Mesa Mayor Mark Freeman and some other City Council members want to redirect monies from a federal program benefiting low- and moderate-income people away from social programs to services such as code enforcement and blight removal, economic development and public facility improvements.
The city’s estimated allocation from the Community Development Block Grant program for Fiscal Year 2026-27 is $3.7 million. Staff recently proposed to award $281,000 to four nonprofits, including A New Leaf and Child Crisis Arizona, with most of the funding – $2.3 million – proposed for the city’s emergency housing rehabilitation program.
“One of my focuses now as mayor is to elevate Mesa to the best potential,” Freeman said at the March 23 study session. “I’d just like to step back and look at how these current federal funding recommendations align with city council-stated priorities … particularly around revitalization, code compliance, blight reduction, neighborhood safety.
“I want to see visible change in our neighborhoods, cleaner, safer, more stable communities, and we need to ensure our funding strategy reflects that.”…