Finding 1 – The funding amount allocated is massive, but St. Croix is getting a smaller share.

Using USA Spending data, we tracked the overall share of federal funding allocations by USVI island: St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John (Water Island not indicated in data set). We found that while St. Croix and St. Thomas were relatively on par with Islandspecific federal spending prior to 2017, they experienced radical shifts in funding following the 2017 storms. Despite both islands receiving similar degrees of damage, St. Thomas is getting the lion’s share of funding, with St. Croix receiving just 13 percent of the entire funding pool.

While this divergence is likely due to a multitude of reasons, it is important to note that St. Thomas is the center of tourism for the territory with as many as six ships docked in a single day in its port Charlotte Amalie pre-pandemic. While St. Croix has a larger population and is the largest island in the territory it is very much a secondary island in terms of tourism and economic generation, and it would appear is being allocated funds in accordance with this observation.

St. Croix received

13%