FEMA Region 9 is hosting a webinar series for hazard mitigation planners and other partners interested in reducing risk in their communities. These “Knowledge Lab” webinars are hour-long sessions hosted periodically to provide mitigation best practices and highlight the work happening at federal, regional, state, and community levels to reduce risk across the region.

The webinars are open to everyone involved in hazard mitigation, resiliency, or risk reduction planning in the public and private sectors, which includes community planners, emergency managers, floodplain managers, government officials, contractors, and anyone else involved in the development and implementation of hazard mitigation and risk reduction strategies.

Please note: Webinar log in/call in information will be sent out several days prior to the date of the webinar.

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Upcoming Topics:

Incorporating Equity

Date and time are currently TBD

“Equity” has risen to the top of many agendas. It is now front and center in FEMA’s most recent strategic plan. We must all understand what equity means and how to make it real. In the hazard mitigation world, incorporating equity can help address the impacts of disasters on our most at-risk populations. It can lead to a stronger hazard mitigation plan (HMP) with more impact. Considering equity can elevate your plan to encourage resilience for the whole community. In this webinar, we will explore what equity means, why it is vital to community mitigation efforts, and how to incorporate it throughout the plan lifecycle. Invite your colleagues and bring more voices to our table.

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Purposeful Stakeholder and Public Engagement

Date and time are currently TBD

Developing or updating a hazard mitigation plan is not just a federal requirement. It is a key part of building a strong community. Engage your public and stakeholders throughout the plan’s development, to ensure it reflects their values. This will lead to a more robust actionable plan and disaster-resilient community. In this webinar, we showcase examples from across the region and the country highlighting best practices for engagement throughout your plan’s lifecycle. We will share the who, what, where, when, why and how of engaging the public.

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Plan Integration

Date and time are currently TBD

Hazard Mitigation Plans (HMPs) tend to be stand-alone documents. Once written, some plans are never fully applied or integrated. However, integrating HMPs and policies into other planning mechanisms, especially those that guide land use and development choices, provides mutual benefits. These include better ways to use mitigation strategies, more awareness of hazards, more efficiency in planning processes, and shared goals to guide safe and resilient development. In this webinar, we will explore why plan integration is critical. We will also show how to integrate in a way that makes sense for your community. Grab your colleagues (planners, public works, transportation, economic development, etc.)! Let’s talk about how to build a well-integrated network of plans.

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Previous Topics:

Tribal Mitigation Planning

November 16, 2021

Mitigation Planning creates a roadmap for your tribe toward saving lives, protecting your lands, and preserving your cultural heritage sites for the future. When you identify and document hazards and take mitigation actions, you make your environment stronger before disaster strikes. This positions your tribal community to recover more quickly after a disaster. An approved Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) also sets you on the path to attaining pre-disaster assistance funds.

In this session, you will learn about the key steps in FEMA’s mitigation planning process, see how a mitigation plan benefits your tribe, and be introduced to resources that can help you develop or update your Hazard Mitigation Plan.

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Preparing for Planning Grant Applications

January 7, 2021

An important, but often overlooked, component of any Hazard Mitigation Planning Grant Application is the scope of work. The scope of work helps both the community and the grant reviewer understand exactly what will go into the hazard mitigation plan creation/update and what the expected outcomes will be. The scope of work should analyze the requirements and extent of the project, the projected work schedule, and a cost estimate for all types of expenses involved. In this webinar, we will explore various data sources, metrics and methodologies for analyzing the scope of work for your community’s planning grant application. By increasing clarity around requirements and opportunities, Plan Owners and Plan Developers will be able to efficiently navigate the approval process from the start of the grant application through completion of a mitigation activity.

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Getting Local Buy-In for your Hazard Mitigation Plan

March 31, 2021

An important component of preparing, developing, and implementing your Hazard Mitigation Plan is soliciting input from local practioners, leadership, stakeholders, and the public, to create a more disaster-resilient community. Participation from all sectors of a community, throughout the Hazard Mitigation Plan life span, is an important ingredient to ensuring an effective result. A plan that accurately reflects the values and priorities of the full community is likely to have greater legitimacy and “buy-in” and greater success with implementing mitigation actions and projects to reduce risk. In this webinar we will discuss the key players to consider including in the preparation, development, and implementation of your Hazard Mitigation Plan and why their buy-in is important. We’ll also explore strategies and ideas for gaining their participation and support and learn about case studies where communities were particularly successful in gaining local buy-in.

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Planning Related Activities

July 20, 2021

Did you know that FEMA offers funding not just for creating hazard mitigation plans, but also for activities pertaining to mitigation planning? To strengthen hazard mitigation across the country, FEMA supports a variety of planning-related activities through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). This funding provides increased flexibility to State, tribal, and local governments to reduce risk and integrate hazard mitigation principles into planning for resilience. In this webinar, we will look at the different FEMA HMGP, become familiar with the new planning-related activities funding sources, and explore case studies and ideas for future funding applications. By attending this webinar, community representatives will receive clarification to successfully navigate the approval process for various types of mitigation grants.

Mitigation Planning in Action: A R9 Knowledge Lab Webinar Series