Recently, SERCAP’s Certified CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution) Loan Fund partnered with the agency’s Essential & Critical Needs Grant Program to assist a low-income, senior couple in Prince Edward County, VA, to drill a new individual household well and install a new well pump. The couple recently began experiencing difficulties with their well, and they were no longer able to drink the water coming from the well. The old well was producing muddy, contaminated water, indicating that it was time to replace the old well and the well pump. However, due to the couple’s low-income status, they were unable to afford the cost of replacing the well and the pump on their own.
Fortunately, SERCAP was able to step-in and provide financial assistance, through a low-interest, affordable loan and grant combination, which covered the full cost of drilling the new well and replacing the well pump. SERCAP’s Loan Fund provided a loan of $5,800.00, and SERCAP’s Essential & Critical Needs Grant Program provided a grant of $1,000.00, to cover the full $6,800.00 cost of the new well and pump. Now this senior couple once again has reliable access to clean, safe potable water in their home.
Without SERCAP’s Loan Fund and Essential & Critical Needs Grant Programs, and other similar services, many low-income individuals and communities would be forced to go without such necessities as reliable access to clean drinking water, indoor plumbing, safe and affordable housing, community development and infrastructure needs, water/wastewater infrastructure solutions, and more. It is important to remember that even in the US in the 21st Century; there are those who do not have reliable access to clean, safe drinking water, environmentally sound septic facilities, and affordable housing.
*Funding for SERCAP’s Loan Fund is primarily made possible by USDA Rural Development, and SERCAP’s Agency Revolving Loan Fund. Funding for SERCAP’s Essential & Critical Needs Program is made possible through a Budget Appropriation from the Virginia General Assembly, which is administered by the Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD). Additionally, all of SERCAP’s programs in Virginia, are leveraged by the Budget Appropriation from the Virginia General Assembly, administered by DHCD.