I can remember in 2022 when it was announced that the city of Yazoo City would be receiving $12.6 million dollars with the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity Grants Program.
I received press releases, interviews were arranged, the whole nine yards. It was truly a celebratory occasion for our community with big ideas and hopeful results that would come with the RAISE grant.
But, then it went silent. No more press releases were sent. No more interviews arranged. It simply went quiet for three years.
I was happy to see that silence broken during a recent city council meeting when our aldermen questioned the status of the highly-anticipated grant. I covered that discussion of the grant in this edition of The Herald. But, to be completely honest, I remain uneasy about the whole thing.
I have reported pretty much the exact same scenario before when it came to grants awarded to the city of Yazoo City. With one grant, a lot of work was done behind the scenes for hefty price tags. Often, those “behind the scene” firms were paid a lot of money to eventually leave town before our community could see the results.
I refer to the Brownfields Grant management for the historic Afro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital site. PM Environmental was selected as the grant overseer. The firm was paid big bucks for “grant management, community engagement and grant expenses.” I even emailed officials with the firm to understand the scope of their work, considering they were getting paid pretty well. I was told via email that the firm “unfortunately, does not allow soliciting communication.”
And what was Yazoo City left with?
The historic hospital was demolished, and all that remains is a concrete slab. But many outside agencies left with a nice paycheck for services the people were never informed of. It was too secretive for my taste.
I hope that the work being done behind the scenes with the RAISE grant is openly shared with the public and that we can see some results one day. We can’t afford another repeat of history where the money walked, and we were merely left with big dreams.
