Columbia, South Carolina – On Wednesday, May 29, 2024, the South Carolina Office of Resilience (SCOR) conducted its scheduled steering committee meeting for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant-Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) program. During this session, the committee approved $19,705,915 in competitive grant funds for stormwater and drainage enhancements.
The total funding available for these projects was just $20 million, which included coverage for any potential extra costs. Nonetheless, SCOR received a whopping $100 million in requests for over 40 projects in this funding round, highlighting a significant demand for improvements in stormwater management.
The Statewide Resilience Plan describes resilience as the capability of communities, economies, and ecosystems to withstand and bounce back from environmental changes and natural disasters. Investing in stormwater systems is crucial for communities to handle the effects of flooding.
Seventeen counties in South Carolina were eligible for this round of CDBG-MIT funding, including Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Darlington, Dillon, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Lee, Marion, Marlboro, Orangeburg, Sumter, and Williamsburg.
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This allocation marks the final distribution of the remaining funds for infrastructure under the CDBG-MIT program. This funding was a one-time provision following hurricanes that resulted in presidential disaster declarations. SCOR will no longer accept applications for any projects under this program.
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SCOR, which operates under the guidance of Governor Henry McMaster and forms part of his cabinet, is dedicated to leading the state in resilience planning and disaster mitigation, underscoring the importance of collaboration and communication in enhancing the state’s capacity to adapt to environmental changes and disasters.
