State, local and tribal recipients of assistance assume environmental responsibility over projects, which means they are required to perform an environmental review that meets requirements on any CDBG-DR funded project before work can begin. This document provides the step-by-step instructions for conducting an environmental review on a particular project or activity, in addition to guidance… Read more
Successful program management requires adequate recordkeeping systems that allow subrecipients and grantees to track their performance against contract goals. This chapter of ‘s Playing by the Rules: A Handbook for CDBG Subrecipients on Administrative Systems, provides an overview of the minimum standards required for documentation and also provides a checklist of key administrative, financial and project records.… Read more
monitors certain community planning and development (CPD) program recipients, including recipients, to assess program efficiency, quality of performance, and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. The CPD Monitoring Handbook outlines monitoring standards and processes and is intended for use by all HUD CPD staff involved in monitoring programs. However, CDBG-DR subreceipients and grantees can use… Read more
grantees that choose to engage subrecipients in their program are responsible for providing a formal subrecipient agreement. This sample CDBG-DR subrecipient agreement template identifies the minimum amount of content for consistency with the Entitlement and State CDBG Program requirements. However, grantees should adjust the agreement to ensure it meets their CDBG-DR award requirements, in addition… Read more
grantees must ensure their financial management systems are in compliance with local, state and federal requirements. This involves updating existing financial policies, and oftentimes developing new policies. To prevent misspending or mishandling CDBG-DR funding, it’s important that grantees review their existing financial management policies or develop new policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs) before spending any funds. For example, grantees must… Read more
Unlike the initial damage assessment that occurs immediately after a disaster, the required unmet needs assessment occurs months later when CDBG-DR funding has been allocated. To complete the required unmet needs assessment, CDBG-DR grantees will need to acquire data from and other agencies that collected initial damage assessment data. CDBG-DR grantees can use this sample… Read more
Before grantees can receive funds, they must develop an Action Plan that details the unmet needs analysis, strategic priorities, and the plan for allocating funds to housing, economic development, infrastructure, and/or services programs. The State of Oklahoma developed this Action Plan for their $97.3 million CDBG-DR award in 2013. Although this Action Plan can’t be… Read more
This web page provides links to the various Public Laws authorizing appropriations and the associated notices. The rules and regulations, waivers and alternative requirements specific to CDBG-DR appropriation can be found in the Federal Register notice in which they were issued. Grantees and subgrantees should review the Federal Register notice in which their program was… Read more
Part of disaster preparedness includes creating a community culture of disaster awareness. While this begins internally with city or county emergency management, the entire local government organization – including elected officials – must be involved in community capacity and awareness building during disaster planning. This allows for successful emergency management services plan activation. Suggestions for… Read more
Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grantees and subrecipients must follow all local, state and federal procurement requirements. Many localities are unfamiliar with federal procurement policies, making it easy to overlook requirements that can lead to noncompliance and repayment of funds. Download this sample procurement checklist from HUD to ensure compliance at each step… Read more
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