AEDC Awards $8.5M in Federal Grant Money to 17 Communities

The Arkansas Economic Development Commission on Friday announced it had awarded $8.5 million in Community Development Block Grants to 17 Arkansas cities and counties.

The funds originate from a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program to support small cities. To be eligible, communities must have a population of fewer than 50,000 and at least 51% of residents benefitting from the project must be of low- to moderate-income. Communities can also meet another of the grant’s national objectives, or use the grant to prevent slum or blight, or to meet an urgent need.

All Arkansas cities and counties are eligible for the grant program except for 14 entitlement cities that receive the funds directly from the federal government.

The 17 grant recipients are:

Columbia County, $500,000, after-school youth center
Dierks, Howard County, $499,743, water system improvements
Dumas, Desha County, $499,935, sewer system improvement
East Camden, Ouachita County, $499,420, sewer system improvements
Garland City, Miller County, $500,000, pond levee improvements
Hope, Hempstead County, $500,000, wastewater system improvements
Jennette, Crittenden County, $500,000, water system improvements
Kensett, White County, $499,750, wastewater treatment plant improvements
Kingsland, Cleveland County, $500,000, pump station improvements and pipe repairs
Lockesburg, Sevier County, $500,000, water tank improvements
Logan County, $485,556, senior center renovations
Lonoke, Lonoke County, $498,874, sewer line rehabilitation
Lonoke County, $500,000, developmentally disabled vocational training facility
Pangburn, White County, $500,000, wastewater collection system rehabilitation
Peach Orchard, Clay County, $498,920, water line rehabilitation
Sparkman, Dallas County, $496,426, wastewater rehabilitation
Van Buren County, $500,000, road improvements

AEDC distributed the funds as part of general assistance fund that includes a $17.8 million grant allocation for fiscal 2023. The fund is designed to provide communities the opportunity to apply for a variety of non-housing public facility and public infrastructure projects.

“When the federal government works right, in coordination with state and local experts, the results can be fantastic,” Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “The Community Development Block Grant program is a great example of state and federal collaboration.”

Since the Community Development Block Grant program’s inception in Arkansas in 1983, more than $900 million has been awarded for 2,390 projects that have benefited more than 5.16 million Arkansans. State funds are utilized for a variety of public facility and public infrastructure projects, including senior centers; childcare centers; public health facilities; youth centers; residential water and wastewater, as well as toward economic development grants incentivizing the location or expansion of jobs in the state.

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