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Grant Tools and Resources

FEMA Releases Updated Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool (RAPT)

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At-a-glance evaluation of demographics and infrastructure

NIMS Alert 07-20: FEMA Releases Updated Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool

FEMA released expanded capabilities to the Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool (RAPT), including census tract data and additional infrastructure layers for all state, local, tribal and territorial jurisdictions across the nation. This update to the tool enables a more granular analysis of community resilience indicators and allows users to calculate the population of individuals with specific indicator characteristics in selected census tracts.

Jurisdictions at all levels, other federal agencies, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations can use RAPT to inform strategies for preparedness, response and recovery activated related to the coronavirus pandemic and other disasters. The tool is a free-to-use Geographic Information System (GIS) webmap tool that allows users to combine layers of community resilience indicators, infrastructure locations, and hazard data to visualize, prioritize and implement strategies to impact resilience, response, and recovery.

The updated RAPT provides important census-tract level demographic information and infrastructure locations related to coronavirus pandemic planning and response efforts. This includes the location and size of infrastructure entities such as hospitals, nursing homes, urgent care facilities, public health departments, and pharmacies; population count and demographics of individuals within a containment zone (e.g. over age 65, disability, educational attainment); and visualization tools.

The RAPT is publicly available at:

https://bit.ly/ResilienceAnalysisandPlanningTool

Supporting documents for RAPT, including an overview document, user guide and information about the data layers and sources, can be found at:

https://www.fema.gov/de/media-library/assets/documents/176618

The National Integration Center will host three 60-minute training webinars over the next two weeks, starting on April 2, to provide additional background on the RAPT, demonstrate multiple capabilities and answer questions from RAPT users. Webinars are open to all.

Advance registration is not required, but space is limited to 150 participants per webinar. Real-time captioning will be available. To participate, please click on your preferred webinar session from the list below at the beginning of the webinar to begin and call the phone number provided:

Thursday, April 2, 12-1 p.m. ET
Participate: https://fema.connectsolutions.com/resilienceindicatorgis/
Audio Call-in: 202-795-3352. PIN: 253 361 211#

Tuesday, April 7, 3-4 p.m. ET
Participate: https://fema.connectsolutions.com/resilienceindicatorgis/
Audio Call-in: 202-795-3352. PIN: 253 361 211#

Thursday, April 9, 12-1 p.m. ET
Participate: https://fema.connectsolutions.com/resilienceindicatorgis/
Audio Call-in: 202-795-3352. PIN: 253 361 211#

For more information, please contact FEMA-TARequest@fema.dhs.gov.

Coronavirus/COVID-19: Kingman, Arizona Grant-Writing Training rescheduled for Sept. 9–10, 2020

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Given current concerns and recommendations about the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, we are monitoring our 2020 grant-writing training schedule. To do our part to protect everyone’s safety, we will reschedule trainings as needed.

Our training is Arizona is rescheduled as follows:

Lake Mohave Ranchos Fire District, Kingman, AZ

New date: Sept 9-10, 2020

Register

At this time other trainings continue as scheduled. For registered students, we’ll be reaching out to you individually if there are changes to other trainings.

Want training but without the travel?

Our online training is always available:

Winning AFG: Online Grant Training. Remember: FY 2019 AFG application deadline has been extended to Mar. 20!

Writing Public Safety Grants: Online Grant Training

Questions? Please contact us

Stay safe out there… and wash your hands. Thank you for all you are doing during this time to protect yourselves and our communities.

What to do when you need a grant writer but don’t have one

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Public safety grant writing services for agencies like yours

Don’t want to write a grant?

The reality is simple: Not every department or agency can maintain their own in-house grant writer.

Don’t have a grant writer? We have a full contingent of grant writers available to handle the tasks of writing your grant from start to finish.

Every grant program, department, organization, and community is different. Let’s talk about your needs and challenges, then we can present you with a FREE quote.

Learn more

Contact us for a FREE quote

3 tips could help you win America’s biggest fire grant

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Firefighters

Apply for AFG by Mar. 13

The Assistance to Firefighters Grant opened for applications Feb. 3, and the program closes Mar. 13. This is a highly competitive grant, but following these 3 tips just might help move your application to the winner’s circle:

  1. No request is too small: Remember to look at applying for “microgrants”
  2. Partner up: Regional grant applications are a solid approach
  3. High-priority items only! AFG is competitive, and medium- and low-priority items tend to be rejected

Now get a move on: This year’s application deadline is Fri., Mar. 13, 2020, 5:00 p.m. ET.

Learn more and apply

Need AFG help? Contact us

Federal Public Safety Grants: Do this before you apply

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Make sure your department is registered in Grants.gov

Whether it’s FEMA, OJP, or any other Federal agency, before you apply there is one thing you must do:

Register with Grants.gov

Grants.gov is the primary site for all things Federal grants. It’s also where you’ll typically apply for Federal grants. In order to use it, though, you’ll need a current, active registration.

Follow these steps today to make sure your organization is registered with Grants.gov:

  • Visit the Grants.gov registration page to create an account or update your password.
  • After you complete Grants.gov registration, log in to your account and designate a person to be an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR). The AOR will submit the grant application on behalf of your organization. If your organization is awarded a grant, the AOR will also be the person notified of the good news
  • Usually the AOR is set by your E-Business Point of Contact (E-Biz POC), and is often an authorizing officials such as your chief financial officer.

Once registered, be sure to keep your information current! After all, things change. Make sure your organization’s information, AOR, and other important details are current in Grants.gov.

Go to Grants.gov

Get ready for AFG: Conduct your Needs Assessment

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The Fund Finder News by Kurt Bradley, Senior Grants Consultant

Needs Assessment

AFG will be opening soon, and now is the time to get ready for what’s going to be a competitive grant year.

There is an old saying that floats about and holds a special truth not only in how we conduct our daily operations, but also in how we go about applying to grant funding sources. That saying is:

“If You Fail to Plan, You Can Plan to Fail!”

Proper planning involves a myriad of things, one of which is assuring that you have proper manpower and equipment to carry out your basic mission for your citizens.

One of the tools that you should be using in that planning is a needs and capabilities assessment. It is one of the first things that you need to do. This report is what gives you the facts you need to know about how well prepared your department is to carry out its primary function, whether that be a Fire/EMS or Law Enforcement agency. It gives you a “State of the Union” report, so to speak, about your department.

So, just exactly what is a “Needs and Capabilities Assessment,” and how do we go about doing one?

Full story

Juvenile, criminal, and civil justice grants

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Find grants in the DOJ Program Plan

Looking for law enforcement or justice grants? The Department of Justice’s FY 2020 Program Plan contains over 200 programs available.

Expect many programs to open from now through March, but other programs may be available under the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2020.

Find grants in the DoJ Program Plan

A good grants year starts with training

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Winner!

Starting the new year is all about starting right. A great way to help this year be better than last year? Get the grant-writing training you need to help you be competitive in your public safety grants.

First responders, emergency management agencies, and public safety agencies around the country have used our online and national training to help them go on to win grants big and small. And this year could be your turn in the winner’s circle too.

Whether online or at one of our convenient nationwide trainings, we look forward to helping you become the best grant writer you can be!

National grant-writing training

Winning AFG online grant training

Writing public safety grants online grant training

How confusing is that grant you’re working on?

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Tricky public safety grants? We can help.

Grants have their own language and complexity. They’re not always easy to understand. There are rules, details, and requirements that you have to follow to the letter… or else your grant won’t get funded.

Sometimes, though, those confusing grants can get pretty overwhelming. And when that happens, we’re here to help:

Contact us today


Check out our grant writing & review services


Sign up for an Annual Grant Services Package

Improve your grant game: Government offices, public safety support, and surplus auctions

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Use these 3 resources for your next grant

Find ALL Government Offices for State & Local Government

Having trouble finding web sites that relate to your state and local government? I wish I had known about this site a long time ago. The State and Local Government Internet directory provides convenient one-stop access to the websites of thousands of state agencies and city and county governments.

Go

Public Safety Foundation of America (PSFA)

The PSFA’s objective is to provide critical funding and technical support to public safety answering points (PSAPs) and local emergency response officials.

Go

Government Surplus Auctions at Government Liquidation

The government’s own auction and surplus eBay-style site, and the exclusive partner of the US Department of Defense for the sale of military surplus.

Go