Tag Archives | funding & assistance

An Argument for Not Returning to Normal [Editorial]

An interesting editorial by Global Ethics professor Tom Sorell on why our natural post-disaster instinct to return things to normal is so often exactly the wrong response, and why we instead ought to work to “usher in discontinuity.” The problem with returning to “normal” is obvious: we’re often returning to the same conditions that put […]

Five Years After Katrina: The Changing Landscape of the Lower Ninth Ward

The New York Times has created a mesmerizing and troubling (and clever) webpage that allows you to virtually drive down two streets in New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010. The animation stops at various properties along the way, so you can see how certain buildings have fared (some gone, some […]

New Funding & Technical Assistance Opportunity for Local Planning

The Model Forest Policy Program is offering an interesting-sounding new funding and technical assistance opportunity for rural communities looking for help with their land-use planning. Here’s how they’re describing the program on their website: The Model Forest Policy Program (MFPP) is now accepting applications for 2011 Climate Solutions University: Forest and Water Strategies (CSU). This […]

Funding for "Climate Change Mitigation" Available

New funding opportunity. From their press release: EDA Offers Grants through Climate Change Mitigation Fund The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) advances economic growth by assisting communities experiencing chronic high unemployment and low per capita income to create an environment that fosters innovation, promotes entrepreneurship, and attracts increased private capital investment. EDA […]

White House Opposes Multiple Peril Insurance Bill [UPDATED]

The White House released a statement today saying that it would not support the expansion of the National Flood Insurance Program to cover wind damage. Such a move would likely do no good, the statement explains, because the government’s rates would be comparable to current market prices. The whole statement: EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT […]

FEMA Releases Guidance for 2011 Mitigation Grant Programs

Via the always useful CZMA Climate Change and Coastal Hazards E-News Update newsletter: The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) “Unified Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program Guidance” (176 pp.) represents the unification of all five of the agency’s hazard mitigation grant programs into one guidance document. These programs, which provide funding for eligible mitigation activities that reduce […]

NOAA Announces New Coastal Resilience Networks Grant Program

From our friends at NOAA: CRest Grant Program – Coastal Resilience Networks Pacific Islands – Gulf of Mexico – West Coast Coastal Resilience Networks (CRest) is a new and exciting grant opportunity for the Pacific Islands, Gulf of Mexico, and West Coast regions. The program funds projects that help communities become more resilient to the […]

3ft of Freeboard? I'll Take 12ft!

After Hurricane Ike bashed a hole in their roof and left their first floor uninhabitable, FEMA experts recommended that Galveston (TX) residents Matt and Lauren Johnson elevate their home 3′ above the minimum requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program. The Johnsons went for 12′ instead. “Even if it costs us more now, whatever costs […]

How to File a Claim with BP

We can’t find this document online (yet), but BP has released a fact sheet providing an overview of the claims process. You can download a PDF of our scan of it here: “BP Claims Fact Sheet.” Here’s the entire version in English: FACT SHEET: BP CLAIMS BP has established a process for Gulf Coast individuals, […]

It's Back . . . Senate Reauthorizes National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)

From the bright and informed folks over at the Association of State Floodplain Managers: As part of a unanimous consent agreement last night, the Senate cleared a measure (HR 5569) that would extend the authorization of the National Flood Insurance Program until September 30, 2010. It was previously passed by the House, so it will […]