CRANBERRY TWP — The Regional Learning Alliance this week received a $250,000 grant to expand the parking lot there.

Justin Griffith, chief executive officer of the RLA, said Wednesday morning that the grant was obtained with the help of local state politicians, including state Sen. Randy Vulakovich, R-40th.

Griffith said the project is very preliminary and that he’s not sure when construction will start or how many spaces will be added.

“We are in desperate need of additional parking,” Griffith said. “What we have now is inadequate to cover the number of students and guests at our campus. We run out of parking spaces very, very frequently and have done so for many years.”

The RLA wouldn’t be able to expand the lot without the grant, Griffith said, and he expressed thanks to the state politicians for obtaining it.

Although most of the project is undetermined, Griffith said the number of spaces added will be determined by the cost of paving.

For his part, Vulakovich said he was glad to help, especially because RLA officials have been requesting funds for some time now.

“I always try to be fair with money distribution where certain people have been on the list for some time,” Vulakovich said. “Whenever worthwhile projects come along we try to help them out.”

The state senator added that it’s important to add spaces at the RLA lot because of its educational and work force components, and how those components add to the local economy.

“They teach a lot of very important information for job situations and job creation,” he said.

It’s a good thing money from the state came through, Griffith said, because the RLA wouldn’t be able to do the project without it.

“We definitely would not have had the funds to do this without the support of our state representatives,” he said.