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Kilili congratulates NMC for getting $10.7M grant
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) congratulated the Northern Marianas College administration yesterday on the award of a $10.68 million grant from the 2019 Disaster Supplemental Appropriation (U.S. Public Law 116-20). The money, totaling $10,681,796, will be used for a Workforce Development and Training Center at the college.
“Within four weeks of Congress making disaster recovery funds available to the Marianas for Super Typhoon Yutu, NMC applied for this money,” Sablan explained. “But it has taken the Trump administration 18 months to approve it—over two years after Yutu struck.”
Sablan said the Economic Development Administration, which is the responsible federal agency, still has six more disaster recovery grant application from the Marianas it has not acted on. The pending applications are worth about $85 million.
Yesterday’s grant will pay for the construction of two educational and workforce training facilities at the college, according to EDA, with fully equipped classroom, laboratory, and office spaces. The center will be powered by solar panels with an auxiliary generator.
The new facilities will allow for academic and research dedicated to food science, plant biotechnology, entomology, and anthropometry with the goal of increasing employment opportunities. EDA says the project will also support resiliency against future natural disasters, spur private investment, and provide long-term economic stability. (PR)
