Chamber awarded grant for economic development study
By Tim Church (9-11-19)
The Table Rock Lake Chamber of Commerce is taking the next step towards the formation of an economic development plan thanks to a recently awarded $12,000 grant.
On June 13, the Table Rock Lake Chamber of Commerce and Missouri District 138 Rep. Brad Hudson hosted the inaugural Stone County Economic Development Summit in Reeds Spring. Immediately following the summit, Table Rock Lake Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Sheila Thomas said she was approached by Southwest Missouri Council of Governments Executive Director Jason Ray about a grant that could help fund some economic development research.
Thomas explained they had to work fast because she learned about the grant on a Thursday and the deadline to apply was on the following Monday.
“If you’ve ever been involved in grant writing, you don’t write a grant in four days,” Thomas said. “(Ray) said, ‘Let’s try it.’ The money needed to come through SMCOG, so he prepared the application. We reviewed it and that Monday we shipped it off. We really didn’t know what to expect, because we had put it together so quickly, but we were awarded $12,000 as part of this grant process.”
Thomas said with this grant, the chamber will be able to fund the research needed to form an economic development plan. She added that not only did SMCOG help them apply for the grant, but they’ll also be the ones conducting the research.
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