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What’s New for AFG Fiscal Year 2009 Part I
For the fiscal year 2009, DHS has released details of the AFG federal grant program. This year the funds allocated are $565 million. That is a $5 million increase from the year 2008. This includes $35 million of the funds allocated for the AFG program from the Fire Prevention and Safety (FP & S) program. This information is the first to be released and is in the form of a presentation. There was no narrative to go along with the facts and numbers.
New for this year is the AFG requirement of a local cash match based on the population of the community to be served. For communities over 50,000 people, a 20% cash match is required. For communities with a population between 20,000 and 50,000, a 10% cash match is required and for a population under 20,000 there is only a 5% cash match required. Unchanged from last year is the maximum federal funding versus population amounts – 500,000 people or less have a max of $1 million, 500,000 to 1,000,000 population areas have a limit of $1,750,000, and more than a million people have an upper limit of $2,750,000 in federal funds allowed under the AFG program.
In the review process this year, an emphasis on population protected and call volume was mentioned. This has always been included but in this presentation, this point was in large letters to get the point across. Remember this when filling out your application.
Training is again stressed this year. Each application must include the percentage of active firefighters trained to NFPA 1001. If your department has not attained 100% compliance, you will have to explain how you will get accomplished.
To help in the review process when it comes to determining the needs of an applicant’s department, all applications this year must include a detailed inventory of existing equipment and protective clothing. Age of said equipment and condition should be included in this list. A high priority this year is the replacement of old Self Contained Breathing Apparatuses (SCBA). Those with SCBA that are in compliance with NFPA 1997 standards are of low priority.
To be continued…
Click Here for Help with: AFG Grant Application.
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