Southwest Georgia communities receive millions of dollars in community development funds

LEESBURG – In towns across Georgia, long-overdue infrastructure improvements are finally moving forward thanks to more than $36.2 million in federal grant funding awarded to 36 communities, including several in southwest Georgia.

These grants — funded annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered through the Department of Community Affairs – are designed to help rural Georgians. After an application process that spanned about half a year, the DCA released the 2025 list. This year’s grant awards include $32.2 million for infrastructure projects and $3.9 million for various building projects. 

“Community Development Block Grants allow rural Georgians to have access to resources that strengthen their infrastructure, enhance community facilities, and improve overall quality of life,” DCA Commissioner Christopher Nunn said. “These grants ensure that local governments are given every opportunity to thrive. When our communities and facilities thrive, so do their citizens.”

Southwest Georgia communities Americus, Colquitt, DeSoto, Leesburg, Lumpkin, Meigs and Parrott received $1 million each to complete projects city leaders said the municipalities would otherwise not be able to afford. Many of them were aided by the Lee County-based Still Waters Engineering Firm.

Still Waters CEO Chad Griffin said small-town projects are the heart of his company’s mission. 

“Stillwater’s acronym stands for ‘striving to improve local lives,’” Griffin said. “Our firm has always worked with municipalities in south Georgia to help improve infrastructure in these communities … a combination of water, sewer, roads, septic tanks … anything a community may need.” 

Griffin said Still Water goes into communities, talks about the grant applications with city leaders and helps map systems to pinpoint infrastructure in need of an upgrade. 

“These CDBG projects are to help low- to moderate-income areas … and benefit citizens,” he said. 

Leesburg was one of the communities Still Waters worked with. The city’s receiving funds for water and sewer improvements on Hawthorne and Lee avenues, Putnam and Callaway streets, Linden Road and Kinchafoonee Drive. The project will benefit 70 people, of whom 64 are low- to moderate income, according to the Georgia Municipal Association. The total project cost is $1,117,975, of which the city will match $117,975. 

“We’re very excited about this grant through the DCA,” Leesburg City Manager Bob Alexander said. “There’s a modern income section of town that has old clay sewer pipes and worn-out water mains that will be replaced by this grant. This will certainly help us with some of our infiltration problems that we’re having with our sewer lines these days.”

Alexander said the outdated pipes and lines have broken up underground, creating leakage and putting stress on the sewer treatment plant. 

“By upgrading and reducing what we call infiltration, this makes your wastewater treatment plant a lot more efficient,” he said. “Same thing with the galvanized water pipes that we have; this also makes for a better system and better quality of water.”

Alexander said Leesburg is anticipating growth — Census data show the population has grown by 1,000 since 2005  – and new developments, both residential and commercial. 

“With this anticipated growth, I think it’s important to have as good infrastructure as possible for our city and citizens,” he said. “Leesburg has limited funds available to maintain all the infrastructure that needs to be upgraded, and with the assistance of the DCA, we do a much better job in upgrading our system.”

In Americus, the CDBG award will directly address residential concerns along Bessie Mays Circle, and Norman Cole and LeFuse streets. The funds will go to drainage and water improvements along these streets. The total project will cost $1,156,517 with $156,517 paid by Americus. 

Edward Jackson, the Americus director of community development, said residents in this area vocalized concerns about stormwater and sewer drainage leading to flooding and sinkholes. He said the system in this area hadn’t been upgraded for about 20 years. 

Community outreach is a key part of applying to CDBG grants.

“We did what we call a ‘cookout conversation,’ in that particular neighborhood,” Jackson said. “My team, we went out, cooked hamburgers, hot dogs and offered an informal setting where people could come, give us their concerns, ask questions, sign waivers and say they were in favor of applying for the grants.” 

The city of Parrott also took a hands-on community outreach approach when applying for the grant. Parrot City Clerk April Johnson handled community outreach, taking two months to knock on every single door in Parrott. She gathered household income surveys, and listened to resident concerns and other critical information needed to demonstrate Parrott’s eligibility. 

“They were willing because it’s going to make their water services a lot better,” she said. “The larger pipes will let the water flow better.” 

Johnson said residents who live farther out on water lines sometimes run into problems with the flow. 

“But, we have a good water superintendent who keeps the flow and takes good care of the water,” she said. 

Parrott was awarded $1 million for citywide water system improvements. This project will directly impact Parrott’s entire population of about 150, 76% of which are low- to moderate-income households.

Parrott Mayor Jake Pritchard said the grant will be a game-changer for the city, upgrading a section of iron pipe that’s been in the ground for about 100 years to plastic piping and enlarging pipes attached to fire hydrants.

“This is the first chance in a while that we’ve had to really do some major improvements,” Pritchard said. “It’s going to put us in a good spot moving forward, especially if we were to have a growth spurt.” 

These changes aren’t just about maintenance; they’ll also improve fire protection, eliminate any lead presence and potentially lower insurance rates for residents. For a town like Parrott, this kind of project – which will cost the city nearly $1.1 million total – doesn’t come often.

“It’s (the water system project) massive compared to what normally happens,” Pritchard said. “It’s about five times what our normal big projects are.”

Pritchard said these CDBG grants are instrumental for places like Parrott to be able to do projects at the scale of the water system upgrades. 

“I don’t know that there’s a better way for us to get these projects done than these block grants,” he said. “This is really the only way to get that much money for us, because otherwise we’re too small to qualify for big grants.They’re invaluable in that aspect.”

Griffin said that while the cities receiving CDBG grants have to match some funds, the amount is small in relation to the grant amount they receive. 

“It allows them to not have to tax their citizens and not have to increase their water rates and then to provide good quality water to their citizens,” he said. 

City leaders don’t have an exact timeline for the infrastructure projects. Jackson said a DCA conference in October will see cities awarded the funds. 

Alexander said Leesburg’s project should be completed within two years.