Connecticut Congressman John B. Larson today announced he has helped obtain $10.1 million in federal funds for various Hartford area health, housing, education and infrastructure programs.
The biggest of these is a $3.9 million grant to the state Department of Transportation to develop a proposed rail link between Hartford and Springfield. There is also $800,000 for Hartford’s public safety complex being built on the north edge of downtown.
During a press conference this morning at Hartford City Hall, Larson said the funding for the 17 programs is part of federal spending package for fiscal 2010 that President Obama signed last week.
Larson, a Democrat whose 1st Congressional district includes Hartford, said the latest appropriation brings to more than $100 million the amount of federal recovery act funding directed at Hartford to tide it through the economic downturn.
“Everyone knows a person or family hard hit by our nation’s current economic downturn,” Larson said in a statement. “Strategic funding to address the economic and social perils currently facing our communities is needed now more than ever.”
Programs included in the funding:
–$600,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford for a new site in the SAND Community Center
–$500,000 to the Hartford Housing Authority to renovate the Nelton Court housing project.
–$500,000 to the Governor’s Prevention Partnership for a prevention initiative for at-risk youth.
–$325,000 to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center for cancer and blood-disorder treatment.
–$175,000 to Saint Joseph College for its planned downtown Hartford pharmacy school to open next fall.
–$150,000 to Harriet Beecher Stowe House for archival protection and restoration.
