A $500,000 community development block grant for the Blackmon Road community is a big step forward for this disadvantaged neighborhood on the outskirts of Rock Hill.

The grant, announced Monday, will be used to extend water and sewer lines to A Place for Hope, the community resource center for Blackmon Road. Some money also will be used for street improvements.

This impoverished community has no public water or sewer access. All 76 residents there, including 15 children, qualify as low or moderate income residents, with the average household income totaling barely more than $7,000.

Life has improved since The Herald's series of articles on the neighborhood, "Invisible World," more than four years ago.

Several local organizations and local churches immediately launched outreach efforts to bring basic sanitation to the area, supplementing efforts by Christians to Feed the Hungry and other groups that long had labored to raise living standards.

A Place for Hope was formed and opened an office in the area, working with local colleges and the Rock Hill school district to provide tutoring, job training and help finding employment.

Most recently, this $500,000 grant is a testament to the perseverance of county officials, including County Manager Al Greene, and the Catawba Regional Council of Governments, particularly its community development director, Grazier Rhea. The county first applied to the state for a grant more than a decade ago, but the continuing effort to organize community groups to help improve conditions and to consolidate government efforts to bring services to the neighborhood finally paid off with this grant.

The failure to bring even the most rudimentary services to a neighborhood within the city's central core has been dismaying and frustrating. We are grateful that dedicated people finally have found a way to bring relief to these unfortunate residents.

Most recently, this $500,000 grant is a testament to the perseverance of county officials, including County Manager Al Greene, and the Catawba Regional Council of Governments, particularly its community development director, Grazier Rhea. The county first applied to the state for a grant more than a decade ago, but the continuing effort to organize community groups to help improve conditions and to consolidate government efforts to bring services to the neighborhood finally paid off with this grant.