By Ashton Maddox, genCLEO Tampa
After hurricanes Helene and Milton tore through the Tampa Bay area, the destruction was easy to see: flooded homes, downed power lines, damaged roofs. Then came the rebuilding. Almost a year later, thousands of families are still picking up the pieces.
Right now, Hillsborough County is deciding how to spend over $709 million in federal recovery funds through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program. That’s enough money to implement some truly transformational changes that could shift how we get power to run our homes and businesses, our community’s resilience to storms and whether or not homes and infrastructure get rebuilt. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to not just rebuild, but to rethink the systems and infrastructure that left so many of us vulnerable in the first place.
As a young person in Tampa and a member of genCLEO, I want to believe in a future where my city and community are prepared for the next storm. But the drafted action plan released by the county doesn’t go far enough. It talks about “resilience” without saying what that actually means or how we’ll get there. While we attended the public hearing in Progress Village on June 10, we believe there is a need for deeper community input, as we are the ones who deeply understand these issues in our communities. By providing public comment, we can become architects of this plan.
If Hillsborough County truly wants to protect its people, especially low-income communities hit hardest by climate disasters, we need a strong, detailed plan. We need green infrastructure. We need solar power with backup battery storage. We need affordable, energy-efficient homes. And we need it now, not later.
Let’s start with the basics. Our county has the highest storm surge risk in the entire country, 99.6 out of 100, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and cited in the draft action plan. So why doesn’t the plan include mangrove restoration or green stormwater infrastructure that literally absorbs floodwaters? Nature has the tools to protect us, but only if we choose to invest in it.
Next, we have to talk about energy. After every hurricane, communities go days without power in dangerous heat. Yet there’s zero mention of solar panels, battery storage or microgrids in the county’s plan. That’s not just a missed opportunity; it’s a public safety failure. Rooftop solar could keep the lights on, keep medicines cold, preserve food and keep people safe.
And if we’re restoring homes, why not make them energy-efficient? Improvements like better insulation, new roofs and modern windows can lower utility bills, keep homes cooler during extreme heat and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to stronger storms.
The county must allocate a minimum of 70% of funds for low- and moderate-income communities, but places like Progress Village, Ruskin and Gibsonton deserve more than the minimum. They need to be prioritized.
We know that only 5% of FEMA applicants received help after the last storms. That means this grant is the only chance that many residents have to recover. It can’t go to waste or worse, to corporate interests disguised as economic development. Every dollar should support resilient housing, public shelters and emergency infrastructure that meet the needs of real people.
As young people, we are inheriting a future that will be shaped by these decisions. We are begging for our county leaders to step up.
The deadline to submit a public comment is July 7. That’s not just a date on the calendar, it’s our chance to fight for a community that’s cleaner, safer and more resilient for everyone. Join us on July 16 at the Hillsborough County Commission meeting where the action plan will be voted on. Submit your public comment here: https://hcflgov.formstack.com/forms/impacts_from_natural_disasters_cdbg_dr.
Ashton Maddox holds a B.S. in environmental science and policy from the University of South Florida and works in climate advocacy and environmental planning. He currently organizes with The CLEO Institute, where they focus on building public engagement around sustainability and resilience. His work spans research, organizing and policy development to address the climate crisis. Banner photo: A Tampa street still flooded four days after Hurricane Milton (Liz Roll/FEMA, via Defense Visual Information Distribution Service).
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