Kilmer Secures New Federal Funding for Community Projects in Grays Harbor County
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-06) voted to pass the Consolidated Appropriations Act, government funding legislation that includes new federal funding for local priorities in Grays Harbor County. Specifically, the government funding package includes:
- $4.943 million for the Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Project
- $1,080,764 for the Early Childhood and Family Support in Grays Harbor County Project
- $750,000 for the Westport Marina Modernization Project
The investment for Aberdeen and Hoquiam will provide coastal flood protection, improve the storm drainage systems in the cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam, and reduce flood insurance costs for local homeowners.
With regard to the funding for the Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Project, Kilmer said, “Moving forward with the Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Project is a big win for our region – that’s why I’m proud to secure more than $4.9 million in new federal funding to help get it done. This investment means the community can address flooding and avoid future property damage, it will enable more investment in affordable housing and economic development in the region by pulling some of these properties out of the flood plain, and it will help ensure that we won’t see so much money leave the community to pay for flood insurance payments.”
“We want to thank Representative Derek Kilmer for his steadfast commitment to protecting the citizens, property, environment, and economy of those in and around the Cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam from catastrophic flood damage,” stated Aberdeen Mayor Pete Schave. “This funding will immediately go toward of one or more major elements of this comprehensive flood control protection project.”
“These dollars, along with the Community Project Funding including in last year’s fiscal year 2022 federal budget and other grant funding we are currently pursuing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will allow us to move forward with the most critical pieces of this regional flood control protection project in the next few years,” said Hoquiam Mayor Ben Winkelman. “From the beginning, Rep. Derek Kilmer recognized the necessary role the federal government must play for this comprehensive project to become reality, and this is yet another major step in fulfilling that vision.”
“The Port of Grays Harbor appreciates Congressman Kilmer’s ongoing commitment and leadership on the Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Project,” said Port of Grays Harbor Commission President Tom Quigg. “This long-term investment in the Grays Harbor community is truly a testament to the Port’s mission for betterment of the region, and we look forward to seeing the project come to fruition in the near future thanks to this critical funding.”
“This recent investment in the Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Act marks another celebratory milestone in the effort to sustain the climate and economic resiliency of Grays Harbor County,” said Lynnette Buffington, CEO, Greater Grays Harbor, Inc. “We are deeply grateful to Representative Kilmer’s support of this project and the vision to recognize the transformational impact it will have on our residents and businesses.”
The Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Project is comprised of two levees, the North Shore Levee and the North Shore Levee - West Segment, which are needed to protect the Cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam against coastal flood events between the Wishkah and Hoquiam rivers north of the Chehalis River and Grays Harbor Estuary. The project also includes the construction of the Fry Creek Pump Station.
The project will build resiliency in the face of future flood events, retaining existing businesses, jobs, and residents
The Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Project when completed, will eliminate National Flood Insurance Program-mandated flood insurance and building code requirements, save residents millions of dollars, and protect an estimated 5,100 properties and 1,354 businesses.
In early 2022, President Biden signed into law a 12-bill legislative package that included $9,950,000 in federal funding, championed by Rep. Kilmer, for the project.
Rep. Kilmer led the effort to secure funding for the project through the House Appropriations Committee’s Community Project Funding process.
With regard to the funding for the Early Childhood and Family Support in Grays Harbor County Project, Kilmer said, “As we work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve got to ensure that families across our region have the resources they need to help their children succeed. That’s why I’m thrilled to secure more than $1 million to assist critical programming in Grays Harbor County that will help folks in need with nutrition assistance, early childhood education, and community and parent engagement.”
“There is no better investment we can make for our future than one that benefits our children – quality early childhood education. Rep. Derek Kilmer has shown he greatly values and understands the importance of early learning, and Save the Children is grateful to the Congressman and his team for pursuing federal funding that will support our efforts to accelerate educational achievement for rural Washington’s historically under-resourced communities,” said Amee Barlet, Director of Save the Children’s Washington Programs. “This funding will enable Save the Children to expand our home visiting and kindergarten-readiness programming for the state’s youngest learners while helping build home libraries for families with little or no access to books. It will also help provide wraparound supports that forge a culture of early learning. This includes parent engagement workshops honoring tribal communities’ traditions and, in partnership with The Moore Wright Group, providing nutritious meals for families who need them most. Children need nourishing food to thrive and be hungry for knowledge.”
Save the Children partners with rural communities to make school readiness programs and parent education opportunities accessible for all. Working in rural, under-resourced communities, their early learning programs aim to help children enter kindergarten ready to learn, putting them on track to thrive as learners and in life.
Save the Children’s service area in Washington’s Sixth Congressional District includes the villages and towns that are within the Quinault Reservation and neighboring tribes such as the Hoh Tribe in Grays Harbor and Jefferson Counties. Through new community project funding, Save the Children is seeking to scale proven programs focused on improving early childhood development and learning outcomes, as well as provide nutrition support for families through the distribution of healthy meals.
Specifically, this request will support the operating costs of the Save the Children Early Steps to School Success (ESSS) program, which has been delivered in partnership with the Lake Quinault School District for over a decade. Built on public-private partnerships with local schools and states, ESSS aims to deliver high-quality early childhood development services focusing on kindergarten readiness skills to children ages 0 to 5 and their families. In Washington, ESSS participants are at high risk for falling short of kindergarten readiness standards, yet pre-COVID, 92% of 3-year-olds and 86% of 5-year-olds participating in ESSS scored in the normal range for vocabulary acquisition on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, a key indicator for school readiness. ESSS also aims to reinforce caregivers’ roles as advocates for community-wide efforts that support school readiness and create strong connections between parents and the schools their children will attend.
Save the Children will also partner with tribal leaders and community facilitators to enhance the Positive Indian Parenting (PIP) framework, a parenting curriculum developed by the National Indian Child Welfare Association, by increasing the number of trained facilitators and opportunities for their regular collaboration and reflection, inviting quality guest speakers, and offering project-based hands-on learning (e.g., making cradleboards, storytelling kits, and traditional rattles). To encourage participation in a community setting, Save the Children will offer a meal at each PIP session, and upon completion, families will receive a kit of culturally relevant children’s books.
In addition, the community project funding request will support a subgrant to The Moore Wright Group (TMWG) to implement expanded food security programming. Research suggests that food insecurity past the first 1,000 days continues to interrupt a child’s ability to thrive. Save the Children found that hunger and food insecurity detracted from learning, even more, when schools shuttered during the pandemic. Hungry children who had received free or reduced-price meals at school lost consistent access to breakfast and lunch. Through Save the Children’s partnership with TMWG, an approved partner through the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, a program has been implemented to deliver meals to children, and distribute food and needed non-food items across 21 Washington counties. Of the 218,510 children reached in 2021, 89% were in western Washington. Through this partnership and nutrition grants to school districts, Save the Children has led the collective effort to distribute over 14.5 million meals to Washington children since the start of the pandemic. However, they have seen that, despite the schools reopening, a great backlog of needs remains, especially for nutritious, hot meals that could be delivered to families with limited transportation. The proposed community funding project would help to fill that gap with a refurbished kitchen and warehouse space and mobile meal delivery capacity to reach over 3,000 children per month.
Rep. Kilmer led the effort to secure funding for the project through the House Appropriations Committee’s Community Project Funding process. The project was supported by the Lake Quinault School District and Kendall Peterson, the Quinault Indian Nation Head Start Director.
With regard to the funding for the Westport Marina Modernization Project, Kilmer said, “Our coastal fisheries and seafood industry are an essential part of our local economy. That’s why I’m committed to ensuring that our ports and our fishermen have the resources they need to remain competitive in the Pacific Northwest. This is about jobs, and I’m thrilled to secure $750,000 to help modernize the Westport Marina and support local economic opportunity.”
“We are so grateful for Congressman Kilmer’s work in securing this funding for the Westport Marina Modernization Project,” said Port of Grays Harbor Commission President Tom Quigg. “Community Project Funding at this critical early stage supports the important work of designing a facility to serve our commercial and recreational users for generations. As one of the top seafood landing ports in the United States, the Port is very proud of the role the Westport Marina plays in supporting thousands of jobs in coastal southwest Washington. Rebuilding and reconfiguration of the Marina’s float infrastructure will require multiple phases and many years to complete, and federal partnership such as this is crucial for a rural community to successfully provide infrastructure of such national significance.”
A port of national significance, the Westport Marina is Washington State’s largest commercial seafood landing port accounting for more than $50.6 million in seafood, ranking it 12th by volume and 15th by the value of catch in the United States. The economic hub of tribal, commercial, charter, and recreational fishing on Washington’s Coast, the activities at the Westport Marina and its uplands support nearly 2,300 jobs in rural Southwest Washington.
In addition to supporting commercial boat owners, independent fishermen, and tourism, the Westport marina, and its uplands are home to an array of processors and cold storage facilities that seasonally employ thousands. The combined activities of the Westport Marina generate more than $227 million annually in business revenues.
Working marinas like Westport generate operating revenues that support the ongoing maintenance and service of the marina but do not financially support the replacement of aging infrastructure. The Community Project Funding will help fund the design and engineering phases of the modernization project, which will replace the aging float infrastructure at the Westport Marina and ensure that it will be able to serve the needs of its broad base of users for another 40-50 years into the future. Modern moorage with the capacity to handle today’s larger vessel sizes is expected to open the door for greater revenue generation for the Port and improved economies of scale for the users of the Marina – including the hundreds of independently owned fishing vessels.
Rep. Kilmer led the effort to secure funding for the project through the House Appropriations Committee’s Community Project Funding process. The project was supported by the City of Westport, the Quinault Indian Nation, local fishermen, and local seafood processors.
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