The Dumas Chamber of Commerce heard a presentation from Sarah Kinser, Chief Program Officer for Arkansas Community Foundation and a Delta Area Community Foundation Giving Tree grant award ceremony at their monthly meeting Tuesday, October 5, 2021.
Kinser oversees the Foundation’s grantmaking, affiliate system, impact investing and community partnerships. She talked about the services the foundation provides and how the data on how resources can be distributed to counties across the state and where is the critical need. The first need is 3rd grade reading and how there is reduction of 3rd grade reading level from 38% in 2019 to 30.4% in 2021. She said parent and community engagement, absence prevention, kindergarten readiness, summer learning and classroom instruction are some ways to improve the numbers. She also talked about food insecurity with Arkansas being 2nd in the nation with 16.6% of Arkansans being insecure in 2019, 18.3% in 2020 and 17.6 percent in 2021. She said ways to make this better is to make food easy to access, nutritious, affordable, safe and client centered.
Lura Cooper, Delta Area Community Foundation member, presented the recipients of the Giving Tree Grants and the Youth Advisory Council. They award $17,759 for nine nonprofits including:
Lisa Goodgame – Daughters of Charity Services of Arkansas (DePaul Community Health Centers): An award of $2,000 from the DACF Giving Tree Endowment is to purchase food, personal hygiene items to stock four Little Food Pantries located in rural areas of Desha and Lincoln County.
Peggy Chapman – Desha County Museum: An award of $1,000 from the DACF Giving Tree Endowment is for the Museum’s Potato House to help with the purchase of a new ceiling and a plexiglass wall panel, to show the saw dust method used for insulation.
Julianne Gasaway – Main Street Dumas: An award of $1,000 is to purchase giveaway learning resources for children in grades K-5 at their Annual Merry on Main Street event.
Hunter Bennett – Dumas Public Library: An award of $1,760 from the DACF Giving Tree Endowment is to make modern improvements to the Community Meeting Room.
Lindsey Wilkerson – Jodie Partridge Center: An award of $2,000 from the DACF Giving Tree Endowment is to help with the purchase of a commercial size refrigerator and freezer.
Dr. Sylvia Simon – Southeast Arkansas Imagination Library: An award of $2,000 from the DACF Giving Tree Endowment is to help with the purchase of books mailed directly to children’s homes once a month for 12 months, at no cost to families. They are also receiving a $1,500 matching grant award from the Arkansas Community Foundation for meeting criteria for the Grade Level Reading initiative.
Youth Advisory Council awards include: Candace Wilson – Dumas School District: An award of $4,000 from the DACF Youth Endowment (also referred to as Dumas YAC Endowment) is to purchase personal hygiene products to assist the hygiene needs of the students, male and female.Cora Lee Nash and FCCLA President, Jayla Newburn – Dumas School District: An award of $2,000 from the DACF Youth Endowment (also referred to as Dumas YAC Endowment) is to purchase 10 sewing machines, fabric, supplies, patterns, and steam irons.
Lisa Goodgame – Daughters of Charity Services of Arkansas (DePaul Community Health Centers): An award of $2,000 for an after school tutor program in the Gould area. They will be purchasing desks, books, computers and other supplies needed for students. The after school program will be located in the Wellness Center.The Chamber made a motion to approve second their September Minutes and Financials. The Chamber had an income of $4,458 with expenses of $3,409.88 with a net profit of $1,005.12.
UAM College of Technology-McGehee Chancellor Bob Ware reported that they are registering for the spring semester and will have new programs in health and agriculture in the future. Cortez Smith, director of Career Pathways Initiative, announced a program for low income parents for Southeast Arkansas. The Education Pays program that pays every parent who enrolls and meets qualifications $1,200 for their academic achievements. He invites parents who wish to earn an education with technical aid or associate degree to come see him about the program.
Superintendent Kelvin Gragg updated on improvements made to the district using SO1 funds designated for PPE equipment. They installed handless hand washing machines, mobile water stations, and cameras on buses for contact tracing. They received SO2 funds totaling $2.1 million in the second round of funds. They completely replaced HVAC units at the Dumas High School. They are currently working to completely replace the old HVAC system at Central Elementary and upgrading camera systems. The cost for both projects is around $1.6 million and passed the extra money along to staff for their work in the spring. They received ARP funds of $5.1 million with 20 percent going to lost learning like summer school, after school programs and school day intervention at a cost of $1.1 million. They have a proposal to purchase five new school buses with air conditioning. They are also working to replace all the HVAC units at Reed Elementary to promote fresher air with a projected cost of $1.2 million and the Dumas Junior High School costing $600,000. Gragg said he will be proposing next year to the school board a retention bonus to keep teachers in the school district. He reported a decrease in students from 10 years ago with a decrease in funds from $7.1 million in state foundation money to $4.7 million. He said the district is in good shape, but he will be working on cuts to make sure the district remains financially viable in the future.
Rev. Authur Hunt, gave his report on the College of Aspiring Artists. He announced Innovation Day 2021 to be held October 30, 2021 where Architect Ed Levy will be speaking at the event.
The Economic Development Committee Alice Curtis met last week. They received feedback from local industries at their luncheon and will work to implement their suggestions.
Julianne Gasaway, Director of Merry Main Street, announced Merry Main Street to be held December 2, 2021 with several new activities to be added. She talked about the sale of their new cook book and sold out in the first two week of the book being printed. Anyone wanting to be on the waiting list for a copy can contact a board member. They are working on a grant to create a mural on the wall of Meador Pharmacy.
Sheree Jackson gave the City of Dumas report on the purchase of the On Solve one call program. They started putting phone numbers into the program, and asked community members to provide their phone number and email address if they have not provided it. The city will be constructing a new maintenance building on the old Dollar General warehouse location in the fenced area. Southeast Arkansas Development District will help with administrative issues and will be financed from Community Unlimited Funds and city funds. The loan for the Dumas Winchester Water Project was finalized last Thursday and published advertisement bids. The project is funded by a Principal forgiveness loan of $3 million and a loan of $975,000. The SkyCop cameras have been ordered. A public hearing will be held Tuesday, October 12 at 5:30 concerning the issue of the tower use permit. The request is to construct 150 ft two cell towers on the pavement between Days Inn and Big Boys BBQ in the business section of town. A Fall Festival will be held October 23 in Memorial Park from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. By a local group called JOAT or Jack of all Trades. Mayor Flora Simon submitted an outdoor park and recreation 50/50 match grant for Memorial Park. Simon has also been invited to make a verbal presentation on October 28.
Lisa Goodgame, DePaul Community Health Centers, announced received approval for renovations for the DePaul Health Center Gould Office Dental Clinic. The $500,000 will see the dental clinic completely remodeled from new floors, layout and equipment. They hope to get started in the next month and complete the project in nine months. They are still giving out the Moderna covid vaccine and the PCR and Rapid for covid testing. They have flu shots and will come to businesses to administer the shot. They still have their 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday night walk in the clinic without making an appointment.
