THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 22, 1994 TAG: 9412220534
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
A five-county coalition seeking a $3 million federal grant and recognition as an Enterprise Community lost out on Wednesday, but organizers of a massive regional development plan remain hopeful.
The coalition, which includes parts of Bertie, Hertford, Martin, Pasquotank and Tyrrell counties, should still be a priority on grant lists for the projects it has outlined.
``All of those communities that did submit applications will still have an opportunity,'' said Bunny Sanders, director of tourism development for the Northeastern North Carolina Economic Development Commission and a coordinator of the application.
``Every one of those communities should without question pull together now and take a look at the initiatives that are in that plan,'' Sanders said. ``It's real important that we not just drop it.''
The 3-inch-thick proposal lays out a comprehensive program to target poor families with the help they need to become self-sufficient. Surrounding that theme are about 20 proposed projects that include an innovative sewage treatment system and several economic development initiatives.
A nearby coalition of Halifax, Edgecombe and Wilson counties was among the 30 rural Enterprise Community winners named at the White House on Wednesday. That group, which also included the cities of Wilson and Rocky Mount, had applied for one of three $40 million Empowerment Zone grants but was bumped into the Enterprise Community category.
Robeson County in the southern part of the state also received a rural Enterprise Community designation. Charlotte was named an urban Enterprise Community, said Jeanne Bonds of the Rural Economic Development Center.
``It looked like we did pretty well'' as a state, said Bonds, whose nonprofit group helped with counties' applications.
The announcement, which came half a year after applications were due, caught Halifax officials a bit by surprise, said Assistant County Manager Hazen Blodgett.
``It's been six months,'' Blodgett said. ``We kind of put this all on the back burner.''
The federal designations originally were to be announced this fall but were pushed back month by month.
Blodgett said officials in his coalition will have to get together and revise their development plan, which calls for such projects as community policing, family resource centers and housing assistance. by CNB