The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced the availability of $29.1 million to eligible state, local, tribal and territorial governments; national associations; higher-education institutions; non-profit organizations; and private-sector businesses as a part of the 2007 Competitive Training Grant Program. This program awards funds to competitively selected applicants to develop and deliver innovative training programs for high-priority national homeland security training needs.

CTGP provides funds to support training initiatives that are national in scope and further the department’s mission of preparing the nation to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from catastrophic events. The emphasis this fiscal year is on the development and delivery of courses in one of the following five focus areas:

• Public communications.
• Executive leadership of homeland security programs.
• Intergovernmental coordination and planning.
• Managing homeland security risks.
• Legal issues in preparation, response and recovery.

Eligible entities must apply for funding through the Grants.gov portal, accessible on at www.grants.gov, no later than 11:59 pm EDT on May 4. Registering with Grants.gov is a one-time process, but first time registration could take three to five business days to validate, confirm, and receive a user name and password. It is highly recommended to start the registration process as early as possible.

Since 2003, CTGP has developed more than 40 training programs targeting areas like community outreach; vulnerable populations and special needs; intelligence, information sharing, and fusion centers; cyber-terrorism; agriculture; regional collaboration and continuity of operations planning; transit, port and infrastructure protection; rural communities; law enforcement; and mass casualty.

For further information on CTGP, visit www.dhs.gov.