AFG Phone Interview and how to improve it

[gooselaketrain]

Received a phone call from a gentleman who was conducting a poll concerning my view of the AFG program yesterday. He stated that the poll was being conducted to determine if any changes could be made to make the program better and I believe this had to be on the up and up as to the fact he had information from my previous grants available to him.

He asked questions such as:

Were we able to access the internet?

Which section was the easiest to fill out? / Which was the most difficult?

If numbers were not available did we either guess or did we leave it at zero?

Asked about my knowledge of the SAFER and FP&S programs and he explained in detail items I was not aware of.

The interview lasted over 1/2 hour and had probably a dozen questions were asked.

The last question was what could be done to make the program better some of the points I gave were:

1) Communicate more efficently during the process and I gave the example of the RKB with the CEDAP program.

2) Inform departments early if they were removed from the process so that they could continue to find sources of funding.

3) I informed him that I believe all active fire departments who show need should be eligible for basic PPE equipment before other departments receive awards for things such as Fitness Equipment, Exhaust removal, and other secondary levels of equipment.

4) I also stated that I would like to see a formalized process to report abuse of the program (He stated that this was already being developed).

The purpose of this thread was to find out if anyone else received this call and also I was interested in what you had to say on how the program could be improved for you.

Take care.

[ktb9780]

Earlier this year ,in the interview featured here on Firehouse.com podcast Tom Herrington stated that they were begining to conduct surveys to find out why departments were not applying or why they were having no success. I in fact volunteered my website and company to assist them in doing so. It appears that this is what is happening and none too soon, if you ask me. I believe they will learn some valuable lessons from these interviews and I encourage everyone to take the time to participate. Their emailed surveys resulted in a dismal return of answers, so it appears they are going the phone interview route. Probabaly a better choice. By the way, your comments were right on the money.

[charles44]

Survey is Great!

I think the survey of the AFG program is great! Every program and/or process could be improved, rather it be in the private sector or public, so this survey allows us (the taxpayers and end users of the program) to be able to give suggestions to DHS on what they could do make the AFG more fair, efficient, and responsive. I'm thrilled to see that they care enough to try and improve the system, so the least we can do is give some honest answers to their questions.

So I agree, we need to give DHS some of our time and answer their questions if they call. And no, I'm not a DHS or federal employee. I'm like most everyone here, I try and administer these AFG's with their mind numbing rules. I for one would jump at the chance to give my point of view and I recommend that anytime we get the opportunity to have input on the process, we should take advantage of it. If not, we have no one to blame but ourselves if the system isn't "user friendly".