WASHINGTON – Today, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell announced the agency’s progress on its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan and position for the year ahead.
FEMA completed the first year of its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan, developing stakeholder-informed, actionable plans that provide the foundation needed to achieve our ambitious goals. During this planning phase, the agency also identified and implemented immediate actions that could be taken to bring us closer to each of these goals.
“We are proud of the strides we have made to become the FEMA our nation needs and deserves, and look forward to building on that foundation in the years to come,” said Criswell. “In alignment with our partners, we are finding ways to better support the diverse communities we serve and prepare for the increasing complexities of disasters.”
The three pillars of the strategic goals are updated below:
Strategic goal 1: Create justice as the basis for emergency management
In its ongoing effort to put people first in its programs and policies, FEMA simplified its individual assistance application process, resulting in over 100,000 survivors receiving assistance who previously would not have been eligible. That meant more than $600 million in additional aid reached the hands of survivors recovering from the disaster.
In alignment with the Biden administration’s Justice40 initiative, FEMA has committed to ensuring that 40% of the benefits of pre-disaster grant programs go to underserved communities. As a result, approximately $510 million goes to communities that meet underserved or disadvantaged criteria.
To better serve tribal nations, the agency released its first-ever National Tribal Strategy. This strategy was developed hand-in-hand with tribal communities to enable the agency to take critical steps to provide training and support that meets the unique needs of tribal communities. The agency also appointed the first tribal politician in FEMA history to advise Administrator Criswell on tribal matters while working to ensure FEMA honors its contract and entrusts its responsibilities to tribal nations.
As FEMA works to ensure that preparedness information is available to all communities, particularly those often hardest hit by disasters and emergencies, FEMA’s Ready Campaign launched its first-ever preparedness campaigns in 2021 and 2022 public services aimed at underserved communities.
Strategic Goal 2: Community-wide leadership on climate resilience
With passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, FEMA will invest $6.8 billion in community-wide mitigation to reduce disaster suffering and avoid future disaster costs the nation faces due to climate change.
In April, FEMA announced the agency’s Building Codes Strategy to help organize and prioritize agency activities to advance enforcement of hazard-resistant building codes and standards.
FEMA also co-chairs the White House Resettlement Subcommittee with the US Department of the Interior. This subcommittee brings together federal agencies to examine issues and strategies to support voluntary migration from high-risk regions. FEMA is awarding approximately $17.7 million to support three different tribal nations with resettlement costs and hazard reduction projects.
In 2022, FEMA also expanded access to some mitigation grant programs to help underserved communities by helping them meet the required benefit-cost analysis and doubling the number of communities receiving direct technical assistance.
Strategic Goal 3: Promote and maintain a prepared FEMA and a prepared nation
To improve agency readiness, the agency established a Ready FEMA Framework designed to enhance FEMA’s ability to define, measure, and build capabilities to meet current and emerging needs across mission areas while maintaining the to maintain vital steady-state functions of the Agency. To support this, FEMA is increasing the capacity of its National Response Coordination Center.
In addition to enhancing FEMA’s preparedness, the agency supports the nation’s preparedness efforts, including efforts by individuals, states, territories, local governments, and tribal nations. In collaboration with its interagency federal partners, FEMA has developed the Recovery and Resilience Resource Library website, Roadmaps to Federal Resources for Disaster Recovery, and the Community Recovery Management Toolkit.
Last year, FEMA launched the Emergency Manager Exchange Program, which allows state, local, tribal, and territorial emergency managers and government officials to work with FEMA employees and leaders to develop and implement policies and programs.
Also in 2022, FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security allocated a record $250 million from the Nonprofit Security Grant program to help all communities prepare. Through this grant, more than 1,800 non-profit and religious organizations received funding for security improvements to protect against potential threats.
“FEMA continues to improve our nation’s ability to respond to ongoing and emerging disasters by taking emergency action over the past year to make our programs more accessible, strengthen our workforce and develop tools to enable communities to better manage threats recognize and prepare for disasters,” Criswell continued. “Through thoughtful and coordinated efforts with our partners across the emergency management organization, we have laid the groundwork to make further, lasting changes in the pursuit of these ambitious goals, and we will continue to learn, grow and share our progress along the way.”