In response to the country’s current economic crisis, on Feb. 17, President Barrack Obama signed into law H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In total, the bill calls for $787 billion in federal spending on everything from energy to public housing. The sectors receiving the most attention, however, are education and healthcare, so it stands to reason that the safety and security practitioners in these sectors should benefit from the infusion of resources.
The act provides for $120 billion in investments in infrastructure and science; $14.2 billion in health; $105.9 billion in education and training; $53.6 billion for the state fiscal stabilization fund; and $7.8 in law enforcement, oversight and other programs; as well as other spending. Just how these resources will be allocated is in the process of being determined by about 26 federal agencies, and the guidelines are due by May 20.
Campuses Urged to Act Quickly
Many of the grants will be from existing programs, so much of the criteria is already set and understood by campus stakeholders. That said, campuses are encouraged not wait for all of the information and guidance to be available. The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), for example, is encouraging all interested and eligible applicants to register now for funding. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes $4 billion in Department of Justice (DOJ) grant funding to enhance state, local and tribal law enforcement efforts.
Some of the specific DOJ investments include:
- $1 billion to fund local police officers through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program
- $2 billion in the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program through the OJP to fund grants for state and local programs that combat crime
- $225 million in Violence Against Women Act Grants, as well as $100 million through the OJP for grants to assist victims of crime
- $225 million in competitive Byrne grants for local law enforcement assistance
But according to NSI Managing Director of Technology Roy Cales, campus public safety officials who only focus on the law enforcement portion of the stimulus package are making a mistake. If they haven’t done so already, they must immediately collaborate with other stakeholders, conduct team meetings, do their site assessments and take a whole-campus approach to ensure that safety and security are included in all appropriate projects and that this inclusion helps the institution run efficiently.
“Educational and healthcare campuses are generally very good at pulling down grants, but they tend to do it in very distinct pockets,” says Cales. “The campus security folks will look at law enforcement, maybe a little bit of IT if they are worried about cyber security and maybe a little bit of homeland security resources if they’re looking for video. With the stimulus act, they have to look at the institution as a whole to figure out how they can maximize the resources they pull down, especially different dollars when you get into the modernization funds.”
“For example, if your campus is looking at some of the green initiatives, when you pull down those dollars, there is a huge infrastructure that has to be put in that will take care of a lot of the physical security for those buildings,” adds Cales. “It’s usually the underlying infrastructure that costs so much. Campus security and law enforcement can leverage other programs to provide that infrastructure.”
The same approach to the cross-application of resources can be applied to the stimulus package’s investments in science, which could include several proposed shovel-ready animal research laboratories and other campus construction projects.
The healthcare sector may have to wait longer for guidance. “Health and human services is always the slowest moving part of the federal government, so those grants will be the ones we see the criteria for in June,” says Cales. Still, much like the science investments, there will be an opportunity for hospitals to leverage their IT for safety and security purposes.
3 Things to Remember
Here are some other steps K-12 districts, colleges and healthcare institutions can take to ensure they fully benefit from the stimulus package:
- Ensure accountability and transparency: A grant application must specifically address how the money will be spent and that it will not be wasted. An individual or office should be assigned to ensure this.
- Address job creation/retention and purchasing: Because the point of the stimulus package is to put people back to work and stimulate the economy, the proposed project should create or maintain jobs. The application should describe how this will be achieved.
- Provide a demonstration project: The federal government is looking for successful K-12, university and hospital projects that can be replicated. Cales recommends campuses propose these types of projects early in order to increase their chances of being funded.
As more guidance is provided on how the stimulus package will be implemented, Campus Safety will be posting details on www.CampusSafetyMagazine.com. Also, Roy Cales will be a keynote speaker at the Campus Safety Conference April 28 and will share the latest information on this developing story. To register for the conference, please visit www.CampusSafetyConference.com
or call (800) 576-8788.