New round of Irene-related funding available

Two regional development groups announced Thursday a second round of recovery grants to provide assistance for businesses that experienced flood-related damages following Tropical Storm Irene.
http://eagletimes.villagesoup.com/p/new-round-of-irene-related-funding-available-in-vermont/1194205

New round of Irene-related funding available in Vermont By Chris Garofolo | Jun 07, 2014 0 SPRINGFIELD — Two regional development groups announced Thursday a second round of recovery grants to provide assistance for businesses that experienced flood-related damages following Tropical Storm Irene. Brattleboro Development Credit Corp. and Springfield Regional Development Corp. were awarded $1.5 million in the form of a Community Development Block Grant for the second round of disaster recovery. The development groups, providing small grants for flood-impacted businesses throughout Windham and Windsor counties since the August 2011 storm, say the latest round of funding will assist with flood mitigation efforts, engineering fees and insurance premium payments. The grant may also go toward reusing or improving usage of buildings affected by flooding. The need for state and federal funding remains for a number of recovery efforts, including building and equipment replace, interest rate buy downs on private loans, rent subsidies and lost rental revenue in addition to the flood mitigation projects. Approximately $1.25 million has been allocated from the BDCC and SRDC to 43 businesses to remedy any unmet needs after Irene. “While we’ve been able to help a lot of folks with the funding we’ve received so far, we know there are more out there who could benefit from this program. We’re especially excited about the ability to now use these grants to help businesses make alterations at their properties to hopefully prevent this type of damage, should another horrific event like this occur in the future,” said SRDC director Bob Flint. He said the additional flexibility of new funding could help impacted businesses to be better prepared. “I’m not sure you ever can be truly prepared for something like Irene, but through this program, businesses that took the hit last time can access money to become more resilient,” Flint added. A second round of workshops and applications will begin this month through the Brattleboro and Springfield development corporations. While the dates have not been finalized, previous applicants are welcome to re-submit. The process may be streamlined for those with applications already in-house. Officials say the process will again be competitive and technical assistance will be provided by staff in both Brattleboro and Springfield. The Vermont Small Business Development Center will offer a limited series of technical assistance seminars for businesses requesting help with the application. • For more information on the program and an update on the timeframe for supplemental funding business applications, residents in the greater Brattleboro area may contact April Harkness at (802) 257-7731 (ext. 220). Within the greater Springfield area, residents may contact Paul Kowalski or Heather Hartford at (802) 885-3061.