Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission / National Center for Injury Prevention and Control of the Centers for Disease Control
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention anticipate that a pool and spa safety grant program will be available in fiscal year 2012. Consequently, both organizations are gauging eligibility for, and interest in, this important grant program by asking pool professionals to review the eligibility requirements and Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act grant program background information below and ask themselves two simple questions: 1. Based on the documentation provided, do you believe that your state or locality might be eligible to apply for a grant? 2. Would your state or locality be interested in applying for the VGB grant program? Documents that provide information about the grant program and the requirements for eligibility are here:• The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (Sections 1405 and 1406)• Model Legislation • Technical Guidance
If you think your state or locality might be eligible and would be interested in potentially applying, please send an e-mail to Elizabeth Leland: [email protected]. Based on interest, the organizations will determine if a conference call to discuss the particulars of the upcoming Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) would be productive. Notifying the organizations about your interest will allow them to send you information about the call. Please reply by September 2, 2011.
Participating in this call does not constitute eligibility for the grant program, nor does it obligate you to apply. Once the FOA is published, CPSC staff will conduct a review of actual legislation to determine eligibility. Instructions for the process to determine eligibility will be a part of the FOA. As background information, the VGB Act directs the CPSC to establish a program to award grants to be used primarily to hire and train enforcement personnel for the implementation and enforcement of a state or local government's swimming pool and spa safety law. The grants also can be used for the education of pool construction, installation, and service companies as well as pool owners, operators, and members of the public about pool safety standards and the prevention of drowning or entrapment of children using swimming pools and spas. To be eligible to apply for a grant, states and localities must have a statute in place that requires residential pool owners, as well as public pool operators, to meet certain swimming pool and spa requirements. If states or their political subdivisions have a statute that meets the minimum legal requirements, they would be eligible to apply for and potentially receive grant awards. The organizations anticipate that up to six grants, ranging in amounts from $100,000 to $1 million would be awarded. The grant program would be announced in the spring of 2012 and grants would be awarded in the summer of 2012.
