|
FEMA will hold a disability stakeholder call at 11 a.m. ET on July 21. The call will focus on independent living for people with disabilities to observe the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
This sweeping civil rights legislation expanded on the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination by federally funded entities against people with disabilities.
The ADA covers all aspects of public life, prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in matters of employment, state and local government service, public accommodation and telecommunications. Its provisions cover more than 56 million Americans, or approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population, who have a disability.
FEMA Office of Disability Integration and Coordination, Director Linda Mastandrea will be joined by National Council on Independent Living Executive Director Reyma McCoy McDeid. The call will focus on how FEMA works with partners to provide equity and support independence by integrating the needs of people with disabilities into emergency management planning.
Join via telephone by calling 888-204-4368. Use passcode 6980376.
Register on the FEMA Disability Stakeholders event page. Closed captioning will be available via Federal Relay using event ID 4833864.
FEMA, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Northern Command and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is hosting the 10th Annual Building Resilience Through Private-Public Partnerships Conference from 1 to 5 p.m.. ET on July 27 and 28.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted every community, but recovery has not been the same. The pandemic exposed deep-rooted vulnerabilities and highlighted a need to work together to increase resilience and elevate the equity of every individual.
Conference discussions will address collaboration required among private, public and nonprofit sectors to help mitigate the effects of all disasters. The conference will focus on building resilience against all hazards while looking ahead to future emergencies and how we can be better prepared through greater collaboration across sectors.
To register, visit uschamberfoundation.org.
FEMA has released the “Building Private-Public Partnerships guide.” The guide provides recommendations and best practices for jurisdictions to establish and maintain a private-public partnership to help coordinate mitigation, response and recovery planning and preparedness.
The guide is an effort to build on the recent National Response Framework update. The update focuses on non-governmental capabilities to stabilize community lifelines and the continued need for aligning government efforts with the private sector. Private-public structures exist to reflect the interconnected and complex environment that emergency managers operate, especially within the context of more frequent and severe incidents even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
FEMA worked on the guide with associations representing emergency management, government administration and the private sector. The guide provides recommendations and best practices for jurisdictions to establish and maintain a private-public partnership to help coordinate preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery planning. The guide will help both public and private sector emergency managers at all levels collaborate to increase community resilience. While the guide is written from a local perspective, any jurisdiction or private entity can use it.
To facilitate engagement process, FEMA will host two 60-minute engagement webinars to discuss the guide and answer stakeholders’ questions. The webinars will be open to the whole community and advance registration is required.
To register, click on the preferred webinar session below:
Visit the FEMA blog, available in English and Spanish, to read more about the importance of building these partnerships from FEMA's Acting Deputy Administrator for Resilience, Alex Amparo. In the blog, Amparo discusses how the guide helps public and private sector emergency managers at all levels collaborate to increase community resilience.
FEMA has released the funding notice for $6 million in competitive funding available as part of the fiscal year 2021 Homeland Security National Training Program Continuing Training Grants.
The funding notice, posted on grants.gov, will be available to applicants through a competitive process to help improve the nation’s ability to respond to and recover from all-hazards events. Applicants must submit applications for no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on August 16.
For fiscal year 2021 program priority areas consist of select emerging threats and gaps that align with strategic priorities that recipients are expected to incorporate into products and activities funded through the continuing training grants program to build capability across the nation.
Focus areas for fiscal year 2021 are:
- Public health emergencies, including pandemic preparedness and response.
- Mass care—such as community sheltering and relocation assistance.
- Tribal and rural preparedness.
Applicants may contact the FEMA Grant Programs Directorate Call Center at (866) 927-5646 or via e-mail at ASK-GMD@dhs.gov for questions.
Last week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced the final allocations for $475 million for seven fiscal year 2021 competitive preparedness grant programs. These allocations, with grant funding announced earlier this year, totals nearly $2 billion. This funding will help prepare the nation against man-made threats and natural disasters.
The grant programs provide funding to state, local, tribal and territorial governments, nonprofit agencies and the private sector in building and sustaining capabilities to prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from acts of terrorism and other disasters. The total amount for each grant program is set by Congress and the allocations are made by the DHS Secretary.
DHS identified four critical priority areas for the competitive grant program:
- Soft targets and crowded places.
- Domestic violent extremism.
- Emerging threats.
Applicants under the grant programs were provided percentage increases in their competitive scores for aligning their projects around these areas. All capabilities and programs being built or sustained using homeland security grant funding must have a clear linkage to the core capabilities articulated in the National Preparedness Goal.
The following grants are competitive, with awards announced July 16:
- Operation Stonegarden: provides $90 million to enhance cooperation and coordination among state, local, tribal, territorial, and federal law enforcement agencies to jointly enhance security along the United States land and water borders.
- Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program: provides $15 million to eligible tribal nations to implement preparedness initiatives to help strengthen the nation against risk associated with potential terrorist attacks and other hazards.
- Nonprofit Security Grant Program: provides $180 million to support target hardening and other physical security enhancements for nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of a terrorist attack. This year $90 million is provided to nonprofits in Urban Area Security Initiative-designated areas, and $90 million is provided to nonprofits outside those designated urban areas.
- Port Security Grant Program: provides $100 million to help protect critical port infrastructure from terrorism, enhance maritime domain awareness, improve port-wide maritime security risk management, and maintain or re-establish maritime security mitigation protocols that support port recovery and resiliency capabilities.
- Transit Security Grant Program: provides $88 million to owners and operators of public transit systems to protect critical surface transportation and the traveling public from acts of terrorism and to increase the resilience of transit infrastructure.
- Intercity Bus Security Grant Program: provides $2 million to owners and operators of intercity bus systems to protect surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from acts of terrorism and to increase the resilience of transit infrastructure.
To review the award totals and additional information, go to FEMA.gov and DHS.gov.
FEMA Releases Incident Complexity Guide
FEMA has released the "Incident Complexity Guide: Planning, Preparedness and Training." The guide is intended for use during planning, preparedness and training efforts and not as a decision-making tool during a response.
FEMA will host a 30-minute webinar at 3 p.m. ET on July 27 to discuss the Incident Complexity Guide and answer related questions. All webinars are open to the whole community. Advance registration is required and is on a first-come, first-served basis.
To review the guide and for additional webinar information, visit FEMA.gov.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test
In coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, FEMA will conduct a nationwide test to assess the capabilities of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert at 2:20 p.m. ET on Aug. 11, with a backup date of Aug. 25.
The Emergency Alert System test is made available to EAS participants (i.e., radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers, and wireline video providers) and is scheduled to last approximately one minute. The test message will be similar to regular monthly test messages with which the public is familiar.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
FEMA Seeks Public Feedback on Chemical Operations Support Specialist Position
FEMA is seeking public feedback for the National Qualification System chemical operations support specialist. This national engagement period will conclude at 5 p.m. ET on July 22.
To review the draft position, visit FEMA.gov.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
FEMA Seeks Feedback for Resource Typing Documents
The FEMA National Integration Center is hosting two national engagement periods for resource typing documents. The national engagement period provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to comment on the draft documents and to ensure they are relevant for all implementing partners.
The first engagement period will conclude at 5 p.m. ET on July 29. This 30-day engagement period will feature resource typing and job title/position qualification documents for:
- State mass care coordinator.
- Field kitchen unit.
- Field kitchen unit leader.
- Mobile kitchen unit.
- Food service delivery unit.
The second engagement period will also conclude at 5 p.m. ET on July 29. This 30-day engagement period will feature job title/position qualification documents for:
- Urban search and rescue logistics specialist.
- Urban search and rescue medical specialist.
These job title/position qualification documents will facilitate the sharing of deployable resource types at all jurisdictional levels. To provide comments on the drafts, complete the feedback form on FEMA.gov and submit the form to fema-nims@fema.dhs.gov no later than the dates indicated for the national engagement periods.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
FEMA and NVOAD Host Partnership Events
FEMA and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster are hosting the sixth annual partnership month. This year’s partnership month will feature events celebrating the work done by FEMA and its voluntary partners.
The partnership conversations for 2021 are:
These virtual panel discussions will highlight some of the partnerships between stakeholders at all levels of government. To learn more about how to get involved, visit FEMA.gov. Visit partnershipmonth.org to learn about partnership event.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
|
