TIOGA COUNTY, N.Y. - On Wednesday, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D- NY) arrived at the Tioga County Fair taking place in Owego, N.Y. to announce that he has secured approval from a House panel for $250,000 in federal funds to strengthen the Tioga Rural Area Economic Partnership (REAP) program - an initiative designed to spur economic growth in the county.
human hair extensions Hinchey was joined at the event by members of the REAP board and local officials to make the announcement on Wednesday, and to explain the importance of this program to Tioga County.
"Over the course of the last decade, the Tioga REAP has grown to be a critical part of Tioga County's economic and community development efforts," Hinchey SAID.
Hinchey also noted that because of the job loss Tioga County, N.Y. has suffered, many in the rural areas have to travel outside of the county for work. He added that the leadership of the REAP Program will help build growth within the county.
The new federal funds, which were approved last week by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, will be used to hire a new executive director to oversee and improve economic development initiatives undertaken by the REAP.
According to C. Thomas Bailey, president of the REAP board of directors, the board had to let their executive director go last year when funds dried up within the agency. Bailey now plans to hire a new director with the anticipated funds, and will also be looking at a way to restructure and provide assistance to rural organizations that are searching for grant money.
"We hope to get a circuit writer - someone who can go out into the towns to write the grants for them," Bailey said. "I retired five years ago and decided to stay here because I love the area," Bailey added, "so it's worth the investment."
abercrombie fitchHinchey agreed, and expounded on these efforts in a statement released following the announcement. He explained that as a member of the Agriculture Subcommittee, he helped establish the Tioga REAP Zone in 1999, and that over the course of the last decade, the Tioga REAP has grown to be a critical part of Tioga County's economic and community development efforts.
"These new federal funds that I requested will help strengthen the program by allowing for a new executive director to be hired so that economic development efforts can be more expansive and better coordinated. I will continue working to ensure that these funds are approved by the full House so that we can help create businesses, put people to work, and grow the overall local economy in Tioga County."
Since its creation, Hinchey added in his statement, more than $20 million in federal, state and local funding has been secured by the Tioga REAP for projects including workshops to help small business owners improve operations; upgrades and improvements to sewer and water infrastructure in the Town of Barton; renovations to the town square and park improvements in the Village of Newark Valley; and improvements to infrastructure needed to attract development in Lounsberry.
Hinchey developed the REAP Zone initiative as part of an effort to help spur economic development in struggling rural areas. REAP Zones are first cousins to the internationally recognized Empowerment Zones & Enterprise Communities and are pilot projects of the USDA. In January 1999, Hinchey persuaded the USDA to establish this new program in his congressional district on a 10-year trial basis, which was approved by the Clinton ad
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