HCECF helps Nashville thrive through new grant

When Holley Johnson stepped into the role of executive director at Holmes County Education & Community Foundation, her hope was to bolster the community support side of the foundation’s giving component.

She’s off to a stellar start.

The HCECF announced an award of up to $81,598 to the Village of Nashville to complete essential upgrades to its public water system. These funds are granted from the Western Holmes County Community Fund, which was established by an anonymous donor for the public good and to improve the quality of life for the residents of Western Holmes County.

“The donations were the first big step, which have happened over the past several years, but as far as I know, this is the first large amount that has been granted through the HCECF,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she first learned about several various needs in the county when she campaigned for the role of commissioner, and in learning about them, it created a passion to help these communities and organizations.

In 2021 the foundation expanded its mission to have an impact beyond education to connect philanthropic resources with further essential needs throughout Holmes County. The goal of HCECF is to provide leadership to resolve community challenges and to create valuable assets for the future.

Johnson said seeing the passion of the people of Nashville to invest in and improve their community was inspiring.

“The Village of Nashville has worked hard to improve the quality of life of its residents through various projects,” Johnson said. “One of the greatest focuses of the village in recent years has been upgrading their public water system. This project represents the largest public infrastructure project in the history of Nashville and addresses long-standing EPA concerns. Nashville has secured significant support from state and federal partners, but they had a remaining funding gap to complete the project. We are thrilled to be able to fill that gap with funding from our community foundation.

“This is exactly why our foundation was expanded in 2021, and we are delighted to be able to give to a project of this magnitude. We believe the completion of this new water system will not only ensure a safe and reliable drinking water supply in Nashville, but will be a great boost to the economy there. We wish the Village of Nashville the very best for continued success.”

Dan Hiller, mayor of Nashville, expressed his gratitude to the HCECF for its commitment to serving the county.

“The Village of Nashville has one of the biggest projects in recent history slated to start in the next few weeks, and thanks to this final grant funding from the HCECF, Nashville will be able to complete the entire project according to the engineering plans,” Hiller said. “Updating the village’s current 7,500-gallon outdated water system will take the freshwater storage to an astounding 91,000 gallons. This will provide higher quality drinking water for the village and surrounding users and much-needed fire suppression support for the local fire departments to better fight fires.

“The village is always looking to expand. Having this new supply of clean drinking water will hopefully entice people to build and settle in our beautiful village. This funding not only affects our current village residents, but will have an everlasting effect on future generations who will raise their families in Nashville. Nashville will always be home to many, but thanks to this grant, I think it will be home to many more for years to come. From the bottom of our hearts and on behalf of the Village of Nashville, thank you.”

Johnson said the hope is this is the first of many community grants to be filtered through the HCECF, and it will be a total community commitment to grow and improve the county.

“This is just the beginning,” she said. “We want everyone to understand the significance of the foundation and the incredible things that can happen when we all work together. When you have people giving and investing back into the community and have leaders who are looking at projects to see what will have the biggest impacts and these organizations and villages on fire to find funding for projects, you’re opening a lot of doors.”

She said this is proof of what the foundation can do in working closely with the community.

Johnson said she hopes people will see this success and take on a key role in furthering the efforts.

“We live in an amazing county full of giving people and businesses,” Johnson said. “I can’t take credit for this because the giving has been in place prior to me being here, and what (former director) Shasta Mast and the board accomplished before me put everything in place to be successful. It’s been a real community effort with people investing time and energy and giving back.”

This grant to Nashville is an example of how philanthropy through the Holmes County Education & Community Foundation can have a significant impact on the county.

If anyone is interested in increasing this impact and allowing HCECF to respond to priority issues now and in the future, they can get in touch with HCECF by calling 330-674-7303 or emailing Johnson at hjohnson@hcef.net.