Tools & Resources

People across America have been hit hard by the recession. Job growth is the most important measure of an economy on its way to a healthy recovery. Economists have lately been encouraged by slowing job losses, but despite the talk that the recession is coming to an end, the newest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the U.S. Census Bureau (Census) show that a large segment of the nation’s population is being left out of the recovery.

The State, Local, and Tribal Government Capacity Building Program (“SLTP”), part of the recently passed stimulus package, is a $12 million grant program. The federal Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (“ACF”) administers the SLTP. The program is designed to build the capacity of state, local, and tribal governments or designated nonprofit groups to work with the nonprofit sector to respond to the economic crisis.

Like so many metropolitan areas in the country with important urban centers, Richland County is growing rapidly both in population and development of once vacant land. Known as “sprawl,” this type of new development is costly, inefficient and inequitable. In response to sprawl, the Richland County Council adopted a comprehensive land use plan to advance the following goals over the next twenty years: 1) ensure efficient growth to control infrastructure costs; 2) improve the quality of life; and 3) preserve environmentally sensitive lands, special historic and cultural sites and open spaces. The County Council attempts to support development, while also engaging in preservation planning. It recently drafted zoning ordinance revisions to advance its comprehensive land use plan.