Durbin Announces More Than $70,000 In Grants For Community Facility Improvements in Montgomery and Crawford Counties
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development division has awarded three grants totaling $70,100 to local governments in Montgomery and Crawford counties through the Community Facility Grant Program.
“Community facilities and services are an important part of everyday life for millions of rural Illinoisans,” said Durbin “This funding recognizes that importance and makes a significant investment in the continued operation and sustainability of local governments.”
USDA Community Facility Grants are given to public entities such as municipalities, counties, special-purpose districts, Indian tribes, and non-profit corporations to assist in the development of essential community facilities in rural areas and towns with populations of 20,000 or lower. Grant funds can be used to construct, enlarge, or otherwise improve community facilities for health care, public safety, and community and public services, as well as the purchase of equipment required for a facility’s operation. Community Facility Grants are awarded based on a priority point system, with small, low-income communities receiving the highest priority. Each year, Rural Development administers nearly $16 billion in program loans, loan guarantees, and grants.
The following local governments will receive funding:
- City of Coffeen: $34,900 in funding to renovate city hall. Renovations will provide additional storage space for the city’s police and fire departments and expand the city board meeting room and the City Clerk’s office and filing room.
- Village of Hutsonville: $13,700 in funding to purchase a replacement police patrol car. Hutsonville’s current patrol car is more than a decade old making a new, more reliable police patrol vehicle essential to citizen safety.
- City of Litchfield: $21,500 in funding to construct two emergency early warning storm sirens. The sirens will provide storm notification to roughly 500 residents and visitors to North and South Litchfield Townships.