What Virginians Are Reading: Federal Funding for Local Projects Headed to Communities across the Commonwealth
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In December, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine announced that they secured over $200 million in federal funding for local community projects across Virginia in the Fiscal Year 2023 government funding bill. The federal dollars come from a process that allows members of Congress to work with the communities they represent to request and dedicate funding for specific community projects in a manner that promotes transparency and accountability.
Local leaders have praised the funding, which will help communities boost economic development, upgrade infrastructure, address gun violence, improve health care, and more.
Read below for a sampling of the local coverage.
Bluefield Daily Telegraph: VCEDA getting $7 million in federal money to widen Buchanan County highway
A $7 million federal grant is helping turn plans for a two-lane highway in Buchanan County into a four-lane which will help traffic going to a local industrial park and boost economic development across the region. […]
In a joint statement issued by U.S. Senators Tim Kaine, D-Va. and Mark Warner, D-Va. the senators said, “The Coalfields Expressway will boost economic development in Southwest Virginia and make travel throughout the region safer. We’ve heard from countless Virginians about the importance of this project and are proud to have pushed for the maximum available funding for the widening of the Corridor Q section in Buchanan County to continue the development of the expressway. The $7 million we secured for this project in the latest government funding bill is a significant investment in making this dream a reality.”
Cardinal News: Federal spending bill includes $7 million for Coalfields Expressway, plus other projects in region
A release from Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both D-Virginia, included a long list of projects in Virginia that would receive funding under the bill. Highlights include $2.5 million to replace the Wiley Drive bridge in Roanoke, $1.5 million for the Energy DELTA Lab in Wise County, $1 million for research at Virginia Tech to extract rare earths and other critical minerals from coal, and $500,000 for Pulaski to help convert a former Black school into a museum and cultural center.
Daily News-Record: Proposed Federal Budget Includes Some Funding For Local Projects
Funding planned in Rockingham County includes $3 million allocated to Virginia Department of Transportation’s completion of Phase 1 of the Shenandoah Rail Trail, a proposed, multi-use trail through Rockingham, Shenandoah and Warren counties.
The statement said $1 million is earmarked for the City of Harrisonburg, for the design and construction of a raw water and potable water transmission project that will move water from the city’s Dry River intake to the Grand View Drive Water Treatment Plant.
Senators earmarked $500,000 for the Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority in efforts to provide permanent supportive housing at the Commerce Village Annex Permanent Supportive Housing for elderly, veterans, and individuals with disabilities or serious mental illness with low income in the city, according to the statement.
Fredericksburg Today: Government spending bill has 1.1 million for Germanna cybersecurity and nursing training and free clinic
The Omnibus spending bill signed by President Biden Friday included over $1.1 million for cybersecurity and nursing programs at Germanna Community College.
Sen. Tim Kaine and Sen. Mark Warner secured $870,000 for Germanna’s James R. Clapper Center for Innovation in Cybersecurity. The funding will be used to grow Germanna’s cybersecurity degree and credential programs.
GCC President Janet Gullickson thanked Kaine and Warner, noting that: Germanna has been designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. She said GCC “is committed to ramping up educated professionals in that field. We understand, as Sen. Kaine and Sen. Warner do, how vital cybersecurity is to our national security, and how great the need is for skilled cyber professionals here in our service area.”
Gazette-Virginian: $2M in federal funds flow for South Boston upgrades
The town of South Boston will receive $2 million in federal funding to repairs and replace storm sewer lines in the area, according to a joint news release from Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.
South Boston Town Manager Tom Raab confirmed the boon in an interview Tuesday afternoon. […]
“We’re just appreciative of both senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine for getting these funds for Southside Virginia and the Town of South Boston,” he expressed.
Progress-Index: Tri-Cities to receive over $15 million in federal funding to improve roads, broadband access, and more
The Tri-Cities is expected to see an infusion of cash towards several projects as the U.S. Senate passed several funding bills last week.
Over $15 million of federal funding will be going to the region to support various projects, secured by Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. These projects range from upgrading Petersburg's emergency communications system, to road improvements in Hopewell and Prince George, to improving broadband access for students at Virginia State University and the surrounding areas, and more.
Reston Now: Federal funds secured for cycle path to Innovation Center Metro station
A cycle path to the Innovation Center Metro station is circling closer to construction.
Roughly $4 million in federal funding was secured for the project, which will include a cycle path from Sunrise Valley Drive to Innovation Metro Station, Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced yesterday.
Smyth County News & Messenger: Federal spending bill includes major wins for Smyth, SWVA
Southwest Virginia and Smyth County in particular fared well in the newly signed $1.7 trillion spending bill that keeps the government operating and provided more aid to Ukraine. […]
Of note is $1,000,000 to support a unique and groundbreaking program being implemented by the Town of Marion and its Economic Development Authority.
Dubbed Project BAUD: Blighted, Abandoned, Underutilized, and Dilapidated Properties, the program addresses just what its title suggests — rehabilitating and otherwise addressing such sites to provide more affordable homeownership opportunities for low- to moderate-income households.
Washington Business Journal: From workforce training to mental health support, federal spending bill distributes millions to local higher ed
The largest single earmark — besides Howard University and Gallaudet University, which receive millions in dedicated funding each year — is $2.2 million from the Department of Education to Northern Virginia Community College to expand the nursing program at its Medical Education Campus in Springfield, to include computerized models of the human body and other technology for clinical training, according to a joint statement from U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Virginia Democrats.
WAVY: $70M in federal budget money expected for Hampton Roads projects
Virginia Senators Mark Warner (D) and Tim Kaine (D) announced $200 million in earmarks for the Commonwealth in the recently passed budget bill, including $70 million for projects specific to Hampton Roads.
From child care to safer streets to better public transit, there’s something for just about everyone. The project getting the most funds at $30 million is the expansion of Craney Island. It will increase the capacity of the Port of Virginia by upgrading the ability to dredge the shipping channel.
WHSV: Shenandoah Rail Trail project continues to move forward with federal funding secured
One of the most ambitious recreation projects in the history of the Valley is another step closer to becoming a reality. The Shenandoah Valley Rail Trail project will get a boost thanks to federal funding.
The federal budget passed by Congress last week includes $3 million to VDOT for the recreational trail that will be built on nearly 50 miles of an old rail line stretching from Broadway to Front Royal. […]
Davis’s team worked with the offices of Virginia U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in an effort to get the funding in the budget on behalf of the larger Shenandoah Rail Trail Partnership.
Winchester Star: Proposed federal budget includes millions for local projects
Nearly $6 million of the $200 million is targeted for projects in the Northern Shenandoah Valley. […]
$1.5 million for Valley Health in Winchester to purchase telehealth equipment to facilitate access to care in rural and underserved areas of the community, construct a 2,500-square-foot federally qualified health center that would allow for five treatment areas for behavioral health services, and renovate existing space to increase access to behavioral health services.
An additional $500,000 for Valley Health to develop a Health Professionals Training Program in Winchester. The nonprofit healthcare provider would work with secondary educational institutions to build graduate counseling programming and develop the professionals needed to close the care gap and address a growing need within rural and underserved communities.
$921,000 for Shenandoah University in Winchester to establish a new Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree to address the shortage of qualified mental health professionals in rural parts of Virginia.
$3 million for the Virginia Department of Transportation‘s completion of Phase 1 of its Shenandoah Rail Trail, a proposed multi-use trail through Warren, Shenandoah and Rockingham Counties.
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