Director of Public Safety Mark James encourages smaller communities to apply for this unique federal funding opportunity to improve public safety.
"I am concerned with the number of counties within Missouri that have little or no ability to receive vital early warning weather messages," James said. "As a safety measure, we encourage communities that do not have outdoor warning equipment to consider this grant opportunity."
The Remote Community Alert Systems Program is an effort by the National Weather Service (NOAA/NWS) to provide outdoor alerting technologies in remote communities underserved or unserved by commercial mobile wireless services to receive emergency weather messages. This program is a contributing element of the federal Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act.
The program is designed to complement other agencies contributions to that national warning effort. There is no requirement for local matching funds to be contributed, but the grants are limited to a one or two year cycle.
Applications must be received by the Department of Commerce by April 11, 2008, and must be submitted through the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). The grant application can be found at www.grants.gov, or by contacting SEMA at (573) 526-9236.
