By Betsy Finklea
Dillon Community Alliance (DCA) Executive Director Stephanie Mitchell delivered big news to the Dillon City Council at their meeting on Monday night.
With the help of Lisa Moody, the DCA applied for a Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant back in January and Mitchell was thrilled to announce that the DCA was awarded $750,000.
Mitchell said this is a pass-through grant from the DCA to business and building owners in the downtown historic district and any adjacent buildings put on the register. She said DCA cannot use it to fix their building.
This is a highly regulated grant, Mitchell said, and the goal is to use it for roofs and foundations to the stabilize the buildings.
The grants will be matching grants in the amounts of anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000. The match can be a cash payment or can be working a certain amount of hours as a volunteer for a non-profit.
The grant must be completed in three years.
According to a press release, “The National Park Service (NPS) announced nearly $9.7 million in Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants to 13 subgrant programs in 12 states to support economic development through the preservation of historic buildings in rural communities across the country. These grants mark the fifth year of funding for the program honoring the late Paul Bruhn, executive director of the Preservation Trust of Vermont for nearly 40 years. State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, Certified Local Governments, and nonprofits were eligible to apply for funding to create a subgrant program to fund multiple preservation projects in their rural jurisdictions. Grants awarded in this round will allow state and local governments and nonprofit organizations to develop subgrant programs and select individual projects in their rural communities for physical preservation projects that will contribute to economic vitality.”
“Congress appropriates funding for the program through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). The HPF, authorized through 2023, uses revenue from federal oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf, providing assistance for a broad range of preservation projects without expending tax dollars,” the press release said.
“This National Park Service program is helping rural communities strengthen their economies through historic preservation,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams in the press release. “The subgrant programs being carried out at the local level are supporting improvements to historic buildings and fostering economic development across the country.”
Grants were awarded in the state of Montana, Virginia, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Vermont. The grant for the DCA was the only one awarded in South Carolina.