TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) is awarding $3.25 million to five Gainesville area communities to improve housing, streetscapes, and water and sewer projects in those areas.

In total, DEO is awarding more than $21 million to 32 communities across the state with Small Cities Community Development Block Grants, which assist with economic development, housing rehabilitation, and neighborhood and commercial revitalization. 

DEO Executive Director Jesse Panuccio said, “DEO is committed to helping communities in the Gainesville area prosper. These grants will improve local infrastructure, which is a critical building block for strong communities and economic development.”

The following projects in the Gainesville area are recipients of the block grants:

• Town of Yankeetown: $600,000 to provide cold weather upgrades to the town's potable water treatment plant and water line replacement activities.
• City of Trenton: $650,000 to provide rehabilitation to the city's sewer collection system in several low-income neighborhoods.
• City of Hawthorne: $650,000 to install 7,300 linear feet of replacement potable water lines in the neighborhoods that are currently connected to the city's sewage treatment plant and to provide improvements at the city's water treatment plant.
• Dixie County: $750,000 to provide 23,579 linear feet of street improvements in the unincorporated area of the county.
• Town of Lacrosse: $600,000 to assist residents throughout the incorporated town limits with necessary housing repairs through construction repairs, renovation of existing housing units, demolition or replacement, and temporary relocation of the entire housing unit.

For more information about the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program and details on how to apply, visit www.floridajobs.org/smallcitiescdbg.