Preparedness Grant Effectiveness Case Study: St. Louis

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The COVID-19 incident period ended on May 11, 2023. FEMA will continue to provide funeral assistance until Sept. 30, 2025, to those who have lost loved ones due to this pandemic.

In October 2020, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conducted a preparedness grants effectiveness case study with preparedness officials from the St. Louis Urban Area. The purpose of the case study was to understand the impact of FEMA preparedness grants on the city’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic response. City representatives from the St. Louis Area Regional Response System Staff (STARRS) participated in the call and discussed how federal funding affected the city’s pandemic response. FEMA also drew from information that officials in St. Louis provided through the Biannual Strategic Implementation Report (BSIR) and Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA)/Stakeholder Preparedness Review (SPR).

This case study found that Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP)-funded, Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attack (CCTA)-funded, and Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG)-funded investments supported a collaborative preparation for and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Potential
use of Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) investments also were discussed. St. Louis’ emergency management and health management responsibilities span multiple administrative and departmental jurisdictional boundaries, and case study participants reported that previous, grant-funded
engagement across those boundaries was instrumental in the city’s response to COVID-19. Officials from St. Louis also mentioned that they leveraged capabilities that were previously built in preparation for other threats and hazards to support their COVID-19 pandemic response. Specifically, they discussed the impact of intelligence functions that helped push critical information and create interconnectivity that was critical to the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) response.

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