Lower Awarded Small Cities CDBG Grant for Improvements to Wildwood Aviation Museum

ERMA– Lower Township has been awarded a $232,000 Small Cities CDBG Grant for improvements to Cape May County Airport’s Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum.
Lower Township’s Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum will soon receive Americans with Disabilities Act improvements thanks to a $232,000 grant recently awarded by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program. The South Jersey Economic Development District assisted Lower Township in applying for a Small Cities CDBG grant.
There are several types of eligible activities in which to apply for CDBG monies, including the removal of architectural barriers that restrict the accessibility of the elderly and handicapped. Lower Township applied for assistance in making access to the World War II vintage Hangar #1 building at the airport ADA compliant. “We are happy to see such an important and historic structure in Cape May County receive necessary ADA improvements. The grant money will help improve public access for all to the museum,” said Leonard C. Desiderio, South Jersey Economic Development District Board Chairman and Cape May County Freeholder.
Lower Township’s Mayor Michael Beck recently received a letter from NJ DCA Commissioner Lori Grifa informing him of the grant award. “We were very happy to find out that we were awarded the grant. The museum is an important tourist attraction for Lower Township and this grant will help with much needed ADA improvements,” Mayor Beck said.
The museum’s executive director, Joseph Salvatore, helped create the Naval Air Station Wildwood Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission was to restore Hangar #1 into an aircraft museum honoring the Navy airmen who died while training during WWII. The hangar was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September 1997.
The museum has more than 26 aircraft displays, in addition to several exhibits that include military memorabilia, plane engines and photographs. “By improving access to the museum we are helping to open our doors to many who may otherwise not have been able to share in the experience of learning how this naval air station played an important role in World War II. It has been documented on television how many of our veterans, particularly those who served recently, are coming home with injuries and impairments, it is nice to receive news of this grant right before Veterans’ Day,” said Salvatore.
For more information at the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum please visit: www.usnasw.org. The South Jersey Economic Development District is a federally funded regional agency established in 1979 to promote economic development in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem Counties, complementing and coordinating county and state development initiatives.