Dismantling F.E.M.A. : The Unmaking of Federal Climate Resilience from the Inside Out with Victoria Salinas

In episode 228 of America Adapts, host Doug Parsons speaks with Victoria Salinas, Senior Fellow at the Climate Resilience Institute at the University of Miami and former Deputy Administrator for Resilience at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the Biden administration. Victoria shares her journey into federal service, including her decision to join FEMA at a critical juncture for the agency. She reflects on FEMA's traditionally reactive role and her efforts to reshape it into a more proactive force for community resilience—breaking down silos, emphasizing equity, and building a culture focused on climate risk reduction. The conversation explores key programs from her portfolio, including the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program, with a focus on supporting underserved communities and using data to target resources where they are needed most. She addresses the current political climate and discusses the dismantling of climate adaptation programs at FEMA. Despite her concern over recent setbacks, she offers a hopeful message for public servants, emphasizing the enduring value of service, equity, and innovation in climate resilience. This episode is a timely and candid reflection on what's at stake for climate adaptation in the United States—and what it will take to keep resilience on the national agenda.

Transcript available here.

Victoria Salinas Quotes:

"My kind of reflection on this has been that, firstly, I had believed, and I think we're finding out wrongly, that disaster management and helping people basically reducing human suffering caused by disasters, I thought that was apolitical, right? Like that it would transcend political spectrums. And because they're dismantling so many of the programs that are aimed at reducing disaster risk, unfortunately, as you've seen, FEMA has become hyper-politicized."

"We're not just funding infrastructure — we're funding trust. When we partner with communities early, we build the kind of trust that saves lives when a crisis hits."

"You can have the best resilience policy on paper, but if it doesn't survive a change in administration, it's not really resilient."

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Links in this episode:

President Trump appoints new members to FEMA Review Council
https://www.ems1.com/disaster-management/president-trump-appoints-new-members-to-fema-review-council

https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriasalinas/

https://www.fema.gov/event/climate-adaptation-planning-emergency-managers-overview

https://www.marshmclennan.com/insights/publications/2022/april/fema-could-be-americas-climate-adaptation-agency-what-is-the-biden-administration-waiting-for.html

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