New York Air Quality Federal Grant - Who Knows??

Anybody have any answers??

Last year the Federal Government allocated $3 billion dollars for a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Grant to the citizens of New York. Because of the air quality after 9/11, each New York household is eligible (it's still in effect up until Nov. 30th, 2002) for up to $1,600 reimbursement toward purchasing their own air treatment system, vacuum, and wet/dry vac (the systems are HEPA 'closed' systems that recycle all exhaust and filter air at the same time).

How did the Gov't let New Yorkers know about the Grant?

Up to this point, only 104,000 people in New York have applied and approx. 95,000 have been accepted (that's only $15,200,000 worth, even if every household used the full $1,600!). What will happen to the other $2+ billion after Nov. 30, 2002?

Thanks for any help on these questions. I specialize in offering the air treatment products to the Grant-qualified New Yorkers and spreading the word about the Grant and would like to be able to answer people's questions better. If you're a New Yorker I'd especially appreciate your input.

My site: http://www.FEMAProgram.com

FEMA Grant site:

Like everything the Federal government does, a record of grant availability is published in the Federal Register. Additional advertising budgets for Feds are far and few in between.

Now if the media, university extension or private companies wish to advertise, you can scream it from the highest hilltop on your own money, courtesy of the First Amendment.

It will sit in a sequestered account (sequestered = the Feds put it aside and count it as already spent) until the end of the fiscal year. (I thought it was Sept. 30, though I could be wrong).

If there is still money left over at the end of the fiscal year, FEMA may use leftover money to fund proposals which would satisfy the objectives of the original grant (ie., contract it to private companies or university extension to distribute to the public).

If they can't find any satisfactory proposals, or the fiscal year runs out before all the paperwork can be filed, the grant may be renewed by the original funding agency. However, in a fiscally tight year, unused money is more likely to be returned to the national treasury and absorbed by other programs.

Welcome to the wild wooly world of federal procurement.

If you are interested in acquiring some of this grant money, I would suggest that you contact your university extension office. They will have the experience with writing procurement grants. Good luck.