BRIC Direct Technical Assistance Communities

The Akiak Native Community is a federally recognized tribe in Akiak, Alaska. The Native Community is requesting assistance to develop a Tribal Mitigation Plan that will cover four neighboring tribal nations. The Native Community has received a Hazard Mitigation Assistance award for developing the plan. BRIC DTA is providing support to the community in answering Requests For Information (RFIs) for various BRIC grants, developing projects that address erosion and flooding, and will be supporting capability- and capacity-building activities.

The Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of Fort Peck is a federally recognized tribe and sovereign nation in the far northeast corner of Montana that encompasses approximately 3,200 square miles. Natural disasters that affect the area include drought; severe weather, such as winter storms, straight-line winds, and hail; and wildfires and smoke from wildfires—a major source of air pollution. The Tribe recently adopted a community-driven Tribal Mitigation Plan through joint technical assistance from the Environmental Protection Agency and regional technical assistance from FEMA Region 8. Utilizing the Environmental Protection Agency’s Equitable Resilience Technical Assistance, the Fort Peck Tribal Hazard Mitigation Plan includes climate change data within the risk assessment and community-driven site designs for enhancing climate resilience to community assets within their mitigation strategies. The tribe is now receiving support from BRIC DTA to pursue funding to make the community designs a reality. This will include further development of the conceptual designs, benefit-cost analysis support, and project application. 

The Borough of Oceanport is a small borough in the Jersey Shore region within Monmouth County. The borough is receiving support to conduct specific hazard mitigation activities to mitigate future storm surges.

Chatham County is located on Georgia’s Atlantic Coast. Chatham County is receiving technical assistance to develop and facilitate a process to understand current and future risks, including robust community engagement, and project identification. The county intends to prioritize engagement with communities that may not have been invited or participated in past planning activities, including residents and business owners in environmental justice communities and households that do not use English as their primary language.

The federally recognized Chippewa Cree Tribe is located on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation in north-central Montana. The Tribe is receiving support conceptualizing a microgrid project that will supply power to multiple tribal buildings and strengthen energy resilience. Power outages can disrupt daily life for tribal members. They affect people’s access to work, education and general business activities by cutting off Internet access. These outages can also impede emergency services, which creates challenges in communication and response during disasters. In addition, energy resilience projects can provide additional benefits to the community, as noted in the goals and objectives for the Chippewa Cree Energy Corporation – Tribal Energy Authority, such as reducing energy cost burden, diversifying tribal assets, providing electric rate relief to elderly and other disadvantaged tribal members, creating jobs to serve community individuals, and more.

The City & County of Honolulu is receiving technical assistance to scope a grant to build a Resilience Hub to serve as a new community center that will provide health, education, social services, food security, workforce development, youth and senior services and cultural regeneration activities.

The City of Birmingham is located in the north central region of Alabama—north of Montgomery, the state capital. The city is receiving support with grants management assistance and project scoping activities to support the city’s drainage systems resiliency improvement projects.

The City of Cedar Key is a small island located on the western gulf shore near the mainland of Florida in Levy County. Cedar Key is receiving support with BRIC project scoping and application for generators and a raised lift station platform.

The City of Cherokee is a small city situated on the Little Sioux River in northwestern Iowa. The city is receiving technical assistance with developing natural infrastructure solutions to mitigate flooding in Cherokee. A group of local and state partners are leading efforts to decrease reoccurring flood damage from the steep 5,000-acres Railroad Creek watershed.

The City of Crisfield is a small community located on the Tangier Sound—an arm of the Chesapeake Bay—near the mouth of the Little Annemessex River in Somerset County, Maryland. The city is requesting support to address coastal flooding and storm surge challenges.