Late last month, FEMA announced the availability of an additional $50 million in funding through its Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) program, or more specifically, its Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) grant program for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. This increase—the largest in the program’s history—increases the total amount of funding offered from $160 million to $210 million. It stems from recovered funds associated with incomplete or under-budget projects from previous grant cycles.
The FMA grant program, as described by FEMA, assists state, tribal, and territorial government applicants in building a culture of preparedness by strengthening our nation’s ability to reduce disaster suffering and protect life and property from future disaster damages.
As for the FY 2019 grant cycle, the program will “prioritize proposals that address community flood risk by setting aside $70 million for this purpose.” From that $70 million, FEMA will seek to fund two types of community flood mitigation activities:
Up to $4 million will go towards advance assistance for flood mitigation design and development of community flood mitigation projects that will help to reduce flood claims.
Remaining funds from the $70 million will be used for mitigation projects that address community flood risk for the purpose of reducing National Flood Insurance Program flood claim payments.
Don’t let this unprecedented funding opportunity pass your community by. Apply now through the Mitigation eGrants system on the FEMA Grants Portal, which is accessible at https://www.fema.gov/application-submittal. All applications must be submitted no later than 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 31, 2020.
