FEMA has announced the initial grant selections for fiscal year 2022 Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) and Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) grant funding. These selections have been announced earlier to better assist communities across the nation with building resilience. For BRIC, $136 million in subapplications were selected for mitigation projects and planning, project scoping, and the adoption and enforcement of hazard resistant building codes. For Flood Mitigation Assistance, nearly $24 million in subapplications were selected for updating flood hazard mitigation plans, technical assistance, and project scoping.
FEMA has also announced the selection of 26 communities and 20 tribal nations that will receive BRIC Direct Technical Assistance (DTA). In total, nationwide, there are now 74 communities receiving BRIC DTA, which is meant to reduce barriers to communities being able to access the BRIC program. BRIC DTA is evolving to become more flexible and customer focused so more communities and tribal nations can develop and submit high-quality BRIC applications that lead to successful resilience programs.
FEMA plans to award these funds quickly so communities can move forward with enhancing their capability and capacity building, as well as implementing planned mitigation projects. The agency will announce a second round of projects selected for further review later this summer. Those selections will include funding for more complex projects, including ones being selected for the BRIC National Competition and FMA localized flood risk reduction projects.
To learn more about these initial selections, visit:
On March 1, 2023, FEMA published a funding opportunity for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grant program. A total of $233,043,782 in funding has been made available to 100 congressionally-directed projects. Applicants may request up to an additional 5% of project costs for management and administration of the program from a separate pool of funds.
Eligible applicants must apply for funding using the Mitigation eGrants system on the FEMA Grants Portal. The PDM Grant Program makes federal funds available for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to plan for and implement sustainable cost-effective measures designed to reduce the risk to individuals and property from future natural hazards, while also reducing reliance on federal funding from future natural disasters.
The PDM Grant Program aligns with the general goal of promoting resilience and aligns with Goal 2: Lead Whole Community in Climate Resilience of the 2022-2026 FEMA Strategic Plan. This funding is offered in addition to funds provided through other FEMA grant programs for projects that will support growing mitigation needs nationwide.
Learn more about FY 2023 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Congressionally Directed Spending.
May marks Building Safety Month! Led by the International Code Council, this international campaign reinforces the need for the adoption of modern, regularly updated building codes. It helps individuals, families and businesses understand what it takes to create safe and sustainable structures. This year’s focus is on how building safety is a personal, local, and global initiative.
Building codes specify the minimum design and construction requirements to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of both building occupants and the public at large. Historically, details about building codes, how they are implemented, and their value to overall community planning and disaster resilience have only been understood by the technical community (i.e., engineers, architects, building codes officials, etc.). However, FEMA recognizes that it is also equally important for property owners to understand and adopt modern building codes.
The weekly themes for this year’s campaign are:
- Week One (May 1–7): Building Safety Starts at Home
- Week Two (May 8–14): Building Safety Professionals and You
- Week Three (May 15–21): Prepare Your Community
- Week Four (May 22–28): Advocate for Your Community
- Week Five (May 29–31): Solving Challenges Together
Click here to learn more about each weekly theme, download resources and get involved.
Level Up is an audio series dedicated to highlighting people who make hazard mitigation planning and action a priority in their work and communities. The Level Up Audio Project shares stories, best practices and lessons learned. The goal is to inspire mitigation action and strengthen the community of hazard mitigation and climate adaptation professionals working at the local level.Season 3 includes:
- Episode 1: Equitable Climate Action Planning in Oakland, California
- Episode 2: Assessing Seismic Vulnerability in Clark County, Nevada
- Episode 3: Proactive Policy for Coastal Resilience in Kaua’i, Hawaii
- Episode 4: Hazard Mitigation with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians
- Episode 5: Mitigating Drought with the City of Woodland, California
You can listen to the Level Up Audio Project on these platforms:
Tune in to hear how:
- The City of Oakland, California created an equity-focused climate action plan that aims to reduce emissions and dependence on fossil fuels, and ensure community resilience to the impacts of climate change-related hazards such as sea level rise, drought, wildfire, and extreme heat;
- Jurisdictions like Clark County, Nevada can create building inventory projects and help increase community awareness of earthquake risk;
- Climate change in Kaua’i, Hawaii is placing communities, structures and natural habitats at increased risk to coastal erosion and flooding and the policies they’ve enacted to mitigate these hazards;
- The Morongo Band of Mission Indians has approached hazard mitigation planning and action through collaboration with other neighboring jurisdictions; and
- The City of Woodland implemented several measures to mitigate the impacts of drought and increase water quality and availability for residents.
FEMA has released major updates to the National Risk Index (NRI), which is a free and easy online data set and mapping tool created by FEMA that is designed to better inform communities about their natural hazards risks and how to reduce them. The NRI depicts the communities most at risk from 18 natural hazards by identifying counties and census tracts with high natural hazard losses, high social vulnerability, and low community resilience.
These NRI updates include new data and information to improve the user experience and risk knowledge about floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. These changes will help inform community’s decision-making as they create hazard mitigation plans and select resilience-related projects.
Officially launched in August 2021, FEMA’s NRI has been a key tool in helping communities support mitigation planning, data-driven decision-making and other actions to create resilient communities. Its data sets and user experience continue to be updated and improved.
For ideas on how to use the NRI, visit the National Risk Index Best Practices web page. For more information on the updates and to learn your risk, visit the National Risk Index.
Following a multi-year effort, FEMA has released theHazard Mitigation Assistance Program and Policy Guide --also called the HMA Guide, which aims to reduce complexities and increase stakeholder accessibility to resilience grant programs.As of March 23, 2023, the HMA Guide is effective and replaces the 2015 Hazard Mitigation Assistance Guidance and the 2015 Hazard Mitigation Assistance Guidance Addendum.
State, local, tribal and territorial governments can use the guide to help them go through the Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant lifecycle process. FEMA’s mitigation grant programs provide funding for actions that address risks to and reduce disaster suffering from events like wildfires, drought, extreme heat, hurricanes, earthquakes and flooding.
“As climate events grow in frequency and severity, this guide will be invaluable to accelerate all-hazards resilience for those most at risk,” said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.
The HMA Guide has been simplified to make resilience projects more accessible to communities that need them the most. It also includes updates to address climate change and future conditions, equity, building codes, capability and capacity building, nature-based solutions and community lifelines.
The guide provides information about four programs: Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC), Flood Mitigation Assistance, Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Post Fire. For 2021 and 2022, several of these programs received historically high funding levels.
FEMA has offered several webinars and provided materials with more information about the updated guide.
For more information about the guide update, visit FEMA.gov.
FEMA has announced the agency will now fund low-carbon materials through eligible programs as part of authorities issued by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022.
Under FEMA’s new guidance, states, tribes, territories, and local governments will be able to use federal funding to pay for certain construction materials – concrete, asphalt, glass and steel – that have a lower carbon footprint compared to conventional materials. Eligible FEMA programs include Public Assistance, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC), and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).
The guidance applies for disasters declared at least 60 days after release of the guidance (March 21, 2023) for Public Assistance and HMGP. Applications submitted for BRIC can apply for project funding that includes low-carbon materials during the fiscal year 2023 application process.
FEMA is developing additional guidance to expand and implement incentives for low-carbon projects and net-zero emissions projects that will help communities build back stronger. These funds and incentives support FEMA’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan goal of leading whole of community in climate resilience
Learn more about how FEMA is Building a Clean, Climate-Resilient Economy through FEMA’s Grant Programs.
The Natural Hazards Center and FEMA co-hosted a webinar onEquitable Engagement with Underserved Communities and shared an update on state and local mitigation planning guidance and research. The webinar series featured one-hour presentations by innovative speakers on topics related to mitigation policy, practice, and research.
E213: Subapplication Review and Evaluation
This course will provide participants with the knowledge and skills required for effective grant application and sub-application review and evaluation and equip participants with knowledge of how a grant is awarded.
This course will be offered in-person at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI):
- July 24 – July 25, 2023 (8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET)
E0214: HMA Project Implementation and Programmatic Closeout
This course will provide course participants with the knowledge and skills required to effectively implement and closeout a Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant project.
This course will be offered in-person at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI):
- July 26 – July 27, 2023 (8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET)
Learn more and register for the open courses.
For more Hazard Mitigation Training information from FEMA or other organizations, please email: fema-hazardmitigationassistance-training@fema.dhs.gov
