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FEMA is cancelling the repayment of over $870 million in outstanding community disaster loan balances.
The Community Disaster Loan Program is available to local governments that have been adversely affected by major disasters. The cancellation is a result of congressional legislation in the continuing budget resolution that began Oct. 1, 2021. The legislation cancelled any outstanding loan balance and will provide significant flexibilities to communities recovering from disasters, as they can use the funds to cover expenses. FEMA recently sent notifications to the 158 loan holders notifying them of this cancellation.
As major loan holders, U.S. territories and territorial governments will especially benefit from this loan repayment cancellation. Canceled loans include:
- More than $3.8 million cancelled for American Samoa.
- More than $94 million cancelled for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
- More than $371 million cancelled for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
- More than $322 million cancelled for the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This cancellation will also provide significant relief to states along the Gulf Coast, including:
- Over $27 million cancelled for Florida.
- More than $6 million cancelled for Louisiana.
- More than $3.5 million cancelled for Mississippi.
- Over $13 million cancelled for Texas.
To learn more about FEMA’s Community Disaster Loan Program, visit FEMA.gov.
Every year, millions of men, women and children are trafficked worldwide. To raise awareness around human trafficking, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) encourages everyone to participate in its national public awareness campaign, the Blue Campaign.
Through the Blue Campaign, DHS and its components raise public awareness about human trafficking, working with the public, law enforcement and other industry partners to recognize the indicators of human trafficking and appropriate ways to respond.
National Human Trafficking Awareness Day is recognized each year on Jan. 11 and is the campaign’s largest initiative known as #WearBlueDay. FEMA encourages the public to take photos of themselves, friends, family and colleagues wearing blue and share them on social media using the hashtag - #WearBlueDay.
DHS developed general awareness trainings, as well as specific educational resources to help reduce victimization within vulnerable populations.
To learn more about the indicators of human trafficking, the Blue Campaign and ways to help, visit dhs.gov.
FEMA released the funding notice for $46 million available through the Fiscal Year 2021 Fire Protection and Safety grants. These grants are part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program and focus on reducing injury and preventing death among high-risk populations.
The application period will open at 8 a.m. ET on Jan. 18 and close at 5 p.m. ET on Feb. 18.
The funding notice, assistance documents and stakeholder webinars information for this program are available at grants.gov and FEMA.gov. For questions, contact FEMA's Fire Grants HelpDesk via email at firegrants@fema.dhs.gov.
FEMA recently released the “Public Assistance Appeals and Arbitration Policy” that clarifies changes to procedures, roles and responsibilities concerning Public Assistance appeals and arbitrations resulting from revisions to 44 C.F.R. 206.206. The policy was originally published in the Federal Register on Aug.16, 2021.
FEMA requests comments on the draft policy by 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 19. The policy applies to all FEMA stakeholders, including all regions, Public Assistance grant recipients and applicants.
FEMA requests that all comments be submitted using the accompanying comment matrix to FEMA-Recovery-PA-Policy@fema.dhs.gov.
FEMA announced its 2022 placement of reinsurance to continue the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) support of resiliency and protection against flood losses.
The agency transferred $1.06 billion of the program’s financial risk to the private reinsurance market. This annual reinsurance agreement is effective throughout the calendar year with 28 private reinsurance companies.
The 2022 reinsurance placement covers portions of NFIP losses above $4 billion arising from a single flooding event. FEMA paid a total premium of $171.9 million for the coverage.
The agreement is structured to cover:
- 4.16% of losses between $4 billion and $6 billion.
- 26.56% of losses between $6 billion and $8 billion.
- 22.45% of losses between $8 billion and $10 billion.
To date, FEMA has transferred $6.30 billion of the NFIP’s flood risk to the private sector.
FEMA will receive qualifying payments only if a named storm event is large enough to trigger the traditional and/or capital market reinsurance coverage. Should a named storm event result in flood insurance claims exceeding $10 billion, FEMA will receive the full $2.3 billion of reinsurance coverage from the private markets.
FEMA contracted with Guy Carpenter and Company, a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, to provide broker services to assist in securing the reinsurance placement.
FEMA received authority to secure reinsurance through the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 and the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014. FEMA’s 2022 reinsurance placement builds upon its previous reinsurance placements as further development toward a stronger financial framework.
For more information, visit the NFIP Reinsurance Program webpage on FEMA.gov.
FEMA seeks to provide non-financial Direct Technical Assistance to a maximum of 20 communities to support mitigation outcomes of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. This announcement was first made in the Fiscal Year 2021 BRIC funding opportunity.
FEMA will provide support for both project or application-specific needs and community-wide resilience needs.
Eligible applicants to submit a letter of interest include:
- Cities.
- Townships.
- Counties.
- Special district governments.
- Tribal governments.
- Federally recognized tribal nations.
- Non-federally recognized tribal nations.
Applicants must email one letter of interest not exceeding two pages by 3 p.m. ET on Jan. 28 to FEMA-BRICDirectTechnicalAssistance@fema.dhs.gov. Additional details are available on FEMA.gov.
Direct Technical Assistance can provide holistic planning at the earliest stages to communities that may not have the capacity to start their own. Technical assistance may include working with communities to ensure stakeholders are capable of building and sustaining successful mitigation programs, helping communities develop high-quality applications, developing local partnership networks and assistance with implementing new and innovative projects that reduce risk from a wide range of natural hazards.
Additional information with examples can be reviewed in the Program Support Material on FEMA.gov.
This year, disasters across the country caused immeasurable damage to property and lives. Tornadoes ripped through Kentucky, hurricane season was the third strongest on record, wildfires were more frequent and COVID-19 variants created new uncertainty.
As you plan out the new year, you should take potential emergencies like these into consideration. We put together four reasons it’s important to be ready – and what you can do to resolve to be ready this year.
To read about these four reasons and the actions you can take to prepare, visit the FEMA blog. For more information on how to be part of the Resolve to be Ready campaign and spread awareness on preparedness, check out the social media toolkit.
FEMA Extends Request for Information
FEMA published a notice in the Federal Register extending the public comment on the National Flood Insurance Program’s minimum floodplain management standards to Jan. 27.
Written comments can be submitted to the Federal eRulemaking Portal, Docket ID: FEMA-2021-0024.
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Application Period for BRIC, FMA Grant Programs Closes Jan. 28
The Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants provide funds to states, local communities, tribes and territories for eligible mitigation activities to strengthen our nation’s ability to build a culture of preparedness. These programs fund projects that invest in a more resilient nation, reduce disaster suffering and avoid future disaster costs.
Applications are due no later than 3 p.m. ET on Jan. 28. Applications received by FEMA after this deadline will not be considered for funding. Subapplicants should touch base with their respective State Hazard Mitigation Officer to ask about project priorities and additional application requirements or deadlines for submitting information.
The funding notices are available on Grants.gov. Eligible applicants must apply for funding using FEMA Grants Outcomes (FEMA GO), the agency’s grants management system.
For more information visit FEMA.gov.
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FEMA Now Accepting Volunteers for BRIC National Review Panel
FEMA is seeking volunteers to participate on the virtual national review panels for Fiscal Year 2021 Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) subapplications.
The agency is accepting Expressions of Interest from until Jan. 14. Volunteers will leverage their experience and expertise during the review process to assess the degree to which subapplications meet the six BRIC qualitative evaluation criteria.
Those interested in serving on these panels, complete an Expression of Interest Form which can be found on the BRIC website. For more information and to review BRIC qualitative criteria, visit the BRIC webpage on FEMA.gov or email hma-ndi-bric-review@fema.dhs.gov.
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FEMA Now Accepting Abstracts for 2022 Workshop
FEMA is now accepting abstracts for its next annual hazard mitigation partners workshop, “Building Whole Community Resilience: Partners, Capability and Capacity.” Abstracts may be submitted until Jan. 14.
Visit the 2021 Hazard Mitigation Partners Workshop webpage to learn about topics covered at the last event. For questions or concerns on Hazard Mitigation Assistance program or the abstract submission process, contact FEMA-2022HMWorkshop@fema.dhs.gov.
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FEMA Extends Assistance to Firefighters Grants Application Period
FEMA is working with the General Services Administration to resolve interface issues related to SAM.gov. These issues have affected applicants’ ability to input Fiscal Year 2021 Assistance to Firefighters Grants applications into the FEMA GO System. Some applicants received error messages stating their organizations were not found and that their Unique Entity Identifier/Electronic Funds Transfer combination did not exist despite the applicants’ SAM.gov accounts being fully active.
As this issue is ongoing, the application period will remain open until 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 21.All applicants will automatically be granted this extension.
For questions about the AFG funding notice or application process, call the Assistance Firefighters Grants program helpdesk at (866) 274-0960 from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET, Monday – Friday or email firegrants@fema.dhs.gov.
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FEMA Releasing Funding Notice for Firefighters Grant
FEMA is releasing the Notice of Funding Opportunity for $560 million available through the Fiscal Year 2021 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants. These grants focus on enhancing the ability of recipients to attain and maintain fire department staffing and to assure that their communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards.
The application period will close at 5 p.m. ET on Feb. 4.
The funding notice and technical assistance documents for this program will be available at grants.gov and FEMA.gov. For questions, contact FEMA's Fire Grants Helpdesk via email at firegrants@fema.dhs.gov.
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