Residents show up at Capitol to get community grants
By Sara Greene
LITTLE ROCK — About 100 residents of small towns like Plainview and Prim were all smiles last week as they gathered at the state Capitol to accept grants from the Arkansas Department of Rural Services.
The money will go toward projects like a storm siren and community center.
Prim, located in northern Cleburne County, received $13,727 in a rural community-development grant to match funds raised locally to build a $27,455 community center. The town doesn’t have a city hall or a mayor, but it does have Joyce Carlton of Carlton’s Diner. She was in the delegation receiving the check. She said construction would start immediately on the community center located beside the park.
“There’s only a few families who live right in town, but about 200 to 300 people from surrounding communities will be able to use this com-munity center,” Carlton said.
“Since it was a matchingfund grant, we did everything we could to raise our part. We sold cookbooks, sold hot dogs at the park and had a community auction. There’s an Avon box in the diner, and the lady who has it donated half her proceeds,” Carlton said.
Cleburne County Judge Claude Dill said residents are appreciative of the work of the department of rural services.
“You won’t find a more thankful community than Prim,” Dill said.
The Greers Ferry Fire Department, also in Cleburne County, received a $8,475 rural community development grant to install a storm siren that can be heard in a 3.75-mile radius.
Rep. Lance Reynolds of District 59, which includes Cleburne and White counties, said the grants are an invaluable resource for rural communities.
“I served as the mayor of Quitman for five and half years, so I know firsthand the struggles small towns have to overcome,” Reynolds said.
To qualify for a rural community development grant, towns must have a population of fewer than 3,000 and be unincorporated. Communities have received funding in the past for baseball/softball fields, community centers, walking tracks, park and playground equipment, pavilions, picnic tables, and library shelving.
Besides community development, the department of rural services administers fire protection grants, rural block grants and the county fair building grant. The agency educates citizens on available funding and how to plan andapply for grants.
Rural services block grants fund new construction or renovation of community centers, fire stations, or multipurpose buildings and the purchase of fire equipment. Plainview, in Yell County, received a $26,969 rural services block grant for the fire department. Plainview Fire Chief Justin Lancaster said the town has a population of about 750 and 20 volunteer firefighters.
“We’re going to buy four selfcontained breathing apparatuses and new turnouts for everybody,” Lancaster said.
This article was published Thursday, March 6, 2008.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 69, 74 on 03/06/2008
