the city every year to allocate CDBG funding. Last year, Gaines says the city got $350,000. This fiscal year, which starts on April 1, he’s hoping for even more.
“The more we get, the more we can do,” Gaines said. “In most cases, individuals that can't afford to get repairs on their home, they wait ‘til it gets real bad instead of like when your roof starts leaking, get that done. That will save the walls, the floor and everything else. So we said, kind of stress to our customers and our citizens to try to get stuff done, you know, when it first starts going bad versus waiting for the whole house to go bad.”
Right now, Gaines says 73% of the funding will go toward housing repairs in low-to-moderate-income communities.
“In order to get the grant we have to spend 70% of the grant funds on low, moderate income individuals in the city of Sumter, meaning their income cannot exceed 80% medium income level for Sumter County and it’s based on household size,” Gaines detailed. “If you look at my budget, probably 90…anywhere from 85 to 90% go to low moderate income areas instead of 70 that HUD requires.”
Sixteen percent will go to youth employment opportunities, 9% will go to Sumter United Ministries and the rest will go to the YMCA and the Helping Youth Pursue Excellence (HYPE) Program, which is run by Director Barney Gadson.
“Our mission is to first make sure the kids have a safe place to be after school while the parents are at work. The second thing that we try to make sure that we can provide is make sure that every child has a meal when they get out of school in the afternoon, Gadson said abut the program, which serves children from kindergarten through eighth grade. “Our main focus now coming out of COVID is making sure that our children are reading on grade level and making sure they're understanding basic math facts.”
“I think it’s amazing because it helps me too,” Wilder Elementary fourth-grader Charlotte Williams shared. “Especially my teachers, when I need help, they’ll help me. And the stuff that I don’t know, they’ll teach me.”
Children like Williams go to the program after school and get help with homework, time to play and a hot meal.
“If we can help one child and we could change that child's trajectory, we can change a whole generation,” Gadson smiled. “Because if a child is in poverty, and we can show that child that education is the key leading them out of poverty, and that child becomes an adult…his or her children will never know what poverty is because they have prioritized education. Education will be a priority in their house, and their children will never know the struggles that they had. So that's the blessing of what we do.”
With funding from the grant, Gadson says the program continues during the summer, which lifetime Sumter resident Johnny Montgomery says is valuable.
“That would be a good idea,” Montgomery said. “At least keep the children focused…and keep them out of trouble.”
The HYPE Program is also a “21st Century Community Learning Center program,” Gadson says.
“Our aim is to impact state standardized test scores, report card grades, improve attendance at school and reduce behavior incidents at school,” Gadson said.
Gaines says while the city doesn’t know exactly how much money will be allocated to Sumter, he should find out within the next month.
When it comes to choosing the houses that will receive assistance, Gaines says the first step is filling out an application. Then, he says it’s a “first come first serve and we do it until the money runs out.”
To fill out that application, you can visit Gaines’ office at 12 W. Liberty St. or email him at cgaines@sumtersc.gov.
Then, Gaines says he has a board who look at the eligible houses, and determine who will get repairs first based on priority.
“They usually base on age, disability, you know, and income,” Gaines explained. “That's how they do it, they prioritize.”