On Jan 8, the Division of Community and Regional Affairs (DCRA) of the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development shared its “Fourth Quarter CY2025 Highlights.” The publication shares updates regarding several programs, grants, and projects under the Division’s purview.
Western AK Disaster Recovery
Last October, Western Alaska was hit with a devastating storm caused by remnants of Typhoon Halong.
To help Western Alaskans recover from the natural disaster, FEMA’s Floodplain Management Crew, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and Alaska Risk MAP coordinators worked together to provide Western Alaskan communities with “guidance on damage assessments, building permitting, and making updates to high water marks.”
Furthermore, FEMA Region 10 and DCRA will host a 4-day training course for local officials that will “focus on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and concepts of floodplain management, maps and studies, ordinances, administration, and the relationship between floodplain management and flood insurance.” The course is scheduled for March 10-13, 2026, and will be held at the Atwood Conference Center in Anchorage. Reach out to NFIP coordinator Zayleen Kalalo ([email protected]) for more information.
Action Plans to be Reviewed by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
The Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program team made “significant progress on CDBG-DR action plans, which must be reviewed and approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to release funding. For the 2023 Lower Yukon and 2024 Juneau flooding CDBG-DR grant, DCRA drafted the action plan, conducted a public hearing and 30-day public comment period, then submitted its action plan to HUD a full year ahead of the original due date. DCRA also received HUD approval for the 2022 Typhoon Merbok action plan that was submitted during 3rd quarter 2025, unlocking $38,490,000 in disaster recovery funding. Finally, a Substantial Amendment to the 2018 Cook Inlet Earthquake Mitigation Grant under CDBG-MIT was submitted to HUD, a key step in enabling modified program activities to move forward.”
Additionally, CDBG-DR completed the interview process to hire a Grant Administrator 2 and completed a full internal financial audit to verify compliance with HUD regulations.
Eaglexit Petition Under Review
According to DCRA’s Fourth Quarter Highlights, the Local Boundary Commission (LBC)’s staff “have been reviewing a draft petition from the Eaglexit group, proposing to detach a portion of the Municipality of Anchorage and incorporate as a home rule borough. This is the second draft petition submitted by the group. A previous draft was reviewed in 2023 and found to contain major errors with its proposed borough boundary, as well as deficiencies in its transition plan.”
Eaglexit announced the submission of their petition on November 16, 2025.
Alaska Education Funding
The Office of the State Assessor (OSA) completed the 2025 Full Value Determination (FVD), which is completed annually by OSA and is used to determine local education funding. FVD increased by an overall average of 8.15 percent across the 35 jurisdictions. The majority of the increase in the 2025 FVD was attributed to real property which increased 5.5 percent, while personal property increased by 4.7 percent.
Broadband for Alaska’s Rural Communities
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is expected to provide final approval for the Alaska Broadband Grant Program early this month. If approved the Alaska Broadband Grant Program will award approximately $792million total in sub-awards representing 46,214 locations that are currently unserved or underserved by broadband access across Alaska.
Alaska Rural Bulk Fuel
In November 2025, The Local Government Assistance and Rural Utility Business Advisors (LGA/RUBA) section held its first Rural Administrative Fuel Advisors (RAFA) training. RAFA is a training program provided by the Denali Commission to help administrators and managers of rural bulk fuel facilities focus on sustainable management of bulk fuel infrastructure.
In 2023, DCRA granted the City of Akiak a $188,459.38 Bulk Fuel Revolving Loan, but the city neglected payment for two years. In December 2025, the city submitted all required paperwork to pay its two years of outstanding Community Assistance Payments and reduce the loan to $30,496.97.
More from DCRA
For the complete highlights provided by DCRA, readers can access the full publication here.