More than $400,000 from the state is set to be accepted and appropriated by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly for community projects.
An ordinance appropriating $426,303 for community projects from the state will be considered at Tuesday’s assembly meeting.
State funding, through the Community Assistance Program and the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, will be sent out to 27 unincorporated communities within the borough. Each community will receive $15,479.41 to support services and/or projects for a public purpose, Brenda Ahlberg, community and fiscal projects manager, said in a Sept. 26 memo to the assembly.
The program and projects will go through approval from the assembly. Ahlberg will oversee the program for the borough.
The program was originally known as the Community Revenue Sharing program, but was changed in 2017 to Community Assistance Program.
Qualified nonprofits or Tribal entities can apply with the borough for funding to produce projects and programs on behalf of unincorporated communities.
The community must host a publicly documented meeting to agree upon a project or projects that are publicly available to every person in the community, according to application information provided by the borough. Meeting minutes, sign-in sheets and other documents are needed for the application. Once a project is identified, a grant recipient will need to be identified. The funding will be awarded to an entity, who will be responsible for the project, which must reside within the unincorporated community.
People in the Kalifornsky area are already gathering to make plans for the state funds.
At the same time as the assembly meeting, Tuesday at 6 p.m., Kalifornsky residents are invited to Love INC to help make recommendations on how the program funds should be used and distributed for projects and programs. Eligible nonprofits will present project proposals at the Love INC meeting.
The funds may be used for public purposes at the discretion of the local governing body, according to state law and borough code, the memo said.
Program requirements can be found on the state’s website, www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/dcra/CommunityAidAccountability/CommunityRevenueSharing.aspx
Email the application and support documents by Nov. 4 to Brenda Ahlberg, Community and Fiscal Projects Manager, bahlberg@kpb.us.
