The deadline for submission of FY22 Community Project Funding Requests for WA-10 is now closed.  The FY22 Community Project Funding Requests were accepted until Wednesday, March 31st.  

The Office of Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland will accept requests for Community Project Funding (CPF) for the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Appropriations process to direct funding to specific governmental entities, nonprofit organizations, or geographic locations.  Through the new CPF program, Members of Congress will be able to request funding for up to 10 specific projects in their districts to serve the public good.  These requests will be completely transparent, which makes them different from the previous “earmark” process. 

The House Appropriations Committee intends to fund community projects on a limited basis in the FY22 Appropriations bills.  Therefore, CPF requests that address the most significant needs of local communities or provide a significant public good are more likely to be included.  Not every CPF request submitted by a Member of Congress will be included in the FY22 appropriations bills.

The new CPF program is being implemented with accountability measures to ensure a responsible and transparent process.  Each Member of the House may only submit a total of 10 CPF requests across all subcommittees for FY22, subsequently the office of Congresswoman Strickland will not be able to accommodate every request received.  Further, all CPF submissions are required to be posted at www.strickland.house.gov to ensure full transparency.  Therefore, all information submitted by a requesting organization should be considered public information.  The House Appropriations Committee will also establish an online, searchable public database of all CPF requests received by the Committee.

Only eligible CPF requests that meet all the guidelines established by the Appropriations Committee will be accepted and considered:

• You must be able to demonstrate that the request has community support.  This requirement is integral for a successful CPF request.  Examples of community support include but are not limited to support letters from local elected officials, press articles, state-intended use plan or community development plan, or a municipal resolution of support. 
• The project or requesting entity must have no financial ties to the Member or their family.
• Funding must be for FY22 only.
• If the project would normally require a funding match or cost share by a non-federal entity, then the requesting entity will need to demonstrate that it can provide this match if it makes a CPF request.  The Appropriations Committee will conform to statutory match and cost-sharing requirements.
• The recipient of the CPF must be a governmental entity or 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.  
• Requests made by for-profit entities are not permitted and will not be submitted for consideration.

Please note that the Appropriations Committee will only accept CPF requests for the eligible Appropriations accounts listed below.  Also note that CPF requests will not be accepted by the State and Foreign Operations or Legislative Branch Subcommittees.  If you submit a community project funding request for any accounts other than those listed below, they will not be considered.  This form is not for  programmatic Appropriations requests, this form is solely for Community Project Funding requests.

The deadline for submission of CPF requests for WA-10 was Wednesday, March 31, 2021 at 6:00 PM PST.  Late or incomplete requests were not  accepted or considered.

For more information and guidance on the Community Project Funding program please visit https://appropriations.house.gov/appropriations-requests.

ELIGIBLE ACCOUNTS

AGRICULTURE

• Agricultural Research Service, Buildings and Facilities
• Rural Development, Rural Community Facility Grants
• Rural Utilities Service, ReConnect Grants

COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE

• Department of Justice, Byrne Justice Assistance Grants
• Department of Justice, COPS Technology and Equipment
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Operations, Research, and Facilities
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Safety, Security and Mission Services

DEFENSE

• Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Army
• Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Navy
• Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Air Force
• Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Space Force
• Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Defense-Wide

ENERGY AND WATER

• Army Corps of Engineers, Investigations
• Army Corps of Engineers, Construction
• Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi River and Tributaries
• Army Corps of Engineers, Operation and Maintenance
• Bureau of Reclamation, Water and Related Resources

HOMELAND SECURITY

• Federal Emergency Management Agency, Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grants
• Federal Emergency Management Agency, Nonprofit Security Grants
• Federal Emergency Management Agency, Emergency Operations Center Grants

INTERIOR

• Department of the Interior, Land and Water Conservation Fund Land Acquisition
• Environmental Protection Agency, State and Tribal Assistance Grants
• Forest Service, State and Private Forestry

FINANCIAL SERVICES

• Small Business Administration, Small Business Initiatives

LABOR-HEALTH

• Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Training and Employment Services
• Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Program Management
• Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Health Surveillance and Program Support
• Department of Education, Innovation and Improvement
• Department of Education, Higher Education

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS

Military Construction accounts under the Department of Defense:

• Army
• Navy and Marine Corps
• Air Force
• Defense-Wide
• Army National Guard
• Air National Guard
• Army Reserve
• Navy Reserve
• Air Force Reserve

TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING

• Department of Transportation, Local Transportation Priorities
• Department of Transportation, Airport Improvement Program
• Department of Housing and Urban Development, Economic Development Initiative

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TRANSPARENCY

The final 10 CPF requests submitted by Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland to the Appropriations Committee are posted below.  Members will be required to certify that neither they nor their immediate family have a financial interest in the CPF requests made.

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PROJECTS SUBMITTED

NOTE: The projects are listed alphabetically by recipient entity or organization.

See signed disclosure letters for all projects submitted at this link.

Project Name: Certified Clinical/Clerical Medical Assistant Training Program

Recipient: Arivva (Pierce Center for Arts & Technology)

Address: 402 Garfield Street South, Tacoma WA 98444

Amount Requested: $450,000

Project Description and Explanation: Arivva’s Certified Clinical/Clerical Medical Assistant (CCCMA) program is designed with the goal to prepare competent entry-level medical assistants in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains.  This includes preparing students to assist within the medical environment with patient procedures and administrative duties, with particular emphasis on acquiring proficiency in using the electronic health record systems needed for today’s technologically advanced health care environment, e.g., physicians’ offices, urgent care centers, clinics, and ambulatory care facilities.

Arivva’s CCCMA program serves 20-40 students each year, at no cost to the student, in a cohort model with 16-20 students per cohort. The full-time program spans 848 clock hours over approximately 28 weeks and includes a 160-hour externship placement.Students must complete 100% of all required competencies to graduate from the program. This means that each student has successfully achieved 100% of the core achievement curriculum cognitive, psychomotor, and affective competencies taught within the courses. Wraparound services help ensure student success.

Applicants must be Washington state residents, possess a high school diploma or GED, earn minimally acceptable test scores on the educational assessment testing series, complete a successful interview with the school’s admissions panel, and have background clearances that are suitable for employment. We prioritize race equity and aim to help those who are unemployed, under-employed, and transitioning from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds. Before the externship, students must have a physical exam and a TB test and provide proof of immunizations. Some clinical sites have additional requirements, such as drug screening.

Upon completing the program, students can sit for the National Healthcare Association Medical Assistant Certification exam.

Project Name: Lacey Veterans Services Hub

Recipient: City of Lacey

Address: 420 College Street SE Lacey, WA 98503

Amount Requested: $500,000

Project Description and Explanation: Lacey Veterans Service Hub (LVSH) provides a single-entry point service hub for area veterans seeking employment, education, housing, health and nutrition services by working with more than 70 partners and providers. The City’s recent investment addressed physical space constraints the facility experienced with the expansion and addition of service provider. However, additional enhancements are needed to ensure disabled veterans experience fewer barriers to accessing the facility and to improve the LVSH ability to connect veterans with services. Funding would allow the City to install an elevator in the LVSH to ensure disabled veterans are able to access the building. The physical layout of the building today requires the use of stairs to access the Hub. Additionally, funding would allow the City to develop and deploy technology in the LVSH to more efficiently connect veterans and providers, and service more individuals to meet the overwhelming need. Today, staff and volunteers at the LVSH have to manually intake veterans to determine what services they are eligible for which is time intensive.  Additionally, it only allows for intake of one individual at a time which must be done in-person. Funding will allow the LVSH to purchase tablet computers and associated compliant software systems to automate this process and increase efficiencies for staff, service providers, and volunteers, as well as increase ease of service accessibility for veteran applicants that will be able to fill out the form online or in-person.

Project Name: Pedestrian Accessibility Improvements

Recipient: City of Tacoma

Address: Public Works Department, City of Tacoma, 747 Market Street, Rm 520, Tacoma, WA 98402

Amount Requested: $3,900,000

Project Description and Explanation: This Pedestrian Accessibility Improvement Project will construct 400 curb ramps that have been requested by people with disabilities and where there are identified barriers. This project will construct curb ramps at locations where there is no access between streets and sidewalks for people with mobility issues. Locations that lack curb ramps limit access to services and often force people using mobility devices to risk traveling in the street. Requests for curb ramps from people with disabilities is one of our highest priorities since curb ramps help to create an accessible, walkable, and equitable community for all.

This is a scalable project. The funding need is large and any amount will assist with improving public accessibility. The average cost per curb ramp is approximately $10,000. This includes design engineering, construction materials, demolition, traffic and pedestrian management during construction, replanting areas disturbed by construction, and any utility relocates such as drainage structures that keep water from obstructing a curb ramp or traffic and pedestrian signal wiring that may get disturbed during demolition and construction. With funding, these 400 curb ramps can be constructed by the end of 2022.

The 10th District area in Tacoma was the highest need for equitable services to provide access to social services, public transportation, and for pedestrian infrastructure.

This project provides opportunities for people who may otherwise not be able to seek employment. Access to public transportation is often a barrier to employment. People with disabilities are too often faced with incomplete connections between transit and destinations. Curb ramps provide access to bus stops and other modes of transportation for not only community members, but those traveling to Tacoma for employment. This project will reduce barriers to employment. 

Project Name: Homestead Park Redevelopment 

Recipient: City of University Place

Address: 3609 Market Place West, University Place, WA 98466

Amount Requested: $500,000

Project Description and Explanation: With the rezone of the City’s downtown as a regionally designated Urban Center under the State’s Growth Management Act, the City has seen significant new mixed-used, transit-oriented development.  Homestead Park is at the center of this development.  The park is heavily vegetated and, as a result, suffers from a lack of visibility.  The City seeks to address safety concerns raised by the community at large, and of particular concern to residents in nearby apartment buildings.  The proposed improvements also will address the need for a more inviting and usable community gathering location in the center of the City’s most dense neighborhood.

Project Name: Pocket Gopher Conservation Land Purchase

Recipient: City of Yelm

Address:  106 2nd St SE  Yelm, WA 98597 

Amount Requested: $2,000,000

Project Description and Explanation:This project is for purchasing sufficient contiguous lands within the proposed permit area with suitable soils to provide protected habitat for the Pocket Gophers.  The properties would be maintained as a  habitat conservation preserve to provide mitigation for developments within the City that impact Pocket Gophers. Sustainable and smart growth requires an urban option for housing and the provision of goods and services.  A city resident has a significantly lower carbon footprint than a suburban or rural resident.  In the long term, encouraging urbanization is the best way to lower the cost of providing services to our citizens and to lessen the impact on the environment by discouraging sprawl.

Project Name: Nisqually Housing Development Road 

Recipient: Nisqually Indian Tribe

Address: 820 She-Nah-Num Drive S.E. Olympia, WA 98513

Amount Requested: $2,800,000

Project Description and Explanation: The Nisqually Indian Tribe has developed a long-term plan for sustainable community housing development focusing on completion of infrastructure improvements within a 40-acre parcel of tribal trust land specifically dedicated for housing purposes. The new housing site is centrally located on the Nisqually Reservation, and is adjacent to the Tribe’s new Health Clinic, Elder’s Center, and Public Works facilities.  The site will provide space for future development of up to 100 new housing units, including single family and multi-family units, as well as critically needed Elder housing, for low and moderate-income tribal families.  The Tribe has worked with tribal architect Womer and Associates in completing a site plan and cost for the infrastructure work. This work includes water, wastewater, power and communications extensions throughout the site, as well as the actual road engineering and construction. Housing will be developed on the site over the next 3-5 years through a combination of tribal hard dollars, HUD funds, HUD 184 loan guarantee financing, as well as other state and federal housing program sources.

Project Name: Spanaway Transit Center and Bus Rapid Transit Station Completion (at Pacific Avenue/SR 7 BRT route’s southern terminus) 

Recipient: Pierce Transit

Address: 3701 96th St. SW Lakewood, WA 98499

Amount Requested: $3,000,000

Project Description and Explanation: The Spanaway Transit Center will serve a low-income and high-minority area. According to the latest US Census data, 11.3% of Spanaway, Washington, residents are considered to be living in poverty (compared to 9.4% for Pierce County) and 12.1% reported having a disability. The data also show that 18.1% of residents do not speak English as their primary language at home.   In addition, many residents of south Pierce County rely on transit for their sole source of personal transportation. Demographic data from the Remix transit planning software program for  Route 1 show 11.7% of residents have no motor vehicle at home. The minority population along the route is also high; over one-third (35.6%). Pierce Transit believes that Spanaway has been due for a proper transit center facility with passenger parking for many years now, not only for its transit-dependent population, but to enhance the ridership experience and promote transit usage throughout the 14.4-mile Pacific Avenue/SR 7 corridor, once the agency’s inaugural BRT line is open for revenue service in late 2024. With travel times reduced by one-third once BRT 1 opens for revenue service in 2024, the Spanaway Transit Center will support the route by providing better access to amenities and jobs to some of Pierce County’s most economically vulnerable residents. Once this project is complete, equity populations will see greatly improved access to work through frequent and reliable service, plus shorter travel times. The expanded transit center will better serve the 13,900 residents within a 5-minute drive and 4,800 residents within a 15-minute walk from the transit center. Of those households, roughly 14% are living below the poverty level and nearly 60% consist of diverse ethnic and racial compositions. US Census data also reveal a high number of minorities (62%) live within a five-minute drive of the planned transit center. There is a need for this facility based on Puget Sound Regional Council’s 2040 growth projections which estimate a 35% increase in employment and a 23% increase in population in the Spanaway area. In addition, there is a lack of designated parking (162 stalls) within a 15-minute drive, meaning area residents will need to drive 20 minutes or more just to park a car to catch a bus or other high capacity transit mode. This time and distance disincentivizes the use of public transportation. Pierce Transit’s service area in Pierce County, Washington, includes 12 federally recognized Opportunity Zones, which are Census Tracts identified as Low-Income Communities.  Six of those Opportunity Zones are served directly with by the BRT route originating from the Spanaway Transit Center. Four more Opportunity Zones can be easily reached via one transfer to or from another Pierce Transit local bus route. Essential jobs make up about 69% of total employment in the Pierce Transit service area. The design of Pierce Transit’s Stream BRT network aligns with the pattern of essential jobs, meaning transit dependent residents will have access to faster, more frequent and easily accessible stations and routes. Ridership during COVID-19 revealed that boardings are critical in Spanaway, the Lakewood area, and in downtown Tacoma. 

Project Name: Shelton Young Adult Transitional Housing 

Recipient: Shelton Youth Connection (SYC)

Address: 123 South 2nd Street Shelton, WA 98584 

Amount Requested: $500,000

Project Description and Explanation:In September 2019, Shelton Youth Connection (SYC) opened a drop-in center in Shelton, WA for youth and young adults ages 12 to 24 years old. The center is a safe place to connect with supportive services allowing them options to achieve their best possible outcome. The project includes purchasing and renovating at the currently leased location, providing access to 6,000 additional square feet to create 12 transitional housing living spaces for homeless or at-risk of homeless youth and young adults whom they currently serve. Preventing youth homelessness has positive, long term affects for our communities. Shelton Youth Connection believes if we can support and change a minimum of one person’s life a month from homelessness to hopefulness with permanent housing it would be a benefit to taxpayers. 

Project Name: New Water Source to be connected to existing tribal water system.

Recipient: Squaxin Island Tribe

Address: 10 SE Squaxin Lane, Shelton, WA 98584-9200

Amount Requested: $1,800,000

Project Description and Explanation:Funding would go towards a final engineering and construction of connecting a new water source to the Squaxin Island Tribe water system approximately 1.5 miles away. The Squaxin Island Tribe’s current water source is at capacity and diminishing every year.   This water source allows for the Squaxin to maintain and build a thriving economy. This project will reap a great return for the region, providing new jobs while preserving existing jobs for families of surrounding counties.

Project Name: Thurston County Elections Center Expansion  

Recipient: Thurston County Auditor’s Office

Address: 2000 Lakeridge Dr. SW, Olympia, WA 98502

Amount Requested: $250,000

Project Description and Explanation: These funds would be spent to transform a portion of the Thurston County Ballot Processing Center from covered parking to a secure and enclosed election observation area. Elections are the backbone of our democracy. Election observation helps ensure electoral integrity. It also strengthens citizen participation, and foster governmental accountability. Providing the facilities necessary to host partisan and nonpartisan observers and members of the public will allow that to happen in a safe, transparent manner.