Congressman Aderholt Announces Community Project Funding
WASHINGTON —Congressman Aderholt released the following statement after Congress approved several Community Project Funding items he requested for the 4th District. Those projects include $725,000.00 the Capstone Rural Health Clinic-Nauvoo and $625,000 for the Sheffield Housing Authority.
"One of the most important duties of Congress is to fund the federal government and to make sure those tax dollars are being spent in a responsible manner and going to projects that truly make a difference in the community. These two projects, which I directed funds to, are both perfect examples of tax dollars being spent in a responsible manner that will benefit thousands of people. I was glad to be able to request these funds on behalf of these communities rather than a bureaucrat in Washington, who knows nothing about Alabama, deciding how tax dollars are to be spent here in our district. I look forward to seeing these projects get underway."
Details on the two projects in the 4th District Congressman Aderholt secured funds for:
Capstone Rural Health Clinic-Nauvoo
- Located at 5947 Highway 269, Parrish, AL 35580, in a two-story building that was originally built to house a food bank. The pharmacy is located on the 2nd floor. There is inadequate patient care space and lack of full ADA access to services on-site.
- The site is located in Nauvoo but has a Parrish mailing address.
- Requested: $725,000.00
- At the new clinic, services that would be provided include:
- access to primary and behavioral healthcare;
- increased space to accommodate an additional primary care provider;
- case management services;
- a dedicated room to provide Telehealth Services to patients when primary or behavioral health care providers are not in the clinic;
- ADA-compliant access to pharmacy services.
- The existing Nauvoo Clinic currently provides medical and behavioral care at approximately 3,600 visits each year and the Nauvoo pharmacy fills more than 2,500 prescriptions each month.
Sheffield Housing Authority
- Located at 505 North Columbia Ave., Sheffield, AL 35660.
- Requested: $500,000.00, was increased to $625,000 in the appropriations process.
- Funding for the Demolition of Blighted Properties and Purchase and Rehab of Tax Sales and Foreclosed Properties, Sheffield, AL, Colbert County, AL04, would be used for demolishing blighted structures in the City of Sheffield; and to purchase and rehabilitate tax sales and foreclosed properties for use by Sheffield Housing Authority's Housing Choice Voucher programs.
The Congressman also secured funds for two projects in Huntsville. While they are not directly in the district, people in the 4th District will benefit from these projects:
U.S. Space and Rocket Center
- Located at 1 Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL 35805
- Requested: $400,000.00
- The Space & Rocket Center is building a new facility for new STEM and cyber education classrooms that are sorely needed. This request will help provide equipment for the new building and directly assist the Center's outreach to underserved and rural schools with the goal of enhancing student achievement in STEM areas of their studies. The funding will specifically support the Center in providing equipment, teacher training, curricula development, computers and books.
- This project is a good use of taxpayer funds because the Space & Rocket Center provides a unique access point for STEM education opportunities for underserved and rural students in North Alabama, the state as a whole, and beyond. Student success beyond technology, but facilitated by the technology is the key function that the Center can provide with this project. It will provide access for students to guest speakers - leaders in the emerging space industry, not limited to commercial space launch activity. Emerging career paths such as engineering, healthcare, technology, and cyber that the Rocket Center offers could be modeled for students in rural and underserved areas.
- The full document can be found here.
Institute for Digital Enterprise Advancement
- Located at 210 Wynn Dr., Huntsville, AL 35805
- Requested $550,000.00
- Funding for the Systems Engineering Technician Education Initiative
- This project brings a new workforce development pathway for a new skillset needed by the research and development community. Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is a vital capability that can accelerate the research and development timeline by modeling/automating existing processes in the project life cycle and deliver new technology into the hands of the warfighter significantly faster. This 2-year System Engineering Technology (SET) Associate Degree provides a low cost, accelerated entry into the high tech field of engineering and should be attractive to graduating high school seniors, returning veterans, or workforce up-skilling/re-skilling.
- This is a good use of taxpayer funds because it will decrease the development timeline for new DOD systems and development in highly technical fields (e.g., hypersonics, weaponized unmanned aerial systems, directed energy) by creating more efficient processes, resulting in significant cost savings on Defense projects.
- The full document can be found here.