After years of looking for a long-term solution to the problems that plague Blackmon Road, York County leaders are optimistic that an answer might be close at hand.

County Council members voted unanimously Monday night to apply for a $500,000 grant to build a community center in the heart of the neighborhood where streets are dusty and litter-filled and many residents lack plumbing and other basic necessities. It is a good first step to get the money together and government agencies, but we have to remain focused on the fact that it took years to reach that condition, and it is going to take years to correct it, said Councilman Rick Lee. I encourage tenacity and commitment to it in the long-term to find a solution.

An ad hoc committee made up of representatives from a number of area churches has been working recently to come up with ideas about helping the impoverished community that lies about 1 1/2 miles from Rock Hill City Hall yet falls into the jurisdiction of the county.

Working with the Catawba Regional Council of Governments, the group - which consists of members of Westminster Presbyterian, Flint Hill Baptist, Ebenezer ARP and St. John's United Methodist churches - has proposed a plan to establish a nonprofit agency to operate and maintain such a center. Leaders envision the center will provide residents with a number of basic services, including:

Food, clothing and furniture;

Bath and laundry facilities;

Educational services and job training;

Drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs;

Basketball court and recreational programs;

Counseling services; and Meeting space for community and religious gatherings.

In November, representatives of the committee went door to door, asking residents to fill out income surveys, a necessary first step in obtaining government grants.

Using the surveys, the COG has determined that there are 23 households - homes, trailers and, in some cases, buses - in the roughly 150-acre neighborhood comprised of Archer Drive, Joe Louis Boulevard and Blackmon Road.

Of the residents surveyed, the 19 who responded all fell below the low- to moderate income level, which for a single-person household means making less than $32,000 a year or for a family of four, less than $45,700.

The data is the first concrete information local governments have had in more than decade. If all the pieces fall in the right place, a center could be built sometime in the next two years. But the competition for grant money is stiff, said Grazier Rhea, community development director for the council.

"We had six applications this past round regionwide, and only one got funded. In fact, only 12 got funded statewide," she said.

While the process of applying for money and waiting may feel all too familiar for many of the residents of the community, at least efforts are being made, said the Rev. James Hill, who has led the Philippi F.B.H. Church of God at the end of Joe Louis Boulevard for more than two decades.

"I have heard it all before, but as long and something is up and running, it gives people some type of hope," said Hill, 52. "What will happen, only the future and time will tell, but if no one is doing anything, we know nothing is going to happen."

Contact James Scott at 329-4068 or jscott@heraldonline.com.

Using the surveys, the COG has determined that there are 23 households - homes, trailers and, in some cases, buses - in the roughly 150-acre neighborhood comprised of Archer Drive, Joe Louis Boulevard and Blackmon Road.

Working with the Catawba Regional Council of Governments, the group - which consists of members of Westminster Presbyterian, Flint Hill Baptist, Ebenezer ARP and St. John's United Methodist churches - has proposed a plan to establish a nonprofit agency to operate and maintain such a center. Leaders envision the center will provide residents with a number of basic services, including: