Coburg, Lowell and Blachly land big grants.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

In a year of little or no good financial news, three Lane County communities had cause for celebration last week when they got word they'd won grants - big ones - to help build connections with their schools.

The Rural Community School Partnership grants went to 17 small communities around the state, among them Coburg, Lowell and Blachly, which received $250,300, $209,900 and $189,600, respectively.

The three-year grants, from the Roseburg-based Ford Family Foundation, aim to help recipients enhance school offerings and launch community education programs that can be sustained through fees and fund-raising after the grants expire.

Communities had to apply for the grants and offer specifics about how they would use the money, which is available immediately.

The news brought sighs of relief in Coburg, where businesses and townsfolk have fought hard in the last couple of years to keep their beloved elementary school open.

Faced with declining enrollment and deep reductions in state funding, the Eugene School District has considered closing the school - its smallest neighborhood school - with 129 students.

The grant can't pay for general fund operations, but it can help the school hire instructors in art, music, physical fitness and other subjects, said grant writer Mary Guldagger, president of the Coburg Heritage Committee. About $4,800 is set aside for that in each of the three years, she said.

The bulk of the grant money - $39,500 a year - will pay for a full-time coordinator to plan and run various programs, including community cooking and acting classes and a dinner theater program; a community bus that can shuttle kids to field trips and seniors to the library or other destinations; and a fitness center that will serve as an after-hours gathering place for kids and adults alike.

Guldagger said the community is optimistic about the fate of the school, even once the grant dries up.

"I think that with the reception of this grant it makes it a lot more difficult to close Coburg School," said Guldagger, whose two children attended the school.

"And in the past, the community has certainly stepped up to do what it can to help."

Last June, the city and several Coburg businesses gave the district $60,000 to help keep the school open another year.

Mayor Mike Dean, a vocal school booster, said the Ford Family grant was a collaborative effort involving numerous community members, but he gave a large chunk of the credit to Carolynne Hopkins, Coburg's part-time principal.

"This is a very, very big step, and I'm just thoroughly delighted," Dean said.

"It's not a silver bullet, but it does take us a good way down the road."

In Lowell, the local program will focus on student business enterprises with community partners, all of them aimed at connecting kids with the working world. They'll include a full-service summer concession at the Lowell Marina; a coffee cart; an assistance service for housebound senior citizens; a child care operation; a property management enterprise; evening community classes in aerobics, woodworking and more; and an extended high school library program.

School officials in Blachly could not be reached for comment.

Other communities receiving grants include Waldport, $279,300, and Halsey/Brownsville, $204,360.

The Ford Family Foundation was begun in 1957 by Roseburg Forest Products Co. founder Kenneth Ford.

Initially meant to give back to the timber communities of southwest Oregon, the foundation now funds public charities that benefit the residents of small, rural communities across the state.