During his Thursday “Team Kentucky,” Governor Andy Beshear announced the award of more than $4.6 million coming to western Kentucky from the Delta Regional Authority — which will support the funding of eight projects that will create, retain and/or train more than 90 jobs, and improve the lives of more than 6,000 families.
Of those projects, three of them will directly impact the News Edge listening area, including:
— More than $120,000 for the Community Medical Clinic, which will be used to purchase X-ray equipment for its rural health clinics in both Hopkinsville and Princeton;
— More than $58,000 to the Christian County Fiscal Court, which will be sent to the Casey Jones Distillery for its expansion and upgrade of water and electric utilities;
— And more than $1 million earmarked for the City of Marion, which plans to use its allotment for a new 1.5 million gallon per day wastewater treatment plant.
While all three projects bring considerable merit and serve the needs of many in the region, Beshear noted that a new water treatment plant for Marion and Crittenden County comes at an extremely critical time for their embattled community and its water shortage.
A federal organization, the DRA specifically works to improve the economic opportunity and job creation of 252 counties in the eight-state Mississippi Delta region and Alabama “Black Belt” of the United States. Area development districts, and their constituents, must apply for funding through investments like States Economic Development Assistance Program (SEDAP) and the Community Infrastructure Fund (CIF).
It was created by U.S. Congress in 2000, and Beshear lauded the efforts of west Kentucky officials for getting these projects off the ground.
Applying for DRA funding comes from annual efforts.
