Public comment invited for final phase of National Disaster Resiliency Competition

Statement

Coloradans are invited to provide public comment for the final phase of the National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC), a billion dollar federal competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for communities that have been affected by natural disasters in recent years.

Public input during this second phase will help strengthen Colorado's application for this highly competitive opportunity.

Coloradans can review the draft application during the public comment period which is 15 days, ending October 21, by going online at www.coloradounited.com ans celecting the link "Colorado's National Disaster Resilience Competition Application." Comments can also be submitted to the email address gov_coloradorecoveryoffice@state.co.us.

"The final phase of this competition provides a unique opportunity to not only bring more resources to Colorado, but also to reinforce our commitment to being resilient within our communities," said Gov. John Hickenlooper. "We strongly encourage Coloradans to provide feedback so that we can make our application stronger with a more competitive edge."

The NDRC makes available $1 billion in funds, with a maximum award of $500 million to any one applicant. Eligible applicants must successfully develop innovative resilience projects that both address unmet needs from federally-declared disasters in 2011, 2012 or 2013.

Successful projects must make their communities, residents and infrastructure more resilient by applying science-based and forward-looking risk analysis to address recovery, resilience and revitalization needs.

Colorado is one of 40 eligible applicants that were successfully moved on to Phase 2 for the NDRC, partnering with communities in Boulder, Larimer and El Paso Counties who met the NDRC's strict impact, distress and unmet need thresholds. HUD plans on awarding NDRC funds by January 2016.

The process for this application has been guided by the content and principles of the Colorado Resiliency Framework that has provided a collaborative forum for communities to develop an integrated, broad range of strategies to build and enhance local resiliency.

"This investment will result in greater unity and strength among Coloradans to not only survive disaster, but thrive far into the future," said Molly Urbina, executive director of the Colorado Resiliency and Recovery Office, the state's lead agency in this project. "The National Disaster Resiliency Competition is very competitive nationally and public input will help us improve our application to ultimately build and empower a culture of resilience throughout the state of Colorado."

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