By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

ELLIS — The city of Ellis will be looking for its residents and the Kansas PRIDE program to come up with ideas and funds to improve the community at a meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Ellis City Hall, 815 Jefferson.

The Pride Program, in partnership with K-State Research and Extension and the Kansas Department of Commerce, serves small communities across the state to identify improvements and find possible grants to fund their ideas, according to Ellis resident and Ellis County Extension Agent Susan Schlichting.

“I see lots of really positive things happening in Ellis right now,” she said. “There is some major building renovations going on on Main Street, we’ve had some new businesses move in, just good movement towards making our community look more vibrant and vital. So if we can bring in some more resources to help train community members to have a stronger, more vibrant community, I think its a great thing.”

Ellis City Council member John Walz said he has been wanting to start the PRIDE program for years.

“It a good way for the community to gather ideas for things they would like to see … from something as big as a community center to things like park benches,” he said.