Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, on Thursday, announced plans to spend $16.5 million on youth programs, housing initiatives and neighborhood economic development.
The initiatives, which will be fleshed out in the coming months, are being funded with $15 million from the city’s fiscal 2024 budget surplus and $1.5 million in unspent neighborhood economic development funds from the administration of former Mayor Luke Bronin, Arulampalam said.
The programs reflect priorities developed from encounters with thousands of residents, Arulampalam said. It also represents a drive to invest in areas outside of the downtown core – where much progress has been made enticing development of apartments, student housing and business development, Arulampalam said.
“We see the growth, we see the opportunity here in our city, but is everybody going to get a share of that opportunity?” Arulampalam said. “Is everyone going to get a share of that growth?”
Of the new funding, $5 million will go toward a “children and youth investment fund,” which might be used to expand childcare options, launch data tools to track child services or pay for children and youth programs.
Another $6.5 million will be targeted at housing programs, which might include first-time homebuyer assistance, housing development or other programs aimed at improving on Hartford’s low home ownership ratio, Arulampalam noted
The remaining $5 million will go toward a neighborhood economic development fund that, Arulampalam said, will likely act in some ways like the “Hart Lift” program launched by his predecessor. That program devoted more than $10 million to subsidizing retrofits of first-floor commercial spaces throughout the city for new retail and restaurant businesses.
Hart Lift supplied grants of up to $150,000 and required a match from building landlords. Inside the downtown, landlords had to match Hart Lift funds 100%. Projects in the neighborhoods required a 50% match.
Arulampalam said his program will be restricted to development outside downtown, and likely offer greater sums with lower matches.
The mayor made his announcement in front of a vacant and boarded up retail building along Park Street in the city’s Frog Hollow neighborhood, not far from his home.
The area’s commercial spaces are roughly 40% vacant and many of the businesses are cell phone stores and vape shops, he said. Arulampalam said he hopes to encourage local shops with lunch counters to expand into sit-down restaurants. He wants neighborhood coffee shops and a return to the economic vibrancy the city’s neighborhood commercial corridors enjoyed 60 years ago.
“We want to build small businesses,” Arulampalam said. “In the same way we made investments in Pratt Street, we are going to create programs that invest in commercial corridors here, upper Albany (Avenue), upper Main Street and the South End.”
