WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a letter to the White House, the EPDM Roofing Association (ERA) is indicating strong support for the Biden administration’s plan to immediately increase funding for FEMA mitigation initiatives. The proposed funding, to be distributed to state and local governments through the pre-disaster assistance Building Resilience in Communities (BRIC) program, will double from $500 million to $1 billion.

“This action sends an important message about the importance of pre-disaster mitigation activities — spending millions to prepare for cataclysmic events, rather than allocating government funds to help only in the wake of disastrous destruction,” said Ellen Thorp, executive director of ERA. “ERA has committed extensive resources to educating the building community about the need for resilience, and it is gratifying to see actions taken on a federal level that enhance our efforts.”

The letter to the White House pointed out that ERA supported the adoption of the 2018 amendments to the Stafford Act that created the BRIC program. Additionally, it said that the increase in BRIC function “reflects the presidential leadership that is necessary for this country’s building sector to focus upon the challenge at hand — creating more resilient structures that tie into the transportation and energy infrastructure improvements so important to your American Jobs Plan.”