On August 4, 2020, FEMA published the Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the new Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. This grant cycle implements Section 1234 of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018. BRIC will make $500 million available to states, local governments, tribes and territories for mitigation activities designed to strengthen the nation’s efforts to build a culture of preparedness. The application period runs from Sept. 30, 2020 through Jan. 29, 2021 at 3 p.m. ET, and includes funding under a state/territory allocation, a tribal set-aside, and a national competition.
To inform interested stakeholders about BRIC, FEMA hosted a Summer Engagement Series which had more than 7,000 registrants. Additionally, throughout August and September, FEMA offered recorded webinars and live question and answer sessions to help stakeholders navigate the application process. These recorded sessions are available on FEMA.gov/BRIC and FEMA's YouTube channel.
FEMA developed BRIC Program Support Materials (PSMs) to cover topics such as capability- and capacity-building, direct technical assistance, and the national competition criteria, which place an emphasis on projects that mitigate risk to infrastructure and community lifelines. As an additional resource, the new Mitigation Action Portfolio (MAP) highlights a variety of mitigation efforts across the country to show stakeholders what is possible under BRIC. The MAP, along with BRIC program support materials, can be found on FEMA’s BRIC webpage.
BRIC’s launch coincides with the roll-out of the new FEMA Grants Outcomes (FEMA GO) system, streamlining processes to apply for, track, and manage grants. FEMA GO is the culmination of a multi-year effort to modernize and transform the way FEMA conducts grants management.
FEMA is excited about BRIC’s potential to help communities proactively reduce their vulnerability to natural hazard events, and in turn, make the nation more resilient.