Mayor Willie Burns, host of Saturday's Stimulus Conference at the Pope Center, greets one of the many representatives of organizations and community efforts who came to hear about how to apply for stimulus grants. In an effort to spread the word about how to access federal stimulus funding in rural communities, the Georgia Conference of Black Mayors sponsored a stimulus conference Saturday that linked local grantseekers with state-level resources and experts to help explain available programs and processes.

With a theme of "Positioning Rural and Urban Communities for Stimulus Funding Recovery and Economic Development," the Saturday presentation at The Pope Center in Washington was hosted by Washington Mayor Willie E. Burns, President of the Georgia Conference of Black Mayors, and moderated by attorney Susan Pease Langford.

The roundtable discussion participants included Vanessa Williams, Executive Director of the NCBM; Tim McNeill of the NCBM; Georgia Commissioner of Labor Michael Thurman; Raymond McClendon, CFO of Gourmet Services, Inc.; Rev. Joseph R. Reid, Stimulus Community Coalition; Celeste Osborne, office of the governor; Richard G. Calhoun Jr. program director for Georgia Technology Authority; and David Shellhorse, economic field services representative, DCA.

Commissioner Thurman, Celeste Osborn, and Tim McNeill took part in the program by video teleconference.

Participants discussed how rural communities may access the new funding provided by the recent stimulus package through competitive grants by way of various state programs.

The day-long event provided participants with hands-on information on how to apply for funding to stimulate jobs, expand the rural broadband internet coverage, begin infrastructure projects and help the poor and elderly.