Greene County Development Corporation is continuing to find ways to fund a new program to bring in the Latino population.

GCDC is working with Carlos Arguello with Latino IQ on the “Nueva Vida in Greene County,” or “New Life in Greene County.” As part of the overall project, GCDC is applying for a $500,000 Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. GCDC President Sid Jones told the County Supervisors at their meeting on Monday that the grant requires a 20-percent match, where half of the match can be from in-kind donations. 

GCDC also applied and was denied an Economic Development Administration grant through the USDA. Jones talked about what happens if they don’t get the RISE grant.

“If it doesn’t happen then we still have to move forward with the project, but we’ll have to do it at a speed that we can afford, that we can afford as a county, and we can afford as employers. We’re able to put our budget together, we approved it last Tuesday at our GCDC meeting to fund this through December of 2022.”

The Supervisors were asked to provide a letter of support for the RISE grant application and that they would not be financially committed toward the project at this time. Supervisor Chair John Muir shared his comments.

“Financially, I won’t be there at this point on this project. But the letter of support to encourage that I think it’s a good idea and I believe all of your ideas that it will work is fine with me.” 

The Supervisors voted 3-2 in favor of a letter of support for the RISE grant, with the announcement of the recipients to be in September.