FY25-26 Next Generation Warning System Grant Program – CFO

The FY25-26 Next Generation Warning System Grant Program, administered by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, aims to enhance public safety by implementing advanced alert and warning solutions. This program supports the deployment of technologies that provide timely emergency information, ensuring effective communication for local, state, and federal officials. By modernizing the national alert system, it seeks to protect critical infrastructure and improve community resilience during emergencies.

Purpose
The purpose of the NGWS Grant Program is to enhance public safety in California by implementing alert and warning solutions that deliver timely emergency information to the public and help protect critical infrastructure. This effort supports a reliable, resilient, and consistent capability for local, state, territorial, tribal, and federal public safety officials to effectively communicate public warnings and emergency information.
FEMA’s IPAWS is the national system for local alerting that provides authenticated emergency and life-saving information to the public. Local radio and television stations, along with cable television, wireless carrier, direct broadcast satellite, other distribution providers and pathways disseminated the public safety messages they receive from IPAWS. The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-143) charged FEMA with upgrading and reinforcing the nation’s public alert and warning system to withstand disruptive events and adapt to advancements in technology and methods of communicating. This grant supports projects that aide in creating and maintaining a resilient public alert and warning system that provides timely and effective warnings. The IPAWS public alert and warning system is built on the Common Alerting Protocol standard (CAP) that permits a single CAP compatible message to activate multiple compliant warning systems.