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FEMA published the "Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide"
that combines all existing policies into a self-contained, simple, adaptable,
and searchable publication. The new "Public
Assistance Program and Policy Guide" will replace all existing Public Assistance (PA) publications as well as the 9500 series policies. The consolidation
of PA policies and guidance documents into a single publication
will eliminate duplication and perceived inconsistency among the different
documents and policies.
The "Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide" will be effective for
disasters declared on or after January 1, 2016. Disasters that were declared
prior to January 1, 2016 will still follow the 9500 series policies, which were
in effect at the time of the disaster being declared. There are no substantive policy changes in the new guide.
The Public Assistance program
anticipates that the Guide will be updated annually.
In the last ten years, the FEMA
Public Assistance program averaged $4.7 billion in disaster assistance annually,
making it the agency’s largest grant program. The Public Assistance program
provides financial assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial
governments and certain private non-profits to aid their recovery following a
disaster or emergency.
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (AFG) will open on
Monday, December 7, 2015 at 8 a.m. EST and will close on Friday, January 15,
2016, at 5 p.m. EST.
The Department of
Homeland Security Appropriations Act, (Pub. L. 113-76) provides $306,000,000
in AFG Program funding to assist fire departments and nonaffiliated ambulance
and emergency medical service organizations meet their firefighting and
emergency response needs. The AFG Program enables these organizations to obtain
the tools and resources necessary to more effectively protect the health and
safety of the public and emergency response personnel.
Grant guidance for this program will be available at www.grants.gov, and is currently available
for applicant review at www.fema.gov/firegrants/afggrants/index.shtm.
The “Get Ready Guide” may also be useful for potential applicants and is provided to answer
questions and to help prepare grant applications.
On October 27, 2015, FEMA’s Voluntary Agency Liaisons (VALs), the National Voluntary Organizations
Active in Disaster (National
VOAD), and the DHS Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood
Partnerships co-hosted the First Annual
Voluntary Organization Partnership Day. This unique event recognized the valuable services and support our
voluntary, faith-based, and community partners provide to disaster survivors
before, during, and after an event.
A special thank you to the inaugural event’s
36 exhibitors, which included National and State VOAD member organizations,
other whole community partners involved in disaster response and recovery, and
FEMA components.
If you would like to
share your experiences or photos from this event, or want to learn more, please
search or post on social media using hashtag #VOPD15, or contact AC Claud (alfred.claud@fema.dhs.gov), Voluntary Agency Liaison, FEMA Individual
Assistance.
After many years of planning and months of hard work, www.ready.gov became mobile friendly. You can now visit www.ready.gov
on your phone, tablet, and desktop computer and have the same content
experience. We are continuing to update and streamline
content on the site.
Now that ready.gov and fema.gov are both mobile-enabled, m.fema.gov will be sunset in December as it is no longer needed. Thank you to
everyone who helped us promote the mobile site over the years, and thank you
for visiting and promoting the mobile-enabled ready.gov.
FEMA
provides training for emergency responders through our Emergency Management Institute
(EMI). EMI serves as the national focal point for the development and delivery
of emergency management training to enhance the capabilities of federal, state,
local, tribal, and territorial government officials, volunteer organizations, and the public
and private sectors to minimize the impact of disasters on the American public.
Among EMI’s many programs and courses, The
National Emergency Management Basic Academy is the entry-point for individuals
pursuing a career in emergency management. The Basic Academy offers the tools
to develop comprehensive foundational skills needed
in emergency management. For those who are new
to emergency management, the Basic Academy also provides a unique opportunity
to build camaraderie, to establish professional contacts, and to understand the
roles, responsibilities, and legal boundaries associated with emergency
management.
Virginia
and North Carolina are the first states to adopt the curriculum as part of
their emergency management training standards. More information about how federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial emergency management offices can adopt the Basic Academy training for
emergency managers and other partners who serve during disasters and
emergencies can be found on the FEMA
blog.
FEMA is hiring! Utilize your skills in construction, engineering, and insurance to support survivors in need. Visit the "Find a Job" section on www.careers.fema.gov and apply for one of our Public Assistance Reservist job openings. If you qualify, you may receive an invite to our FEMA Hiring event on December 14-19 in Pasadena, California. On the spot job offers will be made, so apply today!
Resumes can be sent to FEMA-HC-ServiceDesk@fema.dhs.gov. Applicants can also call 1-866-896-8003 for more information.
FEMA and partners will
hold the Fifth Annual Building Resilience through Public-Private
Partnerships Conference on December 10-11, 2015 in New Orleans,
Louisiana. Each year participants from the public and private sectors convene
to promote innovation in furthering public-private partnerships to enhance
prevention, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation for all-hazards
resilience.
The conference brings together more than 300 industry
executives and government and nonprofit leadership from across the emergency
management and homeland security enterprise. For those interested in
participating in the in person conference there is still time to register. For more information and to check out
the conference agenda visit www.dhs.gov/event/Public-Private-Partnerships-Conference.
Sponsored
this year by FEMA, in partnership with the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security through the National Protection and
Programs Directorate and Private Sector Office, and North American Aerospace
Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command. Planned in collaboration
with: American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), American Red Cross, Business
Executives for National Security (BENS), Business Forward, National Incident
Management Systems & Advanced Technologies, University of Louisiana at
Lafayette, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Foundation.
FEMA's Emergency Management
Institute, in partnership with the DHS Office of Academic Engagement, FEMA
Region VII, and U.S. Fire Administration, will present a webinar titled
"Tools for Creating Campus Resilience" on December 16 from 1:30-2:30
p.m. ET. The webinar will discuss ReadyCampus, the
DHS Campus Resilience Pilot Program for Colleges and Universities. This student-centered
program brings together many prominent organizations, private sector, and local
volunteer organizations to teach general preparedness to students and staff, and
the U.S. Fire Administration's Campus Fire Safety Program. Natural, technological,
and health hazards can all affect daily campus operations. Institutions are
encouraged to regularly review, update, and exercise their emergency plans.
Participants should register
in advance for the online webinar. Closed captioning will be provided.
FEMA’s Federal Insurance
and Mitigation Administration released FEMA’s Leadership
Intent to implement the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS). The
Intent describes the framework FEMA is proposing to implement for Executive
Order (E.O.) 13690 and the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard.
E.O. 13690 provides
federal agencies flexibility to choose from one or more approaches to identify
an elevation requirement above the base flood elevation. Additionally,
E.O. 13690 amended E.O. 11988 to set forth a higher level of resilience for
activities where even a slight chance of flooding is too great. The Intent
outlines FEMA’s approach to standardize its use of the multiple elevation
requirements above the base flood elevation.
Continuing our
commitment to an open, collaborative, stakeholder-focused process in
implementing the FFRMS, FEMA is sharing this framework for public comment on
FEMA’s website. Public comments received will continue to inform the regulatory
and policy development process.
For more information,
visit
www.fema.gov/federal-flood-risk-management-standard-ffrms or send
comments by December 17, 2015, to FEMA-EO11988-13690@fema.dhs.gov.
FEMA
is seeking public comment on proposed changes to regulation describing FEMA’s
Individual Assistance (IA) declarations criteria. FEMA published the proposed
rule in the Federal
Register, and is seeking comments by January 11, 2016.
The Sandy Recovery Improvement Act (SRIA) requires FEMA to review, update and revise,
through rulemaking, the factors it uses to measure the severity, magnitude, and
impact of a disaster. The proposed rule, which has a 60 day public
comment period, is intended to provide more objective and clear IA declaration factors and speed the declaration process,
including FEMA’s recommendation to the President on whether a major disaster
declaration authorizing IA is warranted.
The proposed rule largely expands and clarifies
current factors and aligns them with the data presently collected to support
the evaluation process and adds additional data sets easily accessible by states.
FEMA reviewed the current factors and the proposed rule intends to revise the
current factors by including: State Fiscal Capacity and Resource Availability,
Uninsured Home and Personal Property Losses, Disaster Impacted Population
Profile, Impact to Community Infrastructure, Casualties, and Disaster Related Unemployment.
Comments are due on January 11, 2016, and can be submitted
online.
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