The funds — called Emergency Management Performance Grants — totaled more than $300 million last year and help local communities prepare for disasters by paying for emergency management staff, training, equipment and public education. FEMA had told the states they would get less than half of the expected $460 million in homeland security funds. This directive is just the latest in a series of sudden changes leaving states unsure about future federal support for local emergency management. The National Emergency Management Association, which represents emergency management directors across the country, warned that continued delays in FEMA funding are putting communities at risk by stalling critical preparedness, response and recovery efforts. “These funds are the backbone of local emergency management programs,” a NEMA spokesperson wrote in a statement.