Governor McAuliffe Announces More Than $8.8 Million in Community Development Block Grants – Eastville Rural Health Center Funded

The Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission is pleased to release the Governor’s announcement that the Eastville Rural Health Center will receive $700,000 in CDBG funds. A-NPDC assisted Northampton County and Rural Health by writing the grant application. This year was competitive with over $25 million in requests. The state will fund $8.8 million of the requests. The Governor’s press release follows.

ABINGDON – Governor Terry McAuliffe today announced more than $8.8 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for 15 projects in Virginia. This funding will support projects that improve health care access, water and sewer infrastructure, downtown revitalization, public safety, and housing rehabilitation in localities across the Commonwealth. Governor McAuliffe made the grant announcement at an event at the Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Center where he joined leaders from seven Southwest Virginia localities to celebrate the important community development projects.

“The CDBG program is an essential resource to assist localities across the Commonwealth with their community development efforts by investing in projects that provide long-term security for low- to moderate-income Virginians,” said Governor McAuliffe, speaking at the announcement event. “Thanks to our strong working relationship with Virginia localities, we are ensuring that all communities have the basic infrastructure and services necessary for our citizens and businesses to succeed as we continue efforts to bolster the new Virginia economy.”

Since 1982, the federally-funded CDBG program has been administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). CDBG grants are awarded through a competitive process, and Virginia receives approximately $17 million annually for this program. Most projects benefit low- and moderation-income persons or communities.

“Today’s announcement highlights the work DHCD is doing, in close partnership with localities, to address issues associated with housing, economic development, health, and safety,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Todd Haymore. “These towns, rural counties, and small cities are identifying and targeting key community needs that, when completed, will bolster vital services and encourage future economic development opportunities. I congratulate the grantees and look forward to seeing the transformative results in each community.”

During this year’s competitive cycle, 32 proposals were submitted by localities, totaling more than $25 million in funding requests. Fifteen projects will receive funding, with four of the projects being multi-year and one receiving a letter of intent. Multi-year funding projects are those that will receive a contract allocating a portion of the funds this year, and after achieving specific performance targets, the project will then be eligible for additional funding. The letter of intent project is worthy of funding, but is missing key components necessary for the project to be immediately implemented, and the grant recommends the locality address the missing components accordingly.