Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Posts Draft of Hurricane Michael State Action Plan for Public Comment

Tallahassee, Fla. – The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) has posted the draft State Action Plan for the $735 million in federal funding available to Florida through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program for Hurricane Michael long-term recovery efforts. The State Action Plan can be found on the Rebuild Florida Hurricane Michael page.   The State Action Plan provides a high-level strategy for how the funding will be used to address the unmet, long-term disaster recovery needs for eligible Panhandle communities. Development of the State Action Plan has involved input from our state and local partners, as well as the public through nine public workshops hosted throughout the Panhandle, a statewide webinar and an online survey. DEO has opened a 30-day public comment period to seek input on the draft State Action Plan for Hurricane Michael.   “I urge Floridians, businesses and community leaders to review the Hurricane Michael State Action Plan and provide your comments and feedback,” said Ken Lawson, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Under Governor DeSantis’ leadership, we have traveled to communities throughout the Panhandle over the past few months gathering input and learning about the unmet needs. We look forward to receiving public comment and providing a flexible, robust State Action Plan that meets the needs of the communities impacted by Hurricane Michael.”   All Floridians are encouraged to review the State Action Plan. Comments on the State Action Plan may be submitted to DEO through April 10, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. EST. Comments may be submitted by email to cdbg-dr@deo.myflorida.com or by mail to:   Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Office of Disaster Recovery Attention: CDBG-Disaster Recovery Program The Caldwell Building 107 East Madison Street, MSC-400 Tallahassee, FL 32399   A summary of comments will be included in the final version of the State Action Plan which will be posted publicly on the Rebuild Florida Hurricane Michael page. After the public comment period, DEO will make final revisions to the State Action Plan before submitting to HUD for approval. HUD will have 45 days to review the State Action Plan after it is submitted. After HUD reviews and approves Florida’s State Action Plan, HUD and DEO will sign a grant agreement to release the funding to be used for Hurricane Michael recovery projects. Additional information about the CDBG-DR program, including a recorded webinar and copies of the presentation given at public workshops are available at RebuildFlorida.gov.   Rebuild Florida is a partnership of DEO and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Launched in September 2018, Rebuild Florida uses federal funding for Florida’s long-term disaster recovery efforts. For more information, visit RebuildFlorida.gov.

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