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FEMA announced the selectees for
the 2017–2019 Youth Preparedness Council. The Council was created in
2012 to bring together young leaders from across the country who are interested
in supporting disaster preparedness and making a difference in their
communities by completing projects to fit their community’s preparedness needs. This
year marks the fifth anniversary of the council.
FEMA selected the nine new members of the council based on their dedication
to public service, community involvement, and potential to expand their impact
as national supporters for youth
preparedness. These teens bring diverse experiences to the council. One new
member is a Civil Air Patrol cadet from Mississippi who introduced an
emergency certification requirement to his squadron. Another is a high school
class president in Georgia who founded an award-winning Odyssey of the Mind
Chapter in his school district, and another is a student who was raised in
Japan and Taiwan where natural disaster risk inspired her to promote
preparedness at an early age and implement various Community Emergency Response
Team (CERT) and Red Cross trainings within her class.
The 2017 selectees are Nicole Muñoz-Casalduc (FEMA Region II, Puerto Rico); Nyla Howell (FEMA Region III, Maryland); Ruben Banks (FEMA Region IV, Mississippi); Marcos Rios (FEMA Region IV, Georgia); Naomi Winston (FEMA Region VI, Louisiana); Hannah Farris (FEMA Region VI, Texas); Savannah Huff (FEMA Region VII, Missouri); Alissa Hsueh (FEMA Region IX, California); and Lathan Chatfield (FEMA Region X, Washington).
The returning council members are Ahjeetha Shankar (FEMA Region I, Connecticut); Aahna Ghosh (FEMA Region II, New Jersey); Preston Buszka (FEMA Region V, Michigan); James Hirsch (FEMA Region VII, Missouri); Jerome Dinakar (FEMA Region VIII, Colorado); and Alex Sun (FEMA Region VIII, Utah).
The council supports FEMA’s commitment to involve America’s youth in
preparedness-related activities. It also provides an avenue to engage young
people by taking into account their perspectives, feedback, and opinions.
Council members meet with FEMA staff throughout their term to provide input on
strategies, initiatives, and projects. Each council member will participate in the Youth Preparedness Council
Summit, July 18–19, 2017, in Washington, D.C. The summit gives members the
opportunity to share their ideas and questions with national organizations;
plan their legacy project; and meet with FEMA community preparedness staff, who
serve as their ongoing support and mentors.
To learn more about the FEMA Youth Preparedness
Council, please visit www.ready.gov/youth-preparedness-council.
In accordance with Executive Order 13777,
“Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) formed a Regulatory Reform Task Force. The Task Force, led by DHS Deputy
Secretary Elaine C. Duke, will review existing regulations, policies, and
information collections across the Department.
To inform this review, FEMA is seeking
public input on regulations, policies, and information collections that may be
appropriate for repeal, replacement, or modification. FEMA requests commenters
be as specific as possible in their remarks. Preferred details would include how,
for example, a particular regulation, policy or information collection, imposes
costs that exceed benefits or is otherwise unnecessary or ineffective.
Commenters should also include any supporting data
or other relevant information such as cost information. When referencing an
existing regulation, please provide specific citations from the Federal
Register or Code of Federal Regulations, and include comprehensive suggestions
regarding repeal, replacement, or modification. Although FEMA will not respond to
individual comments, FEMA values public feedback and will give careful
consideration to all input that it receives.
Public comments may be made until August 14,
2017, at www.regulations.gov, Docket ID FEMA-2017-0023.
FEMA posted the Fiscal Year
2017 (FY17) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) announcements for
the Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grant programs on www.grants.gov.
These NOFOs provide an overview of the grant programs and
details about the agency's funding priorities and review
process. FEMA will offer a webinar on the FY17 NOFOs for
prospective applicants. This NOFO webinar will be offered
twice, and applicants may attend either session:
- Wednesday, July 19 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time
(1 p.m. Central, 12 p.m. Mountain, 11 a.m. Pacific)
- Thursday, July 20 at 12 p.m. Eastern Time
(11 a.m. Central, 10 a.m. Mountain, 9 a.m. Pacific)
For the online portion, use this link to join: https://fema.connectsolutions.com/nofo/.
For audio, call
1-800-320-4330 and enter conference code 502515.
In addition, FEMA
will announce webinars covering project application development
and applying via the Mitigation eGrants system at a later date.
FEMA will open the FY17
application period on August 14, 2017. Eligible applicants must apply for
funding through the Mitigation eGrants system on the FEMA Grants Portal
accessible at https://portal.fema.gov. All applications must be submitted no later than 3 p.m. EST on November 14, 2017.
FEMA’s
Emergency Management Institute (EMI) will host two e-forums in July entitled: “One
Link, One Bridge, Many Voices." E-Forums
are one-hour, moderated webinar discussions that provide an opportunity for EMI
and the emergency management community to discuss matters of interest on
national preparedness training. The forums showcase community partners and
peers, sharing their experiences in panel format, which offers opportunities to
provide technical assistance in training management by facilitating
peer-to-peer sharing of best practices.
- July 19 at 3-4 p.m. Eastern Time
State Training Officer and State Fire Training Director: Collaboration Achieves the Best Outcomes
- July 26 at 3-4 p.m. Eastern Time
Sharing Training Resources: Best Practices Across the Whole Community
Participants can sign into the webinar via Adobe Connect or dial in via conference call at 800-320-4330, PIN 107622#. Participation does not require pre-registration. For questions, contact EMI.
EMI's Virtual Tabletop Exercise (VTTX) program
will offer a chlorine contamination scenario available on September 5, 6, and 7. The VTTX is public health-focused and will address contamination
recognition and subsequent response and recovery efforts. The VTTX will
involve key personnel discussing simulated scenarios in an informal setting and
possibly assess plans, policies, training, and procedures. Content
for each session is the same for all days and participants should
only attend one session.
Each
month, EMI conducts a VTTX series using a Video Teleconference (VTC) platform
to reach community-based training audiences around the country by providing
a virtual forum for interactive disaster training. The VTTX is designed
for a group of ten or more representatives from state, local, tribal, and
territorial emergency management communities.
A VTTX provides a unique opportunity for responders across the Nation to
simultaneously participate in a hazard-specific, facilitated discussion.
Participants will need to connect via a site equipped with the appropriate VTC
capability (Adobe Connect and FaceTime are not viable platforms to connect to a
VTTX) but alternate ways to participate are available upon request.
The VTTX occurs from 12-4 p.m. Eastern Time each day. To
participate in one of the chlorine contamination VTTX sessions, please send an email
to Douglas Kahn at douglas.kahn@fema.dhs.gov with a courtesy
copy to fema-emi-iemb@fema.dhs.gov or call
301-447-1381.
The
application deadline is July 27, 2017. Additional
information is available at https://training.fema.gov/programs/emivttx.aspx.
$8 Million Available for Homeland Security National Training Program Continuing Grants
FEMA announced that $8
million in Fiscal Year 2017 Continuing Training Grants (CTG) funding is available to develop and deliver
FEMA training to address specific focus areas: Cybersecurity, Economic Recovery,
Housing, and Rural and Tribal Preparedness.
Administered
annually by
FEMA, this competitive program attracts applicants nationwide, including
state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, non-profit local and
national organizations, colleges
and universities, and faith-based organizations. Complete instructions
to
apply are found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), posted on Grants.gov, listed under Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number
97.005, Continuing Training Grants. FEMA will review, evaluate
and score proposals by applying a methodology that is detailed in the NOFO. The
CTG application period opened on June 26, 2017 and will close at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time
on July 26, 2017. Awards will be made by September 30, 2017.
For questions regarding
the CTG program, contact FEMA’s National Training and Education Division via
email at FEMA-NTES@fema.dhs.gov or contact Mr. Patrick Cowhey, patrick.cowhey@fema.dhs.gov and (202) 786-0905.
Apply for the 2018 National Emergency Management Executive Academy
FEMA’s
EMI is now accepting application packages for the 2018 National
Emergency Management Executive Academy.
Ideally,
candidates will have experience as senior executives of major emergency
management organizations, served on major commissions and task
forces, or be
responsible for decisions that have a significant effect on homeland
security
and emergency management policies.
Applications will be
accepted through August 15, 2017. There are a limited number of seats and
enrollment is competitive. For more information on the Executive Academy and
the application and selection process, visit www.training.fema.gov/EMPP/executive.asp.
Comments Needed for Draft Policy on Floodplain Development
FEMA
prepared a draft policy for FEMA staff and communities participating in the
NFIP to update guidance for participating communities on satisfying National
Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) floodplain development permit requirements, and
to address questions about floodplain permitting of development activities
occurring in the FEMA designated Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA). Through
this policy, a community can ensure compliance with NFIP and local floodplain
management regulations, while potentially reducing the administrative burden
associated with permitting certain types of low-to-no impact development in the
floodplain.
This
guidance does not intend to address other permits associated with building
codes, or other federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial permits, and only
applies to floodplain development permitting requirements to enroll in, and
maintain eligibility for, the NFIP. The draft policy is available for review on FEMA’s
website at: https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/131010,
and the public is invited to provide comment and input via FEMA-Floodplain-Management-Division@fema.dhs.gov
until August 23, 2017.
FEMA Tribal Outreach and Consultation Period on FEMA Tribal Consultation Policy
FEMA initiated a 90-day outreach and consultation period
from June 1 to August 29, 2017, to seek input from federally recognized Indian
tribal governments on the update of the agency’s Tribal Consultation
Policy. The FEMA
Tribal Consultation Policy, first issued in 2014, acknowledges the agency’s
nation-to-nation relationship with tribal governments. The policy also guides how FEMA
engages tribal governments in regular and meaningful consultation and
collaboration on policy and actions that have tribal implications.
Tribal officials can submit
comments on the FEMA Tribal Consultation until August 29, 2017,
through:
- E-mail to tribalconsultation@fema.dhs.gov, or
- Mail to ATTN: Margeau Valteau, Office of External Affairs,
DHS/FEMA, 500 C Street SW, Washington, DC 20472-3191.
Visit FEMA’s Tribal Affairs
web page for more information on the tribal consultation period for this
policy.
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