Beatitudes Community

An Impressive Response

On behalf of all of us on campus, I would like to thank all of the staff that worked tirelessly Wednesday night, Thursday and through the weekend as well as thank the residents for their patience and cooperation in dealing with the flood and temporary relocation. We know this hasn’t been easy but we appreciate everyone coming together for the good of Beatitudes. I am once again reminded of how special the people on this campus are and how blessed I am to be a part of the Beatitudes Family.

Federal SAFER Grant to Hire 50 Firefighters

neighborhood-news

The City of Phoenix has won a major federal grant to hire 50 more firefighters over the next two years. With this $9 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, Phoenix has brought home more than $36 million in federal funds in the past five years to support the Phoenix Fire and Police department’s capabilities to prepare for and respond to a host of threats to our community’s safety. This is in addition to more than $28 million in regional homeland security funds Phoenix has won for the city and its local partners.

I have had the honor to advocate in Washington D.C. several times since 2012 for our city’s fair share of funds to hire more first responders. Our federal advocacy is working, and I pledge to continue efforts in the capital to fight for funds to support our Police and Fire departments. I will be in Washington soon to personally thank Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) representatives for approving our grant and to immediately begin discussions on the next round of funding.

I want to thank Fire Chief Kara Kalkbrenner for her continued leadership and advocacy on our SAFER grants, my colleagues on the council, our city staff and representatives in Washington for working together. This $9 million grant comes less than a month after Phoenix received the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) award for $591,726 to provide regional Incident Safety Officer System (ISOS) training for 100 company and command officers from Phoenix Fire and 50 attendees collectively from Buckeye, Glendale, Scottsdale and Tempe.

Advocating for Phoenix’s Fair Share

Message from the Office of Councilman Daniel Valenzuela

“Recently the Phoenix City Council gave approval to seek a $9 million federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant to fund 50 additional firefighter positions. Since joining the Phoenix City Council in 2012, I have been honored to travel to Washington D.C. several times, including earlier this month, to meet with federal officials and advocate for public safety funds on the city’s behalf, and I’m pleased the grant application is moving forward.

This year’s budget already has made hiring first responders a priority, and if we are successful in winning this grant, we will boost our already aggressive public safety hiring efforts.

Public safety continues to be my top priority. Since 2012, we have successfully brought home more than $35 million in federal public safety funds that include SAFER grants to support the Phoenix Fire Department, COPS grants to support the Phoenix Police Department, and UASI grants to strengthen the region’s homeland security capabilities. I will continue to work with my colleagues and city staff to search out and fight for every additional dollar available to strengthen our public safety departments including meeting with federal agencies in Washington D.C. again and again to advocate for our city’s fair share of federal funding.”