The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) is announcing additional funding opportunities for eligible jurisdictions to reduce long-term risks from natural hazards with assistance from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). This notice is not exclusively for emergency managers, but also for elected officials, community employees that implement and supervise physical projects, and other members of our communities.
The Marshall Fire and Straight-Line Winds in December resulted in a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) Declaration and a Major Disaster Declaration; each declaration triggered separate funding sources. The FMAG declaration created HMGP Post-Fire FM-5423 and the major declaration resulted in HMGP DR-4634.
DHSEM is concurrently assisting communities to develop project applications for two existing HMGP disaster programs: HMGP DR-4581 (Cameron Peak and East Troublesome Fires) and HMGP DR-4498 (COVID-19). In order to serve our communities as efficiently and effectively as possible, we will integrate HMPG’s FM-5423 and DR-4634 into our ongoing sub-application development processes.
Our primary priorities for these two funding sources are:
- Projects from unincorporated Boulder County, the City of Louisville, and the Town of Superior.
- Projects from other Boulder County communities, the City and County of Broomfield, and the following counties: Jefferson, Gilpin, Grand, Larimer, and Weld.
- Projects from all other Colorado communities, Tribes, and state agencies.
Our supporting priorities are:
- Projects that help underserved and/or socially vulnerable populations.
- Within the tiers of geographical priority, we will further prioritize projects that reduce risk from at least one of Colorado’s “Top 4” hazards identified in the 2018-2023 Colorado Hazard Mitigation Plan: Drought, Flood, Severe Winter Weather, and Wildfire.
- Wildfire mitigation sub-priority. In order to balance these HMGP opportunities with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (CDNR) recently announced Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program (COSWAP), DHSEM will: prioritize wildfire fuels mitigation projects outside COSWAP’s 10 Strategic Focus Areas over those inside CDNR’s strategic areas. Please note that we will not apply this additional prioritization to wildfire projects that are at least 50 percent defensible space by size or that are structural retrofits (ignition resistant construction).
Communities and Special Districts must have a currently approved local Hazard Mitigation Plan to receive HMGP funds. Additionally, requested projects must be included in that jurisdiction’s mitigation strategy in their HMP. Jurisdictions that are not in an HMP may find a project sponsor who is or they may ask to be added to the appropriate HMP by following the enclosed DHSEM Additions to HMPs checklist. Communities and special districts can also add projects to their mitigation strategy if not already included. Private Nonprofits that provide essential government services are also eligible.
Our pledge is to make this process as seamless and transparent for you as possible by using an integrated approach. Let’s discuss projects instead of grant programs. If you’re interested in applying, please complete the attached Notice of Interest (NOI) for our review. As a reminder, the DHSEM Mitigation Section accepts NOIs and sub-applications from all Colorado communities throughout the year and will assist every eligible jurisdiction with sub-application development. Please don’t wait for the deadlines listed below because project applications can be very time-intensive.
We will have multiple funding rounds because we are integrating these two new funding sources with our previous HMGPs. The deadlines for applications, by round and regardless of program, are:
|
Funding Round |
Draft sub-applications to DHSEM |
Final revised sub-applications to DHSEM |
|
Round 1 |
1/31/2022 |
3/31/2022 |
|
Round 2 |
5/16/2022 |
7/7/2022 |
|
Round 3 |
8/30/2022 |
10/31/2022 |
|
Round 4 |
12/1/2022 |
2/1/2023 |
DHSEM and other state agencies will score and prioritize all projects using the attached Colorado Resiliency Framework and the applicable Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) or Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) criteria. DHSEM mitigation specialists will inform you during application development whether you should use the BRIC or FMA criteria to inform your scope of work and to self-assess your score before submitting your sub-application.
DHSEM’s Mitigation Section is committed to helping the people and communities of Colorado identify and reduce risk from natural hazards. Please contact Irene Merrifield by email at irene.merrifield@state.co.us for any questions related to hazard mitigation plans (including adding actions and/or jurisdictions) and Matt Arsenault by email at matt.arsenault@state.co.us with any questions about mitigation projects. You may also contact Mark Thompson at markw.thompson@state.co.us. We stand ready to assist you with the application process to enable each community to reduce its long-term risks from natural hazards.
More information about these programs is available from the DHSEM Mitigation Section on the FEMA website.
Attachments
- Eligible Mitigation Activities
- DHSEM Notice of Interest (Available from mitigation specialist not available online)
- Colorado Resiliency Framework Criteria
- BRIC Scoring Rubric
- FMA Scoring Rubric
- DHSEM Additions to HMPs Checklist
- FEMA Additional Activities for Post-Wildfire and Post-Windstorm
- DHSEM announcement