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S.C. MONTHLY OUTLOOK: Department of Commerce awards $25 million in CDBG grant funds
The South Carolina Department of Commerce has awarded $25 million in Community Development Block Grant funds to 59 recipients across the state. The CDBG program provides safe housing, economic opportunities and a suitable living environment primarily for families with low and moderate incomes.
Grant recipients include:
• The town of Harleyville was awarded $434,000 to provide water system improvements to ensure health, safety and a better quality of life for residents.
• Berkeley County was awarded $500,000 to provide new water transmission lines and new water service connections to homes in Old Field.
• The town of St. Stephen was awarded $477,000 to upgrade a portion of the town’s sewer collection lines.
• The town of Bluffton was awarded $280,500 to extend water and sewer service and construct road and drainage improvements.
• The town of Port Royal was awarded $228,000 to extend public sewer service to 18th Street, Hillstead Lane, and Richmond Avenue.
More than 76,000 people, the majority of whom reside in the state’s poorest neighborhoods and communities, will directly benefit from these projects.
The projects were selected through a statewide competitive process, for which local governments submitted grant applications to the Department of Commerce. Counties, cities and towns receiving grant funds provide a match to help finance the projects. The grants represent a portion of the money allocated annually to South Carolina from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Department of Commerce to lead trade mission to South Africa
The department will lead a business matchmaking mission to South Africa in May 2005. Pre-matched appointments for South Carolina companies interested in exporting their products to South Africa and surrounding countries will be arranged in conjunction with the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service’s Gold Key program.
Top industry prospects for South Carolina companies include vehicles, automotive parts and equipment, chemicals, machinery, rubber, plastic, wood, paper, paperboard, electrical machinery, railway equipment, aluminum, copper, iron, steel, filament and fabric.
The trade mission itinerary will include a “Doing Business with South Carolina” showcase, in which the state’s goods will be presented to potential customers from South Africa. Also on the itinerary will be pre-matched one-on-one appointments with potential customers, a reception with industry leaders and prospective customers, and meetings with representatives from surrounding countries, who will highlight business opportunities in their particular marketplaces.
For more information, e-mail Melissa McLeod at mmcleod@sccommerce.com.
Recycling program awards grants
The Business Recycling Assistance Program, or B-RAP, a collaborative effort between the S.C. Department of Commerce and the Department of Health and Environmental Control, recently awarded grants to four communities to develop collection programs for used fluorescent lamps.
The mini-grants, totaling more than $3,700, were awarded to the city of Rock Hill and to Dorchester, Georgetown and York counties. This funding will help implement fluorescent lamp recycling collections within these communities as well as provide some educational materials to promote the importance of lamp recycling.
Funding for the mercury lamp recycling outreach project has been provided by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. To learn more about recycling florescent lamps, e-mail Owens at kowens@SCcommerce.com.
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