2022 – 2026 FEMA National Tribal Strategy

November 2023 1

FEMA 2023 NATIONAL TRIBAL STRATEGY 

PROGRESS REPORT

This year as we honor Native American Heritage Month, FEMA worked with Tribal Nations 

across Indian Country to implement FEMA’s first National Tribal Strategy. This roadmap 

redefines how the Agency will meet its treaty and trust responsibilities through building, 

enhancing, and sustaining our relationships with Tribal Nations. This 2023 progress report 

is a way for us to remain accountable to Tribal Nations on how we are implementing the 

strategy they helped us create.

To meet our commitments to you, FEMA connected with tribal leaders and tribal 

emergency management staff across the country to better understand the challenges and 

needs of Tribal Nations as we work to implement the three main goals of the National 

Tribal Strategy.

Goal 1: Instill Equity as a Foundation of Emergency Management

This year, FEMA evaluated and identified strategies to increase in-person engagement with Tribal leaders in Indian 

Country and at FEMA headquarters in a manner that acknowledges tribal sovereignty and ensures accessibility to 

FEMA resources. The FEMA Administrator, National Tribal Affairs Advocate, and other senior leadership visited more 

than 70 Tribal Nations and engaged tribal leaders in person at their tribal headquarters and during several national 

and regional tribal events, including United South & Eastern Tribes Impact Week (February), National Congress of 

American Indian Indians Executive Winter Session (February), Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes Impact Week 

(March), Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Midyear Convention (May), Northern Minnesota Tribal-County 

Relations Workshop (June), Wisconsin Tribal Emergency Managers Association (June), Inter-Tribal Emergency 

Management Coalition Annual Summit (August), Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Convention (October), and the 
2022 – 2026 FEMA National Tribal Strategy

Learn more at fema.gov November 2023 2

National Congress of American Indians Annual Convention (November). Moreover, the FEMA Administrator met 

virtually with leadership of the national and regional tribal associations on a quarterly basis to provide updates on 

tribal emergency management priorities, policies, initiatives, and programmatic changes and to gather their input on 

ongoing efforts. 

Closer to home, FEMA convened its first annual meeting of the Administrator, National Tribal Affairs Advocate, 

Regional Tribal Liaisons, and tribal FEMA Integration Team (FIT) staff at FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 

April to discuss program work underway and develop recommendations on how FEMA can better serve Tribal 

Nations across Indian Country.

Goal 2: Lead the Whole of Community in Climate Resilience

The National Tribal Strategy is committed to increasing tribal access to FEMA programs and services by streamlining 

and revising our existing policies and creating new programs to better meet the needs of the Tribal Nations we 

serve. Several major initiatives were undertaken this year, including updating the (2017) Tribal Disaster 

Declarations Guidance. This Guidance is the pathway for a Tribal Nation to request a major or emergency disaster 

declaration directly from the President and receive federal response and recovery funding. Since January 2023, 

FEMA has held nine government-to-government tribal consultations and listening sessions across the country and a 

weeklong Tribal Focus Group comprised of fifteen tribal emergency managers to update this important policy for 

Tribal Nations. The revised Tribal Declarations Guidance will be released in 2024. On November 15, FEMA will 

release a new tribal disaster declarations video series and new Tribal Nation disaster declaration process checklist 

on the FEMA Tribal Affairs webpage under the Declaration Resources section. 

FEMA is also working to update and improve its (2017) Tribal Mitigation Planning Guide. Mitigation planning helps 

Tribal Nations understand risks from natural hazards and develop long-term strategies to reduce the impacts of 

hazards on people, property, and the environment. Tribal mitigation plans are also required to access certain 

funding streams at FEMA and across the federal government. Since June 2023, FEMA has held four tribal 

consultations and listening sessions on the Tribal Mitigation Planning Guide update and released an Introduction to 

Tribal Mitigation Planning Training video on the FEMA YouTube page. 

FEMA continues to work on proposed legislative changes to the Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program, and we 

would like to extend our appreciation to all of the Tribal leaders and representatives of Tribal Nations who provided 

invaluable feedback during the November 2022 tribal consultation and subsequent comment period that ended in 

January of this year. We wanted to share that we took several of the recommendations proposed by Tribal Nations 

during that consultation and the proposals to increase flexibilities and reduce barriers has reached Congress for 

consideration and we will follow-up with you once we have another update. 

In August 2022, FEMA was excited to announce the launch of our new Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program (TCGP) 

with the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA). Under the TCGP, $18 million was made available 

for Tribal Nations in FY2023 to build Indian Country Cybersecurity Resilience. FEMA is happy to share that Tribal 

Nations had a direct impact on the shaping of the TCGP through our extensive consultation that eventually led to 

there being no nonfederal cost share required and a streamlined application process. On November 1, we held a 

virtual tribal consultation on the TCGP asking for Tribal leaders and their representatives to provide us with feedback 
2022 – 2026 FEMA National Tribal Strategy

Learn more at fema.gov November 2023 3

on how best to implement and improve this program for next year. We welcome any comments and suggestions you 

may have, and the consultation record will close on December 15, 2023.

Goal 3: Promote and Sustain a Ready FEMA and Prepared Nation

FEMA is dedicated to help build tribal capacities and capabilities to improve readiness and resilience in the face of 

climate change and more frequent natural disasters. This is why FEMA is committed to deliver comprehensive 

emergency management training opportunities to Tribal Nations and FEMA’s annual Tribal Nations Training Week at 

the Center for Domestic Preparedness provides attendees with necessary emergency certifications, offers training 

from fellow tribal instructors, and helps build emergency management relationships across Indian Country and 

beyond. 

This training is fully funded up front for tribal leaders, tribal emergency responders, and any designated tribal staff 

and includes roundtrip airfare, meals, and lodging. FEMA’s 9th Annual Tribal Nations Training Week will take place 

March 9 – 16, 2024, and registration is currently open and we encourage you to apply. If you would like to learn 

more or register for Tribal Training Week, please email fema-tribal@fema.dhs.gov. 

FEMA is also home to the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC), which is the national-level coordination 

center for FEMA disaster response operations. The NRCC provides overall incident support and coordinates nationlevel response efforts in support of Regional Response Coordination Centers (RRCC). During activations in 2023 

(Hurricane Hilary, Hurricane Idalia, Hurricane Lee), FEMA continued to enhance federal incident support capability to 

impacted Tribal Nations. Working through its National Tribal Advisor desk in the NRCC, we worked with our federal 

interagency and regional partners to ensure there were no unmet Tribal Nation needs or challenges during these 

successive disasters. 

Finally, we wanted to provide an update on FEMA’s Tribal Affairs Work Group (Work Group). The Work Group was 

stood-up in September 2022 to help advance the goals and objectives of the FEMA’s National Tribal Strategy and to 

develop recommendations to transform business and program operations across all Tribal specific mission areas. 

The Work Group, which is composed of FEMA staff across the Agency, has met regularly throughout 2023 and its 

highest priority actions have been to develop several key tools to enhance FEMA’s ability to meet its treaty and trust 

responsibilities to Tribal Nations. We are pleased to announce that several of these deliverables are in their final 

stages of development and will then be reviewed by Senior FEMA leadership. These products include a: (1) “Tribal 

Staffing and Engagement Analysis” white paper that reviews current Tribal Affairs staffing levels across the agency 

and provides recommendations for enhanced support; (2) “Meeting Tribal Obligations: Recommended Performance 

Metrics and Evaluation Tools” white paper that offers an analysis of current FEMA Tribal Affairs program staff 

performance at the headquarters, regional, and field operations levels and provides metrics used to evaluate and 

inform the program’s work with Tribal Nations; and (3) “Developing an Engagement and Assessment Playbook” 

white paper which provides recommendations and strategies for FEMA to implement to better engage with and 

serve Tribal Nations during times of crisis.