Hart Co. Continues Archway Partnership

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

The Archway Partnership initiative will continue in Hart County.

Last month, the Hart County Board of Commissioners approved the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Georgia to continue the partnership.

Hart County Archway Partnership Liaison Anna Strickland told the board that the program has been successful in Hart County for the past eight years.

“For eight years now, the Archway program has been in the County connecting the County with resources at the University level,” Strickland said. “And we actually did an impact report at the end of this year and it turns out that at the end of those eight years, over 150 projects have been performed in Hart County. That’s really impressive.”

The Archway Partnership connects Georgia communities such as Hart County with the University of Georgia and other higher education resources to address critical locally-identified projects and issues.

It then pairs students with those projects and issues.

Strickland said many of those projects and issues were listed initially from public input.

“Our priorities are education, tourism, leadership and planning and visioning. And that came about from a community listening session about eight years ago where the community self-identified needs,” Strickland explained. “The executive committee and funding partners then got together and created a plan of work in priority areas. So when we say that there have been 150 projects completed they have directly gone and impacted each of these priority areas.”

Some of the projects UGA students have been involved in with Hart County include the design and construction of the new recreation park, as well as developing a walking tour of historic sites within the City of Hartwell.

At its meeting, Strickland presented the Hart County Commission with a list of completed projects in 2016 and plans for new projects in 2017.

After hearing from Strickland, Hart County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the new Memorandum of Understanding.