The Program Year 2025 Consolidated Application for the City of Waukegan and Lake County provides grant funding through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) programs. This funding supports programs focused on affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and community and economic development initiatives that benefit low- and moderate-income (LMI) residents.

Application Deadlines and Process: Applications are due by December 16, 2024, at 4:00 PM, with no late submissions allowed. Waukegan applicants must attend a mandatory training workshop held on October 22, 2024, and present to the Stakeholder Participation Panel as part of the evaluation process. Applications should be submitted both physically and electronically. Physical submissions for Waukegan CDBG must include one original with attachments and nine copies without attachments, formatted as single-sided and three-hole punched.

Eligibility and Requirements: Eligible applicants include local government units, public not-for-profit entities, and private not-for-profit entities. For Waukegan CDBG, applicants must have been established for at least one year with demonstrated success in meeting prior goals. Applicants are required to register with the federal System for Award Management (SAM) and obtain a Unique Entity ID (UEI). All applicants must provide a minimum match or leverage, with CDBG programs requiring a 25% match and ESG a 100% match.

Funding Priorities and Scoring: The Consolidated Plan outlines key goals:

Waukegan CDBG Goals: Address housing and homelessness, enhance public services, and create job opportunities through economic development.
CDBG and ESG Goals: Increase affordable housing, improve crisis response for homelessness, and expand LMI service infrastructure.
Applications are scored on multiple criteria, including:

Community Impact and Need: Based on alignment with priority needs and the anticipated impact on LMI communities.
Financial Stability and Leverage: Evaluating whether the organization has stable finances, meets leverage requirements, and sustains the project beyond initial funding.
Outcomes and Performance: Outcome statements must be specific, measurable, and demonstrate client impact. Past performance with similar projects is also assessed.
Project Quality and Sustainability: Assessing program design, staff experience, collaboration efforts, and potential for long-term success.
For more information or assistance, applicants may contact the relevant CDBG or ESG office, with detailed guidelines available on the Lake County website