Action Alert: Weigh in on Recovery Funding for Business Support

In the wake of Helene, our Congressional Representatives were advocating in Washington, D.C., for essential federal support for Western North Carolina. As co-sponsor of the American Relief Act of 2024, Congressman Edwards successfully moved forward legislation that included $110B in disaster supplemental funding to help states rebuild from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other disasters that have occurred since the end of 2022. As a result, we’ve seen resources directed to Western North Carolina to aid in our recovery. We are grateful for the help that we have received thus far and will continue to work with our Representatives on additional requests to Congress in the coming months. 
 
While the Asheville Chamber will be advocating on behalf of the business community, we want to encourage every business owner to provide input on the state and city CDBG-DR allocations – both online and in person. The more people that show up, the more powerful the message. 
 
Read on for background information and how you can provide input.

CDBG-DR at the State Level

Background:

North Carolina will receive $1.4B to support long-term recovery efforts in WNC. Funding is being directed at the Federal level by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department through a program known as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. In November, Governor Stein launched the Rebuilding Western North Carolina Advisory Committee to help advise his work to address communities affected by Hurricane Helene. Last month, the NC Department of Commerce released a draft action plan that outlines how the State’s CDBG-DR funds might be allocated.

Advocacy Notes:

• More dollars should be allocated to economic revitalization. Economic revitalization makes up approximately 8% of the allocation, which we would argue needs to be much more to ensure that our businesses survive the economic disaster on the heels of the natural disaster. The allocation of $111 million for economic revitalization is inadequate to address the significant business and revenue losses. Additional funding is necessary to accelerate economic recovery, ensuring a faster return of tax revenue.

• Develop a suitable small business program. Establish a comprehensive grant program for small businesses in North Carolina to assist various scale organizations that have experienced prolonged reduction in sales of 20%, without having to incur additional debt. Congress included specific language in the Emergency Supplemental bill that made CDBG-DR funding eligible to provide grants to small businesses. Many critical businesses have not qualified for grants, insurance claims or any other resources. The State of North Carolina should follow Congressional intent and develop a small business grant program, including businesses with annual revenues of more than $2.5 million, to help struggling businesses recover.

• Implement a tourism recovery waiver. Request a waiver from HUD to use CDBG-DR funds for economic recovery through tourism. Allocate $20 million of the $111.14 million designated for economic revitalization to VisitNC. This includes $10 million for marketing promotion of Western North Carolina and $10 million in marketing grants for tourism development authorities in impacted counties. A $20 million investment in North Carolina tourism marketing could generate $2.88 billion in spending and $260 million in state and local taxes within a year, resulting in a 13-fold return for recovery efforts.   

 TAKE ACTION:

• Read the draft plan here
• Submit your feedback here. The deadline is March 20.

CDBG-DR at the Local Level

The City of Asheville will receive a direct allocation of $225M through CDBG-DR.

Advocacy Notes: 

• Encourage local government to allocate additional funds for small business grants. Locally, the Asheville City Council, along with Buncombe County Government and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, together contributed nearly $4M towards grants for small businesses through the Asheville-Buncombe Rebuilding Together fund. We would advocate for and encourage additional funds to be directed by our local governments to small business grants, as a $14M funding gap remains here in Asheville. Our local businesses are the heartbeat of our community – and they need our help now more than ever.

TAKE ACTION: 

• View the City’s draft action plan here 
• Submit comments here.
• Attend a  public feedback session: March 19 – Housing • March 24 – Economic Revitalization • March 26 – Infrastructure
• Learn more: If you prefer to learn more via podcast, you can listen to James Shelton, Community Development Division Manager, explain the CDBG Disaster Recovery Program on the City’s podcast: What’s Up AVL!.

–

Casey Gilbert, our Vice President of Public Policy – Comments at the Buncombe County Board of Commissioner’s Meeting on March 18th, 2025 (21:57-24:39):

“Good evening Chair Edwards, Commissioners, I am Casey Gilbert, VP of Public Policy for the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. Our mission is to build community through business. We proudly represent 1,700 member businesses, 80% of those businesses are small businesses with less than 20 employees. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, we raised $1M for small business grants through our 501c3 Foundation for the Mountain Strong fund. Through a partnership with Mountain BizWorks who administered the grants – and the quick action of Buncombe County and the City of Asheville, who were able to allocate matching funds – almost $4M has been raised and distributed to businesses that experienced physical damages and economic injury through the Asheville-Buncombe Rebuilding Together fund.

I am here today to thank you for your continued advocacy – citing the County’s comments on the State’s CDBG-DR draft plan that will be presented tonight. We appreciate the Board of Commissioners for calling on the State to include business grants in its action plan.

Regardless of whether the State is able to meet this request, we would ask the Commission to consider additional contributions to the Asheville-Buncombe Rebuilding Together fund – as it is able – as the County receives CDBG-DR funds from the State.

We recognize that there is so much need – from housing to infrastructure, to replenishing the County’s own shortfalls as a result of the disaster, so we are mindful of the challenge to both address and balance the scope and depth of need. Thank you for all you are doing to help our businesses as they weather both the environmental and economic storm that Helene has wrought. We stand beside you – and will use our team, resources, programs, and networks to do what we can to retain, nurture, and regrow our beloved business ecosystem here in Buncombe County. Please let us know how we can help.

Lastly, I want to recognize and uplift the work of Buncombe County staff. They have done an amazing job handling this crisis – and I continue to be impressed with their engagement, outreach, and follow-through. Gratitude to you and your team, Manager Pinder – for seeing us through a truly challenging and unprecedented time.”