COR3 leads sessions on how to maximize use of reconstruction funds
The Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resilience (COR3) carried out a series of orientation sessions on the management of funds under sections 428 and 406 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance program.
“We’re at an important moment in which agencies, municipalities and nonprofit organizations are developing new reconstruction projects, and there are alternatives that allow them adapt these projects according to the needs of the community and the market,” COR3 Executive Director Manuel Laboy said.
“The COR3 team familiarized the leadership of these sectors on how they can maximize the use of these federal funds by combining them with social realities but complying with the regulations and laws applicable at the state and federal level,” said Laboy.
Projects under section 428 of the federal statute known as the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, which enables alternative procedures for reconstruction projects under the FEMA Public Assistance program, includes projects such as restoring facilities to the state they were in before the impact of a natural disaster or permanent works that would result in an improved project, alternative or a combination of projects.
For example, in a community where a ballpark was affected by the lash of Hurricane María, the subrecipient could convert it into a soccer field, since the practice of this sport is in greater demand among the town’s youth, he said.
Likewise, the subrecipient can use surplus funds from a 428 project in other projects obligated under that same section of the FEMA Public Assistance program, COR3 explained.
