Engaging State and Local Emergency Management Agencies to Improve Ability to Prepare for and Respond to All-Hazards Events | CDC RFA TP19 1902

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA TP19 1902

The CDC funding opportunity titled "Engaging State and Local Emergency Management Agencies to Improve Ability to Prepare for and Respond to All-Hazards Events" is a discretionary cooperative agreement intended to strengthen the nation’s public health preparedness by improving how public health agencies and emergency management agencies work together. The award is managed by the Department of Health and Human Services through the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR), specifically the Center for Preparedness and Response/Division of State and Local Readiness (CPR/DSLR). The core idea is that stronger, more routine coordination between public health and emergency management at the state and local levels leads to better prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery across all types of emergencies, including natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and other complex incidents that stress health systems.

The program is structured as a cooperative agreement, which typically means CDC expects an active partnership with the recipient rather than a hands-off grant relationship. Funding is subject to availability, with an award ceiling of $100,000 and an expectation of a single award. The opportunity targets a national, non-profit organization with a unique national reach into the emergency management community. The description emphasizes the value of an applicant that represents emergency management directors across all 50 states, eight U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, because that kind of national convening power can standardize collaboration, spread best practices quickly, and help align planning approaches across jurisdictions.

The work is centered on a set of strategic activities designed to make public health and emergency management planning more integrated and more operationally useful. One major deliverable is to support and maintain a joint workgroup made up of state and local emergency managers alongside public health directors. The purpose of this workgroup is not just discussion, but practical integration: aligning policy positions where possible, identifying real-world models of collaboration, and improving how preparedness, response, and recovery are coordinated between the two sectors. In practice, this implies convening stakeholders, facilitating cross-discipline problem-solving, documenting collaboration models that can be replicated, and building sustained relationships that can function during high-pressure incidents.

Another major emphasis is identifying promising practices and opportunities that build on existing CDC partnership efforts. The opportunity specifically calls out the need to advance public health capabilities across the full emergency management cycle (prevent, protect, mitigate, respond, recover) for all-hazards incidents. A key theme here is alignment between frameworks and standards that are often run in parallel: FEMA’s Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA), the National Preparedness Goal core capabilities, and CDC’s Public Health Preparedness and Response Capabilities (national standards for state, local, tribal, and territorial public health). The intent is to reduce fragmentation by connecting risk assessment and capability planning in emergency management with the preparedness capability standards used in public health, so that agencies are planning toward compatible goals and can coordinate more smoothly during incidents.

The opportunity also directs the recipient to collaborate with DSLR and other national partners to develop educational and training materials that improve preparedness planning and disaster management for the public health system. The topics explicitly mentioned include THIRA, the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), and relevant components of the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP). This points to a practical capacity-building focus: helping public health leaders understand and better use emergency management tools (like mutual aid through EMAC), and helping both communities navigate how major preparedness funding and planning mechanisms (like HSGP and national core capabilities) connect to public health readiness requirements. Training products could reasonably include guidance documents, webinars, workshops, templates, or other materials that make it easier for agencies to plan together and operate under shared assumptions when an event occurs.

Administratively, the opportunity number is CDC RFA TP19 1902, listed under CFDA 93.684, with the funding activity category identified as health. The original posting date is March 26, 2019, with an original closing date of May 24, 2019, and electronic applications due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the deadline. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others," with clarification expected in the full eligibility text, but the narrative clearly signals the intended applicant type: a national non-profit organization positioned to convene and represent state and territorial emergency management leadership and to partner effectively with CDC and public health stakeholders.

Overall, this grant opportunity is less about buying equipment or funding on-the-ground response, and more about strengthening national preparedness infrastructure through coordination, shared planning methods, and practical training. The expected impact is improved interoperability between public health agencies and emergency management agencies, better-aligned risk and capability planning, and more consistent preparedness approaches nationwide so jurisdictions can respond faster and recover more effectively when all-hazards events occur.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - OPHPR in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Engaging State and Local Emergency Management Agencies to Improve Ability to Prepare for and Respond to All-Hazards Events" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.684.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 26, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 24, 2019 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $100,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for CDC RFA TP19 1902

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