Short answer, we don’t know. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security cannot formally announce any grant program before there is a federal budget and Congress gave itself up to April 28, 2017 to come to an agreement. Both the House and the Senate included the program in their appropriations, but they must still work out the funding level of the program (We want it raised to $25 million.). It could be that the grant deadline is only days, rather than weeks, after the grant announcement, so get started now! 

We don’t expect many changes in the application process this year. Our best advice, complete all of the preliminary steps below and a draft of your application (known as the “Investment Justification” or “IJ”) as soon as possible. If there are any changes, you will be able to concentrate on the changes.

One final piece of advice. If you think that your organization is at high risk because of ideology-based/spiritual/religious reasons, think about how you would document them, especially if you follow mission implementing policies or practices that may elevate your risk. If you are a religious corporation, the answer is clear. If not, there may be an opportunity to document the risk.