City groups are vying for grants from government
It's that time of year again.
A bevy of Elgin organizations are vying for a slice of a funding pie courtesy of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
But not all who have applied for a Community Development Block Grant are likely to secure funding.
The city expects to receive $863,000 to dole out, but nine entities have requested a total of $1.08 million.
That's a difference of nearly $219,000.
One group hoping to land a grant is the Renz Addiction Counseling Center, Two American Way, Elgin.
Jerry Skogmo, the center's executive director, said the center recently bought a 8,400-square-foot adjacent building at One American Way.
A $50,000 grant would go a long way toward doubling the center's size during a renovation project later this year, he said.
"We've run out of room and we have some serious space shortages," Skogmo said.
Deb Howe, the center's director of development and marketing, noted a larger building will allow more on-site visits for addiction and gambling counseling and less travel time for counselors going from Point A to B.
Overall, the largest grant request comes from the city itself.
The Planning and Neighborhood Services department is seeking up to $625,000 to award for its residential rehabilitation grant program.
Other groups seeking funding are: the Housing Authority of Elgin; the Fox Valley Mental Health Foundation; the Elgin Day Care Center; the Association for Individual Development; the Elgin Boys and Girls Club; the Well Child Center; and Quad County Urban League.
Jerry Deering, the city's community development director, said this marks the 34th year the federal government has distributed grant funds to the city.
The amount of funding available is comparable to last year, he said.
The city staff is reviewing whether each request fits within federal guidelines.
Elgin city council members are slated to review the requests during a work session Feb. 13. A final decision is expected early April.
Bright minds indeed
A seventh-grade student at the Da Vinci Academy in Elgin recently netted a perfect score in a vocabulary contest administered to some 230,000 students across the country.
Keith Kimberling of South Elgin was one of only 61 students nationally to achieve perfection in the Word Masters Challenge.
The competition involves vocabulary-building and analogy problem solving.
Jeff Oldham, Da Vinci director of admissions and marketing, believes it's the first time in the Elgin school's history a student finished with a perfect score.
Three other students from the private school for gifted children also had outstanding results in the 21-year-old challenge: Ian Wilkinson and Emma Perry, both of Elgin, and Jack Michuda of Geneva.
The students were coached in preparation for the challenge by Marge Uhlarik-Boller, a middle school language arts teacher at the Da Vinci Academy, 37W080 Hopps Road.
hhitzeman@dailyherald.com