| Summary: | <p> In recent years, emergency managers have recognized the importance of building and sustaining resilience in communities. U.S. disaster preparedness has long been centered at the local and state municipality level. However, there has been an increase in federal policy and grant funding to better prepare communities. These federal initiatives may actually be prohibitive when the money runs out. This funding discontinuity can impede progress toward creating resilient and prepared communities. The relationship between existing hazards and dynamic issues showcase the need for refining future approaches to mitigation. One piece of this forward movement includes the evaluation of mitigation grants that embraces concepts of sustainability. A good practice in this area is already underway in the State of California. It utilizes an evaluative process termed SMART and has shown possibility for adapting to a wider use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with mitigation experts to further inform the adaptation of the instrument. Concepts from the Strategic Foresight Initiative (SFI) were infused together to build community resilience. The adapted mitigation evaluation instrument has been designed to follow current mitigation practices and includes concepts of sustainability, resiliency, and foresight to choose grants that will improve communities. The aim is to better inform the way mitigation project grants are chosen and applied, and to reduce expenditure. Finally, the assessment tool has been adapted to encompass a wider geography.</p>
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