The Select Board approved funding from the Community Development Block Grant program for six social services groups in Wareham during a hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 23. 

The Community Development Block Grant program provides federal funding for assistance of low- or moderate-income individuals, prevention or elimination of slums or blight or an urgent need. 

Wareham qualifies as a "mini-entitlement community" under Massachusetts guidelines, a status which guarantees it a certain amount of money from the program. This is set at $925,000 for Fiscal Year 2024. 

Five groups applied for funds under the "social services" portion of the grant. Up to 20% of Wareham's Community Development Block Grant funding can go to social services. 

Damien's Place Food Pantry requested $60,000, "based on the ever-increasing demand to address food insecurity in the Wareham area," said Executive Director Pauline Lally. 

The Community Youth Empowerment Group requested $35,000. The group runs workshops aimed at providing the youth with knowledge, skills and mentorship, said Select Board Chair Judith Whiteside. 

The Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority, together with the Council on Aging, requested $60,000 to help subsidize transportation for Wareham's seniors. 

Turning Point requested $90,000 for staff expenses and to help support Wareham clients at risk of losing their homes or being evicted. 

The Buzzards Bay Coalition requested $32,250 to support its Waterfront Training Academy, an afterschool program which teaches the youth to sail and swim and has previously enrolled low to moderate income youth. 

The Select Board approved of all the requests for funding, but said not all the requests will be funded in full, as the sum amount requested exceeds the amount of funding Wareham has available for social services through the Community Development Block Grant program. 

A separate social services agency, Evergreen House, requested support from the housing rehabilitation section of the Community Development Block Grant program. 

Peter McCarthy, executive director of Evergreen House, said the program provides shelter and recovery services for the homeless. Recently, the organization lost state funding, as the state required the organization to accept homeless people using substances outside the home, which is against the house's mission, McCarthy said. 

The Select Board approved for the organization to receive funds to help repair its facility.