ODPS Ohio Emergency Management Agency FY2012 Unified HMA Grant Application Information

FY 2012 Unified Hazard Mitigation Assistance
Grant Application Information

Application Time-Line

7/8/2011 - Letters of intent for communities that will be developing a FY 2012 HMA application are due by 5:00 PM, Friday, July 8, 2011. Please address the letter of intent to Steve Ferryman, Mitigation Branch Chief, 2855 West Dublin-Granville Road, Columbus, Ohio 43235-2206, or send by email to: saferryman@dps.state.oh.us. The letter must include: 1) a brief description of the proposed project, 2) an estimated budget, and 3) identify the local match source (if required). Communities that submit a letter of intent will be assigned a Mitigation Specialist to provide technical assistance during application development.

6/22/11 & 6/23/11 - Benefit Cost Analysis training from 8:00am to 4:30pm at Ohio EMA. This workshop will provide the applicant information on how to conduct the required benefit cost analysis for their application. Registration deadline is 6/10/2011. To register for the workshop, please visit the Ohio EMA Training website: http://ema.state.oh.us/training

9/16/2011 - All applications must be submitted in e-Grants for Ohio State Hazard Mitigation Team review. Ohio EMA will review the applications and will work with applicants to fine tune their submissions. Applicants must be available to coordinate with Ohio EMA staff for the period between September 16th and December 2nd. Final applications will be then forwarded by Ohio EMA to FEMA by December 2nd.

12/2/2011 - FEMA application deadline.

Hazard Mitigation Assistance Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Programs

Unified HMA Program

The Unified HMA Program is to create a unified grant guidance, application period, eligibility, implementation, management, and close-out process for each of the four pre-disaster mitigation grant programs provided by FEMA. All four programs have unique statutory authorities, program requirements and triggers for funding. The Unified HMA Program does not integrate the four grants into one singular program. Each grant will retain its unique characteristics.

• Flood Mitigation Assistance Program (FMA) - To implement cost-effective measures that reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of flood damage to buildings, manufactured homes, and other structures insured under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
   
• Pre-Disaster Mitigation Competitive Program (PDM) - To provide funds to states, territories, Indian Tribal governments, and communities for hazard mitigation planning and the implementation of mitigation projects prior to a disaster event. Funding these plans and projects reduces overall risks to the population and structures, while also reducing reliance on funding from actual disaster declarations.
   
• Repetitive Flood Claim Program (RFC) - To reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of flood damage to structures insured under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that have had one or more claim payment(s) for flood damages.
   
• Severe Repetitive Loss Program (SRL) - To reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of flood damage to severe repetitive loss residential properties and the associated drain on the National Flood Insurance Fund (NFIF) from such properties

Project Application

e-Grants
FEMA has developed a web-based, electronic grants (eGrants) management system to allow States, Federally-recognized Indian Tribal governments, territories, and local governments to apply for and manage their mitigation grant application processes electronically. Applicants must register to use the e-Grants application. e-Grant registration form can be found below in the Additional Resources links.

Project Application Development Tools

e-Grants Instruction Manual
This guide is a "quick reference guide" to introduce you to FEMA's Mitigation e-Grants System. It focuses specifically on the information you need to step through the activities associated with creating, managing, and submitting grant and Subgrant applications.

Benefit Cost Analysis
Applicants and Sub-Applicants must use FEMA-approved methodologies and software to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of their projects. This will ensure that the calculations and methods are standardized, facilitating the project evaluation process. FEMA has developed a suite of Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) software for a range of major natural hazards: earthquake, fire (wildland/urban interface fires), flood (riverine, coastal A-Zone, Coastal V-Zone), Hurricane Wind (and Typhoon), and Tornado.

Photographing Your Hazard Mitigation Project
A guide to taking and submitting photographs for mitigation project applications. Photographs of the project area must be submitted with your application. The photographs must conform to a specific format or they may be rejected or be a reason why the project was not approved. This document demonstrates how the photographs need to be taken, the format of the photos, and the method to submit them. Do not send hard copies of photos as indicated in the document - Photos must be attached to the application in e-Grants.

FIRMettes
A FIRMette is a full-scale section of a FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) that you create yourself online. There is no cost for making a FIRMette. FIRMettes can be used in all aspects of the NFIP including floodplain management, flood insurance, and enforcement of mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements. Before you create a FIRMette you must first find the Flood Map, then click the View button associated with that Flood Map. For detail instructions on how to create a FIRMette, try our FIRMette Tutorial.

FEMA Grant Application Resources
Links to FEMA resources for grant applicants and sub-applicants on the Hazard Mitigation Grant (HMGP) program, Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program, Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program, Repetitive Flood Claims (RFC) program, and Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) program.

Additional Resources:

• FY 2012 Unified HMA Program Guidance
• State of Ohio e-Grant Authorization Form (MS Word format)
• e-Grant User Manual (PDF format)