Grant funding groups collaborate in county event
The 19th annual Holmes County engineer’s meeting for townships was hosted in the Baker Building at Harvest Ridge on Saturday, April 6. It gave many local entities a chance to make critical connections with grant-funding agencies.
Holmes County recently took a giant step to find paths to receiving state, federal and local grant funding that can help Holmes County grow and prosper well into the future.
The 19th annual Holmes County engineer’s meeting for townships was hosted in the Baker Building at Harvest Ridge on Saturday, April 6, where a host of Holmes County trustees gathered for breakfast and to hear about plenty of funding opportunities provided by a host of statewide representatives.
The event was hosted by Chris Young, Holmes County engineer, and Dave Hall, Holmes County commissioner.
Those two have worked together with other area leaders in an effort to secure Appalachian grant funding for some sizable future projects in the county, and both have been relentless in their pursuit to help township trustees, county officials and many area nonprofits to secure grant funding for projects that make Holmes County grow and prosper.
“The goal of this day gathering is to make projects more affordable for the various groups in Holmes County,” Young said. “The organizations represented here today are designed to reach into communities and make a positive impact on a variety of levels.”
Hall agreed, calling each represented program a wonderful resource that can enhance the county’s ability to grow programs, make the county more prosperous and make a county devoted to the tourism industry even more inviting for those visiting the area.
“What a great opportunity for everyone represented here today to go back to their communities and organizations and say, ‘We have an opportunity to bring some taxpayer money back into Holmes County,’” Hall said.
He said networking through meetings like this is exactly what they had hoped for when they designed this meeting.
He said finding funding as individual groups or even as entities that merge together as one to create better odds of securing grant funding is a key element in building and growing a county that is only going to continue to see more growth both economically and in terms of people living and working in the county.
With so much funding available that local organizations may not know about, this meeting served as a catalyst in introducing many of those funding groups to the people who are guiding Holmes County in various ways.
“We’re growing,” Hall said. “Our communities are thriving, and we felt it would be good to put this meeting together and introduce people to people who can benefit one another.”
Following introductions, Young and Hall ceded the microphone to a lineup of guest speakers who shared the many funding programs they present to county and townships and other nonprofit organizations.
Each representative had around eight minutes to share their purpose and vision in working with local government and nonprofits, from bridges and roadways to wastewater systems and financing projects.
In addition to many township trustees were county officials, mayors, fair board members and more.
“When we can work together like this, it leads to greater prosperity for everyone,” Vicki King-Maple of OMEGA said.
Millersburg Mayor Kelly Hoffee said learning about all of these dollars available to the county was inspiring, and she said it helps communities strive to go after worthwhile projects.
“We have a big culvert project on Wooster Road, and if we want the hospital to grow, we need to get more water to them,” Hoffee said. “I wanted to come here to find ways to get dollars to get this and some other projects done.”
She said she found the event very beneficial, and she knows she wasn’t alone.
Danny Gingerich, Salt Creek Township trustee, said there are many avenues for securing grants, and hearing from each of them was educational. He said now it is up to each of the local organizations to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
“We heard about some fantastic opportunities. Now we have to do our due diligence to do what we can do to improve our infrastructure,” Gingerich said. “Maintaining our roads and bridges is critical to growth in our county.”
Following the presentations, each participating agency opened their tables to anyone wishing to discuss more funding opportunities or talk about upcoming programs and work that would get a boost from receiving additional grant funding.
The breakout sessions saw plenty of connections being made as the Baker Building was filled with the chatter of people building relationships.
“We had a great turnout for this event, and hopefully, our trustees were able to make personal connections with these grant-funding agencies, be it federal, state or local, in positive ways that will lead them to improving their equipment, their roadwork, buildings and more,” Young said. “Many of our townships have some big ideas and are eager to find ways to finance them, and it’s awesome to see them making connections like this.”
Young said finding ways to promote and aid the township trustees is critical because they represent the first form of government that most closely represents the people of any community.
“They’re out there living and working among their communities,” Young said.
While some trustees have experienced some of the 18 events like this in prior years, Young said many of the county’s trustees are new and haven’t had the opportunity to glean from the funding agencies, so he hopes it was an eye-opening experience for them that will lead to great things down the road.
“You don’t know what you don’t know, and this was an opportunity to learn a great deal,” Young said.
He said he is grateful to the county, state and federal funding agencies that took the time out of their busy schedules to present their story to the county.
“They are all very passionate about what they do, and they sincerely want to help counties like ours be successful,” Young said.