News Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 14, 2007

Columbus, OH -- Lt. Governor Lee Fisher today announced the Gallia County Early Childhood and Family Center (ECFC) has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the Governor's Office of Appalachia (GOA) to support a centralized location for a number of community-based educational programs and services. First Lady Frances Strickland and Fred Deel, Director of the GOA, presented the award today to the Gallia County Board of Commissioners and the Gallia County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MRDD).

"We are pleased to partner with Gallia County to expand service delivery at the Early Childhood and Family Center and lessen the burden on the county's children and families who currently commute between multiple locations," said Fisher, who also serves as Director of the Ohio Department of Development. "Governor Strickland and I are committed to working closely with Appalachian communities to support local projects that facilitate economic and community development, and help the region achieve its goals to enhance the quality of life of its residents."

The expansion will create four new jobs and allow young children and their families to receive services provided by the MRDD and the local Head Start and Help Me Grow agencies currently available only at separate locations. Services include local public schools programs, speech/language therapy, occupational and physical therapy, nursing and nutritional services. The grant will be used to purchase equipment and outfit the ECFC with necessary classroom and office furniture, kitchen equipment and other conference, resource and therapy room equipment. The facility is expected to be complete in September.

The Governor's Office of Appalachia is a division of the Department of Development and represents the interests of the 29 counties comprising East Central, Southeast and Southern Ohio. The GOA works on behalf of the Appalachian Regional Commission in Washington, D.C. to support local, regional, state and federal initiatives that allow the people of Ohio's Appalachian region to obtain economic, educational and community prosperity.

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Media contacts: Melissa Ament at (614) 466-6619 or Kimber Perfect at (614) 466-2609