VIENNA - Three projects in Vienna have been given the go ahead after the city received more than $89,000 from the community development block grant program.
Mayor Randy Rapp said city officials were informed they were awarded the money last month and the projects to be completed with the funds have been approved.
"One of the projects where we will use the funds will be to pave the parking lot at the senior citizens center," Rapp said Thursday. "That program has grown and they need more parking space."
Rapp said other projects are to provide low-income families with more energy-efficient windows and build handicapped-accessible restrooms in the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department building.
Rapp said the city has been the recipient of community development block grant program money for the past seven years. Past projects paid for with the funds include window replacement, emergency heating repairs for low-income families and the elderly, and walkways and sidewalks in the area around the senior citizen apartment complex.
U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced the $367,411 in federal funding for Vienna and Beckley from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) program on Wednesday. The purpose of the program is to develop communities by providing the means necessary to establish practical housing and living environments, while promoting greater job growth and other opportunities, officials said.
Vienna received $89,772 and Beckley received $277,639 from the grant program.
"The community development block grant program gives cities like Beckley and Vienna the boost they need to make necessary community improvements," Capito said. "With this funding, two West Virginia cities will be able to establish better housing options and job opportunities that will attract newcomers to the state and improve the lives of current residents."
Manchin said the grants are an investment in the state's cities.
"Investments that improve our neighborhoods and revitalize our communities are important to cities like Beckley and Vienna," Manchin said. "This HUD funding will not only provide housing support for West Virginians in need, but it will also establish strategies that will boost local and regional economies through community development and revitalization projects."