On is the win.

A guy who overcame advertising.

A young brown boy from projects.

And I'm celebrating for not just me from many others that have changed out of situations of adversity.

This is where it all started.

This is where I used to work.

Maybe 10 years ago.

This was my station.

Being raised in with a culture of women of hairdressers that I was that I looked up to growing, I was heavily equipped.

I used to sit in hair salons and watch the ladies work, and I really learned a lot about being a hairstylist with my mentors in front of me.

I mean, I have clients like Rihanna, Nikki Minaj, Kelly Rowland, Yarisha Hiddy.

I like Grammar's hair, I like confidence.

Yeah, I could have slept on and lived in and ruffled up.

I told myself that I could dream, and I told myself that I could in a situation where I was I wasn't supposed to.

And so me standing here today is a huge honor because when I started my journey, I had no idea that this could be.

And so that's why we're gathered here today to address that problem.

And we have great news for a great American city, great news for the great city of Annapolis, which is after many years, FEMA has released the $35 million in funds.

$35 million in funds.

That includes the $33 million that was part of the original City of Annapolis grant, and an additional two and a half million dollars to help with related upgrades for stormwater management.

And this has been the result of work of Team Maryland.

And you're going to hear from so many people who were part of that effort.

But there were also many more who are represented here today that you won't hear from, but who you see here and others who could not join us today, including somebody who could not join us today, Mayor Buckley, the former mayor of Annapolis.

And it was his vision that really set this project in motion.

And I heard from him last night.

He said he couldn't be here.

I think he's taking one of his kids to college, but he was just thrilled, of course, uh, that we were able to secure these funds.

And to the new mayor, Mayor Lippman, and to the council, city council here in Annapolis.

Thank you.

Thank you for carrying on that vision with absolute perseverance.

I was just telling the mayor that I have right here a text message that I received from him on Valentine's Day, coincidentally.

And it was an SOS message.

And it began, I am writing because we are at a critical point in the city dock project.

And he went on to outline the huge challenges they would face if the FEMA funds didn't come through.

He also was putting together contingency plans because he understood the importance of this project.

And he said in that text message if we don't get started and try to keep this on time, we're gonna see some of these businesses close.

So thank you, Mayor Littman for moving with that urgency, and that lit another fire under all of us who are members of the Maryland federal delegation.

And I can say that in the Senate, we immediately renewed our push, which has been ongoing, and directly contacted DHS and FEMA and said, we really need you to release these funds, and we need it yesterday.

And we got the appropriations committee in the Senate involved, and not surprisingly, there are other members in the House and the Senate who've also had projects held up by FEMA, and so there was a growing backlog, but also growing frustration at what was happening uh with backlogs for projects all over the country.

And so all of that pressure built and the dam broke, and the good news is Christy Nome is out, and the funding for the Annapolis dock is in.

But we have with us today uh John Sarbanes, Congressman John Sarbanes, who was absolutely tenacious, absolutely tenacious when it came to making sure that the city of Annapolis had what it needed and was constantly pushing and pushing.

And of course, former state senator and now Congresswoman, Representative Alfred, she's been pushing really hard.

And thank you to other members of the District 30 delegation and everybody who's been involved in this effort over years.

Uh, to Stuart Pittman, your county executive.

You've been just an amazing partner, amazing partner, and all of us know the resources need to come from the city, they need to come from the county, they need to come from the state, and yes, this critical piece needed to come from the federal government.

And so I'm also pleased that we're here and with the continuing support from the governor and the governor's team.

Uh, you're going to hear from our secretary of the department of emergency management, Russ Strickland.

But thank you for what you're doing in this project, but also the other emergency projects around the state and FEMA.

And this wouldn't have happened without everybody gathered here and many more people.

And never giving up.

This is an example of perseverance and persistence at work, and that requires everybody pushing from their own angle and their own point of leverage.

So without further ado, let me now turn it over to somebody who's been pushing really hard for this, first in the Maryland legislature and hit the ground running in the United States Congress, Sarah Alfreth.

Well, thank you to Senator Van Holland for being Team Maryland's quarterback in the federal delegation, but also as you see behind me, the epitome of Team Maryland when we say it's not just the federal delegation, it starts with our local partners, our county partners, our state partners, and of course uh the federal team.

Y'all, this is a day that I I gotta tell you.

Um I try to be an optimist in this work.

I think you have to be.

I wasn't sure this day was gonna happen, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, first of all, this is my umpteenth City Doc press conference.

I think we've all been here many, many times to announce really great news to announce state funding, 18 and a half million in state funding to announce uh almost 10 million dollars in federal earmarks, to announce the resilience authority, to to mark uh Congressman Sarbeans.

We were here uh sorry, there's too many tall people behind me.