News Release

CHICAGO — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell and senior advisor to the president and White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu have announced project selections for nearly $3 billion in climate resilience funding as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. The selections, through two competitive grant programs, will help communities across the nation enhance resilience to climate change and extreme weather events.

A flood control project in Indianapolis was among the selections for FEMA Region 5, which includes Indiana.

The selections include $1.8 billion for critical resilience projects funded by the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities national competition and $642 million for Flood Mitigation Assistance community-scale flood mitigation projects. These selections build on $160 million in Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities and Flood Mitigation Assistance selections that FEMA announced in May for efforts to support mitigation projects, project scoping and adoption of hazard-resistant building codes. Combined, the funds awarded this grant cycle of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities and Flood Mitigation Assistance programs total nearly $3 billion including management costs.

“FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities or BRIC program continues to shift the focus from reactive disaster spending toward proactive investment in community resilience,” said Tom Sivak, regional administrator, FEMA Region 5. “I am encouraged to see so many states, communities and tribal nations throughout Region 5 taking these monumental steps towards addressing the climate crisis and strengthening the nation’s resilience, including underserved communities that are most vulnerable.”

“From Hawaii to Maine, and everywhere in between, we are seeing the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, devastating communities nationwide. Though FEMA will always help communities respond and recover to these disasters, it is also paramount to build resilience before disasters strike,” said FEMA Administrator Criswell. “Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we have more resources than ever to meet this moment and provide our state, local, territorial, and tribal partners with the resources they need to help us create a more resilient nation.”

The top five primary hazard sources of the projects selected in the national competition for each program include flooding, infrastructure failure, fire, drought and dam or levee break hazards.

Building Resilient Infrastructure And Communities

All FEMA Region 5 states, which include Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, received Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities selections for a total of $122 million. In addition, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio received selections for the first time.

Additionally, five tribal nations, including Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, and Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin received selections for more than $10 million.

This includes critical mitigation projects and activities, several of which are nature-based solutions, to reduce natural hazard risks for states, local communities, tribes and territories. Nature-based solutions are sustainable planning, design, environmental management and engineering practices that weave natural features or processes into the built environment to promote adaptation and resilience.

Among several others, project selections include:

• Illinois: City of Harvey Stormwater Management Project. This project will address flooding in the city of Harvey, a community of Cook County, by building a new storm sewer to separate the combined sewer system. This project also incorporates the use of nature-based solutions through a detention basin that will help with stormwater runoff and help promote water quality for the city.
• Indiana: Mars Hill Flood Control Improvement District Project: This flood control infrastructure project in Indianapolis is composed of three green infrastructure solutions and one structural infrastructure solution. Project components include restructuring a ditch, restoring the waterway to a natural vegetated state, nature-based stabilization of impaired banks and up-sizing a bridge. Additionally, 653 parcels will be removed from the Special Flood Hazard Area and the project will reduce flooding on 2,241 parcels in the Flood Control Improvement District.
• Michigan: City of Detroit — Jefferson Chalmers Implementation. This infrastructure project will replace approximately 18,800 feet of combined sewer mains within the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood to increase the level of service to meet expected impact from a 10-year, one-hour storm event.
• Michigan: City of Hamtramck — Phase 1B Sewer Relief Construction. This project will consist of the construction of two new relief sewers and is a continuation of Phase 1A of a similar project in 2016 to up-size the sewer system and alleviate basement backup and urban flooding in high rain events for the city of Hamtramck.
• Minnesota: City of Lamberton Community Safe Room. This project will construct a community safe room in Lamberton, Minn., to provide life safety to individuals in the city of Lamberton and students at Red Rock Central Public Schools.
• Ohio: Mineral Ridge Dam Resiliency Upgrades and Source Water Protection. This project will improve the resiliency of the Mineral Ridge Dam in Ohio by improving spillways and the toe drainage system and flattening slopes around the dam. By improving the resilience of the dam and surrounding infrastructure, this project will protect the drinking water created by the dam’s reservoir.

Flood Mitigation Assistance

Illinois and Ohio received Flood Mitigation Assistance selections for a total of $ 44 million.

This funding will go toward community flood control efforts and individual property mitigation projects such as elevations and acquisitions of repetitively flood-damaged buildings insured by the National Flood Insurance Program.

Examples include:

• Illinois: Machesney Park Acquisition and Demolition Within the Rock River Floodway. Immediately east of the Rock River, the village of Machesney Park, Ill., will purchase 19 parcels and demolish the residential structures that are all located in the floodplain and flood way. After the demolition, the village will retain the parcels as open green space, which will allow for more water storage during severe flooding events. This is a permanent mitigation solution due to the deed restrictions that will be placed on every parcel acquired.

Learn more about all selected projects on FEMA.gov.