The Lee Board of County Commissioners voted Jan. 21 to approve an agreement with Collaboratory to allow the county to address a series of objectives included in the $19.3 million Community Change Grant through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to tackle environmental challenges related to disaster preparedness.

Lee County and Collaboratory announced in December that the EPA Community Change Grant had been received to address a series of initiatives in the ResilientLee Recovery and Resiliency Plan.

Lee County has a series of objectives included, primarily within Emergency Management, including building out specifications for Resilience Hubs across the community, coordinating with nonprofit or governmental partners and providing disaster-related programming and education to the community at these facilities. The proposed subgrant agreement for these objectives is for $260,500.

County officials said the initiative will increase community resilience, reduce pollution and build community capacity.