FEMA’s pre-disaster FMA grant program helps communities reduce long-term flood risk for properties with repeated flooding by funding capacity building, project scoping, property buyouts, partnership development, and localized flood risk reduction projects that store or divert floodwaters.

	Allows in-kind services to contribute toward nonfederal cost share requirements
	Supports nature-based solutions

Application cycle: October 16, 2023 – February 29, 2024 for selected states.

Summary: The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) grant program is an attractive option for communities with properties and structures that have repeatedly experienced flooding. Communities with a FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plan can use FMA to fund various mitigation activities and local mitigation planning efforts that reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of flood damage to structures insured under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). 

Eligible applicants: Eligible states, territories and federally recognized tribal governments can submit applications on behalf of subapplicants for BRIC funding. Subapplicants cannot submit these directly to FEMA; subapplicants must submit them to their applicant for review and submission. Homeowners, business operators and nonprofit organizations cannot apply directly to FEMA; they can be included in a subapplication submitted by an eligible subapplicant.

Eligible activities:

• Priority 1 (Capability and Capacity Building) activities will be selected in the following hierarchical order: multi-hazard mitigation plans, technical assistance, project scoping, and additional C&CB activities such as partnership development, enhancing local floodplain management, severe repetitive loss/repetitive loss strategy development and more.
• Priority 2 (Localized Flood Risk Reduction Projects): floodwater storage and diversion; stormwater management; floodplain, wetland, marsh, riverine, and coastal restoration and protection; other combination of green infrastructure, gray infrastructure, and nature-based solutions; and localized flood control projects with co-benefits to their hazards, social, and environmental benefits.
• Priority 3 (Individual Flood Mitigation Projects): property acquisition and structure demolition/relocation; structure elevation; dry floodproofing of historical residential structures or non-residential structures; non-structural retrofitting of existing buildings and facilities; mitigation reconstruction; structural retrofitting of existing buildings.

Funding: 

• Priority 1: $60 million maximum for capability and capacity building (C&CB) assistance to develop future localized flood risk reduction projects and/or individual flood mitigation projects.
  • $100,000 for multi-hazard mitigation plans with maximums of:
    • $50,000 for state multi-hazard mitigation planning.
    • $25,000 for local multi-hazard mitigation planning.
  • $50,000 for technical assistance to states.
  • $900,000 for project scoping.
  • $300,000 for additional C&CB activities, such as partnership development, enhancing local floodplain management, and SRL/RL strategy development.
• Priority 2: Up to $420 million to reduce community flood risk and support National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP Sustainability) $50 million maximum for localized flood risk reduction projects that address community flood risk for the purpose of reducing NFIP flood claim payments.
• Priority 3: At least $120 million to mitigate flood risks for individual NFIP-insured Buildings. Generally, no federal statutory maximums exist for eligible individual flood mitigation projects, although FEMA selects eligible projects competitively based on an insured structure’s history of severe repetitive flooding. Individual flood mitigation projects reduce the risk of flooding to individual NFIP insured structures.
• 5% of the total subapplication budget can be used for subapplicant management costs.

Cost share:

• 75% federal / 25% nonfederal for NFIP insured properties, flood mitigation planning grants, community flood mitigation projects, and project scoping.
• 90% federal / 10% nonfederal for repetitive loss property in states with repetitive loss strategy; 100% federal / 0% nonfederal for severe repetitive loss property in states with repetitive loss strategy.

Application process: 

• The 2023 application cycle opens on October 16 and closes on February 29, 2024 for states, tribes, and territories. Local governments submit mitigation planning and project applications to their state during the open application cycle. Local governments should contact their State Hazard Mitigation Officer or federally recognized tribal or local government official for more information. Identify your state officer online. Search for more information about the program using CFDA number 97.029. 
• Applicants and subapplicants must have a FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plan.
• Communities must be participating in the National Flood Insurance Program.
• FEMA released the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the program in August 2023.
• The FY23 grant cycle introduces the consideration of climate change and other future conditions OR incorporation of nature-based solutions within the priority scoring criteria for community flood mitigation projects.
• Freely available data from FEMA’s National Risk Index (NRI) can be included in and used to bolster a community’s project grant application. The NRI is a tool that calculates a risk index figure for each county for various types of disasters.
• Properties included in a project subapplication must be insured by NFIP prior to the application period and be maintained for the life of the structure.