Biden-Harris Administration Announces $1.35 Billion to Increase Climate Resilience Nationwide

WASHINGTON -- Today, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell announced that as part of President Joseph R. Biden’s Investing in America Agenda, FEMA is making $1.35 billion available for two grant programs designed to help communities enhance resilience to the impacts of increasingly frequent and extreme weather events. 

The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) annual grant program is making $750 million available for projects that protect people and infrastructure from natural hazards and the effects of extreme weather events. The Flood Mitigation Assistance program is making $600 million available for projects that mitigate flood risks facing homes and communities across the nation. 

The funding for these two programs increased significantly under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which invested more than $4.5 billion in these critical climate infrastructure and resilience programs through 2026. The law provides $1 billion for BRIC and $3.5 billion for Flood Mitigation Assistance to strengthen the nation’s resilience to natural hazards. The two programs have already announced approximately $2 billion in project selections through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“FEMA is excited to support our state, tribal, territorial and local partners advance their resilience through these two grant programs,” said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has enabled the agency to fund more projects allowing communities across the country to improve their resilience to more frequent and extreme weather events.” 

The funding offered through these programs can be used by communities to better understand disaster risk and vulnerability, conduct community-driven resilience and hazard mitigation planning and design and implement transformational projects to make communities safer and more resilient.

This announcement serves as a capstone to FEMA’s Year of Resilience theme to build capacity to withstand tomorrow’s hazards.

Continued Commitment to Environmental Justice 

The Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative set the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. In line with the Justice40 goal, the BRIC and Flood Mitigation Assistance programs aim to deliver the programs’ overall benefits to disadvantaged communities. FEMA exceeded this goal in its most recent year of funding, delivering 67% in BRIC and 51% in Flood Mitigation of benefits from FY23 awards to Justice40 communities. 

To reduce the burden to apply to these programs, FEMA has made only limited changes to the application process from last year. Further, FEMA has pre-calculated benefits for many projects making the required Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) easier for applicants. The agency will continue to provide assistance to Tribal Nations and communities with designated Community Disaster Resilience Zones. 

Reduced cost shares will remain in effect for certain entities. Non-federal cost share is typically 25%. However, disadvantaged communities and designated Community Disaster Resilience Zones may pay less for Flood Mitigation Assistance and BRIC. 

FEMA will continue providing tailored technical support to communities and Tribal Nations that may not have the resources to begin climate resilience planning and project solution design on their own. Communities interested in submitting a request for assistance may do so from Jan. 6, 2025, through April 18, 2025. FEMA will publish a new form online to streamline and simplify the submission process.

More Detail on FY 2024 Funding Opportunities

• All 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories are eligible to receive up to $4 million. 
  • $2 million for capability- and capacity-building activities like updating hazard mitigation plans and/or designing potential projects. 
  • $2 million for building code-related activities including enforcement and adoption of more modern, hazard-resistant building codes. 
• To ensure a greater geographic distribution, FEMA is applying a 20%--or $150 million--funding cap per applicant on the total available BRIC funding. This will help to ensure a more diverse distribution of BRIC funds across the nation.  
• Last summer, FEMA announced 93 communities eligible to receive BRIC Direct Technical Assistance, bringing the total to 167 nationwide. This year, FEMA will continue offering Direct Technical Assistance that helps communities in need identify mitigation needs and develop tools to successfully apply for resilience funding through holistic hazard mitigation planning and project support. 
• As in years past, FY 2024 Flood Mitigation Assistance grants will be targeted towards projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured by the National Flood Insurance Program. 
• FEMA has set-aside $50 million exclusively for federally recognized tribes in FY 2024. Tribal Nations can receive a maximum $2 million through this set-aside.

BRIC National Competition

Each year, FEMA holds a national competition through BRIC for large projects to enhance infrastructure resilience.

Approximately $451 million is available through the FY 2024 national competition. FEMA will make selections based on the highest composite score. Selection criteria includes incentives for projects benefitting disadvantaged communities, incorporating nature-based solutions, or adopting the latest building codes. Examples of these funded large projects from previous years are available on FEMA.gov. 

The agency will also continue to promote investment of BRIC and Flood Mitigation Assistance funds towards projects that are implemented and designed around the principles of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Good Jobs Initiative. This ensures good jobs with safe working conditions, job security, worker empowerment, fair pay, and equal opportunity for underserved populations. 

Building Code Adoption and Enforcement

FEMA will continue the BRIC Building Codes Plus-Up funding that states, Tribal Nations, and territories can access for eligible building code activities. Eligible activities include enforcement and adoption of more modern, hazard-resistant building codes. 

Last funding cycle, FEMA selected 129 projects to receive $55 million, the greatest number of projects FEMA has ever selected for building code-related activities in a grant cycle.

How to apply

The funding opportunities for BRIC and Flood Mitigation Assistance grants will be available on Grants.gov. 

The application period opens on Jan. 6, 2025. Eligible applicants must apply for funding using FEMA Grants Outcomes, FEMA’s grants management system. Applications must be submitted in the portal no later than 3 p.m. ET on April 18, 2025. FEMA will not consider applications after this deadline. The application deadlines are for applicants only. Local governments should consult with their state, tribal or territorial agencies to confirm deadlines to submit subapplications. 

FEMA plans to host several webinars to show state, local, tribal and territorial governments the programmatic changes for the fiscal year 2024 Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities and Flood Mitigation Assistance grant cycles. More information will be shared as it becomes available on FEMA.gov.

Visit FEMA.gov for more information about Hazard Mitigation Assistance.