During their regular monthly meeting last week, Olive Hill City Council heard updates about the new water plant and discussed progress including troubleshooting and testing of the new facility, among other items. One topic of discussion was the telemetry of the new plant which will allow the city to monitor the system to check water levels, leaks, and other processes, much of which is automated. The council also discussed potential dates and times for ‘roadblocks,’ a popular fundraiser for local organizations. But the real focus of the meeting was on grant opportunities.
During the open discussion phase of the meeting Renee Parsons, Executive Director of the Business Cultivation Foundation, discussed opportunities with the council for strategies, fundraising, and collaborative programming for businesses, nonprofits, and local governments. Parsons said that in January her business was retained to help the Olive Hill Center for Arts & Heritage with emergency concerns.
“During the discovery phase,” Parsons said, “I found all sorts of programs, and I also found out about the opioid abatement money.”
Parsons explained to the council that there were “two pots of money.” One that goes to cities and counties and the other that goes into a state trust.
“That trust in the state has about $840 million,” Parsons told the council.
Eligible programs, she explained, can be from for profit or nonprofit organizations. And the ceiling on grants of that nature is one million dollars, Parsons said. Currently she is working with nine organizations applying for those grants, and eight of those nine are in Olive Hill.
“And since all of them are going for this grant, that is a potential of nine million dollars being poured into the local economy,” she said.
(Since that meeting with city council, the potential number has grown to $10 million, Parsons told members of the Olive Hill Chamber of Commerce later in the week. – Editor)
The reason for her presence at the council meeting was that Parsons wanted to be certain that the city was aware of the potential funds, she told council.
“Since this area was already awarded one million dollars in the initial opioid settlement, I think we have a pretty good shot at these grants,” she said.
Parsons also mentioned that the agencies and organizations she works with often come up with a collaborative plan where there is an interconnected pipeline of multiple organizations working toward the same goal.
Parsons’ organization was founded in 2015 by Parsons and her husband in Ashland, where they dealt with addicts and others whose lives were problematic. After initially helping to feed and clothe that demographic Parsons said they realized that a main reason such individuals found it difficult to rejoin society was their inability to secure employment. She began with Hope Central to help people overcome their difficulties and secure employment, often by meeting with local businesses that were willing to hire them. In 2018 her program was adopted by The Neighborhood in Ashland and grew from there.
Parsons is a certified grant writer with a CDBG background and a business developer who has brought her skills and passion to play helping businesses and organizations succeed. The grants tied to the opioid settlement fund have unique benefits that she says has added benefits. One such benefit is the lack of matching funds or other restrictions.
“That’s what makes this one really different from a normal grant cycle,” Parsons told the council. “Federal Grants typically come from tax dollars; but with the settlement grants you don’t have to have matching funds and you don’t have to be a nonprofit.”
Parson presented the information to the council and pointed out several ways the city could benefit from applying for the settlement grants. The criteria for application are that any organization applying for the funds must be helping people deal with opioid abuse, comorbid mental conditions, or other drug addictions or with the families of same for the purpose of abatement. The council considered the information Parsons put before them, and Parsons was invited to speak to them further during their executive session.
Applications for grants are under consideration, but as of yet no definitive plan has been put in place to proceed.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
