(Atlantic) The United States Economic Development Administration has awarded the Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) an $180,000 grant, to be used over a three year period to help manage flood recovery in the SWIPCO region. The grant will be matched with $45,000 of SWIPCO funds and will be used to hire staff to implement a long-term disaster strategic plan that will assist the region with recovery efforts from 2019 floods.
Under the grant SWIPCO will work to create a stable economic climate for business attraction and retention, as well as improve the well-being of the region’s citizens when faced with potential devastating disasters, which will help spur business and social redevelopment in the region.
EDA grants are awarded through a competitive process based upon the application’s merit, the applicant’s eligibility, and the availability of funds. More information on EDA’s grant process and investment process can be found at www.eda.gov.
SWIPCO Executive Director, John McCurdy said “This is huge for us and our region. We are almost a year out from the beginning of the flood in March 2019 and our staff has been working full throttle since then to aid in any way that we can. Now that more resources are beginning to be available for recovery, we need the extra staff capacity afforded by this grant to be able to make sure our partners throughout Southwest Iowa are able to access those resources in a way that ensures long term recovery.”
SWIPCO is a council of governments and designated EDA economic development district based in Atlantic supported by the cities and counties of an eight county region including Cass,Fremont, Harrison, Montgomery, Mills, Page, Pottawattamie, and Shelby Counties.
