The cover focus for this issue of Locksmith Ledger is school security. In it, you will learn how to better help schools keep students and staff safer through products and techniques that will also help you grow your business. However, can you guess what most school districts need more than anything to improve the safety in their facilities? Money! Did you know that you can be their conduit to funds?
Security is a top priority for school systems. But the reality is that funding to provide a safe, secure learning environment must often compete with traditional financing that pays for books and buildings. Fortunately, federal, state, private foundation and corporate grants are available to pay for security programs – if you know where to find them.
Grants.gov is a U.S. government site that includes more than 1,000 grant programs, allowing you to search for security grants and show your school customers how to apply to them online. Such grants include –
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
- Impact Aid
- Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFS) Grants
- Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
- Fire Prevention and Safety Grants (FP&S)
- Qualified School Construction Bonds, and
- Qualified Zone Academy Bonds.
Check with your manufacturer to see if they have developed expertise in grant-funding and can help you locate allocated grants for your school district and direct you to professional that can assist with security grant application. Let them help you analyze the options to find the one that's right for you.
$11.5 Billion is Available
These over $11.5 billion in federal, state, private foundation and corporate grants are available but can be hard to discover.
But, they can be found. For example, Allegion has augmented its grant-funding services to school superintendents, principals, facility managers, maintenance and locksmith personnel, and grant writers by creating a 24/7 cloud-based database of federal and state grant funding information. Not only does this database provide access to all public and private grants for public and private schools but it additionally details who in the school must write the grant and relays the type of equipment that the grant will help purchase. Schools districts can contact Allegion for information including daily, updated background on funds, funding news with expert insights and resources that schools can call on to learn how to best write the grant.
This database augments other funding tools for schools, which includes, on the Allegion website, grant toolkits, a grant sheet with timelines to assure that money is available for the system the school wants to buy and that the school is targeting the appropriate grant-giving groups for the types of security products they need. Allegion even provides a grant consultant.
Other manufacturers also provide programs to help the locksmith. Before calling on a school, see how your manufacturer can help both you and your school customer.
Cindy Mitchell is Allegion’s director of creative services
