Empowering Our Communities: The Larimer County Community Mitigation Grant Program
by Josh Roberts, Larimer County Office of Emergency Management
The recent announcement of the 2024 cycle Community Mitigation Grant awards offer a good time to showcase the bona fide energy and community spirit contributing to resilience within our communities. After a careful evaluation process a total of 19 deserving recipient communities in Larimer County were awarded varying amounts distributed from a total funding pool of $100,000, which was generously made possible by our Board of County Commissioners and County leadership. These recipient communities are dedicated to mitigation efforts as evidenced by their proposals, all of which demonstrated strong alignment with the goals of the Community Mitigation Grant program. The funding provided through these grant awards will support a range of initiatives:
- Slash chipping & hauling
- Equipment, tools & supplies for mitigation tool libraries
- Defensible space & roadway fuel reduction treatments
- Improvement of evacuation routes
- + more!
Click here to view the 2024 Cycle Awards.
Each proposal awarded also has an element of the project that aims to improve social capital within the community. Social capital – the relationships that people share and the connective ties that bond communities – is an important factor that affects a person, household or community’s capacity to deal with disaster. This awarded funding is not only an investment in mitigation activity but also an investment in social capital and the manufacturing of community resilience.
Fundamentally the Community Mitigation Grant program aims to remove financial barriers and catalyze grassroot efforts for mitigation activities at the community scale, building momentum and providing a sense of agency for longer term self-sufficiency in this important risk reduction work. The Community Mitigation Grant program is designed to incite community collaboration, reward neighbors helping neighbors and improve social capital – ultimately increasing resilience to future disaster or disruption.
View the Community Mitigation Grant program Story Map.
Furthermore, the Community Mitigation Grant program and these awards play a vital role in the broader sense of mitigation work. Whether it’s helping a community transition from a “plan” to “action”, whether it’s stitching a community-scale project into a large organizationally led project nearby, or whether it’s simply allowing more opportunity for our community members to engage with professionals in the mitigation space – these all improve partnership across the collaborative and across our landscapes. By supporting these community-led projects we are contributing to a comprehensive strategy that espouses shared responsibility and maintains agency where it must reside: with each of us, at each scale – practitioner, academic and community member alike – and most importantly, together.
We extend our congrats to all the grant recipients and commend them for their dedication to the resilience of their community. As we celebrate this milestone, we also recognize our work ahead and the importance of continued collaboration. Together, we can make a meaningful difference in reducing wildfire risk and enhancing the resilience of our communities.