A pilot program funded with seed money from the Rockefeller Foundation and Prudential Financial is strengthening 30 homes in three states, including 10 in Horry County, against hurricane windstorm damage through free construction upgrades.

The mitigation initiative, MyStrongHome, was established following the savage destruction left by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. While homeowners have since 2007 been able to apply for grant assistance to strengthen their homes against windstorm damage through the South

Carolina Safe Home Program funded through the S.C. Department of Insurance, MyStrongHome initiative is not grant funded.

Explaining how the MyStrongHome pilot works, Eleanor Kitzman said, “The Department of Insurance always gets more applications than it can fund. The pilot is a research and development project, a model designed to be self-sustaining and reach more consumers than government-funded grant programs can serve.”