Money flowed like beer in a St. Johnsbury bistro Friday, as a top official from the US Department of Agriculture joined Senator Patrick Leahy and USDA state director Ted Brady to hand out more than eight million dollars in grants to 33 recipients throughout the Northeast Kingdom.
Speaking to a grateful crowd packed into the Kingdom Taproom, USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Lisa Mensah said that the diversified funding package would improve life in this economically challenged region in many crucial ways.
“These dollars will mean more water and wastewater service. They’ll mean more jobs at small businesses, more affordable rents, first homes for families, more affordable energy bills, access to fresh and local foods and new opportunities for children,” Mensah said.
The Northeast Kingdom is one of only four regions nationwide designated as a Rural Economic Area Partnership, or REAP zone. In return for creating a long term economic and community development plan that includes public and private partnership, REAP applicants get federal funding priority.
This year, that’s brought bountiful returns, ranging from a million dollar grant to the Northern Community Investment Corporation to $2,600 for a new playground for preschoolers at the Burke Town School. Tara Robinson Holt directs the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce and is also part owner of the Taproom where Friday’s press event was held. The Taproom didn’t get a grant, but Holt says every private businesses benefits when federal money finds its way into rural pockets.
“USDA investments this year and in past years provide businesses like ours with a network of people and things that help us be successful,” said Robinson Holt.
Senator Patrick Leahy was also on hand to announce the funding.
“I hear from businesses here and business people all the time, ‘we want to invest in our vision for the future, we could use some help.’ And that’s what we’re here for,” Leahy said, noting, as he often does, that his wife, Marcelle, is a Northeast Kingdom native.
To end the press conference, State USDA Director Ted Brady handed out certificates to every grantee present.
As dozens of smiling community and business leaders from three counties posed for group photos, Taproom workers stood ready to take beverage and food orders, hoping for yet another boost to the local economy. Since the Northeast Kingdom REAP Zone was created, the USDA has invested more than 200 million dollars in Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans Counties.
