Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG)

The Emergency Management Performance Grant Program (EMPG) is a federal grant program from DHS/FEMA administered through the North Carolina Dept. of Public Safety (NCDPS) / North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) in the state of NC.

EMPG provides states with funding to implement the National Preparedness System and work towards the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation.  EMPG’s allowable costs support efforts to build and sustain core capabilities across the prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery mission areas to address certain specified national and regional priority areas.

At its root, EMPG provides funds to sustain and enhance all-hazards emergency management capabilities.  North Carolina recognizes that a statewide comprehensive emergency management program begins at the local level; that is why NCEM coordinates EMPG activities through all 100 counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) across the state.

FY23 EMPG Priorities and Core Capabilities

Seven national priority areas have been identified for FY23 EMPG: Equity, Climate Resilience, Readiness - Catastrophic Disaster Housing, Readiness - Disaster Financial Management, Readiness - Evacuation Plan/Annex, Readiness - Logistics - Distribution Management Planning, and Readiness - Resilient Communications.

From these seven national priority areas, a total of six regional priority areas have been identified for FY23 EMPG in North Carolina: Mass Care Services, Mass Search and Rescue, Community Protection and Resilience, Information Delivery, Life-Sustaining Goods Delivery/Logistics and Distribution Management, Alignment of Regional Initiatives to Ensure at least 87.5% of all projects that include Planning, Training, and/or Exercise deliverables align with closing capability gaps identified and documented in the state/territory’s most recent THIRA/SPR submission (and other relevant information sources).

From these six regional priority areas, a total of five core capabilities have been identified for FY23 EMPG in North Carolina: Planning, Operational Coordination, Logistics & Supply Chain Management, Intelligence and Information Sharing, and Community Resilience.

All projects submitted in the NCEM FY23 EMPG Work Plan for funding approval by DHS/FEMA must support these specified priorities and core capabilities within the prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery mission areas.

FY23 EMPG total federal funding target allocation for NC: $9,427,823.

Pass-Through: States are not required to pass-through any amount of EMPG funding to subrecipients; however, North Carolina has committed to passing through approximately 51% of its EMPG funding to eligible county and tribal governments. 

Eligibility: Each of the 100 counties and EBCI is eligible to apply for EMPG funding through NCEM.  No private, non-profit or other governmental organizations other than counties and EBCI are eligible to apply for EMPG funding. 

Cost Share or Match: EMPG has a 50% non-federal cost-share/match requirement, which can be cash (hard match) or in-kind (soft match). Eligible EMPG subrecipients are required to provide this 50% non-federal cost-share/match as a condition of their award.  For example, if a county is sub-awarded $100,000 of federal EMPG funding by NCEM, they must expend at least that same amount in county funds, either cash or in-kind, for their approved EMPG projects/activities. 

FY23 EMPG Projected Period of Performance (POP): 10/01/22 – 9/30/25. EMPG is somewhat unique in that the POP begins the year before the award is actually received from DHS/FEMA.

Application Procedures 

North Carolina's EMPG program provides the opportunity for eligible counties (and EBCI) to apply for baseline and supplemental EMPG funding. To align efforts between State and county emergency management, specific programmatic deliverables are identified and agreed to by both parties. 

To receive baseline funding, applicants must complete certain universal programmatic deliverables or “activities” during a specified period of performance (first payment). To receive supplemental funding, applicants must complete the universal activities for baseline funding and then complete a certain number of optional program activities (second payment) during the specified period of performance. 

For FY23 EMPG, counties are required to properly complete 8 approved universal activities and at least 6 approved optional activities to receive maximum funding.  Activity selection and tracking is completed through WebEOC.  FY23 EMPG applications were actually submitted by the counties (and EBCI) to NCDPS/NCEM last year in 2022.  FY24 EMPG applications are due to NCDPS/NCEM by 12/31/23.  

The process of universal and optional activity selection, approval & verification, grant application, and first & second payments can get somewhat complicated with counties working multiple EMPG grants at the same time.  Refer to EMPG timeline with detailed schedule of requirements for FY22 – FY24 EMPG.