How Do We Know Whether Federal Disaster Programs Are Equitable? An Initial Methodology for Evaluating Social Equity Performance of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Mitigation Grant Program

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Finucane, Melissa L.

Contributor:

Clancy, Noreen

Paige, Jessica Welburn

Parker, Andrew M.

Patel, Karishma V.

Reese, Tucker

Tierney, Devin

Wilcox, Peggy

Williams, Jhacova

Wilson, Michael T.

Language:

English

Place of Publication:

RAND Corporation 2023

Summary:

Some communities, such as low-income or minority communities, are disproportionately affected by the impact of disasters, in part because they have fewer financial resources available to prepare for or recover from damages to property or livelihoods. The federal government has established several grant programs — such as the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) hazard mitigation grant program — that provide funding to support mitigation before a disaster and recovery after a disaster hits. However, distribution of both mitigation and recovery funding has not been equitably applied to all communities, with underserved communities receiving less of both. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) engaged the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC), a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) operated by the RAND Corporation for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to help explore how the BRIC hazard mitigation grant program is addressing social equity considerations. This report provides an initial methodology for how BRIC can assess the program's social equity performance. It also identifies community characteristics and natural hazard risks related to participation and success of subapplications in the first year of the BRIC grant cycle (fiscal year 2020).