WORCESTER COUNTY - The Southern part of Worcester County is the focus of a new project initiative.
On Tuesday, Worcester County commissioners accepted a $150,000 grant to advance economic growth in Southern Worcester.
The U.S. Economic Development Administration is partnering with the Tri-County Council for the Lower Eastern Shore according to county officials. The goal is to increase jobs and eligible job options, while also diversifying the types of jobs in that area.
The county’s Chief Administrative Officer Weston Young says this is pure economic development.
“The county as a whole is agricultural based, and is tourism hospitality based,” he says. “While we have other industries, like what Hardwire is doing down in the Pocomoke Industrial Park, just leveraging our proximity to Wallops, which has the Navy, NASA and NOAA. There's ample opportunity to have other aerospace and defense type industries in the southern part of the county.”
The funding comes from a $75,000 grant from the U.S Economic Development Administration, along with an exact price match from the TCC.
Keith Hornberger is the co-owner of Wulfhause Productions, a stained glass studio in Pocomoke City. He says he hopes that with the grant, Pocomoke will thrive more than it currently is.
“We’re on the right direction now, we’re revitalizing,” he says. “Adding this stuff onto it is just going to add fuel to the fire, and I think it's going to explode here in Pocomoke. It's going to be amazing, all the things that are happening.”
Kevin Brown and his wife are residents of Snow Hill, one of the towns impacted by this initiative. He says infrastructure comes first.
This is absolutely a wonderful place,” he says. Everywhere can use improvements. By the creation of industrial parks and economic development of these areas, hopefully it will bring more money into the county and the towns, and they'll benefit from it.”
Weston Young says there are a few more steps to take in this process. The steps include bidding out the grant money, and finding the right consultant to do the study that meets both the county and federal government's requirements.
