Nearly $3 million in homeland security grants awarded throughout Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 3, 2017) — After an extensive evaluation and review process, the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security (KOHS) announced Tuesday 114 grant recipients spread across 77 counties will receive a total of nearly $3 million under Kentucky’s 2017 Homeland Security Grant Program to purchase law enforcement, fire and emergency services equipment.

“My greatest responsibility as governor is to ensure our citizens and resources are well-protected,” said Gov. Matt Bevin. “To do this effectively, homeland security grants are allocated without regard to political preference or influence. As a result of our objective process, safety and security throughout the commonwealth are being maximized.”

For the 2017 federal fiscal year, KOHS will administer $2,869,600 in U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants to city and county governments, fire protection districts and area development districts to purchase first responder equipment, communications equipment and critical infrastructure protection. This represents a 9.6% increase over 2016 HSGP grant awards.

“Every year, the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security shoulders the heavy burden of soliciting, processing, evaluating and prioritizing many more grant requests than funding is available to fulfill,” said KOHS Executive Director John Holiday. “As such, it is imperative that precious grant dollars are put to use where they can have the greatest impact for the first responders of the commonwealth and the people they serve throughout Kentucky.”

The grant process is extremely competitive. For the current grant cycle, KOHS received 259 applications requesting $13 million, more than four times the available funds. Ninety-nine Kentucky counties applied for grant funding in the current cycle, and the 114 grants awarded will be spread throughout 77 counties.

“I wish we could offer funding to every county and city within the commonwealth,” Holiday stated. “Each is dealing with their own financial challenges. However, we must apply critical thinking and apply a regional approach to allocate money based on utmost need and greatest public safety impact.”

For a complete listing of the 2017 Homeland Security Grant Program awardees, visit: http://homelandsecurity.ky.gov/Pages/Grants.aspx.