Eleven nonprofit organizations will receive a combined total of over $650,000 from Sourcewell while 39 local government agencies will receive over $2.25 million in funding.
“We are immensely grateful to be a part of this empowering work,” said Paul Drange, director of regional services at Sourcewell. “These public entities and nonprofit organizations are critical to the communities they serve, and every dollar of funding counts.”
The selection and allocation of funds for local government agencies followed a similar structure to last year’s process: requests were reviewed and approved by the Community Solutions Advisory Committee, then projects were awarded by lottery until funding was exhausted. Drange explained that this process helps fulfill basic office and service area needs such as office furniture, flooring, technology, and other administrative needs.
Both the city of Hackensack and Walker will each recieve $50.000. The funds will update Hackensack’s technology and safety measures, improving efficiency in city departments and enhancing safety in city hall, on the streets, and in the community building.
Walker will use the funds to purchase a Jetter. This award allows the sewer department to create meaningful impact for the City of Walker residents by having scheduled cleaning of sewer pipes, keeping them free of debris, roots, and other obstructions.
Nonprofit applications followed a similar practice from prior years: Applications were reviewed by Sourcewell staff and its Nonprofit Advisory Council, with eligible projects advancing to Review Day, held June 18 at Sourcewell. Over 80 staff members, volunteers, and board members of nonprofit organizations in Sourcewell’s five-county area of service (Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd, and Wadena counties) heard each project proposal and then voted on and ranked projects for funding.
“Overall, we were able to award almost an additional million dollars this year compared to last year thanks to a record year for our cooperative purchasing,” said Drange. Community Impact Funding is supported by revenue generated from a national cooperative purchasing program. Sourcewell cooperative purchasing provides public agencies throughout North America with access to hundreds of pre-negotiated, competitively solicited awarded contracts for products and services.
“Every request that was confirmed to meet program requirements was funded. We’re tremendously pleased with that result, and excited to see the impact these funds can make in each community.
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