Learn more about the Lake Worth CRA, Director Joan Oliva, and $23M NSP2 Grant.

Do you remember when former commissioners, Cara Jennings was one, wouldn’t lift a finger to help the CRA acquire a $23 million grant? Continue reading to refresh your memory.

Enjoy the video (below) about the CRA’s NSP2 grant. You’ll recognize more than a few people if you were here in Lake Worth during that time. At one point, if you pay close attention, you’ll see a few campaign yard signs of people you might know, including a current city commissioner. About the video:


“This video is one in a series of case study videos intended for NSP grantees and partners interested in learning about how other grantees are successfully implementing NSP. In Lake Worth, FL, the NSP2 consortium has taken a comprehensive approach in their stabilization efforts. Nonprofits and community leaders featured in this video demonstrate the keys to running their NSP program, including homebuyer counseling, home-purchase assistance, and connecting stabilization with broader economic development and revitalization initiatives such as the Cultural Renaissance Program.”





Now, about all those people who thought the NSP2 was a bad idea. . . like former city commissioners who didn’t make the effort to apply for the grant.

But the CRA did step up and apply for the grant.

Here is an excerpt from this blog:


“Both the City and the CRA were eligible to apply for the funds. Leading up to the grant application’s deadline, it became apparent that the City administration (Susan Stanton was the city manager in September 2009) and the City Commission (which included Cara Jennings, JoAnn Golden, and Susan Mulvehill) had demonstrated no interest in assisting the CRA or applying for the grant money itself. Wanting to make sure Lake Worth didn’t miss out on this opportunity to address slum and blight in a big way the CRA went ahead and made the application itself, without any help from the City Commission at the time.”