Central Florida Counties Will Share in Defense Grants
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
By: Tom Parkinson

September 18, 2012 | WMFE - Two central Florida counties are among eleven communities throughout the state receiving grants to help maintain military facilities and diversify local economies.

Enterprise Florida will distribute and administer the $850,000 dollars worth of Defense Reinvestment Grants.The grants include $85,000 for the Orange County Research and Development Authority and $75,000 for the Florida Space Coast Economic Development Commission in Brevard County.

Governor Rick Scott says many Floridians don’t realize how much the defense industry contributes to the state’s economy.
“Military and defense is about 8 percent of our economy. We have over 600,000 defense-related jobs in Florida.” Scott said. “It’s $60 billion a year and it’s been growing so it’s an important part of our economy and we want to make sure we keep solving their problems."

The grants are targeted for communities with specific defense projects in the planning stages. In addition to Orange and Brevard Counties, Bay, Clay, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Okaloosa, Pinellas and Santa Rosa Counties also received grants of between $40,000 and $125,000