The Board of Supervisors has adopted a resolution for funding that could potentially assist many people throughout Amador County. Larry Busby of the Central Sierra Planning Council and Karen Glaze of Motherlode Job Training each fielded questions from the Board concerning funding from the State’s Community Development Block Grant Program. The money received will be designated for two purposes: job training and a first-time homebuyers program, both for Amador residents of low income who qualify. 500,000 dollars was applied for first time homebuyers and 340,000 dollars was requested for job training.

Supervisor Richard Forster questioned Glaze on why she had only requested 340,000 for job training, considering that the request could have been up to half a million. Glaze said the reason was two-fold: the Motherlode Jobs staff is limited and can only work with a particular budget, and because the State was more likely to consider requests within realistic budgetary limits. “I would have been happy to request maximum amount, but I wanted ours to be reasonable and competitive with the other counties. Amador County’s unemployment has not taken as big a hit as other areas of the state,” said Glaze. The Board praised Karen’s work so far. The job training portion of the plan is intended to serve up to 77 people over a two year period. Further information about he grant will be available to the public shortly.