The deadlines and directions have been announced for the second year of Clinton County Legacy Fund grants.

The Clinton County Legacy Fund Committee will decide on these grants that are intended to benefit the local Clinton County community and its residents. The Clinton County Legacy Fund consists of money the county received from selling county-owned Clinton Memorial Hospital.

A letter of intent can be submitted from any of the following three sectors: 1) local 501 (c) 3 nonprofits; 2) local governments; 3) local educational institutions; or finally, an organization engaged with a fiscal partner that’s one of those three.

Starting on Feb. 1, 2021 letters of intent will be accepted.

The letters of intent are considered the first round of the grant process, said Mike McCarty, a member of the Clinton County Legacy Fund Committee.

These letters of intent are reviewed in the process of the committee making a decision whether to invite the applicant to go forward to the next round, McCarty explained.

Letters of intent will be accepted through March 1.

To get started next February, please visit the website www.clintoncountyohiofoundation.org and hover on the navigation menu item “Grants & Resources” and then underneath click on “LEGACY Fund”. That will take you to the LEGACY Fund page where you can click on “LEGACY Fund grant portal”.

Potential applicants will first set up a grant applicant account with the grant portal; and second, the applicant will provide information for the letter of intent.

On April 1, the Legacy Fund Committee will send out approval and denial notices, and invite the approved applicants to continue on to the next stage.

The next stage involves a more detailed application for Legacy Fund grant dollars.

On April 15, the committee will start accepting grant applications, with June 1 the deadline for applications to be submitted.

McCarty said the Legacy Fund Committee is tentatively looking at Aug. 1, 2021 as the date to award next year’s grants.

The Legacy Fund’s mission is to strengthen Clinton County, and improve the lives of its citizens through project-based funding. Grant funds are made available across the categories of safety, health and well-being.

In August 2019, the first Clinton County Legacy Fund grants were awarded. There were nine recipients receiving a total of $353,400.

Those recipients were: Village of Blanchester, the Clinton County Trails Coalition, the Clinton-Warren Joint Fire and Rescue District, the Blanchester Community Service Association Inc., Jefferson Township, the Murphy Theatre, the Friends of Clarksville, the Chester Township Fire and EMS, and the Clinton County Community Action Programs Inc.

The term LEGACY in Clinton County Legacy Fund can be taken as an acronym that stands for Local Endowment for Governments And Charities for Years.

Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.