Hazard Mitigation Grants
Hazard mitigation is any action taken to reduce long-term risk to people, property, and the environment as a result of disasters. Hazard mitigation works by identifying, characterizing, and analyzing hazards and finding ways to reduce the effects of that hazard. Mitigation may involve elevating a house above a floodplain, building retaining walls, or other structural measures.
Some mitigation may be done by individual property owners, such as “home hardening” measures for wildfire and earthquake preparedness.
Pre-disaster Grants
- Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) (new in 2020; replaced PDM)
- Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA)
- Pre-disaster Mitigation (PDM) (replaced by BRIC in 2020)
- California grants portal (for state agencies and non profits working with them)
- FEMA Grants Portal (for governments and non profits only)
Post-disaster Grants
Please note that funds are normally provided on a reimbursement basis. The only circumstance where the grantee may be advanced funds is when acquiring those real properties scheduled for closing within 30 days of the request for funds. Therefore, if your community does not have the financial resources to cover payments before receiving grant funds, you may want to plan ahead when it comes to scheduling closings or paying invoices.
FEMA Resources
FEMA: Local Mitigation Planning Handbook In April 2023, FEMA’s updated local mitigation planning policy took effect – updated for the first time since 2013. To help guide the design of a sound planning process while meeting new policy requirements is the May 2023 update of FEMA’s Local Mitigation Planning Handbook. This guidance breaks down mitigation planning into manageable steps providing case studies, best practices, and includes climate change considerations.