TALLAHSSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Gov. Ron DeSantis announced $29 million in grants to small communities in Florida on Monday morning.
The governor made the announcement at the city hall in Green Cove Springs in Clay County.
DeSantis said the grants will go to 42 small and rural communities throughout the state under the Florida Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program.
Towns in Florida eligible to receive the funds have to have a population under 50,000 people or be in a county with an unincorporated population of less than 200,000.
DeSantis said Green Cove Springs will receive $700,000 in grants to improve the town's infrastructure and parks.
The governor was joined by Department of Economic Opportunity Secretary Dane Eagle and Enterprise Florida Inc. President and CEO Jamal Sowell.
DeSantis also used a large portion of the briefing talking about his support for law enforcement and his push to attract good candidates to the profession.
"Make no mistake, the reason you have huge spikes in crime in many parts of the country is because of not standing up for law enforcement, having weak policies where you let people out and you're not prosecuting people who are committing habitual offenses," DeSantis said.
He also said Monday that deciding in May toforgo the federal government's enhanced unemployment benefits has helped fill jobs in Florida.
"I can tell you, employers have said since we made that change, there's some that have said they've had more applications in like three weeks than they had the previous three months," DeSantis said.
