Hunter Wilson/Daily News Manpuku Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar co-owner and chef Nghiem Cao (center) prepares food with sous chef Dai Vo (right) and Esteban Lowery during lunch Friday. With financial backing from federal government stimulus funds and the help of Franklin Bank and Trust, Cao, his wife, Anh Nguyen, and her brother, An Nguyen, were able to open the restaurant.

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When Bowling Green city employee Anh Nguyen decided to live her dream and open a Japanese restaurant, she went to every bank in town for help and everyone turned her down. But with financial backing from federal government stimulus funds in the form of a Small Business Administration loan, and the help of Franklin Bank and Trust, Nguyen opened Manpuku Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar on Nashville Road two weeks ago.

She has hired 17 workers to staff the restaurant, and those jobs are now part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress last year.

The state reports that some 10,700 jobs were created or retained in Kentucky for the final quarter of 2009, while state and local governments and other agencies have received about $797 million of the estimated $2.5 billion the state has been awarded through the massive stimulus package.

The slice of the stimulus pie in the seven-county southcentral Kentucky area - Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Logan, Simpson and Warren - totaled $47.5 million for jobs, education, public safety and economic development, according to state data.

Federal reporting data show that of the 10,676 jobs that have been stimulated in the state, about 102 have been reported in this area. But determining just how stimulus funds translate directly into actual jobs and economic benefits is difficult. Reporting guidelines use a formula based on total hours worked that are funded by the stimulus package, not actual jobs created or retained. Jobs fall into eight categories: education, work force, human services, housing, community services, energy and environment, public safety and transportation.

An examination of data for this area shows that 51 of those reported jobs were located in Warren County, 31 in Barren County, nine in Butler, four in Edmonson, four in Logan and three in Allen. Simpson County to date shows zero jobs. So far, Barren County has received the largest portion of funds with $20.9 million, $17.2 million of which is earmarked for transportation and work on Glasgow’s outer loop.

Warren County has been allocated $17 million so far - the largest amount of $5.5 million going toward housing, with 65 percent of those funds used for weatherization and public housing projects. From that amount, the Housing Authority of Bowling Green received $1.2 million for work in the Summitview Community, a development built in the 1960s and home to about 850 people, said Executive Director Abraham Williams.

“That money came at just the right time for us,” Williams said. “We had a five-year plan for that area and this money has allowed us to do the work now and it has been needed for a long time. A lot of the people who live there have had roof problems and such. These new roofs and windows will also help them cut down on utilities.”

The funds were used to replace 162 roofs and 2,200 windows and put 14 people to work on the project, albeit temporarily, Williams said.

The second-largest allotment to Warren County was $4.7 million for education. County schools received $3.8 million of that through the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, monies that replaced state funding cuts. The money allowed the schools to maintain about 107 jobs and pay for additional resources, while another large chunk was used for Title One programs and created almost 13 jobs, according to Joanie Hendricks, Warren County Public Schools public information officer.

Another major chunk of Warren County’s stimulus allotment has gone to health and human services, with community services getting 51 percent of the $4 million that has been received. A $1.4 million grant was used to purchase five low-floor buses, creating three new driver positions and funding the replacement of one driver, as well as facility maintenance and equipment purchases, said Ellie Harbaugh, assistant director of Community Action of Southern Kentucky.

Employment of 13 additional people and maintenance of another three positions were also attributed directly to stimulus funding, Harbaugh added.

A community services block grant created 20 new jobs and one part-time position and maintained six full-time positions in the area of job and worker skill development, according to Leslie Talley, director of community services.

That funding is having a “domino effect” on the regional work force by training workers to help other workers help themselves, Harbaugh said.

That domino effect is just what Barren River Area Development District Executive Director Rodney Kirtley said is needed to help turn around the regional economy. Work force and transportation issues top BRADD’s agenda for the region. Federal and state transportation funding will address two of the most immediate traffic issues in the Bowling Green area with the extension of Natcher Parkway to the Plano area and work on Interstate 65 in Warren County. However, Kirtley’s focus has been on getting displaced workers back on the job through short- and long-term training.

The problem, he said, is narrowing down the type of jobs needed to shore up the region’s transitioning job market as it moves from manufacturing and agriculture toward technology.

“Our biggest issue is jobs,” Kirtley said. “We have lost a lot of jobs in this area and getting workers retrained for where the jobs are projected to be created is a challenge. We are still trying to project what jobs are going to be available.”

Warren County has been allotted $1.4 million for work force needs, according to state data.

“We know there will be jobs in the medical profession, but in other fields we are trying to provide some basic training that is versatile enough that it will fit into several different areas,” Kirtley said.

As a result, educational reinvestment dollars here hugely benefit the area.

“Kentucky is behind in education and we have to have an educated work force to draw industry and jobs,” he said.

BRADD’s Summer Youth Program of 2009, which created 147 short-term jobs, is a good example, he said, as are the dislocated worker and adult training services provided by the Bowling Green Area Career Center, which serves a 10-county area. Some 2,016 dislocated workers have utilized services at the Bowling Green facility and the Office of Employment and Training in Glasgow, said Sharon Woods, BRADD Workforce Investment Act finance officer.

Stimulus money for retraining and education has been extremely beneficial to Bowling Green, said Jim Hizer, president of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce.

“If the state had to make more drastic budget cuts in education, I’d hate to think where we’d be,” Hizer said. “That would be extremely painful to an area like southcentral Kentucky and a college town like Bowing Green.”

Hizer said that while stimulus funds are making a difference in the regional economy, the chief stumbling block to job creation right now is the tight lending market.

“There are presently a number of companies looking at the area for potential investment, which would directly stimulate the job market here, but they can’t get credit,” he said.

The stimulus funds that have come to Bowling Green have gone directly into the economy - money such as the Housing Authority Summitview project and a city emergency efficiency conservation block grant that is currently under development by BRADD.

The $585,600 grant will create a home energy efficiency program where homeowners are reimbursed for retrofitting their homes to be more energy efficient.

“It’s not a lot of money but it will help employment by creating a demand for contractors to install things like insulation,” said Gene Becker, BRADD director of planning and development.

The program, which is still in development, will include some 30 to 40 homes, he said.

For job creation here, even though employment is still high, stimulus funding has been a good thing, Bowling Green Mayor Elaine Walker said.

“It put the brakes on the downhill slide of the economy,” she said. “The Corvette plant is up and running. Not at the capacity it was prior to the downturn, but it is operating. The difficulty is local small businesses, even with good credit, can’t get loans from credit institutions that have stopped lending. That’s what the economy really needs to get it going again.”