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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