In the aftermath of the historic Hurricane Michael, The Integrity Group has been selected to provide disaster recovery consulting services to several school districts in the affected region. These projects, which were coordinated through the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium (PAEC), have tasked the Blue Sky team to perform our full range of recovery services for the Liberty County School Board, the Holmes County School Board, the Jackson County School Board and the Gulf County School Board. Each of these school districts were seriously impacted with significant damage and associated costs. As with all our engagements, our goal in these projects is to ensure that all districts receive every eligible dollar from FEMA (and other sources) to restore the facilities and services for all affected students, their families and the faculty/staff of each district. Just as important, our extensive quality assurance assessments of the projects will focus on strengthening these projects to successfully undergo future audits and avoid any “de-obligations” of this critically needed funding.

Discussing the importance of these projects, The Integrity Group Senior Partner Gary Yates said, “We have been doing disaster recovery work for communities in Florida for over ten years. None of this work has ever been more important than restoring schools and helping local leadership bring students, teachers, and families back to a sense of normalcy. There is no more important institution in all of the counties in which we have been entrusted to work. The goal is a normal school day.”

The total damages and costs from these districts will total in the millions of dollars. The team will not only focus on repair and restoration, but also explore all necessary mitigation measures, opportunities to improve infrastructure through the FEMA 428 program, the HUD Community Development Block Grant- Disaster Recovery program and seek other state and federal funding sources.