More funds earmarked for Project 17

The ante was upped for Project 17 when the state's top commerce official announced April 13 Gov. Sam Brownback's plans to funnel another $500,000 of state funds to the 17-county revitalization effort.

Already writing a one-year, $500,000 appropriation for the project into his proposed budget, Brownback now sees the need for a two-year investment, said Pat George, Kansas Secretary of Commerce.

The news came as state officials, city and community leaders and the Project 17's 16 executive steering committee members gathered at St. John's Parish Hall for the Southeast Kansas Project 17 Spring Summit. About 220 attended the meeting, a regional briefing on progress made by the committee since its inception at the Together We Succeed: Southeast Kansas Economic Summit last November.

George, like the 12 others who addressed the summit, talked about a continuing need to work together as a region if Southeast Kansas is to bounce back from the 2008 recession.

To do that, he said, every single county and its residents are going to have to buy into the project. And that includes Brownback, a Linn County native.

"The governor believes in (Project 17) enough (that) he's dedicating resources, too. The governor put in his budget a million dollars for this effort," George said. "I can't tell you how hard that is to get done."

Right now the state dollars are tied to this year's omnibus bill, which legislators will battle over when they return to Topeka later this month.

Sen. Jeff King, one four state senators who spearheaded the revitalization initiative, said the Project 17 line item could end up being used as a carrot in the ongoing redistricting debate. Southeast Kansas officials have resisted efforts to eliminate a district from the region.

Even if the $1 million is struck from the budget passed by this year's legislature, King, an Independence Republican, said he's confident the governor will use executive discretionary funds to support Project 17.

"The best way would be to go through the legislature, but it's not the only way," King said.

Representatives of the four subcommittees under the Project 17 steering group presented updates on progress made since November. Joyce Cussimanio said the subcommittee charged with building better leaders in the region will be meeting with the Kansas Leadership Center in Wichita April 30. There, a plan will be developed to put $1 million worth of leadership training "to good use," she said. KLC, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting civic leadership, recently awarded Project 17 a $1 million grant.

Economic development efforts are picking up, said Project 17 committee member Yvonne Hull.

Hull said Project 17 has started conversations with area businesses to gauge attitudes, concerns and conditions in the area.

The subcommittee is also researching the entire 17-county region to get a better understanding of the challenges faced and the assets and resources available when pursuing economic development.

Project 17's Scott Jones said his subcommittee, charged with developing a permanent structure to house and sustain the project, is investigating other regionally driven economic initiatives throughout the country, including projects in Arkansas, North Carolina, Maine and Minnesota.

Joe Sneeve can be reached at joe@iolaregister.com. His story was used by permission from the Iola Register.