TO:	All State Administrative Agency Heads All State Administrative Agency Points of Contact All Core City/Core County Points of Contact All State Homeland Security Directors
FROM:	C. Suzanne Mencer Executive Director
SUBJECT:	Advisory for AFG Workshops

The Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program posted today the initial schedule of applicant workshops for the 2005 Fire Grants. This year, the Congress has appropriated over $600M specifically for Fire Grants. The application period is tentatively scheduled for March 7 to April 8. Potential applicants and interested parties can view the schedule, as well as other fire grant program information, at www.firegrantsupport.com. In the coming days and weeks, the AFG Program expects to revise and update the schedule, as new locations are added or currently scheduled workshops are amended. Potential applicants are encouraged to check the AFG website from time to time to verify information in the schedule. Requests for additional workshop locations should be made to one of your AFG regional representatives. Regional contacts and telephone numbers are also available at www.firegrantsupport.com.

The fire grants for this year are very similar to those from last year. There is little change. One change is that the Congress has directed the program office to award a limited number of grants (on a competitive basis) to Emergency Medical Service (EMS) organizations that are not affiliated with a fire department and that provide EMS in areas not covered by a fire department.

The AFG program office, in addition to updates of the schedule, plans in the near future to post a copy of the PowerPoint presentation used at the workshops; Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 Program Guidance; frequently asked questions (FAQ's), and; a link to the online tutorial for the FY2005 application. All of these will help an applicant submit a competitive application for the FY 2005 fire grants. In FY2004, the online tutorial was especially helpful for applicants, and received over 80,000 individual visits.

Questions about the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program may be directed by electronic mail to firegrants@dhs.gov, or you may call the toll free number at 1-866-274-0960.