OAKLAND, Calif. – On Aug. 1, Vice President Kamala Harris, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell announced the selections for $1.16 billion in funding through two competitive grant programs, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) and Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA), to help communities across the nation enhance climate and disaster resiliency.
These grants will help improve community resilience to a multitude of hazards, including wildfires, earthquakes, floods and more. Many projects leverage innovative solutions to protect communities such as nature-based solutions, which increase resilience and provide benefits to the environment. They also focus on protecting large and small community infrastructure, which helps ensure the continuity of vital services after an emergency or disaster.
FEMA selected BRIC projects from 271 communities in 53 states, tribes, territories and the District of Columbia; and FMA projects from 72 communities in 19 states. Thirty-eight BRIC projects worth over $192 million were selected from FEMA Region 9 states, tribes and territories, including mapping potential landslides to protect life and property in Arizona; reducing fire fuels on tribal lands in Northern California to lessen the severity and frequency of wildfires; and developing a project at American Samoa Community College to improve drainage conditions, which will minimize the likelihood of flooding, building collapse and the development of unhygienic conditions.
The next round of BRIC and FMA funding opens Sept. 30, 2022, and will close Jan. 27, 2023. For more information on upcoming grant opportunities to address high-level future risks to natural disasters, visit fema.gov/grants/mitigation.
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FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters. Follow FEMA Region 9 online at twitter.com/femaregion9.