Fire Act Grant. what do I need to do?

[mhendrick]

What do I need to do to be selected for a grant from FEMA. This is the second year and so far nothing. This is discouraging..

[waterboy1]

Keep your chin up and your fingers crossed. This is the 3rd year that we have applied and have not been successful yet. It is frustrating at best, but we keep hoping.
Good Luck

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

There's no real secret. Find a justifiable project, write an application following the rules, tips & tricks from others, and FEMA's own recommedations, and hope for the best. Crying poor, asking for the moon, and other such long shots are worse than long shots: they're pretty much guaranteed NOs. It will take a lot of research on the grant writer's part to make a solid attempt. I don't know about anyone else but I had about 70-80 hours worth of work done on last year's successful app. This year was more of the same. The best approach is to realize that just because it's a government program it's not a welfare process, it's a competitive grant program. You have to make a solid and valid cost-benefit project for a particular problem that you're having within your department. As the rules and recommendations say, mutual aid, RIT, and overall preparedness are good buzzwords, but the project still has to address the need.

I understand the frustration, but then again, that's the way life is. Hang in there, since there's no word of Dear John letters from anyone, you're still in the game so don't give up hope yet.

Brian