Hazard mitigation is key to disaster resilience. It can reduce injuries and deaths and help limit damages from disasters, saving communities roughly $6 per $1 invested (PDF).
Mitigation is especially critical for tribes and Indigenous communities, which are more likely to be exposed to natural hazards but also face systemic social and economic challenges that worsen damage and complicate recovery.
In recent years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program has become the largest source of federal hazard mitigation funding for tribes. Here we highlight tribal BRIC awards and the variety of activities the program has funded.
More than half of all FEMA hazard mitigation funding to Indigenous communities has been awarded through the BRIC grant program
Congress created BRIC through the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018, which increased FEMA funding for predisaster mitigation efforts. The program was canceled in early 2025 and reinstated in 2026.
BRIC funds can be used for three broad categories of activities (PDF):
- capability and capacity building activities, such as project scoping and planning, engineering and feasibility studies, and the adoption and enforcement of building codes;
- hazard mitigation projects and activities, such as building or moving roads, strengthening utilities, creating or improving water and wastewater systems, or building or enhancing communications systems; and
- management of award activities, which can only make up 10 percent or less of an applicant’s budget.
BRIC grants are available to states, federally recognized tribes, US territories, and local governments that have had a major disaster declaration in the seven years before the application period. Tribal governments can apply directly for BRIC funding or as subapplicants (PDF) to states and territories.
From 2020 through 2025, BRIC made $220 million in awards to Indigenous communities. That’s more than half of all FEMA hazard mitigation funds to Indigenous communities during that same period.
According to our analysis, budgets for projects from tribal applicants and subapplicants selected for BRIC funding through 2023 are estimated at $67.5 million. (The final value of individual awards may vary from initial budgets, which would change the overall total figure.)
Tribal set-asides have increased since the program’s inception
Tribal set-asides are important because they guarantee that a specific amount of funds are available to be competitively awarded to tribal applicants, provided they meet general eligibility criteria. Over time, the total value of tribal set-asides in the BRIC program has increased from a total of $20 million in fiscal year 2020 to $75 million in the fiscal year 2024–25 funding cycle.
FEMA recently closed the fiscal year 2024–25 funding opportunity and is expected to announce awards in the coming months. This funding cycle had three main funding categories:
- a national competition, which was open to all applicants, including tribes;
- a state and territory set-aside, 31 percent of which was further set aside for tribal governments; and
- a state and territory building code plus-up that also included a 31 percent set-aside for tribes.
Tribes were eligible to apply for funding from multiple funding categories and the national competition. FEMA plans to distribute $1 billion in available funds for the fiscal year 2024–25 funding cycle, with 7.5 percent of funds set aside for tribes, according to our analysis of FEMA’s BRIC awards data.
Tribes may struggle to compete against a broader pool of applicants in this and other national competitions, because of the volume of competing applications. Compared with nontribal applicants, tribes likely have less data to quantify hazard costs and mitigation benefits and limited tribal capacity to meet federal matching requirements.
Notes: BRIC = Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities. This figure reflects the fiscal year 2024–25 funding cycle. Future funding cycles may be structured differently.
All applicants must have a FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plan and be able to meet the program’s cost-sharing requirement. The standard cost-share terms require recipients to provide 25 percent of project costs with nonfederal funds. The cost share can include philanthropic support and the value of in-kind services provided by the applicant or its partners. Some tribes may qualify for a lower, 10 percent cost share for small, impoverished communities (PDF).
BRIC grants enable tribes to determine which mitigation activities match their needs and priorities
Beyond tribal set-asides, BRIC offers tribes flexible funds to determine what hazard mitigation activities—large or small—are important to them. This supports tribal sovereignty and self-determination.
Based on BRIC awards data from FEMA, we find that tribes have used BRIC funding for a variety of capability and capacity building activities. The Upper Skagit Tribe, located in Washington state, has received multiple BRIC awards to assess, design, and engineer seismic retrofits for government buildings as well as water transmission and distribution mains. Based in Florida, the Seminole Tribe is using BRIC capability and capacity building funds to develop, administer, and enforce new building codes, including providing technical assistance and training on the codes. Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico is using their BRIC grant to contract a firm to help develop a residential code that sets standards for safety and improves the quality and resiliency of housing units. In Wisconsin, the Bad River Tribe integrated its mitigation planning with a broader needs assessment that was partially funded through BRIC, examining the disaster issue alongside other community development issues.
Tribes have also used BRIC to fund a range of hazard mitigation projects, reflecting the diversity of tribal settings. Cherokee Nation, located in Oklahoma and the Oneida Nation, located in Idaho, each received BRIC grants to build tornado safe rooms or shelters. In Nebraska, the Ponca Tribe used BRIC funds to ensure stable, resilient power systems by purchasing generators and establishing utility and infrastructure protections. The Karuk Tribe, located in California, received mitigation funding for wildfire management, including the purchase of fire-resistant building materials, fuel reduction efforts, and vegetation management. The Alaska Native Village of Napakiak used BRIC mitigation funding—as well as funding by the Department of Interior and the State of Alaska—to support an extensive project to move the community away from the Kuskokwim River, as ongoing erosion threatens local structures.
Provided future funding rounds are similar to the fiscal year 2024–25 funding opportunity, tribes should keep BRIC in mind as a potentially large and flexible funding source. As tribes plan for mitigation efforts, BRIC could support tribal initiatives like building-code development and building more-resilient energy systems.
This article was prepared using federal funds under award ED22HDQ3079185 from the Economic Development Administration, US Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the US Department of Commerce.
