CIC board scheduled to meet Tuesday

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner will be the featured speaker at Tuesday’s meeting of the Community Improvement Corporation Board of Trustees. The meeting will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the IBEW hall, 626 N. Fourth St. in downtown Steubenville.

Brunner will introduce a new on-line data resource, Better Lives, Better Ohio, during her remarks. At 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, she will host a forum at Eastern Gateway Community College to preview the service.

The data that can be researched in this new tool covers a wide spectrum of county-by-county information including natural resources, economic factors, health statistics, crime, census data and citizen involvement.

The CIC’s annual holiday gathering will follow the short business meeting. The January meeting of the CIC board is scheduled for the offices of Ambulance Service Inc., 1439 Sunset Blvd. in Steubenville.

State announces new block grant program

Ohio Department of Development Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel and Mark Shanahan, energy advisor to Gov. Ted Strickland, last week announced that the Ohio Department of Development’s Ohio Energy Office is accepting applications for $8.2 million in funding available through Ohio’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program for eligible state government entities and institutions of higher education.

 This request for proposal is the final solicitation for the $25 million allocated to the State of Ohio through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and approved by the United States Department of Energy on September 28, 2009. 

The program seeks eligible state government agencies, departments, boards, and commissions, along with institutions of higher education, for projects that lower fossil fuel emissions, reduce energy usage and create jobs. Eligible activities include energy audits, building codes and inspections, energy efficiency retrofits, installation of distributed energy technologies, higher efficient lighting for traffic signals and street lights, implementing transportation programs that save energy, reduction and capture of methane or greenhouse gases, installation of renewable energy technologies on government buildings, and development of an energy efficiency and conservation strategy. 

Interested applicants must submit a one-page project summary no later than 2 p.m. on December 29, 2009, at  http://recovery.ohio.gov/opportunities/state/. 

Second annual Best of County dinner set for March

The second annual Best of Jefferson County Awards Dinner, sponsored by Progress Alliance, will be held on Monday, March 29 in St. Florian Hall.

The social hour will begin at 6 p.m. with dinner to follow at 7 p.m. Information regarding tickets will be announced at a later date.

Progress Alliance currently is accepting nominees for 2010 awards.