Escambia Awarded $266K In Defense Related Grants

October 15, 2014

Governor Rick Scott ha announced that Escambia County and the Pensacola Chamber were awarded $266,000 through Florida’s Defense Infrastructure and Reinvestment Grant Programs. The funding will diversify the local economy, enhance military missions at Naval Air Station Pensacola and protect the installation from encroachment.

Governor Scott said, “Our investment of more than $260,000 in Escambia County to protect the jobs and quality of life for Escambia families is essential to the area. We thank Florida’s service men and women for their dedication to protecting Florida families and we will continue to support our military families.”

For more than 15 years the defense grants have been successful tools in assisting local defense partners in supporting the State’s military installations. Florida’s military and defense sector is responsible for 9.4 percent – or $73.4 billion – of the Sunshine State’s economy. This translates to 758,112 statewide direct and indirect jobs.

Escambia County was one of 12 counties to receive a Defense Reinvestment Grant, which is designed to support relationships between military installations and their community.

Escambia County was awarded $200,000 for the purpose of encroachment protection, and the Pensacola Chamber was awarded $66,000.

“Escambia County appreciates the continued financial support from Enterprise Florida’s Defense Infrastructure Grants which help protect the valuable military mission of NAS Pensacola.  Working with the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce and NAS Pensacola, we are able to prioritize and purchase land adjacent to NAS Pensacola to reduce building density and buffer the base,” said Taylor Kirschenfeld, Escambia County Water Quality and Land Management Division.

Comments

One Response to “Escambia Awarded $266K In Defense Related Grants”

  1. BT on October 15th, 2014 12:31 pm

    Wow, $266 thousand.

    That’s just about enough to buy my house and keep me from encroaching on the Navy base.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News