Lt. Gov. Crouch, OCRA Announce 21 Communities to Receive $12.9 Million in Federal Grants
INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 13, 2022) – Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs today announced 21 rural Indiana communities will receive more than $12.9 million in federal grant funding to create and expand community facilities and improve water infrastructure.
“Quality of life is important for rural areas in Indiana, and these grants will help several Indiana communities make needed improvements and upgrades,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, who is also Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “As communities across the country age, funding infrastructure projects is becoming more and more important, especially water and wastewater projects. I am pleased to see many Indiana communities focusing their efforts in these areas.”
The State of Indiana distributes Community Development Block Grant funds to rural communities, which assists units of local government with various community projects such as infrastructure improvement, downtown revitalization, public facilities and economic development.
“Community Development Block Grant funding can be transformational in improving the quality of life in rural towns and cities,” said OCRA Executive Director Denny Spinner. “Over 20 Hoosier communities will now have nearly $13 million in financial support to carry out projects for public facilities, blight clearance and water infrastructure.”
The goals of the Wastewater/Drinking Water Program are to protect the health and environment, reduce utility rates for low-to-moderate income communities and improve rural infrastructure to enable long-term economic growth. Eligible Wastewater/Drinking Water Program projects include many aspects of wastewater improvements and drinking water system improvements.
Projects receiving Wastewater/Drinking Water Program grant funding include:
The Town of Lizton is awarded $700,000 for improvements to the town’s wastewater treatment plant and collection system. The project will make improvements to selected portions of the collection system to reduce inflow and filtration. Additionally, the project will provide the town with adequate capacity, increasing both reliability and efficiency in the wastewater system.
Funding for OCRA’s CDBG programs originates from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program and is administered for the State of Indiana by OCRA. For more information, visit in.gov/ocra/cdbg.