Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Grant Program FY 2022 Subapplication and Selection Status

Subapplication Summary

Total Grant Cycle

Highlights

Subapplicant Status

The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program provides proactive investment in resilience for communities so they are better prepared and remain resilient prior to a natural disaster. BRIC provides funds annually for hazard mitigation planning and projects to reduce risk of damage before a disaster.

On Aug. 28, FEMA announced the selection of 124 projects for this year’s BRIC National Competition. In addition, this is a follow-up from May 19, when FEMA announced the BRIC initial selections for the Tribal Set-Aside and the State and Territory Allocation.  

FEMA made $2.295 billion available for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program in fiscal year 2022. BRIC received 803 subapplications totaling more than $4.6 billion from 55 states, territories, and the District of Columbia. The agency also received requests from 37 tribal governments totaling more than $56.2 million in the Tribal Set-Aside funds.

For the BRIC initial selections announced in May, FEMA selected 325 subapplications totaling $136 million across 55 states and territories, and 34 tribes.

This funding opportunity provided up to $2 million for every state and territory. This is double the amount of federal funding available in the previous year and a significant increase from the $600,000 available in 2020.

In August, FEMA announced competitive projects from 38 states, including the District of Columbia, across all 10 FEMA Regions. The selected projects have met the basic eligibility requirements and will enter the next phase of the awards review process. FEMA will provide funding through these selections for states, local communities, and the District of Columbia for critical mitigation projects and activities.

These selection announcements are not awards. FEMA will work with applicants “Identified for Further Review” to conduct programmatic reviews of the selected subapplications before making a final decision for funding. 

FEMA received 803 subapplications totaling more than $4.6 billion from 55 states, territories, and the District of Columbia. Of these submissions, FEMA received subapplications from 127 Economically Disadvantaged Rural Communities, a 15% increase from last year.

Through the National Competition, FEMA selected 124 competitive projects based on the highest composite score until the funding amount available had been reached. These projects are across all 10 FEMA regions in 115 of communities, including one tribe, in 38 states and territories, and the District of Columbia. 

• Of the 38 states and territories selected for an FY22 BRIC competitive grant, 23 states or 60% of all states will be first-time recipients for competitive BRIC funding.
• Fifty-five states and territories across all 10 FEMA Regions will receive funding through the National Competition, State/Territory Allocation or the Tribal Set-Aside.
• For the third year, the increase in tribal nation requests continued to rise. In total, 34 tribes were selected in the Tribal Set-Aside for an estimated $54 million in funding.   

In the FY22 National Competition, 64 projects included nature-based solutions from 19 states and 8 regions. 69% of those projects were Economically Disadvantaged Rural Communities or disadvantaged communities.

• Of the 124 FY22 National Competition selections, 100 of them come from states that have mandatory building code adoption.
• FEMA will continue to prioritize the adoption and enforcement of modern building codes in the BRIC program and encourage the submission of capability- and capacity-building activities related to building codes to assist states and local communities in being more competitive in accessing funding. 

61% of federal share is benefitting Justice40 disadvantaged communities. Eighty-nine subapplications were selected, totaling $152 million, to support Economically Disadvantaged Rural Communities.

FEMA announced in May 2023 the selection of 46 diverse communities, tribal nations and territories set to receive non-financial direct technical assistance to help build community-wide resilience. In total, there are now 74 communities and tribes participating in this initiative.

The initiative has proven successful and one BRIC Direct Technical Assistance (BRIC DTA) community from fiscal year 2020 has been selected under the BRIC National Competition for a project with a total amount of $23 million in federal cost share.

An additional 15 BRIC DTA communities and tribal nations (five communities and 10 tribal nations) were selected in May to receive fiscal year 2022 funding for project scoping or mitigation plan development to enhance disaster resiliency.

The project types include riverine and inland flooding, coastal flooding, drought, wildfire, tornado, dam and all-hazards.

This includes data from state and territory allocations and set-aside for tribes.

Uses of BRIC Assistance	Number of Subapplications Selected	Total Amount of Federal Cost Share
Mitigation Projects	194	$1,913,634,611
Capability and Capacity Building Activities	255	$70,059,908
Management Costs	69	$296,634,361
Direct Technical Assistance	46	N/A
Totals	518	$2,280,328,880

There are various types of projects eligible for BRIC funding. The lists below reflect the top five project types by federal cost share requested and the number of subapplications requested and the number of subapplications (not including management costs).

1. Flood Control = $699 million
2. Utility/Infrastructure Protection = $537 million
3. Stabilization and Restoration = $175 million
4. Wildfire Management = $126 million
5. Saferoom/Shelter = $79 million

1. Flooding = 53 subapplications
2. Infrastructure Failure = 24 subapplications
3. Fire = 9 subapplications
4. Drought = 4 subapplications
5. Dam/Levee Break = 4 subapplications

The BRIC program is one of several federal agency programs participating in Justice40, a Biden-Harris Administration initiative to prioritize federal investments benefitting disadvantaged communities. The Fiscal Year 2021 grant cycle focused on advancing support and access for underserved communities.

FEMA set a baseline to achieving the Justice40 Initiative goals which prioritize delivering at least 40% of the overall benefits to disadvantaged communities. This year FEMA established a baseline within the BRIC and Flood Mitigation Assistance grant programs to achieve that goal and will continue to build on the work we have done to ensure equitable outcomes.

FEMA anticipates continued coordination with the Biden Administration and other federal agencies with Justice40 covered programs.

Two examples of FEMA's commitment to prioritize equity include:

This was one of the first recipients of BRIC DTA in fiscal year 2020. After heavy rain in 2008, several neighborhood roads in the village of DePue were flooded. The increased flow at the wastewater treatment plant caused raw sewage to back up into the basements of homes.

As an Economically Disadvantaged Rural Community, the village will build a new wastewater treatment plant on village property outside of the floodway and floodplain. The old plant will be demolished and left as open space.

The two north-south levee sections will be leveled, and the site will become a riparian habitat. The project also includes building two lift stations to get the influent into the new facility. All building finished floors and doorways will be built above the 500-year flood level.  

Danville is an Economically Disadvantaged Rural Community and Danville School District has no protection for its students during severe wind and tornado events. The community plans to build a multi-purpose safe room next to the elementary school. The proposed safe room will have space for 1,126 faculty, staff and students; it will have six wheelchair spaces and be ADA-compliant.

The project includes adding roof materials that will be standing seam metal or single ply and steel exterior doors, frames, and offset doors will be used to prevent assault from flying projectiles (as required by FEMA 361). The HVAC system will be built to meet FEMA’s minimum ventilation ratio. By including nature-based solutions such as permeable pavement, the project should also help improve stormwater management and reduce future risk of flash flooding. 

The below table shows each subapplication status by state. For this grant cycle, FEMA made two announcements. In May, the status of subapplication selections for BRIC Direct Technical Assistance, the Tribal Set-Aside and State/Territory Allocation were announced. In August, FEMA announced the National Competition selections for BRIC.

Learn about the definition of each status description:

• Identified for Further Review
• Not Selected
• Did Not Meet HMA Requirements