25 July 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CITY OF SOUTHPORT
Southport Awarded $70,000 Grant from NCDEQ

Contact: ChyAnn Ketchum, Public Information Officer
cketchum@cityofsouthport.com
C: (910) 267-7300 | O: (910) 457-7927 ext. 1040

Southport, NC – We received notice that the City of Southport has been awarded a grant of $70,000 from NC Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ). This grant is being provided through the Resilient Coastal Communities Program (RCCP), which is a key component of the broader North Carolina Resilient Communities Program, developed as part of the 2020 North Carolina Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan. The program is administered by the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management (DCM) with funding support from the NC General Assembly and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). Key partners include the NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and NC Sea Grant (NCSG).

The RCCP is a structured, four-phase program designed to:

  1. Address local barriers to coastal resilience, including limited staffing capacity, financial constraints, and social inequities.
  2. Support communities in conducting risk and vulnerability assessments to create a prioritized list of resilience-focused projects.
  3. Advance selected projects through engineering and design, enabling them to become shovel-ready.
  4. Connect communities with funding opportunities to implement these resilience projects.

The $70,000 we were awarded fully covers Phases 1 and 2, which will help us identify and prioritize local resilience needs—such as stormwater improvements and other infrastructure or resiliency challenges. The State will select, compensate, and oversee the consultants who will assess our vulnerabilities and recommend potential projects tailored to the City. Following the completion of Phases 1 and 2, the City will be eligible to apply for additional funding under Phases 3 and 4 to support the design and implementation of the projects identified during the initial phases.

NCDEQ News Release: https://www.deq.nc.gov/news/press-releases/2025/07/24/state-awards-nearly-6-million-coastal-resiliency-grants-32-communities-planning-engineering-design

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