Congressionally Directed Spending Requests - Fiscal Year 2022
Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) is a new program for Fiscal Year 2022 that enables Members of Congress to request direct funding for projects that benefit the communities they represent. Senator Duckworth worked with an Independent Review Board to examine and evaluate projects focused on building infrastructure, stimulating economic development and providing essential services for Illinois communities. This page will be updated on a rolling basis.
In compliance with Senate Rule XLIV and Committee Requirement, Senator Duckworth has certified that she, her spouse and her immediate family have no financial interest in any of the projects requested below.
Following the Independent Review Board’s examination, Senator Duckworth has requested federal funding for the following Illinois projects:
Recipient Name: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Project Location: Illinois
Amount Requested: $45,100,000
Project Purpose: This project will provide funding for ecosystem restoration and navigation improvements along the Mississippi River. Specifically, it would fund the first Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP) construction on Lock and Dam 25 north of St. Louis. NESP would expand and modernize seven locks at the most congested lock locations along the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) – a critical export outlet for agricultural producers in the Upper Midwest – while supporting restoration of invaluable habitats and ecosystems. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the UMRS provides approximately $1 billion in annual benefits to the Nation’s economy through boating, fishing and other uses.
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies
Recipient Name: Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital
Project Location: Dixon, Illinois
Amount Requested: $334,000
Project Purpose: Upgrade four labor and delivery rooms which have not been updated since 1996. Katherine Shaw Bethea (KSB) Hospital has six obstetric rooms and delivers over 350 babies per year. 40 percent of the population that utilize KSB obstetric services are Medicaid or Medicare recipients.
Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies
Recipient Name: Rush University Medical Center
Project Location: Chicago, Illinois
Amount Requested: $695,970
Project Purpose: The Rush Education and Career Hub (REACH) for Information Technology (IT) program seeks to strengthen the pipeline and readiness of traditionally underrepresented students to fill critical IT roles in the medical and science fields, Federal agencies such as NASA and DoD, and elsewhere.
Financial Services and General Government
Recipient Name: Western Illinois University (WIU)
Project Location: Moline, Illinois
Amount Requested: $400,000
Project Purpose: Establish a small business assistance program at Western Illinois University to help create, support and expand small businesses in west and northwest Illinois.
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies
Recipient Name: City of Alton
Project Location: Alton, Illinois
Amount Requested: $500,000
Project Purpose: Renovate and upgrade surface transportation areas in Alton, IL. This funding would support implementation of Phase 1 of the Alton Great Streets project that seeks to improve downtown to promote economic develop and growth.
Recipient Name: Chicago Transit Authority
Project Location: Chicago, Illinois
Amount Requested: $2,100,000
Project Purpose: To update and modernize the CTA elevator system to increase the accessibility of stations. This funding would support effective and efficient implementation of the CTA’s comprehensive All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP) initiative.
Recipient Name: City of Chicago
Project Location: Chicago, Illinois
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Project Purpose: To rebuild an obsoleted State/Lake loop station in downtown Chicago. This funding would accelerate work to reconstruct and modernize this existing Loop elevated station to help improve safety, mitigate congestion and achieve accessibility.
Recipient Name: Covenant House Illinois
Project Location: Chicago, Illinois
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Project Purpose: To help renovate the Covenant House Facility to expand services for the homeless youth population in Chicago. This funding would support Project Phase III of the renovation of the facility’s second floor to support the transitional housing program for youth and other important initiatives that seek to break the cycle of homelessness.
Recipient Name: McHenry County Division of Transportation
Project Location: Crystal Lake, Illinois
Amount Requested: $10,000,000
Project Purpose: To fund surface transportation improvements and renovations in Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills, Illinois. This funding would support a project seeking to complete the last remaining section of Randall Road and create a uniform 6 lane cross section from Pyott Road to County Line Road. Randall Road is part of the National Highway System (NHS Route) and the most heavily traveled roadway and largest commercial corridor in McHenry County.
Recipient Name: City of Decatur
Project Location: Decatur, Illinois
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Project Purpose: Provide funding to upgrade and renovate the Faries Parkway Interchange project. This grade separation project will eliminate two grade crossings that create delays and safety hazards on a vital corridor. In addition to mitigating congestion, improving freight movement efficiency and enhancing the reliability of Decatur’s Transit System bus routes, the project will also provide greater access to jobs, industrial facilities, intermodal capabilities and educational facilities in the area.
Recipient Name: City of East Saint Louis
Project Location: East Saint Louis, Illinois
Amount Requested: $1,634,000
Project Purpose: To rehabilitate critical surface transportation areas in East Saint Louis, Illinois. This rehabilitation project would improve an essential corridor to connect residents in the area, while improving drainage and mitigating congestion.
Recipient Name: City of East Saint Louis
Project Location: East Saint Louis, Illinois
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Project Purpose: To help fund the development of a senior living facility. This project seeks to achieve a historic renovation of the former Broadview Hotel into a mixed-use affordable housing and commercial development project to provide 109 units of senior living apartments serving households earning between 30 to 50 percent area median income, and with 10 percent of the units set-aside for Veterans.
Recipient Name: Village of Elmwood Park
Project Location: Elmwood Park, IL
Amount Requested: $3,100,000
Project Purpose: To upgrade a critical point of rail and transit crossing in Elmwood, Illinois. This project is primarily required for safety, since this at-grade rail crossing is the widest grade crossing (366 feet) in Illinois and was the site of a November 23, 2005 rush-hour accident that prompted a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation which resulted in a Highway Accident Brief and Safety Recommendation that a grade separation be constructed.
Recipient Name: Randolph County
Project Location: Jackson and Perry Counties, IL
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Project Purpose: The development of a new highway connector project. This funding would support a segment of the Murphysboro-to-Pinckneyville section of the Southwest Illinois Connector Rural Expressway, a project supported by the Four County Highway Coalition in Southwestern Illinois.
Interior, Environment and Related Agencies
Recipient Name: Loyola University Chicago
Project Location: Chicago, Illinois
Amount Requested: $1,014,000
Project Purpose: Help support the creation of an Environmental Toxicology Research Laboratory at Loyola University Chicago’s new School of Environmental Sustainability. The Environmental Toxicology Research Laboratory plans to study emerging environmental contaminants in water bodies of the Chicagoland region, and experimentally test contaminant toxicity on organisms found in the food chain that serve as conduits for passing contaminants up the food web to fish, birds and humans. The finding of this scientific research would help improve environmental justice initiatives to safeguard the public health of disadvantaged communities.
Recipient Name: City of Clinton
Project Location: Clinton, Illinois
Amount Requested: $3,000,000
Project Purpose: To construct a new water tower and water main for the City of Clinton. This funding would support a project to replace the existing water tower that was constructed in the 1930s and past its useful service life. A section of the adjacent water main, which was constructed in 1936, is also subject to frequent failures and under capacity to meet service needs. Recent inspections have found significant structural deterioration that could create potential pathways for external contaminants to enter the tower. The water tower’s deteriorating condition could also lead to catastrophic failure resulting in loss of water to system users and lack of adequate pressure for firefighting.
Recipient Name: City of Harvey
Project Location: Harvey, Illinois
Amount Requested: $4,738,000
Project Purpose: To fund the renovation and update of the water and sewer systems in Harvey, Illinois. This funding would support a project to replace the aging water and sewer system to protect the public health of an underserved community with a high rate of poverty and a relatively low per capita income level. The City of Harvey’s water and sewer systems are highly degraded due to years of neglect and deferred maintenance resulting from a lack of access to financing necessary to implement capital improvements.
Recipient Name: City of Oglesby
Project Location: Oglesby, Illinois
Amount Requested: $682,000
Project Purpose: To replace an outdated water main in Oglesby, Illinois. This funding would support a water main replacement project on North School Avenue from Walnut Street north to Park Street. Upgrading the water main in this area would lower the risk of water main ruptures, which result in closed roads, water contamination and weakened water pressure.
Recipient Name: City of Sesser
Project Location: Sesser, Illinois
Amount Requested: $750,000
Project Purpose: To update and renovate the severely outdated sewer collection system in Sesser, Illinois. This funding would support phase 4 of the City of Sesser’s sanitary sewer collection system improvement project which addresses a vital public health threat. In 2014, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) served notice of an IEPA violation resulting from overflow at the sewage treatment plant causing a health and safety threat to residents.
Recipient Name: Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Project Location: Cook County, Illinois
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Project Purpose: To provide funding to bolster resilience in historically underserved areas in the Chicago metropolitan area through reducing flooding of homes and contamination of the environment from sanitary sewer overflows in four disproportionately impacted municipalities in Illinois. This funding would support a project current in the planning stage that seeks to build resilience in historically underserved areas in the Chicago metropolitan area by reducing flooding of homes and contamination of the environment from sanitary sewer overflows in the communities of Stone Park, Harvey, Riverdale and Dolton. These disproportionately impacted communities are historically underserved areas that have high poverty rates and are communities of color. The project would eliminate sources of infiltration and inflow, which overwhelm the sewer systems.
Recipient Name: Godley Public Water District
Project Location: Custer Park and Will County, Illinois
Amount Requested: $5,000,000
Project Purpose: To provide a reliable source of safe, plentiful and affordable water for people living and working in the Godley Public Water District area. This funding would support an effort supported by the Godley Public Water District and the Kankakee River Planning Area Alliance to provide a reliable source of safe, plentiful and affordable water from the Kankakee River near Custer Park, Illinois. The entities have secured a permit to draw water from the Kankakee River. Currently, residents in the Godley Public Water District area generally rely on shallow wells, which are subject to surface contamination, or deep wells which have high levels of radionuclides as their sources for potable water.
Recipient Name: Hennepin Water District
Project Location: Hennepin, Illinois
Amount Requested: $618,000
Project Purpose: The current water main in the City of Hennepin has a critical leak which leads to hundreds of thousands of gallons of water being wasted every day. Additionally, because of this leak, the town suffers from poor water quality and high costs related to additional strains on equipment and workers. This funding would support a water main replacement project to reduce excessive pumping that is required to make up for water loss, and lower costs in the long-run by lessening the need for repair projects to fix leaks in the main.
Recipient Name: Will County
Project Location: Joliet, Illinois
Amount Requested: $500,000
Project Purpose: Provide funding for upgrading the water and wastewater sanitary system in southeast Joliet. This funding would support a critical infrastructure project that seeks to address needs identified in the Southeast Joliet Sanitary District of Joliet Township, an area that includes the unincorporated census designated place of Preston Heights. This diverse community is underserved, with a poverty rate of 20 percent and a limited tax base that has made it challenging to secure necessary capital to carry out water and sanitary system maintenance projects. The sanitary system already exceeds the maximum capacity for wastewater treatment and poses a public health threat since overflows may lead to sewage flowing into yards, streets or nearby streams, as well as in basement backups in which sewage enters the first floor of a building. This project would also include improvements to deliver safe drinking water service to roughly 700 households.
Recipient Name: Village of Bureau Junction
Project Location: Village of Bureau Junction, Illinois
Amount Requested: $535,000
Project Purpose: To separate the sewer system used by the Village of Bureau Junction. This funding would support a project that addresses the public health and flooding risks associated with the Village of Bureau Junction’s combined sewer system. A combined system creates problems with hydraulic loading of the plant and issues with deposits of solids, particularly sand and gravel, into the lagoon, which also contribute to flooding problems. Combined sewer overflows also significantly wear down lines, making them more prone to breaking – potentially contaminating water bodies with sewage.
Recipient Name: Village of Cedar Point
Project Location: Village of Cedar Point, Illinois
Amount Requested: $335,000
Project Purpose: To upgrade the Village of Cedar Point's wastewater treatment facility. This project is mandated by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. This funding would support improvements to the Village of Cedar Point’s wastewater treatment lagoon to upgrade deteriorating dikes, replace failed valves and dredge accumulated sludge. IEPA is mandating these improvements in a rural, underserved community because the Village of Cedar Point currently has only one source of water.
Recipient Name: St. Clair County
Project Location: Cahokia Heights, Illinois
Amount Requested: $22,000,000
Project Purpose: To renovate the stormwater and wastewater system in Cahokia Heights, Illinois. The unacceptable failing infrastructure results in raw sewage discharges into the roadway ditches in a residential neighborhood and drains to a wetland area, and the lack of an effective stormwater control plan is detrimental to the resolution of the sanitary sewer issue and flooding. This funding would support a project to address this public health threat to local residents.
Recipient Name: Jackson County
Project Location: Murphysboro Illinois
Amount Requested: $9,961,000
Project Purpose: To help fund the construction of a Southern Illinois Emergency Operations Center. This operations facility would be capable of providing training for first responders, emergency management administrators and citizens in the Southern Illinois region. Additionally, it would serve as a shelter for relief organizations, first responders and members of the community during and after disasters. Currently, there is no such facility in the Southern Illinois region.
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
Recipient Name: Shawnee Health Service and Development Corporation
Project Location: Carbondale, IL
Amount Requested: $3,750,000
Project Purpose: To fund the development of a health and community service clinic in Carbondale, IL. Shawnee recently purchased a former nursing home which is contiguous to its current clinical campus on Lewis Lane in Carbondale. This facility has not been occupied for the past 10 years and has become a high-risk area for criminal activity and an unsafe environment in the neighborhood. This project would help improve public safety while expanding services for families.
Recipient Name: Esperanza Health Centers
Project Location: Chicago, IL
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Project Purpose: To fund the expansion of the Esperanza flagship health center in Brighton Park, Chicago, IL. This project would support the community of Brighton Park, which is a U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration-designated Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area and Mental Health Care Health Professional Shortage Area. This expansion would help increase access to primary care, behavioral health services, substance abuse treatment, psychiatry and a host of wellness programming.
Recipient Name: MxD USA (Manufacturing x Digital)
Project Location: Chicago, IL
Amount Requested: $2,171,000
Project Purpose: To fund a workforce development program focused on water security for the Great Lakes region. MxD is home to the U.S. Department of Defense’s National Center for Cybersecurity in Manufacturing. This project would help provide training to develop a water security workforce for water and water-related manufacturing along the I-94 Corridor between Chicago and Milwaukee.
Recipient Name: Gateway Foundation Inc
Project Location: Chicago, IL
Amount Requested: $5,200,000
Project Purpose: To fund the expansion of services of Gateway’s Kedzie Recovery Home (KRH) on the West Side of Chicago. The KRH renovation project would help improve service delivery capabilities at a sobriety-focused, recovery home by enabling the non-profit safety-net provider to address deferred maintenance, facility updates to accommodate individuals with mobility issues and establishing an environment that promotes recovery.
Recipient Name: National Able Network
Project Location: Chicago, IL
Amount Requested: $331,000
Project Purpose: To fund a training and support program for job seekers in Illinois facing a digital divide. This project would help provide a small inventory of laptops with dedicated IT support and training focused on digital skills, using technology for job searches and powering re-skilling opportunities for job seekers. Funds will enable job seekers without internet or computer access at home to conduct their job search more effectively and take part in training to help them find higher paying jobs. This program will enable National Able Network to train up to 100 additional job seekers throughout Illinois every year.
Recipient Name: Safer Foundation
Project Location: Chicago, IL
Amount Requested: $300,000
Project Purpose: To help fund the Safer Transitions program for persons with arrest and conviction records. This program is a TECHEQUITY complementary technology education initiative that seeks to reduce the digital divide to improve education and career options while reducing recidivism.
Recipient Name: Trilogy, Inc
Project Location: Chicago, IL
Amount Requested: $872,000
Project Purpose: To help fund the renovation of the Trilogy integrated care clinic focused on assisting individuals with mental illness. Trilogy’s location in Rogers Park is a Federally Qualified Health Center with an integrated health clinic (managed in partnership with Heartland Health Centers) that allows clients to access psychiatric and medical healthcare, as well as medication, in one location. In recent years, need for services has skyrocketed. Last year, Trilogy served 3,000 people and one-third were new clients, while intake calls doubled. This project would create a new exam and psychiatry space to increase clinic capacity by an estimated 33 percent.
Recipient Name: Pillars Community Health
Project Location: Cook and DuPage Counties, IL
Amount Requested: $345,000
Project Purpose: To fund the expansion of telehealth services at Pillars Community Health Center, which is a U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Federally Qualified Health Center (Community Health Center and Healthcare for the Homeless) and an Illinois-licensed and CARF-accredited Community Mental Health Center and Substance Use Disorder SUPR provider. The cost of technology and regular connectivity can be a barrier to care, as well as lack of secure and confidential living space to engage with a provider. This funding would enable Pillars Community Health to provide more robust telehealth services, promote physical distancing when necessary for the health and safety of patients and staff, reduce barriers to care and offer consistent methods to connect to services for those who prefer and have benefitted from virtual care.
Recipient Name: Northern Illinois University
Project Location: DeKalb, IL
Amount Requested: $577,000
Project Purpose: To fund the postsecondary educational development program of ProPEL. ProPEL is an accelerated pathway for paraprofessionals to obtain a PEL in special education (SE) while remaining part of the incumbent workforce. ProPEL is a one-year SE licensure program designed for working adults. ProPEL will prioritize serving three school districts (Rockford SD 205, School District U46, and Freeport SD 145) with imbalances in teacher and student demographics, high percentages of low-income students and pressing needs for special educators. ProPEL paras would receive full tuition support in exchange for teaching in their home districts for four years after licensure. ProPEL aims to prepare and employ 35 licensed special education teachers with a goal of 50 percent being from diverse backgrounds.
Recipient Name: Monmouth College
Project Location: Monmouth, IL
Amount Requested: $750,000
Project Purpose: To fund a teacher training and education program at Monmouth College. Rural spaces currently face depopulation, social and capital flight as well as the loss of small businesses. They also struggle to recruit and retain teachers of color and secure their concomitant positive influence on student graduation rates and academic success, especially for students of color. Monmouth Colleges REDI (Rural Education Initiatives) program houses three complementary initiatives designed to reverse these challenging trends and revitalize rural communities: a rural teacher corps, a place-based education program focused on local agriculture and civic engagement as well as a nascent collaborative grow-your-own teacher preparation pipeline program with embedded teachers-of-color recruitment and support. This funding would help enable the project to become self-sustaining within one year, providing support for both the initial development of long-term programming and the immediate scaling of existing programming to better serve the region.
Recipient Name: SIU School of Medicine
Project Location: Springfield, IL
Amount Requested: $1,050,000
Project Purpose: To fund a telehealth center at the SIU School of Medicine. This National Telehealth Center for Patient Engagement and Provider Education would educate the public and medical professionals on the use of Telehealth in clinical practices, while providing patients with access to a video library and other support services that help individuals access telehealth services for medical services. The Center will also offer professional development opportunities for medical professionals on how to optimize the use of Telehealth within their practice and clinical settings.
