DHS, FEMA announce selections for $1.16B climate resilience funding initiative

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently announced the selections for $1.16 billion in climate resilience funding through two competitive grant programs to help communities across the nation enhance climate and disaster resiliency.

“Climate change poses a very real threat to the safety, security, and prosperity of the United States,” DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said. “Its impacts are being felt in real-time and are felt most acutely by the nation’s most vulnerable communities. While we can’t eliminate the threats we face as a nation, we can and must build our resilience against those threats – and that is why we are making this announcement today – because, together, we are building climate resilience.”

The effort includes resilience projects funded by the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities national competition and Flood Mitigation Assistance community-wide flood mitigation projects, per authorities.

“Communities across our nation are experiencing first-hand the devastating impacts of climate change and the related extreme weather events that follow—more energized hurricanes with deadlier storm surges, increased flooding, and a wildfire season that has become a year-long threat,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said. “FEMA and the entire Biden-Harris Administration are using every lever at our disposal to ensure that we are better prepared for the threats we face today, along with the ones that will come tomorrow. This funding will also help to ensure that our most vulnerable communities are not left behind, with hundreds of millions of dollars ultimately going directly to the communities that need it most.”