Guam Hazard Mitigation Plan - Western States Seismic Policy Council

SECTIONSIXMitigation Strategynonconventional weapons. Apra Harbor is designated as a Group III port area. Total fundingavailable for the PSGP in FY 2010 was $288 million.Assistance to Firefighter Grants. Competitive grants are available to provide direct assistanceto fire departments for the purpose of protecting the health and safety of the public and firefightingpersonnel against fire and fire-related hazards. Funding to any organization is limited to$750,000 per FY.Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants. The SAFER Grantwas created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interestorganizations to help them increase the number of trained, “front-line” firefighters available intheir communities. Funding is available for hiring new firefighters to meet Occupational Safetyand Health Administration standards. A maximum level of funding of $104,425 per position isprovided over a 5-year period. SAFER Grant funding is also available for the recruitment andretention of volunteer firefighters. Funding for volunteer firefighters has no local funding matchrequirement and no maximum federal share limits.Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning andDevelopmentCommunity Development Block Grant Program. The Community Development Block Grant(CDBG) Program is a flexible program that provides communities with resources to address awide range of unique community development needs. Relevant grant programs include thefollowing:• Insular Areas CDBG Program. HUD annually allocates $7 million of CDBG Programfunds to Insular Areas on a formula basis in proportion to the populations of the eligibleterritories. Funds are provided to territories as a lump sum grant to be distributed by therecipient, within program rules, at the discretion of the territory government. Funding isexpected to meet one of the following objectives; providing benefits to low- and moderateincomepersons, to assist in the prevention or elimination of slums and blight, and to meetother community development needs having a particular urgency due to health or safetyconsiderations. Typical activities funded include construction of public facilities andimprovements, such as water systems, streets, and community centers; rehabilitation ofhouses and landmark structures; assistance to carry out economic development activities; andthe provision of public services. Hazard mitigation activities can be funded as part ofCDBGs. Guam currently uses the CDBG Program to fund hazard mitigation activities.• Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program. Section 108 is the loan guarantee provision of theCDBG Program. Through this program, the recipient can transform a small portion of itsCDBG funds into federally guaranteed loans large enough to pursue physical and economicrevitalization projects. Governments borrowing funds guaranteed by Section 108 must pledgetheir current and future CDBG allocations to cover the loan amount as security for the loan.Loan commitments are often paired with Economic Development Initiative or BrownfieldEconomic Development Initiative grants, which can be used to pay predevelopment costs ofa Section 108–funded project. They can also be used as a loan loss reserve (in lieu of CDBGfunds), to write-down interest rates or to establish a debt service reserve. Section 108guarantees can be used for projects, including hazard mitigation measures.6-14