By Rhiannon Evans
Capital News Service
ANNAPOLIS – Maryland legislators are working to create a program that would better equip rural communities with resources to obtain grants and get more support for community projects.
Rural communities “have the same critical infrastructure needs as larger communities, but they don’t have the tax base to help,” Del. Natalie Ziegler, D–Howard and Montgomery, said.
Ziegler and other lawmakers have introduced a bill that would set up the Rural Maryland Capacity Building Fund, which would provide up to $50,000 to eligible participants. The legislation would also establish the Rural Readiness Program to offer help with grant writing and business planning. The Rural Maryland Council would run the programs.
“It’s about building that skill and capacity in rural communities so that we can create vibrant places all across the state,” Charlotte Davis, the executive director of the Rural Maryland Council, said.
Davis said communities and nonprofit organizations that complete the program would receive priority for the Rural Maryland Capacity Building Fund grants.
The priority would “put small towns and nonprofits in small towns on, if not a level playing field, at least a better situation compared to, say, the city of Rockville, which has full-time staff that can do that kind of thing,” said Ziegler.
She said one disadvantage rural communities face is the lack of staffing to find and secure project funding.
The bill calls for $100,000 to start the program. The House and Senate committees have held hearings on companion bills, which have garnered bipartisan support.
“I think it has strong bipartisan support because it looks like it’s a pretty good bill that will help our rural communities,” said Sen. Jason Gallion, R– Harford and Cecil, a co-sponsor of the bill.
Sen. Arthur Ellis, D– Charles, raised concerns over the bill’s definition of rural communities at a Senate Finance Committee hearing earlier this month.
“I just want to know that when we do things for rural communities, we know that even Charles County, which is the only majority Black rural community, by law gets those resources,” Ellis said.
Charles County is included in the definition of rural area, according to the bill.
Ziegler said one community that could benefit from the program is the town of Grantsville in Garrett County.
Town officials are trying to build a community center that will have amenities, including basketball courts, gym equipment and rentable indoor pickleball courts and studio space.
The community center would generate revenue for the town, but even with the $3 million from the Garret County government, the project still needs $2.5 million to get off the ground, Grantsville Mayor Emily Newman-Edwards said.
“The reality is that places like us don’t have access to these things regularly,” she said. “We don’t have other opportunities. There is no other community center.”
Newman-Edwards said for towns like hers with few staff and resources, the Rural Readiness Program could make a difference.
“Having this program designed to educate and inform would be crucial, particularly for the small communities that need that extra support,” she said.
