The landscape of the historically Black community of Randolph, just south of Coolidge along AZ-287, was transformed this spring as streets were paved, sidewalks, fire hydrants and retention basins added and new water and gas lines installed throughout the unincorporated town.
The infrastructure of the century-old community, founded by agricultural workers prohibited by the laws of the day from living in Coolidge, has been completely overhauled to reduce dust and flooding issues for the approximately 200 people who live there today, as well as improve quality of life.
About half of the $5.8 million that went into the project came from Salt River Project (SRP), which reached a settlement last year with Randolph residents who had opposed the expansion of its generating station just outside of the community.
SRP agreed to invest more than $23 million on projects to benefit residents including street paving, a community center, scholarships and home rehabilitation.
The SRP funding was doubled by grants obtained by the county. Scott White, a district manager for Pinal County Public Works, said SRP “reached out to us, said they’re going to put some money into Randolph so some of the funds are from SRP. At the same time we started reaching out to a designer to work on the project with SRP, we found out from our grants department manager Heather Patel that she had some grants she wanted to put in here, and at that time we also found out about the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) grant.”
The project’s first phase was installing a new water main and hydrants and was funded by $1.3 million from the American Rescue Plan Act program. The $1.6 million Phase 2 added sidewalks, curbs, gutters and other drainage improvements funded by the federal Community Development Block Grant program. The remaining $2.6 million from SRP went into the street paving in Phase 3.
