Virginia’s Community Flood Preparedness Fund (CFPF)

Grant Seekers

For guidelines, grant manuals, application resources, and other materials, click below.

Background

Legislative Mandate

Virginia’s Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act of 2020 mandates the Commonwealth's participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) as part of its broader strategy to reduce carbon emissions and enhance climate resilience.

The Act stipulates that 45% of the proceeds from the auctions be allocated to into the Community Flood Preparedness Fund (CFPF). This fund is dedicated to supporting flood resilience projects across Virginia, particularly in communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The CFPF has become a critical resource for local governments and organizations seeking to implement flood mitigation, stormwater management, and other resilience measures, with the goal of protecting both people and property from increasing flood risks.

Virginia’s Community Flood Preparedness Fund (CFPF)

The CFPF is a pivotal element of the Commonwealth’s broader strategy to mitigate these growing climate threats, providing essential financial resources to support local and regional efforts in flood risk management and climate adaptation. The fund is designed to address the diverse and evolving needs of Virginia's communities as they confront the challenges posed by a changing climate.

The projects funded by the CFPF encompass a wide range of activities, including the development and implementation of comprehensive flood mitigation plans, the construction of flood protection infrastructure, and the retrofitting of existing structures to withstand future flood events. The fund is administered by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), which evaluates project proposals to ensure alignment with state and local resilience goals.

A distinctive feature of the CFPF is its strong emphasis on nature-based solutions and the integration of environmental justice principles. The fund encourages the use of natural and nature-based features—such as wetlands restoration, living shorelines, and other living infrastructure—to manage flood risks sustainably while enhancing ecological health. Additionally, the CFPF prioritizes projects that benefit socially vulnerable and historically underserved communities, ensuring that those most at risk from flooding hazards receive adequate protection. Through its progressive approach, the CFPF aligns financial resources with long-term resilience planning, emphasizing equity and sustainability in Virginia’s response to climate change.

Unilateral Withdrawal from RGGI by Youngkin Administration

With the Youngkin administration’s withdrawal from RGGI, which was finalized at the end of 2023, the Community Flood Preparedness Fund lost its primary source of steady revenue. The Commonwealth’s 2024–2026 budget has allocated $100 million to the CFPF to partially fill this gap, but it leaves a significant funding shortfall.

Legal challenges against the withdrawal are ongoing. Please see our page dedicated to RGGI defense for more information.

Round Five Update

The Fifth Round of the CFPF has been announced by DCR. A total of $85 million will be available for the following award types:

  • Planning & capacity building, studies, and resilience project grants ($50 million)

  • Long-term project loans ($25 million)

  • Start-up project loans ($10 million)

Award Timeline

  • The Round Five application period opened on September 10th, and will close at 11:59pm on January 24th, 2025.

  • Award announcements are expected in January 2025, and awardees will receive a letter of notice from DCR

  • Awardees will then receive a contract from the Virginia Resource Authority, which must be signed and returned within 90 days.

  • Funds may be dispersed on a quarterly basis.

Important Updates to the CFPF Manual

  • The CFPF has been clarified to fund updates to approved Local Resilience Plans

  • Resilience Plans are now valid for five years, as opposed to three years, to better align with other required local plans

  • The resilient Virginia Revolving Fund is now available as a source of match funding to CFPF applicants (and can be requested alongside a CFPF application)

  • The new standard period of performance for Capacity Building & planning grants is five years

  • A 2024 CFPF training presentation from DCR is available here, or visit the DCR CFPF website for more information.

For technical assistance, please contact Gabi Kinney below:

Source: HPRDC

Planning district and regional commissions are planning entities that serve multiple localities in a region within the Commonwealth. They often provide capacity for the development of hazard mitigation plans, resilience plans, and other regionally significant planning and development efforts. Above is a distribution of CFPF awards for 15 of Virginia’s 21 regional planning commissions. Click on the bar graph to see the full CFPF award distribution presentation by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC).

Grants Awarded

Fourth Round Awards

On March 20th, 2024 DCR announced awards for the fourth round of the CFPF. 50 applications were funded totaling $53.9 million, and the approved list can be found here.

Third Round Awards

On September 28th, 2022 DCR announced that awards for the third grant round will be released in two phases. The first phase awarded 27 projects totaling $13.6 million, and the approved list can be found here. An additional 32 proposals, totaling $68 million, were given a 60-day review period to revise applications and supplement missing information. DCR was authorized to release an extra $30 million to fund additional projects in phase two, meaning up to $56.4 million could be dispersed during the second phase.

22 proposals were awarded grants in phase 2 of the third grant round, totaling $51.8 million in awards. In total, $65.38 million was awarded in the third grant round. The full list of awards can be found here.

Second Round Awards

On December 23rd, 2021 DCR announced the second round of grants awarded. The grant awards totaled $24.5 million and will fund 30 different projects. You can find the 30 approved projects here.

First Round Awards

On October 5th, 2021 DCR announced the first round of grants awarded from the Community Flood Preparedness Fund (CFPF). The grant awards totaled $7.8 million and will fund 19 different projects throughout the Commonwealth. You can read more about each of the 19 approved projects, including their submitted applications, here.

You can also view an interactive map of all the approved projects on VCN's website here.

Regional Awards

The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) and the localities it serves has received funding from the CFPF, with awards in all three of the grant categories (Planning and Capacity Building, Studies, and Projects).

Some of the region-wide HRPDC awards from round three include:

  • Community Rating System (CRS) support (Planning and Capacity Building)

  • Assessment of Local Hydraulic and Hydrologic Data and Models (Study)

  • Appropriate Stormwater Best Management Practices for Water Quantity in the Coastal Plain (Study)

Several localities within the HRPDC region have received funding for local resilience projects. View the full presentation from the January HRPDC Coastal Resiliency Working Group meeting here.

Impacts

By Grant Round, Funding Amount, Need, and Region

Sustained Development of the Community Flood Preparedness Fund

Wetlands Watch, with our many partners, is dedicated to improving the accessibility and richness of the Fund, and regularly offers guidance on how the CFPF might be improved.

Round 1 Draft Grant Manual

Joint comment letter (Wetlands Watch, VA Conservation Network, & VA Chapter Sierra Club).

Round 1 Draft Fund Guidelines

Wetlands Watch final comment letter on draft guidelines; Wetlands Watch draft response to draft guidelines; Joint comment letter on draft guidelines (Wetlands Watch, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Southern Environmental Law Center, Friends of the Rappahannock, VA Floodplain Management Association, VA Conservation Network, & VA Chapter of the Sierra Club)

Round 4 Draft Manuals

Joined by several partners, Wetlands Watch submitted comments on the draft Round 4 CFPF manual, as well as the new Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund manual. You can view these comments here.

Wetlands Watch Stakeholder Outreach.

Prior to release of the first Grant Manual, and after it, Wetlands Watch hosted lunch and learns for different stakeholder groups in collaboration with relevant professional organizations.

Wetlands Watch conducts outreach on the CFPF to localities across the state, and we've learned a lot about the challenges and opportunities local governments face in accessing resilience funding. Read our 2024 summary report here!

Grant Seekers

For guidelines, grant manuals, application resources, and other materials, click below.