Grant for WVU Extension funds programing for Raleigh County youth and adults

Josephine Moore, The Register-Herald, Beckley, W.Va.
·2 min read

Feb. 20—The Raleigh County Commission approved a $20,000 grant for the WVU Extension Service Office in Raleigh County, whose programs aid local farmers and youth involved in 4-H.

David Richmond, agriculture and natural resources agent with the WVU Extension in Raleigh County, said the county funds enable them to offer training and programs that would otherwise not be available.

"A lot of the services that we offer, we're targeting underserved clientele," Richmond said. "It's services that are not traditionally offered in any other setting."

Richmond said WVU Extension Service focuses on three areas — teaching, research and service.

For teaching, Richmond said they run the county's 4-H program, which focuses on helping youth learn leadership, citizenship and life skills by participating in projects and service.

Raleigh County 4-H offers in-school, after-school, and summer learning programs for children ages 9 to 21. Some of those offerings include an outdoor classroom at the Raleigh County 4-H Camp, programs on substance abuse prevention, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) day camps, middle school readiness day camps for rising sixth-graders and nutrition education.

Richmond said they also offer programs for adults.

"We teach everything from adult agricultural; with our farmers, we take new technology from the university and bring it out and teach them new technology on their agriculture," he said. "We got a family and health agent that's training day care workers. So we just do a lot of educational programming — nontraditional programming is what we're mainly doing."

They also offer a master gardener program and pesticide training and run the Beckley Uptown Farmers Market.

Richmond said WVU Extension also receives funding from the Raleigh County Board of Education, which helps ensure that most programs are offered at no cost.

Raleigh County Commission President Dave Tolliver said the funds for WVU Extension Service come out of the county's coal severance fund.

In other business, commissioners approved a tax break for Highland Machinery, a Fayette County business planning to locate in Raleigh County.

Raleigh County commissioners agreed to decrease the personal property tax on new equipment and inventory for Highland Machinery by 50 percent for one year once they locate to Raleigh County and hire 30 new employees.

According to documents provided to The Register-Herald, Highland Machinery plans to develop a business location in Mabscott for additional manufacturing equipment and products.

County Attorney Bill Roop said the company plans to relocate approximately $5 million in inventory to its new location in Mabscott.

He added this sort of deal is not out of the ordinary for the county. Last year, the commission offered the same tax break to Klöckner Pentaplast, a plastic manufacturer, with the same contingency that it would require hiring new employees.

Roop said this deal with Highland Machinery would also require the approval of the Mabscott City Council.

Email: jmoore@register-herald.com