An Update on Disaster Recovery Resources
New information for those impacted by recent hurricanes
Hello all,
Happy New Year! I hope you all had wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year celebrations. Next week, we are kicking things off with a busy new year with 3 meetings and many opportunities for discussion. You can expect a separate post about these meetings and what I intend to focus on. For this post, I want to speak to some time-sensitive issues.
New Funding for the Small Business Administration
The Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a press release announcing a new round of funding to help residents impacted by Hurricanes Helene & Milton. If you have a need for an SBA disaster loan, which can go towards your business and/or home, please visit the SBA website here.
“Elevate Florida” - Florida Department of Emergency Management
“Elevate Florida” is a forthcoming, newly funded effort by the Florida Department of Emergency Management (FDEM) to “enhance community resilience by mitigating private residences against natural hazards.” Key components of the program include:
Elevating existing properties to reduce the risk of a natural disaster damaging the property.
Rebuilding & elevating properties that have been partially or completely destroyed.
Acquiring private properties that cannot otherwise be elevated or rebuilt.
Attached, you can find a flyer I received over the holiday that has more information.
As you can probably, tell this is of great importance to our district as we were heavily impacted by the effects of Helene and Milton. Many residents do not have the resources to rebuild and/or elevate. I have notified our County Administrator of the need to spread awareness of the program and to prepare staff to provide support for residents advance of this program.
I encourage residents to review the “Next Steps” section while we come up with a plan to participate in the program.
Manatee County to Close Disaster Recovery Center
Manatee County has announced its plan to close the Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) at the Palmetto Branch Library on January 25th. Please click this link to the press release for more information.
We need. Cell tower in NW Bradenton.
Our service is terrible.
Put a fake Palm tree tower in Robinson Preserve and collect SS fee from the phone companies.