Frontenac gets grant

Frontenac was one of nine communities named Friday that will receive federal Community Development Block Grants through the Kansas Department of Commerce.
Frontenac received $375,525 for a project that will replace outdated cast-iron and asbestos cement water lines. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is chipping in the same amount in matching funds.
The Kansas Department of Commerce announced Friday that it would distribute more than $2.8 million through the CDBG program. Other communties receiving funding include the cities of El 0Dorado, Eskridge, Nortonville, Ogden, Severy and Udall, as well as Lincoln and Linn counties.
The announcement follows January’s awarding of more than $9.3 million in federal CDBG funds to Kansas communities, bringing this year’s total to nearly $12.1 million.
“We are pleased to announce the awarding of these funds to some great Kansas communities,” said Kansas Department of Commerce Secretary David Kerr. “These grants allow the Department to assist the small and rural communities that are so crucial to our state.”
The CDBG program provides federal funds to local governments for the development of viable communities by addressing their housing, public facilities and economic development needs. To be awarded funds, local governments must meet at least one of three program objectives; benefit to low- and moderate-income persons; prevent or eliminate slums and blight; or resolve an urgent need where local resources are not available to do so.
CDBG funds are one of the Department’s primary tools in supporting the state’s small, predominately rural communities. The Department has distributed more than $235 million in CDBG funding since 1998.
“The Department remains committed to the state’s small, rural communities,” Kerr said.  “We recognize the challenges these communities will face in the years ahead, and we are prepared to help our cities and towns meet those challenges.”