FEMA limits NGWS applicants to states and tribal nations, bypassing CPB

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has removed CPB as an intermediary in distributing its Next Generation Warning System funding and is now limiting applicants for fiscal year 2025 funds to states and tribal nations.

The shift at FEMA follows the vote in Congress to rescind FY26 and FY27 federal funding to CPB. CPB has announced that it will begin winding down operations Sept. 30.

FEMA’s notice of funding opportunity, released Thursday, specifies that recipients can designate subrecipients to receive the funds. It does not rule out that a public media organization could be a subrecipient. For funding in FY24, CPB was designated as the sole eligible applicant.

The NGWS program was first funded in FY22 through the Department of Homeland Security after America’s Public Television Stations lobbied for its creation. The program, which reimbursed stations for expenses related to technology infrastructure projects, received additional funding in FY23 and FY24, totaling $136 million during that span. The FY25 funding pool is $40 million.

FEMA’s document said it plans to award five grantees $8 million each. During the program’s run under CPB’s administration, 45 public media stations received grants.

A CPB spokesperson referred questions to FEMA. Spokespeople for APTS didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The shift in focus at FEMA comes after President Donald Trump authorized the Department of Government Efficiency to cut staff at FEMA and other federal agencies. In late February, CPB told stations to stop work on NGWS-funded technical upgrades because it could no longer access approximately $38 million in grant funds that had been awarded through DHS’ FY22 congressional appropriation. CPB sued FEMA to release the hold on the funds.

A federal judge denied CPB’s request for a temporary restraining order. FEMA temporarily lifted its hold on the funding in April. In May, a CPB official said NGWS funding was again inaccessible.

On July 15, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly rejected CPB’s request for a preliminary injunction that would require FEMA to keep the funds accessible.

“The Court recognizes that FEMA’s unpredictable and at times apparently unexplained actions earlier this year have caused problems for CPB and its sub-awardees, and nothing in this opinion is meant to dismiss or minimize those problems,” Kelly wrote. “But on the record before it, CPB falls far short of satisfying the ‘high standard for irreparable injury’ that warrants the preliminary relief it requests.”

FEMA filed a motion to dismiss CPB’s lawsuit July 22. CPB moved for an extension of time to respond to the motion July 31, which Judge Kelly granted.

In an emailed statement, Wyoming PBS CTO Josh Williams said the state network is interested in receiving NGWS funding through FEMA.

“We hope to partner with the State of Wyoming as a subrecipient of the FY25 NGWS grant, or possibly with the Wind River Indian Reservation,” Williams said. “Wyoming PBS was previously awarded an NGWS grant through CPB, but unfortunately, was never able to access the funding. This new opportunity would allow us to improve our ability to deliver geo-targeted emergency alerts and expand the reach of Wyoming’s Emergency Alert System, ensuring better public safety coverage for communities across the state.”