The funding notice for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant (RCPGP), representing $12 million in competitive-based federal assistance, was released on May 24, 2023. Now, weeks later, the deadline for eligible states and governments to apply is fast approaching: 5 p.m. ET on July 24, 2023.
The FY 2023 RCPGP, as authorized and appropriated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Pub. L. No. 117-328), provides funding to close known capability gaps, encourage innovative regional solutions to issues related to catastrophic incidents, and build on existing regional preparedness efforts.
A catastrophic incident, as defined by the National Response Framework, is any natural or human-caused incident, including an act of terrorism, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, or government functions.
Proper planning and prevention can reduce the catastrophic impact of such incidents on communities, particularly vulnerable populations. The RCPGP aims to build regional capacity to manage catastrophic incidents by improving and expanding collaboration for catastrophic incident preparedness.
For the FY 2023 RCPGP, FEMA is implementing four strategic priorities: housing, equity, climate resilience, and readiness, with an emphasis on the needs of disadvan