Van Buren County awarded a $50,000 grant Thursday to improve the county’s technology.
Van Buren County UT Extension Agent Chris Binkley said the county received the grant after he and County Mayor David Sullivan participated in several trainings where they learned how to get federal grants. Binkley said the county will use the grant to purchase computers, microphones, and cameras to upgrade technology for county meetings.
“Van Buren County is quite a distance from some of our regional partners, such as the Upper Cumberland Developmental District and things like that, so we are a little stretched from those,” Binkley said. “So this way we can have meetings and our partners, our regional partners, can join remotely.”
Binkley said Van Buren County is one of two counties in the state to receive the grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission. Binkley said he believes Van Buren was selected because of the county’s at-risk status within the Appalachian Region.
“I think we were asked to participate because of our rural nature and, you know, we struggle with a lot of economic things,” Binkley said. “Sometimes our technology gets fallen behind because we have to spend money in other places.”
Binkley said he and Sullivan participated in the trainings once a week for three hours, plus meeting four other times for one-on-one meetings. Binkley said though it took a lot his time, he felt like it was worth it to get the grant.
“Anytime you can get a $50,000 grant with no match in Van Buren County, that’s a good thing to help us build the capacity that we need,” Binkley said the county will wait till the next fiscal year starts in July to begin purchasing equipment.
