February 11 - 15, 2013

$400,000 in FY 2012 Disaster Relief Opportunity funds to Operation HOPE, Inc., Birmingham, Alabama, to establish the Alabama Small Business Disaster Recovery Program to provide the business and technical assistance needed to reopen small businesses in the six counties where some of the worst damage and jobs losses were caused by the tornadoes of April 2011. The program will offer guidance to more than one thousand business owners over a two-year period and help put some of the thousands of employees affected back to work. The project will help ensure greater disaster resiliency in future crises. This investment is part of a $500,000 project.