Public Assistance Generalist

Job Title:
Public Assistance Generalist

Reports to: Project Manager

Location: Frankfort, Kentucky

Who We Are

DCMC Partners, a Great Place to Work® Certified company, is a crisis management and public safety consulting firm that helps public, non-profit, and private sector organizations approach the unknown with confidence. Leveraging decades of experience and a team of industry experts, DCMC Partners helps our clients effectively prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from crises and disasters of all kinds.

DCMC Partners is a leader in providing crisis management services, including disaster recovery operations support, long-term recovery organization development, strategic advice, hazard mitigation expertise, grants management, and business continuity planning.

Our team has managed response and recovery efforts for nearly every historic disaster in the past 25 years. With a full suite of emergency management services, we are partners to our clients before disaster strikes and throughout the recovery process.

Job Summary

The Public Assistance Generalist serves as a key advisor and subject matter resource in supporting clients throughout the FEMA Public Assistance (PA) grant process. This role is responsible for interpreting and applying FEMA policies, regulations, and guidance; ensuring program compliance; and assisting stakeholders in the development, implementation, management, and closeout of disaster recovery projects.

The Public Assistance Generalist works closely with state and local government agencies, municipalities, applicants, federal representatives, contractors, and internal project teams to review project documentation, validate damage assessments, evaluate scopes of work and cost estimates, identify hazard mitigation opportunities, and resolve eligibility, compliance, and documentation issues.

The ideal candidate combines strong technical knowledge of FEMA Public Assistance programs with exceptional analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills to help clients maximize recovery outcomes while maintaining compliance with applicable federal, state, and local requirements.

This position reports to the Project Manager and may support multiple disaster recovery projects and initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities

FEMA Public Assistance Program Support

• Explain FEMA Public Assistance guidance, policies, regulations, procedures, and eligibility requirements to applicants, stakeholders, and project teams.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with municipalities, state and local government agencies, applicants, subrecipients, federal representatives, and other stakeholders.
• Identify and interpret applicable federal, state, and local regulations and program requirements to determine appropriate methods of project implementation.
• Maintain compliance with applicable FEMA Public Assistance policies, procedures, regulations, and program requirements.
• Advocate for client needs while maintaining compliance with FEMA requirements and applicable laws and regulations.
• Support applicants throughout the FEMA Public Assistance project lifecycle, from initial damage assessment through project completion and closeout.
• Assist stakeholders with establishing recovery priorities, project schedules, documentation requirements, and expectations.

Project Review and Technical Support

• Conduct detailed reviews of damage descriptions, scopes of work, Project Worksheets (PWs), cost estimates, and supporting documentation for accuracy, completeness, eligibility, and consistency with FEMA requirements.
• Review complex repair and replacement projects and identify missing, inconsistent, or unsupported information.
• Review and evaluate Method of Repair (MOR), scope, cost, and eligibility information.
• Coordinate with applicants, inspectors, engineers, estimators, FEMA representatives, and other counterparts to resolve deficiencies and obtain required information.
• Conduct or support assessments of damage to public infrastructure and review associated damage and cost estimates.
• Review project documentation to ensure that proposed scopes of work are consistent with observed damage and applicable FEMA requirements.
• Conduct or support inspections of partially completed and completed work to verify project progress and compliance with approved scopes of work.
• Document findings and advise stakeholders regarding the technical validity, eligibility, and documentation requirements of projects.
• Identify potential changes in scope, improved…