Launching our new pilot: Retooling Debt for Resilience

Since the beginning, we at the American Flood Coalition have repeatedly been asked one question by our municipal membership: How do we pay for resilience? In this current economic climate, we know that city and county budgets are stretched in entirely new and challenging ways, making it essential for municipalities to be fully aware of their funding and financing options to keep resilience goals on track. 

As the next installment in our pilot offerings following last summer’s competitive vulnerability assessment pilot with Atkins’ City Simulator Tool, we’re partnering with DebtBook to provide our municipal members free access to their debt management tool. You can work with their team of experts to determine your community’s debt obligations and to find opportunities for new financing to support your resilience projects. 

What is DebtBook?

  • DebtBook is a cloud-based debt management tool used by governments and nonprofits of all types and sizes. Their team of government finance experts will organize your bond and loan documents, load your data into their platform, and train your team within 30 days. 
  • Use the tool to simplify budget and audit reporting, improve transparency, collaboration, and succession planning, and give your team more time to focus on higher-value work when it’s needed most. 

How does the pilot work?

  • We’ve partnered with DebtBook to offer 12 months of free access through the end of 2021 to any municipality within our Coalition membership.
  • After 12 months of free access, it’s entirely up to you if you want to continue to use the platform. If you choose to continue, you can pay annually or roll the cost into your next financing. 
  • There is no application! Simply send us an email to let us know you’re interested and we can set up a call to answer any questions you may have.

How does AFC fit in?

  • We’ve decided that understanding your options for financing resilience is so important that we’ve funded a master DebtBook account to provide the platform for free to our membership. We don’t receive any kind of referral fee or financial benefit from the partnership – just the satisfaction of helping our members!
  • While DebtBook’s team will be your main points of contact for using the tool and understanding it, we will be here should you have any questions about best practices for financing resilience projects. If there’s interest, we may build out informational guides to answer some of the questions you pose, so please let us know what questions around resilience funding and financing come up. 

 

We hope you’re as excited about this opportunity as we are. We’re available to answer any questions you may have – just send us an email! 

Facebook
X
LinkedIn

Recent News

  • Blog

One year after Helene: Western North Carolina leaders highlight ongoing need for resources

  • Blog

The Carolinas and Florida advance flood resilience during sessions

  • Blog

Building resilience with flood-smart agriculture

View all news

Join Our Newsletter

Name(Required)

Help Me Choose

Which characteristics is your community looking for in funding opportunities?

Disaster declaration
A Presidential Disaster Declaration unlocks a suite of federal programs that assist local governments with disaster recovery. This is a good filter for communities included in recent Disaster Declarations related to flooding.
Nature-based solutions
The program has a strong focus on providing assistance to promote a healthy ecosystem as a critical defense against flooding impacts. Eligible activities may include floodplain restoration, environmental stewardship, projects that use natural features to mitigate erosion, and living shorelines.
Encourages public-private partnerships
The program encourages or requires collaboration between government entities and stakeholders, including the private sector, to fund, develop, or implement projects.
Offers rolling deadlines
The program accepts applications on an ongoing basis with no fixed deadline.

Is your project in the planning, design, or construction phase?

Planning
The gathering of data and information regarding the extent and impacts of flooding. Eligible activities may include data acquisition, risk assessment, and environmental analysis.
Design & scoping
Covers pre-construction activities, such as defining project scope, developing technical designs, and securing funding to prepare for implementation.
Construction & implementation
Involves carrying out flood resilience projects, including building infrastructure and deploying solutions to reduce flood risks.

Are you looking for grants, loans, or technical assistance for your project?

Funding (grants)
A monetary award that does not need to be repaid. Many federal grants are reimbursable, meaning recipients must cover project costs upfront and then request reimbursement from the government.
Financing (loans)
A government-issued loan that must be repaid. These loans typically provide funding upfront, helping communities cover project costs before repayment begins.
Technical assistance
Assistance from the government in the form of services — such as project planning, engineering and design support, data analysis, training, capacity building, or collaboration through a cooperative agreement — instead of direct funding.

Some programs provide extra support for specific project types or communities. Do any of these apply to your project?

Small or rural communities
Programs that set aside funding, offer loan forgiveness, or adjust cost share requirements for communities with smaller populations.
Small or low-cost projects
Programs that offer reduced requirements for smaller projects, such as waived cost-sharing or exemptions from benefit-cost analysis.
Regional or watershed focus
Programs that support projects that take a watershed management approach or address flooding at a regional scale, requiring coordination beyond a single town or community.
Tribal communities
Programs that dedicate resources or adjust cost share requirements specifically for tribal governments or organizations.
View Results