The Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) has announced the award of funds to 17 communities totaling more than $8 million, including a grant to the City of Knox in the amount of $464,620 for an addition to the Knox Phoenix House Advocacy Center Building.  The Phoenix House provides transitional housing for victims of domestic violence.

The City applied for the grant on behalf of the Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, Inc., with the funds to be used to add meeting/advocacy rooms for clients, increased office space and storage space for donated items for current or future victims of domestic abuse.

Indiana Lt. Governor Becky Skillman announced yesterday that 13 Indiana communities will receive a total of $10,876,512 for storm water infrastructure projects.  The grants are funded by an appropriation for disaster recovery efforts from the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, given to alleviate damages from several large storms in 2008 that caused flooding.  Included in the 13 communities receiving these grants are the two Starke County communities of North Judson and Knox.

North Judson will receive a total of $837,095 while Knox will receive a total of $736,553.  The program is adminstered in Indiana by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA).

The City of Knox recently held a required public hearing prior to submitting an application to the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) for a grant under that agency’s Community Focus Fund.  The application is being prepared on behalf of the City by the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission and is in the total amount of $600,000, with a match by the City of $208,022, making for a total cost of $808,022.

The grant funds would be used to test existing sewage lines and installing new sewers in alleys downtown between Pearl and Main Streets and Shield and Main Streets; clarifier improvements at the wastewater treatment plant; and the replacement of a lift station near the south side fire station.

The City has made application for this same work along with some additional surge protection work at the treatment plant under a different program also administered by OCRA, and are hopeful that one or the other of the applications will be approved for funding sometime this Fall or Winter.

With a grant to Starke County from the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in the amount of $1,034,000, the Koontz Lake Regional Sewer District has now captured over $14 million dollars in grant and loan funding to build that system.  Previously, the District had received a combination of grant and loan funding from the USDA-Rural Development totaling over $13 million.  The most recent funding is from a supplemental appropriation of CDBG dollars that were made available to aid in economic recovery after several natural disasters caused damage in many areas across Indiana during 2008.  This program is administered by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA).  OCRA will also provide technical assistance to community leaders during the 18-month implementation of their water infrastructure project.

This newest grant will help fund the construction of a wastewater treatment and collection system to replace existing individual septic systems.  Failing septic systems have created serious health concerns, including raw sewage overflows into Koontz Lake and the presence of E. coli at unsafe levels.  The new wastewater treatment and collection system will alleviate these health concerns as well as protect the environmental conditions of the lake community.

Women who are interested in starting or growing a business are invited to attend the 4^th annual “Advancing Hoosier Women in Business Seminar” on July 15, 2010 in Regina Hall on the campus of Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana from 10:00 – 2:00 local time.  Sponsored by Lt. Governor Becky Skillman, the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA), and the Indiana Small Business Development Center Network, the seminar will feature Hoosier businesswomen who have been successful in starting new businesses, and they will share their success stories with those in attendance.  The Lt. Governor will also speak at this seminar.

The fee for registration is only $25.00, which includes the cost of lunch, and anyone interested may sign up either by calling 800-824-2476, or going online at http://www.in.gov/ocra/2341.htm.

Lieutenant Governor Skilllman announced earlier this week that the City of Knox has been awarded a $29,700 planning grant in order to update the City's master plan for its park system. This funding will allow the Park Board to prepare a 5-year master park planning study in compliance with Indiana Department of Natural Resources regulations.  The plan will examine such things as safety upgrades to playground equipment as well as expansion of current park facilities.  The funding comes from federal dollars out of the Community Development Block Grant Program, administered in Indiana by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA)