ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell
The Aug. 1 Shelby Chamber Connections Luncheon at the First Baptist Church of Columbiana featured Alabama Department of Economic & Community Affairs (ADECA) Director Kenneth Boswell.
Boswell was appointed to his position in 2017 after serving four terms as mayor of Enterprise. In his position at ADECA, he said he helps local leaders to improve their communities.
With a range of state and federal programs, ADECA distributes hundreds of millions of dollars to Alabama cities, counties, nonprofit organizations and others. Their grants support economic development projects, infrastructure improvements, job training, energy conservation, law enforcement, traffic safety, recreation development and more.
Boswell opened his comments by saying how great it was to be in Shelby County and also passed along a message from Gov. Kay Ivey.
“The governor asked me to let me you all know how much she appreciates what you do individually and collectively [in Shelby County] to make the state of Alabama as strong as it is,”he said.
Boswell shared that in 2017, ADECA invested $11.5 million in grants and programs impacting Shelby County, and in the past four years, Shelby County governments have received $1.4 million for community development and an additional half million dollars for a land and water conservation grant.
“Shelby County is a shining example of what we as state officials look at from a standpoint to get grants where they are needed,” Boswell said. “Counties and municipalities working together and legislature supporting what mayors and county commissions are supporting, constituencies supporting what elected officials are supporting make our jobs a lot easier, saying we need to help these people. Get dollars into that community so they can use it and relieve you of tax dollars.”
The focus of Boswell’s comments then turned to the 2020 Census and just how important it is for the state to have maximum participation. He said the approach is twofold, a grassroots effort as well as like running a campaign, since Alabama stands to lose a congressional seat. For each individual not counted, the state will lose $1,600 in federal funding. They have partnered with BIG Communications to help spread their message.
“The 2010 census showed us at about 72% participation rate,” Boswell said. “If we don’t participate, those [congressional] seats will go somewhere else and another state will get more dollars. We hired BIG Communications to do a poll in all 67 counties to help us form our message and reach those communities identified in 2010 as hard to count. Shelby County is a shining example of what the state looks for.”
Since the census dictates how much money the counties receive, Boswell emphasized the importance for the state to work hard to have a high percentage rate of participation and encouraged everyone to follow Alabama Counts on social media @alabamacounts.
The next Connections Luncheon will be Sept. 5 at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Columbiana.
