Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP)

Purpose

The State Homeland Security Program provides assistance to state and local entities to prepare for terrorist attacks involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD). It authorizes purchase of specialized equipment to enhance state and local agencies’ capability in preventing and responding to WMD incidents and other terrorist incidents, and provides funds for protecting critical infrastructure of national importance. This program provides funds for designing, developing, conducting, and evaluating terrorism response exercises; developing and conducting counter-terrorism training programs; and updating and implementing each state’s homeland security strategy.

Eligible Expenditures

Funds from this program are also used to plan, design, develop, conduct, and evaluate exercises that train first responders, and to assess the readiness of state and local jurisdictions to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks. Exercises must be threat- and performance-based, in accordance with G&T’s Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) manuals. Allowable training costs include establishment of new training programs within existing training academies, universities, and junior colleges. States are the only authorized applicants, with the following state and local entities eligible to receive and use funding:

• emergency management agencies or offices, homeland security agencies or offices, fire departments
• law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services, hazardous material-handling personnel
• public works agencies, public health agencies, governmental administrative agencies or offices, and
• public safety communication agencies or offices

Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program (LETPP)

This is no longer a stand-alone grant program. However, the State Homeland Security Grant Program requires that 25 percent of the HSGP funding must be spent on LETPP activities.

Beginning in Fiscal Year 2004, Congress directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish a local law enforcement terrorism prevention program for states and localities. LETPP provides funds to support activities to establish and enhance state and local law enforcement efforts to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks. In accordance with their approved homeland security plans, states must allocate 80 percent of the grant funds to localities.

 

Authorized program activities include the following:

• information sharing to preempt terrorist attacks
• target hardening to reduce vulnerability of identified high value targets
• recognition of potential or actual threats, and
• interdiction of terrorists and terrorist cells

Eligible Expenditures for LETPP

Approved costs for the program include, but are not limited to, personnel costs (overtime as approved by the state administering agency), equipment, computer systems, and related expenses. State and local law enforcement entities are eligible to receive funding from this program and there is no matching requirement.

 

 

Purpose

The MMRS program supports the integration of emergency management, health, and medical systems into a coordinated response to mass casualty incidents caused by any hazard. Successful MMRS grantees reduce the consequences of a mass casualty incident during the initial period of a response by having augmented existing local operational response systems before the incident occurs. The MMRS program assists DHS-selected jurisdictions with funding to develop plans and training, and conduct exercises related to terrorist attacks. Funding is intended to enhance jurisdictions’ capability in responding to WMD mass casualty events.

Additionally, the program is used to prepare identified jurisdictions for mass casualty incidents involving hazardous materials, epidemic disease outbreaks, or natural disasters. The program intends to promote coordination among first responders, medical treatment resources, public health officials, emergency management offices, volunteer organizations, and other local entities to reduce the catastrophic effects of a terrorist attack.

Funding Recipients

HSEMD is the State Administrative Agency (SAA)  and the only entity eligible to apply to FEMA for MMRS funds. Funding is passed through the SAAs across the U.S. to the 124 recipients who qualify for the MMRS program nationwide, and MMRS funding is divided evenly among the 124 MMRS jurisdictions. The greater Des Moines metropolitan area is the only MMRS jurisdiction in Iowa.

Purpose

Within the USA Freedom Corps, the Citizen Corps Program was created to coordinate volunteer organizations with the mission to make local communities safe and prepared to respond to any emergency situation. Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) is the only program that the Citizen Corps administers that funds volunteer first responders. CERT trains citizens to be prepared to respond to emergency situations in their own local communities. CERTs are groups of volunteers within communities who are trained by professional first responders to assist in the event of a manmade or natural disaster. CERT volunteers give support to first responders, provide immediate assistance to victims, and organize spontaneous volunteers at a disaster site. The program authorizes the funding to provide training to CERT volunteers.

Allocation Methodology

Citizen Corps Program (CCP) allocations are determined using the USA PATRIOT Act formula, which specifies that all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico will receive a minimum of 0.75 percent of the total available grant funding, and that four territories (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands) will receive a minimum of 0.25 percent of the total available grant funding. The balance of CCP funds will be distributed on a population-share basis. In addition to CCP allocations, states are encouraged to fully leverage HSGP resources to accomplish the Citizen Corps mission.

The Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division is automatically allocated Citizen Corps monies each year from the federal government. Iowa counties receive Citizen Corps dollars from this pool of money via HSEMD, however, they must apply for this funding.