CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Governor Albert Bryan said Friday that President Joe Biden has signed into law H.R. 9747, the “Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act 2025,” which extends federal funding of the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund through December 30, 2026.
Section 140(a) of the Act includes a provision to extend federal funding to territories and states that were affected by the 2017 Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The official name of the recovery program is the Harvey, Irma, and Maria (HIM) Reimbursement Grant Program.
“By signing this piece of legislation, President Biden has delivered a gift to the U.S. Virgin Islands and is bolstering the rehabilitation of some of the territory’s most historic, storm-damaged properties,” Bryan said. “We’re grateful for the extension, which allows us to continue this labor of love.”
The Department of Planning and Natural Resources-VI State Historic Preservation Office (DPNR-VISHPO) was awarded a HIM Reimbursement grant of $10,056,864 in March 2020. These funds were set to expire on September 30th, 2024, but with continued partnerships, and lobbying done by other State Historic Preservation Offices that were also affected by the grant deadline, local and federal partners in Washington, D.C. and the Office of the Governor, the collective efforts provided a successful grant extension to complete historic preservation efforts throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The National Park Service has approved and allowed DPNR to advance more than $4 million to subgrantees to start construction for historic recovery projects, as well as to pay for reimbursements to some subgrantees with approved recovery projects who used their own funds to complete recovery repairs after the 2017 hurricanes.
A few of the recovery projects that benefited from NPS allowing full and partial advances are the St. Thomas Synagogue, Friedensthal Moravian Church, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism (CHANT), and private homeowners in Christiansted, Frederiksted, Savan, Garden Street, and other pocket areas in Charlotte Amalie. A few subgrantees that have and will receive reimbursements are the Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church, Project Promise Non-Profit, St. John’s Episcopal Church, the St. Thomas Historical Trust, Mango Works, LLC, and the Memorial Moravian Church.
With the assistance of project partners like the USVI Public Finance Authority (PFA) – Office of Disaster Recovery and the USVI Economic Development Authority (EDA) – Enterprise Zone Commission, the additional time granted with this extension will allow for an additional $3 million to be expended on the recovery.