Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) - Region 5 | DHS 23 GPD 111 05 01

Opportunity Information: Apply for DHS 23 GPD 111 05 01

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) for Region 5 is a FEMA grant opportunity under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designed to strengthen how states and local governments plan and work together before, during, and after truly large-scale disasters. The program is aimed at closing known preparedness and response capability gaps, encouraging new and innovative regional approaches, and building on preparedness work that regions may already have in place. At its core, RCPGP focuses on improving and expanding collaboration across jurisdictions so that catastrophic incident planning is not done in isolation, but instead reflects the reality that major disasters routinely cross city, county, and even state boundaries.

RCPGP is specifically oriented around “catastrophic incidents,” as defined by the National Response Framework (4th edition or any newer edition). In this context, a catastrophic incident can be natural or human-caused (including terrorism) and is characterized by extraordinary levels of mass casualties, severe damage, or major disruption that can overwhelm communities and seriously affect the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, or government functions. Because events of this scale strain or exceed normal systems, FEMA emphasizes that prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery all require a cohesive regional approach to planning. In other words, the program prioritizes coordinated, multi-jurisdiction planning and shared solutions that help regions manage complex, high-impact scenarios.

This FY 2023 grant also aligns with the FEMA Strategic Plan for 2022-2026, which frames FEMA’s priorities around three agency-wide goals: promoting and instilling equity as the foundation of emergency management, leading the whole community in climate resilience, and promoting and sustaining a ready FEMA and a prepared nation. Reflecting that strategic plan, the RCPGP’s strategic priorities for FY 2023 are equity, climate resilience, and readiness. Practically, this means the program is not only about operational coordination and capability building, but also about ensuring preparedness efforts intentionally consider communities that are often underserved or at higher risk, particularly in the face of evolving hazards and climate-related impacts.

A major emphasis in this opportunity is equity in disaster preparedness and outcomes. The program highlights the need to support members of particularly disadvantaged groups who may face elevated risk from current hazards, including hazards intensified by climate change. By encouraging applicants to address the needs of underserved and at-risk communities, RCPGP seeks to promote consistent, systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals before, during, and after disasters. In a regional catastrophic context, that can translate into planning approaches that account for unequal access to transportation, healthcare, accessible sheltering, language services, communications, and other essential resources that influence survival and recovery.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary grant (not an entitlement program) and falls under the disaster prevention and relief funding activity category. The Assistance Listing (CFDA) number is 97.111. Eligible applicants are governmental entities, specifically state governments, county governments, and city or township governments. The awarding agency is the Department of Homeland Security, with FEMA as the relevant component. The opportunity was created on May 23, 2023, with an original application closing date of July 24, 2023. The listed award ceiling is $3,000,000, and FEMA expected to make about 10 awards under this opportunity, indicating a competitive environment where proposals likely need to be well-scoped, clearly regional, and strongly aligned to the program’s priorities and catastrophic planning objectives.

Overall, this Region 5 RCPGP opportunity is best understood as funding meant to help governments in a shared region plan for worst-case, high-consequence events by strengthening regional coordination, developing or improving catastrophic incident plans and related capabilities, and doing so in a way that advances equity, climate resilience, and readiness.

• The Department of Homeland Security, Department of Homeland Security - FEMA in the disaster prevention and relief sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) - Region 5" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 97.111.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 23, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 24, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $3,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments.

Apply for DHS 23 GPD 111 05 01

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: