New Federal Funding Bill Excludes Money for Framingham Community Center

FRAMINGHAM - Framingham Mayor Charlie Sisitsky told City Council members on Tuesday, March 18, that previously earmarked funding from the federal level for the creation of a new community center along Union Avenue was not included in a recent federal funding bill for the current fiscal year.

The plan to build a new community center in Framingham has been in the works since the city acquired the former Marian High School property for $3.35 million in September 2023. Local leaders have hoped to develop a site that features amenities like a gym, a pool, and a refurbished 750-seat theater.

Sisitsky said on Tuesday that money that had previously been earmarked for fiscal year 2025 through requests from U.S. Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, as well as U.S. Representative Katherine Clark, for the community center project were not included in the stopgap funding bill that was recently passed by Congress and later signed by President Donald Trump on Saturday, March 15. Money provided through the spending measure is slated to fund the federal government through the end of September.

“(Federal leaders’ offices) asked us to refile the application for those earmarks for the next fiscal year, and we’re working on those now,” Sisitsky explained during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Representative Clark had previously requested $5 million for fiscal year 2025, which runs through September 30, in order to boost the community center project. The request was sent to the House Appropriations Committee last May, as the money was intended to renovate the existing Marian building. Both Senators Markey and Warren had requested $11,000 in FY25 to support ADA compliance and green energy resources at the new center. City officials told The Frame that Framingham had requested about $3 million from Clark's office in order to install ADA-compliant elevators at the new center, but that line item was not included in the recently passed budget.

Sisitsky said that the timeline for the community center’s development is now “certainly” pushed back, since the city was depending on money from the federal level to continue the work. The rest of the money that Framingham has available for the project through the American Rescue Plan Act is currently being used to put in new windows and a new roof at the site, according to the mayor.

“We’re exploring other avenues for funding with a public-private partnership,” Sisitsky continued, “but we’re still going to be working on applying for federal grants and hope that some of them will slip through and we’ll be successful in getting some more money.”

Local officials told The Frame that Framingham will be reapplying for federal funding for FY26 in regards to this project.

Sisitsky added that it will take some time before city officials will know how much more funding is needed to complete the project. He and his administration still need to work with the local Community Center Advisory Committee, along with the project’s architect, to find out how much it will cost to outfit the new community center.