Students at Work Hazard Mitigation Grants Program

The University of Kentucky's Hazard Mitigation Grants Program Office (UK-HMGP) has two main functions. It administers pre- and post-disaster grant funding, and coordinates local hazard mitigation planning activity and writes the Commonwealth's hazard mitigation plan. UK-HMGP, then, works in conjunction with Kentucky Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to carry out this work. UK-HMGP is housed within the Martin School which has a contractual relationship with Kentucky Emergency Management to conduct project development, project management, and planning activities.  Martin School graduate students work as research assistants at UK-HMGP to review hazard mitigation plans, and to manage awarded grants and reviews payment requests. All students also complete benefit-cost analyses for potential projects.

Through this program, the students gain valuable experience in public administration and the federal grants process. Given UK-HMGP's closeness with Kentucky Emergency Management, students also experience state-level and local-level government firsthand.