AUSTIN — Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush is pleased to announce that the Brazos Valley Council of Governments (BVCOG) has been awarded a new grant in the amount of $1,769,123. These funds were made available due to cost savings from BVCOG communities' original Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery tied to the Hurricane Ike disaster. These new funds were allocated on September 1, 2016.

"The devastating effects of Hurricane Ike affected residents of counties reaching far in to Central Texas," said Commissioner Bush. "When disaster strikes, we need to be prepared to act and communication is a critical component of response time. The Texas General Land Office's Community Development & Revitalization program plays a vital role in helping communities affected by disasters with long-term recovery and damage prevention projects. By focusing on efficient use of available funding we were able to reallocate funds, which will help Brazos Valley with disaster prevention efforts and restore a sense of community spirit."

Cost savings realized from the ten Disaster Recovery grants originally awarded to BVCOG were placed back into the program.  This provided the COG with additional funds to address unmet communication needs and help ensure continued operations of certain water, sewer, fire and shelter facilities. The funds will cover a four county area in the Brazos Valley Regional Communication System.  They will also fund five generators in the region that support water, sewer, fire and shelter facilities.

Michael Parks, Assistant Executive Director, BVCOG said, "This project will be instrumental in correcting deficiencies in our regional communications systems and sheltering operations. No other program would do as much to help our region's resiliency as this one does."  

About GLO Community Development & Revitalization
The Community Development & Revitalization program of the Texas General Land Office administers Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Texas was allocated $3.1 billion for hurricanes Ike and Dolly and $36.3 million as a result of the 2011 wildfires.