Disaster Response and Recovery: Community and Business Assistance
- Issuer
- Congressional materials
- Document type
- 2022 02 01 A29685 D240739 Disaster Response And Recovery Community And Business Assist
- Date
- 2022-02-01
- Case
- 2022 02 01 A29685 D240739 Disaster Response And Recovery Community And Business Assist
Summary
A slide presentation titled Disaster Response and Recovery: Community and Business Assistance, given by two assistant directors of the Washington State Department of Commerce to the House Community and Economic Development Committee on February 1, 2022. It describes recovery projects for the Town of Malden after a fire, including a $3,696,000 Public Works Board grant for water system improvements, a $900,000 Community Development Block Grant and a $1.7 million broadband award. The slides state that existing economic development tools were not designed for business recovery and that the Strategic Reserve Fund cannot send grants directly to businesses. On the pandemic, they report Working Washington grants of $371 million to 25,591 businesses and a $30 million Small Business Flex Fund investment. Closing slides list unmet needs and considerations for future programs.
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Cite this document
“Disaster Response and Recovery: Community and Business Assistance.”
Original at app.leg.wa.gov, dated 2022-02-01. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2022-02-01-2022-02-01-a29685-d240739-disaster-response-and-recovery-community-and-business-assist/
, SHA-256 a625a4d79cd5fddc64280eec9d915b9227fe24723ab2b45a5a917acaa0742466.Full text
Disaster Response
and Recovery:
Community and
Business Assistance
House Community and Economic
Development Committee
Mark Barkley
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, LOCAL GOVERNMENT DIVISION
Chris Green
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & COMPETITIVENESS
FEBRUARY 1, 2022
We strengthen communities
HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE BUSINESS ENERGY
HOMELESSNESS ASSISTANCE
PLANNING COMMUNITY FACILITIES CRIME VICTIMS & COMMUNITY
PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICES
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 2
A community approach to recovery
Malden
• Wildfire
• Drought
• Flooding
• Water security
Town of Malden 2020, Photo permission from Pine Creek Community LTRO
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 3
Growth Management Services
• Emerging Issues Planning Grant for Malden, Whitman County.
• $55,000 to survey the town and establish lot lines after the fire.
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 4
Malden -Water System Improvements Project
Project description:
The project not only repairs the water
system damage, but also provides
system redundancy and more fire
hydrants to fight fires in the future.
Strengthening community resiliency:
Completing this project ensures adequate
water resources for the town, ensures
Malden Well and Water Storage public health and safety, preserves
Public Works Board (PWB) $3,696,000 property values, and allows for economic
Grant
revitalization.
Project Cost $3,696,000
• 2/1/22
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 5
Malden – Post Office and Community Center
• US Postal Service to replace the
burned post office that was on
at 1 S Main Street in Malden.
• A Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG) of $900,000
has been awarded by the state
to build a permanent fire station.
• A CDBG planning grant of
$30,000 has been awarded by
the state for a master park plan
for the town park.
• 2/1/22
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 6
Malden – Broadband Project
Port of Whitman was
awarded $1.7 million from
the Community Economic
Revitalization Board.
Broadband brings work-
from-home, e-learning,
online business,
telemedicine, and other
features as viable options
for area residents.
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 7
Existing toolset not set up for recovery
• Economic development efforts historically targeted to growth, expansion and
retention of businesses.
• Export vouchers, and traditional small business programs are not
suited for business recovery efforts following a crisis.
• Disaster planning tools limited to self-guided
resources on MyStartup365.com.
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 8
Strategic Reserve Fund use
• The Strategic Reserve Fund (SRF) has been
used periodically for business recovery,
including the Skagit River collapse and
Oso landslide.
• This fund is not sufficient to get grant
funds directly to businesses due to
statutory design.
• Funds had typically been used for
marketing style “open for business”
campaigns to encourage patronage of
impacted businesses.
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 9
Economic response to the pandemic
• Working Washington grants provided $371 million to 25,591 businesses statewide.
$50 million more planned for 2022.
• $90 million additional support for agriculture industry, tourism, chambers, associate
development organizations, veteran non-profits, Resiliency Network, youth organizations,
the arts, shellfish and farm worker paid leave.
• $30 million public investment (which leveraged an additional $70 million in private capital)
in Small Business Flex Fund for low-interest loans.
• $10.6 million investment in tourism recovery technical assistance, training, festivals and
events grants and disaster planning mobile app.
• Nearly the entire Office of Economic Development staff team pivoted to focus on grant
administration and business reopening and response work during the pandemic.
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 10
Economic response to the pandemic
• Commerce expanded and leveraged an extensive network of partners at the
regional, local and federal level to help businesses navigate the public safety orders,
access federal funding programs and prepare applications for aid.
• The agency played a central role in shifting manufacturing to provide personal
protective to small businesses.
• Commerce teams staffed the Joint Information Center (JIC), responding to more
than 40,000 inquiries from businesses and employees as part of the coordinated
response by state agencies.
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 11
Ongoing unmet need
• There are no “on demand” state grant funds to assist small business disaster
recovery. In emergencies, some federal agencies have existing programs to
help small businesses rebuild and recover.
• Floods and wildfires among other expected or unexpected disasters will
continue to cause demand for small business support.
• Commerce regularly responds directly to local leaders’ requests for funding
to assist small businesses. We coordinate with other state staff, directing
them to existing programs, such as the shared work program at Employment
Security Department to assist employee retention.
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 12
Long Term Needs
• Businesses need technical assistance, training, education and support
related to financial management, credit, marketing, operations and disaster
planning/mitigation to navigate future crises.
• If additional on-demand type resources were available, Commerce would
coordinate with local organizations on deploying funds.
• Use of state funds for this purpose will need to take into account
constitutional prohibitions on gift of public funds.
• Each recovery initiative is different and flexibility will be needed to determine
how best to distribute funds in coordination with local leaders.
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 13
Considerations for future programs
• Funds provided through on-the-ground network vs.
direct to business
• Establishing a rapid and appropriate trigger to allow
fund deployment
• Developing a program that works in alignment with
federal resources
• Addressing equity in development and deployment of
new programs
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 14
Thank you.
Mark Barkley
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, LOCAL GOVERNMENT DIVISION www.commerce.wa.gov
Mark.Barkley@commerce.wa.gov
Chris Green
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & COMPETITIVENESS
Chris.Green@commerce.wa.gov
Jasmine Vasavada
LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY DIRECTOR
Jasmine.Vasavada@commerce.wa.gov
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