Oklahoma Eligible to Apply for $20 million in Federal Homeland Security Funding
11/5/2008

City of Tulsa added to list of Urban Areas receiving Department of Homeland Security grant funding

Oklahoma City – Today the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the state of Oklahoma is eligible to apply for more than $20 million in federal grant programs. One significant change for Fiscal Year 2009 (FY 09), is the addition of Tulsa to the list of urban areas eligible to receive funding through Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant program. Tulsa was one of only two new urban areas added to the list for FY 09.

“We are pleased that DHS added Tulsa to the list of major metropolitan areas,” said Kerry Pettingill, Oklahoma Homeland Security Director. “Oklahoma City has been a UASI since 2005 and we have been working diligently to keep Oklahoma City on the list and elevate Tulsa to UASI status. We have always believed Oklahoma’s two major metropolitan areas have major national significance and now it appears DHS agrees.”

“The Tulsa Metropolitan Area will benefit greatly from this new opportunity,” said Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor. “We are grateful to the OKOHS for working diligently to help our community achieve this status. This funding will be utilized to the best of our ability to strengthen preparedness, prevention and response efforts - protecting not only our citizens but our businesses and infrastructure; our way of life here in Northeastern Oklahoma.”

The UASI program focuses on enhancing regional preparedness in major metropolitan areas. It is intended to assist participating urban collaborate regionally to prevent, protect, respond and recover from natural and manmade disasters. Since 2005, the Oklahoma City Urban Area has received more than $19 million in UASI funding.

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In addition to releasing the list of 62 Urban Areas, DHS also announced Oklahoma’s target allocations for the following grant programs:

Grant Program FY 09 Target Funding Allocation
Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP)
State Homeland Security Program $7,306,000
Urban Area Security Initiative – OKC $4,404,700
Urban Area Security Initiative – Tulsa $2,160,450
Metropolitan Medical Response System $ 642,442
Citizen Corps Program $ 212,653
Buffer Zone Protection Program $ 800,000
Emergency Management Performance Grant $4,464,531
Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant Program $ 427,352
TOTAL: $20,418,128

The Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security (OKOHS), as the State Administering Agency (SAA) will apply for the target funding allocation for each grant programs. Over the past three years the applications submitted by OKOHS have ranked among the highest in the country including a score of 97% in 2007 and 100% in 2008. No other state or territory application scored as high as Oklahoma in 2008.

Oklahoma is also eligible to apply for a share of $17 million in the Port Security Grant Program.

The HSGP application is due to DHS March 20, 2009.

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