In response to overwhelming positive feedback given by you – our readers – to this previous article, we’ve compiled a companion list of (new or pending) grant funding for an additional 15 states below. Don’t see your State on this list or its companion piece from our last issue? Don’t fret! We expect even more states follow suit in the coming years. While you wait, check out the Department of Education or Department of Justice websites for other federal program offerings that may arise. You may even consider contacting your State Administering Agency (SAA) for information on school safety funding coming down the pike for your area.

In the wake of recent high profile school shootings across the US, Congress passed the Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act in June 2018. The bill included key provisions to improve school safety initiatives, providing students and teachers with the tools they need to recognize mental health crises, respond to violent attacks, mitigate risk exposure, and prevent future acts of violence. The $75 million in funding allocated to the STOP School Violence Act in 2018 is dedicated to three brand new grant programs.

On the same week more than 200,000 students and teachers marched on Washington to protest gun violence in schools, Congress and President Trump signed into law the 2018 Omnibus Spending Bill. The bill – which funds all federal programs for the remainder of the fiscal year - includes key provisions for expanding K-12 school safety programs.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 includes modest to significant increases across the board, increasing defense allocations by $26 billion and non-defense domestic appropriations by $33 billion. In total, Congress passed a budget that essentially rolls back the draconian cuts that were instituted in 2013 - known as sequestration - surpassing the administration’s request by $143 billion.

The current grants landscape features several law enforcement programs with language prioritizing projects that respond to a “precipitous increase in crime.”

Back in April 2017, our Grants Office LLC team members – Elizabeth Evans and Ashley Schultz – were featured in the Campus Safety (CS) Magazine. CS Magazine serves campus police chiefs, security directors, IT personnel, emergency managers and executive administrators involved in the public safety and security of major hospitals, schools and universities in the United States. See the full text of their article below. Check out http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/ to learn more!