Enhance School Safety Incident Response (ESSIR) Grant

The ESSIR Program is a Colorado state-level funding opportunity focused on improving law enforcement school safety incident response in public schools. The program guidelines state that the funding announcement responds to needs identified by State Legislators concerning school safety incident response. The program provides disbursements to eligible nonprofit organizations to enhance law enforcement response to school safety incidents. The stated purpose of the funds is specifically to develop and deliver school safety incident response training programs for Colorado law enforcement personnel. The guidelines identify the Office of School Safety in connection with required prior approval for salary increases, but they do not provide a fuller grantmaking agency name or a named program contact. Eligible applicants are nonprofit organizations that are exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to collaborating with specific local education providers or first responders. In addition, an applicant must have experience providing law enforcement training for school safety incident response, have experience working with law enforcement agencies and other first responders, and identify in its application the local law enforcement personnel or first responders that will participate in the proposed law enforcement school safety incident response training programs. The program identifies $240,000 as the Total Award. The guidelines do not state an individual minimum award, individual maximum award, or number of awards, so those values cannot be established from the provided source. Allowable expenses include direct costs for training sessions administered to Colorado law enforcement officers and administrative costs of up to 10 percent for grant-related expenses, including salaries and benefits. Travel expenses may be reimbursed for participants residing more than 100 miles from the training site, using applicable U.S. General Services Administration rates. Hotel, mileage, and per diem expenses are subject to the applicable GSA limitations, including lodging rates for the location of the traveler's stay. The guidelines establish several spending and compliance restrictions. Legal, banking, and insurance fees are unallowable, as are financial system purchases, building maintenance, capital improvements, food expenses, and training outside the stated program purpose. Each training event must have at least 10 participants. Rosters must contain participant names, email addresses, and employers, while training agendas must specify instructional hours. Time and Effort Reports are mandatory for all grant-funded salaries, and salary increases require prior approval from the Office of School Safety. Cumulative costs exceeding $5,000 must follow State of Colorado Procurement rules, including a minimum of three competitive quotes. Sole source procurement is governed by State of Colorado fiscal rules, requires a determination that only one source is available for the needed goods or services, and requires prior approval. The Announcement and Application Handbook became available on August 14, 2026, and the submission deadline is September 11, 2026, at 5:00 PM MST. The provided guidelines do not identify a letter of intent, concept paper, pre-proposal, notice of intent, or other pre-application gating deadline. They also do not provide a submission portal, submission URL, application form requirements, narrative questions, required uploads, evaluation criteria, or named contact with an email address or telephone number. Funding recommendations are scheduled to be announced on September 25, 2026. No recurring annual, biennial, quarterly, or other future application cycle is stated in the source. The award period of performance is October 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. During implementation, recipients must comply with the training, participant documentation, salary, procurement, travel, and sole source requirements established in the guidelines. The program also requires monthly programmatic and financial reporting. Those reports are due on the 15th day of the month following the close of each reporting month. Together, these requirements establish ongoing financial and programmatic oversight throughout the stated performance period.

Demonstrate directly relevant law enforcement school safety incident response training experience and experience working with law enforcement agencies and other first responders; clearly identify the local law enforcement or first responders that will participate in the proposed training.