Everyone involved in emergency management knows that hazard mitigation is one of the five phases of our nation’s “preparedness cycle.” And everyone understands its primary goals/benefits—a decrease in repetitive structural losses, reduced financial hardship, and of course, significantly fewer injuries and deaths. But not everyone, especially the public at large, fully realizes just how significant and effective hazard mitigation planning can be (especially with financial assistance from FEMA’s mitigation grant programs). 

Fortunately, through the federal agency’s recently published mitigation success stories, and now its new Hazard Mitigation Assistance Division Year in Review (2020), that may change. 

According to FEMA, the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Division Year in Review (2020) provides an overview of the activities and accomplishments over the course of the year. It also highlights success stories that demonstrate how the HMA division advances FEMA’s strategic goals of building a culture of preparedness and readying the nation for catastrophic disasters through its grant programs. These programs include: 

At BOLDplanning, we encourage emergency management professionals to read (and of course, share) both FEMA’s mitigation success stories and its Hazard Mitigation Assistance Division Year in Review (2020) as time permits. We also urge you to keep your state, local, tribal, or territorial government’s hazard mitigation plan (HMP) current. As a reminder, HMPs must be updated and approved by FEMA every five years in order to remain eligible for certain hazard mitigation funding.

Need help writing or updating your community’s HMP? Look no further than BOLDplanning. Our team possesses years of practical experience having led hundreds of jurisdictions through plan development, including stakeholder engagement, and the rigorous FEMA review process. 

Most recently, BOLDplanning assisted New Mexico’s San Juan County Office of Emergency Management, along with the cities of Aztec, Bloomfield, and Farmington, and the town of Kirtland, to gain FEMA approval of their recently updated Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). 

To learn more, visit BOLDplanning online, email info@BOLDplanning, or call 615.469.5558 today.