The Fund Finder News
Public Safety Grants Consulting
The Fund Finder News
A Bi-Weekly Grants News and Information Update By Kurt Bradley
Issue 1, April 22, 2004
Law Enforcement agencies are probably in for a lean year in the grants market for funding cycles 2005-2006.
The latest news is not good regarding grants from the Federal government. Several traditional or routine funding sources are being discontinued in the near future. It is hoped that a resurrected, or newly named program, will take their places however, the election will determine many of those things and until that happens it is anybody's guess as to what lies ahead on the law enforcement grants scene.
The C.O.P.S. program is dead. This will be the last year of funding for this program which failed dismally, when exposed to congressional scrutiny. Local governments failed to honor the promises of former administrators when it came to funding the newly hired officers in the fourth year and beyond. The end result was a lot of money got spent to "temporarily fund" hiring of new officers and when it came time to put them on the regular payroll, most cities reneged on the deal they made and instead they fired or laid off the officers.. The goal of putting an additional 35,000 officers on the street failed. This failure is partially responsible for the shift in government grants to a performance based grant program. Nobody from Washington is willing to commit to the replacement of this program, with something similar, and we can look forward to the loss of 500 million in funding opportunities as a result.
Failure to hold our local politicians feet to the fires, and have them honor their previous commitments, has killed this program This will likely hinder law enforcement efforts to have a similar type program resurrected and funded again. The lesson learned here; don't make promises you never intend to keep when asking for money from the government. If you can't keep the commitment, don't sign on the line for the grant.
LLEBG (Local Law Enforcement Block Grants) and Edward Byrne Memorial Grants will likely be done away with also. The good news however, is that they are going to be combined and will now become the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant or JAG for short. These formula grants have been the bread and butter of equipment and programs for local law enforcement agencies across the country. The Edward Byrne Grants funds 29 different program areas and are awarded to the State Administrating Agency (SAA) who then applies their state formula to them and allocates these funds to the municipalities within the state.
Again, dependant upon the election, new rules will probably be established as to whom and how these grants will be applied for and awarded. Keep a close eye on this area as it will definitely affect your application procedures and next year you will likely see a very small window of opportunity in which to apply for them from your state. Make contact with your State Administering Agency and get on their newsletter or mailing list to receive their latest updates now and begin the planning process so that you are ready to go when the funding is opened for application.
Department of Homeland Security money will continue to be expended mostly in the larger metropolitan areas, as was originally intended. It will behoove agencies to start identifying critical infrastructure within your areas of jurisdiction. You should also be very familiar with your role in your State's Emergency Management Plans so that any program areas you may be eligible to apply for, are consistent with the overall state plans that are in place.
Congressional "earmarking" of specific discretionary grant funds will continue to be a major source of funding specific projects within your jurisdictions. We would encourage you to start informing your congressional representatives and senators and try to get them "onboard" with specific projects as possible "earmarked" funds for your agencies. 143 million dollars in "earmarked" discretionary grant funds were distributed in 2004.
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