Constituent Services

Please note:

• Congressman Tonko CANNOT accept CPF requests for projects outside of NY-20
• All projects must meet relevant statutory and administrative criteria for funding through the grant program under which it is submitted
• A request submitted to Congressman Tonko does NOT guarantee the project will be selected, and the selection of a project for formal submission does NOT guarantee it will be funded by the Appropriations Committee
  
• The Committee will NOT provide cost-share waivers and grantees are legally responsible for meeting the non-federal cost share requirements and all other applicable grant criteria

The posted deadline for submitting project requests to Congressman Tonko was close of business on April 9th, 2021.

More information on the process can be found on the House Appropriations Committee’s page here. Staff may follow up for additional information to support the CPF request such as budget justification, documentation of community support and need, or proof of ability to meet match requirements once an initial request is submitted.

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Eligible Entities & Projects

Only state and local government entities, public institutions, and non-profit entities are eligible to submit and receive funding through CPF. Funding cannot be directed to for-profit entities and will not include waivers for State or local match requirements. While matching funds do not have to be in-hand prior to the request, requesting entities must have a plan to meet such requirements for the project to be viable. Additionally, each submission must be for FY2022 only and cannot include multi-year funding requests. The Committee will only consider projects with demonstrated community support in the form of: letters from local elected officials; press articles highlighting need; support from newspaper editorial boards; mentions on State intended use plans, community development plans, or other publicly available planning documents; resolutions passed by city councils or boards; etc.

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Eligible Accounts by Subcommittee

Descriptions of eligible accounts can be found here.

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration

• Agricultural Research Service, Buildings and Facilities 
• Rural Development, Rural Community Facility Grants 
• Rural Utilities Service, ReConnect Grants

Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS)

• Byrne Justice Assistance Grants 
• COPS Technology and Equipment 
• NOAA – Operations, Research, and Facilities 
• NASA – Safety, Security, and Mission Services

Defense

• Research, Development, Test & Evaluation Army 
• Research, Development, Test & Evaluation Navy 
• Research, Development, Test & Evaluation Air Force 
• Research, Development, Test & Evaluation Space Force 
• Research, Development, Test & Evaluation Defense-Wide

Energy and Water Development

• Corps of Engineers: Investigations 
• Corps of Engineers: Construction 
• Corps of Engineers: Mississippi River and Tributaries  
• Corps of Engineers: Operation and Maintenance 
• Bureau of Reclamation: Water and Related Resources 

Financial Services and General Government (FSGG)

• Small Business Administration, Small Business Initiatives   

Homeland Security

• Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grants  
• Nonprofit Security Grants 
• Emergency Operations Center Grants

Interior and Environment

• Federal land acquisitions through the Land and Water Conservation Fund
• EPA State and Tribal Assistance Grants for certain water infrastructure projects
• Certain State and Private Forestry projects within the U.S. Forest Service

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS)

• Dept. of Labor—Employment and Training Administration—Training and Employment Services 
• HHS —Health Resources and Services Administration
• HHS —Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration—Health Surveillance and Program Support 
• Dept. of Education—Innovation and Improvement 
• Dept. of Education—Higher Education

Military Construction, Veterans Affairs (MilCon/VA)

• Army 
• Navy and Marine Corps 
• Air Force 
• Defense-Wide 
• Army National Guard 
• Air National Guard 
• Army Reserve 
• Navy Reserve 
• Air Force Reserve

Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development (THUD)

• Dept. of Transportation – Local Transportation Priorities 
• Dept. of Transportation – Airport Improvement Program (AIP)  
• Dept. of HUD – Economic Development Initiative (EDI)

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Transparency

The final 10 CPF requests selected and submitted by Congressman Tonko to the Appropriations Committee will be posted on this page.  Members are required to certify that neither they nor their immediate family have a financial interest in the CPF requests made.

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Community Projects Requested

NOTE: The projects are listed alphabetically by project title.

Project Name: City of Mechanicville Water Reliability Project
Recipient: City of Mechanicville
Address: 36 North Main Street, Mechanicville, NY 12218
Amount Requested: $800,000

Project Description and Explanation: The City of Mechanicville proposes to repair and replace several miles of old and undersized water mains to provide safe and reliable public utilities to 5,000 residents and multiple local businesses. The existing cast iron water mains were installed between 1892 and 1928. These aging pipes are susceptible to water main breaks on a weekly basis resulting in regular disruption of water service to the residents since most of the valves are inoperable. The water department is forced to shut down the entire system to repair the water mains. This results in mandatory boil water notices and poor quality of life to residents and businesses who have been severely impacted from the water service. Emergency fire services have also been adversely impacted due to inoperable hydrants, undersized water mains, and regular breaks in the mains. These unpredictable water service disruptions discourage new economic investment in the City and put further stress on existing businesses and residents. The proposed project is based on previous water studies. A water study indicated that the current distribution system experiences frequent water main breaks resulting in low water pressure, high treatment costs, and ineffective fire hydrants. The total project cost is $1,000,000. The City has committed to providing up to 20% of matching funds if this project receives federal funding.

 Signed Disclosure Letter: Click HERE

Project Name: Community Center Project
Recipient: City of Amsterdam
Address: 61 Church Street, Amsterdam, NY 12010
Amount Requested: $2,000,000

Project Description: The requested $2,000,000 will help fund the project and rehabilitate the currently vacant structure into a community service center for residents. The Community Center project will start to revitalize the neighborhood that was forgotten with the construction of the mall in the 1980s and begin to shine a spotlight on the east end as a target area once again. In the 68.58% below poverty target area, community services of any kind are in high demand, but more than that, having the city and community organizations show that there is someone looking out for the neighborhood’s best interest is vital. The project will provide increased activities and visitation to the downtown by expanding community programming and establishing unique neighborhood anchors that attract locals and regional visitors. The project will also provide a variety of uses such as educational programs, art classes, cooking classes, recreation, and organized sporting events.

Signed Disclosure Letter: Click HERE

Project Name: Dental Expansion for the Underserved
Recipient: Schenectady Family Health Services, Inc., D/B/A Hometown Health Centers
Address: 1044 State Street, Schenectady NY 12222
Amount Requested: $750,000

Project Description and Explanation: The dental expansion in Hometown Health Centers' service area will ensure that underserved children and adults have timely access to high-quality dental care. If this project is not completed, the 20th Congressional District will have thousands of people who are unable to receive affordable and accessible dental services. The dental practice at Hometown Health is currently operating at capacity and patients are waiting, on average, two months to see a dentist and three months to see an oral surgeon. As it is, these wait times are less than ideal. Currently, Hometown employs 4.2 hygienists, 4 full-time dentists, 1 part-time dentist, 1 part-time oral surgeon, and 2 dental residents through New York University Langone. The section of the city primarily served by Hometown is a designated Medically Underserved Area (MUA 06211) and a federally designated urban renewal community. Current data (pre-Covid) shows nearly 70% of households citywide are low and moderate income, with 48% as very low income. More than 80% of Hamilton Hill neighborhood residents are low-income, 72% are very low income and 65% live below the poverty level. The target population for Hometown lives in neighborhoods containing the city’s highest percentage of low/moderate income households, very low-income households, and persons who live below the poverty level. Because of the lack of dental providers who accept Medicaid and the limited Medicaid dental benefits, many patients must delay seeking care or don’t pursue oral care at all. This often leads to serious infections and other complications, which although largely preventable, can result in avoidable emergency department visits. With Ellis closing, Hometown Health will experience an even greater demand for these emergency visits. Without providing more access, these patients will go to the emergency department, placing unnecessary strain and cost on the system. Also, because there is no dental staff in the emergency department, their treatment will not solve the underlying dental issue and cost significantly more money for palliative care that could be provided in an outpatient setting. This project would therefore decrease both the hardship of the underserved population and decrease ongoing urgent care/ambulatory costs as well.

Signed Disclosure Letter: Click HERE

Project Name: Extending Access to Reliable Broadband Internet to All of Westerlo, NY
Recipient: Town of Westerlo
Address: 933 County Route 401 Westerlo, NY 12193
Amount Requested: $1,687,500

Project Description and Explanation: The Town of Westerlo in Albany County, New York is a rural community of 3,400 people spread over 50 square miles. In addition to being thinly populated, its terrain is forested and undulating to significantly hilly. All these factors, along with Westerlo's relatively low average household income, result in widespread unavailability of broadband Internet service. COVID-19 has greatly increased the impact that lack of internet has had on households and businesses as school and work for many has become a remote activity. More than ever, internet service has become a necessity to households wherever they are. The aim of this project is to make fiber-provided Internet service available to all households in Westerlo. About 30% of Westerlo is currently served by two fiber-to-home providers. This project will, on a case-by-case basis administered by the government of the Town of Westerlo, financially support extensions of fiber routes along public roads and connections to houses. Fiber-to-home providers face a significant one-time cost per mile of extension of their fiber plants, and so resist serving routes with fewer than 25 houses per mile. By largely offsetting this cost, the project expects to support extension of existing routes to roads with 10 or even fewer houses per mile, and finally to all roads within Westerlo. The project will also partially support the cost of connecting each house along a route, incentivizing fiber providers to extend their routes by increasing the number of houses along each route able to become customers of the fiber service. The Town will work with the two fiber providers to determine which provider will most rapidly and cost-effectively extend along which roads. The result will be an increase of at least 900 households, farms, and businesses with access to fiber-provided Internet service. 

Signed Disclosure Letter: Click HERE

Project Name: Multimodal Station Phase I – Pedestrian Connector and Station Design
Recipient: City of Amsterdam
Address: 61 Church Street, Amsterdam, NY 12010
Amount Requested: $3,000,000

Project Description and Explanation: $3 million will be used for design and engineering of the Pedestrian Connector and the Multimodal Station. This project is phase I of completing the pedestrian connection between two major commercial districts in the city aimed at bolstering the energy of the city and revenues of local businesses through increased pedestrian volumes. The proposed pedestrian connector and multimodal station will bring more opportunity to develop along the waterfront and will greatly benefit the people of the City of Amsterdam and the surrounding region. The entire project will be phased out with design of the Pedestrian Connector and the Multimodal Station being phase I. This task includes further due diligence for the proposed multimodal station site and refinement of the design of the station incorporating the pedestrian connector. This would include topographic site survey, initial consultation with regulatory agencies to advance the regulatory process, advancing the concept plan to preliminary design, and refinement of cost estimates. This task includes the preparation of a generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) that accommodates/supports the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan Amendment and FBC. The GEIS could also include conceptual evaluation of specific physical project impacts including construction of the multimodal center, redevelopment of adjacent site, and/or changes to the transportation system as examples. Which elements to be included will be decided during scoping. The GEIS may also provide a means to establish a fee-in lieu of mitigation program that could contribute to funding a portion of the TOD-wide improvements.

Signed Disclosure Letter: Click HERE

Project Name: Municipal Floating Solar Demonstration Project
Recipient: City of Cohoes
Address: Cohoes City Hall 97 Mohawk Street, Cohoes, NY 12047
Amount Requested: $4,788,000

Project Description and Explanation: The City of Cohoes New York is working to advance the engineering, procurement, and construction of a 3.2MWdc City of Cohoes, NY Municipal Floating Solar demonstration project, owned and operated by the City of Cohoes, to generate 100% of municipal facilities’ energy demand with the additional 40% capacity directed to address economic and environmental justice issues within our community. This project would demonstrate that leveling the playing field by providing grants to municipalities — as an alternative option to current tax credits for private investments — for floating solar installations would incentivize municipalities to invest in their own energy infrastructure in a sustainable way while realizing the full economic benefits of doing so.

Signed Disclosure Letter: Click HERE

Project Name: Next Generation RNA Technology Package
Recipient: University at Albany
Address: 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany NY 12222
Amount Requested: $1,000,000

Project Description and Explanation: The RNA Institute, located in UAlbany’s state-of-the-art Life Sciences Research Building, is the nation's first comprehensive university center dedicated solely to applying the knowledge of ribonucleic acid (RNA) biology, chemistry, and structure to address and achieve solutions to human diseases, further RNA drug discovery, and train the next generation of RNA researchers. RNA is the genetic material that bridges DNA and proteins in all living cells and also carries the genetic information for many viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. RNA can be manipulated to control the function of a cell, build nanostructures, develop treatments for disease, and serve as biomarkers to report on human health. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has shined a bright light on the importance of RNA as both the genetic material behind the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 vaccine. The requested equipment package of an Illumina NextSeq2000 sequencer and Zeiss LSM 980 confocal microscope are critical tools in the battle against SARS-CoV-2 and the recent rise in variants of the virus. The requested equipment represents technologies that have helped revolutionize the study of biology and human health. First, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) has truly changed the study of disease by providing the ability to analyze the continuously changing RNA population of a single cell or population of cells. The Illumina NextSeq2000 Sequencing Platform, with its capacity for 1 billion reads per experiment, provides unparalleled data quality and accuracy at a massive scale. This instrument enables researchers to look for genetic disease variations such as the SARS-CoV-2 variants that The RNA Institute is currently examining across New York. Second, the advanced confocal imaging system enables real-time tracking of RNA and proteins in a cell, organoid, or whole organism, and the observation of molecules in live cells at super-resolution in real-time, letting researchers view how the molecules are affected by mutations, viral infections, and drugs. The system will aid in the design of new drug targets and treatments for many diseases, including COVID-19. Used together, this equipment allows researchers to track and examine RNA at an unprecedented scale and resolution. Critical to this equipment’s utilization against SARS-CoV-2 is the expertise to know when and where to look. A growing body of evidence, including The RNA Institute’s saliva surveillance program, shows that the oral cavity is an important site of viral infection. The Institute is home to numerous experts on oral microbiome, saliva glands, viral infection, computational biology, and SARS-CoV-2 testing. Armed with the requested equipment and informed by the Institute’s dedication to training the next generation of researchers, these experts can seize the opportunity to provide invaluable scientific insight now and far into the future. The requested equipment will advance The RNA Institute’s critical research, aid in the battle against SARS-CoV-2 variants, and support the efforts of hundreds of scientists throughout the region who depend on the Institute for its facilities, expertise, and leadership. With this equipment, we will be able to conduct rapid and effective surveillance and analysis of ongoing variations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome in Upstate New York, which is essential for managing and containing — and ultimately ending — the deadly pandemic. The rapid rise of the B.1.526 New York strain of the virus highlights the need for regional surveillance programs that can detect and counter variants before they can spread. State-of-the-art technology conveniently located at The RNA Institute serves to fuel the region’s R&D community and industry, supporting the work of hundreds of area scientists and academics in addition to public and private partners such as the Center for Comparative Functional Genomics, Gen*NY*Sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics, NYS Department of Health, RPI, and SUNY Upstate Medical. This leads to economic growth for the region, with more jobs and opportunities as businesses and individuals relocate to the Capital Region because of R&D opportunities it offers.

Signed Disclosure Letter: Click HERE

Project Name: Sheriff’s Homeless Improvement Program (SHIP)
Recipient: Albany County Sheriff’s Office
Address: 16 Eagle Street, Albany, NY 12207
Amount Requested: $500,000

Project Description and Explanation: The Sheriff’s Homeless Improvement Program’s (SHIP) function is two-fold; the provision of safe housing for those in immediate need, and the provision of voluntary wraparound services through collaboration with existing community partners to assist program recipients in reducing/overcoming chronic conditions which contribute to homelessness. It is within the identified goal of the SHIP program to offer shelter, food, and care coordination as internal functions, and to work closely with established community partners to ensure that all recipients are offered services that align with their identified needs and goals. Specifically, this program is serving a population with recent history of incarceration and/or individuals for whom traditional shelter placement is not a safe or appropriate option. This objective is supported by a tangible need, as evidenced in our existing community crisis of shelter overcrowding and unsafe conditions due to lack of space and resources. Grant funds will be used to expand the SHIP program from the current 50-bed facility to a 100-bed facility. This expansion will include remodeling of 50 old jail cells into 50 mini housing units for residents, and remodeling of the old jail wing and dayroom space to be less of a correctional space and more of a welcoming residential space. Grant funds will be used to hire four new staff for the new wing of the facility. Funds will also be used to expand the computer room as tele-medicine, tele-psychiatry, and other Zoom-style visits have increased during the coronavirus pandemic. New computers will allow residents to access to vital services throughout the county and surrounding region. Additionally, funds will be used to purchase a transportation van; this van will be used for residents as they need to be transported to and from jobs, apartment viewing, grocery stores, other shopping retailers, and for in-person appointments with county Social Service departments. The space is separate from the jail and has been approved per the New York State Commission of Corrections. There is a solid eight foot masonry wall which is reinforced from floor to ceiling with a locking security door creating a sally port. This door is keyed separately utilizing different locks than that are currently being used in the correctional facility. On the exterior there is no razor wire, there is a separate entrance, residents can walk into the building without restrictions and all signage was installed by SHIP making it clear it is a separate space.

Signed Disclosure Letter: Click HERE

Project Name: Town of Rotterdam Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements Project
Recipient: Town of Rotterdam
Address: 1100 Sunrise Boulevard, Rotterdam, NY 12306
Amount Requested: $960,000

Project Description and Explanation: The existing Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is over 70 years old and several components are past or nearing the end of their useful design life, threatening public health, economic growth, and job creation and retention. In order to bring the aging Wastewater Treatment Plant up to modern standards and ensure continued functionality, the following improvements have been recommended:

• Dewatering improvements, belt press refurbish and conveyors;
• New sludge force main;
• Old tank demolition;
• Asbestos and lead abatement; and
• Grease pump, piping and decant tank.

The total project cost is $1,200,000. On April 14, 2021, the Town Board passed a resolution agreeing to provide up to 20% of matching funds in the amount of $240,000 if this project receives federal funding. By making these improvements, the Rotterdam WWTP will have increased reliability of service with less plant down time. As a result, private sector investors and residential property owners will have greater investment confidence and security in overall public health and safety.

Signed Disclosure Letter: Click HERE

Project Name: Urban Grow Center Expansion
Recipient: Capital Roots
Address: 594 River Street, Troy, NY 12180
Amount Requested: $750,000

Project Description and Explanation: Capital Roots is requesting support for its Urban Grow Center (UGC) expansion. The requested federal funding will be used for construction of a 1.25-acre UGC expansion to advance food access for low-income communities in a time of urgent need and helping to eliminate blight in North Central Troy by attracting additional investments in both residential and commercial properties in proximity to the Urban Grow Center. The expansion project will take a lot that has been vacant for more than 30 years and transform it into a community asset that will extend Capital Roots’ capacity to meet an urgent need while also working to advance equity at the intersection of food access, economic and job development, the environment, and community revitalization.

Signed Disclosure Letter: Click HERE