Mayor Tom Rowland stands in front of the shops of downtown Cleveland, Tenn.CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will be sending $332,936 to Cleveland this year, the local share of the federal community development block grant.
That’s about how much the city has received each year since 2004 when it became a federally recognized metropolitan area, but Mayor Tom Rowland said the amount still surprised him.
“I didn’t expect it to be that much this year,” he said, noting some other cities have had reductions in their shares of the annual grant.
Since 2004, Cleveland has received more than $3.2 million from the grant.
Rowland said the local grant program’s success is due in part to Teresa Torbett, who writes the city’s grant applications and handles the federally required reporting.