How would you spend an extra $150,000 this year? That’s the question Norton Sound communities are asking now that Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation’s Board of Directors has announced the 2014 Community Benefit Share. Over $2 million will be distributed among the 15 member communities so local municipalities can fund their high-priority projects.
“The whole idea of the program is to give communities, in the spirit of self-governance, a say in how the community benefits shares are spent,” said Laureli Ivanoff, NSEDC’s Communications Director.
The program started in 1999 with a $10,00 share for each community. Over the years, the corporation’s financial assets have grown with successful commercial fishing in the Bering Sea, allowing for larger distributions.
To receive a share, each community’s city council must hold a public meeting so residents can voice their priorities for how the money is spent. This year in Elim, City Clerk Christine Amaktoolik said that money is mainly going toward fuel and elder care.
“We would hire someone to go to elders’ homes to see if they need help,” she said. “For instance, cleaning in their house, sweeping or mopping their floors, washing their dishes, taking out trash, hauling fuel or chopping wood.”
Amaktoolik said last year, each elder was given 150 dollars in assistance out of the benefit share, but this year they’re hoping to use $25,000 to hire someone to provide care for the elders in the community. Other portions of the money will go toward subsidizing high fuel, which Amaktoolik said has paid off well in the past.
“With fuel prices coming up, it sure helps our people here to purchase gasoline and heating fuel at a lower price,” she said.
While offsetting energy costs has been a primary goal for Elim, according to Ivanoff, other communities have put the money toward everything from school supplies to funding community activities and making donations.
“So there’s a wide range of priorities that the communities decide where this funding will go toward,” said Ivanoff.
Ivanoff said a few communities have already held their public meetings to brainstorm projects to fund this year. The deadline to submit paperwork and secure a piece of the benefit share is January 31st.
