MARC News

FY2007 Homeland Security Grant Announced

July 30, 2007

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently announced a grant award of $8,350,000 to the Greater Kansas City area. The grant is part of the department’s Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), which will distribute nearly $750 million to 46 metropolitan areas in Fiscal Year 2007.

Since 2003, the Kansas City region has received about $40 million through the UASI program. The Regional Homeland Security Coordinating Committee (RHSCC) allocates the funds to promote regional preparedness, using an all-hazards approach to investments that will help local agencies not only prepare for and respond to potential terrorist threats, but also to natural disasters and accidents.

For FY 2007, the Department of Homeland Security allocated funds based on two factors: risk and effectiveness. DHS determined a grant amount for each urban area based on its analysis of the region’s relative risk, and then raised or lowered that amount based on the anticipated effectiveness of the region’s proposal. Applications were evaluated by peer review panels of subject matter experts from across the country. The Kansas City region’s application, developed by RHSCC members and subcommittee co-chairs, received a rating of 96 points on a scale of 100, placing it in the 91st percentile of all applicants. The average score was 83.

“We’re pleased that DHS acknowledged the proposal we put together with such a high score,” said Erin Lynch, MARC’s Homeland Security and Emergency Services Program Director. “The only part of the process that the region had the ability to influence was the effectiveness portion of the application.”

The FY2007 application included funding requests for projects such as regional interoperable communications, training and exercise programs, disease surveillance, medical surge and mass care capabilities, the Terrorism Early Warning center, and citizen preparedness efforts.

The RHSCC’s Resource subcommittee will meet to make final recommendations for the FY2007 UASI budget, which will then be submitted to the MARC Board of Directors, as well as state and federal officials, for approval.

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