As part of the ongoing process of working to improve living in rural Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly recently announced 14 grant recipients of the Rural Champions program. One of those recipients is Cowley County, where the monies will be used to develop strategies to combat hunger. This is the second year that the state, through its Office of Rural Prosperity, has awarded the Rural Champion grants to organizations within counties with fewer than 40,000 population. An application for Cowley County last year was unsuccessful. This time, though, the state is awarding the county through the Legacy Community Foundation one-year wage stipend of $20,800 along with training and resources provided for the person chosen to be the Rural Champion. The community will receive up to $25,000 at the end of the research and preparation year to fund the implementation phase. The grant dovetails with a similar effort to combat food insecurity. In July, RISE Cowley received a $55,000 grant per year for three years from the Kansas Food Action Network. That grant will enable coalitions such as RISE Cowley to look at the policies, systems and environmental barriers to food security.
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler
