Financing

FINANCING

Across the nation there are financing tools in play that have a proven track record in addressing working waterfront and waterway issues, and some that could be used for that purpose, but haven’t been to date.  The Financing section is meant to be a central inventory of summarized information about these tools with links to learn more about each program or benefit.

Resource Categories
The information was collected and grouped into the following categories: State Resources, Federal Resources, Trade Associations, and Foundations.  State Resources include working waterfront funding mechanisms for 30 coastal states (including Great Lakes states) and are searchable by state name.  The Federal Resources are a compilation of Federal programs and independent sources with national scope that qualify to be used on working waterfront and waterway issues.  Trade Associations is a list of organizations (many that work across state lines) that represent members and interests aligned with working waterfront and waterway issues.  Lastly is a listing of private Foundations (philanthropic) that have either funded working waterfront and waterway projects or have focused on aspects of coastal communities’ economies.

Finance Tools
In addition to the different sources of support (State, Federal, Trade Associations & Foundations) we have identified different tools to address the issues facing our working waterfronts.  These include: Grants, Loans, Loan Guarantees, Dedicated Revenue, Tax Incentives, Technical/Planning Assistance and links to additional Information Repositories.

Distribution of Tools
Many states have created special programs to preserve working waterfront access.  In fact, 60% of the resources identified are state resources, 15% Federal, 10% Trade Associations, 8% Economic Development Entities and 6% Foundations.  Some regions of the country have more tools available to them and this is likely a direct correlation to the length of coastline, the scale of the local economy dependent on the working waterfront, varying degrees of development pressures and real estate trends and local efforts to preserve and protect the land/water interface.