Opportunities for Boulder County Jurisdictions
Colorado is allocating a portion of Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) planning funds to the Mitigation Planning, Education & Capacity Building Program. The program provides funding to assist in meeting the community’s mitigation and resilient rebuilding goals. The goal of the program is to reduce long-term risk and increase local mitigation efforts through community education and planning efforts.
Approximately $330,000.00 is available to eligible 2023 grant cycle applicants. As per direction from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 100% of the funds must be allocated to Boulder County or communities within the county.
Eligible Recipients
Eligible applicants include Boulder County, the City of Louisville, the Town of Superior, or a joint application from these jurisdictions, as well as nonprofits managing programs in these three jurisdictions, mobile home park associations, resident-owned communities, homeowner associations and co-ops.
The three jurisdictions are encouraged to cultivate partnerships with each other and other partners as necessary. Multi-jurisdictional and multi-objective approaches that address both shocks and stresses that contribute to community vulnerability will be more competitive.
Applicants must have legal authority to adopt and enforce the proposed plan. Note: Does not apply to COGs. COGs can apply on behalf of jurisdictions that have such authority.
Eligible Use of Funds
Planning
Planning activities which consist of all costs of data gathering, studies, analysis, and preparation of plans and the identification of actions that will implement such plans, including, but not limited to:
- Development, adoption and implementation of forward-looking
- Hazard mitigation plans
- Wildfire risk assessments
- Land use plans that integrates hazard mitigation
- Strategies and action programs to implement plans, including the development of codes, ordinances and regulations that address mitigation objectives.
- Creation of a multi-jurisdictional comprehensive wildfire plan that takes into account land use codes, open space policies, identified future climate risks, and other relevant topics.
- Creation or expansion of local resilience or hazard mitigation programs that directly address risks from future disasters.
- Other plans and studies such as: Individual project plans including engineering and design costs related to a specific mitigation activity; reasonable costs of general environmental studies or risk assessments and mitigation-oriented planning related to properties with known or suspected natural hazard vulnerability.
- Feasibility studies that: Evaluate existing resiliency criteria or practices in place locally; develop recommendations to integrate mitigation practices into budgeting, funding (i.e., annual budgets, risk management, capital improvement programs).
Education
- Eligible education activities include:
- Develop, plan and implement community programs that:
- Provide technical assistance, training, and documentation (mixed media) about reducing risk and disaster preparedness
- Educate residents on fire- and drought-resistant landscaping and provide templates for safe and resilient landscaping
- Provide individual wildfire (as well as other applicable hazards) home assessments and customized reports that identify the weak links in a home’s defenses.
- Public Service activities focused on education and outreach campaigns designed to alert communities and beneficiaries to opportunities to further mitigate identified risks through insurance, best practices, and other strategies.
Capacity Building
Eligible capacity-building activities will enable the recipient to:
- Determine its mitigation needs
- Set long-term goals and short-term objectives for community mitigation and resilience
- Develop programs and activities to meet the above goals and objectives
- Evaluate the progress of programs and activities in accomplishing goals and objectives
- Carry out management, coordination and monitoring of activities necessary for effective planning implementation, but excluding the costs necessary to implement such plans
How to Apply
A Notice of Funding Availability and application will be posted on the DOLA Grant Portal in late 2023. For preliminary information or any questions, please contact:
Will Cundiff, CDBG-DR Program Manager
303-864-8477, will.cundiff@state.co.us
All applications must be submitted via the online grants portal. Applications must be submitted electronically by the due date and must be signed by the chief local elected official.