RICHMOND – The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) announced the award of $2,493,153 for shelter upgrades and backup generators to eleven local governments  The Virginia Emergency Shelter Upgrade Assistance Fund, authorized under the Code of Virginia §44.146.29:3.  The fund is used for the purposes of providing matching funds to localities to install, maintain, or repair infrastructure related to backup energy generation for emergency shelters, including solar energy generators, and to improve the hazard-specific structural integrity (wind retrofit) of shelter facilities owned by the locality.

The maximum state match for a grant application is $450,000, with a local contribution based on the Commission on Local Government Federal Stress Index.  Eligible sub-applicants include local governments, as defined as political subdivisions in the Emergency Services and Disaster Laws§44-146.16 “any city or county in the Commonwealth and, for the purposes of this chapter, the Town of Chincoteague, West Point, and any town of more than 5,000 population that chooses to have an emergency management program separate from that of the county in which such town is located.”