Bright blue pinwheels are now spinning on the courthouse lawn.
On Tuesday, members of Hope Unlimited and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), along with county commissioners and others, placed the shiny markers in order to raise awareness for child abuse.
According to their website, the pinwheels are a symbol of “growth and prosperity,” “a garden of children, growing.”
Commissioners also supported the effort by signing a proclamation declaring April child abuse awareness month.
LISSE REGEHR, CEO of Thrive Allen County, and Jessica Thompson, Thrive deputy director, continued a conversation with commissioners at their meeting about transportation programs and grants.
Thompson began by noting that “any decision that you make about fares, any kind of donations, that’s all for Year Two. You agreed last year as to what you were going to do Year One.”
Thompson was referring to last week’s commission meeting wherein it was suggested by commissioner David Lee that he might not be willing to vote for the grant match, and that he expected any program of this kind should at least “break even.”
However, the county’s pilot transportation program will continue as originally agreed upon, with Thompson providing the following numbers as to the cost in the first year:
The federal government will provide $109,716 for the program in grant funds, and the state will provide $14,125. Allen County’s local match to receive the funds is $39,788 (minus forthcoming CARES Act money).
Thompson also continued to advocate for the program by reminding commissioners that, according to data collected by the federal government, “for every dollar spent on transportation, there’s a $4.00 economic return.”
The county’s program, at least in year one, will offer free rides to anywhere in-county, and will launch as soon as a driver can be hired.
Speaking to the need for transportation locally, since October Thrive’s own pilot transportation initiative has provided 252 rides for residents to all manner of health, safety net and food access stops, both in- and out-of-county.
Regarding both programs, “this is our year to work out kinks,” Regehr added, “to see if this is really a good fit or not. We believe it will be.”
Chelsie Angleton, 911 director, said around 20 seats still remain for the hostage negotiation training for dispatchers at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
She also noted that you can now follow Allen County 911 on Facebook, the feed for which will feature up-to-the-minute notifications as well as educational materials.
