Since 1997 POST has applied for, and been the recipient of, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grant funds to develop and present domestic violence and sexual assault training to peace officers and public safety dispatchers. The grant originates from Federal funds provided to the CA Office of Emergency Services (OES) that serves as the distributor and grantor of record.
The grant has historically been administered by a POST management fellow or a member of POST staff. POST contracted with San Diego Regional Training Center (SDRTC) to present the courses, paid SDRTC in response to their invoices and was then reimbursed from the grant quarterly.
Each year of the grant POST was required to make an in-kind match of 33.333% of the total grant amount through Letters of Agreement (LOAs) for all Subject Matter Expert (SME) meetings, instructor travel for the course presentations and Training Reimbursement Requests (TRRs) for the students attending. This ranged from $120,000 to $150,000 per year depending on the actual grant amount.
In FY 2014-15 OES advised that there would be new and extensive requirements for the application of grant funds. The Commission determined the new requirements would put a substantial staffing and financial burden on POST and declined to request grant funds for that fiscal year.
SDRTC staff indicated they would be willing to apply for the grant; however, as a non-profit they would not be able to meet the total in-kind match requirement. At it's June 2014 meeting, the Commission approved POST entering into an Operational Agreement in the amount of $130,000 to allow POST to assist SDRTC by contributing to the in-kind match.
SDRTC has applied for the FY 2015-16 grant funds and the Executive Director approved the renewal of the Operational Agreement for the same amount to assist in contributing to the in-kind match for this year's grant.
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