FY 2020 BJA Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding Program

Posted on April 16, 2020 by First Responder Grants

Funding to help LEAs prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus

Grant Website

Grant Guidelines

Funding Opportunity Number: BJA-2020-18553

CFDA #16.034

Grant Deadline: May 29, 2020

$850 million for equipment, PPE, hiring, and more

The Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding (CESF) Program will provide funding to assist eligible states, local units of government, and tribes in preventing, preparing for, and responding to the coronavirus.

What this grant does for your agency

Funds awarded under the CESF Program must be utilized to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus. Allowable projects and purchases include, but are not limited to:

Overtime
Equipment
Law enforcement and medical personal protective equipment (PPE)
Hiring
Supplies (such as gloves, masks, sanitizer)
Training
Travel expenses (particularly related to the distribution of resources to the most impacted areas)
Addressing the medical needs of inmates in state, local, and tribal prisons, jails, and detention centers

Approximate Total Funding: $850 million. See State and Local Allocations for CESF funds

Expected Maximum Number of Awards: 1,873

Only a limited number of grants will be awarded.

Grant Eligibility

For full eligibility details, see the Grant Guidelines:

States, U.S. Territories, the District of Columbia, units of local government, and federally recognized tribal governments that were identified as eligible for funding under the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 State and Local Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program are eligible to apply under the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding (CESF) Program solicitation. NOTE: Only the State Administering Agency that applied for FY 2019 JAG funding for a state/territory may apply for the state allocation of CESF funding.

About the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)

BJA helps to make American communities safer by strengthening the nation’s criminal justice system: Its grants, training and technical assistance, and policy development services provide state, local, and tribal governments with the cutting edge tools and best practices they need to reduce violent and drug-related crime, support law enforcement, and combat victimization. More

Grant Deadline

Grant applications are due no later than 11:59 p.m. EST, May 29, 2020.

Apply

Apply for the FY 2020 BJA Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding Program

Federal Public Safety Grants: Do this before you apply

Posted on February 6, 2020 by First Responder Grants

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:

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

FEMA GO guide to apply for and manage grants

Posted on October 15, 2019 by First Responder Grants

The Fund Finder News by Kurt Bradley

FEMA is transitioning its grant applications and grant management to a new system called the FEMA Grant Outcomes system, or FEMA GO. From now on, FEMA GO is how departments like yours will apply for and manage public safety grants such as Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG), Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response Grants (SAFER), and Fire Prevention & Safety Grants (FP&S).

How FEMA GO should benefit your organization

The intent behind FEMA GO is to have grants be managed in a more streamlined, user-friendly system. Over time, organizations like yours will be able to manage FEMA grants and other programs in one place.

This is a new system, and it is a big change. However, the new rules of the road are the new rules of the road. Once you are up and running, you should be ready to work in the new system to apply for and manage grants.

How to register on FEMA GO

Of course, first you’ve got to get set up.

For starters, the same E-BIZ contact for your department’s SAM.gov account has to set up your FEMA GO. (Note that FEMA GO doesn’t replace SAM but works in conjunction with SAM.)

FEMA has put together a step-by-step guide to help you register. According to FEMA, registering should take about 15 minutes.

Get the FEMA GO Registration Guide

Set up your organization and your grant writer on FEMA GO

As part of setting up your organization, you’ll also need to authorize your grant writer to be able to access any grants or applications in your account.

Once your account is set up, you’ll see a button that says “Add an AOR,” or, “Authorized Organizational Representative.” In order to access grants and account information relevant to your grants, you’ll need to add your grant writer as an AOR.

Important: An AOR is not the same thing as a contact. You can set up anyone as a contact, but contacts are not authorized to see, edit, or manage your grants and grant applications. Only AORs can view a grant and have access to the parts of the account they need in order to help with the grant.

The SAM.gov E-Biz contact who sets up the FEMA GO account must also set the AOR. In the case of the grant writer, the person must be set as an AOR, not simply as another grant contact.

Once the AOR is set, the AOR grant writer will be sent an email notification that they’ve been added as an AOR, and then the grant writer should be able to access your department’s grants in FEMA GO.

Use FEMA GO to apply for grants, accept awards, and manage grants

FY 2018 AFG, SAFER, and FP&S are the first grants to be managed inside FEMA GO. As FY 2019 programs open for applications, those grants will also be applied for, monitored, and managed in FEMA GO. During 2020, departments can expect older grants under management to also be migrated into FEMA GO.

Updates for FEMA GO and FY 2019 fire grants

FEMA GO is a new system, and modifications and fixes are still underway.

As of Oct. 4, 2019, modules such as “Payment Request” are still in progress. Once deployed, this function will allow you to access and use your grant funds.

FY 2019 grant application periods will be announced at a later date. At this time, our understanding is that FY 2019 AFG will open during first week of December, and it will run through mid-January. Final dates have not been announced yet.

FEMA GO is a big change for how departments apply for and manage grants. However, before you know it .you can be up and running on FEMA GO, and hopefully new grants plus management of your current grants will be easier.

Questions or concerns? Contact our Certified Grant Consultants today.

Will the border wall take your fire grant funding? New law says no

Posted on February 19, 2019 by First Responder Grants

FDs, if you’ve been worried about grant funding getting reallocated for the border wall, some recent news should set you at ease.

President Trump has signed into law the Consolidated Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations Act. This $333 billion spending package includes multi-million dollar increases to many grant programs. Here’s a breakdown of funding levels for various grants and agencies:

* AFG and SAFER have been funded at $350M FOR EACH PROGRAM, which is level funding from 2018

* State Fire Assistance program funded at $81 million, which is up $1 million from FY18

* State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) funded at $525 million, which is $18 million up from FY18

* United States Fire Administration (USFA) funded at $44.179 million (plus another $1.5 million for National Fire Academy infrastructure improvements). FY18 funding was $42.9 million

* Urban Area Search and Rescue System funded at $45.18 million, which is $10.15 million up from FY18

* Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) funded at $640 million, which is $10 million up from FY18

* Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) program funded at $17 million, which is $1 million up from FY18

The upshot?

These crucial grant programs are healthy. You can safely ignore any doom-and-gloom nonsense circulating in the media or around the station table.

If you haven’t already, get working on those SAFER applications, start prepping for FY19 AFG, and look into any other Federal program that might benefit your department.

Congress and the President have done their job on allocating the funds. Now it’s your turn to get to work on winning those grants!

FY 2019 Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response Grants (SAFER)

Posted on February 15, 2019 by First Responder Grants

$350,000,000 in fire jobs grants

Grant Website

Grant Guidelines

Grant Application Period: 8:00 a.m. ET, Friday, February 15, 2019 — 5:00 p.m. ET., Friday, March 22, 2019

NOFO Number: DHS-18-GPD-083-000-99

300 awards estimated for US Fire Service Organizations

The purpose of the SAFER Grant Program is to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to assist in increasing the number of firefighters to help communities meet industry minimum standards and attain 24-hour staffing to provide adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards, and to fulfill traditional missions of fire departments.

The objective of the SAFER grant program is to assist local fire departments with staffing and deployment capabilities to respond to emergencies and assure that communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards. Local fire departments accomplish this by improving staffing and deployment capabilities so they may more effectively and safely respond to emergencies. With enhanced staffing levels, recipients should experience a reduction in response times and an increase in the number of trained personnel assembled at the incident scene.

Kurt says…

These are the areas where the NOFO indicated that the information is different from previous years

Applicants may now request to waive the position cost limit for new firefighters.

Pursuant to IB 427, applicants must indicate when they apply for an award whether they are requesting a waiver and what requirement they seek to waive.

The simplified acquisition threshold increased to $250,000.

The definition of “new recruit.”

Updated prioritization and eligibility tables.