U.S. Senator Tim Kaine stopped in Harrisonburg today to announce federal funding for downtown infrastructure improvements and mental health care in Harrisonburg. WMRA’s Calvin Pynn reports.
One lane stretching five miles through downtown Harrisonburg will become a two-way bicycle track with help from a $14 million grant as part of the city’s Downtown 2040 plan. Harrisonburg was one of more than 160 cities awarded funds through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Kaine said the project’s mixed-use nature gave Harrisonburg a competitive edge among 1,100 other cities that applied for the grant.
KAINE: It connects people to work, it connects people to farmer’s markets, it connects people to universities, it connects people to churches. And I think that was the aspect of it that was attractive to DOT.
Later, Kaine sat down with members of city council and leaders from six local mental health agencies to discuss the $400,000 in American Rescue Plan funds that will be split among them. The agencies, including Strength in Peers and the Collins Center, will fund community support programs and expand staff - a solution that Kaine will prioritize when the senate reconvenes next month.
KAINE: We’re short on the workforce, we’re short on a diverse workforce, so we need to get people trained through universities, and make it easier for people who are in recovery who may have criminal records, but that means they're the perfect recovery specialist, making sure they can get licensed. (:16)
For WMRA News, I’m Calvin Pynn.
