It was always a long shot that a 13-county application for federal Build Back Better grant money would be awarded.

Warren County would have received $7.25 million in money earmarked for riverfront development had the grant been awarded. It was somewhat surprising the rural Pennsylvania proposal made it to the second application phase, seeing how it was one of only 60 such projects nationally.

Getting the money would have been nice, but it doesn’t fully derail plans to build a boat launch, pump track, trails, building improvements and parking along the river.

The city has some money already allocated, and there will be further state and federal grants available in the future. Really, denial of the Build Back Better grant is a bump in the road rather than a total derailment.

And, the partnerships that were forged during this grant process can be a good thing for the region. Our county’s population isn’t getting any bigger, so Warren County realistically doesn’t carry as much weight in these state and federal grant application processes as it used to.

Our best path to finding more outside money for projects is this sort of regional collaboration. Joining with our neighbors gives rural voices a little more clout, and working with the region’s Build Back Better grants group allows for coordinated planning so that our rural communities aren’t competing against each other for desparately needed outside investment.

Last week’s news is disappointing. But Warren and the rest of the county didn’t come away empty handed.