The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation announced $53.9 million in awards from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund (CFPF). These newly funded projects will expand flood prevention and protection projects including mitigation, capacity building, planning and studies throughout Virginia.
The fund empowers localities across Virginia to increase their capacity for flood resilience and execute flood protection projects. It also supports the implementation of the Commonwealth Resilience Planning Principles detailed in Virginia’s Coastal Resilience Master Planning Framework.
The fourth round of the CFPF was announced in September offering grants and loans to support regions and localities reduce the impacts of flooding in their communities.
DCR received 69 applications with grant requests totaling nearly $75.6 million.
“Governor Youngkin has made resiliency and flood mitigation efforts a priority for this administration,” said Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources Travis Voyles. “With this funding, we are continuing to fulfill the Governor’s commitment to supporting communities across Virginia as they address challenges related to flooding.”
“We are pleased to be able to award nearly $54 million in grants in this round of the Community Flood Preparedness Fund, including over $30 million in grants to low-income communities,” said DCR Director Matthew Wells. “In this round we took important steps to bring increased transparency into the administration of the CFPF so that applicants and the public have a greater understanding of the distribution of these funds.”
Transparency measures taken in Round 4 included seeking the public’s input in the development of the Round 4 grant manual, posting the grant applications online and forming the Flood Funds Advisory Review Committee composed of state agencies, nonprofit groups and other impacted stakeholder organizations to assist in the evaluation of applications. Committee recommendations were provided to the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources and the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation for consideration.
Information about the fund, eligibility rules, application procedures and instructions are available in the fund’s grant manual, which is posted at www.dcr.virginia.gov/cfpf.
The CFPF continues to prioritize projects that are in concert with local, state and federal floodplain management standards, local resilience plans and the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan.
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, in cooperation with the Virginia Resources Authority, administers the CFPF fund and grant program. DCR oversees the state’s floodplain management program.
The list of awarded projects is available at https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/dam-safety-and-floodplains/dsfpm-cfpf-awards-round4. Details for the approved projects, along with applications and scoring sheets, will be posted later this week.
