Kentucky Stories | Community Development Digest

USDA Expands ‘StrikeForce Initiative’ for Rural Growth

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announces an expansion of the USDA “StrikeForce Initiative for Rural Growth and Opportunity” in order to address chronic rural poverty in 32 identified counties in Oklahoma and the entire island of Puerto Rico.

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City’s Surplus goes for Affordable Housing, Homeless Initiatives

Affordable housing has been a growing problem as the area has lost 28,000 apartments affordable to minimum-wage workers in 20 years, a recent report found.

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Obama Names First Communities in ‘Promise Zone’ Initiative

In an initiative aimed at helping distressed communities and regions, President Barack Obama on Thursday announced his administration's first five "Promise Zone" designees: San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

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‘Layering’ Financing Enables Historic School Rehab in Kentucky

A team of developers has arranged several layers of financing to support renovation of a vacant and historic former elementary school in Lexington, KY. In its place, the Lexington-Fayette County Urban League, a nonprofit social welfare agency advocating on behalf of disadvantaged city residents, an...

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Funding Available to Help Connect Small Businesses to DOT Contracts

Between $125,000 and $145,000 is available for business-focused community organizations and others in the South Atlantic region, which includes North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

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City Offers Unique Relocation Incentives for Businesses

Paducah Economic Development hopes to spur job growth through renovating property and letting employers lease them at below-market rates -- in certain cases rent-free -- in exchange for providing jobs in the community.

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Louisville Uses 3-D Technology to Plan 'City of the Future'

Using Web-based technology and 3-D modeling, Louisville, KY is seeking feedback from its residents as to how the city should be further developed over the next quarter century.

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Kentucky Nonentitlement Areas Nearing Application Deadlines

Kentucky nonentitlement areas seeking state CDBG funds are nearing their Sept. 4 deadlines to apply for funding.

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State and Local Briefs

California: The Northern California Community Loan Fund receives a $2 million grant from Chase that will be used to make loans to nonprofits in support of large-scale affordable housing projects. The grant will aid in several affordable housing loans, ranging from multi-family rentals to home owners...

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(LOCAL) KY City Generates Redevelopment Using Tax Hike

Owensboro, KY's economic redevelopment successes of the past three years -- exceeding $1 billion -- are the result of planning, community support and, of all things, a tax increase. At the start of Mayor Ron Payne's term three years ago, he and others in city government decided that doubling insura...

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