This month, we celebrate 30 years since the first Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) grant was awarded. 30 years and $15 billion! (That’s a solid number of finish lines.)
The first $200,000 funded public education and outreach following a disaster. Since then, the whole suite of grant products we support has changed. HMGP is now complemented by Flood Mitigation Assistance and Pre-Disaster Mitigation grants. FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance provides a share of the funding (because it remains imperative to co-invest in these efforts) to
- Acquire at-risk properties
- Build safe rooms
- Elevate properties at-risk of flooding
- Protect utilities
- Retrofit infrastructure
- Strengthen roofs, walls, door, and windows against wind hazards
- Build flood-risk reduction projects
Check out this graphic – packed with the factoids…
What a history. What a legacy. What an opportunity to build on this program, pull mitigation forward, and make the Nation more resilient. (HMGP’s big brother turns 50 later this year. More on that on a future Monday.)
We built our team for this. This is what we do. This is FEMA in action. This is our mission.
