Disaster Prevention and Relief Grants

To help marine businesses recover from the devastating impacts of January 2024’s coastal storms, Island Institute is expanding our Business Resilience Grant program. Grant awards of up to $5,000 are available for working waterfront businesses that directly support fishing and aquaculture on islands, and in fishing-dependent communities that were impacted by the storms on January 10 and 13, 2024. Maine’s fishing industry accounts for nearly $1 billion in annual revenue and it is under a multitude of pressures. Taking up a mere 20 miles of the more than 5,000 miles of Maine’s coastline, the working waterfront infrastructure along our shorelines is in grave danger of being lost forever. The more rural the community, the more reliant communities are on the marine economy. Without safe and reliable wharves, docks, and access ramps, Maine’s fishing communities grind to a halt. This infrastructure is the backbone of the coastal economy and importantly supports the families and communities that rely upon what they catch or grow. It is for this reason we are choosing to urgently support the resilient rebuilding of our working waterfront infrastructure. We will review grant applications weekly and have streamlined our application process to ensure these limited funds will quickly arrive in communities. Eligible applicants are for-profit businesses with shoreside infrastructure that supports multiple individuals or that plays a critical role in communities with demonstrable impact from these storms. Due to limited available funds, priority is given to businesses that support many independent harvesters. For more information please contact Jeff Frank at [email protected] Examples of acceptable uses of funds include: • Wharf infrastructure repair • Equipment repair and replacement • Other: contact us if you're unsure. Before you get started, here is a bit more about the application and process: Individuals and affiliated companies are eligible for one Island Institute grant per fiscal year (this does not include scholarships). Awards from previous fiscal years will not disqualify applications. There is a limited amount of funds available for the Business Resilience Storm Recovery Grants. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through June 10, 2024 (as long as funds are available), and reviewed weekly to ensure these funds will quickly arrive in communities.

This funding opportunity provides up to $100,000 for governmental entities, non-profits, and clubs to quickly repair trail damage caused by vandalism, fire, and weather, while also supporting trash removal and dust mitigation efforts to ensure safe and environmentally preserved OHV trails.

This program provides funding to local governments, tribal entities, and nonprofits in Colorado to implement projects that reduce flood and erosion risks following wildfires.

This program provides competitive funding to local governments in Pennsylvania to help stabilize neighborhoods affected by the housing foreclosure crisis by investing in abandoned and foreclosed properties.

The Idaho Water Resource Board (IWRB) offers grants for flood management, including stream channel repair, improvement, flood risk reduction, and flood prevention. These grants are competitive and statewide, available to flood control districts, drainage districts, irrigation districts, canal companies, municipalities, counties, and other public entities. Applicants must show evidence of flood damage or risk and outline proposed repairs or improvements. Applications are accepted annually until the first Friday of June, with the next deadline on June 7, 2024. Grant renewed every year. Grant Annual deadline: 1st Friday of June

This funding is designed to assist organizations in Pennsylvania that are working to quickly prevent and address homelessness among vulnerable populations affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

This program provides financial assistance to Pennsylvania municipalities and public agencies for flood control projects that improve community safety and resilience against severe flooding.

This program provides financial assistance to private forestland owners for restoring their damaged trees and forest resources after natural disasters, helping to protect soil, water, and wildlife habitats.

The Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT) of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to support the Nigerian interagency in designing, revising, and implementing crisis response plans and protocols. Nigeria is Africa’s largest democracy with a population of over 230 million people and the continent’s largest economy. However, Nigeria currently faces a terrorist threat from primarily the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria West Africa Province (ISIS-WA), the largest ISIS affiliate outside Iraq and Syria, that continues to expand throughout the country. Boko Haram, alQa'ida-aligned Ansaru, and a myriad of gangs and bandit organizations also remain persistent threats. Ensuring that Nigeria’s civilian security services are capable of responding to and managing a crisis is critical to ensuring the safety, stability, and prosperity of the country. This program should identify how the Nigerian interagency prepares crisis response plans, who is involved in that process, and how those plans are tested. CT expects the selected implementer to build the Nigerian interagency’s capacity to develop and/or update these crisis response plans through trainings, mentorship, and simulation exercises and assist the Nigerian interagency with developing their own trainings and exercises to maintain those crisis response plans after the program is over. The application should show an emphasis on interagency coordination in the program’s theory of change and an explanation of how interagency coordination will be assessed and measured. CT is also interested in how the implementer will facilitate sustainability through preparing the Nigerian interagency to institutionalize crisis response reviews. CT can also assist the selected implementer in coordinating and deconflicting program activities with previous foreign assistance programs that worked on this topic. Program Goal: Nigeria’s civilian security services are capable of effectively executing crisis response measures using interagency coordination and institutionalizing emergency management procedures, including the allocation of resources for response activities. Program Objective(s): This program seeks to achieve the following objectives: 1. By 2026, Nigeria has assessed its current interagency coordination efforts and crisis response plans. This objective must be met before the period of performance ends as all other objectives will build on it. 2. By 2027, Nigeria has developed or updated crisis response management plans that delineate roles, responsibilities, and authorities among applicable agencies and/or entities depending on where, when, and what type of crisis has occurred. 3. By 2027, Nigeria’s designated civilian security agencies (noted in Participants and Audiences) and interagency coordination capacities are strengthened through training, exercises, and simulations based on the crisis response plans developed with the assistance of the selected implementer. 4. By 2027, Nigeria’s designated civilian security agencies and interagency coordination capacities are assessed through tabletop exercises to determine the sustainability of crisis response planning, development, and validation procedures. Participants and Audiences: The intended target audience includes Nigeria’s Office of the National Security Advisor, the Department of State Security Services, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defense Corps, INTERPOL’s Abuja National Central Bureau, Nigeria’s National Counterterrorism Center, Nigeria Immigration Service, and other Nigerian civilian security agencies and relevant ministries.

This program provides financial assistance to municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and other eligible entities in Pennsylvania for projects that reduce flood risks and enhance community resilience.

This federal funding provides financial assistance to organizations working to quickly rehouse homeless individuals, prevent homelessness, and support emergency shelter services.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020. The $2 trillion economic relief package aims to protect the American people from the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19. Act 2A of 2020, known as the COVID-19 Emergency Supplement to the General Appropriation Act of 2019, appropriated $10,000,000 from the COVID-19 Response Restricted Account to the Department of Health. Through a sub-grant, the Department of Community and Economic Development will administer this program to eligible applicants for the rapid advancement of vaccines, treatments, and therapies in response to COVID-19. Financial Info: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020. The $2 trillion economic relief package aims to protect the American people from the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19. Act 2A of 2020, known as the COVID-19 Emergency Supplement to the General Appropriation Act of 2019, appropriated $10,000,000 from the COVID-19 Response Restricted Account to the Department of Health. Through a sub-grant, the Department of Community and Economic Development will administer this program to eligible applicants for the rapid advancement of vaccines, treatments, and therapies in response to COVID-19.

This program provides financial assistance to Pennsylvania municipalities and authorities for the repair, rehabilitation, or removal of high hazard unsafe dams to ensure public safety and effective water resource management.

The First Nations Development Institute is offering the Stewarding Native Lands program, specifically the Advancing Tribal Nature-Based Solutions project, to support climate action in Native communities. This initiative aligns with the foundation's broader mission to empower Native peoples to control their assets and future, recognizing that Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by climate change due to their remote and coastal locations and reliance on healthy ecosystems for subsistence and cultural practices. The program seeks to build tribal capacity and programming that utilizes community-, culture-, and nature-based approaches to address climate adaptation and disaster preparation. The target beneficiaries for this grant are Tribes, Tribal 7871 entities, Native-controlled nonprofits, and Native-controlled community organizations across the United States and U.S. territories. "Native-controlled" is defined as organizations where a majority of the Board of Directors and leadership team are Native American, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian. The primary impact goal is to strengthen the ability of these Native entities to implement nature-based solutions rooted in Native knowledge, thereby increasing their resilience to climate change impacts such as wildfires, flooding, and drought. The program prioritizes projects that employ nature-based solutions, which leverage animals, plants, and the environment to protect ecosystems, support human well-being, and enhance local biodiversity. Examples of focused activities include clam bed restoration for flooding and erosion, reintroduction of ecocultural plants, beaver restoration for water retention and carbon sequestration, cultural burning for biodiversity, and grass farming for desertification. Allowable activities are diverse, encompassing emergency response planning, climate-proofing infrastructure, climate risk governance, wildlife management, workforce development, organizational capacity building, and updating climate adaptation plans. First Nations expects to award 6 grants, each up to $200,000, with a grant period from September 1, 2024, to July 1, 2026. The expected outcomes include enhanced tribal capacity in climate adaptation and disaster preparation, the successful implementation of nature-based solutions based on Native knowledge, and improved ecosystem health and community well-being in the face of climate change. The foundation's strategic priority is to advance climate action that is culturally appropriate and community-led, demonstrating a theory of change where empowering Native communities with resources and knowledge leads to more effective and sustainable climate resilience.

The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Recovery Reimbursement Grant, administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, aims to support farms, integrators, and allied industries directly impacted by HPAI, particularly those within control or quarantine zones. The program is designed to mitigate financial losses by reimbursing eligible costs related to the outbreak. With five rounds of funding, the latest round focuses on biosecurity enhancement reimbursements up to $25,000 per premises, with a total fund allocation of $2 million. This initiative encourages the implementation or improvement of biosecurity practices to elevate poultry farm and business biosecurity standards, address weaknesses, and decrease HPAI cases. The application deadline for Round Five has been extended to May 2, 2024, with eligible expenses including loss of income, mortgage interest, rent, utility payments, working capital for reopening, and payroll costs among others.

This funding opportunity provides urgent financial support to nonprofit organizations in Arlington County, Virginia, to address unforeseen needs and immediate challenges that directly impact local residents.

This funding opportunity provides lifesaving equipment and educational resources to first responders, non-profits, and public safety organizations to enhance their capabilities in serving and protecting communities.

Canaveral National Seashore (CANA) includes approximately 57,000 acres of coastal, estuarine and upland habitats along the east coast of central Florida. Major plant communities include pine flatwoods, hammock, beach dune, freshwater wetlands, beach dune, coastal strand, salt marsh and mangrove shrublands. Development within the boundary is largely restricted to public beach access facilities on the northern and southern ends of the park. The majority of Mosquito Lagoon and associated islands as well as the adjacent open waters of the Atlantic Ocean are included within the CANA boundary. Coastal uplands and wetlands within CANA support a wide variety of listed species. Beaches represent nationally important nesting habitat for marine turtles with more than 16,000 nests within CANA in 2023. Beach dune and coastal strand habitats also support populations of terrestrial species including southeastern beach mouse, gopher tortoise and eastern indigo snake. Salt marsh and mangrove habitats are utilized by organisms including Atlantic salt marsh snake, wading birds, eastern black rail and diamondback terrapin. CANA also protects a wide range of cultural resources that reflect human history in the area from 2000 BC to the early 20th century. In September 2022, Hurricane Ian impacted CANA, resulting in tidal flooding, substantial coastal erosion, widespread vegetation damage and structural modifications to coastal habitats. Subsequently, Hurricane Nicole also made landfall within CANA, compounding the effects of the Hurricane Ian. In addition to direct effects of the storms on natural resources, elevation loss within beach dune communities facilitated regular tidal flooding for several months. While impacts to resources have been generally characterized, detailed information on the majority of species and habitats within the Seashore has not been collected. The trajectory of the natural system, including plant communities and associated species, following these storms is not clearly understood. NPS natural resource managers are seeking proposals for studies and/or surveys of natural and cultural resources that lead to a better understanding of short and long term effects of the 2022 hurricane season on those resources. Successful proposals will seek to improve the understanding of natural resources that became and/or remain vulnerable to post storm conditions that are coupled with the development of implementable management recommendations/actions. The following topics are suggested focal areas. Proposals covering topics outside of these areas are also encouraged, provided the work will evaluate the effects of hurricanes on natural and/or cultural resources within Canaveral National Seashore. Proposals for all focal areas should demonstrate an expected link to implementable management actions. 1. Studies of direct and indirect storm effects on the life history of species of management concern 2. Studies of physical and structural changes to coastal plant communities and adjacent coastal wetlands 3. Studies of non-native species status and trends in storm impacted areas Specific elements of each of these topic areas are described below. These descriptions are provided as a guide to help identify issues and questions that can be addressed in submitted proposals. The geographic area of the proposed studies is the legislative boundary of Canaveral National Seashore. 1. Assessment of direct and indirect storm effects on the life history of species of management concern Storm surge, tidal flooding and wind impacts resulted in short and long term, direct and indirect impacts on a variety of coastal plant and animal species within CANA. Impacts may have resulted in an increase or decrease in occupiable habitats, changes in predation rates, foraging and reproductive habitats and other impacts to one or more life history periods for a variety of organisms. CANA seeks to understand the short- and long-term effects of these storms on species of management concern in order to direct management actions where they are most appropriate and most effective. Additionally, CANA seeks to support work that is expected to result in actionable management recommendations that can be implemented following these and future storms that will mitigate or improve post-storm conditions for species of management concern. Animal species of interest to CANA include southeastern beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus niveiventris), eastern black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis) eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon corais couperi), Atlantic salt marsh snake (Nerodia clarkia taeniata), eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius), Wilson’s plover (Charadrius wilsonia) and marine turtles (Caretta caretta, Chelonia mydas, Dermochelys coriacea and Lepidochelys kempii), Florida intertidal firefly (Micronaspis floridana) and beach tiger beetle (Cicindela dorsalis media). Plant species of interest include Caribbean applecactus (Harrisia fragrans), beachstar (Cyperus pendunculatus) and Curtis’s hoarypea (Tephrosia angustissima var. curtissii). Specific topics of interest include the following: a. Comparison of pre- and post-hurricane distribution of one or more species of management concern that utilize hurricane impacted areas. b. Assessment of effects of hurricanes on life history stages of one or more species of management concern. c. Development of baseline distribution and population estimates of poorly known species in areas affected by hurricanes. 2. Studies of physical and structural changes to coastal upland plant communities and adjacent coastal wetlands Storm surge and associated sand movement resulted in changes in elevation across portions of the barrier island that separates Mosquito Lagoon from the Atlantic Ocean. Observed storm effects to the physical environment include dune erosion and loss, creation of dune escarpments, elevation loss from erosion and elevation gains from sand accretion. These effects will result in short and long term changes to local and regional hydrology, soil chemistry and ultimately plant community composition on small and large scales within CANA. Characterization of these changes and understanding how these changes will evolve in conjunction with other ongoing natural processes is of interest to CANA managers. Specific topics of interest include the following: a. Creation of detailed elevation profiles of areas affected by storm surge and other hurricane effects. b. Development of updated plant community maps and conducting comparison of pre- and post-storm plant community distribution in affected areas. c. Development of modelling or other predictive tools using remote sensing (LiDAR, satellite imagery, aerial imagery), including techniques that can be readily used by park managers to conduct comparable studies in the future. d. Developing data-based approaches to understanding the relationship of observed hurricane effects with recent and predicted sea level rise projections in the region. 3. Studies of non-native species status and trends in storm impacted areas Wind and storm surge effects appear to have resulted in mixed impacts to existing populations of invasive plant and animal species in CANA. For example, storm effects appear to have resulted in a significant reduction in cover of Brazilian peppertree in areas immediately adjacent to the shoreline, at least in the short term. Openings created by damage and mortality of native plant species and sand deposition have also created potential for invasion or expansion of existing and/or new invasive plant and insect species. Expansion of infestations of opportunistic invasive species such as crowfoot grass have been observed within CANA following the storms but it is unclear if these increases will be short or long lived and if the changes will have a meaningful or measurable effect on plant community recovery and native fauna utilization of the areas. Storm effects are also likely to have impacted existing populations of priority invasive animal species including feral swine and coyote, but it is unclear to what degree these species were affected. Little is understood about the effects of storms on invasive plant and animal species on islands within Mosquito Lagoon. Specific topics of interest include the following: a. Short and long term effects of storms to high priority invasive species that occur in affected areas. b. Species or plant community specific, effective and feasible rapid response recommendations to invasive organisms following current and future, similar storm events. c. Improving understanding of interactive effects of invasive species on native plant and animal populations in the affected areas. The primary objective of this funding program is to supplement the capacity of CANA to assess resource impacts resulting from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole and to develop and implement actionable plans for resource protection from hurricanes.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to Louisiana-based nonprofits and community organizations to address urgent needs related to disasters and crises, focusing on food security, housing, and community wellness, particularly for vulnerable populations.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to nonprofit organizations and government entities focused on improving safety and wellness through various community services, including mental health, disaster relief, and healthcare accessibility.