For Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, the House Committee on Appropriations announced that it would Community Project Funding (CPF) requests – commonly referred to as earmarks – from Members of Congress, in addition to the standard programmatic and language-based requests that are considered each year for House Appropriations bills. Community Project Funding requests allow Members of Congress to request and designate funding for projects that benefit their own communities and/or districts, as long as the projects adhere to federal regulations and House and Committee eligibility requirements. Each Member was limited to no more than 15 Community Project Funding requests across all eligible Appropriations subcommittees for FY2024 and – as has been the case in previous years – there is no guarantee that any requested projects will be funded. The FY2024 CPF process has a limited scope with combined Community Projects capped at 0.5% of all discretionary spending.
Congresswoman Jacobs submitted the following fifteen (15) FY24 Community Project Funding requests for consideration by the House Committee on Appropriations.
The requests are listed by the subcommittee to which they were submitted and are otherwise listed in alphabetical order.
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
San Diego State University Transmission Electron Microscope
- Recipient: San Diego State University
- Address: 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92128
- Amount Requested: $1,994,647
- Project Description: SDSU is requesting funding for a transmission electron microscope (TEM) to develop the fundamental basis and methods for testing cellular structures. This microscope would allow scientists to observe details as small as individual atoms, giving unprecedented levels of structural information at the highest possible resolution. This has become the predominant tool for structural biology allowing atomic level determination of structure in a native frozen state for membrane protein, large protein complexes, and viruses. SDSU is the only California State University institution in Southern California that offers a TEM inquiry-based course. These courses prepare students to fulfill the region’s critical need for skilled laboratory scientists. The microscope will serve as a training and research tool, filling a void in the pipeline for high paying local electron microscope positions in the private and academic sectors.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
UCSD Wildlife Technology Commons
- Recipient: University of California, San Diego
- Address: 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093
- Amount Requested: $4,700,000
- Project Description: UCSD is requesting funding to bring resources together into a technology commons that can be accessed and used by wildfire technology researchers and innovators, using data and AI as tools for next-generation fire models. Today, even the most sophisticated approaches are reactive and cannot control fire under extreme weather conditions. The CBO estimates that from 2016-2020, fire suppression activities on federal land averaged $2.5 billion annually. The federal government obligated an additional $5 billion annually in that same period for disaster assistance to state and local governments related to wildfire damage. In 2020, the worst fire season yet, fires swept across 10 million acres in California, Oregon, and Washington, killing dozens, destroying 10,000 structures, and causing $16 billion in property damage. Tens of thousands of firefighters risked their lives to fight the fires at a cost of $3.4 billion. Avoiding future wildfire disasters is a time-critical problem that requires practical solutions that build upon science and technology advances to understand fire behavior in our changing climate.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
East County Center for Military and Veteran Reintegration
- Recipient: County of San Diego
- Address: 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego, CA 92101
- Amount Requested: $1,000,000
- Project Description: This proposal seeks to bring a Center for Military and Veteran Reintegration (CMVR) to East County San Diego adjacent to Sharp Grossmont Hospital. East County is home to the largest number of military veterans in our region, with 57,455 veterans spread throughout incorporated cities and rural communities. However, the Second Supervisorial District is the only district without a County-operated Center for Military and Veteran Reintegration. Research shows that individuals exiting the military can experience difficulty and confusion when attempting to identify and navigate the resources they need or desire. This new CMVR would help local veterans smoothly transition from service, serving as one-stop shop and hub for service members, veterans, and their spouses.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
Grantville Safe Parking Program Site
- Recipient: County of San Diego
- Address: 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego, CA 92101
- Amount Requested: $1,140,223
- Project Description: The County of San Diego is requesting funding to build and maintain an overnight Safe Parking site for unhoused individuals living in their vehicles at a County-owned site in the Grantville neighborhood of the City of San Diego. San Diego County has seen a substantial increase in its unhoused population, including those living in vehicles. The Safe Parking Program not only gives these individuals a place to safely stay overnight, it also provides services to navigate them toward permanent housing. The Safe Parking Program is an effective and scalable program that will help alleviate San Diego’s and Southern California’s homelessness and housing crises.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
Junior Achievement of San Diego County Expansion and Renovation
- Recipient: Junior Achievement of San Diego County
- Address: 4756 Mission Gorge Place, San Diego, CA 92120
- Amount Requested: $1,500,000
- Project Description: This proposed project is an expansion and renovation of a Junior Achievement facility to specifically empower underserved communities and school districts with experiential, real world lessons, and mentors around financial wellness, K-12 workforce development, and a connection to representative mentors in the local business community. Funding for this proposed project includes the capital expansion of workforce development initiatives including paid high school internships and career exploration; tangible financial wellness skills including budgeting, access to banking and investing resources; and a direct connection to social capital and future employment. Focused on social mobility, this project helps ensure that young people are equipped with the tangible skills and access to social capital to be economically independent. Project funds will be matched by an existing group of corporate partners, private philanthropy, and impact investors on at least a 1:2 basis.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
Lemon Grove Early Childhood Education Center Bus Fleet Expansion
- Recipient: Lemon Grove School District
- Address: 8025 Lincoln Street, Lemon Grove, CA 91945
- Amount Requested: $658,000
- Project Description: The funding would be used to expand the Lemon Grove Early Childhood Education Center’s bus fleet capabilities, including building EV charging infrastructure. Many families in the Lemon Grove community cannot afford preschool education and often forego this part of their child’s development and education. The Early Childhood Education Center will be a welcome resource for families in a socioeconomically disadvantaged community. Community feedback demonstrates a need for transportation from home to school. Expansion of the LGSD fleet will eliminate that barrier for families and increase enrollment and attendance in school from those earlier years.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
Lemon Grove Early Childhood Education Center Design
- Recipient: Lemon Grove School District
- Address: 8025 Lincoln Street, Lemon Grove, CA 91945
- Amount Requested: $1,439,790
- Project Description: The funding would be used to provide facilities needed to support transitional kindergarten expansion. The Early Childhood Education Center will be designed to meet the specific learning needs of 3-5-year-old children, and will include 16 classrooms, playgrounds, outdoor learning centers, gardens, library, multi-purpose center, administrative offices, drop-off/pick-up loading, parking lot, accessibility upgrades, storm sewer improvements, site preparation, and utility work.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
Lemon Grove Little League Field Renovation
- Recipient: Lemon Grove Little League
- Address: 7701 Nichals Street, Lemon Grove, CA 91945
- Amount Requested: $100,000
- Project Description: The funding would be used to help with the installation of a new retaining wall to shore up land near a newly formed sinkhole, and to install facility lights to enable the field and the League to operate during evening hours.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
Little Saigon Street Beautification Project
- Recipient: Little Saigon Foundation of San Diego
- Address: 4419 Euclid Avenue, Suite 103, San Diego, CA 92115
- Amount Requested: $250,000
- Project Description: The funding would be used to turn land adjacent to pedestrian sidewalks and urban streets – spaces that are underutilized and accumulating trash – into mini-parks, pocket parks, community open spaces, and gathering areas that are practical and useful for the community to use and enjoy while increasing community safety and community vibrancy.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
Miramar College School of Public Safety Renovation
- Recipient: San Diego Community College District
- Address: 3375 Camino del Rio South, San Diego, CA 92108
- Amount Requested: $3,591,500
- Project Description: The funding would be used to help update the aging school building by modernizing teaching, learning, and working spaces. Improved facilities will allow the school to continue instruction to sworn peace officers, and allow them to focus resources on de-escalation and improved trust and partnerships between local law enforcement and the community.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
New San Carlos Library
- Recipient: City of San Diego
- Address: 202 C Street, Floor 11, San Diego, CA 92101
- Amount Requested: $4,000,000
- Project Description: The funding would be used to help build the long-awaited, highly anticipated, new flagship branch for the Navajo community (encapsulating Allied Gardens, Del Cerro, and San Carlos) within the City of San Diego. The new library will have sufficient office space for staff, sufficient restrooms, adequate programming and community meeting spaces, a dedicated children’s or teens area, adequate parking, and necessary infrastructure for technology upgrades and improvements.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
San Diego River Center at Grant Park
- Recipient: The San Diego River Park Foundation
- Address: 4891 Pacific Highway, Suite 114, San Diego, CA 92110
- Amount Requested: $2,000,000
- Project Description:
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
San Diego Safe Parking Program Site Expansion
- Recipient: City of San Diego
- Address: 202 C Street, Floor 11, San Diego, CA 92101
- Amount Requested: $1,200,000
- Project Description: The funding would be used to help construct a 17-acre public neighborhood park, outdoor nature experience facility, and associated support building in a park-deficient community. Once completed, the site will offer free learning experiences for students from traditionally underserved communities to promote equitable access to nature.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
San Diego Community College District Family-Friendly Student Centers
- Recipient: San Diego Community College District
- Address: 3375 Camino del Rio South, San Diego, CA 92108
- Amount Requested: $3,500,000
- Project Description: The funding would be used to create family-friendly study centers within SDCCD, to enable SDCCD to provide access to resources that will support students with family responsibilities. Once completed, the project will also help to foster a sense of community among students with families and provide opportunities for them to connect with other students facing similar challenges.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
University of San Diego Teaching Kitchen
- Recipient: University of San Diego
- Address: 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110
- Amount Requested: $1,313,592
- Project Description: The funding would be used to construct an innovative Teaching Kitchen that will actively support the crucial connection between diet, physical and mental health, and the prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.
- Signed financial disclosure and federal nexus letter
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