 First Round of Hancock County 'Ground Zero' Projects Invited for Formal Funding Application From: MDA News Release Filed 10/2/08 GCN JACKSON, Miss. – To date, the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) has invited formal, complete applications for Hancock County “Ground Zero Program” projects totaling almost $124 million. This $200 million federally funded program seeks to finance locally-generated disaster recovery projects in Hancock County, which was hardest hit by the August 2005 storm. “Hancock County faces some acute and very unique recovery needs that the Ground Zero plan specifically seeks to address,” Gray Swoope, MDA Executive Director said. “At the state level, we’re working very hard to get Ground Zero funds flowing into Hancock County by year’s end.” The funds will be drawn from the state’s federally-sourced Hurricane Katrina recovery package, which is composed of more than $5 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding administered through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and MDA. “Earlier this year when HUD approved our action plan to set aside CDBG dollars specifically for Hancock County recovery projects, we asked the county and municipalities there to identify their top unmet recovery needs, rank them and then submit informal, rough outline proposals for our initial review,” Jon Mabry, Chief Operations Officer for MDA’s Disaster Recovery Division said. “MDA then evaluated the preliminary proposals based on the local ranking and potential for HUD compliance. We’re now inviting complete applications for the first of these projects that will be submitted to HUD for final review and potential funding.” Local governments in Hancock County continue to evaluate potential recovery needs, and MDA will invite more projects for formal, complete applications later. “Having this incremental process of first submitting preliminary proposals followed by invitations for complete applications is the fastest way to get money to the highest priority projects and those which more apparently meet HUD eligibility,” Mabry concluded. “We continue to consider all submitted proposals for potential funding, and we expect more invitations for formal applications in the near future.” Projects that have been formally invited for application are as follows:
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