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SOMERSET- The city of Stanford has been awarded $10,000 in federal grant funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to advance strategic planning efforts in the region as part of the latest round of grants presented by The Center for Rural Development.

U.S. Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers (KY-05) and Lonnie Lawson, president and CEO of The Center, announced the grant recipients and presented $54,800 in mini-grants to six Southern and Eastern Kentucky communities and organizations at a strategic planning and awards ceremony held Monday, Feb. 8, at The Center in Somerset.

Funds can be used for either the successful creation of a strategic plan or the implementation of priority community development projects identified in existing strategic plans.

All projects must be completed within a six-month period. 

Stanford intends to use its grant funding to hire a consultant to conduct an assessment of downtown Stanford, develop a strategic plan for the downtown area, and conduct an analysis of the downtown “business mix.”

“Leaders across Southern and Eastern Kentucky are visibly active in creating new opportunities to improve our region,” Congressman Rogers said. “The years of planning for downtown revitalization, tourism marketing, and economic development projects are now coming to fruition in many of our communities. We’re attracting jobs and tourists thanks to mini-grants in the past.  

“With additional funding in 2010, more of our rural communities can follow the same vision of providing more opportunities to our families,” Rogers continued. “These grants give our leaders the ability to work their plans.” 

The winners represent the first of two rounds of ARC funding that will be awarded this year by The Center for Rural Development’s Developing and Implementing Community Strategies Program, with the second coming this fall.

“This funding will assist these communities in developing or furthering plans and strategies that will help fuel positive and tangible economic and community development activity in our region for years to come,” Lawson said.

Representatives of nine communities that previously received ARC mini-grant funding also shared status updates on ongoing projects provided for in strategic plans funded by those grants. Those communities included the cities of Beattyville, Liberty, Mt. Vernon, Corbin, and Paintsville, in addition to Bell, Morgan, Letcher, and Lee counties.  

Since 2005, The Center has awarded $210,000 in ARC mini-grant funding to 17 communities across Southern and Eastern Kentucky, paving the way for them to move forward on strategic planning efforts for community development projects.

The Center for Rural Development, the Center of Excellence for rural Kentucky and the nation, provides economic and community development programs to residents in a 42-county primary service area of Southern and Eastern Kentucky, and is home to several statewide and national technology-based programs.

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