PITTSFIELD — When the community center team of Pittsfield’s comprehensive planning committee polled voters regarding support for such a center, their response was clear: yes, they wanted a community center, and yes, they would use a community center, but no, they didn’t want their tax dollars to fund the project.

The team also polled area businesses to see what level of support they would offer the project. Their response was also clear: yes, we will support it, but we will not build it — find alternative funding.

The committee became disillusioned. “We could use some optimism right now,” said team member Lenny Macdaid at the group’s meeting Monday night.

And optimism arrived in the form of newly hired Pittsfield economic director Sylvia Hudson. “I’m very hopeful that through a variety of grants from different sources, we won’t have to use tax dollars,” Hudson told the group.

Hudson explained that since the center will be used for a variety of purposes — Head Start, elder care, adult education — grants can individually be obtained for those purposes. But the big news was that the center would likely qualify for Community Development Block Grant funds, which will become available on a competitive basis next May.

The team had previously thought the center would not qualify for CDBG funding because Pittsfield did not meet the low-income criteria. But Hudson explained that since the town is considered a “service center town,” which provides services and fills the needs of several surrounding communities, that would be the qualifying factor.

Hudson said that because the proposed site for the center is in a blighted area adjacent to Manson Park, grant funds are likely to be available based on the impact such a facility would have on the park.

Through research, Hudson has discovered that the park was created by Frederick Olmstead, a world-famous landscaper who also created Central Park in New York and Acadia National Park. The Olmstead Foundation also offers a variety of grants, she said.

“This will not necessarily be easy,” said Hudson. “We will have to try to beg, borrow and steal from all these different resources. But it could come together.”

Members of the team said if a large amount of money could be used as seed money, the business community and private residents would step forward with donations.