The U.S. Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced on Sept. 30, that it is investing $28.6 million in the University of the Virgin Islands to support efforts to diversify and strengthen the resiliency of the economy by helping to grow the medical sector, primarily by investing in the medical school project and the medical simulation center. The two grants, to be located in a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act designated Opportunity Zone, will be matched with $3 million in local funds, and are expected to help generate $35 million in private investment.
“The Trump Administration and the Department of Commerce understand the challenges faced by the U.S. Virgin Islands following the devastating 2017 Hurricane season and are committed to helping them recover and build back stronger,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
“In 2018, EDA made $587 million in Congressional supplemental appropriations available to eligible grantees in communities impacted by natural disasters in 2017,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Dr. John Fleming. “We are pleased to support bottom-up, local strategies designed to help diversify and grow the Island’s economy in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria and the location in an Opportunity Zone will help spur additional private investment.”
More information is available in a news release on the Media Section of the UVI website – http://www.uvi.edu/ - and from this direct link.