In the months leading up to the 2024 hurricane season, FEMA allocated millions of dollars towards promoting “equity” in disaster preparedness, focusing on underserved communities as defined by the Biden-Harris administration. FEMA’s 2023 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program, launched in May 2023, set aside $12 million to bolster disaster preparedness efforts in areas with high concentrations of racial and sexual minorities, according to agency documents.
The agency defined “underserved communities” as those that have historically been denied full access to economic, social and civic life. Groups included in this category were African Americans, Hispanics, LGBT individuals and those living in rural areas, among others. FEMA officials like emergency management specialist Tyler Atkins expressed concern over the compounding challenges these communities face when disasters strike.
Maggie Jarry, an official from the Department of Health and Human Services, echoed these sentiments in a leaked Zoom call, stating that emergency management must now focus on “disaster equity,” moving away from the principle of doing “the greatest good for the greatest amount of people.”
FEMA’s funding decisions were guided by the Biden administration’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), which identified communities as underserved. However, many areas hit hard by Hurricane Helene, such as parts of North Carolina and Georgia, were excluded from receiving FEMA grants under this system. As of Saturday, Helene had claimed 227 lives and caused an estimated $35 billion in damages.
Despite these equity-focused initiatives, FEMA is now facing a funding shortage, as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged last week. The agency, after spending close to $1 billion on migrant assistance programs, is struggling to cover the costs of hurricane recovery efforts.
