A small Jones County community is one of 42 rural local governments in North Carolina to receive a Rural Transformation Grant, supporting rural economic development projects in North Carolina.
A total of $19.76 million in grants will be issued in this second round of grantmaking from the fund, and the Town of Maysville’s share of that is $850,000.
Maysville Town Manager Schumata Brown said the grant will help with the revitalization of the downtown by rehabilitating the historic buildings on Main Street.
He was still stunned by the news of the grant approval and said, “Christmas came early for Maysville.”
The town of just under 800 people has been working over the last several years to improve the community and its Main Street corridor, and Brown said efforts like the recently added Maysville Marketplace – a group of pop-up shops that can be used by small business vendors – as well as investments by businesses and even the renovation of homes by the construction community were big steps taken toward the approval of the grant.
The grants are intended to help local governments overcome challenges that limit their economic competitiveness.
The funding comes from the American Rescue Plan, signed by President Biden last year.
“More support for North Carolina’s rural communities is on the way with these transformative grants, made possible by President Biden’s American Rescue Plan,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “These funds, backed up by the expertise of our rural development team at the Department of Commerce, will bring more economic opportunity to people across the state.”
The North Carolina Department of Commerce and its Rural Economic Development Division administers the fund.
