The Delta Regional Authority awarded $3.2 million in grants to assist projects totaling nearly $26 million in public and private funding, federal and state officials said Monday.
These investments will strengthen Arkansas' infrastructure, improve the skills of the workforce, support entrepreneurs small business owners, and help attract and grow companies, said Chris Masengill, chairman of the Delta Regional Authority.
"These projects are really great examples of strategic investments that have multiple funding partners, a regional impact or a tie that is connected to supporting job creation," he said at a news conference.
The funding will be primarily made through the Delta Regional Authority States' Economic Development Assistance, which is the authority's main federal funding program that helps fund public and transportation infrastructure, workforce development, small business and entrepreneurship and health access projects in the eight-state Delta region. The authority works with the governor of each state and his board designed to identify projects that are funded through the program.
The Delta Regional Authority is a federal-state partnership created by Congress in 2000 to help create jobs, assist communities and improve lives through investments in economic development in eight states, according to the authority.
"The Delta is an area that Congress has rightfully said needs additional investment and ... this reflects that additional investment to spur on the economic development in a special region of our nation and of our state," said Gov. Asa Hutchinson. "I never envisioned when this was passed in Congress and funded that we would be able to see how much of a difference."
According to news release from the Delta Regional Authority, the authority's grants include:
• $855,500 for Marvell to rehabilitate the city's sewer pumps and an FHA housing project rural sewage system and to create or retain six jobs. It also will reduce the cost of repairs, energy, and upkeep of the rural system. These costs are overwhelming the utility to the point of requiring a substantial rate increase that will be detrimental to the residents.
• $500,000 to help with $8.4 million in wastewater system improvements in Bull Shoals where construction of a new wastewater treatment facility will replace the existing obsolete system. All of the City of Bull Shoals' businesses would face a disastrous situation if the current wastewater system failed.
• $200,467 to assist Excel Boat Co.'s expansion in Stone County. With $1.05 million in total support, Stone County will construct additional manufacturing space for Excel Boat in order to assist in their expansion efforts. When complete, the company plans to add 20 new employees and retain 40 jobs.
• $200,000 to help construct a $1.7 million South Arkansas Community College Advanced Manufacturing Training Center, a 9,000 square-foot facility for classrooms and specialized training space to support industry-related programs for South Arkansas College in El Dorado. Eight companies have already committed to creating approximately 150 jobs and retaining approximately 400 jobs from this investment.
• $200,000 to help establish the Consortium for Medical Education in the Delta, with the projection that at least 30 residents will be trained through this program each year.
• $200,000 to assist in the $3.9 million construction of a Scrogin Drive extension in Monticello from its current end at Old Warren Road northward to intersect with U.S. 278 West, creating connectivity to the Health and Education Complex. That will create a safer and more efficient traffic system within the Health Education Complex and alleviate the hazardous bottleneck that exists today.
• $200,000 toward new radiology equipment at the McGehee Rural Health Clinic. It will perform mobile, digital, and analog X-rays.
• $194,853 to help the Delta Heritage Trail Access Road in Arkansas City to pave the levee ramp to help develop and expand the recreational, historic, and cultural assets of the town.
• $158,000 to allow the East Initiative to start three new programs in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education, the Delta Regional Authority, and local schools.
• $150,000 toward construction of a $6.5 million aquatics and multipurpose center in Pine Bluff, which will create 10 full-time, permanent jobs.
• $119,000 toward the Restore Hope Delta initiative totaling $1.06 million to reduce the number of children in foster care and reverse the state's growing rate of incarceration.
• $105,000 toward new mammography equipment at the Chicot Memorial Medical Center to help reduce deaths from female breast cancer. If this equipment purchase is not made, Chicot Memorial Medical Center will stop performing mammograms.
• $100,000 to help Cleveland County improve the River Ridge access road and parking lot to accommodate River Ridge Equipment Company, which has committed to creating at least three new jobs in the Cleveland County Area.
• $37,275 toward improvements to the Cherry Valley Food Pantry in Cherry Valley. Cherry Valley will complete the interior construction of the Cherry Valley Food Pantry and construct a serviceable parking lot for the facility. The facility serves approximately 80 families on a weekly basis.
• $25,200 to Clarendon to help repair part of a sewer system damaged by a sinkhole, which includes removing a manhole and sewer line and rerouting service connections.
A Section on 11/29/2016