Several West TN communities to see major upgrades after statewide grant distribution

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has awarded their annual development grants statewide.

Three counties and eight towns across West Tennessee are being awarded community development block grants for local improvement projects.

Here’s the break down:

$26.5 million in grants was awarded across 44 communities statewide. $6,877,406 were allocated to 11 projects in West Tennessee.

“The CDBG grants can be used for basic public infrastructure like water and sewer, but they can also be used for public health and safety projects, community revitalization, new community buildings, so it’s a really flexible federal funding opportunity,” said Brooxie Carlton, assistant commissioner of community and rural development for TNECD.

Benton County is receiving almost $420,000 to improve an emergency communication project.

Chester County and Scotts Hill fire departments are receiving $420,000 each for new fire trucks.

Hardeman County is also receiving $420,000 for a new ambulance, replacing one lost in a vehicle accident last year.

Two towns in West Tennessee landed million dollar grants for new facilities.

Adamsville in McNairy County is receiving $1 million for a community recreation facility.

Whiteville in Hardeman County also landed a $1 million grant for a new fire station.

“We do a lot of fire stations and EMS stations as there’s not a lot of other grant funding out there for those types of projects, so we get a lot of requests for those and were able to fund a lot of those this time,” said Carlton.

We reached out to Adamsville Parks and Recreation and the fire chief of Whiteville, but neither were available for comment.

Most of the time, CDB grants like these are used for infrastructure upgrades.

The Selmer utility division is receiving almost $630,000 for upgrades to a pump station in Silerton.

The town of Friendship is receiving just more than $450,000 for general street improvements.

Gleason and Obion will receive large grants for improvements to each towns’ sewer system.

Finally, Milan is getting $445,000 for improvements to McKellar park.

Some town officials will be releasing more information over the coming days regarding their grants.

The city of parsons as well as McNairy and Hardin counties received million dollar grants last year. Learn more about the grants here.

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