Adaptation Planning Grant Program FAQ

The goal of the Adaptation Planning Grant Program (APGP) is to provide funding to help fill planning needs, provide communities the resources to identify climate resilience priorities, and support the development of climate resilient projects across the state.

As communities in California experience more frequent, prolonged, and severe climate change impacts, state, regional, local, and tribal governments are developing a vision and set of strategies to build a more resilient future. In this moment, many jurisdictions, especially under-resourced communities in California, lack the capacity, tools, guidance, and resources to effectively prepare for climate impacts, which may ultimately prevent communities from building critical community readiness and resilience.

California state law requires that climate considerations be integrated into local General Plans, Climate Adaptation Plans, and Local Coastal Programs, with further incentives to integrate adaptation in Local Hazard Mitigation Plans (although not a federal requirement). These plans guide the development of land use, infrastructure investments, community health and safety, emergency response and hazard mitigation, as well as economic develo

The key priorities of ICARP’s APGP are the following:

• Explicitly and meaningfully prioritize equitable outcomes, particularly in the most vulnerable communities, by establishing an inclusive funding program that removes barriers for applicants and ensures that awardees represent a wide geographic, economic, and population diversity.
• Encourage communities to equitably plan for and respond to multiple climate risks by centering the needs of vulnerable communities and supporting an all-risk approach to adaptation planning. These grants encourage communities to conduct integrated planning activities. As California experiences accelerated impacts of climate change, many communities are faced with planning for and responding to cascading and compound impacts
• Support integrated social and physical infrastructure planning to achieve community resilience. The program provides flexible funding to meet multi-sector/issue planning needs that intersect with climate risks, including but not limited to land use, transportation, economic, housing, natural resource management, public infrastructure, and hazard mitigation issues.
• Build statewide capacity to plan for and implement equitable planning strategies by supporting peer-to-peer learning, communities of practice, information sharing, and publishing replicable case studies in the State Adaptation Clearinghouse.
• Embed equity into the planning process, from project visioning through project evaluation, by increasing opportunities for shared decision making, utilizing inclusive processes, and actively remedying historic underinvestment by fairly distributing access to the benefits and privileges associated with community investment.

Where can I find the APGP Guidelines and other Program materials?
APGP Guidelines and Program Materials can be found on the APGP homepage in the Resources section. Additionally, please click the linked text below to find APGP’s Guidelines and other materials

Summary of Public Comments on R1 Draft Guidelines

Adaptation to climate change refers to an adjustment in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment. Resilience describes the capacity of any entity to prepare for disruptions, recover from shocks and stresses, and adapt and grow from a disruption. California communities are experiencing more frequent, prolonged, and severe impacts of climate change, including extreme heat, flooding, wildfires, drought, extreme weather events, and sea level rise.

ICARP will fund and administer the APGP and will coordinate and collaborate with various state agency partners to inform the program guidelines. ICARP will set up an interagency panel to review applications. APGP grants will be awarded through a competitive process. APGP has funding target for two (2) California Native American Tribes and two (2) disadvantaged community grants as defined by FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) and Justice40 eligibility. Tribes are not required to partner with a public entity or other co-applicants, nor required to submit any justification.

The APGP is a new program. OPR through ICARP received $25 million to be appropriated in three rounds. The grant funds will be awarded through a competitive solicitation process. $8,000,000 M is available for the first round of funding with the minimum award amount set at $150,000 and maximum $650,000. $6,600,000 M will still be available for rounds 2 and 3, respectively.

On January 6, 2023, ICARP staff released the public Notice of Funding Availability and application materials. Full applications will be accepted no later than 5:00 PM on March 31, 2023, giving prospective applicants up to 13 weeks to complete the application. Recommended awards will be posted in May or June 2023 and projects are anticipated to commence in June 2023.

APGP is unable to do advanced pay at this time.

No match requirement.

OPR’s ability to allocate funding for the Adaptation Grant Program is governed by authority granted to us by statute. We chose to implement a system of funding targets that prioritizes tribal applicants and other vulnerable communities, rather than funding set asides because they fell within our statutory authority to implement the program, while also addressing concerns raised by members of the public in listening sessions.

The “Pending” label next to your name will no longer be visible once your role is approved.

The APGP is a competitive Request for Application process where applications should be consistent with the guidelines. The Guidelines outline the following:

• Introduction: Background, program summary, goals, timeline
• Adaptation Planning Grant Program: eligibility, examples of eligible activities, application, scoring criteria
• Grant Administration
• Appendix

No. Any work done on developing the grant application is not eligible for APGP funding.

No, OPR does not restrict grantees sole-sourcing their own contracts. However, the local agencies some grantees may belong to may restrict this or have other rules on contracting. Grantees should consult their own organization’s legal counsel to find out what’s permissible.

For this answer, we assume that the potential grantee – not APGP – hired the consultant for this limited purpose.  In such a case, no, assisting with a grant proposal would not preclude a consultant from working on the proposed project.

No, Tribes do not need a Tribal resolution to apply to the program.

All grantees, including CSUs, will need to complete the APGP Grant Agreement.

There is great interest in the program, so we increased the amount available for awards to meet the demand. Originally, we had set aside more funding for Technical Assistance. We’ve allocated some of that funding to the total award amount.

OPR will only contract with the Lead Applicant.

We are still developing the grant agreement. Currently the draft grant agreement states that invoicing can occur quarterly. We intend to offer flexibility for grantees who need to invoice more frequently. This update will be reflected in the final draft grant agreement.

Yes.

Eligible costs can only begin once the lead entity goes through the contracting process with the state. This includes signing the grant agreement and partnership agreement and formalizing the contract with the state. Any costs incurred before the contract is executed will not be reimbursed. As mentioned in the guidelines, OPR will notify the grantee the date on which the work can begin.

APGP does not require or track in-kind contributions and thus in-kind hours do not need to be listed in the budget. Feel free to use the narrative to describe the nature of the partnership.

Feel free to categorize subcontractor costs based on the subcontractor’s activity (i.e. engagement)

Not at this time.

Yes – APGP applicants can leverage funding from other programs as long as the other funding source funds a distinct part of the project and/or distinct deliverables.

Through the grant agreement process, applicants will have the opportunity to confirm funding from other state agencies.

We will partially fund projects if there are ineligible costs listed in the budget.

Yes.

No. Entities can only be reimbursed for funds spent after the contract is executed.

The timelines for Round 2 and Round 3 have yet to be determined. Please consider signing up for the APGP Newsletter to receive updates.

Yes. Each awarded grantee will be able to negotiate their own work plans and budgets during the grant agreement negotiations.

Eligible applicants may include, but are not limited to, any of the following: local and regional public agencies, special districts, non-profits, joint powers authorities, and California Native American Tribes.

The APGP requires partnerships. At least one Lead Applicant or Co-Applicant must be a public agency. Higher scores will be given to applications that are able to demonstrate strong and diverse partnerships, including community-based organizations and other stakeholder groups.

Applicants should demonstrate that proposals are consistent with relevant local or regional plans such as general plans, local hazard mitigation plans, climate action plans, tribally led and created plans, etc. Planning proposals may also include efforts to revise land use plans consistent with the jurisdiction’s goals and policies. Connecting with local entities is important for consistency with these plans. Please include a justification if getting the support of a public entity is not feasible.

The CSU and California Community College systems are state agencies and thus ineligible according to our guidelines. Individual universities can apply.

Yes

Yes, as long as the projects are distinct.

A resolution from the lead agency authority is not necessary for the grant application.

No, a co-applicant must be a separate entity. Eligible applicants are defined as Local Public Entities, Tribes, or Community-Based Organizations, not divisions, branches, or sections of these types of entities.

No, Tribes do not need a Co-Applicant.

Yes.

Awarded Lead Applicants will need to enter into a partnership agreement with each co-applicant, if any, and will also need to enter into a grant agreement with OPR. Applicants should provide signed partnership agreements to OPR prior to signing the grant agreement. After announcing awardees, APGP staff will provide template partnership agreements and grant agreements.

Yes.

Yes, multiple departments within the same organization can apply on the same application. No, this would not satisfy the community partnership requirements. Lead Applicants are required to develop a community partnership or provide justification as to why community partnership is not feasible.

No, Lead Applicants are required to develop a community partnership, provide justification as why community partnership is not feasible.

No, $650,000 is the maximum amount that a single entity can apply for.

Yes. Based on California codes, UC and UC campuses are: Public Entities.

“Public entity” includes the state, the Regents of the University of California, the Trustees of the California State University and the California State University, a county, city, district, public authority, public agency, and any other political subdivision or public corporation in the State.

For the APGP, “Eligible applicants may include, but are not limited to: Local Public Entities, as outlined in California Government Code (GC) § 881.2, California Native American Tribes, a Native American Tribe that is on the contact list maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) for the purposes of Chapter 905 of the Statutes of 2004 (Pub. Resources Code, § 21073) and Community-Based Organizations.

This is a complicated question, and the answer will vary across situations. In general, the Guidelines explain that eligible applicants can include community-based organizations, which may or may not have official 501(c)(3) status. All applicants must be legal entities, however, capable of entering into a contract and holding funds. Additionally, as noted in the eligibility guidelines, any applicant, including a 501(c)(3) organization, may fiscally sponsor partners such as collaboratives, networks, and partnerships.

No, individuals are not considered Co-Applicants. See the Eligibility Section of the Guidelines on page 7 for more information on partnership requirements.

If the partners and scope changed, feel free to resubmit an intent survey and indicate in the comments that it is an updated version. However, intent surveys are not scored.

Co-Applicants will subcontract with the Lead Applicant on the grant. Thus, they will need to have a line item in the budget. When APGP selects applicants for awards, applicants will need to sign a partnership agreement through the state contracting process.

The following examples of eligible adaptation planning activities derive from feedback provided throughout the 2022 Adaptation Planning Grant Program’s Listening Sessions and are structured around the California Adaptation Planning Guide (2020), which outlines a step-by-step process broken into four planning phases that communities can use to plan for climate change. The guide is designed to be flexible and responsive to community needs and includes summaries of statewide guidance, resources, examples, and tools throughout each phase. Additionally, equity and community engagement are integrated throughout all phases and should be considered for all proposed activities.

Activities eligible for reimbursement must fit into one or more of the four phases included below, as defined by the California Adaptation Planning Guide. While the following eligible activities are outlined in phases, eligible project proposals can occur at any stage of this planning framework. This list includes just some examples of eligible activities and is not comprehensive. Please note, there are no specific funding allocations related to the four-phase breakdown.

The following examples of eligible adaptation planning activities derive from feedback provided throughout the 2022 Adaptation Planning Grant Program’s Listening Sessions and are structured around the California Adaptation Planning Guide (2020), which outlines a step-by-step process broken into four planning phases that communities can use to plan for climate change. The guide is designed to be flexible and responsive to community needs and includes summaries of statewide guidance, resources, examples, and tools throughout each phase. Additionally, equity and community engagement are integrated throughout all phases and should be considered for all proposed activities.

Activities eligible for reimbursement must fit into one or more of the four phases included below, as defined by the California Adaptation Planning Guide. While the following eligible activities are outlined in phases, eligible project proposals can occur at any stage of this planning framework. This list includes just some examples of eligible activities and is not comprehensive. Please note, there are no specific funding allocations related to the four-phase breakdown.

We are requiring applicants to utilize localized climate projections to identify climate risks and exposures, describe the impact of climate change risks and exposures on the community, and identify and prioritize climate adaptation measures and objectives that address such impacts. (See Appendix D in the APGP guidelines for additional guidance and resources.) People can pull in local data if they have better information but should describe why they used this alternative data set.

At ICARP we take a very broad, holistic approach to adaptation and resilience work and intend to fund a wide range of adaptation and resilience work across the state.

Yes, but projects must have a clear nexus with addressing climate risks and adaptation/resilience.

The Adaptation Planning Grant Program currently encourages topical adaptation plans and specific plans to allow for maximum flexibility and expedience in addressing community need. Mitigation-based strategies are currently permitted and encouraged as planning activities as is implied in the ICARP vision/mission.

You’ll also notice throughout the guidelines that the APGP team has attempted to include more language regarding hazard mitigation planning activities, specifically. For further details please review and comment on the Eligible Planning Activities section.

Yes, these are all eligible planning activities.

Yes, either is eligible and updating a local hazard mitigation plan qualifies as an eligible activity.

Yes.

The Eligible Costs section currently permits participant compensation in exchange for services rendered but does not permit cash benefits or subsidies.

Grantees may spend up to 20% of the total APGP award on Indirect administrative costs.  Indirect administrative costs include costs incurred by the recipient to administer the grant and costs incurred by subgrantees to perform the tasks necessary to fulfill the deliverables outlined in page 25 of the guidelines.

The 20% indirect costs cap reflects the total amount of money that the awardee can spend on indirect costs. Any contracts the awardee enters do not have to mirror the 20% cost cap term. Administrative costs in excess of 20% are ineligible costs, whatever their source.

Broadly speaking, no. General DEI trainings for staff are not eligible activities. Activities that fall under the 4 planning phases outlined in the CA Adaptation Planning Guide are eligible activities. If the DEI training is a necessary component of one of the phases, it may be eligible.

No.

A project is not required to address the risks its region has highest vulnerability to. A region at high risk of wildfires could do a project focused on Extreme Heat.

By statute, the APGP can only give out grants for planning. OPR is developing an implementation program through ICARP called the Regional Resilience Grant Program (RRGP).

Design specification activities are ineligible but the APGP team is exploring, in partnership with the Regional Resilience Grant Program, the potential to allow conceptual design activities as eligible.

All environmental phase activities are ineligible.

Yes

The Eligible Costs section currently permits participant compensation in exchange for services rendered but does not permit cash benefits or subsidies. We are reviewing this to allow maximum benefit and flexibility for communities.

P team is currently convening an Interagency Review Panel that will be responsible for reviewing forthcoming APGP final guidelines and subsequent applications. The Interagency Review Panel will be comprised of the following agencies: Coastal Commission, Ocean Protection Council, California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), Office of Emergency Services (OES), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), Governor’s Office of Planning and Research’s Planning Team, Governor’s Office of Planning and Research’s Climate Team, Strategic Growth Council’s Resilient Climate Collaboratives Program (RCC), Strategic Growth council’s Health and Equity program (HEP), California Department of Public Health (CDPH), and the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA).

The adaptive capacities of communities is top of mind. We note in the scoring rubric how plans intend to bolster the adaptive capacity of communities or enhance the adaptive capacity of ecological systems by preserving and restoring habitat and prioritizing green infrastructure.

No, the intent survey is not scored.  Completing the intent survey allows APGP staff both to give you access to an individual SharePoint link for your application and to learn about your proposed project so we can ask clarifying questions and help you maximize funding opportunities.

This is our first round of funding, so unfortunately, we do not have examples of support letters for this program.

No.

Yes, it is up to the applicants to determine how they want to build out the budget.

At this time, we do not require that level of detail.

Yes.

We recommend outlining those costs under Engagement, Outreach, Training, and Education.

You can include maps and images. Links are also accepted.

Correct. No page limit.

Points can be deducted for excessive word use beyond the word count. The Application instructions state: Word counts are listed for each question. Adhering to word counts is strongly recommended, but not required.

All words, including footnotes and references, can count towards the word count. The Application instructions state: Word counts are listed for each question. Adhering to word counts is strongly recommended, but not required.

The State administers a lot of funding programs. ICARP coordinates internally with the Regional Resilience Planning and Implementation Program as well as other grant programs through the Strategic Growth Council to share best practices, align grant requirements, and align grant timelines.

For several years, ICARP has supported implementation of state adaptation planning activities, including serving a partnership role on the SB 1 (2017) California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) Adaptation Planning Grants, the California Energy Commission (CEC) Local Government Challenge Grants, as well as administration of the 2020 Prop 84 Wildfire Resilience and Recovery Planning Grants. The Adaptation Planning Grant Program, along with the Regional Resilience Planning and Implementation Grant Program, and Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program, are OPR’s first direct investment programs and build on the State’s efforts to advance adaptation planning and implementation. The three grant programs administered by ICARP complement one another in the following ways:

• Building Adaptation Planning Capacity at the Local Level: Through the historic 2021 Climate Resilience Budget, ICARP’s Adaptation Planning Grant Program received $25 million in funding over three years to help fill local, regional, and tribal planning funding needs, provide communities the resources to identify climate resilience priorities, and support the development of a pipeline of climate resilient infrastructure projects across the state
• Building Regional Resilience: To complement ICARP’s Adaptation Planning Grant Program (APGP), ICARP’s Regional Resilience Planning and Implementation Grant Program (RRGP) will invest $250 million over three funding cycles to support local, regional, and tribal governments advance resilience through capacity-building, planning, and project implementation. The Regional Resilience Planning and Implementation Grant Program will prioritize the development of regional projects and plans that improve climate resilience and reduce risks from climate impacts. The APGP program is primarily focused on adaptation planning efforts, while the RRGP’s will fund planning and project implementation with a primary goal to address regional climate resilience solutions. The RRGP will work to align planning activity investments with the Adaptation Planning Grant Program in the first cycle ($12.5 million) to support the development of a pipeline of resiliency projects.
• Building Community Readiness and Resilience to Extreme Heat: ICARP’s Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program will coordinate the state’s comprehensive response to extreme heat and build capacity for heat action planning in the most heat-burdened communities by providing funding and technical support. This $125 million program will invest in local, regional, and tribal heat reduction and mitigation projects. These investments will be instrumental in driving the state’s work to implement California’s Extreme Heat Action Plan – a comprehensive, coordinated response across state agencies for advancing equitable outcomes, including reducing economic and health disparities associated with extreme heat.

Awarded APGP grant recipients will participate in case studies published on ICARP’s State Adaptation Clearinghouse as an online resource to guide decision makers at the state, regional and local levels when planning for and implementing climate adaptation projects to promote resiliency across California.

Your organization may apply for an APGP grant for one project and an STPG grant for another project. You may not submit an identical proposal or the same project to both APGP and STGP.

We update APGP’s guidelines for each round of funding through a public process. Please reach out to icarp.grants@opr.ca.gov with feedback, input, barriers you have faced, suggestions, etc. APGP staff track all the feedback we receive, and it will inform subsequent rounds of ICARP APGP Guidelines.

ICARP staff hosted a series of listening sessions April 2022 and will host guideline workshops summer 2022. Once ICARP finalizes the dates and structure of these events, we will publicize the workshops widely.

ICARP is grateful for the input, collaboration, and feedback that is shaping the program, and we hope to continue hearing from you going forward. To stay up to date on APGP, sign up for ICARP’s newsletter, follow OPR on Twitter, or connect with staff directly via the ICARP grants e-mail.

Over the course of a 9-month period, from March 2022 to November 2022, the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) undertook a statewide engagement process, engaging over 900 people, organizations, and state partners through public workshops, surveys and interviews to inform and support the development of the APGP. APGP staff released the APGP Engagement Summary in July 2022 [https://opr.ca.gov/climate/icarp/tac/meetings/2022-07-18/docs/20220718-Item4_ICARP_APGP_Engagement_Summary.pdf]. As part of this outreach, APGP staff notified the public of the release of the Draft Guidelines on September 28, 2022, for a 30-day public comment period and hosted four public workshops where program staff presented the Round 1 Draft Guidelines. During the public comment period, OPR received 273 unique comments and since then has made over 1,595 edits to the Round 1 Draft Guidelines. Processing and Responding to Comments APGP staff transcribed all public comments from workshops and received, reviewed, and categorized individual comments from over 57 emails and letters. Staff then worked with state agencies and partners to identify solutions and opportunities for clarification. Many public comments were supportive of overall program goals or specific elements of the program guidelines; in those instances, no changes were made to the guidelines. Program staff were guided by the public comments received and influenced by the key takeaways from the APGP Engagement Summary. Furthermore, APGP staff made additional changes that were not directly suggested by members of the public, but rather were guided by the APGP Priorities and Goals. As staff made changes, they continued to ask the following questions:

1. Will this change improve clarity for applicants and/or reviewers?
2. Is this change identified as a priority by multiple interested parties?
3. Will this change reduce the complexity of applying while maintaining integrity of the program?
4. Will this change enhance the programs’ ability to support equitable outcomes?
5. Is this change permitted by statute?

APGP staff are grateful to everyone who took the time to review and provide comment in their letters – the program is stronger thanks to all your involvement. The most comprehensive look at the engagement to date can be found in the APGP Summary of Changes Document.

The Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program promotes alignment of resilience priorities across California by providing guidance, tools, and technical assistance. An important resource to support these activities is the Adaptation Clearinghouse, a centralized source of information and resources to assist decision makers at the state, regional, and local levels when planning for and implementing climate adaptation projects to promote climate resiliency across California. Types of resources in the Clearinghouse include but are not limited to assessments, plans, and strategies; communication and educational materials; planning and policy guidance; data, tools, and research; and case studies, projects, and examples.

Application technical assistance is not available for APGP Round 1. We plan to make it available for APGP Round 2.

No, APGP staff will not be reviewing any application materials or giving feedback to prospective applicants before the application window closes. We encourage you to join APGP staff for virtual office hours on Wednesdays through the end of March 2023 to get answers to your questions about APGP’s Round 1 funding application.