Fiscal Year 2024 Emergency Management Baseline Assessment Grant

The nation relies on emergency management programs and emergency managers to respond to a wide range of threats and hazards. Emergency management programs and emergency managers play an important role in leading state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) communities in an effective and unified manner before, during, and after a disaster. Emergency management programs and professionals also play an important role in supporting the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient Nation by coordinating with the whole community to build and sustain the capabilities to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk. The EMBAG program reinforces the FEMA mission of advancing all-hazards preparedness, consistent with the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (PKEMRA) and Presidential Policy Directive 8 (PPD-8), National Preparedness.

EMBAG funds the maintenance, validation, and revision of voluntary national-level standards and peer-review assessment processes for SLTT emergency management programs and professionals; peer assessment against these standards for SLTT emergency management program accreditation and professional certification; and outreach and training to increase awareness of national standards and understanding of functions of effective programs and professionals. Over FY 2018-2020, the EMBAG helped 22 SLTT emergency management programs achieve accreditation and 60 SLTT emergency managers achieve certification.

The 9/11 Commission Report published in 2004 described efforts led by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to come to a consensus regarding a national standard for preparedness for the private sector. As a result of these efforts, ANSI recommended that the 9/11 Commission endorse a voluntary National Preparedness Standard. According to stakeholders noted in the report, "the experience of the private sector in the World Trade Center emergency demonstrated the need for these standards."

Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial and whole community partners in the emergency management community worked with each other and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to establish standards for emergency management both before and after 9/11, including for both emergency management programs and emergency managers.

Applicants can submit applications for this funding opportunity through FEMA Grants Outcomes (GO). Access the system at https://go.fema.gov/.