SEN. OSTEN WELCOMES $1 MILLION IN STATE GRANTS FOR LEDYARD PLAYGROUND AND FRANKLIN EMERGENCY SHELTER

State Senator Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) today welcomed nearly $1 million in state grants that will help build an emergency shelter at Franklin Elementary School and make playground improvements in Ledyard.

“These are both great projects. We’ve been trying to get this Ledyard playground money for years, and anytime we can make an investment in public safety like an emergency shelter with a generator in a school, I believe that’s a good investment,” Sen. Osten said.

Governor Ned Lamont announced today that he’s releasing $30 million in state grants to 46 small towns in Connecticut that will be used to complete a wide variety of infrastructure improvements, such as road safety reconstruction projects, emergency management upgrades, sidewalk and pedestrian safety enhancements, educational and recreational facility upgrades, and other kinds of capital improvement projects.

The grants include:

-Franklin: $100,000 in state funding is approved for the Franklin Elementary School/Emergency Shelter Generator Engineering and Acquisition. This will be matched by $20,000 from the town.

-Ledyard: $892,888.10 in state funding is approved for the Town Playground Improvement Project. This will be matched by $179,000 from the town.

The grants are being provided through the Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP), a state program managed by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management that delivers grants to small towns for economic development, community conservation, and quality-of-life capital projects.

In addition to the grants from the state, each municipality is also contributing funds, bringing the total spent on the 48 projects to $43.4 million in a combination of state, local, and other funding sources.