RegionaL News You
Can Use
August
2019
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Seaboard awarded water infrastructure loan
By Phillip Sayblack@ rrdailyherald
The Town of Seaboard recently received some positive news about its aging infrastructure.
The town has received a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loan in the amount of $999,280 from the State Division of Water Infrastructure. The money will pay for the replacement of 3,200 feet of 2-inch to 8-inch waterline along Harris, Eastwood and James streets. According to documentation provided by the State Water Infrastructure Authority, the loan comes with full principal forgiveness.
Principal forgiveness is foregoing of a portion of unpaid debt by a lender. The foregoing of the given portion of unpaid debt lowers the amount of money that the debtor owes to the lender in the long run.
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Virtual reality—often referred to as “VR”—used to be science fiction. Today, it’s everywhere. All you need is a smartphone and a headset to immerse yourself in 3-D virtual worlds or games. This booming technology may also be useful for health care and research.
“In the last few years, there’s been a .....
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Great Places in North Carolina is an awards program created in 2012 by the North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association to highlight North Carolina’s Great Places and the communities and people that have created them. North Carolina is full of amazing places that make this state a wonderful place to live, bring important money and jobs into our economy, and keep our communities thriving. Many people work hard to create, sustain, and improve these places, including citizens, planners, business leaders, and elected officials.
Winner 2019 People’s Choice:
Great Public Art
Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park, Wilson
The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park was a collaborative effort to create a catalytic project. The Whirligigs, gigantic kinetic sculptures created by Wilson County-native Vollis Simpson, were restored and relocated to a two-acre park spanning a city block in the heart of historic downtown Wilson. The park hosts approximately 30 whirligigs, some standing more than 50 feet tall. Just one year out from a fully operating Whirligig Park, recent downtown investment is expected to almost match the total investment over the last eight years combined.
Stuart W. Bass, AICP, CZO
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DHHS'
Crisis Intervention Program
provides assistance to qualifying, low-income households that are experiencing a cooling-related crisis (or heating-related crisis in the winter). Applications are available through county departments of social services.
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The N.C. Attorney General’s office has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for its Environmental Enhancement Grant Program.
This program offers reimbursement grants for projects that meet the goals of the Smithfield Agreement, including obtaining environmental easements, constructing or maintaining wetlands, restoring and protecting of impaired, degraded, or endangered surface waters, as well as conserving and protecting of targeted natural areas.
For more information including proposal requirements, informational meeting dates and more, please
read the attached RFP
and/or contact
EEG@ncdoj.gov
. Letters of intent are due Aug. 19 and final proposals are due Sept. 24.
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Small Business Dynamism in North Carolina
A decade after the Great Recession, North Carolina’s small businesses are still struggling to recover. While the state as a whole—rural, suburban, and urban—has not returned to the same level of economic activity, rural small businesses in particular have had an especially difficult recovery. Today, these businesses have fewer brick-and-mortar banks operating in their communities and significantly less access to the critical capital needed to start, sustain, or grow their businesses. It’s time we started working together to address the growing chasm of capital access between our rural and urban counties.
Our new one-page summary of the report findings can be downloaded
here
,
and an interactive database that shows small business dynamism in each of the state’s 100 counties can be viewed
here
.
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NC Receives $1.2 Million in Grants to Fight Opioid Epidemic in Six Rural Communities
Six rural North Carolina communities will share $1.2 million in federal grant funds to strengthen and expand their response to opioid use disorder with increased planning; prevention; evidence-based treatment, including medication-assisted treatment; and recovery service delivery.
This new federal funding was awarded as a $200,000 grant to each of the following: Ashe Memorial Hospital in Jefferson, Coastal Horizons Center in Wilmington, North Carolina Quality Healthcare Alliance in Chapel Hill, Robeson Health Care Corporation in Pembroke, United Way of Rutherford County in Forest City, and Wilson Substance Abuse Coalition in Wilson.
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Human Trafficking Leadership Academy
The Human Trafficking Leadership Academy (HTLA) is committed to developing and expanding survivor-informed services while also providing leadership development opportunities to survivor leaders and ally professionals. Fellows work collaboratively to provide substantive recommendations that will inform research, policies, and programs that improve awareness, understanding, and assistance to survivors of human trafficking or those at risk of human trafficking.
The leadership training provided at monthly seminars over the course of 4–6 months is applicable to the fellows’ current work and helps them grow in their chosen career. As they collaborate through a combination of in-person and virtual work, they also establish a trusted network among all the fellows that could last a lifetime. The final seminar includes a graduation ceremony and a presentation to federal stakeholders on findings and recommendations related to the project question.
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National League of Cities Launches #LoveMyCity Campaign, Resources for Cities and Towns
As president of the
National League of Cities
, Gary, Indiana Mayor Freeman-Wilson created the Love My City campaign to help local leaders create more meaningful bonds between communities and their residents. Through four pillars of work and a national campaign, NLC and communities across the country are answering the question: what does it mean to call a place home? In addition to partnering with media and other partners across the country to spread awareness of the campaign, the NLC has created customizable resources for member cities and towns. To learn more and customize your town’s Love My City Logo, visit
www.mycity.love
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FEMA Hosts Webinar on Hurricane Michael Recovery Advisories
FEMA recently released Hurricane Michael Recovery Advisories and has scheduled webinars to discuss the details. These Recovery Advisories are intended to assist various stakeholders in rebuilding more resiliently by providing design and construction guidance to help minimize damage from future storm events.
The webinars are free and available to anyone interested in the topics and content. Registration is required for each webinar. Each session will have a 15 minutes period for questions and answers.
The webinars are free and available to anyone interested in the topics and content. Registration is required for each webinar. Each session will have a 15 minutes period for questions and answers.
• Noon to 1:45 p.m. ET Aug. 7
• Noon to 1:30 p.m. ET Aug. 15
Each webinar will be divided into two sessions and participants must register for each:
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Improving the Health and Well-Being of Rural Communities Through Collaboration
Date: Thursday, August 15, 2019
Time: 10:00am Pacific, 11:00 am Mountain, 12:00pm Central, 1:00pm Eastern
Duration: approximately 60 minutes
In this webinar hear how rural hospitals, community health centers, local public health departments and other rural stakeholders can work together to assess and address their rural communities' health needs.
Two innovative rural health organizations will be highlighted that have developed strategies to meet population health goals, address social determinants of health, and improve health outcomes. Solutions to support rural health organizations' financial viability and lessons learned will also be shared.
Featured Speakers
- Christie Obenauer, Board Chair of Sakakawea Medical Center, Hazen, ND
- Toniann Richard, CEO of the Health Care Collaborative of Rural Missouri
Registration
This webinar is free. High-speed internet is required to participate. A recording will be available on our website after the live event. Connection details will be emailed to you immediately upon registration.
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ACL seeks to support the planning of future state-based collaborative projects to make progress in strategies and facilitate decisional supports for all adults. The purpose of these planning grants is to develop action plans for advancing strategies that will ensure self-determination of older adults and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) through the use of a full range of decisional supports. The plans will be developed with consensus from inclusive representational groups of disability and aging communities, and other key stakeholders. This would include, but not be limited to, Supported Decision Making (SDM) as a specific way of supporting decisions, and would require looking across other mechanisms to strengthening decisional capacity. Three to five state planning grants will be awarded at a federal share of approximately $50,000 to $75,000 each.
The ultimate goals of the project are to:
· Provide access to more strategies to support decision-making;
· Be able to detect abuse, neglect and exploitation easier; and
· Allow individuals to elect their preferred autonomous means of supporting their decision-making.
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Today, the
Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA) awarded approximately $20 million for Rural Residency Planning and Development Program (RRPD) grants. Recipients across 21 states will receive up to $750,000 over a three-year period to develop new rural residency programs while achieving accreditation through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
The RRPD program, administered by HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) and Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW), is part of a multi-year initiative by HRSA to expand the physician workforce in rural areas by developing new, sustainable residency programs in family medicine, internal medicine, and psychiatry. The recipients of the awards include rural hospitals, community health centers, health centers operated by the Indian Health Service, Indian tribes or tribal organizations, and schools of medicine. Rural residency programs often face challenges in securing sustainable financing and faculty support. The RRPD grant award funding will help recipients address these challenges.
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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provides loan guarantees for financial institutions that loan funds to small businesses, including small health care practices. Privately owned medical facilities including hospitals, clinics, emergency outpatient facilities, and medical and dental laboratories are eligible. Among other purposes, businesses may use funds to: purchase land, expand an existing business, refinance debt, or purchase machinery, supplies and fixtures.
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Study: Home-Delivered Meals Could Save Money for Medicare
WASHINGTON — Medicare could save $1.57 for every dollar spent delivering free healthy meals to frail seniors after a hospitalization, according to a new study that comes as lawmakers look to restrain costs by promoting patients' well-being.
The report Thursday from the Bipartisan Policy Center addresses ways that Medicare can do a better job coordinating care for chronically ill patients, who account for most of the program's $650 billion annual cost. There's a growing recognition that practical services like meal delivery can make a difference helping older people avoid health flare-ups that can send them to the hospital .
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