What is The Alliance for Community Solutions (ACS) ?

ACS was established for and is designed to enhance community welfare, emergency preparedness and response through a unique model of creating and sharing solutions and best practices. Our mission is dedicated to building a collaborative environment for communities to promote the shared daily use of practical, cost effective and sustainable solutions that are interagency-based and enhance the overall welfare and resiliency of the member jurisdictions, while helping to ensure public safety. Communities may include single jurisdictions, a group of jurisdictions or may be industry-based.

 

What is the purpose of ACS?

The purpose of ACS is to make communities more resilient and/or to better protect the safety of the public by providing shared best practices and innovative technical solutions and enhancements that will benefit the collective capabilities of ACS member communities.

 

How are ACS funds created?

As a 501c4 organization, ACS receives funds from a variety of sources, including ACS members themselves, which are used to further the goals and mission of the organization, including making grants available to Community Members. ACS may also receive funds designated specifically for use as grants to communities.  

 

Who is eligible to receive assistance through the ACS?

ACS Community Members are eligible to apply for and, if accepted, receive ACS grant funds. Non-member Communities may apply if they have an interest in the goals of ACS and it is allowed by the specific grant(s).

 

Who is an ACS Member?

An ACS Community Member is a jurisdiction or public organization actively participating in the ACS program. ACS members are encouraged but not required to participate in an ACS Chapter in order to be eligible for assistance through ACS. ACS Chapters are communities of interest developed by and for ACS member agencies. Three or more Community Members create chapters either based on geographic location, such as a region, or based on industry type, such as healthcare, schools or water districts. A single member agency can belong to one or more chapters of interest.

Grant requests from Community members affiliated with an ACS Chapter, requests that benefit the common good for the greatest number of ACS members and requests that include other sources of available funds will be given priority consideration. For more information on forming or becoming a member of an ACS chapter, contact ACS at (913) 839-7250 or submit a request for information at www.YourACS.org.

 

What type of assistance is available through ACS?

Funding may be used to support the needs of one or more Community Member(s) in achieving higher levels of resiliency and public safety and may include obtaining access to hardware or software, development of or finding new technologies or solutions for the common good of the ACS membership, spreading the reach of the ACS program or for any other purpose as may be deemed beneficial by the ACS Board in supporting the goals and mission of the ACS organization and its Community Members.

 

How is ACS assistance requested?

Available ACS grants will be posted on the ACS web site at www.YourACS.org/grants. If there are specific requirements associated with a given grant, those requirements also will be listed. 

Community Members  and non-members, if applicable, that meet grant offering requirement, and are interested in receiving grant funds must complete and return the ACS Grant Request Application, also available on the web site.

When complete, the ACS Grant Request Application needs to be returned to the ACS Grant Committee through the link on the ACS web site.  Requests will be considered at times specified in a given grant offering.  An ACS member may submit no more than one request per grant offering.

Letter(s) of determination will be issued at the conclusion of the review.  All funding decisions by the Grant Committee or ACS Board will be based on the then current availability of foundation funding and the rules associated with a given grant.  ACS reserves the rights to 1) decline to award any grant, 2) negotiate any award of assistance and 3) award grant(s) in whole or in part.

 

Requests may be submitted by email or by USPS mail as follows:

 

 

Email:    Grants@YourACS.org

 

 Mail:      ACS Grant Committee

                  Attn: Grant Committee

               19953 W 162nd Street

      Olathe, KS 66062

 

 

How will ACS Grant requests be evaluated?

Requests for ACS grants, if any, will be reviewed and evaluated by the ACS Board of Directors or their designated Grant Committee whenever grant funds are available.  The Board assumes that for the most part, the requests for assistance will exceed the amount available for assistance; therefore the request process will be competitive.

 

Requests that include element(s) listed below (not necessarily listed in priority order) will be given preference in the evaluation process. Preference will be given to those grant application(s) that:

• meet the specific grant requirements, if any;

• benefit the common good of the greatest number of current and future ACS Community Members;

• propose new and innovative solutions to meet current and emerging resiliency needs or in closing gaps in community resilience;

• enable ACS members to reduce costs, increase efficiency and strengthen their ability to sustain their community resilience/public safety capabilities;

• strengthen the capacity of ACS Community members to reach a broader segment of their community;

• are developed in consultation with other jurisdictions, organizations and planning groups and that promote coordination, cooperation, and sharing among organizations and/or eliminate duplication of effort(s); and,

• include other funding sources, such as participation by other jurisdictions, organizations or agencies.

 

A decision not to fund or partially fund a request will not necessarily reflect on the merits of the applicant or the value of the request / proposal.

 

Where can I find more information regarding ACS?

Requests for additional information regarding ACS, ACS Chapters, or ACS Grants can be found by contacting ACS at (913) 839-7250 or by email at Grants@YourACS.org

 

 

 

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