Eckville Continues to Build Community Through Partnerships

‘Building a Community of Choice for Family Through Partnerships’ is the motto of the Eckville Community Development Association (ECDA). This commitment to partnerships is what led Eckville to apply to be an ACE Community in 2008. Using their ACE seed funding, in combination with other funds also raised through partnering, Eckville not only hired the town’s first-ever Recreation Director, they also created the town’s Recreation Plan.

Flash forward to 2013 and Eckville is happy to report that the results from this partnership with ARPA has just kept growing! The Town of Eckville has recently committed $20,000 to help maintain the Recreation Director’s position for an additional two years.

“Creating a strong sense of community and including all citizens in meaningful and enjoyable recreational opportunities will greatly enhance the quality of life in our community,” says former ECDA board member Amy Cunningham.

Ongoing work towards establishing a local Spray Park has also been successful, seeing the Town not only approving a site but also committing to its upkeep. The Recreation Board has also recently received notice that a Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) grant for the Spray Park has been approved which is quite the achievement seeing that the community itself had to raise matching funds in order to qualify for the grant.  The CFEP also recently funded some renovations of the Eckville Community Center.  These successes reflect the power of a community working together on prioritized goals to enhance the community for everyone.

“We have ARPA and ACE to thank for this,” says Karin Engen, Coordinator at Eckville Neighborhood Place. “ACE facilitated our community to consult citizens, identified a community need, and then helped us work together to achieve our goal.”