March 2019 Newsletter

Greater Wabash

Regional Planning Commission

Serving Crawford, Edwards, Lawrence, Wabash, Wayne and White County in Southeast Illinois.

Greater Wabash Regional Planning Commission Board of Directors

Annual Dinner Meeting

will be held on Thursday, March 21st

at The Westwood Saloon

in Grayville, IL

Welcome Our New Employees

Rileigh Lear is our new Executive Director at GWRPC. She graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a bachelor degree in public relations and advertising. She previously worked at USI as the Special Event and Scheduling Services Supervisor. She is looking forward to leading GWRPC into new ventures and exceeding the expectations of our regional community.

Heather Neuman is our new Community Development Coordinator. She graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale with a bachelor degree in paralegal studies. She perviously worked for the Northside Elementary School in Fairfield. Heather has experience in granting writing and is looking forward to using her skills and knowledge for our seven county region.

Baldwin Technology

Regional Employer Video

The Baldwin Technology Regional Employer video is the second video made. Greater Wabash Regional Planning Commission partnered with Wabash Valley College to create regional employer videos. The students at WVC created the video. The regional employer videos are to help high school students and job seeks better understand what opportunities are available in our region.

To watch the video on Baldwin Technology, click here .

The first regional employer video was about B & D Independence located in Mt. Carmel. To watch the video on B & D Independence, click here .

Rural Reverse Funding Fair May 7, 2019

DO YOUR HAVE A PROJECT THAT YOU CAN'T SEEM TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO FUND?

Instead of attending a seminar to listen to federal, state and private sector funding representatives provide detailed information on their program guidelines – we are reversing the process. A panel of funding representatives will convene to listen to YOU provide information to THEM on your specific project.

The Rural Reverse Funding Fair is a unique approach to connect community economic development projects with government and private sector funding and technical assistance.

• Selected organizations will present a 10-15 minute project overview, including funding requirements. This will be followed by a 15 minute Q & A session between panel members and presenter.

• The panel will discuss options to coordinate their programs and services to potentially fund the project through loans and/or grants; and will provide comments, recommendations and suggested actions to the presenter.

• Due to time constraints, the number of project presentations is limited and applications must be submitted. Those demonstrating the greatest value/effect in terms of economic development strategies, regional impacts, and “funding-readiness” will be selected to present. Guidelines will be provided to help ensure all presentations contain essential information. Presenters will be given the option to open or close their session to others and are welcome to attend other, open sessions.

• No funding decisions or approvals will be made at this meeting. Contact information and notes will be provided to the presenters to facilitate follow-up after the meeting.

If you would like more information about what is a Rural Reverse Funding Fair is CLICK HERE .

You must submit electronically at this website: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SIMRPC

Applications are DUE APRIL 11th!

Examples of some of the projects that have been presented at past events:

Infrastructure projects (streets, roads, water and sewer)
Downtown city renovation
Farmers markets
Community economic development projects
Health and safety projects (hospitals, fire and police)
Museums and libraries
Airport projects
Recreational projects (ball fields, walking paths, etc.)

Some of the agencies and organizations that have participated to date:

Illinois Department of Agriculture
Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity
Illinois Department of Employment Security
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Illinois Department of Transportation
Illinois Department of Treasury
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Illinois Finance Authority
Illinois Housing and Development Authority
Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs of Western Illinois University
Champion Community Investments / IRP / CDFI
Local Community Foundations

US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service
US Department of Agriculture, Food & Nutrition Service
US Department of Agriculture, Rural Development
US Department of Education
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
US Department of Interior, US Geological Survey
US Department of Labor
US Economic Development Administration
US National Endowment for the Arts
US Small Business Administration

You will be responsible to submit your own application, GWRPC is helping to select the presenters and cannot submit applications on your behalf.

Please reach out to David Savage at 618-445-3612 or davidsavage@gwrpc.com if you have questions!

Bike Study Steering Committee Meeting

GWRPC has received a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation to conduct a Planning Study for a bike/walking path between Grayville, Illinois and New Harmony, Indiana. The result of this Planning Study will be a written report back to the Illinois Department of Transportation and the public.

As a part of this study, a Steering Committee, composed of interested persons needs to formed. The Steering Committee will guide the direction of this study.

If you are interested in learning more or being apart of the steering committee, please come to our first steering committee meeting.

The meeting will be held at GWRPC in Albion, IL on April 17th at 11:30 a.m. Lunch will be provided!

For questions and RSVP contact Michael Gill, Grant Administrator at

mgill@gwrpc.com or call 618-445-3612.

CDBG Applications 2019

GWRPC is currently preparing Community Development Block Grants for the upcoming grant year. The CDBG application deadline is Thursday, August 29, 2019. The grant ceiling is $500,00.00.

One of the objectives is to improve public infrastructure and eliminate conditions which are detrimental to health, safety and public welfare.

The project area must have a 51% or more of low-to-moderate income population, and there must be a health and safety concern.

Health and Safety concerns would need to be documented.

Documentation to show a health and safety concern would include, but not limited to:

1) Well water tests

2) Pressure tests (PSI <20 is considered a threat).

3) Photographs showing line breaks or other damage

4) Boil orders, map of line breaks with dates, and IEPA reference

documentation

5) Surface water tests with map

6) IEPA or US EPA violation letters or documentation

7) Newspaper articles

8) Current resident complaint letters

9) Water and/or sewer break log with map.

If you have a project you feel could qualify please email Mike Gill, our Grant Administrator, at this link .