Duke Energy Foundation to Award $700,000 in Natural Disaster Preparedness Grants
The Duke Energy Foundation is accepting grant applications to award $700,000 in total funding to help North Carolina communities increase their resiliency against major weather events and other natural disasters.
The application process is open now through July 12.
"We're proud to partner with emergency management teams, first responders and nonprofits to strengthen local communities in a way that will reduce the impacts of climate challenges, both present and future," said Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy's North Carolina president. "Given North Carolina's impressive growth, achieving this will require collaboration with local organizations undertaking critical resilience preparedness work across the state."
To qualify for grant funding consideration, organizations must meet the criteria outlined here (opens as a pdf). Nonprofits and governmental agencies must register in the online grant system (opens as a pdf) by June 28 to be eligible to submit their applications by July 12. Applicants may request funds up to $25,000.
Grant applications may include, but are not limited to, projects that focus on:
- Heightened collaboration across agencies, sectors and communities in local disaster preparedness and response.
- Organized and innovative planning initiatives for local communities to prepare for natural disasters and extreme weather.
- Local storm preparedness trainings, materials, kits, and other community engagement and education initiatives.
- Emergency communication tools for natural disaster scenarios.
- Specialized training for first responders for natural disaster scenarios.
- Improved outcomes for low-income and under-resourced communities experiencing natural disasters and extreme weather.
- Equipment necessary for severe weather rescues to preserve human life.
This is a long-standing priority of the Foundation, which has awarded nearly $2.4 million to support the state's disaster preparedness since 2019.
"The preparedness grant we received last year from the Duke Energy Foundation has truly benefitted emergency responders throughout our country," said Rodney Cates, Rockingham County Emergency Services Director. "We were able to purchase an advanced identification system to boost accountability during emergent events and drone software that enables us to provide live footage back to the command post to improve situational awareness. The grant also allowed us to upgrade our Emergency Operations Center with new data-connected equipment to enhance overall emergency response capabilities."
"The 2022 Duke Energy Emergency Preparedness Grant has been instrumental in allowing Brunswick County Emergency Management to be better prepared to support countywide damage assessments and search and rescue efforts in isolated and hard to reach areas," said David McIntire, Emergency Management Director. "We were very fortunate to receive this funding and look forward to our continued relationship with Duke Energy."
Source: Duke Energy Foundation
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