Resident Commissioner Announces $ 17 Million in Federal Funding for Community Development and Scientific Research

Washington, DC - Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón announced $ 17,050,479 in new federal funds from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the federal Department of Education, and the National Foundation for Science for scientific research by universities, aid for students displaced from their academic institutions due to hurricanes and funds for community development.

HUD sent a new line of funds for the CDBG, HOME and ESG programs administered by municipalities at a local level that total $ 12,890,004.

The Municipality of Arecibo will receive $ 1,039,918 of CDBG and $ 551,786 of HOME; Bayamón will receive $ 2,294,269 from CDBG, $ 192,547 from ESG and $ 1,067,869 from HOME; Carolina will receive $1,866,124 from CDBG, $ 160,080 from ESG and $ 794,064 for HOME.

For its part, the Municipality of Cayey will receive $ 659,697 of CDBG funds; Cidra will receive $ 576,143; Guaynabo $ 919,723 of CDBG funds and $ 352,038 of HOME; Humacao $ 824,286 from CDBG; Toa Low $ 1,146,503 of CDBG and $ 444,957 of HOME.

The Community Development Funds program or CDBG program provides annual grants for the development of viable urban communities, providing decent housing and an adequate living environment, while expanding economic opportunities, primarily, for people of low and moderate income.

The Emergency Solutions Funds or ESG program helps with the repair and rehabilitation of homes that are going to be used as shelters or transitional houses for people without homes.

The HOME program helps expand the supply of decent and affordable housing to low and very low income families by providing subsidies to states and local governments to finance housing programs that meet local needs and priorities.

Under the Defraying Costs of Enrolling Displaced Students program of the federal Department of Education, Universidad del Este (UNE) will receive $ 112,021.00 under the budget period of (07/23/2018 until 07/22/2023).

These funds are awarded to eligible Higher Education Institutions to help defray unexpected expenses associated with the enrollment of students displaced from higher education institutions whose operations have been affected by a disaster or emergency, including hurricanes or tropical storms such as Harvey, Irma, and María and the wildfires in 2017 for which the President of the United States issued disaster statements.

The National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to support research, innovation and scientific discovery as a tool for economic growth, approved six proposals for research and materials totaling $ 4,048,454.00.

The Inter-American University of Puerto Rico will receive $ 90,502.00 from the Chemical Instrumentation and Research programs (MRI and CRIF). These funds are for the acquisition of a Zeta Potential and a Particle Size Analyzer for interdisciplinary research in the Ponce and San Germán campuses.

The University of Puerto Rico will receive $ 1,033,750.00 for a collaboration with the University of Wisconsin for research and education in materials, with emphasis on those of scientific research and engineering. This project seeks to expand the participation of Latin Americans in science, in the fields of technology, engineering and mathematics. This collaboration includes the precincts of Mayagüez, Medical Sciences and Río Piedras.

Another $ 1,288,750.00 will be given to the University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras Campus for other collaborative work with the Metropolitan University, the Universidad del Turabo, part of the Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) program, and the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source ( CHESS). This educational effort of collaborative research of materials seeks to gather and develop a diverse and talented interdisciplinary scientific community with experience operating synchrotron X-ray techniques, to improve energy storage and conversion devices.

The Mayagüez Campus of the University of Puerto Rico will receive $ 150,237.00 for the work with RAPID: Fabrication of Bioinspired Plasmonic Nanoarrays for Biosensing and Trace Chemical Detection. This project seeks to improve the current understanding of how nanomaterials interact with bioactive agents in the liquid / solid interface.