Greer Approves Grant Funds To Senior Center, Greer Community Ministries

Greer City Council unanimously approved the allotment of $39,000 in federal money to six local groups. 

The city of Greer this year received $252,219 from the Community Development Block Grant program, which is administrated by the federal government's department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 

Of that quarter-million dollars received, Greer can allot $39,000 to sub-recipients, who must apply to the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority. 

Assistant Administrator Mike Sell told council that the six applications - Greer Parks and Recreation's Summer Camp, Greer's Senior Center, Greer Community Ministries, Greer Relief and Brushy Creek 1st Assembly of God - were the same groups that applied and received CDBG funds a year ago. 

The CDBG come from a federal fund of nearly $5 billion that await allotment annually to various municipalities and governmental entities for a wide variety of community improvement programs from housing projects to infrastructure projects like water and sewer. 

The sub-recipient allotments can be made to groups providing a variety of services to the community. 

The city's summer camp program received $8,000, while the city's Senior Center received $5,300 for computer literacy programs. 

The biggest allotment came to Greer Community Ministries, which received $15,000. Greer Relief, which helps citizens in need with various matters like utility bills, received nearly $10,000 less than it had requested. Martin Livingston, the executive director of the GCRA, said Greer Relief's approved allotment amount of $4,100 was based on the fact that the organization still had more than 50 percent of its CDBG funding from a year ago. 

Meanwhile, Brushy Creek 1st Assembly of God received $1,600.