The Basics: FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Program
FEMA dedicates funding on an annual basis for its Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Program to assist local and state governments with hazard mitigation planning and project activities. Integrating disaster mitigation into disaster planning and recovery enables a holistic, proactive approach to disaster management that can reduce disaster-induced damages, costs, and the recovery timeline.
US states, territories, and tribal governments are eligible to apply for PDM funding directly to FEMA, while local governments can submit subapplications to their state. Only communities who have a FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plan are eligible to apply for PDM funding. All states and US territories are eligible to receive $575,000 (1% of the total allocation) under the FY 2018 program, while FEMA will distribute the remaining balance on a competitive basis.
The amount of available funding for the program varies each year, as well as the program guidelines, priorities, and eligible activities. FY 2018 PDM program has a total of $235 million in grants available to assist communities and states. The deadline for states to submit their applications to FEMA for the FY 2018 PDM program is January 19, 2019. Local governments should check with their state emergency management office (or equivalent agency) to find their individual subapplication deadline and to learn more about their state’s application submittal and review process.
The FY 2018 program has set asides for several specific mitigation activities, including: mitigation projects, new mitigation plan development, mitigation plan updates, and public awareness and education. Applicants can also apply a portion of the funding towards project administration and management costs.
The FY 2018 program also brings set asides for new eligible activities, including:
- Advance Assistance priority, which provides assistance for communities to apply towards developing a mitigation strategy and collecting data to prioritize and select community mitigation projects.
- Resilient Infrastructure Competitive Funding project type, which provides funding to apply towards community-level infrastructure or capital projects that reduce risk and lead to savings by reducing disaster damage or lowering flood insurance premiums.
FEMA also establishes PDM program priorities each year, which it uses as the basis of evaluation criteria for grants awarded competitively. Top FY 2018 program priorities include multi-state/tribal mitigation planning and projects, and mitigation planning and projects in communities with less than $400,000 in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds available.
See FEMA’s PDM Program fact sheet for more information, and visit the PDM Program homepage for additional resources.
FEMA also provides grants for flood mitigation planning and activities through it’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grant program on the same timeline as the FMA program. Learn more about the FMA Program here.