Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $800,000 for the Lake Champlain/Lake George Regional Planning Board. The federal investment will provide capital for their existing revolving loan fund to provide local small businesses with low interest loans as the repair and grow their businesses.
The U.S. Economic Development Agency (EDA) funding comes through the agency’s disaster relief funding opportunity that specifically targets communities that suffered damage from last year’s Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, offering investment for the development of a long-term strategy to help more local businesses withstand setbacks like natural disasters, among other needs.
“This federal EDA investment will help the Lake Champlain/Lake George Regional Planning Board pave the road to economic recovery in the North Country and help local workers and small business owners who are still rebuilding after last year’s storms and floods,” said Senator Schumer. “I applaud the EDA for delivering this funding to provide vital low interest loans for North Country businesses that will be better positioned to succeed. This funding will not only help businesses and individuals recover from previous storms, but help strengthen the North Country economy against future storms.”
“This is an incredibly important investment to help our businesses rebuild and jumpstart economic development in North Country communities that are struggling to recover from natural disasters,” said Senator Gillibrand. “We need to do more than just get back to where we were before these storms. We need a long-term strategy to strengthen our economy, open more businesses and create more jobs so our region can thrive for years to come. This targeted investment can help us by providing the needed resources to help our businesses recover and thrive.”
After Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee devastated communities across New York, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand spent time touring damaged farms, business districts and communities, hearing from everyday families and business leaders, fighting to secure every federal resource to aid in the recovery. This federal investment will help put North Country communities on a path to a strong economic future by targeting the creation of new businesses. The funding will also help expand businesses, and connect them to new markets and better opportunities to thrive.
Following severe flooding in the region caused by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm, the Lake Champlain/Lake George Regional Planning Board saw increased demand from small and medium-sized businesses in need of post disaster recovery aid. The federal investment into the fund will help provide low-cost, short-term financing to flood related, at-risk firms, assisting these companies’ ongoing rebuilding and debt consolidation efforts. Assisting these local businesses will position the region to become more economically and physically resilient to disasters in the future.