County OKs $240K grant for Family Promise

LAWTON – Family Promise of Lawton, a homeless shelter that assists families in need, will receive a $250,342.36 grant from Comanche County for various projects.

The Comanche County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the grant. Funds for the grant will come out of the county’s share of American Rescue Plan Act dollars, part of the federal government’s effort to help local units of government recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Family Promise plans to use the grant money to replace its roof, upgrade its telecommunications system and expand its programming, among other projects, said executive director Sarah Svec. The agency will earmark some of the grant funds for employee retention.

“We have 12 families in the program right now and over 11 on our waiting list, so this is going to make a huge impact on Comanche County,” Svec said.

Oklahoma received about $1.87 billion in ARPA funds for projects designed to benefit all residents, on top of $1.32 billion in financial aid for local governments. Comanche County received $23 million from the state’s pot of ARPA dollars for local government.

In other business, the commission voted to lift the ban on outdoor burning.

The commission acted on a recommendation from Emergency Management Director Clint Langford, who said he had polled the county’s volunteer fire chiefs on Monday about whether to continue the burn.

“Seventy-one percent of our fire chiefs are actually recommending that we allow the burn ban to expire and that there’s no longer an emergent need,” Langford said. “So, we’d like to make a recommendation just to no longer extend it.”