THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995 TAG: 9512010275
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MELFA LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Jill Long Thompson, undersecretary of agriculture for rural economic and community development, gave her signature Thursday to start the flow of $2.9 million in grant money to the Eastern Shore.
Thompson signed a memorandum of agreement by federal, state and local agencies to activate financing promised by President Clinton last year. The money will go to Accomack and Northampton counties as part of the president's Enterprise Community initiative.
A local group - Virginia's Eastern Shore Economic Empowerment and Housing Corp. - will administer the grant. The group provided Thompson with a spending plan before she signed the money over.
``What you're doing is more important than you even realize,'' Thompson told the residents and public officials who gathered to watch the signing. Many had participated in the process of competing for the grant and planning its use.
Thompson said the funding would create improvements in the Eastern Shore's social, economic and educational environments and will influence life in the community for decades to come.
``We are all stronger when our neighbors are stronger,'' she said.
According to the plan, $1.07 million will go into a housing loan fund to help Eastern Shore residents buy homes.
Supplemented by more than a million dollars from other sources, the money will be used to generate 40 units of affordable housing in the next two years.
The spending plan also calls for $536,511 of the federal grant to go into a revolving loan fund for capitalizing small businesses.
Monte Penney, who heads the local development corporation, hopes to help 25 new businesses start within two years.
The Enterprise Community grant will funnel $268,255 each into education and health loan funds. About $30,000 will be set aside to partially finance a comprehensive data base on local needs. And the grant will provide $536,511 toward a grant pool for use by other organizations to improve social well-being on the Eastern Shore.
``This is the beginning of the beginning,'' said Dr. Arthur Carter, at the signing ceremony. Carter led the local Enterprise Community Steering Committee. ``We have a lot to celebrate, and we have a lot to be proud of.'' by CNB