Perry

For a number of years, the Marion-Perry County Library has not been able to secure enough funds at the local level to operate the library on a fulltime basis.  Last year during Covid we had to reduce the  number of days that we were open to three.  We simply did not have enough funds to pay staff to be open more than three days a week.

This year, with the funds from RC&D we have been able to pay our monthly bills and apply our local funds to staffing expenses, thus allowing us to be open four days a week.  This has mean a great deal to our patrons, many of whom rely on the library on a daily basis for internet and computer service.  We were also able to buy more books this year with the money that was freed up for collections when RC&D funds helped us with our utilities.

The south side well pump will provide water to the cattle on the south side property.  The sell of these cows the profits goes towards St. Michael’s Iron Horse Charities to help defray the cost of the events we put on each year for disabled veterans and 1st responders.

As a new school and Alabama’s second rural charter school, Breakthrough Charter is working to ensure students have access to much-needed technology to help prepare students for success in the 21st century. To support effective teaching and learning with appropriate technology integration, we are purchasing Promethean smart boards for all teachers. This grant will help us purchase this necessary tool for teachers. These smart boards allow students to interact with curriculum in a more hands-on, technologically-conscious manner.

Note: The image below is an example of how Promethean smart boards will look in the classrooms. We are currently waiting for the devices to arrive in Fall 2021. This backorder issue is directly tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vision 2022: Marion Military Institute will be nationally recognized as the premier leader development college of Alabama with whole cadet enrichment through an immersive and intentional experiential learning environment, a relevant, rigorous and robust academic program and character and leadership education development system.

In order to do this MMI realized it must stay on top of the technical curve and began upgrading each classroom last year.  Ala-Tom RC&D’s 2020/2021 grant allowed MMI to kick off the upgrade.  By the end of the summer (2021) MMI will have upgraded 25 of the 27 classrooms. The MMI Classroom Technology Upgrade Project has provided MMI with the means to upgrade our classrooms with the most up-to-date instructional technology. These upgrades have allowed the MMI faculty to engage students more effectively both in the classroom and with remote delivery.