Dorchester Times: Grant Opportunities Available For Dorchester

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Grant Opportunities Available For Dorchester

Recently, some readers of the Times have expressed strong interest in our local government and organizational leaders pursuing more grant opportunities. Perhaps some of this interest was stirred after the Dorchester Area Community Association was awarded a sizable grant from Nebraska Game & Parks to help pay for the new shelter in the city park.

In any case, we conducted a quick search for economic development-related grants and programs currently available for communities like Dorchester. Here is what we found:

Nebraska Community Improvement Program: Communities now have until June 30 to enter the 2008 Nebraska Community Improvement Program (NCIP), a program of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. Membership in NCIP would increase Dorchester's chances for future grants, as well as help village leader develop a plan for the next 10-15 years . The program recognizes and presents awards for individual projects and overall community development endeavors. Considering all the improvements in and around Dorchester, our community would likely fare well compared to similarly-sized towns. For more information, contact Lindsay Papenhausen at 800-426-6505, or email: Lindsay.papenhausen@ded.ne.gov

Low Income Housing Repair: For help rehabilitating low income homes and rental units, local governments are encouraged to apply for $1.5 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to be awarded in the housing owner-occupied rehabilitation category. The Nebraska Department of Economic Development will accept applications until July 25, 2008. For information, contact Brian Gaskill at brian.gaskill@nebraska.gov. Applications must be for an owner-occupied rehabilitation program to serve low-and-moderate-income households in that single community. The application guidelines are available here, under the section titled“2008 Annual Application Cycle Chapter 6 – Owner Occupied Rehabilitation”. Technical assistance with the application process can be obtained by contacting Paula Rhian at 402-471-3760 or paula.rhian@nebraska.gov

Tourism Grants: For members of the Saline County Historical Society, July 15 is the application deadline for grants ranging from $2,000 to $50,000 through the Tourism Advantage Matching Grant Program. A total of $500,000 will be awarded in grants this year for a variety of advertising, marketing and promotional activities, including but not limited to mass media advertising, Web site development, the production and printing of travel literature and participation in travel, trade and sports shows. Grant guidelines are available at http://www.visitnebraska.org/.

Housing Funds: And just in case the Farmers Cooperative plans on new hiring anytime soon, there is the New Neighborhoods II Initiative, with up to $1 million available for three communities. To access the application form, click here. New Neighborhoods II is intended to help communities struggling to meet or keep up with the housing demand created by either new or expanding companies wanting to create new jobs and hire more employees.

8 comments:

AnonymousJune 3, 2008 at 4:08 PM
Also...I would check with Blue Valley Community Action in regards to other housing programs. They are an organization that receives set-aside funds for housing initiatives each year. In 2007 they were awarded $245,000 to administer homebuyer programs and $358,400 to help distressed rental properties in the Southeast Nebraska Investment Zone.

Not to mention they would be probably be able to apply and administer a housing rehab grant on behalf of the village, if the village so wished.

That's what they are here for. Might as well use them. It's worth a phone call.
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AnonymousJune 5, 2008 at 11:15 AM
This is in response to the grant response under oil wells: No one says hire a 'firm' to write grants. We have 2 village clerks, pay the $500-$700 to send one to grant writing classes, she receives one grant & she's paid for her training & part of her salary. The part about requiring matching funds, we have is it 6 village employees, get down to what's only necessary & you'll have some matching dollars.

Regarding the water meters you referred to, being on any board is not a popularity contest, it is about doing what's best for the village, school, county, etc. No decision is 100% popular, always listening to the nay sayers get you no where planning for the future.

Referencing your comment of how the citizens feel about low income & disadvantaged. That's all you're going to have soon because there is no housing for people with higher incomes nor will they build & live in a town with dirt streets with chuck holes the size of Texas.
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AnonymousJune 5, 2008 at 11:27 PM
Anonymous, you have my vote! I'm being 100% sincere. I hope you'll let us know who you are. We need you in a leadership position.
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AnonymousJune 6, 2008 at 11:45 PM
Clean house!
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AnonymousJune 7, 2008 at 9:53 PM
cj,bob and anonymous

my question once again???? Why didnt you know it alls run for village board????

If its so easy, you three could have done the job for all.

Stay in your own little world, take cheap shots at our village employees and board members and give yourself a pat on the back

you are my heros
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AnonymousJune 8, 2008 at 12:58 AM
Maybe I am running. :)

See you at the polls.
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AnonymousJune 8, 2008 at 8:36 AM
good try bob

You arent running for anything.
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AnonymousAugust 5, 2008 at 11:48 AM
STOP ARGUING!!!
Let's work together for the good of the entire community.
Stop the idle threats of firing the board and the city employees.
Let's fix what is broken and stop placing blame.
If the village will pay for the class, I would gladly take the class and start writing grants for us.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."