Newspaper Page Text
Page 2— Wednesday, September 29, 2021, The True Citizen
Reaching Gough’s potential
ANALYSIS BY
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Editor’s note: This is part 3
of a 3-part series examining
the challenges the Gough com
munity must tackle in order to
overcome its stunted growth.
While the likelihood of
Gough becoming a munici
pality is bleak, there is light
attached to the prospect of
what the Gough Improvement
Association can do to help re
vitalize the area.
The group is in the process
of obtaining a 501 (c) (3) status
so that its members have better
access to funds that will assist
in restoring and building the
community.
“We want to be advocate for
the people who don’t have a
voice or are scared to speak
up or don’t know,” Secretary
Manessa Stokes said during an
interview last month.
Real Manage, ranked one of
the top four Homeowners As
sociation management compa
nies in the nation, points out on
its website that “a community
association is not a governing
body. Rather, it is a member
ship group of people that serves
a specific purpose with respect
to a specific community or
a group of homeowners in a
specific geographic area.”
Civic associations differ
from homeowner associations.
“The purpose of the civic
association is to provide a
mechanism through which the
members can undertake discus
sions with local government or
within the community itself.
Planning social events like an
nual picnics or neighborhood
games are often part of a civic
association's duties. Civic as
sociations often support local
ordinances, such as noise pol
lution rules,” according to the
Real Manage website.
The Gough Improvement Association meets in this building on Bothwell Avenue.
WBCS new members
The Waynesboro-Burke Concert Series Board of Directors welcomed new members recently.
Pictured are, from left, Leah Waller, Mary Bowen, Nancy Minyard-Allen and Kenneth Holden.
Tickets for the new season are currently available. Visit burkeconcert.org for more informa
tion or call 706.526.5062. Additional season information will be available in future editions
of The True Citizen.
The Gough Improvement
Association, depending upon
the motivation and ambition of
its board members, potentially
has the opportunity to become
a powerful vehicle of change in
the small community.
Through its efforts to ob
tain the nonprofit status, the
group will acquire the ability
to receive donations from cor
porations, entities and private
contributors that grant donors
the option of itemizing their
charitable gifts.
The Gough Improvement
Association gains the status
of community watchdog, and
gives the group a voice in re
questing needed services from
the county. It can become the
eyes and ears of the community
and the entity that speaks to its
representative on the county
commission.
The potential exists to func
tion as an entity to which the
county can submit funds to fa
cilitate improvement projects.
A positive relationship and
a strong partnership with the
county could only be an asset.
The association can conduct
fundraisers that collect money
needed for positive change. It
can plan community events.
The members, if so inspired,
could work to secure grant
funding that assists in beauti
fication projects and brings the
community’s park to a higher
level.
The board members could
seek ways to assist to rehabili
tate abandoned and run-down
homes and to inspire entrepre
neurship.
Most important, The Gough
Improvement Association
could thoroughly research and
examine the need and potential
for either gaining a community
well or a sewer system so that
landowners aren’t burdened
by a 100-year-old platting plan
that restricts the entire com
munity’s potential for growth.
“Sewer systems are more
expensive to operate than wa
ter systems so the minimum
number of customers (needed)
would be much greater,” said
County Manager Merv Wal
drop.
The association members
and volunteers can work to
inform and conform the area’s
residents in working together
to achieve the greatest good
for the community, present and
future, making sure that growth
is paired with sustainability.
BCPS shares the wealth
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
COVID CARES Act funds
enabled Burke County Public
Schools to give Faith Christian
Academy a boost during the
height of pandemic times.
In response to the economic
outcome of the COVID-19
pandemic in the United States,
Congress passed three bills that
provided immediate and direct
economic assistance to state
and local educational agencies
through the Elementary and
Secondary School Emergency
Relief (ESSER) funds. Lo
cal nonprofit private schools
providing instruction in any of
grades K-12 was eligible to re
ceive ESSER benefits because
they are located within a local
education agency receiving the
funding.
“They are the same basic
guidelines that we follow for
Title 1 funds, which are fed
eral funds,” said Executive of
Operations Wayne Hickman.
“The schools that would have
been eligible to participate are
any private schools that serve
students who reside in Burke
County.”
Through the ESSER I,
CARES Act grant in April
2020, Faith Christian Academy
received $47,574.89.
Area private schools that
were entitled to share funding
were Edmond Burke Acad
emy, Waynesboro Mennonite
School, Faith Christian Acad
emy and Thomas Jefferson
Academy Inc.
“Even though Thomas Jef
ferson is not in Burke Coun
ty there are some students
who live here that attend that
school,” Hickman said.
BCPS gave notice to the
private schools and engaged
in consultations. Each school
had the choice of accepting
or declining the funds. Faith
Christian Academy was the
only school to take BCPS up
on its offer.
The only catch to the funding
was that the private school had
to allocate the funds to virus-
related issues like cleaning
and disinfecting, consumable
materials for construction or
electronic subscriptions.
“But if we were to buy,
say Chromebooks, then they
would only be allowed to use
them for the life of the grant
period and then they would
revert back to us, unless we
transferred the devices over to
another federal program that
continued working
with them and they SEE
wanted to continue BCPS,
to working with us 3
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2021 FORD