COPS in Schools Grant Program

U.S. Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice is accepting applications for its Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in Schools Grant Program. The program is designed to help law enforcement agencies fund the hiring of community policing officers to work in schools. It builds an incentive for law enforcement agencies to build working relationships with schools and use community policing to combat school violence.
ELIGIBILITY: Local law enforcement agencies are eligible.
FUNDING: COPS in Schools will award grants to provide for a designated portion of the salary and benefits of each new officer hired over the three year grant period. The maximum award per officer is $125,000 with any remainder to be paid with state or local funds.
DEADLINE: June 15, 2001.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call the Department of Justice Response Center at (800) 421-6770 or visit their Web site at www.usdoj.gov

Office of National Drug Control Policy/U.S. Department of Justice

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) are accepting applications for the 2001 Drug-Free Communities Support Program to reduce substance abuse among youth and, over time, among adults. Programs must address the factors in a community that serve to increase or decrease the risk of substance abuse and establish and strengthen collaboration among communities, including federal, state, local and tribal governments and private non-profit agencies to support community coalition efforts to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth.
ELIGIBILITY: Community coalitions whose members have worked together on substance abuse reduction initiatives for a period of not less than six months are eligible to apply.
FUNDING: Approximately 144 grants of up to $100,000 will be made.
DEADLINE: June 25, 2001.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: The application is available from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at (800) 638-8736 or the ONDCP Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse at (800) 666-3332. The application package is available at OJJDP’s Web site: http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org (click on “Grants & Funding”) and ONDCP’s Web site at http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/prevent/drugfree.html

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is accepting applications for the Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) Program. The main purpose of this program is to assist in establishing or carrying out outreach and applied research activities addressing the problems of urban areas. HUD also looks to the program to encourage structural change, both within an institution of higher education and in the way the institution relates to its neighbors. Funding under this program is used to establish and operate local Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC). The five key concepts that a COPC program should include are:
1)  Outreach, technical assistance, and applied research should be provided to neighborhoods and neighborhood-based organizations based on what the residents decide is needed, rather than what the institution concludes is appropriate for the neighborhood;
2)  Community-based organizations and residents should be empowered by the project and be partners throughout the life of the project and beyond;
3)  Applied research should be related to the outreach activities and be used to influence activities within the grant period or shortly after it ends. HUD will not fund research without practical application;
4)  The assistance provided should be primarily by faculty, students, or to a limited extent, by neighborhood residents or community-based organizations funded by the institution;
5)  Programs should be part of the institution’s broader effort to meet its urban mission, and be supported by its senior officials.
HUD will award two kinds of grants this year – New Grants to applicants who have never received a COPC grant before and New Directions Grants to fund previous COPC recipients to undertake new directions in their activities.
ELIGIBILITY: Accredited public and private non-profit
institutions of higher education granting two- and four-year degrees are eligible.
FUNDING: Up to $6.4 million is available to fund approximately 16 New Grants and up to $1.2 million is available to fund approximately eight New Directions Grants.
DEADLINE: June 1, 2001.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call the HUD SuperNOFA Information Center at (800) HUD-8929. When requesting an application kit, refer to COPC and provide your name, address (including zip code), and telephone number (including area code). The application may also be downloaded from http://www.hud.gov

U.S. Department of Agriculture

The United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, has announced its Community Facilities Loan program to assist in the development of essential community facilities in rural areas. A Community Facilities Loan would be approved to finance the following type of activities: Health Care – clinics, ambulatory care centers, hospitals, and nursing homes; Telecommunications – medical and educational telecommunication links; Public Safety – communication centers, police and fire stations, fire trucks, rescue vehicles, and jails; Public Services – adult and child care centers, town halls, courthouses, libraries, museums, schools and fairgrounds.
Rural Development also guarantees loans made by a bank, savings and loan, insurance company, Federal Land Bank, or other qualified lender against a certain percentage of loss under this program.
ELIGIBILITY: Rural towns of 20,000 people or less are eligible.
FUNDING: Funds are available as loans.
DEADLINE: There is no deadline.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact any Rural Development Office listed in the telephone book under the U.S. Department of Agriculture or contact Eileen McGrath at (315) 477-6434.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, has announced the Federal Fire/Rescue Ambulance Loan Program. This program makes loans available to replace existing facilities, equipment, and vehicles that provide service to rural areas of 20,000 or less. Rural Development can finance ambulances and some rescue vehicles at a 4.5% rate of interest. Other firefighting vehicles and equipment can be financed at a slightly higher rate of interest depending on the median income of the service area. Rural Development has a "fast track" system to speed up the application process.
ELIGIBILITY: Rural towns of 20,000 people or less are eligible.
FUNDING: Funds are available as loans.
DEADLINE: There is no deadline.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact any Rural Development Office listed in the telephone book under the U.S. Department of Agriculture or contact Eileen McGrath at (315) 477-6434.

The Grantsmanship Center
Buffalo

The Grantsmanship Training Program is coming to Buffalo, July 16-20, hosted by the Diocese of Buffalo & Junior League of Buffalo. The five-day program is geared towards individuals in the nonprofit community and government agencies. The class is kept at a maximum of 26 participants. The cost of the program is $675 ($625 for each additional registrant from the same agency).
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Jeane Hawthorne at (716) 847-8372. Or to register, contact The Grantsmanship Center at (800) 421-9512. You might also want to check out The Center’s library of federal grant proposals on CD-ROM—which lets you download the text of top ranked proposals for dozens of major programs. More information is at the Web site: http://www.tgci.com

Grants Action News by E-mail

If you are interested in receiving the Grants Action News by e-mail every month, write to signup@assembly.state.ny.us. Please include your name, e-mail address, and mailing address, including your agency or organization.
If you are also interested in receiving timely legislative updates from the Assembly Internet Information Service, indicate your area of interest (such as education, economic development, local government) in your note. Response time will depend on the volume of interest.

The Catalog of State and Federal Programs Aiding New York’s Local Governments is now available on the New York State Assembly Web site: www.assembly.state.ny.us/Reports/Local/1999/ The catalog, which is published by the New York State Legislative Commission on State-Local Relations, contains information on hundreds of funding programs available to local governments and agencies.