MCWAPEC – Leverage Federal and State Dollars Two to Three Times
Two speakers, Amy Kessler a Representative from North Central Regional Planning, and Connie Kallerson who presented Wreaths Across America attended the MCWAPEC (Mckean, Warren, Potter, Elk, and Cameron Counties) to provide information on types of projects to seek funding for, how and where to apply for grants to fund projects, and fundraising with the Wreaths Across America at the meeting in Coudersport, PA, on June 23.
Kallerson explained how the Wreaths Across America Program works. She explained how organizations lay live balsam fir wreaths on Veteran’s graves across America, most notably at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA (Washington DC). “The ceremony held on the day wreaths are placed is to Remember and Honor our deceased Veterans and teach the younger generations about the value of their freedoms and the importance of honoring those who sacrificed to protect those freedoms,” Kallerson
said. “In 1992, The Worcester Family donated 5,000 wreaths from their wreath-making company to Arlington National Cemetery. Each year, through groups and individual sponsorships, that number has grown. In 2020, over 1.7 million wreaths were laid on Veteran’s graves at over 2,700 cemeteries.” Kallerson explained that wreath sponsorships are sold by fundraising groups and they may sell at any time throughout the year. Wreaths will be delivered at no extra cost and will be laid simultaneously across the country in December by volunteers. For more information, you may visit wreathsacrossamerica. org.
Kessler touched on infrastructure-related grant programs specifically in rural areas. Kessler explained that the 12-year plan, a legislative document that the state has for capturing long-term projects, is challenging to be on. “You if you not in the first four years, no one is looking at it. That is where the money actually gets spent. You have to have a lot of vehicles over your roads and bridges. Most of the questions we get are how to get a bridge when there are only ten cars on it. It is a balancing act with those resources. There is money available. Right in November, the Federal Government passed the bill ‘Infrastructure Jobs Act’. In most of the rural communities, I would honestly not waste your time there. I would go after the projects of the existing programs that everyone in the country and Pennsylvania is ignoring and go after the big flashy light bulbs.
Go after EDA (Economic Development Administration) money under their General Funding for Infrastructure for water, sewer, and those kinds of projects. Go to ARC (Appalachian Regional Commission) for access roads or feasibility studies that you might have or broadband-related projects. If you have coal impacts, they have all kinds of money available. For infrastructure, there are two programs that I will do for roads and bridges. Even though I work for PENNDOT, I will tell you as a municipal official to go through DCED (Department of Community and Economic Development) Multimodal Program. They are the exact same programs. The DCED offers local municipalities zero match. It is more competitive but you don't have to put any skin in the game. PENNDOT is a 30% local match and less competitive but you have to put skin in the game. I will tell you the first question that we are going to ask you; what are you doing with your Act 13 dollars, what are you doing with your CARES funding, and what are you doing with your ARPA funding? If you are not willing to put any of that money towards one of your infrastructure projects they are going to question how important that project really is. So think about that. How
do you take a dollar and leverage the federal and state dollars two to three times?”
Kessler further explained how to apply for funds, “Call For Projects is on www.ncentral.com. There you can submit any project that you feel that you want to do within your community.” She said that they do match staff to work with applicants with their applications for funding to help get the project done. “That is the gateway to start to get your project ideas in front of us,” Kessler said. She said that there are projects that they won't fund but will try to guide someone in the right direction to get the funding that is requested.
Christopher M. Ernst, P.E. President of E & M Engineers and Surveyors PC said, “There are more restrictive regulations in effect that impact wetlands. Specifically in regard to the Joint Permit Application. It may trickle down to some of the lesser type permits that need to be done in terms of how much wetlands you can disturb under the permit. The minimum threshold that you can do now in a lot of cases, is going to be reduced to zero where you cannot impact any wetlands without having to do a more involved design and measures.”
The MCWAPEC Counties Borough Association has created a Facebook page that anyone can visit at www.facebook. com/mcwapec/.