Hurricane Katrina Homeowner's Grant Program Presented to National Grants Partnership June 6, 2006 by Mississippi Development Authority Reznick Group STR, L.L.C.

Hurricane Katrina Homeowner's Grant Program Made land fall in Mississippi on August 29, 2005 Worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States Over $125 Billion in damage 65,380 homes damaged or destroyed in South Mississippi alone Critical need to get grant money to homeowners so they can repair or rebuild

Mississippi Development Authority The Mississippi Development Authority is the State of Mississippiﾕs lead economic and community development agency. More than 250 employees are engaged in providing services to businesses, communities and workers in the state. The agency is organized into three groups, Economic Development, Asset Development, and Administrative and Financial Services. The Hurricane Katrina Homeowner's Grant Program is designed to provide financial assistance to those homeowners outside the flood plain whose homeowner's insurance did not cover structural flood damage. Single-family homes, owner-occupied duplexes and manufactured housing including mobile homes are eligible for grants under this program.

Reznick Group Prime Contractor on Mississippi Hurricane Katrina Homeowner Grant Program Largest CPA firm headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, and the 18th largest public accounting firm in the United States Three decades of experience working with housing and nonprofit organizations Solid reputation of providing government agencies with cost effective, practical solutions that address the root causes of problems

Federal Financial Assistance U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant Disaster relief Long-term recovery and restoration of infrastructure $11.5 Billion made available to MS, LA, AL, FL, and TX Majority of funds going to MS and LA Approximately $5 Billion to MS

Homeowner Grant Assistance Program Requirements: Homeowner’s primary residence on 8/29/05 Homeowner owned and occupied home on 8/29/05 Located in 1 of 4 designated counties Must have had homeowners insurance Home located outside the FEMA designated 100-year flood zone Maximum grant $150,000 Expected between 35,000 and 50,000 applications, reduced to 15,000 after FEMA reviewed its estimates.

Grants Software Needed: STR’s eGrantsPlus was chosen A proven solution that could be implemented within weeks (not years) A solution capable of interfacing with many other systems A solution that could be easily modified A solution that could also serve other MDA grant programs in the future Available over the internet STR’s eGrantsPlus was chosen COTS solution Currently implemented at Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the Department of the Interior (DOI)

Software Architecture Web enabled application accessible from all popular browsers on either PC or MAC. Database and application servers hosted by Rackspace in San Antonio, Texas Firewalls, separation of processors from database, and use of complex passwords protect the application and data. Internet User Firewall Application Server Layer Oracle Application Server Tomcat Servlet Engine Database Server Layer Oracle Database Server Web Servers

Homeowner Assistance Program Mississippi and HUD determined program requirements Application had to capture extensive information Homeowner and occupants information Land/Public records information Estimated damages Lien holders (Mortgage) information FEMA funds request and status SBA funds request and status Homeowners insurance information Within 3 weeks, Reznick established and staffed: 4 major service centers and 3 additional satellite centers to accept applications Call in center to answer questions and schedule appointments

Application Process Applicants could create application from any computer with access to the internet (www.mshomehelpap.gov) or go to service center Account creation -- user name and password Wizard-like screens that move applicant through the process of entering data Applicant must come to a service center to complete application Prove identify Have documents scanned and attached to application Agree to terms and conditions of grant program “We limited appointments this week to make sure that we could iron-out any rough spots in the application process, but everything has gone very smoothly.” Terri Hudson, MDA CFO

Unprecedented Verification Fraud/Identity verification Every homeowner had to show up at one of the designated service centers with proof of identity, proof of ownership, and proof of insurance Duplication of benefits Homeowners insurance proceeds FEMA grants received SBA loans received Interfaces are being developed to verify ALL application data. These include interfaces with FEMA, SBA, insurance companies, mortgage holders, and public records

Project Milestones/Status Software was installed and applications started being accepted 3 weeks after requirements were finalized Applications were received over a 6 week period starting on April 17, 2006 and ending May 31, 2006. 1500 applications were received the first week through a controlled rollout 13,000 applications were received the first month 15,800 applications were received in total The verification process has begun First 6,000 checks scheduled by end of June

Questions??? Contact Information Frank Banda (Reznick Group) frank.banda@reznickgroup.com (301) 652-9100 Scott Meyer (STR, L.L.C.) Skmeyer@strllc.com (703) 460-9001