Chicago Politics

Department of Housing and Urban Development Announcement on Disaster Aid 1.8.25

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Mayor Brandon Johnson attends the Department of Housing and Urban Development Announcement on Disaster Aid.

Transcript

0:01 All right. Good afternoon. Welcome to Chicago. Welcome to the Austin neighborhood. My name is Jim Cunningham. I am the deputy regional administrator for the Great Lakes region of HUD. It is my honor to be here, and on behalf of the Honorable Adrian Todman, head of HUD, welcome to this announcement. I do want to make some quick acknowledgments. The City of Chicago, Mayor Johnson, Cook County President Tony Preckwinkle, and Ted Bergen from the county, I think is, I don't know if Soshi is here, from the Bureau of Economic Development.

0:35 Hi, Soshi. The Town of Cicero, Mayor Larry Dominick, and the staff that are here to represent them. I also want to give a big shout-out to the staff at Austin Town Hall for hosting this event, pulling this together. Thank you so much, Sabrina, wherever you are, and other folks. Thank you so much. It is our pleasure to be here to make this significant announcement. I almost forgot a few folks that I really can't forget, and that's our congressional delegation.

1:10 Without this, it would not be possible. Senator Durbin, I believe Clarice Aldeke is here. Senator Duckworth, Iris Gonzalez, and Representative Danny Davis. Shreita Logan, who will provide remarks. And I also want to recognize Commissioner Castaneda from our Department of Housing in the city of Chicago, whom HUD works closely with to administrate a lot of HUD funding that comes this way. But that's not what we're here to talk about today. We're here to talk about resilience.

1:42 And I am not going to talk about that. I'm going to let our principal deputy assistant secretary talk about that. She comes from a – she's been with HUD. This is her second stint at HUD. She's also familiar with Chicago as a graduate from Northwestern University. Not Illinois, but it's Northwestern University. Congratulations. We're glad to have her. But this is her passion. This is her line of work is disaster recovery, climate change, and how do we recover and build back better. So I am going to turn it over to HUD's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Community Planning and Development,

2:17 Ms. Marion McFadden. Marion, welcome. Thanks so much. I don't want to know how long you were up last night practicing my title. It is definitely one that takes a lot of practice. So thank you, everyone, for being here today. I'm really thrilled that we can be starting off this new year on a high note as we think about your need to do disaster recovery and build the resilience in the region. As Jim suggested, I have been working to improve disaster recovery for many, many years,

2:49 going back to Hurricane Katrina and beyond. There is truly never a time when people need the government more than when their homes and schools and businesses have been wrecked by terrible natural disasters. Folks may be thinking about FEMA as how the federal government shows up for disasters, and they are the first federal agency on the scene. But they're limited in the amount that they can help individual families. And what really makes the difference is when HUD's community development block grant disaster recovery funds come in.

3:22 They are, in fact, the only large federal funding source dedicated to assisting low- and moderate-income people and low- and moderate-income communities. I have seen time and time again that an influx of these dollars make a huge difference in people's lives. They are truly the difference makers for people to be able to financially get back on their feet, for small businesses to reopen or to retool, and for the government to be able to do large and small infrastructure projects. So it is a great program that I'm fortunate to be able to lead.

3:53 Unfortunately, the last couple of years we have not seen disasters letting up over 2023 and 2024. Late last year in 2024, there were already 24 confirmed disaster and weather climate events across the country, 24 of them that caused more than a billion dollars in damage. And the year before in 2023, the Census Bureau estimated that 2.5 million people were displaced from their homes by disasters. And this is not a surprise to you.

4:24 You know from direct experience the impact that disasters have on people's lives. We know that we've seen the loss or damage of homes, people being displaced, disruptions to critical infrastructure systems like electricity, transportation, water supply. And we know that those impacts are distributed unequally across regions, and people who have the lowest incomes tend to feel the impacts the worst. And that's why the Biden-Harris administration committed historic resources to fight the climate crisis,

4:57 going on the offensive so that communities can be prepared for, withstand, and recover from climate disasters and extreme weather hazards. The Biden-Harris administration has led and delivered on the most ambitious climate, conservation, clean energy, and environmental justice agenda in history, including passing the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which are the largest investments in clean energy infrastructure in the nation's history. Those resources have created thousands of new clean energy jobs, lowered energy costs for families, and are going to weatherize our homes, schools, and businesses.

5:37 HUD's CDBG disaster recovery funding plays a key role in helping communities recover equitably. Over time, Congress has given us $100 billion for this kind of disaster recovery assistance. I am pleased to share that HUD is awarding $12 billion in CDBG disaster recovery funding to 47 grantees across 24 states and territories. And I am delighted that the city of Chicago will receive more than $426 million, which is going to go a long way to support recovery and resilience after the 23-24 floods and storms.

6:23 We are also allocating $244 million to Cook County, $96 million to Cicero, and looking downstate, $89 million to St. Clair County. We know as large as these sums are, they're not going to pay for everything, so choices are going to have to be made.

6:53 So the next step for all of these jurisdictions is doing a planning process where everyone's invited to weigh in and shape the priorities of how the funds should be used. This funding is going to help get the communities back on their feet and support the long-term recovery and resilience, support the restoration of infrastructure, housing, economic revitalization, and mitigation in the most impacted and distressed areas. Congress provided this funding to us in late December, really just a few weeks ago,

7:25 and we turned it around immediately because we know you need it. It has been said that these programs can be hard to run. If there's anyone here who remembers the Sandy funding provided, you didn't have Hurricane Sandy impact, but about a decade ago, disaster money came. In the last couple of years, we really did everything we could to strengthen this program and streamline it, cut red tape, and make it quicker to get money out the door.

7:59 So to the jurisdictions receiving the funding, get ready. We've got trainings for you to make this funding even better. And we did that because for the first time, HUD went out and asked the public to weigh in on how we could do a better job administering, right? So as I said, community influence at the local level has always been part of the program, but we never had the ability to go out and ask for public comments. We did. People did not disappoint us. We got more than 700 recommendations for how to strengthen the program.

8:30 It was hard not to take that a little personally. I joke. It was great to get so many ideas for strengthening the program. So we're excited about what you can do with those funds. We're grateful to everyone who took time to write in, and we know that this money is in really good hands. So congratulations to Chicago, Cook County, Cicero, and St. Clair County. Now I'd like to pass the mic to the mayor of the great city of Chicago, Mayor Johnson.

9:09 Thank you to our Deputy Secretary McFadden. I just want you to know, Deputy Secretary, for about an hour, you're going to be one of the most famous persons on the west side of Chicago. So I'm not sure if the alderman is ready to name a street after you, but I'll talk to him. We'll see what we can do. But we're grateful for your attendance and for your leadership. And good afternoon, everyone. Thank you all for being here as we provide an update on the effects of how we're going to support and show up for the residents. on the west side of Chicago who have experienced tremendous pain by climate disasters over 23 and 24.

9:48 As you recall, I don't think I was mayor for more than about six weeks. The 4th of July weekend, 2023, my wife and I were preparing to renew our vows for our 25th wedding anniversary. And as the rain was coming down, we were just getting over all the smoke coming in from Canada. My wife looked at me and said, if the locusts come, brother, you might need to repent. There's a whole lot going on since you got sworn in. And, you know, we received 8 to 12 inches of torrential rain and severe weather that caused flooding in many of our homes right here on the west side of Chicago,

10:22 where my wife and I, of course, are proud westsiders here in the 29th Ward and the Austin community. And Chicago has experienced substantial damage, and that damage, you know, to basements and property was very severe. People were displaced, loss of furniture, furnaces, cars, memories. For neighborhoods that are already deeply impacted by systemic disinvestment, losing modes of transportation and stability in their homes can be even more devastating.

10:57 And so while the city of Chicago cannot replace many of those precious items that were lost, we went right to work, though, in partnership with Cook County and the state of Illinois to provide relief to our residents and to mitigate the impact of this disaster. And I will say that Alders, Talia Faro, and Mitz went to work right away. I didn't realize how many people had my phone number, by the way. You know, people sending me pictures of their basements flooding and, you know,

11:29 reminding me that they voted for me. But people went to work right away because it was not just the damage to property, but to memories. And there are some examples in the days that follow the flood. We made sure that the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation and Department of Transportation collected over 2,000 tons of storm damage and debris and responded to over 1,800 tree emergencies citywide. Our Office of Emergency Management and Communications and the Water Department

12:00 delivered over 1,400 Salvation Army and American Red Cross flood emergency kits. But most importantly, we declared the issue a federal disaster, and President Biden's administration, along with FEMA, responded, providing more than $172 million in federal funding to assist with home repairs, low-cost loans, and other recovery efforts. Both the president, administration, and FEMA were very instrumental in providing these funds to the people on the west side of Chicago.

12:36 But there are residents who still need support and recovery. There are people who still need help. You know, the one thing about representing the city of Chicago is I'm grateful to grow up in the type of home that I grew up in. You know, as we were preparing to help families recover, and as much as we were able to do, there was still more work to be done. It reminded me of what it was like cleaning up on Saturday mornings, and you thought you were done, and your mother looked at you and said, that's a good start. Well, that's what everybody on the west side said.

13:07 $172 million, Mr. Mayor, that's a good start. The truth of the matter is that while my administration and the Department of Housing secured an additional $5 million for flood resistance repair program last year, we know that there is still more work to be done. And now I am thrilled that the federal government is providing further disaster relief to Chicagoans. When we fight, you all, and we stand together, and we have an administration like the Biden-Harris administration that believes in working people, we can win when we fight together.

13:41 So this $12 billion investment that dedicates $426 million to the city of Chicago will help homeowners on the west side whose homes suffer significant damage from severe weather disasters, including the flooding July 23, September 23, and storms in July of 24. These funds will help us replace the damage to many people's homes, strengthen our infrastructure and support economic revitalization, as well as implement disaster mitigation measures. As we look ahead, my administration will continue to address the effects of climate change.

14:16 You all, listen, the earth is speaking to us loud. for those who are still in denial. of the climate change that is occurring look no further than the west side of the city of Chicago to know that climate change is real, and so that's why we are going to continue to directly invest in people and in neighborhoods and ensure that we have policies that secure a brighter future for the people of this beloved city. Let us be clear, again, the torrential rains were a symptom of climate change, which we know adversely affects our communities, particularly on the south

14:48 and west sides. And answering that challenge head-on with collaboration will ensure that our residents are able to fully recover from the negative effects of climate change while also reaching to a brighter, more resilient future. And again, I'm deeply grateful to the federal government and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for recognizing our continued work and our need to provide these critical resources to Chicago. I'm also grateful for the continued efforts of our city departments who remain involved in this effort. And finally, I do want to thank the county of Cook, the state of Illinois, and all of our community partners that have taken on this issue head on.

15:24 I see y'all in orange. We need greater neighborhoods, and greater neighborhoods are here. Look, lastly, I cannot express – I'm sorry for going on long, but I live around the corner, so when I'm done, I'm at home already. So I really can't express, you know, my deep gratitude, of course, for our congressional delegation, another true West Sider, Congressman Danny Davis, you know, who heard our plea.

15:59 But really to the representation locally, the toughest job in America is the job of an alder person. I know this to be sure. That's why I didn't run for alderman. But to Alderman Talia Farrell and to Alderman Emma Mitz, thank you both for your champion and your leadership. That matters. And so the full force of government will continue to take bold action to support our residents to build a better, stronger, safer Chicago. I'm grateful to Commissioner Constaneda.

16:31 Deputy Mayor Lori Lipson is here, and to my chief operations officer, both of Operation Officer and Lori Lipson. Our southsiders, I gave them a pass today so they can make it into the west side. Thank you both for being here. But, again, a better, stronger, safer Chicago is possible because we have people who love our city and who are clear that our representation and the needs that we have, they matter. And so with that, thank you to HUD for delivering to Chicago, and we look forward to cashing that check.

17:03 Thank you all. God bless you. Thank you, Mayor Johnson, for those great words. and we appreciate the partnership that we have. And before I introduce our next speaker, I do also want to take some privilege to introduce for the people that are getting almost a half a billion dollars, over a half a billion dollars, our HUD staff that you'll become intertwined with, our CPD director, Don Kathan, and his staff, and our field office director, Ms. Kimberly Dana, for the state of Illinois.

17:37 So we also have a DR staff under Marianne's team that we'll be coordinating, but we expect to be attached to the HIPP to get this money spent. So next, Marion announced a grant to Cook County, so I want to introduce Ted Berger, the Executive Director of the Emergency Management and Regional Security of Cook County. Ted? Good afternoon. My name is Ted Berger, and I do serve as the Executive Director for the Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security.

18:13 we support Cook County's 134 suburban municipalities before, during, and after a disaster occurs. On behalf of Cook County Board President Tony Preckwinkle, who is in Springfield today, I'd like to extend my sincere thanks to President Biden and our colleagues from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for these critical grant funds. I'd also like to extend my thanks to the Illinois Congressional Delegation for their continued support throughout these disasters.

18:47 I'm grateful for Mayor Johnson and Cicero Town President Dominic and their teams for the dedicated work and partnership with Cook County. And also, I'm incredibly grateful and do wish to express my sincere appreciation to Cook County Commissioner Aguilar and Cook County Commissioner Stamps. Their tireless advocacy in support of their residents is essential in this process, and we are grateful. I would also like to recognize the enormous contributions of all our suburban municipal partners, whose commitment to their residents in a time of significant need is also essential.

19:28 Before 2023, Cook County had not received a major disaster declaration for severe weather in over 10 years. And yet, in the last 18 months, Cook County has experienced three. This illustrates how a changing climate truly impacts the lives of our residents, and it also demonstrates the genuine need to make investments and build infrastructure that leads to resiliency in our communities. In the immediate days, weeks, and months since each of these three disasters struck Cook County,

20:04 Cook County government has worked closely with these impacted communities, with the municipal leadership, alongside state and federal partners. When the water has receded and homes are being made safe again, we turn our attention to the difficult but necessary work of long-term recovery. Our commitment is to make the investments that mitigate disaster impacts into the future. Project by project, that work starts today. I'm joined here today by many Cook County colleagues,

20:38 and specifically our Cook County Bureau of Economic Development Bureau Chief, Sochi Flores. Sochi and her team have overseen previous community development block grant disaster recovery grant dollars from severe flooding our communities experienced in 2013. Those grant dollars have unlocked the ability for the county to invest directly in affordable, flood-resistant housing, stormwater infrastructure, and flood mitigation projects.

21:14 Just this past October 31st, the county was proud to participate in a ribbon-cutting for the completion of a phase of stormwater management infrastructure improvements in South Suburban Robins. And in December of 2023, the county celebrated the completion of another stormwater management project in Calumet Park. This essential grant funding for disaster recovery, the county has also supported numerous other projects across the entire scope of Cook County,

21:44 including Addison Creek Reservoir, which benefits many of our western suburbs. That project was unveiled in August of 2023. These are just a few of the projects the county has supported. And today, Cook County, the announcement that we are receiving $244 million in grant funds in this latest award, our Bureau of Economic Development is ready to go in supporting the management of these funds. The scale of this investment will be transformational in helping safeguard our communities against future disasters.

22:23 Cook County will be here each step of the way as we share a commitment and an obligation to help communities recover. The grant announced today will make a meaningful contribution to building a safer and more resilient Cook County. Thank you. It is also my honor to introduce an outstanding partner throughout this disaster process that we've experienced in the last 18 months. We're joined here today by several colleagues from the town of Cicero,

22:55 and it's my honor to introduce town clerk, the Honorable Maria Punzo Arias. Good afternoon, everyone. As Ted mentioned, my name is Maria Punzo Arias. I'm the town clerk for the town of Cicero, and I am representing President Larry Dominick here today, along with the colleagues on the board. We are extremely thankful for this funding opportunity, and we want to thank the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,

23:27 along with all the special dignitaries mentioned earlier at both the federal and state level. Mayor Johnson, thank you for working along with the town of Cicero. As we know, these storms impacted many residents. As elected officials, many of you are here. We heard. We were there. Many of us went door to door to survey some of the damage, to listen to their questions.

23:58 And I want to make it very clear that since day one, President Larry Dominick appointed a team of people to represent and who worked very closely with Ted Berger, with all the FEMA. But without them, I don't know what the ton of sister would have done. So, again, kudos to you, Mr. Berger, and to all your staff. I want to thank Tom Thompson from our HUD department. Lito Minetti, who is here present, he's the director of the water department. Derek Dominick, Public Works.

24:30 David Duran with the water department as well. Everyone worked together as a team, and we began to work for our residents. And so you do not know how extremely happy this makes the town of Cicero. This $96 million will make sure that it gets put to good use. And, again, we're very grateful for this funding. I also don't want to leave out my colleagues on the board. Town collector Fran Reitz is here.

25:01 And Trustee Garcia is here for the town of Cicero. And our town assessor, Emo Kundar, is here, too. So I want to thank everyone. And like we say, when we work together, we do more things than we accomplish more things. Oh, I believe Blanca Vargas is here, too. She's our town trustee. So to everyone, we look forward. On behalf of the town of Cicero, President Larry Dominick, we want to thank everyone that was involved in this. We want to thank them from the bottom of our heart. And let's continue working together as a team, because I'm pretty sure these last storms are not going to be the last ones.

25:33 I'm pretty sure. Come spring, let's keep our fingers crossed. Hopefully no more disasters. but I'm just delighted to be able to have contacts that we can reach out and work together as a team. So, again, Mayor Johnson, I look forward to meeting with you in your office one day. So I know that you make yourself available, and I'm going to keep you to your – Okay, that's perfect. I got you. All right. So, again, thank you on behalf of Town President Larry Dominick.

26:07 Next with us, I believe the next speaker is Tom Tomshin. He's the director of the HUD for the Town of Cicero. Thank you, everybody. Mayor Johnson, she doesn't have her phone number. I'm still speechless after finding out yesterday the direct allocation the town of Cicero is going to be receiving on this grant. But on the way over here, I was thinking about those storms on July 3rd and the aftermath touring the town with representatives from FEMA.

26:42 And you see FEMA on TV. There's usually houses knocked down. The roof is gone. There's debris absolutely everywhere. We would walk down our blocks, and you didn't see it until you got to the alley. In the alley, you saw the people's memories destroyed, their furniture destroyed. You heard young couples just starting out crying, lost everything, not knowing what to do. And it was just so humbling, the support we received to get those people back on the right track,

27:14 a step in the right direction with the assistance we had from FEMA. And I'm here today to say that the people that have lost trust in government, stop. Government works. This is proof positive that government works. I'm looking forward to working closely with HUD Region 5, Don and his staff. You have amazing staff in your office. After the flood, Sarah Champy was calling us, I think, regularly every week. Do you need anything?

27:44 I think if I would have asked, she would have came with a shovel to help us clean. You're blessed to have such an amazing staff, and I'm looking forward to working with them. On behalf of Larry Dominick and the town of Cicero, we're also hopeful to work closely with the city of Chicago and the county of Cook to try to solve this problem regionally. We've been saying over and over again this is not just a Cicero problem. This is a regional problem. We all have a shared combined sewer system. These torrential rainfalls are happening more and more. We've got to figure out a way to prevent it from happening in the future.

28:17 And this $96 million should go a long way in that right direction for our communities. Thank you all very much. And again, this allocation would not be possible without an allocation, an appropriation from our members of Congress. So here representing Representative Danny Davis is Sherita Logan, my good friend. Sherita.

28:48 Well, good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon. My name is Sherita Logan. I serve as the district director for the Office of Congressman Davis, 7th District of Illinois. The congressman could not be here with us today because Congress is in session, and he is there doing the people's work. However, I am proud to be here on his behalf with Mayor Brandon Johnson, West Side, City of Chicago.

29:25 City of Chicago. We had to take that blood. Our partners from U.S. Housing, Urban, and Development, HUD, Jim, we want to thank you for keeping the community connected. And, Kimberly, all of your tirelessly work for helping to keep us connected with what's going on downtown with HUD and abroad. We're proud to stand here to announce the funding and celebrate the $426 million for the disaster,

29:58 help to the city of Chicago and the other resources that are going to the other necessary townships and communities regarding these past floods. There was one case in particular, and our office was open. We had just come down and settled, it looked like, from COVID and began to get on track, and then came the rain. And the emotion from the public was more than all-time high. I handled the FEMA cases,

30:29 and we were doing all we could to publish the information, talk to FEMA every day. Thank the Lord for our aldermen, Emmer Mitz, Alderman Teller-Farrell. Emmer Mitz's office became a workshop. And when you're processing the lives of people, it's hard to put a word on it. But we had a senior, and in the flood, through the process, she had lost her medicine.

31:00 She had lost her medicine. And she didn't know what she was going to do, how she was going to repair her home. She didn't understand how to use a computer. She didn't feel comfortable and successful with the telephone. And so we called partners to jump in to help her get what she needed to get done. So not only was it our roofs, our basements, our items, our cars, our clothes, our fixtures, her medicine,

31:36 and that was particularly disheartening for me to figure out how to replace that when she was not able to get it. But the congressman wanted to convey his heartfelt thanks for everyone who helped work on this initiative to the Biden-Harris campaign. I'm sorry, for the Biden-Harris administration. This is still in my mind, still in my mind. Administration, but we were waiting for that letter of declaration from the governor.

32:11 And once we got that letter from Governor Prisker, we were pushing and calling, pushing and calling, and the congressman was fortunate enough to be on stage with President Biden and said, hey, we need some money in Illinois. And two days later, the declaration was signed. Just on this past Sunday, we met with a group who represented 200 families who were still in need of help. Here's help.

32:42 I understand there are still 400 families here in this area who need some emergency dollars. Here is the help. We want to thank everybody for coming together and for working together. It's nothing like a crisis to bring you together. Nothing like a crisis to bring you together. And so we will continue to work together. We will continue to advocate. The congressman will continue to work with his partners. And this is what you get when Democrats are in office.

33:23 No comment. Thanks, Gerita. And last but not least, Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar, who represents this district. Commissioner Aguilar. Thank you very much, Mayor Johnson. Ted, I want to apologize for calling you at 5 o'clock in the morning on July 2nd. So I don't know if I couldn't confirm my house. Anyway, I just want to thank HUD administration. I want to, you know, my former colleagues at the Town of Cicero, Board of Trustees, and Larry Dominick, you know, this is going to come very handy.

33:53 People are still devastated. They're still recovering. And this has been a bit of a fresh air. So thank you very much, you know, for your support. I'm pretty sure to make a lot of people be relieved. So, again, thank you again for being here. Congressman Davis, I also want to mention Congress Chui Garcia also helped out in making sure that we are on the west side and suburbans are taken care of. So thank you. Now the fun part. Marion, you want to come up?

34:26 So we're giving out money, so we have to show and demonstrate that the federal government is true to its word, and we are happy to present first to the – I shouldn't know the amount – to the city of Chicago, a check in the amount of $426,608,000. Mayor Johnson? We'll actually do photos at the end. We'll do these check presentations, do some questions.

34:58 And then we'll do questions or photos. Okay. Next, Ted, if you can come up. Commissioner Aguilar. Aguilar, sorry. Check for Cook County in the amount of $244,162,000.

35:28 Chicago's in Cook County, too, so let me stand. And if the Cicero folks can come up, and this may be the rest of the crowd, but to the town of Cicero, the amount of $96,004,000.

36:47 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, I'm bringing it to the board later. We're going to take a photo with you. Yes. Okay. Do you want to do that now, or do you want to do questions? No, no. Okay. We're going to do a couple more pictures before questions. Do you want the HUD folks in there? Yes, please.

38:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. We will do some more photos after this, but right now we will. Nicole, who is facilitating questions? Am I? I can do it. Okay. Questions? Can everyone hear me? I'm holding the mic. We just ask that you state your name and your outlet and then pass the mic to the person next to you. I would like to yield. My name is Virgil Crawford. I'm with the Westside Long-Term Recovery Group, and I'd like to yield to Ms. Jackie Reed.

38:44 I would just like to say that what you may not know, because most of you are government officials, is that one of the first responders in the community are neighbors. So we are the good neighbors. And I'm going to ask those people who have been affected and the good neighbors, help you to stand up, please.

39:16 And I just want to say that on the day of the flood, before the mold got in, Good neighbors were out there in these people's homes. They were helping the old people who didn't have help to take the mattresses out of their homes because they didn't have a place to sleep. I just have to acknowledge our good neighbors on the west side of Chicago, and I want to thank them. And I also want to thank all of the Nix and all of the material referral who's always been there to help us. They are good neighbors as well, and I thank the mayor.

39:49 You know, the mayor has made himself very accessible to us. It's good to have a neighbor who is also mayor. So I just want to thank everybody. I want to thank all of you. And, you know, we want to be continuing to work with you. We have been able to raise some money before we had FEMA's money. We got money. I want to acknowledge Elsa. That's the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. They gave us our first dollars, $50,000. Willie Wilson gave us $25,000. And our own neighborhood church gave us $10,000.

40:19 That was the money that we spent to buy supplies, help folks to get stuff out their houses, help people to get beds back in their houses before the FEMA people could get out there. So we always got to have community people involved in our community. And whether you know it or not, community people are the authority. What needs to happen here? Everyone, can everyone hear me great? We're going to start with the Sun Times. Thank you. I want to welcome Mario sometimes. I'm just wondering if there are any updated figures on extent of damages from these floods in the areas that will receive this money.

40:59 You know, how many homes were affected, things like that at this time. Commissioner Constanato will respond. I don't have figures on the damages. I'm sure we could get that to you through OEMC, specifically the city of Chicago through Mayor Johnson's administration, put aside $5 million for the Flood Assistance Relief Program,

41:30 and we are working through a list of helping about 200 families for that. Hi, guys. Christine Flores with WGN. So, okay, so the average person that's watching at home tonight, whether they live in the Austin neighborhood, Cicero, what do they do? What's the next step? Most important thing that people who are impacted by this should know is your jurisdictions are going to come out and do an unmet needs assessment.

42:04 They're going to figure out what are those needs that are still remaining after people have had other kinds of assistance from community groups, from FEMA, maybe you had homeowners who had some insurance. They're going to do that assessment and come up with a draft plan. And when they have the draft plan, they have at least one community meeting. They let you look at the plan, and you get to provide feedback. So stay engaged with the localities that are receiving this money and make sure that they know what your need is. Did you have a question? Yes.

42:34 Wait. Only from members of the press. I'm sorry, we're not taking questions from just people in community. So we'll just add that on the city of Chicago, again, we have the flood assistance relief program. And so, again, we will do an unmet needs assessment, figure out what else needs to happen. In addition to that, as it is $426 million, I know that the departments under the direction of the mayor will be able to work together to figure out what other needs, including infrastructure and other needs in economic development, we can meet with this money. Thank you so much. That concludes the press portion of this.

43:07 Thank you all for coming, and congratulations to the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the Town of Cicero. We look forward to working with you. And if we want, I'm sure there's some pictures, we will do that at this time. Thank you, Mayor. Neighbor.

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