The ASFPM Foundation is committed to fostering the next generation of flood risk management thought leaders by providing scholarship grants to K–12 educational programs. These grants support initiatives that empower an important segment of students to understand and address natural hazards in their communities through hands-on learning and civic engagement.
Working in partnership with K-12 schools, the Foundation aims to enhance student learning while promoting environmental stewardship and community safety. Example projects include the development of flood-resilient school infrastructure, incorporating climate science and water resources management into STEM curricula, and engaging students in hands-on projects like watershed monitoring and emergency preparedness planning. Projects resulting from our K-12 grants not only safeguard school communities against climate-related risks, but also foster a generation of environmentally sensitive stakeholders equipped to address future challenges.
The RISE Challenge is part classroom learning, part competition, and part summit, focused on natural hazards and student-led learning. It engages students in the exploration of their communities to determine where they are vulnerable to natural disasters and tasks them with developing their own ideas for making their community more resilient. Through this initiative, we are building critical thinking skills and a resilience toolbox in students at a young age. In a nutshell, the RISE Challenge creates a generation of citizens with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to improve community resilience to natural disasters.
In 2023 and 2024, the ASFPM Foundation continued its partnership with Earth Force in support of the RISE Challenge with a $15,000 contribution each year, extending the Foundation's annual support of this dynamic program that engages students in grades 5-10.
The RISE Challenge was developed as a partnership with Earth Force, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Association of State Floodplain Managers Foundation (ASFPM Foundation). It pairs Earth Force’s educational framework and learning process with FEMA’s experts and its partners to further the education of natural hazards and create more resilient communities.
Originally named the Rocky Mountain Environmental Challenge (RMEC), the RISE Challenge gained momentum over the years and grew beyond the Rocky Mountain region. This led to the rebranding of the RMEC to the RISE Challenge in 2020.
Earth Force manages the RISE Challenge nationally, and provides the local partners with resources and tools on how the program operates — from budgets to professional development materials, to surveys and promotional collateral — everything a local program needs to support their managers.
ASFPM Foundation provides the source of student award grants and supplies floodplain management professionals as volunteers for judging proposals or for classroom visits.
