Douglas County PIER Disaster Recovery Grant Program

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners Tom Kress, Chris Boice, and Tim Freeman, in conjunction with the Douglas County PIER Selection Committee, have launched Phase One of the Douglas County PIER Disaster Recovery Grant Program. This grant opportunity is associated with community disaster recovery via the Planning, Infrastructure, and Economic Revitalization Program (PIER) grant program. 

Phase One of the program consists of the submission of letters of interest (LOI) from eligible applicants. The LOI serves as an initial preliminary step in the grant application process and will help identify projects that align with PIER funding priorities. LOIs must be submitted by midnight on Thursday, December 7, 2023.

The PIER grant program is part of ReOregon, a program offered by the Disaster Recovery and Resilience Division of the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department. ReOregon is funded by a US Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant (CDBG-DR). The CDBG-DR program supports community development activities to help build stronger and more resilient communities. As a part of the disaster recovery process, ReOregon awarded PIER opportunity grants to the eight most impacted counties in Oregon to address the unmet infrastructure, planning, and economic revitalization recovery needs following the 2020 Labor Day fires.

The grant allocation for Douglas County is $2,399,446, and each county is responsible for establishing a local application process and allocation program. Douglas County put together a local grant selection committee (Douglas County PIER Selection Committee) consisting of representatives from the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Emergency Management Department, Glide Revitalization, Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and CCD Business Development Corporation.

 Applicants must adhere to specific criteria and eligibility requirements to be considered for funding. While the basis for the grant funding centers around the 2020 Labor Day Fires, LOIs and projects do not have to be directly tied to the 2020 wildfire impact but must focus either on recovery or mitigation from disasters that are high-risk to Douglas County. Recovery examples include economic revitalization, infrastructure services, and planning projects or programs relating to recovery needs within Douglas County. Mitigation examples are forward-looking projects or programs that would reduce the expected loss of life or property from natural hazards or increase community resilience to future disasters. Projects must be significant in size, impact, and scope. 

Per PIER guidelines, projects must be no less than $500,000 and are equally accessible to all applicants who meet the criteria. Applicants and projects must be located in Douglas County to be eligible. Groups and Programs that are eligible to apply include Tribal, State, County, and Municipal Governments, Agencies, Districts, and Authorities; Schools (K-12); Public Housing Authorities; and Other Public, Quasi-Public or Nonprofit Entities.

All LOI grant submissions must be in a .PDF format and emailed to dcinfo@douglascountyor.gov no later than midnight on Thursday, December 7, 2023. 

Questions about the grant program can be directed to dcinfo@douglascountyor.gov.