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The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) announced recently that it is opening the application period for the FY21 Emergency Shelters Upgrade Assistance Grant Fund (Shelter Upgrade Fund).

This is a new funding source that was approved as a result of Senate Bill 350 which went into effect July 1.

The state approved $2.5 million for the grant fund in fiscal year 2021. The Shelter Upgrade Fund should be used solely for the purposes of providing matching funds to localities to install, maintain, or repair infrastructure related to backup energy generation for emergency shelters, including solar energy generators, and to improve the hazard-specific structural integrity (wind retrofit) of shelter facilities owned by the locality.

“It is vitally important to maintain support for our local emergency shelters and backup energy infrastructure,” Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian J. Moran said. “I would like to thank Gov. (Ralph) Northam and the General Assembly for continuing to prioritize funding for emergency management across the commonwealth.”

FUNDING PRIORITIES

• Project supports/protects vulnerable and marginalized populations.

• Project is a long term risk-based solution.

• Localities that submit applications for their primary shelter solutions will have priority. This will be verified by Local Capabilities Assessment Report (LCAR) submissions.

• Project identifies alternative solutions.

WHO CAN APPLY?

Local governments, as defined as political subdivisions in the Emergency Services and Disaster Laws §44-146.16 “any city or county in the commonwealth and, for the purposes of this chapter, the Town of Chincoteague, West Point, and any town of more than 5,000 population that chooses to have an emergency management program separate from that of the county in which such town is located.”

APPLICATION SUBMISSION

All project applications, and supporting documentation, must be submitted through the application portal by February 1, 2021, at 5 p.m.