Ed. Note: Our earlier version of this story stated that the latest round of warning system grants was available for public media stations to apply. That was incorrect, as public stations are not mentioned in the FEMA notice. We’ve updated this story accordingly.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it has made $40 million available for fiscal year 2025 under the Next Generation Warning System Grant Program. But the specifics are different from previous NGWS-related funding opportunities, including the number of grants available and IPAWS-related project activities.
Since 2022, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has handled distribution of the funds. CPB would disburse the funds to broadcast stations to improve emergency alerting capabilities, which sometimes included transmission infrastructure.
CPB announced its Sept. 30 closure last month.
And this time around, after what a FEMA release called a “critical evaluation” of all grant programs and recipients to “root out waste, fraud and abuse and deliver accountability for the American taxpayer,” the funds are being distributed through states or Tribal nations. The new arrangement appears to provide little to no path for public media stations to access the funding.
A FEMA notice said that up to five awards will be distributed at the state or Tribal nation level, with each award anticipated to be approximately $8 million. One application is permitted per state, tribal or territorial emergency management agency.
U.S. states and Tribal Nations are eligible to apply for the funds through Fri., Aug. 15 at 5 p.m. Eastern time at Grants.gov.
But in the notice, that FEMA originally distributed on Aug. 7, it noted that the registration process can take “up to four weeks to complete.”
Subapplicants and subwards, through a state or Tribal nation, are allowed. In theory, that could include a broadcast station, but in general, there are few mentions of broadcast or radio within the FEMA funding notice. Full eligibility requirements are available through the posted notice of funding opportunity.
Specific purposes
The award recipients, FEMA said, will work with the agency to explore “forward-looking” capabilities to distribute alerts to the IPAWS-compatible emergency alerts and warnings to the public. Specific activities, of which FEMA emphasized the project activities are limited to, include:
- Installation of IPAWS-compatible sirens and/or “giant-voice” systems
- Coordination with NOAA to enhance signals and availability for NOAA Weather Radios
- Integration and deployment of emergency alert datacasting technology
- Deployment of systems and technologies that enable the dissemination of advanced visual and audio alerts, such as to digital billboards, signage and kiosks
- Integration of IPAWS alerts in IoT devices
It also said the grant will allow the coordination of various partners — including broadcasters and wireless carriers — to support the development of alert and warning governance, policies, plans and procedures while improving coordination before, during and after incidents.
