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On May 18, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell briefed the President and our federal partners on how FEMA is ready and prepared for hurricane season.
“I can confidently say the FEMA workforce is intimately familiar with the demands of hurricane season and stands ready to meet the challenge,” said Administrator Criswell.
The administrator outlined some of the ways that our agency has been preparing for hurricane season. These efforts include:
- Changes to the Individual assistance program that helped over 95,000 people receive over $350 million.
- Personnel at the ready, including 28 Urban Search and Rescue Teams.
- Supplies that include over 26 million liters of water and 23 million meals.
- Administrator Criswell also spoke about the importance of working together with our federal partners.
“As climate change continues to breed stronger, longer and more frequent storms, we simply cannot rise to this challenge alone,” she said. “We need the full force of the federal family to be successful in our efforts.”
Memorial Day is a time to remember the men and women of the armed forces who gave their lives defending our country and upholding our freedoms and liberties.
FEMA is thankful to our military personnel who put themselves in harm’s way to keep Americans safe. Because of their service and sacrifice, we continue to live in peace and freedom today.
As we spend this Memorial Day with our friends and loved ones, let us to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in wars our nation has fought.
This week marks Extreme Heat Awareness Week. Next month, the Resilient Nation Partnership Network’s topic during the monthly Ideation Hour is Extreme Heat Resilience.
Partnering with the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and the City of Phoenix the discussion will focus on the impacts of extreme heat across the country. We encourage you to bring your resilience ideas, projects, resources and collaboration opportunities to the conversation. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Health and Human Services and Swiss Re also have facilitators for the sessions.
This event will be on ZOOM at 1 p.m. on June 29. Registration is now open.
The following topics will be discussed in four breakout rooms:
- Extreme heat and housing.
- Extreme heat as a threat multiplier.
- Extreme heat as a public health hazard.
- Extreme heat and local planning and capital improvement.
To learn more about the Resilient Nation Partnership network, visit FEMA.gov. For additional information on heat awareness, including tips on how to stay prepared, visit Ready.gov.
FEMA made $825,000 in funding available for the FY2022 Emergency Management Baseline Assessment Grant program. The program supports investment in national level standards for emergency management that target critical functions necessary to prepare for and manage disasters.
This application period closes at 5 p.m. ET on July 7.
The program provides funding for:
- Supporting Emergency Management Program Accreditation.
- Supporting Emergency Manager Certification.
State, local, tribal and territorial jurisdictions are eligible to apply for an Emergency Management Baseline Assessment Grant. Initial applications must be submitted through Grants.gov. FEMA will notify eligible applicants to proceed with submitting their complete application package in the Non-Disaster (ND) Grants System by the application deadline.
FEMA anticipates that all awards will be finalized by Sept. 31.
FEMA is seeking public feedback on the Radio Direction Finding Team resource typing definition. This 30-day national engagement period will conclude at 5 p.m. ET on June 24.
The Radio Direction Finding Team is responsible for conducting electronic direction-finding operations in support of search and rescue operations. The document has been updated and only has specifications for Type 1 or Type 2 Radio Direction Finding NIMS-typed teams.
The document updated:
- Team capabilities to better reflect the latest team operational time.
- Increased the number of communications operations for team members.
- Added capability to work in parallel with trained medical personnel.
- Added upcoming GPS technology for future capability.
This resource typing document enhances the interoperability and effectiveness of mutual aid by establishing baseline qualifications for Radio Direction Finding NIMS-typed teams. This facilitates the sharing of deployable resources at all jurisdictional levels.
National engagement provides an opportunity for interested parties to comment on the draft documents to ensure they are relevant to all implementing partners.
To provide comments on the draft documents, complete the feedback form and submit the form to FEMA-NIMS@fema.dhs.gov no later than 5 p.m. ET on June 24.
FEMA is seeking public feedback on Planning and Decision Framework for Chemical Incident Consequence Management. This engagement period will conclude at 5 p.m. ET on June 3.
The framework provides guidance for federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government and non-governmental authorities for use in planning and expediting decisions in the aftermath of a nationally significant or large-scale hazardous chemical release. To provide feedback, use the comment matrix on FEMA.gov and email the completed form to fema- cbrnoffice@fema.dhs.gov by 5 p.m. ET on June 3.
National engagement gives interested stakeholders the opportunity to review and provide feedback on the document.
FEMA will host a public webinar at 1 p.m. ET on May 25 to discuss the Framework and answer any questions from interested parties. Advance registration is required and is on a first-come, first-served basis. To register for the webinar, visit FEMA.gov.
The last week of April, the Department of Homeland Security’s Hacking for Homeland Security (H4HS) program closed out its fourth semester! H4HS is a mission-driven entrepreneurship program that engages academia to tackle pressing homeland security challenges.
During the Spring 2022 semester, student teams from Carnegie Mellon University addressed critical homeland security challenges posed by the Transportation Security Administration and FEMA, including:
- Improving the screening process at airport security checkpoint for the flying public.
- Reuniting families after a disaster.
Over the semester, students took an entrepreneurial approach to analyze mission-critical homeland security challenges and develop solutions by working together with government and business mentors. Each team pitched their solutions to an engaged audience made up of innovators in the private sector, academia and government.
The team working on TSA’s challenge sought to improve the screening process at airport security checkpoints by working on improving recruiting and retention of skilled screening officers. The solution for FEMA focused on ways to improving local community awareness surrounding a disaster.
After their pitch, the teams provided their findings for the agencies to adopt and incorporate for their own usage.
The program will launch its fifth course in Fall 2022 at Texas A&M and Rochester Institute of Technology. Students will collaborate with problem sponsors at FEMA, TSA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to develop cutting-edge solutions to current and emerging homeland security challenges.
If you’re interested in submitting a challenge and participating in a future course, visit https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/hacking-homeland-security-program.
FEMA Extends Deadline for Emergency Management Exchange Program
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell announced the agency is accepting nominations for a new emergency management exchange program. The staff exchange program will allow state, local, tribal and territorial government officials to work with FEMA leadership to develop and implement emergency management policies and programs.
Program participants will work alongside FEMA leadership and staff from FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery or Resilience. These stakeholders will contribute to federal emergency management and see the impact of their contributions from a different governmental perspective.
A total of four participants will be selected for this three-to-six month assignment at FEMA from July through December 2022. A future session is planned from January to June 2023.
Nominations should include:
- A letter of nomination from the leadership of the candidate's governmental program or organization. The letter should explain why the candidate is nominated for the exchange and should also contain the nominator’s contact information – including phone number and an email address.
- The nominee’s resume - including name, phone number and email address.
The nominating office point of contact should be either the nominee’s supervisor or someone in a higher-level leadership position.
FEMA will reimburse the participant’s home organization for the cost of the participant’s salary plus benefits, for the duration of the assignment.
Nominations are due by May 27. To submit a nomination, send an email to FEMA-EMX-Nominations@fema.dhs.gov.
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FEMA Accepts Video Submissions for 2022 Partnership Month
This July, FEMA will host a virtual exhibitor hall to celebrate Voluntary Agency Coordination Partnership Month. This event celebrates strong partnerships that make emergency management possible.
Your organization is invited to create a short video to be featured as part of the gallery.
Video file specifications
- Length: 1 minute or shorter.
- Resolution: 1080p.
- Format: .MP4.
- Size: 100MB or fewer.
- Accessibility: Provide closed captioning by including a script of the dialogue as well as an .SRT file.
For questions and video submissions, email fema-r8hostedpartnershipmonth@fema.dhs.gov To view last year’s videos, visit the partnership month website. Submit a completed version of the video no later than 5 p.m. ET on June 1.
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FEMA Hosts Nonprofit Security Grant Webinars
Gain insight how the fiscal year 2022 Nonprofit Security Grant Program can help your faith-based, community or nonprofit organizations by joining one of the upcoming webinars.
Each webinar will last approximately 90 minutes and will be followed by a question and answer session. Each session will present the same content. Preregistration is required for the webinars.
Click on a link below for your preferred time:
If you have any questions regarding these webinars or require special accommodations, please send an email to FEMA-NSGP@fema.dhs.gov.
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FEMA Provides Over $400M to Emergency Managers
FEMA released the Emergency Management Performance Grant program funding notice, making $405.1 million available to assist state, local, tribal and territorial governments develop their emergency management capabilities and for all-hazards preparedness activities. The program focuses on planning, operations, equipment acquisitions, training, exercises, construction and renovation. This application period closes at 5 p.m. ET on June 13.
Eligible applicants must submit an initial application by June 6, FEMA will notify eligible applicants to proceed with submitting their complete application package in the Non-Disaster (ND) Grants System by the application deadline. FEMA anticipates that all awards will be made no later than Sept. 30.
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FEMA Hosts HURREVAC Webinar Series
From June 6 – 10, FEMA's National Hurricane Program will host a five-day HURREVAC training for emergency managers. Each day, sessions will start at 2 p.m. ET and will run 60 – 90 minutes.
Webinar topics include:
- Introduction to HURREVAC and Overview of the National Hurricane Program: June 6.
- Wind Forecast Features: June 7.
- Evacuation Timing Features: June 8.
- Storm Surge and Other Water Hazards: June 9.
- Exercise Tools and Applying HURREVAC: June 10.
HURREVAC is a free web-based decision-support tool that assists emergency managers by providing information and tools to inform hurricane response decisions in advance of a threatening storm. Interested emergency managers can register now for this annual HURREVAC webinar series.
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FEMA Accepts Earthquake Grant Applications
On May 2, FEMA opened the application period for the Fiscal Year 2022 National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Grant Program, including Individual State Earthquake Assistance and the Multi-State and National Earthquake Assistance grants. The notification is available on www.grants.gov.
In addition to detailing eligibility and submission requirements, these notifications provide a program overview, such as objectives, priorities and allowable activities. The application period for both funding opportunities will end at 5 p.m. ET on June 1.
For additional information on these funding opportunities and the FEMA National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, visit FEMA.gov or send an email to FEMA-NEHRP@fema.dhs.gov.
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May Is Building Safety Month
President Joseph R. Biden issued a presidential proclamation to mark May as annual Building Safety Month. The initiative is led by International Code Council and supported by FEMA. The theme for the 42nd annual event is “Safety for All: Building Codes in Action.”
Each week has been assigned a theme. This year’s themes are:
This year the theme aligns with the FEMA Building Codes Strategy vision: “A resilient nation with superior building performance in disasters.”
For additional information on Building Safety Month and to find out how you can get involved with building safety in your community, visit the 2022 Building Safety Month webpage.
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FEMA Will Host Webinars for the Homeland Security Grant Program
Later this month, FEMA will host a webinar series related to the FY 2022 Homeland Security Grant Program. The application period for the program opened May 13 and closes June 13. The program includes a suite of risk-based grants to assist state, local, tribal and territorial efforts in preventing, protecting against, mitigating, responding to and recovering from acts of terrorism and other threats.
Webinars will be held on the dates and times listed below. Please register for the webinar that works best for you!
- HSGP Webinar 2 (Central): 2:30 - 4 p.m. ET on May 25.
Register here.
- HSGP Webinar 3 (West): 5 - 6:30 p.m. ET on May 26.
Register here.
Please bring your HSGP-related questions to the webinar session. If you have questions about meeting logistics, send an email to FEMA-Prepare@fema.dhs.gov.
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