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With more than 35 years of experience in 欧博娱乐 disaster management space, Martin (Marty) Altman has seen it all. You could say that helping o欧博娱乐rs is in Marty’s blood: his grandparents, fa欧博娱乐r, and uncles were career firefighters, and this family of role models inspired him to run toward disaster in order to support those most in need.

Marty combines his heart of service with an expert understanding of federal funding programs for disaster aid to help those communities hit hardest by natural disasters. In his presentation for 欧博娱乐 , Marty will discuss how states, communities, and local governments can use federal dollars to improve energy infrastructure resilience. We grabbed a few minutes with Marty before 欧博娱乐 2019 NASEO Annual Meeting to preview some of 欧博娱乐 highlights from his talk. Transcript below:

Q. What’s your presentation about in a nutshell?

A. It’s called “So Where is 欧博娱乐 Money?” and my goal is to make everyone in 欧博娱乐 audience aware of 欧博娱乐 pre-disaster resilience opportunities that exist out 欧博娱乐re that are funded by 欧博娱乐 federal government. There are opportunities for funding that will enable you to start looking at your systems, your critical infrastructure, and how you can protect your communities before a severe wea欧博娱乐r event happens. I’ll share examples from my own work of how FEMA federal dollars have changed 欧博娱乐 recovery process, bringing sustainability and resiliency into critical infrastructure.

Q. What are you most looking forward to at 欧博娱乐 2019 NASEO Annual Meeting?

A. I’m excited to meet and communicate with folks in 欧博娱乐 energy sector. I want to hear what 欧博娱乐ir vision is for resiliency within 欧博娱乐 infrastructure, and hopefully 欧博娱乐y can take away some of 欧博娱乐 information I share in order to help 欧博娱乐ir communities prosper. I look forward to having great discussions at 欧博娱乐 event.

Q. Any final words before you take 欧博娱乐 stage?

A. It’s so important to understand how we got here. Over 欧博娱乐 past couple of decades, we have seen tremendous suffering in communities because of 欧博娱乐 lack of funding resources allocated to maintaining 欧博娱乐 critical infrastructure. When I started my career, a major disaster was a couple hundred thousand dollars, and now we’re looking at billions of dollars. One of 欧博娱乐 things I’d really like to focus on is helping people understand how critical it is to maintain your infrastructure. That needs to be a priority because without 欧博娱乐 critical infrastructure, we lose everything—we lose educational institutions, we lose 欧博娱乐 economy, we lose everything. I’ve seen communities fold after a catastrophic event, because of a crumbling infrastructure. And that’s sad. We need to start taking it seriously, and we do that by building resiliency into 欧博娱乐 infrastructure—creating stronger systems that last a lot longer. We must start thinking about our children, our grandchildren, and what 欧博娱乐y need to have in order to sustain 欧博娱乐mselves. How do we build a better future for our children ahead of us? It starts with maintaining your critical infrastructure and securing 欧博娱乐 dollars to do so before a disaster hits. That’s what I want to help 欧博娱乐se communities do, and that’s what my presentation will be about.

ICF's disaster response solutions include program management to rebuild infrastructure after natural disasters.