|
|
|
|
CADC receives $13 million |
|
|
Monday, 21 September 2009 |
The Central Arkansas Development Council plans to use a $13.7 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to boost the economy in 12 Arkansas counties including Saline.
“With all the stimulus money we are getting, we are going doing a number of things to help financially struggling people in the 12 counties we serve,” Central Arkansas Development Council Executive Director Larry Cogburn said. “But we will only be able to help while the money is available. Once the money is gone, some of the things we plan to do will be gone, unless there is new legislation and more funding sent to us.”
CADC will receive $2.9 million for their public transportation program, $7.2 million for the weatherization program, nearly $500 for the nutrition program. Through the Community Service Block Grant CADC will also receive $3.6 million and numerous frozen foods (chicken, turkey and ham) for their commodities food distribution program.
Cogburn said the money will be spread out between the following counties: Calhoun, Clark, Columbia, Dallas, Hot Spring, Lonoke, Montgomery, Ouachita, Pike, Pulaski, Saline and Union.
Cogburn said CADC will be able to provide communities with is new jobs. He said the CSBG funds will allow CADC to hire 49 people throughout the 12 counties. However, Cogburn said those jobs are only temporary as the CSBG funding will end on Sept. 30, 2010.
“We’ll hire them full-time, but with the knowledge that there employment will end when the funding ends,” he said. “When that $7.2 million is spent, it is over and I think that will effect the economy (negatively) when the money is gone and the jobs are lost.”
Cogburn said while the agency is gracious for receiving the ARRA funds, the process has been complicated.
“This is the first time we have ever received any stimulus money and we want to take care of as many people as we can,” he said. “There are a lot of strings attached with the funds though and the rules have changed several times on what we can do, how we can do it and when we can send in our plans. And still things are changing. The regulations are changing as we go and clarifications are being issued. The worst part is that we don’t know who is doing [the changes]. It makes things a little difficult.”
Robin Freeman, CADC planning and development coordinator, said the opportunities the non-profit agency will be able to provide to residents in Central and South Arkansas will still impact people positively. If ever there is a year to help people in Arkansas, it is this year, she said.
“With our current economy, we are seeing more and more people in need and we are definitely reach a lot more people than in years past,” she said. “There are so many people out of jobs and suffering. With the stimulus money we will be able to do a few things to help expand our services and we are looking forward to reviving the local economy, help people find jobs and overall help our community. We are looking at how we can even expand our scope to help the greatest number of people in Arkansas.”
Cogburn said $2.9 million for the transportation program will be mostly be spent on new vehicles, maintenance on current vehicles, computer systems and software and cameras — for all the counties with the transportation program.
The weatherization program will spend the $7.2 million within three years for 1,053 homes in Central and South Arkansas counties. Cogburn said the weatherization program, just like all the other programs, have income guidelines and other stipulations to enter the program.
“I don’t want to discourage anyone of the programs,” he said. “As I said earlier, we want to help as many people as we can, but that is the truth of the matter.”
Cogburn said staff of the HeadStart program will be allowed salary increases on a limited basis.
After 49 people are hired on a year basis, what is left over of the $3.6 million in CSBG funds will be spent on training programs for the new staff, computer systems, upgrades on infrastructures “as much as possible” and they have budgeted 72 additional Single Parent Scholarships. Cogburn said they also want to have service days in rural areas to “expand our work with community groups to expand their services to low income families.”
Overall, Cogburn said the agency is dedicated to improving the quality of life and building strong communities in Arkansas. He said every family, child and community has a right to the basic opportunities that lead to success. Within the past year, Cogburn said the number of people financially finding themselves around the poverty level has continuously expanded.
“We are finding that a lot of people are eligible for this programs that were never eligible before,” he said. “It makes a difference in how we approach things now. One of the biggest challenges is placing people in certain jobs. White-collar workers are easy to hire in spots, but there are only so many jobs for blue-collar workers, but both are important to us. We’ll find them a job here though doing productive work and will also give them benefits (except retirement). We’ll also provide them training and what they do with it after the job ends, is up to them.”
Cogburn added, “What we are mainly trying to do is provide jobs and stimulate the economy. The rest of the ARRA funds is to make the agency better and serve our communities more efficiently.
|
|
|
|
Razorbacks
