Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Grant Program Fiscal Year 2023 Subapplication and Selection Status

Subapplication Summary

Selection Highlights

Subapplicant Status Table

The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program invests in local resilience. This program supports states, local communities, tribes and territories as they undertake hazard mitigation projects, reducing the risks they face from disasters and natural hazards.

FEMA made $1 billion available for the BRIC program for this grant cycle. FEMA received 1,234 subapplications requesting $5.66 billion in federal cost share. These submissions came from 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia. The agency also received requests from 35 tribes.

The projects have met the basic eligibility criteria. These selection announcements are not awards.

On July 2, 2024, FEMA announced the selection of 656 BRIC subapplications. These totaled more than $882.6 million in federal cost share. The funding opportunities include:

• State or Territory Allocation
• Tribal Set-Aside
• State or Territory Building Code Plus-Up
• Tribal Building Code Plus-Up
• National Competition

An additional $116.2 million for recipient management costs is allocated for 79 states, tribes, territories, and the District of Columbia. This brings the total amount of funding for this BRIC grant cycle to nearly $1 billion.

FEMA also stated in July 2024 that 67 diverse communities, three territories and 23 tribal nations will receive non-financial direct technical assistance to help them build local resilience.

With these new selections, a total of 167 communities and tribes will be participating in the BRIC DTA initiative.

This initiative has proven successful. This grant cycle, projects in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Crisfield, Maryland, from the fiscal year 2021 BRIC DTA selections have been chosen in the National Competition. These two projects total $38 million in federal cost share.

In addition, another 13 current BRIC DTA communities and tribal nations were chosen to receive funding through the State or Territory Allocation, Tribal Set-Aside or Building Codes Plus-Up.

Learn More about BRIC DTA

• 80% of subapplicants selected to receive funding from the National Competition are new subapplicants from several available funding categories.
• West Virginia is a first-time recipient of the National Competition funding opportunity in this grant cycle.  

When reviewing subapplications, FEMA used the White House Council on Environmental Quality Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. Economically Disadvantaged Rural Communities, Community Disaster Resilience Zones, and tribal subapplications also were categorized as very high vulnerability.

These selections show the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to equity and environmental justice. These awards will help build local resilience to climate change and extreme weather. BRIC is advancing the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that may be overburdened by pollution and under-investment. This aligns with the Justice40 Initiative.

In this grant cycle, FEMA has exceeded the Justice40 goal. The agency will be delivering 67% of total funding in the selections this grant cycle to Justice40 communities.

In the National Competition selections, 70% of selected federal share is contributing to Justice40 communities.

• For the new Building Code Plus-Up funding, FEMA selected 129 subapplications totaling $55.7 million. In support of a major FEMA priority and strategy, these funds support recipients to adopt and enforce hazard-resistant building codes.
• As a comparison, in fiscal years 2020-22, the program received 49 subapplications for building code activities. With this specific set-aside in fiscal year 2023, BRIC received 137 building code subapplications, which is an 180% increase in building code subapplications submitted.
• FEMA continues to prioritize the adoption and enforcement of modern building codes in the BRIC program and encourage the submission of capability- and capacity-building activities related to building codes to assist states and local communities to be more competitive and access funding.

Nature-based solutions are sustainable planning, design, environmental management, and engineering practices that weave natural features or processes into the built environment to promote adaptation and resilience.

These solutions use natural features and processes to combat climate change, reduce flood risk, improve water quality, protect coastal property, restore and protect wetlands, stabilize shorelines, reduce urban heat, and add recreational space.

For this grant cycle, 57% of the National Competition-selected projects incorporate nature-based solutions from 16 applicants and nine FEMA regions.

The BRIC program can fund various types of projects. The list below shows the top two project types by federal cost share.

In addition, the table shows the number of subapplications selected for this grant cycle. Management costs selections are not included in the table.

1. Flood Control: Twenty-eight subapplications have been selected totaling $395 million to eliminate or reduce flood damage.
2. Utility/Infrastructure Protection: Thirty subapplications have been selected totaling $237 million and include projects such as elevating pumping stations, enhancing power poles, strengthening water towers and floodproofing utility plants.

As of July 2, 2024, the table shows the selection status for subapplications submitted to the FY23 BRIC funding cycle. Data in the table is subject to change.

Learn about the definition of each status description:

• Identified for Further Review
• Not Selected
• Did Not Meet HMA Requirements